Can you give an overview of Cummins Ghana and your organizational structure in the region?

Cummins Ghana serves the domestic business in Ghana as well as cross-border business in the rest of West Africa, which is managed from Ivory Coast and encompasses all countries in the region with the notable exception of Nigeria. About 90% of our in-country business is aftermarket service and over two-thirds of our aftermarket business is in the mining sector. Cummins operates five sites in Ghana, including our Accra base, the Kumasi site, Tarkwa, and two sites at Newmont.

What have been the main milestones achieved by Cummins Ghana in the last two years?

Over the past two years Cummins had the opportunity to bring some of our largest engines into the country. We delivered six of our QSK95 engines to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, and we were involved in the repowering of five dewatering pumps for BCM at a Gold Fields site in Tarkwa where we delivered NTA855 mechanical engines, a fully-packaged ’plug-and-play’ power unit. Cummins brought in critical Liebherr and Hitachi equipment to Gold Fields, as well as 17 Komatsu equipment for manganese mine sites. Newmont’s Ahafo Nord development clearly represents one of the biggest opportunities at the moment.

How do you observe the health of the mining industry since the pandemic?

In Ghana the high gold price has encouraged mining activity, while the industry continued operations thanks to being considered an essential business even as the country shut down. The industry is poised for increased growth, fully enjoying the momentum of higher commodity prices. We are happy to see a dynamic sector with many unfolding investments and acquisitions.

Is demand for alternative fuel generators or green-powered engines growing in the region?

In a bid to reduce carbon emissions, the global mining industry is assessing solutions that can ensure a greener footprint at their operational sites. However, this trend is not yet visible in Ghana. We only receive inquiries for our diesel and gas-operated engines, but we are ready to be the partner of the industry in the transition to greener options since we have a full segment dedicated to co-generation and alternative sources.

What are some of the main challenges faced by businesses in Ghana?

Foreign exchange continues to be one of the key issues we confront. The Ghanaian cedi has significantly depreciated against the US dollar over the course of the past few years. About 50% of our products are purchased using foreign currency, while the remaining 50% is bought in local money. Global logistics has also become the main challenge ever since the beginning of the pandemic. Worldwide, the supply chains of many different products and raw materials have been severely altered, leading to irregularities, price inflation and delays. In this scenario of unpredictability, astute planning and correct, timely estimations have become ever more important. Finally, power generation used to be an important constituent of our business, representing up to 30% of our revenues in Ghana alone. This is no longer the case because power supply in Ghana exceeds demand, while decreased economic activity has further stalled demand. Today, power generation makes up to 10% of our business in Ghana.

What are Cummins Ghana’s investment priorities for 2021-2022?

In 2021 we inaugurated new facilities for both our Tarkwa and Kumasi offices, and we are hoping to commission a new office for our Accra facility. Cummins is investing in amenities to make ourselves easily reachable by our customers, while also investing in bigger warehouse to store larger inventories of parts. Moving forward, the mining sector across West Africa is ripe with opportunities and we are looking to expand our network of dealers in Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea, by adding Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Do you have a final message?

Cummins Ghana continues to be perceived in the region as a power-generation company, even though this only constitutes a fraction of our business. Cummins does not only design, manufacture, distribute and service diesel and natural gas engines and related technologies, but we also provide components such as fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, oil products, and emission solutions, as well as running a parts and services division. We want to educate the market about our full business model as we tap into new industries in the region.