Afarinick Company Limited, Ghana’s leading farm and forest management organisation, has announced the appointment of Dr. Solomon Arhin as Deputy Managing Director.
Dr. Arhin will deputise the Managing Director, Eliseus Opoku-Boamah, to oversee the company’s operational activities in Ghana’s cocoa production belt.
He will also support the implementation of strategies for the achievement of corporate goals as well as help position the company in realising its vision and mission.
Dr Arhin, a certified business management professional, will directly oversee activities in the southern zone, which comprises the Western South, Central, Volta, Eastern, and Ashanti cocoa regions.
Ms. Effe Heathcote, the Head of Projects and Sustainability at Afarinick Company Limited said, “The appointment comes as no surprise considering Dr. Arhin’s contribution to the success of the rehabilitation activities in Western South and Central Regions as well as his oversight responsibilities in coordinating the operations in other regions.”
She added that “goal-driven people like Dr Arhin are crucial for the overall success of the project. We congratulate him on the new appointment and are confident that he will help deliver on our new project direction of farm maintenance.”
Prior to his elevation, Dr Solomon Arhin served in the capacity of Operations Manager, where he assisted the General Manager in communicating the organisation’s policies and strategies to line managers in the operational areas.
He comes to the role with strong knowledge of Ghana’s cocoa industry, having served as regional manager for Nananom Buyers Company Limited, a licensed buying company, between 2020 and 2022 and a zonal manager at Olam Cocoa Ghana from 2001 to 2005.
Between 2013 and 2020, Dr Arhin had a stint in academia, first as a finance and accounting lecturer at Christian Service University College (CSUC), Kumasi, and later as the Dean of the School of Business and Head of Quality Assurance.
He is expected to bring to bear his demonstrated managerial acumen as Afarinick Company Limited (ACL) implements an organisational restructuring towards greater efficiency and performance.
Afarinick is the lead private sector implementor of Ghana’s National Cocoa Rehabilitation Programme, which is aimed at rejuvenating the country’s cocoa production sector.
Over 300,000 hectares of the country’s 1.9 million cocoa farms are infested with the deadly Cocoa Swollen Shoot Virus Disease (CSSVD).
Swollen shoot disease renders cocoa farms unproductive, while infected farms are killed in a few years.
As part of its cocoa rehabilitation service contract, Afarinick Company Limited is undertaking the cutting out, replanting, and nurturing of over 100,000 hectares of diseased and unproductive cocoa farms in line with agroforestry and sustainable cocoa production standards.
The company has employed over 30,000 young people and cocoa farmers as rehabilitation assistants in the Western North, Western South, Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Central, and Brong Ahafo Regions.
Its flagship plantain seedling production nursery at Suaman Dadieso, along with five satellite facilities in other regions, have also created jobs for an additional 5000 young Ghanaians, 65% of whom are women.