Brands and Marketing Professional, Cyril-Alex Gockel, has called on the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to channel its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives into supporting emerging sectors such as the cultural and creative industries.
Speaking at Joy FM’s 7th Showbiz Roundtable hosted by Kwame Dadzie on Saturday, September 6, 2025, Cyril noted that while it was commendable for the GRA to invest in CSR projects, it would be more strategic to focus on industries like the arts and tourism, which face significant challenges but also hold enormous economic potential.
“I will humbly suggest that the hundreds of thousands, even millions, that GRA spends on corporate social responsibility be redirected to nurturing these new sectors, like the creative arts, which you are targeting for tax revenue to widen the net,” he said.
He argued that the current approach appeared to be misplaced:
“It doesn’t make business sense if we are the ones sitting on a $50 billion industry and we are not partners in attaining that goal. GRA can take money to go and supply, say, shoes somewhere else—it is a noble cause, but I am a strategy guy. If you help me to get $50 billion, we will build the shoe factory. So it looks like a misprioritisation from where I stand,” Cyril explained.
The roundtable, themed “GRA Vs. Creatives – Taxation and the Future of Ghana’s Creative & Digital Economy,” brought together event organisers, DJs, MCs, artiste managers, bloggers, YouTubers, musicians, filmmakers, fashion designers, visual artists, dancers, comedians, and other creative entrepreneurs.
Officials from the GRA also participated, including Isaac Kobina Amoako, Chief Revenue Officer and Head of the GRA IT Training Centre, and Victor Yao Akogo, Chief Revenue Officer at the Domestic Tax Division.
Industry voices present were Kojo Poku, Vice President of the Event and Meeting Professionals Association of Ghana; Francis Doku, Chief Executive Officer of Maestro Africa Group; Robert Klah, Head of Public Events and Communications at Charterhouse; playwright and CEO of Globe Productions Latif Abubakar; poet and literary coach Nana Asaase; and comedian Lekzy DeComic.
Source: Joy Entertainment
