Accra, Ghana – On Monday, August 14th, Dignity DTRT Limited in collaboration with USAID launched the Ghana Apparel Manufacturing Expansion project under the Global Development Alliance (GAME-GDA) in Accra, Ghana. 

GAME-GDA is a cooperative agreement between USAID and Dignity DTRT Limited that will provide training for 1,337 people and create 1,187 new apparel-making jobs. Around 80% of these jobs will be filled by women, many whom lack job skills and come from low-income backgrounds. A number of these women are also out-of-school adolescents. This expanded partnership will also add millions a year in new apparel exports from Ghana to the U.S.; duty and quota free under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

"Dignity–DTRT is just one example of the tremendous things that the United States and Ghana can achieve by working together. I encourage other companies out there to learn from Dignity-DTRT’s experience.  If one company can create 3,000 jobs in four years, imagine the impact we will have if 10 or 20 or 100 more entrepreneurs follow this example. That would transform this country." said H.E. Robert P. Jackson, U.S. Ambassador to Ghana.

The apparel, which range from shirts to outerwear, will be sold by Seattle-based SanMar. The partnership will also help the successful American clothing and accessory company support their U.S.-based distribution centers backed by American workers. 

The DTRT Group is West Africa’s largest apparel manufacturer and exporter. Dignity DTRT Limited currently employs more than 1,600 skilled employees; about 75% of them are women mainly from the streets and  low income households. The apparel manufacturer produces upwards of 25,000 shirts daily  and has exported more than 6 million garments in the past 24 months to the U.S. under AGOA. The company is 51 percent owned by Dignity Industries (a wholly Ghanaian-owned company) and 49 percent by DTRT Apparel Limited (a Ghanaian-registered company with American ownership with offices in San Diego, California). The partnership started in 2014 with 145 sewing machines and has the capacity to expand to 3,000 workers in the next year. 

NOTES TO EDITORS:   The USAID/West Africa regional mission’s goal is to promote social and economic well-being advanced by West Africans.  Spanning 21 countries, USAID/West Africa designs and implements programs with West African partners to strengthen systems of non-violent conflict management, support economic growth, and expand quality health services. The American people, through USAID, provide economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries worldwide. For more information please visit http://www.usaid.gov/west-africa-regional