Georgette Barnes Sakyi-Addo

When asked at her first job interview in 1993 by the CEO of International Gold Resources (IGR) in Accra, why she should be hired as Administration Assistant in an exploration firm when she had no prior experience, she replied: “I’ll never get any experience unless someone first tries me.” IGR tried her. She went on to establish an IGR office in Burkina Faso, and travelled all over West Africa to assist with Concessions acquisition and also actively giving other young job seekers a chance. She was subsequently the first hire at Resource Services Group (RSG) where she established its new offices as head of administration. But she went beyond duty and took interest in the core business, and for the following 10 years she worked with the Team on projects throughout West Africa. In 2004, She became Founding Managing Director of Corstor Ghana Limited, a mining supplies firm headquartered in Johannesburg. Under Georgette’s direction and leadership, the mine support business caught the attention of an Industry Giant which acquired the Corstor group including it’s Ghana branch. She also represented Westernex in Ghana and the West Africa sub region as non-executive director.

Having gained industry experience in Ghana and the West African sub-region, she has also established her own locally-owned Drilling & Mining supplies company, Georgette Barnes Ltd, representing known sector brands such as Australian Mud Company, Breithaupt, RIDGID and Westernex.

When the mining industry suffered a downturn in 2012, Sakyi-Addo wanted to get in touch with all the professionals she had worked with. She had an idea and nurtured it. She got like-minded friends on board and that idea became the Accra Mining Network, and that was how she became a co-founder of AMN.[11] Subsequently, in 2015, she proceeded to using that as a blue print to forming Women In Mining Ghana.

• Georgette Barnes Sakyi-Addo
• Samuel Torkornoo
• Raymond Kudzawu-D'Pherdd
• Joseph Djan Mamphey

Having successfuly co-foundered the Accra Mining Network, she proceeded to leveraging on that experience to establishing Women in Mining Ghana. Women in Mining (WIM) Ghana, was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in the year 2015. The main purpose among others is to serve as an advocacy body for all women working in the mining sector (Industry, Academia and Government) by offering training, mentorship, networking and research projects. Thus, WIM incorporates women from upstream to downstream (i.e. whole value chain) in the resources sector. Georgette is the current President of WIM Ghana.[12]

In November 2019, she was elected as the president of the Association of Women In Mining Africa (AWIMA).[13][14][15][16][17][18]

Georgette: President of AWIMA

Sakyi-Addo was featured among Women In Mining in Nigeria and the subregion: a monograph with interviews by Fatima Ibrahim Maikore.[19] Barnes Sakyi-Addo was also a speaker at the 2022 EU -African Union Business Forum.[20] She was also a speaker at the Fire Site Chat of the Kenyan Gem and Jewelry Fair.[21] She gave the opening remarks at the DRC Africa Business Forum 2021 on The social, environmental and governance challenges of battery-related industrial activities. The forum looked at fostering the development of battery, electric vehicle and renewable energy, industry value chain and market in Africa.[22]

She was one of the judges of the Amazon Challenge of Artisanal Mining Challenge in 2020. The Artisanal Mining Grand Challenge competition encouraged innovators, solution-seekers, and unconventional thinkers to present solutions that transform artisanal mining. Conservation X Labs led this innovation-focused event, bringing together the 11 finalist teams competing for $750,000 in prizes, esteemed judges, conservation leaders, storytellers, and tech experts to explore the cutting-edge solutions being developed to make artisanal mining more responsible for people & the planet.[23] The winners were Jeffrey Beyer, Charles Espinosa, Alejandra Laina, Itai Mutemeri and Marcello Veiga.[24]