Business24 Newspaper - July 20, 2020

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MONDAY JULY 20, 2020

Ghana’s electricity export hits two-decade high

The Akosombo hydropower dam has been the backbone of Ghana’s electricity generation for more than half a century.

BY BENSON AFFUL

G

hana’s electricity export in 2019 reached the highest level in two decades, with 1,430 Gigawatt hours (GWh), representing 7.9 percent of total electricity generation, exported to neighbouring countries, the Energy Commission’s National Energy Statistics report has revealed.

The country’s electricity import in 2019 fell to 127 GWh, equivalent to 0.7 percent of total generation and the lowest level since 2014.

This yielded a net electricity export (export minus import) of 1,227 GWh in 2019, double the net export figure of 600 GWh in 2018 and also the highest level in two decades.

Two decades ago, in the year 2000, Ghana was a net importer of electricity, with 864 GWh—or 13.7 percent of the total generation—imported as against 392 GWh—or 5.9 percent of the total generation— exported.

Ghana’s sharply increased net electricity export partly reflects the surge in installed electricity

generation capacity, which increased from 1,652 Megawatts (MW) in 2000 to 5,172 MW in 2019, representing an annual average growth rate of 6.2 percent. In the same period, dependable capacity increased from 1,358 MW to 4,695 MW. The period between 2012 and 2019, in particular, experienced a rapid expansion in installed capacity, from 2,280 MW to 5,172 MW, representing an annual average increase of 12.4 percent.

This has led to a situation where installed electricity capacity significantly exceeds electricity demand, which peaked at 2,804 MW in 2019—made up of both domestic and export demand.

However, the Energy Commission warned in a separate publication, the 2020 Energy Outlook report, that without urgent steps to address the chronic debt in the power sector, overall sector liabilities could hit US$12.5bn by the end of 2023. >> MORE ON PAGE 2

Airlines must innovate to win back consumer confidence —Dr. Kobby Mensah

BY DOMINICK ANDOH

>> MORE ON PAGE 3

Terkper wants OforiAtta to come clean on fiscal numbers

BY NII ANNERQUAYE ABBEY

>> MORE ON PAGE 3

ECONOMIC INDICATORS *EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE)

USD$1 =GHC 5.6230*

*POLICY RATE

14.5%*

GHANA REFERENCE RATE

15.12%

OVERALL FISCAL DEFICIT

6.6 % OF GDP

PROJECTED GDP GROWTH RATE PRIMARY BALANCE.

1.5% -1.1% OF GDP

AVERAGE PETROL & DIESEL PRICE:

GHc 5.13*

INTERNATIONAL MARKET BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL

Ghana, Mexico aim to strengthen bilateral ties

[ SEE INSIDE ]

42.30

NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS

Ghana and Mexico have resolved to continue to deepen governance, trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.

3M Sub-Sahara Africa and United Way Ghana team up to support communities impacted

by COVID-19

>> MORE ON PAGE 5

>> MORE ON PAGE 7

1.78

GOLD $/TROY OUNCE

1,685.06

CORN $/BUSHEL

329.50

COCOA $/METRIC TON

2,384.00

COFFEE $/POUND:

+5.70 ($108.30)

COPPER USD/T OZ.

220.15

SILVER $/TROY OUNCE:

17.07

Copyright @ 2020 Business24 Limited.

All Rights Reserved.

Tel: +233 030 296 5297 editor@thebsuiness24online.net

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NEWS/EDITORIAL

MONDAY JULY 20, 2020

EDITORIAL

1

Wash your hands 2

Cover your cough 3

Localised outages must be checked The country recorded a net electricity export (export minus import) of 1,227 GWh in 2019, double the net export figure of 600 GWh in 2018 and also the highest level in two decades.

Indeed, the Energy Commission data show that two decades ago, in the year 2000, Ghana was a net importer of electricity, with 864 GWh—or 13.7 percent of the total generation—imported as against 392 GWh—or 5.9 percent of the total generation— exported.

Ghana’s sharply increased net electricity export partly reflects the surge in installed electricity generation capacity, which

Brought to you by

LIMITED Copyright @ 2019 Business24 Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Editorial Team Dominic Andoh: Editor Eugene Kwabena Davis (Head of Parliamentary Business & Commodities) Benson Afful (Head of Energy & Education) Patrick Paintsil (Head of Maritime & Banking) Nii Annerquaye Abbey (Online Editor) Marketing Alexander Lartey Agyemang (Business Development Manager) Ruth Fosua Tetteh (Dept. Business Development Manager) Gifty Mensah (Marketing Manager) Irene Mottey (Sales Manager) Edna Eyram Swatson (Special Projects Manager ) Events Evelyn Kanyoke (Snr. Events Consultant) Finance/Administration Joseph Ackon Bissue (Accountant)

The data notwithstanding, there have been reported localized outages in various parts of the country.

For the full realization of the increased electricity output, there ought to be a corresponding increase in transmission infrastructure.

Indeed, the Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCO)-the transmission entity-- and the Electricity Company of Ghana Limited, the main distribution company, should be supported to retool their existing infrastructure to curb localized outages.

Ghana’s electricity export hits two-decade high CONTINUED FROM COVER

Wear a mask

increased from 1,652 Megawatts (MW) in 2000 to 5,172 MW in 2019, representing an annual average growth rate of 6.2 percent. In the same period, dependable capacity increased from 1,358 MW to 4,695 MW. The period between 2012 and 2019, in particular, experienced a rapid expansion in installed capacity, from 2,280 MW to 5,172 MW, representing an annual average increase of 12.4 percent.

This has led to a situation where installed electricity capacity significantly exceeds electricity demand, which peaked at 2,804 MW in 2019—made up of both domestic and export demand.

The sector debt has been caused by short-term loans contracted by the power producers, take-or-pay power purchase agreements, and the distribution utilities’ inability to collect adequate revenue to cover their operations, the report said.

Take-or-pay power purchase contracts are common in the energy industry and oblige the offtaker (government, in this case) to pay for power supplied by the producer irrespective of available demand.

The payments over the last

two years, which were financed with proceeds from loans, have compounded the country’s debt problems, coming on the back of an expensive financial system rescue that has so far cost the state close to GH¢8bn.

The government has consequently been holding talks with independent power producers (IPPs) to restructure the expensive power purchase contracts, hoping that a successful outcome would ease the debt burden in the energy sector.

The 2020 Energy Outlook report said the Energy Sector Recovery

Programme (ESRP) has outlined more actions that the government must take to improve the financial health of the energy sector.

The ESRP is a roadmap of immediate, near-term, and medium-term actions needed to achieve government’s aim to bring the sector into balance by the end of 2023, and a commitment by government to fund the annual sector shortfall (with sector stabilisation payments) from 2020 onwards until the sector is in balance to prevent further accumulation of arrears.

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Airlines must innovate to win back consumer confidence —Dr. Kobby Mensah

BY DOMINICK ANDOH

Heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines must innovate in all facets of their business to win back consumer confidence, Dr. Kobby Mensah, Senior Lecturer, University of Ghana Business School, has said.

International airlines servicing the Kotoka International Airport have lost an estimated US$500m in potential revenue since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country forced the closure of land, air and sea borders in March.

Business24 sources say the borders are expected to remain closed until mid-August, when a decision to re-open or otherwise will be taken by government.

However, the dampened consumer confidence, which is projected by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to last well into 2021, means that operators will have to do more to stimulate demand, if pre-COVID-19 passenger numbers are to be

realised within the next two years.

Dr. Mensah said there is “low consumer confidence – both consumer and [the] business to business (B2B) market.”

He said airlines will have to examine their target market, product/service offering, price, and distribution channels.

“In respect of the target market, airlines will have to focus on passengers for whom travel is an essential part of their business— such as business travellers and other events travellers.

“Airlines will need to modify their product and services to address these issues. There will be the need to modify purchase processes— encourage online booking and check-in, use of basic testing such as temp guns, etc.”

Dr. Mensah, who is also a tourism consultant, noted that product bundling with other needs of customers such as accommodation providers is imperative to reduce the burden of cost on customers.

With the expected heightened

Dr. Kobby Mensah reckons airlines must innovate to stimulate demand

competition among players when the skies are reopened, he reckons airlines must adopt various loyalty promotion schemes to recapture their share of the market.

“Loyalty pricing, promotion pricing, bundling pricing, and credit facilities with some

financial services arrangements, as well as the use of digitisation— ecommerce, mobile marketing for booking and check-in. Operators must use incentives to encourage more of this to reduce drastically human contact. This will even cut down on operation cost,” he said.

Terkper wants Ofori-Atta to come clean on fiscal numbers

BY NII ANNERQUAYE ABBEY

A former Finance Minister in the Mahama-led administration, Seth Terkper, is urging Ken Ofori-Atta, the current Minister of Finance, to use the upcoming mid-year budget review to disclose some “hidden” expenditure driving up the country’s budget deficit.

Mr. Terkper, in a press interaction last Friday, stated that government’s application for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic showed a deficit position which was inconsistent with what the government had earlier told Parliament.

According to the former Finance Minister, Mr. Ofori-Atta painted a dire picture of the state of the economy in order to justify the US$1bn bailout under the Washington-based lender’s Rapid Credit Facility.

“The Minister went to Parliament and gave us the estimated cost of COVID-19 – which was about GH¢9.5bn. The financing which we

secured purposely for COVID-19 – the IMF’s US$1bn, which should be about GH¢5.5bn, the World Bank’s support, Stabilisation Fund and other reliefs amount to about GH¢10bn. At the point the Bank of Ghana’s financing, for example, was being considered, we had secured enough for COVID. So why were we getting those additional borrowings and the rest?” he asked.

He explained that the only reason government is requiring more than GH¢5bn above the estimated fiscal cost of COVID-19 is that the budget deficit over the last two years has been underreported.

“The only explanation one can give is that the deficit being showed at 3.5 percent [of GDP], 4.7 percent [of GDP] was actually higher. This is something we had always pointed out. Now, we have an institution like the IMF adjusting our numbers,” he said.

“This means that the borrowing was being done, and now more borrowing is needed to finance items that were not disclosed, which the Fund has classified as off-budget expenditure,” he

added.

Mid-year budget The Finance Minister in the coming days is expected to present the 2020 Mid-Year Budget to Parliament as required by the Public Financial Management Act. According to Mr. Terkper, government must use the opportunity to, among others, account for the fiscal developments over the last six months, during which, he argued, the IMF released its COVID-19 report to confirm its Article IV view of a deteriorating pre-COVID fiscal situation.

“In our view, the borrowing in excess of COVID-19 needs is likely to include the GH¢10.5bn BOG financing of the budget, since the central bank’s MPC statement clearly states that the consideration for the borrowing is market-based, [based] on difficulty in borrowing from the domestic markets and high interest costs to government,” he said.

“Also, we expect government to present a future trajectory that includes the IMF and rating agency

Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper believes that Ofori-Atta has a lot more explaining to do regarding why the government is borrowing more money in excess of the shortfall caused by the pandemic.

projections, since they issue these reports in concurrence with governments. The government should explain to Ghanaians why it made a hasty U-turn on its IMF-exit drumming (that has died down), early in the wake of the declaration of the COVID-19 as a pandemic, for a hefty loan— when countries with less than its ‘stellar’ performance had not even contemplated the move.”

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UN Women to track investments in gender equality

BY EUGENE DAVIS

Elena Ruiz Abril, a policy advisor at UN Women, the United Nations body that champions gender equality and women’s empowerment, has stated that the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women are developing a policy tracker meant to monitor all gender components of Covid-19 policy and stimulus packages, monetary policies and activities targeted at women-owned small and medium enterprises by African governments.

According to Ms. Abril, who is in charge of women economic empowerment for west and central Africa at UN Women, the tracker will be in the form of a dashboard which will detail what various countries are focusing on by way of supporting womenled businesses, improving social protection, and addressing gender-based violence.

She made these comments during a webinar organised by the Affirmative Finance Action for Women (Afawa) on the theme: “The role of women entrepreneurs in economic recovery postCOVID-19”.

Information on the policy tracker, Ms. Ruiz stated, will be available by

the end of July, but the dashboard is expected to be operational in September.

Tracking systems are an essential part of ensuring resources are allocated and spent to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment objectives.

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 5.c.1 measures the proportion of countries with systems to track and make public resource allocations for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The indicator links policy and legal requirements for gender equality with resource allocations for implementation.

The African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (Afawa) initiative, in collaboration with ImpactHER and UN Women, hosted the virtual high-level panel discussion on empowering women entrepreneurs in the fight against COVID-19.

Panelists and participants discussed the results of an ImpactHER survey of more than 1,300 women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in 30 African countries on the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses.

Women experts who participated were drawn from across the

Elena Ruiz Abril

African continent, including Ghana, Tunisia, Nigeria, Uganda and Senegal.

Among the recommendations that the discussants proposed include more focus on digital literacy for women businesses,

tracking of policies at all levels of government, setting up a recovery fund to include technical assistance to support women businesses, and the empowerment of female fund managers who can help close the financing gap.

Ghana, Mexico aim to strengthen bilateral ties Ghana and Mexico have resolved to continue to deepen governance, trade and investment opportunities between the two countries.

At a virtual meeting under the bilateral political consultations mechanism between the two countries, which was co-chaired by the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Charles Owiredu, and his Mexican counterpart Julian Ventura, they highlighted their readiness to engage in cooperation in the areas of education, agriculture and commerce.

The first meeting of political consultations between Ghana and Mexico, held in Accra in August 2019, was an important step towards forging a stronger and sustainable political dialogue between the two countries.

Since then, the level of collaboration has been strengthened over a broader range of issues spanning education, agriculture and commerce. The two sides also supported the development of closer links between their societies.

Mr. Owiredu and Mr. Ventura, during the meeting, discussed regional and global issues of common interest and reiterated the commitment of their respective governments to multilateralism and international law. They referred to

the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat in Accra, and further agreed that there exists a great potential for collaboration by leveraging the close ties between the two countries.

They also charged their respective authorities to explore concrete cooperation schemes, including through the use of virtual meetings and seminars.

While discussing global efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic, the two Deputy Ministers agreed on the need to maintain a spirit of mutual solidarity and stressed the urgency of attending to the needs of the most vulnerable populations.

As a recently-elected nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2021-2022, Mexico reiterated its commitment to act with transparency and openness while maintaining a close dialogue with its African partners, in particular on the issues on the council´s agenda that most directly affect them. The two governments agreed to maintain frequent informal consultations between relevant offices in their respective capital cities, as well as between their Permanent Missions to the United Nations in New York.

Mexico and Ghana further pledged their commitment to enhancing

Charles Owiredu (L) and Julian Ventura (R) their collaboration and friendship.

Mr. Ventura reiterated the standing invitation to Mr. Owiredu to visit Mexico City as a reciprocal visit to

that of his visit to Ghana, to hold further consultations under this bilateral mechanism.

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Honorary Consular Corps of Ghana elects new officers The Honorary Consular Corps of Ghana (HCCGH) has elected new executives to steer its affairs for the next two years.

Dimitri Avraam, Honorary Consular of Belgium, was retained as the Dean of the HCCGH. Kwame Acquah, Consul of Seychelles, was elected Secretary of the Corps and Thomas Okyere, Consul of Botswana, was elected Treasurer.

Executive members included A. Fernandes, Consul of Portugal, and F. Morsing, Consul of Sweden.

The body also elected members to serve on its working groups.

Ray Quarcoo, Consul of Haiti, and S. Mawuenyega, Consul of Serbia, will be responsible for government of Ghana and local authorities relationship.

S. Ramella, Consul of Italy, and C. Mouhtiseb, Consul of Latvia, will lead the Social Events and Community Projects Coordination group, while H. John Mitchell, Consul of Trinidad and Tobago, will be in charge of membership (Local and FICAC Motivation and Coordination).

Mr. Avraam said the new working groups seek to motivate members and promote the role of Honorary Consuls.

“We contribute immensely to the promotion of bilateral trade and cultural promotions of HCCGH and wish the elected officers well in their respective endeavours,” he said. “I believe their rich

experience will take the group to a notch higher before they leave office.”

HCCGH is a member of the International Federation of Consular Associations (FICAC).

The group has an executive committee which meets every two months and reports to the General Assembly, which also meets

quarterly.

The Honorary Consuls in Ghana were recognised in the country after the establishment of the Honorary Consular Corps of Ghana (HCCGH) in 1996. This was after several great efforts put up by its first leader, Mr. H.R. Roth, the then Consul General of Finland, together with eleven members.

3M Sub-Sahara Africa and United Way Ghana team up to support communities impacted by COVID-19 Science-based Technology Company 3M has joined with notfor-profit organisation United Way (UW) Worldwide to support relief projects across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) that are helping the most vulnerable people in society impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Ghana is one of twelve countries across EMEA receiving a share of a 3M’s grant totalling $1,875,000, which is being directed to projects supporting nutrition, education and COVID-19 awareness, according to the most pressing local needs and country status of the pandemic.

United Way Ghana, the local UW organisation, is working with 3M Sub-Sahara Africa to implement a USD 198,700 COVID-19 relief programme to support an educational reading programme, run in partnership with the BASICS International, Achievers Ghana, Muslim Family Counselling Services, Mother of All Nations Foundation and Ghana Library Authority.

Other projects to benefit from the grant include a community water and sanitation programme; a scheme to provide food supplies run in partnership with Food for All Africa and Northern Bazaar; PPEs and training where volunteers teach families how to

make their own face masks.

“It’s important that 3M holds true to its core values during this pandemic by supporting our communities and improving lives” said Robert Nichols, Managing Director of 3M Middle East Africa. “The projects with United Way form part of a $20 million commitment made by 3M at a corporate level to support COVID-19 relief projects globally,

and we’re grateful that some of this funding is helping vulnerable communities in Ghana to receive support during these exceptional times”.

United Way Worldwide has been helping communities in need for more than 130 years, but the scale of the COVID-19 crisis and its far-reaching impact on people’s health, social mobility, income and job security – factors that are

essential to wellbeing – has posed new challenges.

“We’re pleased to see how 3M is stepping up in helping the people in the Ghanaian communities who have been impacted by the pandemic,” Janet Butler, Vice President, Africa Region.

“Together, we can make a real difference to people’s quality of life as we navigate through the coronavirus pandemic.”

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Parliament approves more than US$ 2 million tax waiver on inputs under 1D1F programme Parliament has approved a total of $2.068 million tax waiver on machinery, equipment and raw materials to be procured by three companies under the One District One Factory (1D1F) Programme of the Government.

The companies are Accum Energy Ghana Limited, Vester Oil Mills Limited and Ada Premium Diaper Care Limited.

The waiver covers Import Duty, Import NHIL, Import GETFund Levy, Import VAT and EXIM Levy.

Accum Energy Ghana Limited’s benefit amounts to US$1, 208,404; Vester Oil Mills Limited - US$814,874; and Ada Premium Diaper Care Limited -US$44,990.

They will cover machinery, equipment and raw materials to be procured by the three companies respectively.

Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Chairman of the Finance Committee, in presenting the Committee’s Report said Accum Energy was a Ukrainian company that dealt in the production of batteries for cars, trucks, motorcycles and tractors.

It produces more than 300,000 batteries per annum.

The company, which intends to access the African Market, therefore, established a local subsidiary known as Accum Energy Ghana Limited. The local company has the responsibility of producing batteries for the African market.

He said in order to achieve this objective, the parent company had provided Accum Energy with a credit facility of $5.8 million to enable it to procure the needed equipment and machinery to be used for the battery production.

The Company applied for a 1D1F status in order to benefit from the tax incentives and waivers approved for the programme.

Dr Assibey-Yeboah also explained that Vester Oil Mills Limited specialised in the processing of soya beans and peanuts into good quality meal for livestock and poultry using mechanical expellers.

It also manufactured soya oil for consumption, he said.

He said the Company currently supplied its products to the local market as well as some West African countries and Spain.

In order to meet the growing demand, the Company intended to establish a feed mill, which was estimated at US$3.12 million.

He said in order to undertake the project, the Ghana Exim Bank would provide the financing to procure the needed equipment and parts.

The request for the tax waiver was to enable the company to clear the equipment and parts for their operations, he explained.

Dr Assibey-Yeboah also explained that the Ada Premium Diaper Company specialised in the manufacture of diapers and

sanitary pads for both domestic and other West African markets.

He said in order to meet its current demand, the Company was undertaking a project to expand its output.

This involved the acquisition of machinery, equipment and raw materials.

The cost of the project is estimated at GHC 9,143,506 - made up of GHC5,393,506 in equity and GHC3,750,000 as loan.

He said in order to undertake this project, the Company intended to benefit from the incentives under the 1D1F programme to clear its goods at the port.

The implementation of the projects would increase employment, export earnings,

the quality of poultry feed and livestock production, he said.

The importation of baby diapers, sanitation pads as well as car batteries would also reduce.

Mr. Ras Mubarak, Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu, seconding the motion, said despite the challenges of COVID-19, they provided unique opportunities for the nation to promote companies to do business that they would ultimately provide jobs for the young men and women of the country.

He said the pandemic, however, provided the country with the opportunity to stop capital flight by promoting more local businesses and thus increase export earnings.

GNA

Eni Ghana and OCTP project partners support COVID-19 fight Eni Ghana and its partners to the OCTP Project, Vitol and GNPC, have delivered 15,000 swab test kits and seven (7) ventilators with related equipment to the Ghana Health Service, as their contribution towards Ghana’s effort to prevent, control and manage the spread of the novel Coronavirus in the country.

This donation is part of the initiatives Eni Ghana and its OCTP partners are deploying to support Ghana in the fight against Covid-19, for an overall investment amounting to US$ 850,000.

Other institutions to benefit from this initiative include KorleBu Teaching Hospital, St Martins de Porres Hospital in Ekwe and the Ellembelle District Health Directorate.

This initiative was designed in

collaboration with the Ministry of Health and will provide immediate relief and long-term support to the Ghana Health Care delivery system.

Eni Ghana’s Managing Director, Roberto Daniele, said: “Eni and its partners are determined to play an active and lasting role in Ghana’s response to the pandemic by strengthening the country’s health system, to the benefit of the whole population”.

Eni is a global integrated energy company operating in over 60 countries. It has been present in Ghana since 2009 and currently accounts for a gross production of about 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

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Working from home? Here are some tips to help you smash it like a pro!

BY BUSINESS FOR BREAKFAST (BFORB)

•

W

ith many businesses now encouraging or even mandating that employees work remotely from home amid global health concerns over the Coronavirus, millions of people can expect to have their daily routines and work styles impacted. Working from home is challenging when your entire family too is at home, and getting into work mode from a space that’s not your regular one can be a huge adjustment.

There are positive impact working from home can offer you such as stress relief from morning commute, spending more time with your family, and maybe get a few more things done around the house.

However, there are adverse impact when prolonged, including loneliness, staying connected, and a heightened penchant for distraction, can have a significant effect on your psyche and productivity.

So, we’re here to help!

Whether you’re relegated to working from a spare bedroom, garage space, the library, or the lobby of your apartment building, we’ve compiled some tips to help you get set up, limit distractions, maintain confidentiality, and smash it like a pro, no matter where you are.

Here are work-from-home tips:

•

•

•

Invest in a good communication tools: Get a brand new or efficient laptop, tablet or a smartphone, quality pair of headphones with a mic and a high speed internet connectivity. You will be amazed how these work together to make your remote working duties easier.

In addition, consider using a user friendly communication platform that you and your team are familiar with.

Dress up for Work: Get dressed from head to toe.

You should put on a shirt or outfit you’d normally wear to the office and change clothes when work is over.

Take a break regularly: Just like the office, proactively take breaks every hour to avoid burnout. Take the dog for an extra walk (your dog will love it!), put in that load of laundry, or spend 15 minutes outside with the kids (they’ll love it, too!).

Stretch! Stop your video, TV or social media browsing and stretch yourself a little bit every hour. Take a lap around the kitchen in between calls or check on the kid’s assignment or do some light stretching or massaging exercise on your back to take off some stress. Or make it more fun and listen to some relaxing music.

Maintain a routine working hours: perhaps publish your calendar at home so

your family can see it and quickly understand your commitment. You can block off time for work on projects, set reminders for important tasks, and even reserve a time to get dinner started. You can also toggle your Zoom Chat or mark ‘Away’ on Skype status when you need to be headsdown on a project or simply having a break.

• Reduce distractions: Shut the door to give yourself some privacy and separation, especially at home. Even hanging a curtain to separate your space can help. You’ll also want to close tabs and pause notifications so you’re not tempted to constantly check social media. Even setting a 10-minute meeting or two throughout your day to specifically check your feeds can give you a break and something to look forward to.

• Stay clear of cyber risks: Do not think not being in the physical office means you’re not a target for cyber fraudsters. Be very conscious of your company’s work from home information technology policy, and quickly report any security threats to your IT assistance.

And finally, stay connected with your team and other influential business leaders offsite. Very soon there will be a strong interest in meeting and socializing with others throughout the year. One way to do this is by participating

in remote networking meetings.

Our BforB network can help you put things into perspective.

Follow the government guidelines about staying healthy and safe.

When the social contact ban is lifted entirely you will be the first to say ‘hello’ and extend a warm hug or hand shake if you stay safe.

Make it count.

Business for Breakfast (BforB) Business for Breakfast (BforB) is internationally recognised for creating successful networking meetings, events and training for referral marketing. We create an environment where you can build quality relationships within your group, backed up by an ongoing member support programme. BforB is committed to helping small to medium scale businesses expand. In our professional network, members meet regularly in business networks to develop relationships, support each other and to share and record referral business.

We are here to help you get new business from quality business introductions and referrals made through our meetings.

Contact us: 059 4 016 432 |info@ bforbgh.com| Facebook & LinkedIn: @bforbghana||www.bforb.co.uk

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BANKING IN THE NEXT DECADE

COVID-19: Digitalising in the new normal

BY EBENEZER ASUMANG (CGIA)

T

he novel coronavirus seems to have taken all by surprise and exposed vulnerabilities that were never anticipated across all sectors of the various economies including banking. Obviously in our lifetime, we have not had to deal with anything remotely to the magnitude of this pandemic.

Until now, the world seems to have become more adept in responding to the ever-increasing natural disasters. Significantly, governments so far have tried to flatten the curve to slow the spread of the disease by introducing several “WHO certified protocols”.

However, the gravity and speed of this pandemic, is significant enough to change future individual and institutional behaviours.

One such change is expected in the area of digital transformation by banks. Digital technology has existed for some time now but sadly, majority of banks have been slow to move in this direction and many have barely even started this journey. This is about to change dramatically and urgently because the COVID-19 experiences have significantly changed the dynamics with a “no turning back” option.

It is time to reinvent the digital transformation wheel to propel banks to become more efficient in delivery and significantly creating added value to customer service.

A departure from legacy banking.

The digitalization journey is propelled by easily accessible technologies, stable economic fundamentals and a good regulatory climate. Some research showed that 82% of global banks are already implementing a digital transformation program and 62% expect to be digitally mature in 2020, compared with just 19% in 2018. Transformation is no longer an option but a must.

Digital transformation is certainly not solving single business needs with individual, disconnected digital technologies but the need to transform all processes, functions and interactions, while delivering a compelling customer experience and distinguished engagement. A bank`s digital transformation strategy should respond to its business strategy requiring a fundamental change in culture from analog to digital. This can be carried out in many ways: 1. Digitalization should be an ongoing process Banks need to be able to move fast to stay ahead of the competition. Rapid innovation is

“Digital is fundamental to our business and to the future of the entire financial services industry.”

- Dennis Hudson, Seacoast Bank

only possible if you can leverage on flexible, modular and reusable digital banking capabilities.

Opening up to a bank`s ecosystem is another key differentiation factor. Open Banking enables strategic partnerships with Fintechs, Telco’s, Insurance providers. Such partnerships allow financial institutions to offer value-adding 3rd-party services which can unlock new revenue opportunities.

2. End-to-end Operations should be digitalized Addressing integration challenges is one of the first items on CIO’s digital transformation agenda.

Institutions have to streamline operational processes with automated workflows.

Once optimized and connected, a business is ready to embrace futureproof digital banking capabilities such as instant payments, digital customer onboarding, origination and servicing and next-level technologies, like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic process automation (RPA).

3. Omnichannel Customer Experience It is high time financial service providers shifted their viewpoint from bank-centric to customercentric. The modern customer lifestyle is a harmonic blend of the physical and digital worlds.

Exceptional digital experiences, in turn, are key for expanding a bank`s customer base and share of wallet.

4. Future-proof microservice architecture

In a digital world, being “customer-first” goes all the way back to a bank’s technology stack and the ability to quickly roll out new customer-centric initiatives.

Microservice architecture plays a beneficial role in the business of digital banking because it adds flexibility to a bank’s digital transformation journey.

A digital banking platform with a microservice architecture will allow the continuous delivery of software applications, regardless of the size and complexity of the project.

5. Integrations should be seamless A digital banking platform shouldn’t turn into the next legacy technology in a bank`s IT landscape. Instead, it should seamlessly integrate with the core banking system and with the other existing and future systems, modernizing the institution`s infrastructure.

A robust Integration Framework is a key advantage of a digital banking platform, enabling process, channel and system integrations, unified customer data, central monitoring, business continuity, IT asset reusability, and more. With the help of an Integration Framework, a bank can connect the business endto-end to increase its efficiency and focus on what really matters, which is growth.

The Future of Banking is now Undoubtedly experts can only predict but nobody can be certain about what the post-coronavirus

world will look like. However, there is one reality that has been proven without a doubt; Change can happen in an instant. The key is to imagine possible outcomes and set in motion those initiatives that can position your organization most advantageously. The most likely outcomes include: • Being ‘digital’ is not optional.

• Working remotely will become much more common, it`s the new normal.

• Innovation is imperious; “Stay ahead of the pace of change or you`re toast.”

• Personal development will protect people from unforeseen circumstances • Sustainability will be valued by consumers and shareholder

Ebenezer ASUMANG (CGIA) worked extensively in mainstream Banking & NBFIs. He is a Chartered member of the CGIA Institute, USA, a Google Certified Digital Marketer and an Author. www.ebenezerasumang.com info@ebenezerasumang.com Tel: 024 233 9145

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Aviation

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Emirates and Olympique Lyonnais unveil the official 20/21 home jerseys Emirates and Olympique Lyonnais (OL) revealed the club’s new jerseys for the 20/21 season during a friendly match against the Glasgow Rangers F.C. in Groupama Stadium on Thursday night as part of the Veolia Trophy.

Much awaited by Lyon fans, the 20/21 Home jersey is the first to carry Emirates’ branding, marking the start of a five-year partnership where the airline will be the Official Main Sponsors of the Olympique Lyonnais. The away jersey will be worn by the players this Saturday, 18 July during the friendly match against Celtic F.C. Emirates’ iconic ‘Fly Better’ branding appears across the front of the OL team’s training kits and playing jerseys and will be worn during all the club’s matches, including the French Championship and UEFA Competitions until June 2025.

Emirates’ ‘Fly Better’ promise connects to Olympique Lyonnais’ values of striving to achieve the highest levels of success.

It has been Emirates’ longstanding strategy to engage and connect with its customers across the world through sport.

This partnership reinforces

the company’s investment and economic contribution to both the Lyon region, and France as a whole.

Emirates has operated flights to France since 1992, and when it launched flights to Lyon in 2012, it expand access to Southern France for international travellers across its network. Paris was amongst the first destinations that Emirates resumed passengers operations to

Iberia to install solar plant to power MRO facilities Iberia is to install solar panels on its 20,000 sq. m aircraft engine maintenance hangar at the Spanish airline’s Madrid airport facilities which will generate 80 million KW/h to supply the company’s hangars, workshops, and offices.

The project is in keeping with the Green New Deal initiative approved by the EU at the end of last year, and will pay for itself in energy savings.

It is one of a series of moves by Iberia to achieve its goal of zero net emissions by 2050, to reduce the environmental impact of its activities. These include the use of the most sustainable aircraft on the market, the substitution of internal combustion ground vehicles with electric ones, and a raft of energy-savings measures.

The new solar facility, to be built in the final quarter of 2020 and commissioned next year, will generate enough power to supply 800 homes, eliminating the emission of more than 1,000 tonnes of CO2 from the fossil fuel generation it will replace each year during its estimated 32-year life.

The facility, built in partnership with specialist firm Getting

Greener, will use 5,374 solar modules to produce a peak of 2,000 KW, for a total of up to 2.7 million KW/h each year. Each panel generates up to 335 watts at peak times, with an efficiency rating of some 20%.

A monitoring system will feature displays showing real-time energy output to employees and visitors.

Iberia plans to continue to work with Getting Greener over the next four years to replace inefficient equipment and make other changes to help the company reduce both energy costs and its carbon footprint. (Source: Iberia)

in May, and earlier this week, the airline re-introduced its scheduled A380 services to Paris.

In addition to the Olympique Lyonnais jerseys, Emirates’ ‘Fly Better’ branding will feature on the official 20-21 season jerseys across all of Emirates football sponsorships including, AC Milan, Arsenal, Benfica and Real Madrid.

American Airlines introduces new technology to enhance the customer experience

American Airlines is taking more action in advancing its technology capabilities to ease the customer experience and focus on the well-being and safety of customers and team members.

Starting July 17, American has created a new touchless checkin experience for customers, allowing them to proceed to the gate without touching the kiosk screen, even if they are checking a bag.

Customers who would like to check baggage and are

traveling domestically on a single itinerary can indicate how many bags they plan to check on the American Airlines app or at aa.com.

When the customer arrives at the check-in kiosk, they can scan the boarding pass on their personal mobile device or one they printed out at home. After the boarding pass is scanned, the kiosk automatically prints the bag tags, all without the customer having to touch the kiosk. This new technology will be in place at more than 230 airports.

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Why sustainable food systems are needed in a post-covid world

BY NICOLETTA BATINI, JAMES LOMAX, AND DIVYA MEHRA

F

ood systems are essential to economic activity because they provide the energy that we need to live and work. However, macroeconomists have long ignored them in the belief that the global agri-food industry, now highly mechanized, subsidized and concentrated, offers all we could wish for when it comes to food.

2020 will be a year of reckoning for the world’s food systems. In just months, COVID-19 shut down half the globe. Images of panic buying, empty grocery shelves and miles-long queues at food banks have suddenly reminded us how important food systems are in our lives and how imbalanced they have become.

Pandemic-induced runs on food, however, do not merely reflect human behavior during emergencies. They are evidence that the global food supply chain— highly centralized and operating on a just-in-time supply basis—is prone to falter in the face of shocks.

In many countries, for example, it became impossible to harvest or package food as workers were blocked at borders or fell sick.

Elsewhere, stocks piled up and avalanches of food went to waste because restaurants and bars were closed. In developing countries, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program expect that a “hunger pandemic” and a doubling of people starving may soon eclipse the coronavirus, unless action is taken.

Unhealthy state Cracks in the global food system’s facade have long been apparent.

According to the latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, already in 2018 about 820 million people went to bed hungry and a third of all people lacked essential nutrients. At the same time, 600 million people were categorized as obese and 2 billion overweight, because of imbalanced diets, which were also associated with obesity, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases that compromise immune health.

Today, immuno-depressed and malnourished people worldwide are suffering disproportionally the lethal consequences of COVID-19.

In all these cases, the human toll comes with huge economic costs, including lost incomes and soaring

public debt.

The limitations of the food system go beyond failing to feed the world well. Food produced through the overuse of chemicals, in monoculture cropping systems, and intensive animal farming on land and at sea degrades natural resources faster than they can reproduce and causes a quarter of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions, with livestock responsible for about a half of that. According to scientific research, including by the Food and Agriculture Organization, industrial animal farming operations that rear large numbers of animals in confined spaces breed lethal viruses, like the 2009 swine flu, and spread antibioticresistant “superbugs” because of the overuse of antibiotics to promote their growth and prevent infections.

At the same time, our uncontrolled disturbance of pristine habitats to farm and hunt has allowed deadly pathogens like SARS, HIV, Ebola, to jump species, infecting ours.

Economic reset The rebuilding of economies after the COVID-19 crisis offers a unique opportunity to transform the global food system and make it resilient to future shocks, ensuring environmentally sustainable and healthy nutrition for all.

To make this happen, United Nations agencies like the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Environment Program, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and the World Food Program, collectively, suggest four broad shifts in the food system: • Resilient food supply chains.

Efficient and effective food supply chains are essential to lowering the risks of food insecurity, malnutrition, food price fluctuations and can simultaneously create jobs. Rural transformation to empower small producers and retailers and mainstream them in the food systems economy can help build resilient food supply chains.

• Healthy diets. Curbing the overconsumption of animal and highly-processed food in wealthier countries and improving access to good nutrition in poorer ones can improve well-being and land use efficiency, make healthy food more affordable globally, and slash carbon emissions. Retargeting agricultural subsidies toward healthy foods, taxing unhealthy

foods, and aligning procurement practices, education programs and healthcare systems toward better diets can go a long way in achieving this. In turn, this can reduce healthcare costs globally, reduce inequality, and help us weather the next pandemic with healthier individuals.

• Regenerative farming. A shift toward sustainable and regenerative land and ocean farming connected to strong local and regional food systems can heal our soils, air and water, boosting economic resilience and local jobs.

It can be attained by promoting sustainable farming, facilitating market access and leveling the financial and regulatory playing field for smaller, sustainable farmers relative to large intensive farmers.

• Conservation. Breeding fewer animals to accommodate a shift toward more plant-based diets in wealthier countries is key

to saving pristine ecosystems.

Conservation efforts in line with recent proposals by the UN Environment Assembly for a global framework to protect the Earth’s plant and wildlife, together with bold measures to eradicate the trade of wild animals, are central to restoring biodiversity, boost carbon sequestration and lower the risk of future pandemics.

Food systems are at the crossroads of human, animal, economic and environmental health.

Ignoring this exposes the world economy to ever-larger health and financial shocks as climate changes and global population grows. By prioritizing food system reforms in our “build forward” agendas, we can instead make concrete inroads toward the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. Because as Winston Churchill once famously said: “Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have.” (IMF.org)

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Fiscal Policies for a Transformed World

BY VITOR GASPAR AND GITA GOPINATH

T

he ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has already prompted an unprecedented fiscal policy response of close to $11 trillion worldwide. But with confirmed cases and fatalities still rising fast, policymakers will have to keep the public health response their No. 1 priority while retaining supportive and flexible fiscal policies and preparing for transformational economic change.

In the face of a sharp decline in global output, a massive fiscal response has been necessary to increase health capacity, replace lost household income and prevent large-scale bankruptcies.

But the policy response has also contributed to global public debt reaching its highest level in recorded history, at over 100 percent of global GDP, in excess of post-World War II peaks.

According to the Fiscal Monitor database of country fiscal measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, covering a representative sample of over 50 countries, total global fiscal support so far has been split almost evenly between abovethe-line – measures with a direct effect on revenue and expenditure such as deferral of taxes and cash transfers– and below-the-line support, which includes public sector loans, equity injections and government guarantees.

Fiscal policy for the gradual reopening from the Great Lockdown The need for fiscal action does not end here, as we are not out of the woods. Even as many countries tentatively exit the Great Lockdown, in the absence of a solution to the health crisis, huge uncertainties remain about the path of the recovery.

The top priority is still public health. Policies that attenuate health risks contribute substantially to the restoration of confidence and trust, thereby helping economic activity and employment and reducing strains on public finances. And going forward, early and targeted containment procedures will have much more limited economic and fiscal costs, as compared to a general lockdown. Accurate, timely and comprehensive data on health and socio-economic outcomes are essential to monitor outbreaks and react swiftly to them, and provide confidence to people that future waves of

contagion can be handled.

Second, fiscal policy will need to remain supportive and flexible until a safe and durable exit from the crisis is secured. While the trajectory of public debt could drift up further in an adverse scenario, an earlier-than-warranted fiscal retrenchment presents an even greater risk of derailing the recovery, with larger future fiscal costs. Policymakers should prepare contingent plans that can be flexibly scaled to manage the health, economic and fiscal risks from recurrent outbreaks. To prevent lags in delivery of targeted support, a new generation of automatic stabilizers may be needed.

Third, the crisis will be transformational. Many of the jobs destroyed by the crisis will likely not return. It will be necessary to facilitate the transfer of resources from sectors that may permanently shrink, such as air travel, to sectors that will be expanding, such as digital services. Support should move from maintaining jobs to supporting people as they retrain or relocate across sectors. It will be necessary to distinguish illiquid but solvent firms from insolvent ones. Governments might take further steps, such as using convertible bonds and injecting equity into (or even temporarily nationalizing) strategic and systemic firms. Many countries will also need to take swift and determined actions to improve legal mechanisms for resolving debt overhang and preventing long-run economic scarring.

Keeping debt levels sustainable The need for continued fiscal support is clear, but this begs the question of how countries can finance it without debt becoming unsustainable. In 2020, relative to the January 2020 World Economic Outlook, fiscal deficits are expected to be more than five times higher in advanced economies (AEs) and to more than double in emerging market economies (EMEs), leading to an unprecedented jump in public debt of respectively 26 and 7 percentage points of GDP. Many governments will benefit from borrowing costs that are at historical lows and projected to stay that way for a long time as the crisis raises precautionary savings and dampens investment demand.

Moreover, with economies projected to function below potential for a while, inflationary pressures will remain muted and so will the need for central banks to raise interest rates. Public debt is expected to stabilize in 2021 (excluding the United States and

China), spurred by low interest rates and a projected strong rebound in economic activity in the baseline.

Still, caution is advised. There is a great diversity in debt levels and financing abilities across countries and high uncertainty surrounding the forecasts. Borrowing costs can increase rapidly, particularly for emerging economies and frontier markets, as was the case in March.

Ensuring a path back to sustainable fiscal balances will also be key in countries that entered this crisis with already elevated debt and low growth. Governments will need to pursue a credible medium-term fiscal plan that relies on improving revenue mobilization – including through minimizing tax avoidance, greater tax progressivity in some cases, carbon pricing and higher efficiency in spending (for example, eliminating fossil fuel subsidies).

Transparent communication of any plan will help contain potential volatility in sovereign debt markets in the transition. Moreover, international institutions must ensure that access to international liquidity is not disrupted by self-fulfilling market panics.

The international community must also ensure that vulnerable low-income developing countries (LIDCs) lacking the resources to support healthcare systems and sustain lifelines have access to concessional financing and, in some cases, grants. Seventy-two countries have already received IMF emergency assistance, but far more bilateral and multilateral support will be needed. And poorer

nations may need continued debt relief, including through the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative Fiscal Policies post-COVID 19 Once effective vaccine and therapeutics against COVID-19 are widely available, we will enter a post-COVID world and truly escape the Great Lockdown.

That will only be possible if international solidarity allows for access to treatment and vaccines for all people, in developed and developing countries alike. At that stage, governments should redirect fiscal policy toward resilient, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Policymakers should tackle the rising poverty and inequality, as well as the structural weaknesses exposed by the crisis to better prepare for future shocks.

This includes investing in stronger health systems, better resourced social safety nets and digitalization. Authorities should actively support climate-friendly investments that promote greener, job-rich and innovation-driven growth. Fiscal policy must also tackle inequality through spending aimed at universal access to health and education and progressive tax systems.

It is not possible to forecast with great confidence how the postCOVID 19 world will look. For sure, transformations will be profound.

Whatever the future looks like, it will require flexible fiscal policies that facilitate structural change, address inequality and support the transition to a greener future.

(IMF.org)

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Invest in Africa and Mastercard Foundation support companies impacted by COVID-19 Invest In Africa (IIA), an enterprise that accelerates the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Africa, is partnering with the Mastercard Foundation, to launch a programme that will support more than 8,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Eastern and Western Africa to navigate commercial challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ‘Business Advisory and Support Programme’, with a commitment of USD1.69 million from the Mastercard Foundation COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Program, aims to restore local economies by creating more sustainable businesses and generating work opportunities for Africa’s young people.

The programme will support businesses and young entrepreneurs to build immediate and long-term resilience through online learning resources; provide guidance on accessing markets and finance; and foster greater inclusion of young people, particularly young women.

The programme consists of two components and will run until June 2022. The first is a virtual training programme, an expansion of IIA’s ‘COVID-19 SME Survival Toolkit’, which will enable an additional 8,870 MSMEs in Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal to access online masterclasses, peer-topeer sessions, and a repository of practical guides.

The second component of the programme will provide Ghanaian SMEs with technical support and

enhance business linkages in the manufacturing, agriculture, extractives and ICT sectors, where there are supply shortfalls. These SMEs will also be supported in building relationships with lenders and investors.

Established in 2012, IIA operates locally in five countries across the continent (Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Zambia, and Mauritania), stimulating SME growth and competitiveness by providing training and enhancing access to finance, as well as supporting job creation and local economies.

Much of this is a product of IIA’s extensive network of supporters, some of which will be involved in the programme, including Tullow, EY, and Absa.

QUOTES Francis Kofigah, CEO and Managing Director, Dough Man Foods, a local Ghanaian doughnut bakery, and a beneficiary of the Business Advisory and Support Programme commented, “I am excited about Invest in Africa and the Mastercard Foundation’s joint programme because of the new nuggets of wisdom I’m going to pick up that will allow me to strengthen my business and push it to the next level. The masterclasses are just the icing on the cake. I can’t wait.”

IIA’s CEO, William Pollen said, “SMEs account for the majority of business and employment opportunities across Ghana, Kenya, and Senegal, and have unfortunately been the hardest hit by the pandemic.

According to a recent Central Bank

of Kenya study, over 70 percent of Kenyan SMEs risk collapse and 78 percent are concerned about job security. The survival and continued development of SMEs are critical in restarting economies and resuming their previous positive growth trajectories.

IIA wants to ensure SMEs maintain their status as key economic drivers by providing practical support, built over years of experience, that can be implemented to resolve pressing challenges around liquidity, cost cutting and procurement.”

Clarence Nartey, Country Director, IIA Ghana added, “According to our insights, cash flow management and liquidity are the most pressing concerns to local Ghanaian businesses and we are directing our efforts to helping them connect with potential financiers, opening access to around USD10m of capital. Another key issue that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought

to the forefront is the importance of building stronger localized supply chains. The programme will leverage our extensive reach and widespread network to provide business linkages, plug market inefficiencies, and strengthen local Ghanaian supply chains.”

Nathalie Akon Gabala, Mastercard Foundation’s Regional Director, Western, Central & Northern Africa explained, “We are committed to working with partners such as IIA to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on Africa’s youth and to support economic recovery so that communities can rebuild for the future. Business advisory and professional services provided through this program will enable MSMEs in key sectors to effectively navigate disruptions caused by this crisis, keep enterprises operating, and protect jobs.”

Infrastructure is so much more than bricks and mortar Often when people speak about the need for infrastructure development in Africa, they are discussing bricks and mortar, improved physical structures such as transportation links, hospitals and schools. But creating a world in which the African continent can truly flourish and provide long term stability and growth for millions of people relies – arguably more heavily – on invisible infrastructure, the hidden strength behind those physical health centres, roads and community hubs.

Five years ago, the Ecobank Foundation collaborated with the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) to design a strategy that would help us become the ‘go-to’ partner in Africa in development of improved access to health and education, along with financial inclusion. It has been a rewarding journey. With a financial institution as our foundation, we needed to explore how we could best deliver on what was, without doubt, an ambitious goal.

We wanted to leverage what we already knew how to do in order to deliver the Foundation’s mission to achieve social change, while also helping to battle lifethreatening diseases such as HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

We have also been guided by CAF’s more recent in-depth research into growing giving in four countries in Africa – Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa. With an aim to capturing the size and scope of giving among these countries’ respective emerging middle classes, the reports examined not just individual giving, but also the enabling environment.

Recommendations included supporting the development of the invisible infrastructure which supports civil society. Among them was promoting new ways of safe and secure giving to develop the potential for mass engagement and individual giving. For the Ecobank Foundation, the need for secure giving translated into using the access given by the Ecobank Mobile

App to reach potential donors, be they local or part of the African diaspora and help them to give across Africa.

It meant engaging with our staff to test dedicated fundraising appeals such as World Malaria Day and was used successfully to fundraise for the victims of Cyclone Idai in March 2019 and other initiatives that build on the giving culture of Ubuntu.

To move towards our goals, our foundation has also focussed on harnessing the talents of Ecobank employees across 33 countries.

In addition to our direct financial support of malaria prevention programmes in Mozambique and Nigeria, we are supporting the Global Fund and its local partners to develop technology-led solutions to finance challenges such as cash management and delivering mobile money support. Another example of this is providing mobile banking services to street children in Togo with a local charity acting as custodian in order to safeguard their small pockets of savings.

This is a strong example of what we knew from the outset about successful corporate social responsibility – it will only translate into real-world impact if it is borne out of the local context – you have to have a deep understanding of the problem you are hoping to help solve in order to make best use of your resources. For Ecobank Foundation, a cornerstone of this approach was the collaboration with the Ecobank Academy, a corporate university which provides training for finance managers working in health programmes that supported large relief organisations such as The Global Fund and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Carl Manlan is the Chief Operating Officer at the Ecobank Foundation.

Michael Mapstone is the Director of External Affairs and Global Engagement at the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF).

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The fastest way out of the pandemic

BY SETH BERKLEY, RICHARD HATCHETT, AND SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN

D

uring the 2009 swine flu pandemic, a few countries cornered the vaccine market, leaving the vast majority of the global population with no vaccine at all until the outbreak was effectively over. This scenario must be avoided at all costs during the current crisis – and, thanks to the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility, it can be.

Every day, the COVID-19 pandemic costs the world thousands more lives and billions more dollars. The most efficient way to bring this crisis to an end – possibly as early as next year – is with a safe and effective vaccine, manufactured in large quantities and distributed globally. To avoid any unnecessary delays, governments should take this moment, while researchers work to develop the right formula, to prepare the ground for rapid production and broad, equitable deployment.

This is the principle on which the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility is based. Created

by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the World Health Organization, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, this innovative platform aims to distribute at least two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of 2021.

That many doses – which will be divided equitably among participating countries, regardless of their ability to pay – would cover some 20% of populations in participating countries. It would thus be sufficient to protect highrisk and vulnerable people and frontline health-care workers worldwide. (Additional doses would also be stockpiled, so that any future outbreak could be tackled before it spun out of control.)

As it stands, over 160 vaccine candidates are in preclinical or clinical development. There is no way to know which will pass clinical trials and be licensed (failure rates of vaccines in early development are high). But we can ensure that, by the time one does, an effective framework for manufacture and deployment is in place. To that end, governments must invest in COVAX as soon as possible.

The problem is that governments may feel compelled to eschew cooperation, in favor of negotiating directly with vaccine manufacturers to claim the doses they need. Yes, governments are

duty-bound to protect their own citizens above all. But this national approach carries serious risks, beginning with the possibility that a government may back the wrong vaccines.

Even if a government secures enough doses of an effective vaccine for its own population, some of its people – such as those who are immunocompromised and may not be able to be vaccinated – would be left exposed if other countries are unable to obtain enough vaccine. And this leaves aside the moral imperative of ensuring that people are not cut off from lifesaving drugs.

During the 2009 swine flu pandemic, a few countries cornered the vaccine market, leaving the vast majority of the global population with no vaccine at all until the outbreak was effectively over. This scenario must be avoided at all costs during the current crisis, not least because COVID-19 has a much higher infection and mortality rate.

By collaborating with global health agencies through COVAX, governments can ensure that everyone has equal access to COVID-19 vaccines. For countries that have secured bilateral deals with manufacturers, COVAX amounts to an insurance policy, in case they bet on the wrong candidates. For countries that haven’t secured any deals – the vast majority of the world – COVAX is the only way to avoid being pushed to the back of the line.

COVAX ensures that the benefits

and risks of vaccine development are broadly shared. With the largest portfolio of vaccine candidates anywhere in the world, it gives participating governments the best odds of receiving a safe and effective vaccine as soon as it becomes available – and ensures that this moment comes much sooner.

When pharmaceutical companies are shouldering all of the financial risks, they will invest in scaling up production only after their vaccine has completed clinical trials and been approved. This approach may make business sense, but it does not make sense in the context of a rapidly moving global pandemic.

COVAX employs a radically different approach. In addition to using “push” financing – direct investment in research, development, and manufacturing – it uses “pull” financing, in the form of advance purchase commitments for large numbers of doses upon licensure. This provides powerful incentives for the private sector to support urgent vaccine development.

Moreover, COVAX pools government resources to fund scaling up the most promising candidates even before clinical trials are completed. That way, when approval comes, large quantities of vaccine doses will be ready to go. Already, WHO is working with a range of stakeholders, including member states and civil-society organizations, to develop and

implement a mechanism for equitable and fair allocation of vaccine doses, once they become available.

COVAX will support only vaccine candidates that are developed in accordance with the highest possible safety standards. By working with experts around the world to develop target product profiles, share best-practice testing models, facilitate multi-country clinical trials, and promote regulatory harmonization, COVAX will establish a new benchmark for rapid, safe, and efficacious vaccine development and delivery.

We cannot afford to leave our economies on their current path for much longer. As global GDP shrinks – the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank forecast about a 5% contraction in 2020 – poverty and hunger are rising sharply. With the world economy losing more than $10 billion each day, shortening the pandemic by even a few days would more than offset the costs of COVAX. Global collaboration – where risks and benefits are shared equally – has never been a better value proposition.

Seth Berkley is CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Richard Hatchett is CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations. Soumya Swaminathan is Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization.

Copyright: www.project-syndicate. org.

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Banking

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Ecobank Group named Africa’s best bank for corporate responsibility by Euromoney The leading pan-African banking group, Ecobank, has won the coveted prize of Africa’s Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility in the Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2020.

Euromoney recognises Ecobank’s focus on sustainability and partnerships and its core capabilities in delivering positive social and environmental outcomes across Africa.

Carl Manlan, Chief Operating Officer of the Ecobank Foundation said: “At Ecobank we leverage human capabilities and other core resources to partner for African transformation. We are passionate about co-designing partnerships to drive change at community levels across our panAfrican footprint.

The Euromoney Award for Excellence recognises our collaboration with African communities and like-minded partners.”

Ade Ayeyemi, CEO of Ecobank Group said: “The Ecobank Foundation is doing amazing work in delivering on its commitment to improve the quality of life of people across the African continent. The Foundation should be rightly proud of its ceaseless impact and the real difference that it is making in numerous parts

of the continent. Through the Foundation, our Group leverages its resources and capabilities to contribute to the economic and social development of Africa.”

Ecobank’s Corporate Responsibility primarily concentrates on the three key areas of health, education and financial inclusion.

Recent partnership examples:

• Ecobank’s three-year campaign to raise awareness of NonCommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and educate communities by providing key information about the dietary and lifestyle changes required to help prevent NCDs such as cancer and diabetes.

Ecobank Day is our volunteer community day targeted at helping the vulnerable sectors in our local

communities.

• Ecobank’s Group Chairman Sustainability Award which emphasises our role in each country in designing innovative, replicable and scalable solutions driving sustainable environmental and social change. Ecobank Togo is the 2019 winner for its support for Government efforts to provide electricity to 300,000 rural households and businesses through solar energy kits.

• African economies’ health recovery is vital and Ecobank contributed about US$3 million in the form of cash, healthcare equipment and medical supplies.

Moreover, Ecobank deployed its financial capabilities for the African Union’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to enable every citizen and member of the diaspora to contribute to the panAfrican Covid-19 response.

• Earlier this month, Ecobank rolled out its ‘Zero Malaria Business Leadership initiative.’ Launched in partnership with Speak Up Africa, it aims to eliminate malaria across Africa through private sector led initiatives which increase financing and take stronger and better targeted actions to support national malaria control programmes.

Criminals infiltrating Africa’s booming mobile money industry – INTERPOL INTERPOL says organised crime groups are exploiting Africa’s billion-dollar mobile money industry, a trend only set to increase as the service is rolled out across the continent.

The ‘Mobile money and organized crime in Africa’ report, authored by the international police organisation, presented an overview of the criminal exploitation of mobile money services.

This included fraud, money laundering, extortion, human trafficking and people smuggling, the illegal wildlife trade and terrorism.

The African continent is the “world leader” in the mobile money industry, accounting for nearly half of all registered mobile money accounts globally.

The prominent role that mobile money plays in African societies and economies, and the rapid pace at which its infrastructure has been developed, INTERPOL said, had enabled criminals to “exploit weaknesses in the regulations and identification systems” and

commit mobile money-enabled crimes.

It said mobile money itself had proven to be a positive force for financial inclusion and economic development in many African countries, and that a more cashbased informal economy can sometimes present even graver challenges to law enforcement.

It added, however, a lack of robust identity checks to verify users combined with a need for greater law enforcement resources and training on mobile money-enabled crimes have created a financial system distinctly vulnerable to criminal infiltration.

“Types of ID required to register for a mobile money account are not standardized across Africa and acceptable documents range from national identity cards to company IDs, tax certificates and drivers licenses.”

The report noted, while such a broad spectrum of acceptable IDs benefit the growth of mobile money services, it also increased their vulnerability to fraud, money laundering and other crimes.

It said, “In parallel, despite progress in conviction rates for mobile money-enabled crimes, the technical expertise and equipment required to complete investigations can prove difficult to integrate into the court process.

“With mobile money poised for even greater growth in Africa, unless the vulnerabilities are addressed, these services pose a significant threat to consumers and national security.”

By 2025, smartphone user rates in Sub-Saharan Africa alone are projected to rise from roughly 39 per cent to 66 per cent.

“Higher smartphone adoption, combined with a wider array of mobile money services on offer, will likely increase the number of transactions performed through smartphone apps,” according to experts.

Cyril Gout, INTERPOL Acting Director of Operational Support and Analysis, was quoted as saying, “The evidence shows that criminals are already exploiting mobile money services in Africa.

“The anonymity that these

services too often allows and the technical nature of the industry also present a challenge to law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting these crimes.”

INTERPOL said the report emphasises the need to act was now by addressing the vulnerabilities highlighted by Project ENACT, “We can ensure that the mobile money industry continues to grow throughout Africa without being compromised by those who seek to undermine it.”

INTERPOL and Institute for Security Studies in partnership with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized are implementing the ENACT project that covers the entire African continent in analysing the scale of organized crime and its impact on security, governance and development. GNA

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The heart of resilient leadership: Responding to COVID-19 A guide for senior executives

BY PUNIT RENJEN, DELOITTE INSIGHTS

F

ive fundamental qualities of resilient leadership distinguish successful CEOs as they guide their enterprises through the COVID-19 crisis. Learn specific steps that can help blunt the crisis’s impact—and enable your organization to emerge stronger.

Leadership in the crucible of crisis THE rapid global spread of COVID-19 has quickly eclipsed other recent epidemics in both size and scope.1 In addition to the deadly human toll and the disruption to millions of people’s lives, the economic damage is already significant and far-reaching.

In the face of certain challenges and a still-uncertain set of risks, business leaders are rightly concerned about how their companies will be affected and what they have to do next. In the heat of the moment, there are a number of lessons from history that can be applied now. We have pooled the insights of Deloitte leaders in affected areas around the world to provide practical insights for chief executives and their leadership teams in taking appropriate action.

We recognize that companies are in different phases of dealing with the outbreak, and therefore the impacts vary by geography and sector. But regardless of the extent of the virus’s impact on an organization, we believe there are five fundamental qualities of resilient leadership that distinguish successful CEOs as they guide their enterprises through the COVID-19 crisis: 1. Design from the heart … and the head. In crisis, the hardest things can be the softest things.

Resilient leaders are genuinely, sincerely empathetic, walking compassionately in the shoes of employees, customers, and their broader ecosystems. Yet resilient leaders must simultaneously take a hard, rational line to protect financial performance from the invariable softness that accompanies such disruptions.

2. Put the mission first. Resilient leaders are skilled at triage, able to stabilize their organizations to meet the crisis at hand while finding opportunities amid difficult constraints.

3. Aim for speed over elegance.

Resilient leaders take decisive action—with courage—based on imperfect information, knowing that expediency is essential.

4. Own the narrative. Resilient leaders seize the narrative at the outset, being transparent about current realities—including what they don’t know—while also painting a compelling picture of the future

that inspires others to persevere.

5. Embrace the long view. Resilient leaders stay focused on the horizon, anticipating the new business models that are likely to emerge and sparking the innovations that will define tomorrow.

We believe that a typical crisis plays out over three time frames: respond, in which a company deals with the present situation and manages continuity; recover, during which a company learns and emerges stronger; and thrive, where the company prepares for and shapes the “next normal.” CEOs have the substantial and added responsibility to nimbly consider all three time frames concurrently and allocate resources accordingly.

Within the framework of these broad imperatives, resilient leaders can take specific tactical steps to elevate these qualities during the current crisis, blunting its impact and helping their organizations emerge stronger. With the right approach, this crisis can become an opportunity to move forward and create even more value and positive societal impact, rather than just bounce back to the status quo.

Design from the heart … and the head An essential focus in a crisis is to recognize the impact the uncertainty is having on the people that drive the organization. At such times, emotional intelligence is critical. In everything they do during a crisis, resilient leaders express empathy and compassion for the human side of the upheaval—for example, acknowledging how radically their employees’ personal priorities have shifted away from work to being concerned about family health, accommodating extended school closures, and absorbing the human angst of life-threatening uncertainty.

Resilient leaders also encourage their people to adopt a calm and methodical approach to whatever happens next.

The first priority should be safeguarding workers, ensuring their immediate health and safety, followed by their economic wellbeing. A survey of human capital policies and practices in China at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak, conducted by Deloitte China in January 2020, revealed the following steps companies and not-for-profit organizations were considering in response: • Ninety percent said that it was an urgent requirement to provide their employees with remote and flexible work options.

• Companies in industries facing the biggest constraints on providing flexible and remote working options—such as energy, resources, and industrials—were focusing on providing stronger physical

protection in the form of cleaner and safer work environments and personal protective equipment.

• More than half of government and public service entities were focusing on addressing employees’ psychological stress.3 Designing for the customer’s heart starts with understanding how that heart may have changed dramatically from what you perceived before. Consider that in crisis, customers often revert down Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to basic desires such as safety, security, and health. How does the nature and tone of your customer communications and the sensitivity of your customer experience need to shift in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis? Customers relish the same kindness and grace toward them that you show your workers—they are struggling through the crisis, too, and expect empathy. Simple things can be big things. UberEats is asking customers if they want food left at the door rather than passed by hand. Many airlines have emailed customers to describe their enhanced plane decontamination efforts. Some restaurants have encouraged their wait staff to visibly use hand sanitizer to assuage patron concerns.4 Yet for the sake of those same employees and customers—as well as creditors and investors—resilient leaders must stay vigilantly focused on protecting financial performance during and through the crisis ... and making hard, fact-based decisions.

The adage “cash is king” is most real in the midst of an existential event.

There are several critical steps in protecting performance: 1. Centralizing decision-making in fewer nodes for consistency, speed, and especially decisiveness— especially since uncertainty can paralyze some decision-makers.

2.

Cataloging the sources of cash the company has available, including unused credit lines (committed and uncommitted), revolving credit facilities, and related borrowing restrictions; new sources of credit, such as fixed credit facilities to refinance existing revolvers; excess working capital

(e.g., via inventory reductions, extended payment terms); equity infusions; etc.

3. Rapidly articulating economic scenarios across all served markets, generally scaling scenarios from mild to moderate to severe.

4.

Modeling the projected financial impact of the scenarios on profitability and especially liquidity. This includes assessing the probability of violating debt covenants and terms, and determining when available cash sources should be drawn.

5. Defining the non-negotiables: Which products, services, customer segments, business lines, employee segments, and so on are the most critical to ongoing and future cash flow and should be preserved, although even those non-negotiables may be impacted if scenarios tend to the more severe.

6. Identifying the levers leadership has available (within the boundaries of the non-negotiables) to impact financial performance, such as discretionary expense reduction, hiring freezes, or temporary plant closures.

7. Determining the actions to take now, and agreeing in advance on the hierarchy of levers to be pulled as the severity of scenarios unfolds.

Companies that have developed a downturn planning playbook have a head start, since many of the scenarios, projections, nonnegotiables, and levers already have been articulated and may just need to be adjusted for present circumstances.

Yet amid the crisis, a company’s purpose should remain steadfast: It’s never negotiable. Purpose is where the head and the heart unite.

While many organizations today have articulated a purpose beyond profit,5 purpose risks getting ignored in day-to-day decisions.

In a recent survey, 79 percent of business leaders believe that an organization’s purpose is central to business success, yet 68 percent said that purpose is not used as a guidepost in leadership decisionmaking processes within their organization.6 CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

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Making decisions that tie back to the organization’s purpose is particularly important during a crisis, when companies are under increased pressure and stakeholders are paying close attention to every move. We know from research on purpose-driven organizations that they tend to thrive during challenging environments: • Purpose cultivates engaged employees. When companies are centered on an authentic purpose, employees feel that their work has meaning. Research shows that employees who feel a greater sense of connection are far more likely to ride out volatility and be there to help companies recover and grow when stability returns.7 • Purpose attracts loyal customers who will stick with you in a downturn. Eight in 10 consumers say they are more loyal to purpose-driven brands, which can help sustain customer relationships in a downturn and beyond.8 • Purpose helps companies transform in the right way.

Companies that are guided by their purpose when they face hard decisions have a sharper sense for how they should evolve, and their transformation is more cohesive as a result.9 When purpose is put first, profits generally follow; when profits are first, the results can be more elusive.

Put the mission first Organizations in the middle of a crisis are faced with a flurry of urgent issues across what seems like innumerable fronts. Resilient leaders zero in on the most pressing of these, establishing priority areas that can quickly cascade.

Based on our analysis of the leading practices of multinational companies in business continuity planning, especially related to major emergency management of infectious atypical pneumonia, H1N1 influenza, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, and other major infectious diseases,10 we have identified a number of key actions resilient leaders can take that can be grouped into the following categories: • Launch and sustain a crisis command center • Support talent and strategy • Maintain business continuity and financing • Shore up the supply chain • Stay engaged with customers • Strengthen digital capabilities • Engage with your business ecosystem See the appendix, Action guide— putting the mission first, at the end of this article for detailed activities and priorities for each.

The recommendations in the action guide are further informed by Deloitte’s on-the-ground experience serving clients and supporting

Deloitte professionals in the China market (see sidebar, “Key learnings from leading companies in the Chinese market”).

Apple provides an integrated case study. Its decision to close retail stores in affected areas11 demonstrates a number of these principles: • Empathizing with the needs and concerns of its employees, including continuing to pay hourly workers as though operations followed a normal schedule and amending its leave policy for COVID-related health issues • Reducing further shocks to an already depleted supply chain • Staying connected to—and overtly demonstrating concern for—its customers and local communities • Leveraging its at-scale digital presence by keeping its online store open and running • Continuing to engage its business ecosystem via new channels, shifting the annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June to a digitalonly gathering12 Finally, Apple’s bold decisionmaking demonstrates the courage inherent in Aim for speed over elegance, the next quality we discuss.

Aim for speed over elegance Perfect is the enemy of good, especially during crises when prompt action is required. Most companies do not have the infrastructure to deliver perfect information or data, in real time, on operations that could be affected during an epidemic. There will be many “known unknowns” in the days and weeks ahead. Are you ready to accept that you’ll need to act with imperfect information? Collect as much proxy data as you can to inform your decisions so you’re not flying blind. When the crisis is over, you will have the opportunity to conduct a thorough review to see how to improve information quality in future crises—but during this one, you will likely have to set aside that kind of analysis.

As leaders confront situations that were never anticipated, this is also a time to encourage more initiative and decision rights at all levels of the organization, trusting that the teams and individuals who are deeply embedded in a specific context may be in the best position to come up with creative approaches to addressing unanticipated needs.

Make the objective clear, but allow more flexible local autonomy. To achieve the overall objective of reducing disease transmission risk in its stores, for instance, one coffee shop chain gave store leadership the flexibility to reconfigure tables to maintain social distancing.13 The key, of course, is to ensure that all workers are clear on the objectives that matter and the guardrails that cannot be crossed. This approach may have value beyond the current crisis as organizations learn to conduct business in more and more uncertain times.

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Own the narrative As we have seen, there is a fine balance between communicating in advance of having all of the facts and being late to comment. We have seen leading companies adopt a policy of shorter, more frequent communications based on what they do know and filling in details later.

In the absence of a narrative from you, your teams and stakeholders may start to fill the void with misinformation and assumptions.

Setting a regular cadence with a clear voice is critical. Incomplete or conflicting communications can slow the organization’s response rather than providing better guidance.

In a time of crisis, trust is paramount. This simple formula emphasizes the key elements of trust for individuals and for organizations: Trust = Transparency + Relationship + Experience Trust starts with transparency: telling what you know and admitting what you don’t. Trust is also a function of relationships: some level of “knowing” each other among you and your employees, your customers, and your ecosystem.

And lastly, it also depends on experience: Do you reliably do what you say? In times of growing uncertainty, trust is increasingly built by demonstrating an ability to address unanticipated situations and a steady commitment to address the needs of all stakeholders in the best way possible.

It’s also important to recognize and address the emotions of all stakeholders. This is not just about charts and numbers. Narratives can be powerful ways to acknowledge the fears that naturally surface in times of crisis, while at the same time framing the opportunity that can be achieved if stakeholders come together and commit to overcoming the challenges that stand in the way.

In the midst of crisis, Marshall McLuhan’s famous observation that “the medium is the message” rings even more true. Many psychologists assert that the majority of communication is nonverbal.

Emails, texts, and tweets miss the voice intonation, eye contact, and body language essential to trust-building communications.

Encourage the use of video— especially to connect emotionally with your teams—instead of emails and other forms of communication.

Just as you may feel overwhelmed by your inbox, so do your employees.

Embrace the long view Any period of volatility can create opportunities that businesses can leverage if they are prepared. In the case of the COVID-19 outbreak, organizations that take a more assertive and longer-term approach can spark innovations that will define the “next normal.”

A Harvard Business Review assessment of corporate performance during the past three recessions found that, of the 4,700 firms studied, those that cut costs fastest and deepest had the lowest probability of outperforming

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competitors after the economy recovered.14 In other words, the group most likely to emerge from the recession as winners were those that struck the right balance between short- and long-term strategies by investing comprehensively in the future while selectively reducing costs to survive the recession.15 While the importance of this balance may appear obvious when the economy is strong, amid the pressures of a downturn, companies are particularly susceptible to a short-term mindset.

Anticipate structural changes and their lasting effects COVID-19 is likely to accelerate fundamental and structural changes that were inevitable in any case— but are now likely to occur far faster than they would otherwise.

Consider that the “virtualization” of work—undertaken from home or elsewhere, with remote collaboration and reduced travel for physical colocation—has been evolving steadily. Today, all around the world, businesses— and their talent—are learning to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate on virtual platforms, and understanding the increased efficacy and efficiency such modalities of work can provide.

Virtual work and collaboration tools are likely to create a booming new market space.

These structural changes also may require you to alter your strategy and planning. For instance, if you shift your staffing model to allow more telecommuting or remote work, how could that affect your real estate portfolio? Are there cost savings you can achieve by shrinking your organization’s physical footprint? What sort of new liabilities or challenges might develop if you adopt a decentralized work model? Will you need stronger cybersecurity protocols?

What changes will you need to make to management training and communication policies to run a more distributed workforce?

What upgrades are required for video conferencing and network availability?

The necessity of operating differently gives businesses the opportunity to understand what they can do. One company, for example, tested the ability of its finance staff to perform their monthly close while working from home to determine if the company could meet its quarterly financial reporting requirements if conditions persisted.16 Once you discover that you can do things differently, you may want to consider whether you should continue doing so.

Bill Marquard, Global COVID-19 client response PMO Deloitte Consulting LLP covidclientpmo@deloitte.com

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MONDAY JULY 20, 2020

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Risk & Insurance

Personal insurance tips post COVID-19

BY SAMUEL KOFI OHENE

• Review your life insurance contract.

Read your life insurance contract again and confirm if it covers you & your dependents on pandemics such as covid19 or it is classified as an exception. Speak to your insurance broker, agent, or the company for clarification if needed.

A number of life policies are tailored towards specific personal finance needs. Some may have riders or benefits that may include hospitalization benefits. You or your dependents may benefit from these when hospitalized even due to covid19. A number of Ghanaian insurance firms have offered an additional cover for active policies in their books to cover them on covid19 for free even if the initial cover exempted pandemics.

The insurance contract and the insurance firm will be the best source of confirmation to prevent any future surprises when the unfortunate occurs.

• Review your Business Interruption insurance contract.

A number of Business interruption policy holders have wondered if some post covid-19 related losses are covered. Ideally, most business interruption policies do not cover the events of pandemics which result in losses due to business closure. Whether the closure is as a result of state interventions or personal business decision, review your contract again and contact your insurance firm to address your questions.

Some events remotely caused by the pandemic may be insured risks under a business interruption policy. Being sure what is covered and what is not will help in your business recovery planning.

• Purchase a life insurance today.

It is very likely insurance firms may begin amending their policies and premium to factor in the world-wide impact of covid19 on their mortality assumptions, capital, company operations and investments. Purchasing one today will secure financial protection for you and your dependents at a lower price in case prices are reviewed upwards.

Another reason to purchase a life policy today is due to the possible enhanced life underwriting due to lessons the pandemic has taught the global insurance industry.

Enhanced underwriting may lead to risk factors that were initially

over looked to become material to determine whether to accept you or not and on what terms, conditions and premium. The ages for which some policies will be underwritten may also vary. The covid19 pandemic shows its greatest effects on the aged and even a higher fatality rate with aged with underlying medical conditions. These new developments may imply parents who you could initially cover may possibly be exempted after a review of the company’s underwriting and product terms and conditions.

Getting a policy today to avoid possible future changes that may require more premium or enhanced underwriting will be a good personal decision in these times.

• Purchase/Renew your Health Insurance.

Health insurance cannot be overlooked in these uncertain times. One may choose the basic National health Insurance, or opt for a private health insurance or be part of a firm’s staff health insurance package. Ensure all dependents including yourself are adequately covered on at least a basic health insurance scheme. It will go a long way to save one some money from simple to more sophisticated health emergencies. Review the health insurance expiration dates of your scheme. Ensure you are covered a minimum six months within which financial recovery may occur. Renew in advance if you have to. Ensure you get clarification on the types of health care services and medication the scheme covers. Also inquire if the cover exempts illness due to pandemics. Due to the various types of health care schemes from nationally coordinated ones to private schemes, being sure what is covered and what is not helps one seek extra cover or plan towards contingencies.

• Keep your Pension Plan Active.

During uncertain times, we are more prone to forget about the future and think of “surviving now”. Individuals or firms may discontinue pension payments for both mandatory and optional tiers. This may not be the best financial decision both regulatory wise and in the long term. One may go through the turbulent covid19 pandemic and its adverse effects, but one cannot ultimately escape death or the appointed time to retire from work. A pandemic of this scale with its effects may occur at least once in 100 years,

but retirement will surely come if we live long enough to meet it and the life after retirement equally has financial requirements. Let us have the future in mind even as we pull efforts together to survive now. Some private pension firms in Ghana are offering an intervention to their clients in the covid19 season to make some withdrawals. Such an intervention may exist in tier 3 none mandatory pension schemes as well and welfare groups, staff of corporate institutions and individuals may benefit from such interventions if their pension plans are active.

These are good personal financial planning reasons to keep a pension plan active in these times despite the dire challenges the world is presented with.

• Protect your assets with Insurance.

Losing more money by replacing or repairing damage or loss of property in these financially unstable times is not the best idea.

Get as much insurance as you can afford. This ensures you are covered on possible hefty losses in the next one year or two. No one can tell now when financial recovery is expected to take place.

Renew or purchase insurance for household and personal effects, your vehicle, goods in transit, cargo and any others pertaining to your business. Evaluate the potential loss one may be faced with when perils occur and cause damages. Better to pay a premium today far smaller than what one may possibly pay in the next one year or two just to replace or repair an asset yourself during financial recovery. If you are unsure what policy or firm may work best for you, contact an insurance broker

to advice.

• Only purchase the Insurance fit for your pocket and risk profile.

I admit there are several insurance policies in the market. If we add target driven agents to the recipe, you may have several proposals being thrown at you as soon as you step into the insurance market place. The risk of mis-selling is high in these times due to desperation and vulnerability of potential insureds which may make them susceptible to purchase a policy they didn’t understand. As much as possible, consider the actual risk you want to cover and go for a cover you can keep active and can afford, rather than stretching your pocket and being unable to fund the policy. Insurance products are built with certain risk types and client profiles in mind, ensure you purchase one that fits just right for you and your dependents

Samuel Kofi Ohene is a professional risk analyst in the Insurance Industry, both General and Life Insurance. His specialties currently focus on actuarial and statistical techniques in financial and operations risk management. He has a background in insurance underwriting and claims management as well.

For comments, contact him via email, sohene15@gmail.com