Business24 Newspaper 18th October 2021

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MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

BUSINESS24.COM.GH

Monday October 18, 2021

NO. B24 / 262 | News for Business Leaders

Business24 Real Estate Conference comes off tomorrow

Media tasked to safeguard digital ecosystem See page 5

See page 12

GNPC to seal Aker/ AGM deal by Dec.

By Eugene Davis

ugendavis@gmail.com

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he Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC) bid to acquire additional stakes in oil blocks operated by Aker Energy and AGM Petroleum will most likely be finalised in December, Chief Executive Dr. K. K. Sarpong has said.

Parliament in August gave GNPC approval to borrow up to US$1.1bn to acquire a 37 percent stake in Deep Water Tano/Cape Three Points (DWT/CTP) block,

Young exporters need partnerships for AfCFTA, says deputy GEPA CEO

By Patrick Paintsil p_paintsil@hotmail.com

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he Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Albert Kassim Diwura, has urged young exporters and start-ups to collaborate and build good partnerships to access the single continental market.

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Stakeholders want Mandatory Towing Levy back

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ransport sector stakeholders are overwhelmingly calling for the reintroduction of the Mandatory Towing Levy to curb the incidence of abandoned broken-down vehicles on the roads and help address rising road traffic accidents in the country.

The stakeholders believe that broken-down or unattendedto vehicles are contributing significantly to the current surge Cont’d on page 3

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Editorial / News

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

Editorial

Let’s encourage partnerships for the continental market

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he African Continental Free Trade Area has been touted as the biggest economic programme on the continent.

With a sizable number of unemployed youth, the single market will largely contribute to the reversal of this situation, that’s only if businesses are empowered to tap the prospects of the market.

It is without a doubt that accessing this lucrative market will require high levels of investments and well thoughtthrough strategies from the various participating states, especially for it’s private sector, which is pivotal to the success of

the market.

The best strategy to enter such a huge market will be partnerships and connectivity.

This is even more so for small and medium sized enterprises that are seeking to explore the opportunities of the market.

It is therefore a good call from the state exports facilitator to encourage young exporters in the country to consider that approach to be able to penetrate the AfCFTA market.

At it’s recently held practical mentorship session dubbed “Time with Seasoned Exporters”, deputy CEO of the authority, Albert Kassim Diwura, told participants that building the

right linkages and partnerships was their surest bet to accessing the market.

“Young exporters and startups in entering the exports business to collaborate and build good partnerships to access the single continental market,” he said.

Time with Seasoned Exporters is a coaching-styled platform that convenes start-ups or smallsized export enterprises to learn from the experience and success stories of top goons in the business referencing the role of the GEPA in both capacity building and market access support.

GNPC to seal Aker/AGM deal by Dec. Continued from cover

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operated by Aker Energy Ghana, and a 70 percent stake in South Deep Water Tano (SDWT) block, operated by AGM Petroleum Ghana.

According to Dr. Sarpong, more due diligence, in the form of technical, legal, financial and commercial appraisals, will have to be undertaken before a final purchase price for the two blocks is determined.

“We are yet to present the Aker Energy [and] AGM Petroleum deal to the board. These things take time, and nothing has been firmed up. Possibly by December, we can close the deal,” he told journalists at a workshop organised by the corporation at Peduase Valley Resort, Aburi, in the Eastern Region.

He said the final price of the blocks will be agreed by negotiation, based on the Lambert Energy Advisory valuation.

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Dr. K. K. Sarpong updates journalists on developments in the oil and gas sector. Seated beside him is Dr. Kwame Amoah Baah-Nuakoh, General Manager, Sustainability, of GNPC.

The stakes will be acquired through GNPC’s subsidiary, GNPC Explorco, and the gain to Explorco will be the difference between the resource value and price paid, he added.

Dr. Sarpong further disclosed that payment for the blocks will be made in three installments: at signing, at approval of plan of development, and at first oil.

On the servicing of the loan to finance the purchase, he explained it will be repaid from the sale of GNPC Explorco’s share of crude oil, together with early repayment from securitisation of crude oil.

He said the expected benefits of the deal include GNPC getting to build operator capacity at a critical time in history; substantial foreign exchange inflows, estimated at around US$27bn in nominal terms; and reduction in operational costs through efficient procurement.

GNPC will also be in charge of local content, he added.

On oil exploration in the Voltaian basin, Dr. Sarpong said this is ongoing and is Ghanaianled.

“GNPC is still doing 2D seismic [work] on the Voltaian basin. We have plans to create [a subsidiary] GNPC Voltaian Basin Offshore. We will form it when we have struck oil.”

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News

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

Stakeholders want Mandatory Towing Levy back Continued from cover in road accidents and want urgent government intervention.

However, they want government to be actively involved in the implementation and enforcement of the policy, rather than leave it entirely in the hands of a private person or entity.

The Mandatory Towing Levy initiative was first scheduled for implementation on July 1, 2017, following the passage of a Legislative Instrument (L.I. 2180: Road Traffic Regulations, 2012) by the Parliament of Ghana as part of measures to reduce road accidents in the country.

At a national consultative forum on road traffic crashes held at Shippers’ House, Accra, on Wednesday, October 13, the stakeholders unanimously called for the reintroduction of the Mandatory Towing Levy, but had varied opinions on its implementation.

The forum, organised by the Ministry of Transport in collaboration with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), and the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana

Transport Minister Kwaku Ofori Asiamah

Police Service, was looking at amending Regulation 102(2) and (3) to strengthen the enforcement regime.

The state agencies had proposed Regulation 102(2) to read, “An owner or a person in charge of a motor vehicle or trailer which has broken down on a road and who does not cause the immediate removal of the vehicle or trailer from the road commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than 500 penalty units”.

Regulation 102(3) in its current form reads, “The owner or a person in charge of a motor vehicle or trailer shall pay a prescribed annual fee known as the Road Safety Fee for the towing of a broken-down vehicle or trailer on the road and other

ancillary service”.

However, the proposed amendment reads, “The owner of a motor vehicle or person in charge of a trailer shall subscribe to the services and terms of conditions of a towing service provider or an insurance company such that the towing service provider or insurance company shall be responsible for the immediate removal of the motor vehicle or trailer whenever it breaks down on the road”.

However, the stakeholders had contrary views on the proposed policy regime.

One of the participants urged the government to take up the challenge of implementing the levy and not place the burden on the owners of vehicles or trailers to secure a towing service provider or an insurance company.

Another participant said one of the things that led to the suspension of the Mandatory Towing Levy initially was that the cost was too high. He therefore proposed that government take up the responsibility and ensure that vehicle owners contribute something reasonable into a common pool “so that when a vehicle breaks down in the middle of the road, that pool will cater for the cost of towing service”.

Another participant recommended that education about the policy should be intensified to explain its benefits to the people. “We shouldn’t run away from it. If about 11 percent of road accidents are caused by abandoned vehicles, and people are dying or sustaining various degrees of injuries, then we should go back to the people and explain to them why the need to pay some money into a fund to take care of towing abandoned vehicles off our roads.”

An expert in the transport industry also said the proposed new law is one of the least efficient, citing high cost in the implementation of the policy. He proposed the decentralisation of the policy in order to reduce cost.

Another contributor proposed stiffer punishment, including a five-year jail sentence, for vehicle owners who abandon their vehicles on the road.

Young exporters need partnerships for AfCFTA, says deputy GEPA CEO Continued from cover Speaking at an interactive capacity-building session for owners of small-sized export enterprises, dubbed “Time with Seasoned Exporters”, in Accra, he said the continental market would be too tough to penetrate for such businesses without the right collaborations and linkages.

“AfCFTA is a huge market and, therefore, it’s not about competing against each other; it’s rather about collaborations. You cannot fit in the market alone.

So, instead of competing with somebody, you must team up with local competitors to produce large volumes of your products to feed the market,” he advised.

“Time with Seasoned Exporters” is a coaching-styled platform that convenes start-ups or small-sized export enterprises

to learn from the experiences and success stories of larger exporters.

A significant number of young exporters engaged in the production and trading of nontraditional export items were taken through the technicalities of the export business and how they could build the right linkages and competence to expand their market access.

“We believe that our [GEPA] capacity-building activities should not always be theory; we need quite seasoned exporters in the business to tell us their practical experience. This mentorship or coaching session is a rare pillar of one of the main functions of the authority, which is capacity building,” Mr. Diwura said.

His advice was buttressed by one of the facilitators, Francesca Brenda Opoku, Chief Executive

Officer of Solutions Oasis Limited, who schooled the participants on the need for partnerships.

“As an exporter, you cannot get all the information you’ll need to enter every market; for instance, you need a partner that will survey the destination market to inform you to make the right decisions,” she shared.

She added: “If you want to go into Zimbabwe, you [must] find somebody in Zimbabwe who can do that. He’ll eat into

your margins, but he’ll give you consistency; and also, don’t forget that gives you the presence that forms part of the branding for your product.”

Another facilitator, Dr. Felix Kamasah, President of Vegetables Producers and Exporters Association of Ghana (VEPEAG), said it was important for exporters to understand their business and the market they want to sell to, so they can acquire the relevant global certifications.

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Ghana ready to share ideas, experiences with others - Veep

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hana is ready to share her learnings and development experiences with other countries as they all seek to better the lives of their citizens, Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has assured.

Thus, Ghana will continue to develop and enhance cordial and mutually beneficial relations with friends both near and far, with the ultimate aim of accelerated development and improved livelihoods.

Dr. Bawumia assured of Ghana’s commitment to the exchange of practical development ideas on Friday, 15 October 2021 when he welcomed H.E. Bharrat Jagdeo, Vice President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, to the Jubilee House, Accra for bilateral talks at the beginning of a three-day visit to the country.

Amongst other objectives, Vice President Jagdeo and his delegation are in Ghana to learn about the country’s experiences in the oil and gas sector, with particular reference to local content and participation, the legal framework, and general best practices in exploration and

exploitation of hydrocarbon finds, having discovered hydrocarbons on a large scale in 2015.

During the visit, technical teams from Ghana’s Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Petroleum Commission (PC), Ghana Gas, Energy Commission and other stakeholders in the energy sector will be engaging their counterparts from Guyana to share ideas and exchange learnings.

“We are here to listen and learn, and given your experiences in the oil and gas sector, I am sure we have come to the right place” Vice President Jagdeo declared, adding, “Our ongoing cooperation is testament to how well we can work together and learn from each other.

“We want to deepen our cooperation beyond the oil and gas sector, to trade and investment in each other’s country. We want to learn from you in the areas of agriculture, digitization, health, especially your Agenda 111, and infrastructure development” he indicated.

Recalling the longstanding relations between Ghana and

Guyana and the uncanny similarities in their histories, Vice President Bawumia said Ghana remains a bulwark for peace and democratic development in the West Africa sub region, and indicated that given the emerging opportunities, particularly in the energy sector, greater cooperation would serve as a catalyst for trade and investment for both countries.

As a sign of Ghana’s readiness to provide practical learnings, Vice President Bawumia presented a large, bound folder detailing the origins and implementation plans for Government’s Agenda 111, designed to make health care accessible and affordable at the lowest level of society.

A beaming Vice President Jagdeo described the document as the “highlight” of his day.

Media tasked to safeguard digital ecosystem

By Michael A. Kankam & Emmanuel Kwarteng

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he Acting Director-General of the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), Dr. Albert Antwi-Boasiako, has appealed to the media to play an active role in government’s quest to help protect the country’s digital ecosystem.

He made the call while addressing members of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) during a capacity building and sensitization programme on the new Cybersecurity Act 2020, Act 1038, as part of activities to mark this year’s National Cybersecurity Awareness month.

“The citizens are quite vulnerable because the awareness of cyber risk is quite minimal and, in some cases, nonexistent,” Dr. Antwi-Boasiako said.

He added: “There is no doubt that the increase in global internet connectivity is tied to the development of contemporary cybercrime, in its various forms: online fraud, sexual exploitations, attacks against critical

information infrastructures and other criminal acts.”

Whilst applauding the Presidency and sector ministry for championing the birth of the Cybersecurity Act, he assured of a strong collaboration with the media to enhance public

knowledge of the threats of cybercrimes as well as online protection.

“As the internet does exist, cybercriminals have taken every cost for advantage to defraud and attack digital lives,” Dr. Boasiako further indicated.

President of GJA Affail Monney, in his remarks, encouraged journalists to build capacity in the area of reporting issues relating to cybersecurity to be able to better inform and educate their audiences.

“And I will say without any fear of contradiction that when it comes to a specialized area like cybersecurity most journalists are professionally blind,” he said.

Mr. Monney also urged journalists to call for experts’ opinion when discussing issues of cybersecurity indicating that “when a blind person leads a blind person, both will fall into a ditch.”

Ghana in terms of ranking, is placed third across the African continent with respect to cyber security readiness, and in 2017 the ranking based on percentage terms was around 32percent as at the end of 2020, Ghana’s ranking moved from 32percent to 86percent, becoming the 43rd country globally with formidable cyber security infrastructure being built.

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MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

60,000 Females to benefit from Cyber security training in 3 regions

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he Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation (MoCD) in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Huawei Technologies, Ghana has educated Female Senior High Schools in the Ashanti Region on Cyber Security as part of the Ministry's Girls-in-ICT Program.

The pilot programme covers two other regions- Eastern and Central regions.

About 20,000 girls will benefit from the training in each region.

It will also focus on the Cyber Security Act 2020.

The programme is aimed at providing ICT education to girls in the second cycle Institutions as well as equip them with basic cyber security fundamentals to help them stay safe in the cyber space.

The beneficiary schools include Wesley Girls Senior High School (SHS) and the Yaa Asantewaa Senior High School, St Louis, Serwaa Nyarko, Kumasi Girls, the Adventist Girls SHS, St Mary's Girls, Afua Kobi Ampem Girls, St Monica's, TI Ahmadiya and Prince of Peace.

Topics being treated include the Child Online Protection Provisions in the New Cyber Security Act 2020 and the SMART Acronym which explains how to stay safe online.

The girls are also being trained on risk associated with the use of internet which include fake news;

cyber bullying, sextortion, cyber stalking among others.

On the Cyber Security Point of Contact, the girls would be sensitised to the need to report all cyber related issues confronting them to the National Cyber Security Authority on short code 292 for prompt response and necessary assistance.

According to the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula OwusuEkuful initiative was part of

efforts to continue empowering the youth with the digital skills they urgently need to thrive in the new technological era.

She expressed the hope that much enthusiasm would be generated amongst girls to enhance ICT education in the country.

In the Eastern Region, schools to benefit from the training are Mamfe Methodist Girls, Aburi Girls, Krobo Girls, Diaspora Girls, St Roses, Islamic Girls and St

Mary's Vocational and Technical Institute.

Holy Child, Wesley Girls and Mfantseman Girls in the Central Region will also benefit from the programme.

Female colleges of Education in the selected regions will also benefit from the training.

The Girls-in-ICT is an initiative of the International telecommunications Union (ITU), aimed at introducing young girls to basic ICT skills.

President Akufo-Addo tours Central Region

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resident Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo will from today begin a twoday tour of the Central Region as part of his annual working visits to the sixteen (16) regions of the country.

President Akufo-Addo’s itinerary will involve the commissioning and inspection of projects under Government’s 1-District-1-Factory initiative in furtherance of his industrialsation agenda, as well as the inspection of ongoing road projects in the Region. He will also visit and interact with traditional authorities in the respective communities he will visit.

On Monday, 18th October, the President is expected to inspect engineering laboratories and workshops constructed

by the Ministry of Education and the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, located at the Cape Coast Technical University; and will proceed to pay a courtesy call on Chiefs of the Oguaa Traditional Area.

He will also call on the Chiefs

of Assin North in Assin Breku and Effutuakwa in Assin Fosu; cut the sod for the construction of the Assin Praso-Assin Fosu road project in the Assin Central Constituency; and also cut the sod for the construction of the Nyankomasi Ahenkro to Assin Jakai Cocoa Road.

On Tuesday, President AkufoAddo’s working visit will see him paying a courtesy call on the Chiefs of Hemang Lower Denkyira; cutting the sod cutting for the construction of the Hemang-Nsutem Cocoa Road, as well as commissioning Central Oil Mills, a company operating under Government’s 1-District-1-Factory initiative, located in Assin Jukwa.

In Winneba, in the Effutu Constituency, the President will commission a number of projects including a community centre, health facility, a library, and the Museum of Effutu Culture.

The tour will end with the commissioning of a lubricant factory, also under the 1D1F initiative, at Gomoa Akotsi Fetteh Junction in the Gomoa East constituency.

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MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

Ghana enthralls thousands at Dubai Expo 2020 with ‘limitless investment opportunities’

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hana is entrancing thousands of visitors at the Dubai Expo 2020, by showcasing a plethora of opportunities across business, culture and human capital.

The country is among 192 countries exhibiting their cultural and entrepreneurial forte at the world expo, which is being held in Dubai from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

Ghana’s participation in the expo, is guided by the sub-theme ‘limitless opportunities’, aimed at highlighting the huge investment potential in critical sectors such as tourism, energy, agriculture, trade, education, environment and sanitation.

With a uniquely designed pavilion, Ghana’s contingent at the expo provides visitors, an overview of the country’s vision and plan for the future, its mutual-value approach to investment, and commitment to a future driven by business and growth.

At a brief launch on the expo grounds in Dubai, on Thursday, 14th October, 2021, the Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw OsafoMaafo, underscored Ghana’s readiness to do business with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the world at large.

He touted the numerous opportunities existing in Ghana, that can be leveraged by investors across the globe.

According to him, Ghana is better positioned to become the investment hub of Africa, being the headquarters of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

He said “whoever invests in Ghana, has at his or her disposal, a market size of about 1.2 billion people, spanning across 54 countries”.

Also speaking at the conference, the Ambassador of Ghana to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), H.E Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan, impressed on investors to choose Ghana, highlighting the country’s position as the ‘commercial and trade hub of Africa’.

He said Ghana’s ambitious industrialization drive, has presented several opportunities for investment and strategic partnerships.

“Ghana is peaceful, progressive, and stable, with enormous potential in a wide array of sectors such as; infrastructure development, agriculture and agribusiness, oil and gas, as well as tourism” he noted.

Taking his turn to address the press, the Managing Director of the Ghana Airport Company, Mr. Yaw Kwakwa, wooed investors to explore the opportunities in Ghana’s aviation industry, pointing at the country’s vision to become a leader in the Airport Business in Africa, and the world as a whole.

In his view, “the last frontier of economic opportunities, exist in Africa”, averring that “Ghana is better positioned to hone investments and provide good returns to investors”.

Meanwhile, the CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr. Yofi Grant, has asserted that the expo presents “a wonderful opportunity to outdoor Ghana’s limitless opportunities to investors around the world’.

Owing to that, he said Ghana’s contingent at the expo will “leverage the mega-event, to rekindle investments into the Ghanaian economy, and assist in the restoration of economic growth, as countries recover from the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Mr Grant described Ghana as a profitable investment hub, and entreated investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and beyond, to choose Ghana, in future entrepreneurial expeditions. “Ghana is a strategic market for Dubai, and a gateway for UAE companies to enter attractive West African markets, and African markets in general” he noted.

He reiterated the GIPC’s

commitment to upscale Ghana’s business climate, by ensuring seamless investor experience.

The press conference was climaxed with an MOU signing ceremony between the GIPC and Dubai South, to promote allround economic cooperation, bilateral trade and investment.

The agreement, which was signed by the CEO of GPIC, R. Yofi Grant, and the CEO of Dubai South-Logistics District, Mohsen Ahmad, was also attended by Executive Chairman Dubai Aviation City Corporation and Dubai South, H.E Khalifa Al Zaffin, among other senior officials.

Commemorating the feat, Mr Alawadhi said the agreement will lay the foundation for a long-term strategic relationship, which will foster economic growth.

“It gives us immense pleasure to ink a bilateral agreement with GPIC to promote a lucrative environment for businesses to prosper and strengthen economic ties. Our leadership have chalked an effective, long-term strategic road map for us and it is our time as industry leaders, to lay the foundation for both communities to achieve optimal results. The agreement comes on the heels of the mega event, Expo 2020 Dubai, which seeks to pave the way for resilient global economy and enable robust business connectivity.”

Another agreement was signed by the CEO of GPIC, R. Yofi Grant, and the CEO of Dubai Consultancy, Walid Hareb AlFalahi, where both agreed to undertake initiatives

and projects that will attract investment and promote trade and foreign relations between the UAE and Ghana.

Mr. AlFalahi expressed: “As a pioneer of establishing the 1st humanitarian free zone in the world I see the value and importance of Ghana as logistic and humanitarian hub as it can serves all of West Africa and neighboring origin countries.

On other hand we plan to work with government of Ghana and support of Dubai South to grow trade links for ecommerce via Dubai to achieve larger trade between west Africa and Dubai.”

Through this agreement, the two parties aim to create an attractive environment for businesses and encourage the exchange of trade missions with all-rounded preparation, including assistance with business programs, facilitating corporate networks and information exchange between the two authorities.

Ghana’s participation in Expo 2020, is being overseen by a National Planning Committee, with members drawn from various MDAs and private sector. All interested Ghanaians and Ghanaian businesses can visit the official website (www. expo2020dubai.com) for information on how to attend the World Expo. Stakeholders can also follow Ghana’s Expo handles (Twitter & Facebook: @ghanaexpo2020, Instagram: @ghana_expo2020) for more updates on the event.

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Energy

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

Supporting local participation in Ghana’s oil and gas industry

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ocal content remains one of the most highlighted aspects of Ghana’s burgeoning Oil and Gas sector.

Since oil was discovered in commercial quantities within a decade of the new millennium, a case continues to be made for the strategic advancement of local participation in the sector by Ghanaians.

Almost every successive government has regarded the issue with utmost seriousness.

Civil society and advocacy groups have all equivocated the essence of this approach if the industry is to continue generating dividend for Ghana’s socio-economic growth and development.

Tullow Oil is one of the most successful and effective oil and gas companies in Ghana’s history. Its presence seamlessly intertwines with the development of local capacity for participation in the sector.

The collective optimism that greeted the nascent oil sector back in 2007 mirrored the ambitions of Tullow, a company committed to growing the industry and local participation for development.

Today “local content” is not just a priority of leaders within Tullow’s organisation, but a passion and commitment pursued across every facet of the

company. It has become a fancy way of saying that the company and everyone within, understand and place an unvarnished commitment to Ghana and its people.

As of 2020, the company has invested about US$20 billion into the sector with direct employment opportunities to over 500 Ghanaians, some of whom have since joined other service providers and oil companies elsewhere in the industry. Additionally, it has invested US$8.6 million in the training of Ghanaians, since 2014, with a significant number of these sponsored to undertake second degrees in oil and gas abroad.

“Local content, to me, is not just a part of our licence to operate, but a differentiator in terms of our performance in Ghana. We have grown our local staff base over the last ten years and our supply chain as well. We have given out about US$16 billion worth of contracts between 2010 and 2020 and US$11 billion out of that went to companies with strong local content participation,” Tullow Ghana Managing Director, Wissam Al Monthiry told the Energy Quest TV programme during a review of industry activity over the last decade.

In keeping with their

commitment to developing local capacity for participation in the industry, just last week, Tullow teamed up with the Ghana Upstream Petroleum Business Academy of the Petroleum Commission (PC), to train current and future local industry suppliers on its ‘End-to End Procurement process. The participation proved Tullow’s image and reputation as a forerunner in the industry with over 160 suppliers taking part.

The training covered a host of processes, including total awareness of Tullow’s procurement regime, invoicing and payment processes to suppliers. It also provided the participants with a deeper understanding of key procurement areas including, category management, vendor registration and setup and some procurement sourcing tools.

Addressing the participants, Vincent Yankey, Director of Finance at the Petroleum

Commission, advocated for a strong commitment and effort by the group to demonstrate deep understanding of the standards involved in the procurement of goods and services in the upstream sector, especially from the Tullow point of view. Rudolf Essel, Indirect Procurement Category Lead for Tullow Ghana, outlined the key procurement processes required to bid properly for Tullow Supply contracts. The programme also provided an avenue for the suppliers to provide feedback on their experience of the Tullow procurement process over the past decade.

Tullow Oil’s pledge to Ghana has never been more pronounced than it is today, and the company views its partnership with the government and people of Ghana, as crucial to the sustainable and efficient harnessing of value from the oil and gas resources sector.

Kosmos Energy announces pricing of public offering of common stock

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osmos Energy has announced the pricing of its registered underwritten public offering of 37,500,000 shares of common stock at a price to the public of $3.30.

In addition, Kosmos has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 5,625,000 shares of common stock at the public offering price less underwriting discounts.

The offering is expected to close on October 19, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

Kosmos intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to repay outstanding borrowings

under its commercial debt facility, including borrowings incurred to finance a portion of the previously announced acquisition of Anadarko WCTP Company.

Barclays, BofA Securities and Jefferies are acting as joint bookrunning managers in the Offering.

The offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement, including a prospectus, filed by Kosmos with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on June 21, 2021.

The Offering may only be made by means of a prospectus supplement and an accompanying prospectus. The preliminary prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the Offering has been filed, and the final prospectus supplement and accompanying base prospectus relating to the Offering will be filed, with the SEC.

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“My policies, flagship programmes are bearing fruit”

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resident Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the policies and programmes initiated by his government, since taking office in January 2017, are bearing fruit. and have impacted the lives of all Ghanaians.

Speaking at the centenary celebration of the Ash Town Seventh Day Adventist Church, on Saturday, 16th October 2021, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that he came into office with the goal of improving the living standards of the Ghanaian people.

“After my first term in office, our achievements were visible for all to see, and that is why the Ghanaian people were good enough to repose their confidence in me again, and gave me four more years to do more for them,” he said.

Whilst acknowledging that life is still not easy as it should be, the President noted that there are solid reasons for all Ghanaians to hope for a brighter tomorrow.

Recounting the passage in Jeremiah 12:2, which says “You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit”, he told congregants at the Church that “likewise, the policies and programmes being implemented by my government

have taken root, they are growing, and they are bearing fruit”.

President Akufo-Addo continued, “In this Church, at least, I am sure we have parents here whose wards are beneficiaries of the Free Senior High School policy. We have achieved a number of noteworthy successes, and even though the pandemic of COVID-19 has derailed temporarily our progress, we remain on course, and will build back Mother Ghana much strongly.”

Reiterating his vision for the progress and prosperity of Ghana, the President stated that his

vision to build a Ghana Beyond Aid remains constant, adding that “with the help of the Church, I am confident that we can realise this vision”.

Centenary Celebration Thanking Almighty God for the growth of the Ash Town SDA Church, President Akufo-Addo stated that, since its establishment a century ago, the Church has impacted positively not only on the lives of congregants, but also on residents of Ash Town and Kumasi.

“From humble beginnings, this

Church has grown into what it is today – a dynamic and integral part of this community. You have lived up to the aspirations of the forebears of this Church, Edward Sanford and Karl Rudolph, who first came to the shores of the Gold Coast, first landing at Apam, moving to Cape Coast before spreading out to the Ashanti Region, and other parts of Ghana,” the President said.

He continued, “Successive priests and congregations are to be applauded for these achievements, and for the many years of service and fellowship to country. You have been a good example of what it means to love one another and give cheerfully to those in need, and I have no doubt that this legacy of ministry and compassion will long grace this Church”.

The President’s prayer was that the Church will continue, for the next one hundred years (100 years), to spread the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, win souls, and serve the people of Ghana and Almighty God. He also asked congregants to “pray for me, the government and the people I have appointed to various positions, that we exercise our responsibilities with humility and integrity, and pray for Ghana, that she remains united and continues to strive for progress and prosperity.”

Gary Nimako chairs Gaming Commission

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he managing partner at Marfo & Associates, Gary Nimako Marfo, has been appointed the board chairman for the Gaming Commission of Ghana.

The Gaming Commission is a body corporate, established by the Gaming Act 2006 (Act 721), with the main purpose of regulating, controlling, monitoring and supervising the operation of games of chance in this country.

The Commission is also responsible for issuing licences to all gaming operators and permits to companies and individuals whowish to run promotions with elements of games of chance.

In September 2021 the Gaming Commission of Ghana stepped up efforts towards enforcing “know your customer” (KYC) verification in the Ghanaian gaming industry.

KYC verification simply requires gaming operators to

verify the identification of all punters who visit their outfits or websites.

The Commission explained at the time that the effort had become necessary because of the recent growth in gaming activities in Ghana.

In addition, at a recent stakeholder engagement, the Gaming Commission and the Financial Intelligence Centre laid out a series of steps which will ensure that operators in the fast-growing gaming industry comply with the mandatory KYC verification.

The Nimako Marfo-led board of directors at the Gaming Commission is expected to assist the Commission’s management to create and maintain a viable, fair and respectable gaming industry for all who have an interest in or are affected by gaming in Ghana.

The board will also be required to create a better and sustainable industry to assist national

development.

It will do this by ensuring that the main objectives of the Commission – which are to regulate, control, monitor and supervise the operation of games of chance in Ghana – are achieved.

Gary Nimako Marfo, Esquire is a product of the Ghana School of Law and University of Ghana, Legon, having been awarded the professional law certificate by the General Legal Council in 2011.

He earned his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Ghana in 2009.

He also holds a Bachelor’s degree (BA Hons) in political science and philosophy from the University of Ghana, which he obtained in 2002.

He obtained his A’ level certificate from Opoku Ware Senior High School between 1994 and 1996 and studied towards his O’ level certificate at St Hubert’s Seminary between 1989 and

1994.

As an active legal practitioner, he has a working understanding of civil litigation, corporate law practice, communication service contracts, international immigration law practice, alternative dispute resolution and negotiations, commercial contracts, labour-related matters, insurance, criminal law and procurement law.

In 2011 he joined the national communication team of the New Patriotic Party and was appointed a member of the party’s legal and constitutional committee. He has remained part of the legal team.

In 2020 he served as national co-ordinator for legal affairs for the Ashanti Region in the December election, as well as being a member of the NPP national vetting committee with special responsibility for parliamentary candidates in Ashanti.

11

Agribusiness

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

Trade and the future of food

BY Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

N

o one can survive without food. And yet, the world’s food systems are badly in need of reform. To ensure universal access to adequate nutrition, as well as long-term environmental sustainability, we need to change how we produce, process, transport, and consume food. World Food Day should spur us to consider how to achieve this, and to recognize that trade must be part of the solution.

The recent United Nations Food Systems Summit highlighted not only the need for comprehensive reforms, but also the key role that governments must play in improving how food markets function. This will require deeper international cooperation. As the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us, joint action is essential to enable all people to live healthy and dignified lives.

Barriers to trade in basic necessities, such as food and medicine, frustrate efforts to improve nutrition and health, thereby undermining the basis of future prosperity. By contrast, effective trade can reduce hunger and malnutrition not only by ensuring the delivery of food supplies, but also by creating decent work and raising incomes.

The urgency of the problem has become undeniable. We already know that climate change is altering temperature and precipitation patterns and leading to more frequent and

extreme weather events – all of which can wreak havoc on food production. In such an unstable and unpredictable context, global food markets provide a lifeline to countries or regions facing sudden shocks.

We are already falling behind.

In 2015, the world adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 2, which calls for ending world hunger, achieving food security and improved nutrition, and promoting sustainable agriculture by 2030.

Six years later, we are nowhere close to being on track to achieving these targets. On the contrary, we seem to be moving backwards, buffeted by headwinds like the pandemic, economic downturns, violent conflict, and climate-related shocks. In fact, hunger and malnutrition rose substantially in 2020: according to the UN, some 9.9% of the world population is estimated to have been undernourished last year, up from 8.4% in 2019.

To reverse this trend and ensure that food systems work for people and the planet, governments must

redouble their efforts to update global rules on trade. At the same time, they must abandon policies that distort the rapidly evolving global food market. For example, governments spend $22 billion each year to keep economically unviable fishing fleets at sea – a policy that drives depletion of fish stocks. Farm-support programs can similarly distort food and agricultural markets, with fossilfuel subsidies compounding the effects.

Governments must find new ways to reverse underinvestment in public goods relating to food and agriculture, especially in low-income countries, while improving the global allocation of scarce resources. Here, they should take advantage of the growing importance of digital trade and services in poor countries.

The challenge may seem daunting.

But, with an incremental approach, progress is possible. Next month, at the World Trade Organization’s 12th ministerial conference in Geneva, trade ministers will have an

opportunity to devise just such an approach and take important steps forward.

For example, ministers will consider how to end harmful fishery subsidies, which contribute to overfishing and overcapacity, and threaten to drive some species to extinction.

Countries could also agree to exempt the UN World Food Programme’s humanitarian food aid purchases from export restrictions, thereby making food more accessible to the world’s poor and those displaced by internal strife or the effects of climate change.

Moreover, ministers will have an opportunity to drive forward negotiations on a slate of issues relating to agricultural trade including cuts in tradedistorting government subsidies and improved access to foreign markets. Here, agreement on concrete measures, as well as on the direction of future talks, would amount to tangible progress toward the food future we need.

World Food Day offers an important opportunity to remember how and why food matters to people. But we must not forget the vital role trade plays in shaping the production, availability, pricing, and quality of that food. No effort to create a more equitable and sustainable food system will be complete without world leaders’ concerted action on trade.

ADB launches Payday Plus for salaried workers

T

he Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) has introduced a new product for salaried workers who save with the bank to provide immediate financial support to customers.

The product dubbed “Pay Day Plus” is a quick salary advance for workers who receive their salaries through the Bank to borrow up to 80% of their next net salary or GH₵10,000.00 of their net salary less loans to meet contingency expenses.

Speaking about the new product, the ADB Managing Director, Dr. John Kofi Mensah said that the “Payday Plus” was in response to customers need to access fast and easy credit facilities before they get their salaries at the end of the month.

“The Pay Day Plus is designed

to help salaried workers who find themselves in financial difficulties before the end of the month to access upto 80% of the next net salary or enjoy upto GHS10, 000.00,” he said.

According to Dr. Kofi Mensah, customers get to enjoy an

interest free loan if repayment is made within thirty (30) days and customers get their request granted within twenty-four hours.

The ADB Managing Director was optimistic the Payday Plus will meet the necessary needs of customers and urged customers

to take advantage of it.

He also reiterated that the Bank will continue to develop products and services to enhance the banking experience of its customers by visiting any ADB branch nationwide.

12

News

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

School Feeding monitoring now digitised as WFP donates 300 tablets

T

he Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has taken delivery of 300 digital tablets from the World Food Programme (WFP) to pilot the digitisation of its monitoring and evaluation system.

The Samsung digital tablets, uploaded with Tableau and ONA software, would be deployed nationwide to track, among others, daily attendance and feeding in selected schools across all the 260 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.

The National Coordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), Dr. Mrs. Gertrude Quashigah, at a short handing over ceremony in Accra, was elated because the Programme’s dream of going digital is now a reality.

“These tools would help GSFP to digitize our monitoring system in order to ensure real speed and more efficiency in the programme. It will also help in our quest to tighten all loose ends at the local levels where the actual implementation of the programme take place".

She noted that the tablets would also help to streamline the day-today activities of GSFP, especially in terms of validating enrolment figures, flow of information and checking the performance of caterers in general, and effectively injecting sanity into

the operations of the programme.

Mrs. Quashigah was optimistic that switching from manual to digital operating system would invariably enhance GSFP’s credibility, transparency and accountability.

Describing the partnership between GSFP and WFP as “solid” and “worthy”, the National Coordinator assured that the tools would be used for the purpose for which they were donated and maintained for maximum benefit.

She however called for support to digitise the entire Ghana School Feeding Programme in the nearest future for the delivery of an effective Home-Grown School Feeding Programme in Ghana.

Ms. Anna Mukiibi-Bunnya, WFP Representative ad interim and Officer-in-charge, reiterated the importance of the digitization

project as well as its ultimate goal.

“In summary, the tablets will enhance the monitoring and reporting capacity of the Ghana School Feeding Programme as actual data on school attendance and feeding will be generated to enable payments to reflect these numbers. This should lead to cost effectiveness and savings which can be used to expand the programme, to reach more school children. This is the ultimate goal.”

Since the tablets would run on data, and considering the wobbling network situation in some parts of the country, Ms. Mukiibi-Bunnya appealed to the telcos to support GSFP with the required data for the sustainability of the project.

Meanwhile, the Ghana School Feeding Programme has secured

SIM Cards loaded with data for the tablets to ensure internet accessibility and easy data transfer.

Deputy Director General, Quality and Access at the Ghana Education Service, Dr. Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, commended the project and announced that the GES would also rollout a system that would track students’ attendance, and hope to share data with GSFP on that level too.

Touting the importance of school feeding, he said, “as at now, we have data and evidence to show that if you go into communities where the school feeding programme is happening in one school and not in the other school, it shows in the enrollment.

Most of the students gravitate to the schools where there is a school feeding programme”.

The Director of Monitoring and Evaluation at Ghana School Feeding Programme, Mrs. Akyere Frimpong Manu, who is in charge of the project implementation told journalists that training of trainers workshop is being organised for GSFP staff at the National Secretariat.

The trained team, she said, would be deployed for nationwide training from October 18 to train headteachers, Circuit Supervisors and staff of GSFP at the regional level on the use of the tablets.

Business24 Real Estate Conference comes off tomorrow

T

he maiden edition of the Business24 Real Estate Conference (REC2021) comes off tomorrow at the plush Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.

The one-day event is being organised by Ghana’s premier business e-Newspaper and digital media firm, Business24 Limited in collaboration with the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry (GHCCI).

On the theme “Affordable Housing for Every Ghanaian: A Myth or Possibility”, it will convene a carefully selected group of industry players, professionals and experts to engage in discussions that seek to match the various challenges of affordable housing development to workable solutions.

Ghana’s housing deficit is estimated at more than two million units and continues to rise due to population growth,

urbanisation, rising incomes and shrinking household sizes.

Heightening the situation is the absence of a workable state policy on rent, which has seen most average Ghanaians in search of decent accommodation spend a chunk of their earnings on exorbitant rent payments.

The Business24 Real Estate Conference will set the platform for discussions on government actions aimed at promoting affordable housing and the creation of a vibrant housing market that will deliver the housing needs of Ghanaians.

The conference will be officially opened by the Minister for Works and Housing, Mr. Top real estate gurus that will be speaking the conference include Mr. Samuel Amegayibor, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA); Mr. Prosper Yao Ledi,

National President of the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractors of Ghana (ABCECG) and Mr. Emmanuel Cherry, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry (GHCCI).

The rest are Frank Oppong Yeboah, Manager, Mortgage Business, Republic Bank; and Arc. S.M Quartey, President of the Ghana Institute of Architects.

The maiden Business24 Real Estate Conference is sponsored by Lakeside Estates, GT Bank, Nespresso and Jamila Home.

Media partners are Business24 e-Newspaper, Asaase Radio, Class Media Group and

Dominion Television.

END.

13

Feature

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

Ending hunger sustainably

By Maximo Torero

I

n 2015, 193 countries gathered at the United Nations and pledged to end global hunger by 2030 as part of the Agenda for Sustainable Development.

With less than a decade to go, prospects for achieving this goal appear bleak. Improving them will require governments and the private sector to address the global food and environmental crises simultaneously.

Food insecurity has increased in recent years as a result of conflicts and climate change, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying global economic crisis. Today, up to 811 million people suffer from hunger, including 132 million additional people who were classified as undernourished during the pandemic. Another three billion people are too poor to afford a healthy diet.

Efforts to fight hunger have traditionally focused on producing more food – but this has come at a high environmental cost. Agriculture depletes 70% of the world’s fresh water and 40% of its land. It has contributed to the near-extinction of around one million species. Food production generates 30% of global greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions and is the leading cause of deforestation in the Amazon.

Policymakers seeking to eradicate hunger today thus face a difficult dilemma: preventing billions from going hungry while also saving the planet.

For example, a fertilizer subsidy could boost crop yields and reduce hunger, but it could also lead to excessive nitrogen use, thus ruining the soil.

Similarly, cattle and rice farms emit methane, a more potent GHG than carbon dioxide. The most effective way to reduce methane emissions is to tax them. But this would cause food prices to rise, affect poor consumers’ access to nutrition, and threaten the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers.

Countries must therefore establish an optimal level of environmental pollution that doesn’t reduce agricultural productivity or undermine the social and economic well-being of the poor. We need a solution that feeds the most mouths without endangering the planet.

Finding a workable plan requires looking at food systems holistically – a major departure from the current siloed approach. To avoid unintended consequences, it is essential to quantify any trade-offs with data. And to turn data-driven strategies into action demands a coordinated effort to boost public and private investments.

No one intervention alone can solve the hunger problem. But studies suggest that a mix of key measures aimed at increasing farm productivity and cutting food loss and waste could reduce the number of chronically hungry people by 314 million in the next decade, and also make healthy diets available for 568 million people. Expanding countries’ national safety nets, including school-feeding programs, could give an additional 2.4 billion people access to a healthy diet by 2030.

Another study shows how a series of low-cost initiatives can end hunger for 500 million people by 2030 while also limiting agricultural GHG emissions in

line with the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. These initiatives include agricultural research and development to produce food more efficiently, information services that provide farmers with weather forecasts and crop prices, literacy programs for women – who account for almost half of small farmers in developing countries – and scaling up social protection.

This can be accomplished if rich countries double their foodsecurity aid to $26 billion per year until 2030, and poorer countries maintain their annual investment of $19 billion.

Automation can help to manage the trade-offs between food production and environmental protection. For example, “AgBots” that resemble small farm vehicles can identify and remove weeds. Because they don’t use expensive chemical herbicides, robots can reduce the cost of weeding by 90% and protect the soil from potentially harmful chemicals. Likewise, artificial intelligence and cloud solutions can detect pest-infested areas using drone imaging. The data collected can help to guide farmers’ irrigation, planting, and fertilization decisions, and indicate the best time of the year to sell a given crop.

Governments must now work with the private sector to make these high-tech, precisionfarming systems available at lower costs, especially for small farmers. The good news is that private firms are increasingly keen to promote sustainability – including through “blended finance” schemes, which combine an initial investment from governments or multilateral financial institutions

with subsequent commercial financing.

This kind of approach can effectively de-risk private finance and encourage investment in improving food systems.

For example, the US and Dutch governments have been working with the German coffee company Neumann Kaffee Gruppe and three European banks to provide a $25 million loan to small farmers in Colombia, Kenya, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, and Uganda for sustainable coffee production.

The banks initially rejected the proposal because small farmers are usually shut out of financial services and thus unable to prove their creditworthiness, making them a high-risk group for commercial lenders. But the banks signed on to the scheme after the Dutch government and Neumann Kaffee Gruppe agreed to cover the first 10% of losses should it not pan out, with the US government absorbing 40% of the remaining losses.

Detractors will argue that individual countries should be responsible for reversing the trend of rising hunger through domestic policies. While this may be true, other problems such as GHG emissions cannot be tackled by a country or a region on its own, and must be addressed and funded globally.

Saving the planet does not have to come at the expense of feeding the poor, and vice versa.

If governments get their act together, it’s still not too late to wipe out hunger by 2030.

Maximo Torero is Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

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MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

15

Feature

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

No more pandemic have-nots

By Mark Malloch-Brown, Raj Shah, Darren Walker

C

OVID-19 has bifurcated the world like almost nothing else.

The wealthiest countries have more than enough vaccine doses with which to protect their people from the ravages of the virus, while the poorest countries do not.

Those in the Global North also have the means to stave off economic calamity and social disruption through massive stimulus packages, while hundreds of millions in the Global South have been driven into extreme poverty.

This inequitable divide leaves humanity far more vulnerable to the next stage of the pandemic, as well as to any other systemic crisis that may emerge.

As leaders of some of the world’s largest philanthropies, there are two things we know for sure. First, history has taught us that transformational change almost always has been triggered by some deep crisis. Second, only by coming together can the world muster the bold, urgent action needed to reverse the great divergence between the haves and have-nots that we see today. Only through cooperation and coordination can we launch a transformative era of progress.

To that end, the Aliko Dangote Foundation, Archewell Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Chaudhary Foundation in Nepal, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Fundación Saldarriaga Concha, the Kagiso Trust, the MasterCard Foundation, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Open Society

Foundations, the OppGen Philanthropies, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation have joined forces to establish a global alliance of foundations. And we are inviting other philanthropies to join our network.

At our first meeting this week, we agreed that our organizations, which have so far collectively pledged $3 billion to fight COVID-19, will mobilize additional resources, expertise, and advocacy power to bolster global efforts. Our strategies will be shaped by the advice of institutions like the World Health Organization and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as civil-society groups and community leaders around the world.

Over the past year, our respective institutions have supported the communities and individuals on the front lines of the crisis, showing in their response the best of what humanity has to offer: commitment, solidarity, courage, and compassion. Now, the leaders of wealthier countries and global institutions must do the same.

To encourage the necessary global action, our coalition will advocate for two primary objectives. First, the world must assume collective responsibility to achieve the WHO’s ambitious targets to vaccinate at least 40% of the population in low- and middle-income countries by the end of this year, and 70%

by September 2022. We call on government leaders and policymakers – including those attending this week’s World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, DC, and the G20 summit in Rome later

this month – to provide the doses, financial resources, and delivery logistics needed to achieve these targets.

Governments that have stockpiled hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses must immediately redistribute them to low-vaccination countries before they expire in the coming months. And looking beyond this immediate emergency, we must make critical investments to build long-term pharmaceutical manufacturing capacities in poorer countries, so that we will be prepared for the next global public-health crisis.

Second, to spur global economic recovery, we urge the governments of high-income countries to reallocate at least $100 billion in recycled special drawing rights (SDRs, the IMF’s reserve asset) for low- and middle-income countries in 2021.

We also call on them to commit to a $100 billion replenishment of the World Bank’s International Development Association fund to support the pandemic response and economic recovery in the world’s poorest countries.

We believe that foundations, working within the new coalition and on their own, can play a key role in backing and reinforcing national and global efforts.

Together, we will support those voices who will hold leaders’ feet to the fire until they have delivered on public health and the economic recoveries.

There is no time to waste.

Every month’s delay brings more unnecessary risk and injustice by nurturing new, potentially deadlier variants of the coronavirus, by exposing more people to infection and death, by widening existing inequalities

and driving more people into poverty, and by fomenting social and political unrest. And we must confront all of this at a moment when we also face the existential threat of climate change.

The longer we drag our feet, the more opportunities we will lose. Inaction translates into more businesses that cannot launch, more hours of school disruptions for students eager to learn, and more months of unemployment for people who are ready to get back to work.

The pandemic is far from the only issue that humanity faces, so our respective foundations will continue to work in many places and on many other issues after the immediate health and economic crises have passed.

But we know that without action today, these interrelated crises will compound humanity’s longer-term challenges. And we know that, together, we can meet this decisive moment and help to ensure a more equitable, sustainable future for all.

This commentary is also signed

by Zouera Youssoufou, the Aliko Dangote Foundation; James Holt, Archewell Foundation; Mark Suzman, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Nirvana Chaudhary, the Chaudhary Foundation; Kate Hampton, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation; Peter Laugharn, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; Juan Pablo Alzate, Fundación Saldarriaga Concha; Boichoko Ditlhake, the Kagiso Trust; Reeta Roy, the MasterCard Foundation; Nathalie De La Palme, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation; Emmanuel OwusuSekyere, OppGen Philanthropies; and Larry Kramer, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

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MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

17

Banking/Finance

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

Brands’ media reach as brand health metric: Ghanaian banks media reach ratings Q3, 2021

By Messan Mawugbe (PhD)

T

oday, banks are operating in a new competitive environment of media fluidity and fleeting news content in tweets, hashtags, videos, images and narratives.

As a results of this new challenge, banks’ brand communication managers are poised to be ahead of the brand-content competition, a competition of extensive media coverage, visibility, mentions, and publication reach to consumers.

Undeniably, the media remains a critical brand communication tool in terms of promoting brand reputation, consumer trust and disseminating brands related attributes and issues as a way of maintain difference from other brands. In many instances, brand communication executive pays less attention to the brands reach strategy. A brand reach simply refers to the extent of which targeted potential number of consumers are exposed to a brand’s news or media narrative. Furthermore, brand reach is a consistent scientific measurement of an intended media coverage consumers are directed exposures to a particular brand story.

On the other hand, corporate’s brand health is an aggregation of perceptions, sentiments and brand visibility metrics.

Each of these brand metrics

contribute significantly to the success, sustainability and brand retentions in any competitive business sector such as banking.

Unfortunately, many banking corporates pay less attention to their brand’s media reach or visibility.

Behind every brand-health metric is a signal that points to how healthy a brand is.

Competitive corporates are adopting mechanisms to measure brand health through brand’s media reach as a way of establishing the composite health of their brands since a brand’s consistent and effective media reach strategies translates into a positive brand health and visibility share. At the same time, other banking corporates are paying less attention to their

brand’s media reach.

The importance of brands media reach in strategic brand health management induced this study on the Ghanaian banks’ brands media reach index. The study analysed 157 banking news stories from online, print, radio and TV mediums. Using quantitative content deconstruction analysis, numerical values were assigned to all symbols of communication related to the 22 banks in the Ghanaian banking sector. In analysis of 7864 news statements yielding 5571 banking sector issues with inter coder validity at 85%, ADB bank emerged as the bank with highest media reach among the Top 10 ratings with ABSA and GCB banks securing the second and Ecobank gaining

the third position respectively.

This study is intended to contribute to the Ghanaian banking sector development through the tools of strategic brand communication intelligence tools.

Communication executives and managers of the banking sector are encouraged to adopt media reach measurements as one of the key brand health metrics for a comprehensive assessment of their corporate brand’s health and positioning within the media ecosystem.

The writer is a lecturer at the Communications Studies Department of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and Founder of the Institute of Brands Narrative Analysis (IBNA) Email- nekzy@ yahoo.com

StanChart accelerates strategic investment aim to achieve 50% of income from digital initiatives

S

tandard Chartered has updated investors on its innovation and digitisation strategy, explaining how it is shifting investment to new platforms, partnerships and ventures that

will shape the future of the business, a pivot that is already demonstrating clear evidence of success.

This demonstrates how innovation is core to Standard Chartered’s strategy, enabling the

bank to transform itself to meet the changing needs of customers in the world’s most dynamic markets.

Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, said:“This is a pivotal moment for the bank; we’ve

increased our cash investment in strategic initiatives over the last five years and plan to double that to around $1bn a year. In our dynamic markets, customer demands are ever changing. We want to be the bank for economic growth, and so we will be a consistent and positive disruptor, thinking ahead and anticipating our customers’ needs.

We have a differentiated approach to innovation, rooted in the unique strengths of our footprint and experience, our strengthened technology core and broad partnerships. And with Mox, CardsPal, Solv and others we have some exciting evidence that it’s bearing fruit. Through strategic investments, we are transforming Standard Chartered and the way we do banking.”

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MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

19

Feature

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

2022 salesforce readiness – the revenue cannot wait!

T

he impact of the pandemic has changed the frontier of sales. We are not in normal times and to put it bluntly, the revenue cannot wait!

The customer must be served and the revenue must be gleaned at every opportunity.

Is your salesforce ready for today’s market and for the new realities at sales especially the way competition has become fierce characterized by swift brand switch?

For how long are companies going to continue doing the same scripting at sales, copy-cat trends at marketing with zero sales alignment and overloading their salesforce with heavy-duty targets without the commensurate ammunition through Sales Performance training?

If the times call the shots, then businesses (large, small or startups) must be ready to re-tool their sales apparatus and empower their Salesforce through cutting edge techniques to be able to access tomorrow’s revenue today and make congruent plans for harvesting the valuable market.

Exploring further with Salesforce readiness, our field observations and intelligence gathering consul revealed the following insights: Firstly, customers are speedily switching to competition since the freebie and discount offering have become unsustainable. Also, the current product-orientated approach to sales is not working.

This is simply because customers are coerced to buy volumes not based on their true potential and expected growth hence, they are unable to sell and end up with expired products on hand.

This approach does not only lock up the customers’ valuable investments but ultimately turns

the customer into a storehouse and not a sales point. It is inorganic for your salesforce to keep baiting the customer with discounts to buy more when they don’t understand how to help move the stock that has already been bought. How far can businesses go and grow by this approach?

Secondly, we also observed from our interviews that most sales teams coerce customers to make large orders (services) without ensuring commensurate consistent payments to the business.

The maxim of “not everyone is your customer” lends itself to this point. We often hum this maxim during our Sales performance training sessions. The truth and reality are that everyone out there may be a potential customer but not your customer.

The maxim also helps us to qualify our sales process by observing the reality that we want paying customers not ordering customers. And the earlier sales teams of companies align their sales process to the veracity of this maxim, the better it will be for their revenue generation matrix.

More critically, your customers must fit your vision and your sales strategy with a balanced focus on the industry or sector you operate in. So the question to pose is this: “Do we want paying customers or ordering customers?” Yeah, exactly my point. We want customers who pay-up for goods and services ordered and not customers who are coerced to buy more without paying.

Fundamentally, we all would love customers who can pay for the goods and services offered to them less we become a storehouse that accumulates irrecoverable debts. We all would

love customers who would help visions succeed through loyalty, repeat business and increased referrals.

It is obvious many businesses will shy away from customers who are disloyal and self-serving.

And to be fair, it is usually the mundane tactics and blunt techniques of today’s Salesforce that chases away the customers into the arms of competition.

Lastly, we also observed that customer management apathy is another cause for worry in our sales terrain today. What is the point of a relationship when it is lopsided and favors only the seller and not the buyer? What is the point of the relationship, when there is no deliberate attempt to give value to the customer through value-based selling denoted by thoughtful customized solutions coupled with after sales service support? Surely we may capture customers today, but by the apathetic behavior at managing the relationship, they will slip out of our hands faster than we acquired them.

All the above insights and realities point us in one direction, change. Not just change but swift change for the customer is not waiting and the revenue cannot also wait. To determinedly chart this same path using the same tools and approaches you have used in the past is to set your business up for failure.

The handwriting is clearly on the wall that you have tried what will not work and also tried mechanics that have not worked. Persistence on this path will only deepen the holes in our revenue bag whilst deepening the customer pain and afflictions.

Disciplined entrepreneurs and businesses of the future cannot continue with the mindset of

business as usual when others are doing brisk business with daily and monthly revenue flowing in.

As we apportion blame on the industry and the sales team; we must be quick to also assert that it is the quality of the training they have been given, the frequency of the sales coaching, the orientation of their sales process as well as their sales coach.

We believe it is time for the injection of value, progress and performance into your sales apparatus through our new “Strategic Selling Briefcase”, the new performance training formula for winning customers and smashing targets.

This special formula is a 4-module combination that ensures that you serve the customer from the value stand-point, with rapid closing techniques that will enable you to optimize your sales process with sterling and measurable results.

Signing up your team for this strategic session will empower your Salesforce with sharpened selling techniques, effective sales process and enhanced efforts, prompt emotional response at the frontlines (EQ), consistent revenue generation and great value.

Conclusively, the revenue cannot and the customers cannot wait. As a dependable partner with working training solutions for your business, let’s seize the day and get ready for the dawning New Year (2022) come November 11, 2021.

Your Salesforce readiness and preparedness is your cutting edge for harvesting the valuable market. It's time to take the advantage by securing your team through these contact points: 0244979879: ecltraining.perform@gmail.com, brandexposuremktc@gmail.com

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MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

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NO. B24 / 262 | NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS

MONDAY MAY 3, 2021

MONDAY OCTOBER 18, 2021

Attaining food security: Buffer Stock calls for renewed commitment

T

he National Food Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) has called for renewed commitment among stakeholders towards the attainment of food security in the country as Ghana joins the rest of the world to commemorate this year’s World Food Day. A statement issued by the company in Accra urged stakeholders to re-affirm what it called the non-negotiable duty to prevent hunger, diseases and poverty arising out of food shortages or the total absence of same.

World Food Day is commemorated around the world on October 16, every year to promote global awareness of hunger and also highlight the need for member countries of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to prioritise and ensure food security.

Ghana is, however, commemorating the day today with a flag-raising ceremony at the University of Ghana, Legon.

The theme for this year’s commemoration is: "Our

actions are our future — Better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life".

The commemoration will focus on sustainable food security strategies amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NAFCO statement said even though the government had done commendably well to ensure

food production and availability through strategic interventions, such as Planting for Food and Jobs, the fertiliser subsidy, as well as increased funding towards facilitating the storage, processing and marketing of same, it was important to strengthen the country’s resolve to ensure adequate food security on a longterm basis.

It also said adequate funding was required to ensure the continued existence and operationalisation of strategic institutions set up to work towards the attainment of food security goals.

The statement comes days after the release of the latest Global Food Security Index published by the London-based The Economist Magazine last Tuesday, which placed Ghana 82nd out of 113 countries.

The annual index ranks countries based on affordability, availability, as well as quality and safety of food.

Ghana scored an overall mark of 52 points out of 100.

On availability of food, Ghana scored 48.6 out of 100, while on affordability, it scored 60 out of 100.

Countries such as Sri Lanka, Mali and Pakistan performed better than Ghana.

Ireland was declared the world’s most food secure country, followed by Austria and the UK. On the African continent, Ghana placed fourth on the ranking, out of 28 countries.

Dr. Kobby Mensah selected as member of British Council’s Innovation for African Universities (IAU) programme Dr. Kobby Mensah, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), together with other experts from Strathmore University (Kenya), Sustainable Travel and Tourism Agenda (Kenya), and African Tourism Partners (South Africa) have been selected by the University of Brighton to collaborate on a project which is being supported

by British Council’s Innovation for African Universities (IAU) program. The project aims to create opportunities for the young people within Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa to ensure the full utilization of the economic benefits present within the tourism sector.

The IAU programme will specifically focus on graduates who are unemployed or underemployed, and individuals who are unable to grow their businesses due to a lack of

support.

The programme is seeking to strengthen entrepreneurship within the tourism space through the establishment of innovation hubs and mentorship programmes among other initiatives to help drive economic growth and sustainable development.

Among the various sectors within Africa, tourism is one of the economic sectors that is growing at a very fast pace, and it is contributing hugely to employment and biodiversity conservation. It is serving as a tool in achieving inclusive economic growth and improved livelihoods for millions.

According to research conducted in major African nations like Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa, many of the people who work in the tourism sector are young people. However, the number of young people of working age who are employed in Africa are few, and young women

are the most affected.

Dr. Kobby Mensah is a highly motivated, research-oriented academic who believes in evidence-led, hands-on, and collaborative teaching and research. He has a profound interest in the organisation and management of modern political and social institutions under the disciplines of political marketing and branding, and destination marketing and branding.

He is equally interested in corporate marketing and branding research, as well as customer services management

and employability in Ghana. The last two interests have emerged because of almost 10 years of working experience in customer services, and his engagements in research supervision.

His competencies include general communications and campaign management, social media development and their conversion from online to onthe-ground engagement and measurement, media relations, event planning, and customer services team development and management.