Ishmael Yamson & Associates Business Roundtable 2023 Magazine

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE 2 3

ALTH CREATION

THE 4TH HORIZON OF GHANA'S GROWTH

MAY 31ST, 2023

CONTENT 41

The Importance And Contribu on Of Agribusiness

44

The Part Crew Story

48

Leveraging Agribusiness As A Means Of Wealth Crea on And Economic Development In Ghana

03

Editor’s Note

05

About IY&A

07

Governance Leadership & Wealth Crea on

09

Wealth Crea on: The 4th Horizon Of Ghana’s Growth

16

Entertainment, Arts, Culture And Tourism

21

Arts, Culture And Tourism

25

Brand Development, Brand Building And Disrup ve Global Market Opportuni es

56

Culture, Arts And Tourism And Wealth Crea on

34

The Chop Box Journey

59

Agribusiness And Wealth Crea on

37

The Power And Poten al Of The Orange Economy

64

Retrogressive Tradi ons

52

Success Through Agriculture; Resilience Or Brilliance

01 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

BuSIneSS24

02 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

Editor's Note

THE 4TH HORIZON OF GHANA'S GROWTH

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” – Barack Obama

A

t Ishmael Yamson & Associates, we take immense pride in hos ng the annual Business Roundtable ‒ it is our way of making a meaningful impact and driving posi ve change in our country and the African con nent.

Building the content for this magazine was quite a seamless process as we had a clear understanding of the message we intended to convey to readers.

The magazine is enriched by the contribu ons of trailblazers who have shared excep onal insights.

In recent years, our economy has encountered numerous challenges that are obvious to everyone.

As argued by many, Ghana possesses an abundance of natural resources that have been touted as sufficient to help the country meet its needs.

Leaders have over the years also a empted strategic efforts to capitalize on the poten al of diverse industries such as agribusiness, culture, arts and tourism, and the use of technology. Although progress has been made, our ul mate objec ve of mee ng the needs of the ci zens and providing them with basic needs remains a work-in-progress.

As the world finds itself in unprecedented mes, there is a crucial need to build a more sustainable economy.

AGRIBUSINESS AS THE LIFE OF GHANA'S ECONOMY. Agriculture has long been the backbone of Ghana's economy, accoun ng for a significant por on of employment and contribu ng to food security. Its importance can therefore not be overstated. Ghana can capture more value within the value chain by processing agricultural products and promo ng agro-industrial ac vi es. The promo on of sustainable farming prac ces and the adop on of technology in agriculture can also contribute to environmental sustainability and resilience in the face of climate change.

By adop ng modern agricultural prac ces, improving access to finance and markets, and suppor ng small-scale farmers, we are confident that Ghana can boost its economic produc vity.

What could be the reason for the setback?

BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY We have failed as a country to establish sustainable ini a ves that are able to endure in the long run.

Countless promising ini a ves have fallen through the cracks over the years, o en due to changes in government and other unforeseen circumstances.

LEVERAGING THE AFRICAN HERITAGE TO CREATE WEALTH. Ghana is now able to a ract a growing number of interna onal tourists. This not only generates revenue but also creates employment opportuni es, par cularly in the hospitality and crea ve sectors ‒ an indica on that our rich cultural

03 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

heritage presents a wealth of opportuni es for economic growth, job crea on and enhancing the country's image on the global stage.

Investments in infrastructure, coupled with effec ve marke ng strategies, can showcase the beauty and diversity of Ghana's cultural tapestry. Collabora ons between the public and private sectors, as well as engagement with local communi es, are similarly key to harnessing the poten al of our African heritage and transforming it into sustainable wealth crea on.

LEVERAGING ICT TO MAXIMISE OUTCOME. Technology has become an indispensable tool for driving economic growth and development, and our tech sector con nues to show promising growth. From improving access to educa on and healthcare to enhancing efficiency in governance and business opera ons, ICT plays a transforma ve role in shaping the economy. Access to affordable internet connec vity and the development of digital skills are therefore cri cal in ensuring that all segments of society can par cipate in the digital revolu on.

Ghana can unlock immense poten al across various sectors by harnessing the power of Informa on and Communica on Technology (ICT). We need to therefore create an enabling environment that encourages innova on and entrepreneurship in the tech sector to foster the growth of local talent and a ract more foreign investments.

In conclusion the adop on of ICT, leveraging Ghana's African heritage, and priori zing agribusiness are key strategies for building a sustainable economy. By expanding internet access, fostering innova on in the tech sector, promo ng tourism, and inves ng in agribusiness, Ghana can achieve economic diversifica on, create employment opportuni es, and improve the overall well-being of its ci zens. These efforts will contribute to Ghana's development goals and posi on the country as a leader in sustainable economic growth in Africa. Let us seize this opportunity to be the change we seek and drive posi ve transforma on for genera ons to come.

by Winnifred Adjei-Mireku & Juliana Essel Ackom

04 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES

I

SHMAEL YAMSON AND ASSOCIATES is a management consul ng prac ce which applies two core specialisa ons; in business and organiza onal transforma on, and leadership development, to help clients create and unleash value for sustained growth.

In the face of the current global and local challenges that confront businesses and organiza ons, we believe our essen al focus as partners, is to help our clients thrive and unearth the unique capabili es that can propel them into outstanding organisa ons, occupying market leadership over the long term.

The firm draws on the extensive management and business experience of a stable of competent and experienced consultants and associates in designing and execu ng all programmes, leading projects and strategy implementa on in the areas of Corporate Strategy, Organisa onal Restructuring, Process and Systems reviews and Brand Development.

OUR COMMITMENT We Will Walk With You.

PASSION AND FOCUS

We focus on implemen ng three impera ves for public and private sector organisa ons with a range of services as follows: • Developing Strategy 1. Visioning and Strategy defini on: We help companies and organisa ons define their vision and strategies, and translate Strategy into Ac on to create great, prosperous companies on a sustainable basis.

2. Developing Brands and Channels: We work with the opera ons and sales teams to help businesses to discover, formulate, and implement powerful consumer, shopper, and trade insights to guide brand vision and strategy development.

• Developing Efficient and Effec ve Businesses 1. Organisa onal Reviews & Change Management: We help organisa ons first to align their structures, people, values, and behaviours to their vision, strategies, and plans; second, we collaborate with them to design the right management systems and p ro c e s s e s , w h i c h s u p p o r t t h e d e l i v e r y o f organisa onal goals.

2. Governance Arrangements and Systems & Process review: We help organisa ons to align their governance framework and opera onal processes

and systems to drive produc vity and innova on and the delivery of strategy. We work with leaders in organisa ons to review and streamline their opera ons to provide the right pla orm for efficiency and produc vity gains.

3. Corporate Services: We offer bou que consultancy services on capacity building including recruitment, training and development, reten on and pension planning.

• Developing People 1. Coaching and Mentoring: We provide interac ve processes for managers and supervisors to solve performance problems or develop capabili es. The process relies on person-to-person collabora on to support the individuals in three areas; technical help, personal development and individual challenges.

2. Management Educa on: We bring leading-edge management thinking and a deep understanding of trends shaping organisa ons.

OUR TARGET CLIENTS

We serve a wide variety of clients, including: 1. Local and foreign investors.

2. Private sector organisa ons.

3. Public sector organisa ons including ministries, departments, and agencies.

4. Non-Profit and non-governmental organisa ons.

OUR PROGRAMMES

We offer exclusive business training and development programmes on client-specific basis to individual companies and organiza ons, and also for the general corporate community – businesses in both the private and public sectors. These programmes can be accessed in three (3) ways: 1. Companies and organiza ons can register their execu ves to par cipate in our adver sed public programmes on specific subject areas.

2. Companies can request to run any of our programmes in-house. Such arrangements require a minimum number of par cipants depending on the selected programme.

3. Special programmes can be designed and run for organiza ons and companies on a need-specific basis. The design of such programmes will be based on a brief from the organiza on or company.

05 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

06 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

GOVERNANCE, LEADERSHIP & WEALTH CREATION

I

n 2014, when we first launched the Ishmael Yamson & Associates Business Roundtable, our purpose was to help develop strong founda ons on which to build much more robust economies in Ghana and Africa. We decided therefore to focus on issues of economic growth, governance, and leadership, and how these must drive and shape Ghana's efforts towards building a fast growing, sustainable and resilient framework for wealth crea on, especially as Ghana had discovered oil and begun producing crude oil and gas in commercial quan es in 2011. Suddenly signs of the Dutch disease were beginning to emerge, and that was a worry to us.

DR. ISHMAEL YAMSON

CHAIRMAN, ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES

In the fourteen (14) years since 2010 Ghana's economic growth has been inconsistent, with high growth rates between 2010 and 2013, low growth rates between 2014 and 2016, high growth rates in 2017 and 2018, a crash to 0.51% growth in 2020 following the covid-19 disrup ons, a recovery in 2021 of 5.36% and a sharp decline in 2022 to 3.5%. The forecast for 2023 is 1.5%.

poor governance and leadership without conscience and purpose.

This clearly is an economy without resilience and sustainability. It is an economy which is overly dependent on a very narrow commodity export base but highly import driven, o en dri ed around by global economic developments. Sadly, for instance, even with Ghana's enormous arable land, the country is the most dependent on food imports in Africa.

Issues of leadership and governance in Ghana have been discussed extensively because of the impact they have had on the performance of the economy and the country's ability to create wealth on a widespread basis. The only period that Ghana has witnessed real economic transforma on was under the leadership of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who had a clear purpose to build an industrial economy, a clear agenda to build Ghana's economic and social infrastructure and a clear understanding of how to build resilience and sustainability into Ghana's economy. And he was in power for only nine (9) years!

To my mind, two factors have accounted for this dismal and inconsistent economic performance;

While the disrup ve military interven ons of the 60s, 70s and 80s created major setbacks for the

07 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

economy, it is even more true that poor governance and poor leadership have aggravated the difficul es facing the Ghanaian economy.

There is no administra on that has not been accused of serious economic mismanagement, greed, and corrup on. And regre ably our democracy has itself become a vic m of the greed and corrup on that have captured our leadership in Ghana.

The recent report- Understanding How Dirty Money Fuels Campaign Funding in Ghana- An Exploratory Study, Commission by Adam Smith Interna onal and prepared by William Nyarko and Kojo Pumpuni Asante of CDD- Ghana, clearly demonstrates how Ghana's poli cs has been captured by dirty money and excluded many capable and visionary young people from ac vely par cipa ng in the poli cs of the country. This is due to the prohibi ve cost of running for public office as the young men and women are normally unable to raise those funds. The example of the destruc on caused by State-capture in South Africa, should make it clear to Ghanaians that any form of capture is dangerous and counterproduc ve, and we must as a na on fight it.

A er sixty-six (66) years of independence from colonial rule, which we o en blame as the cause of our backwardness and lack of development, Ghana is currently a highly and unsustainably indebted and poor country. Many thousands of educated and capable young men and women

08 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

cannot find jobs and are leaving our shores in droves for hope elsewhere, hope they cannot find in Ghana.

Governance and government are meaningless if they do not create growth. Good governance and good leadership cannot be separated from Ghana's effort to create a wealthy, prosperous country. The two are inseparable, and Ghana must make every effort to embed them in its governance culture.

But even in the midst of this deep crisis, I believe that a return to prudent economic management, an embrace of good governance, and aggressive fight against greed and corrup on are possible.

What remains is our ability and determina on as a people to reject purposeless and rudderless leadership and elect leaders who can perform and who have integrity to lead our economic and social transforma on.

The Ishmael Yamson & Associates Business Roundtable started this Journey ten (10) years ago and it is our inten on to con nue on this path. We therefore invite you to join us, as Ghana embarks on a new journey to create an enabling economic and social environment in which its ci zens are empowered and feel proud to be Ghanaians.

Dr. Ishmael Yamson May, 2023

WEALTH CREATION:

TH

THE 4 HORIZON OF GHANA'S GROWTH

T

his presenta on on Wealth Crea on as the 4th Horizon for Ghana's Growth is intended to seed a review of the op ons Ghana has to create an economic transforma on and interrogate some ideas and op ons best suited f o r t h e r e c o v e r y, d e v e l o p m e n t a n d t ra n sfo r m a o n o f G h a n a ' s e co n o my. A transforma on that moves finance, people, jobs in selected sectors from low to high produc vity and a sustained resilient growth trajectory.

We have always assumed that if we produce more, we will earn more revenue and with more revenue, be able to look a er our economy and ci zens much be er. But the proof of 66 years of

MICHAEL HARRY YAMSON MANAGING PARTNER, IY&A

independence is that more revenue does not necessarily lead to sustainable development that creates resilient wealth. The ques on then becomes why we have allowed this false paradigm - that revenue equals development equals wealth - to stand for so long.

If we look at agriculture in the last seven decades, we have paid much a en on to produc on.

However, private and public investments in technology, related sciences, agriproduct branding , commercialising value-added agriproducts, and developing global markets for the services and know-how built through the agriculture and agribusiness value chains, have been insignificant and not sustained.

Consequently, agribusiness remains a daun ng exercise and therefore a low priority in alloca ng resources. This is in stark contrast to the strategies successfully employed by Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia who used agriproducts and tourism to power economic transforma ons.

09 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

Largely, revenues from cocoa exports, for example, have not gone into crea ng new industries, rather, apart from the alloca ons to scholarships, , the billions of dollars Ghana has earned from expor ng cocoa have been spent paying for recurrent expenditure and in some cases on bare-faced corrup on. Li le wonder that the sector has failed to drive Ghana's development.

Where do we find new ways to create industries from the agricultural supply chains, in planta ons, in storage, in value addi on, in branding, marke ng our food to the rest of the world and export market development? These have the poten al to turn revenue into new industry-building investments that generate stable, be er-paid jobs and medium-term wealth. Though mature, agribusiness could s ll be a source of long-term wealth. It is possible to maximise the residual value, earn significant surpluses and seed long-term growth in new industries.

The story of our heritage and crea ve industries is not much different. Revenues are mostly spent on low-value-adding ac vi es, employing few people in the sector and maintaining structures.

Very li le has been invested in crea ve industries that help us tell our story be er to a global audience and generate profits in the process. I give you the example of The Lion King. The story of Lion King originates from Southern Africa. Yet the story has been told to a global audience and commercialised by Hollywood. Hollywood has earned billions from films, merchandise, games, theatre products, and anima ons. Southern Africa saw li le of that money and the creators of the theme song earned no royal es. So, what stories do we have that we can tell be er using different formats that can fetch us billions in revenues beyond invi ng people to visit Ghana?

We can create new industries allied to the original base heritage and crea ve economy.

Now considering ICT, Ghana sits in the West African sub-region where we s ll have one of the best educa onal systems. We have the poten al to leverage the brain power of our academia and students, par cularly in the rela vely new areas

10 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

of ICT and technology. Yet, students from across the region who graduate from places like Ashesi University, having developed ICT and technology solu ons for Africa and the world, leave yearly without the opportunity to register and build their ideas into businesses in Ghana. Today, we are dependent on solu ons created outside our region based on the needs of other socie es and cultures. All governments have overtaxed and inhibited the growth of ICT and technology industries rather than incuba ng technology firms and ICT solu ons relevant to the needs of our market, the daily reali es of our ci zens and solving global problems. It will be be er to untax technology and demand that firms heavily reinvest their profits to s mulate new technology industries.

Why Focus on Wealth Crea on?

My view is that rather than pursue revenue as an end in itself, it is even more important to decide how we will invest revenue in new spheres of high-value enterprise to generate stable, highquality revenue streams that bring resilience to the economy. I agree with the view that Wealth Crea on means a sustainable acquisi on and accumula on of resources to compe vely generate relevant output and financial flows to a ain na onal development goals that fulfil the needs of ci zens without compromising the ability of future genera ons to meet their own needsii. This sort of Wealth Crea on indelibly improves the quality of life for all ci zens.

Post-pandemic and debt default, there is an opening to reset the economy.

Embracing Wealth Crea on as the development model for Ghana is right for many reasons, including the recogni on that: 1. the days of one-size-fits-all solu ons and expor ng unprocessed cocoa, metals and fish; and li le processed and illegal mber are no longer viable in the new global economic paradigm. Ghana should embrace differen ated paths to its wealth crea on goals and the managers of the economy must implement customised wealth crea on strategies for selected industries.

2. to remain relevant and compe ve in global markets requires a diversified reservoir of intellectual property, patents, innova on, and value-addi on that is 'Made-in-Ghana'.

3. sustainable profits and savings determine the pace of investments in human capital developments and innova ons to create new anchor technologies that will maximise the speed, scale and longevity of economic transforma on.

To paraphrase Dr Seyram Kawor of the UCC, “no country borrows to develop. Borrowing must only supplement a country's own accumula on of its own resources and revenues.” Therefore, amid global vola lity, a fluctua ng Cedi, vanishing domes c savings and investments, and emp ed na onal reserves, we have to step back and urgently (1). priori se crea ng resilient wealth with robust buffers to contain major shocks.

(2)

determine a new vision for wealth crea on and

(3)

decide how to achieve material improvement and qualita ve transforma on for the benefit of ci zens now and into the future.

Let me explain why.

CHANGE IS UPON US: OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND As in Africa and the developing world, Ghana's economy straddles centuries of economic revolu on from the mechanisa on of agriculture, the development of industry, the rise of services, and the knowledge economy powered by co m m u n i ca o n s , a r fi c i a l i nte l l i ge n c e , nanotechnology and biosciences. Ghana's economy is integrated with the global economy through global trade and financial markets and the intertwining of our economy with these powerful economic systems opens up new opportuni es for growth and wealth crea on.

Ghana has an opportunity in the coming decades to harmonise all four revolu ons to accelerate economic transforma on and wealth crea on.

There is no be er me than now when we have been presented with the “historic opportunity to

do so with the Africa Free Trade Con nental Area” to quote the World Bank.

CHANGE IS UPON US: DOMESTIC DISLOCATIONS On the other hand, we have all witnessed worldwide economic disrup ons since 2020, and t h e s l i d e o f G h a n a ' s e c o n o my i n t o a n unprecedented economic abyss that we are beginning to understand began as early as 2018.

The ongoing collapse and uncertainty generated con nue to spook financial markets, slow investment and ul mately economic ac vity into the medium term. Perversely, if the global recovery con nues to strengthen and as policies to frame the new global economic order are normalised, an emerging economy such as Ghana, can expect the process to expose its economy to external shocks and adverse spillovers, even as we strive to remain a viable player in key global economic systems – unless we build a more robust economy. Just as Winston Churchill advised, we should not waste this crisis.

It is an opportunity to remodel the economy.

CHANGE IS UPON US: FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS Three major developments are predicted between now and 2040 in the November 2021 World Bank Country Economic Memorandum tled Ghana Rising: Accelera ng Economic Transforma on and Crea ng Jobs; (a) Ghana's popula on will rise to 45 million (b) six in every ten people will be less than 30 years old, and (c) about 10 million young Ghanaians will join the labour force and must be gainfully engaged. It notes that "Ghana faces an acute challenge of genera ng more and be er jobs and has a 'missing middle' of employment in midproduc vity sectors". However, all is not lost. The report further acknowledged that Ghana has all it t a ke s t o c o n n u e b e i n g a n e c o n o m i c development star if it takes the right steps to nurture growth and job crea on despite the debilita ng effect of the pandemic. And I will add even more cri cally restoring prudent economic management. Specifically, the World Bank highlighted; (1) macroeconomic stability, (2) financial sector development,

11 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

(3) technological transforma on, (4) fostering greater global integra on, and I will add as a key point, (5) restoring a robust governance architecture to underpin the four priori es A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE In the Post-World War II process of wealth crea on, sub- Saharan Africa along with parts of the Middle East, the former Communist-Socialist bloc and La n America lost ground in various degrees to the winners like France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong, and then, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Chinaiii. Some heavily-endowed na ons and regions mismanaged their blessingsiv whilst countries with precious li le became adept at sustainably acquiring and accumula ng resources and improving the lives of their people indelibly. We know where Ghana fits in this picture.

Let us step briefly into 1957 to hear Victor Adams' describe the hope and op mism for a be er future when church bells rang across the city of Accra to signal the birth of modern Ghana, to the e-newsle er UN Africa Renewal. He was in his home village of Shiashi, a suburb of the Ghanaian capital. Shiashi had no electricity, roads or piped water. There were only eight mud houses in the en re village. Shiashi and its surrounding areas have since been transformed but signs of underdevelopment s ll abound, including poor sanita on, unpaved roads and makeshi homes.

In a way, the story of Shiashi reflects Ghana's uneven economic and social development over the years. A middle school student at the me of independence, Mr Adams said, "Our country could have done be er." Many Ghanaians share that sen ment.

Ghana requires a new economic model to translate resources and revenues into resilient Wealth Crea on.

Ghana cannot create wealth by just earning more money. If that were untrue we would be rich from over 100 years of cocoa, bauxite and gold exports alone. The economy needs a new paradigm where we consciously reserve por ons of our

12 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

earnings to invest in a con nuous process of resource accumula on designed to create parallel streams of income through private industry and human capital investments. It cannot be a short-term ac vity. Secondly, wealth crea on should have a clear intent to generate and distribute opportuni es across all stages of priori sed value chains. This clarity is crucial for the quality of outcomes from the alloca ons of resources: (1) for human and capital investments to produce a bigger economy, (2) to transform Ghana into a technology and innova on-driven economy (3) to support domes c industrial growth, and (4) to sustain, resilient long-term GDP growth.

Ghana as a developing country ought to be aggressive about developing opportuni es through policy-making to a ract investments.

We must support innova on and produc vity solu ons that will enable the economy to generate wealth by a rac ng the spending and investments of both local and global consumers and investors. The “if we build it, they will come” approach of the Emirates is proof posi ve of the success of pursuing wealth crea on as a na onal objec ve.

For too long greed and corrup on, self-interest, poli cal longevity, the desire for aggrandising , power and social relevance have been the main obstacles undermining wealth crea on in Ghana.

These mo va ons end with the erosion of the w e l l - b e i n g o f c i z e n s . U n f o r t u n a t e l y, commentary on intangible sources of wealth like the environment, innova on, intellectual assets, social order etcetera are underplayed and remain elusive in economic and sociological literature.

And we dare not look to na onal glory and honour for inspira on. Yet, these are what should strengthen the extent to which we produce sustained economic wealth and growth.

The Alchemy of Growth - The Three Horizons of Growth Some mes being a late bloomer has its advantages. Once the consensus bakes in, Ghana

will have a fresh canvas on which to define how to straddle the economic revolu ons in agriculture, industry, services and the new knowledge industries and value chains.

(1)

The first horizon should aim to shi the core of na onal revenues to agribusiness by rapidly expanding the scale, quality and performance of deriva ve industries that either add value to or innovate around previously raw or lightly processed agricultural products. It should shi targeted investments to increase their efficiency and produc vity. The same logic should apply to value-added cultural exports, tourism products and other basic exports.

(2) The second horizon is the phase for selec ng and resourcing emerging technological and innova on industries which should be at the core of the New Ghana economy. A successful strategy will create self-funding growth from entrepreneurial ventures that will generate substan al broad and longterm economic opportuni es very quickly in the transforma on cycle.

debt, and buying Made-in-Ghana. ● THE SHIFT IN MIND-SET – STEP OUT. STAND OUT Ÿ

Develop Ghana Inc. as an economic philosophy founded on discipline, keeping high standards, and integrity; the protec on of individual rights, property rights, and the environment; and the supremacy of the rule of law.

Ÿ

Build ecosystems to promote trade and rela onships that reinforce our development and growth plans.

Ÿ

Intensify partnerships in markets and knowledge that enable the economy to u lise natural and human resources more efficiently and effec vely than before.

Ÿ

Break from the socioeconomic and poli cal norms in the African region. Ar culate a bold, standout vision about what life, work and leisure in the New Ghana economy will be like.

● THE SHIFT TO FOCUS – PRIORITISE INVESTMENTS Ÿ

Increase the savings rate in the economy and make genera onal investments in mul ple, long-term income flows; and break the false belief that financial success is possible without a disciplined focus on raising the rates of savings, (re)inves ng, and increasing the levels of financial literacy and business skills. Ergo, put wealth crea on above borrowing and crea ng unsustainable debt.

Ÿ

Concentrate government spending on na onal priori es and human resources founded on broad consensus, not poli cal ini a ves and schemes that drive the cost of government but do not create value; do not waste na onal resources on short-term projects and conspicuous consump on in government.

Ÿ

Decide more strategically, whose money to use for what. Leverage the geopoli cs of today.

Blend the resources of private investors with those of emerging economies, the IMF and World Bank, China, India and the West in seeking financing to invest in skills, physical infrastructure, and business development.

Learn to GAME and stop being PLAYERS.

The transi on to technology and innova on driven industries requires three major shi s in culture, mind-set and focus as follows: ● THE SHIFT IN CULTURE Ÿ

Share the Vision and Culture of the Future

Ÿ

Clearly define the strategic direc on of the economy and society and get everyone deeply mo vated by and commi ed to the journey to transform lives; not just change lifestyles.

Ÿ

Ÿ

Highlight the new na onal values and end the culture of seeing the na on's tolerance for mediocre leaders as infinite and embrace a meritocracy. Demand changed behaviours to undergird the transforma on agenda in terms o f p e rs o n a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y a n d b e i n g accountable.

Build the right habits to be a self-sufficient economy. Emphasise sound economic principles such as modera ng consumerism a n d d i s c i p l i n e d w o r k- e t h i c , b u i l d i n g compe ve advantage across industries, low

13 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

(3)

The third and farthest-looking horizon of wealth crea on, targets how to elongate long-term growth by leveraging exploratory investments in R&D; and deploying strategies and technologies to establish new agribusinesses, crea ve, heritage, knowledge and technological industries to secure five long-term fundamentals in the New Ghana economy, namely:

1.

Job crea on through the radical transforma on of the core sectors and transi oning of labour with new skills into new industries with higher produc vity – especially innova on, ICT and business services. These more socially and geographically mobile workers also expand d o m e s c t ra d e , u r b a n i s a o n , a n d connec vity.

2. Produc vity growth, intensified innova on and entrepreneurship rates through domes c firms' adop on of digital and complementary technologies to accelerate the economic transforma on. To enable this change, The New Ghana will require radically improved micro-level infrastructure, internet connec vity and investments in a wide range of digital skills to facilitate technology adop on by firms.

3.

Inclusive private sector development that leverages domes c savings and financial resources to facilitate technology adop on, innova on and the expansion of local firms.

4. Macro and fiscal stability, be er natural resource management and smart, broadbased revenue mobilisa on to generate revenues to fund reforms and economic transforma on.

5. Long-term inclusive growth that incen vises sustainable exploita on of natural resources, protects the environment and minimises the impact of climate change on households.

LEADERSHIP IS EVERYTHING Leadership is indeed a crucial factor in the success and development of any country, Ghana included.

It inspires and unites people, drives progress and economic growth, and makes posi ve changes in

14 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

the lives of ci zens happen. The underpinnings of Leadership are the Values of leaders that play a crucial role in determining the success of any country's efforts towards wealth crea on. The values held by Ghanaian leaders will significantly impact the country's economic growth, job crea on, and development. For Ghana to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth, its leaders must exorcise the wicked torments of mismanagement, corrup on and greed; and priori se core values, the most needed of which are:

VALUES 1.

Integrity: the self-confidence to act with honesty and transparency in all their dealings, whether in public or private sector roles to build trust and credibility with ci zens, investors, and other stakeholders.

2.

Accountability: the humility to take responsibility for their ac ons and answer to the people they serve. This means being willing to submit to tough ques ons, admit mistakes, and take correc ve ac on to secure the future.

ATTITUDES 3. Innova on: the forethought, an cipa on, and adapta on we some mes describe as being visionary. Add to that, inves ng in research and development, entrepreneurship, and the passion to promote crea vity that changes lives in all aspects of society and all sectors of the economy. This ecosystem enables innova on, start-ups, and small businesses to thrive.

BEHAVIOURS 4. Discipline: respect for the new social norms, the rule-of law and a respect for me.

5. Inclusivity: inves ng in educa on and training for all ci zens to ensure fair access to the benefits from economic growth for all segments of society; promo ng gender e q u a l i t y, a n d c r e a n g e m p l o y m e n t opportuni es for marginalised groups.

6.

Sustainability: priori sing resilience from s u sta i n a b l e d eve l o p m e nt p ra c c e s ,

protec ng natural resources, inves ng in renewable and green energy and the longterm aspects of economic growth, when considering the impact of any policy on the environment, future genera ons, and social cohesion. We cannot build sustainability in the New Ghana economy without building resilience in finance, supply chains, human capital, and business models.

I set out to address five core areas that are cri cal for us to address and interrogate as we plan to move the Ghanaian economy from the chronic crises periphery of global economic and trade systems towards the core as follows: 1.

ending the false paradigm - that revenue equals development equals wealth

2.

selec ng and inves ng in new high-value enterprise that bring resilience to the economy

3. building savings to invest in private industry and human capital to create parallel streams of income, resource accumula on and investments 4. defining how to straddle the economic revolu ons in agriculture, industry, services and knowledge industries, and 5. the importance of leadership values, a tudes and behaviours as the core underpinning for the change.

CERTAINLY, ALL IS NOT LOST. Wealth crea on as the 4th Horizon of Ghana's Development is a viable, credible economic objec ve and I recommend further discourse on this.

Thank you.

15 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

Entertainment, Arts, Culture and Tourism BRIGHT O. YEBOAH CO-FOUNDER & COO, WIFLIX

E

ntertainment and media covers a range of sectors, some well-established in Africa and other products of the digital revolu on heralded by mass smartphone use. Newspapers and magazines, tradi onal television, live music, cinema, radio and street-level adver sing remain strong on the con nent, par cularly in less developed markets. Yet they are no match in the long term for new industries, including video and music streaming, internet adver sing and social media.

“The entertainment sector in Africa is s ll very much emerging and we have barely scratched the surface of what can be achieved by inves ng in African crea vity,” says Bright Yeoah, Co-founder of Wi-flix B.V, a strategic advisory firm specialized in the African crea ve and sport sectors. The tech giants “know that their next billion users will come from Africa, which is why they are all inves ng heavily in the con nent's internet infrastructure”.

Africa's youthful popula on, growing middle class and rising internet connec vity offer a growth opportunity for streaming services in the entertainment, arts and culture industry. The con nent's video-on-demand subscrip ons will almost triple from 4.89 million at the end of 2021 to 13.7 million in 2027. This growth drives the revenues to more than double from US$2.1 million in 2022 to US$3.97 billion in 2027. Ne lix and YouTube hold nearly half the market at 48%, but these global players are being confronted with the first signs of market satura on. The interna onal offerings aren't as a rac ve to Africans, since people prefer consuming local content. Hence, African streaming services such as the Wi-flix startup in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria grew from 300 thousand to over 1 million paid subscribers in 2021 alone. More established providers remain popular, such as IROKOTV and GloTV in Nigeria, and Showmax in

16 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

South Africa. These companies can offer large amounts of locally made content alongside high-end interna onal offerings.

Over the last five years, Africa has become a prized territory for mul na onal streaming services in their ongoing ba le for supremacy. While many na ons on the con nent are, collec vely speaking, an undeveloped market in this regard, Africa boasts huge poten al for rapid growth.

According to a report by London-based intelligence firm Digital TV Research, streaming video on demand (SVOD) subscrip ons in Africa, which stood at around 5.11 million by the end of 2021, look set to triple by 2026. This has been driven by the increased connec vity infrastructure throughout Africa, the prolifera on of smart devices and a steadily growing, young, tech-savvy popula on.

Streaming services, by nature, are disruptors. Their presence has already had a significant impact on movie theaters, terrestrial, and cable television markets interna onally, and now local streaming services are staking their claim, country-by-country, across the African con nent. We believe that local players have the edge over their interna onal counterparts. That is because they are closer to their audience, have a greater knowledge of what they like to watch, and have deeper insights into how they consume that content.

We have learned a lot over the past two years. We looked at what the interna onal streaming services were doing and asked – how can we disrupt the

disruptor?

While our audience enjoys interna onal blockbusters, there is a vibrant entertainment culture across the con nent that is crying out for recogni on. Whether it is music, art, or film and television content, African people love to celebrate their local heroes and we love to consume local content. Today, African streaming services like Wi-flix in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, and iROKOtv and GloTV in Nigeria, and Showmax in South Africa – are all providing large amounts of locally made content (alongside high-end interna onal offerings), and their offerings are proving more popular with African audiences.

Ne lix has even taken no ce, pledging to invest R929 million into South Africa's crea ve industry by 2023, and has entered a collabora on with EbonyLife to produce films for the Nigerian market. Furthermore, local pla orm owners can navigate the entertainment terrain more easily, not just being more in touch with local audiences' tastes, but also being aware of the standards and requirements of the broadcas ng authori es in their regions.

Content producers and commissioners have also taken note of the appe te for local content. According to Disrupt Africa, African content start-ups had their best funding year on record in 2020, raising a combined total of $13.9 million, almost 19 mes the amount raised in the previous year and nearly 116 mes what was secured in 2018. With entertainment pla orms and start-ups seeing increased success, investors are star ng to throw more money behind them, along with fintech, e-commerce and health ventures already in their por olios.

From a recent so survey conducted, It's safe to say that over 70% of Africa's youth popula on have never been to the cinema and yet this is a con nent with growing deep internet penetra on of a vibrant, informed and mostly educated young people. Africa has more people of working age than the en re world combined. I understand that 41% of the global youth popula on will live in Africa in 2030 and those numbers may double by 2050.

Africa's media and entertainment industry at a crossroad From Instagram comedians to the telecommunica ons giants that deliver their content, the future of media in Africa is in fizzing ferment.

Trapped at home in Nairobi by the Covid-19 pandemic and, like millions around the world, feeling isolated, Elsa Majimbo started pos ng short comedic videos to Instagram. Si ng in bed ea ng crisps and laughing wildly, Majimbo quickly built a devoted following.

Two years on, she boasts 2.5m followers on the social media pla orm; magazine covers; fashion campaigns; and a new home in glitzy West Hollywood. Like many African creators, from YouTubers and gamers to musicians and actors, Majimbo embodies the dizzying growth of the con nent's entertainment and media industry.

Amid rapid digital adop on, behavioral shi s brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, and stagna ng Western markets for companies such as Ne lix, YouTube and Facebook, the path to future growth in the dynamic sector could run through Africa.

As a result, Africa's fractured entertainment and media industry finds itself at a crossroad. As African consumers devote more of their me and money to media, companies will need to be nimble. And while all agree that the sector is embarking on a period of huge expansion on the world's fastest-growing con nent, underlying vola lity means many companies will be le behind.

To them that shall be given growth Impressive growth in entertainment and media in Africa is being driven by the con nent's most developed economies. South Africa, the most industrialized na on, is also the most structured market with an established crea ve industry and strong talent pool in film, anima on, design, gaming and music. It even has its own streaming service, Showmax. The advent of 5G technology in South Africa looks set to boost the sector even more by increasing internet speeds and lowering prices.

Nigeria, with its enormous young tech-savvy popula on,

17 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

is Africa's entertainment powerhouse, domina ng in music, film, fashion and even visual arts.

Meanwhile Kenya, East Africa's economic giant and startup hub, holds huge poten al for entertainment and media companies. Last year Ne lix released its first Kenyan series, a gri y family drama called Country Queen. Highly ar s c Ghana, too, shows great poten al.

Industry experts say smaller markets including Rwanda, Côte d'Ivoire and even Benin could also help drive growth in the sector. Dakar, Senegal's capital, has established itself as a West African cultural capital and a leading sports hub. And beyond sub-Saharan Africa, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia are showing strong growth in gaming, visual arts and anima on respec vely.

S ll, markets such as Namibia and Botswana are five to six years behind the likes of South Africa, says Fakela, largely due to the high price of streaming data and slower digital uptake – which leave people reliant on tradi onal media, including newspapers and radio.

According to mobile network industry organiza on the GSMA, only 28% of sub-Saharan Africans were connected to the internet by the end of 2020. In some third- er markets, Fakela says, the state s ll has a big hold on media – though things are star ng to change.

“The cheaper data becomes, the more you have audiences coming through,” he said. “That will create a lot more fragmenta on, but I think it will drive down the cost of media.”

Lora-Mungai says that Africa's entertainment industry is in the process of structuring itself. “About five years ago, governments and development financial ins tu ons, such as Afreximbank, the Interna onal Finance Corpora on, the Agence Française de Développement and its subsidiary Proparco, and the African Development Bank – all these started looking seriously at the crea ve sector as a source of growth and job crea on,” she says.

Mone sa on on the move Meanwhile, improvements in internet penetra on, smartphone ownership, online payments and mone sa on tools have given African creators access to the global online marketplace. During the pandemic, pla orms such as Instagram and YouTube made mone sa on tools, such as mobile payments and adverts, accessible to African creators, she says.

As a result, entertainment and media revenue has grown strongly in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya since 2021 as all three major markets emerged from the pandemic, according to a report by global consultancy firm PwC. Yet Covid-19 also exposed fractures in the industry, with some sub-sectors benefi ng from behavioral shi s and others losing out. Some former niche segments, such as gaming, have become more prominent for instance, while some established sectors such as newspapers are on the slide.

Adver sing was hit hardest by the pandemic, but has experienced the largest rebound since, with internet adver sing set to grow rapidly in the coming years. The PwC report claims that 79.7% of entertainment and media revenue gained in South Africa by 2026 will come from internet adver sing, as consumers spend more and more of their me online and adver sers follow. “I think the compe on then in the next five to ten years is likely to be between Google and Facebook versus Ne lix or Amazon Prime, as opposed to Ne lix versus the local state broadcaster,” says Fakela.

Other sectors well posi oned for rapid growth include music and video streaming, whose revenue growth by 2026 is expected to outpace tradi onal TV subscrip ons in Africa's biggest markets – although TV will remain much larger. In Kenya, for instance, streaming revenue is expected to total $8.8m in 2026, while TV subscrip on revenue will total $420m, according to PwC. Similarly, music streaming is the fastest-growing component in Nigeria's music market with the country's ar sts, including Burna Boy and Wizkid, topping charts around the world.

Can Africa enter the metaverse?

By contrast, newspapers and magazines are expected to see their market share fall. Cinemas could also struggle in the long term, amid rising streaming usage – though box office revenue in South Africa remains strong. For now, cinemas are springing up in ci es like Dakar and Nairobi, catering to a growing African middle class.

18 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

In the con nent's biggest markets, a boost is coming down the track in the form of 5G (fi h genera on) mobile data technology, which should usher in cheaper and higher-quality lag-free streaming, cloud gaming and virtual reality. South Africa is on the brink of 5G adop on, a er a series of spectrum auc ons. Nigeria held a successful spectrum auc on in 2021.

“5G is going to play a huge role because I think it will significantly reduce the costs of being connected,” says Fakela. “I see it as also an economic enabler, because you have new businesses coming onstream as a result of faster connec vity, and connec vity in areas that were previously underserved.”

Originality and authen city will breed success Those that will succeed in Africa's fragmented media and entertainment industry will be those that give African consumers what they want, rather than repurposing Western content for Africa. Nowhere is that trend clearer than in streaming, where the likes of Ne lix, Amazon Prime and Spo fy have begun taking Africa seriously.

Today, Ne lix offers a vast content library, while Showmax has a slate of African originals and global sports coverage. Disney+ launched in South Africa last May, and has a foothold in Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia. Amazon Prime Video, meanwhile, launched a local service in Nigeria in August allowing customers to purchase subscrip ons in Naira, and has established dedicated country teams for Nigeria and South Africa.

Similar expansion has occurred in music streaming.

In turn, local companies are receiving record amounts of funding. According to Disrupt Africa, African entertainment startups recorded their best ever funding year in 2020, raising $13.9m, mostly from venture capital firms. It comes as streaming signups start to slow down in saturated western markets.

There is s ll some way to go, however. Streaming giants are s ll keen to match their investments to expected returns, Lora-Mungai says, causing African creators to grumble that budgets are s ll too low compared to elsewhere.

The ba le between streaming giants to boost their African customer bases shows the entertainment and media industry's trajectory, which is being set by the desires of African consumers. With low barriers to entry, consumers have a huge variety of content and services

available in their price range. Companies, meanwhile, must ba le intense compe on and con nual disrup on to stay relevant. For those that do so successfully, the pay-off will be enormous.

Science, Technology and Innova on, ICT The third Senior Experts Dialogue on Science, Te c h n o l o g y a n d I n n o va o n a n d t h e A f r i c a n Transforma on Agenda (SED 2016) ended in Pretoria with experts agreeing African governments need to do more to support innova on, especially by young people in their respec ve countries.

The SED 2016, a ended by experts from 21 African countries, including representa ves from universi es, Member States and ci es, sought, among other things, to help African countries iden fy the main opportuni es and challenges at different policy and organiza onal levels for leveraging and maximizing the rapid rise of ci es, including the rise of mega-ci es on the con nent to drive innova on and inven on.

The 2016 SED was held under the theme “Ci es as Innova on Hubs for Africa's Transforma on”.

The three-day mee ng, hosted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) of the Republic of South Africa, iden fied key elements and issues, based on local as well as interna onal experience, that African governments, along with their interna onal development partners, can take into account in formula ng ac on plans to turn their ci es from manufacturing and trade hubs into innova on hubs and centers.

African ci es were already innova ve but the sad thing was that governments were s ll unable to close the gap between what they spend on research and development and the new innova ons that can address some of the problems facing Africa's ci es.

There is a lot happening in Africa, so much poten al and untapped sectors that I think we can harness by going into strategic partnership. Africa is on the rise, let's support the young with the right environment and mentorship that will make Africa proud.

By Bright O. Yeboah, Co-Founder of Wi-Flix B.V.

19 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

20 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

Arts, Culture and Tourism

A

rts, Culture and Tourism although closely intertwined are s ll separate sectors with dis nct roles. Each requires a separate treatment to unravel an aspect of their func on and impact on society. For coherence, this ar cle will focus on tourism development with the tacit understanding that arts and culture are important enablers of tourism. Thus, there can´t be any meaningful development in tourism

without a meaningful development in arts and culture.

Ghana, a favourite holiday des na on?

It would seem the world descends on Ghana every December. Thousands of holiday makers fly in to enjoy themselves in a variety of fun filled ac vi es. They come for the concerts, the par es, the tours and the general cultural emersion.

Social media lights up with their comments, pictures and videos; feeding into the frenzy of a ¨December in Ghana¨ as the place to be.

December is only a culmina on of yearlong ac vi es as a steady stream of tourists fly into the country throughout the year. Notable among the inflows are popular American celebri es whose visits help to push the hype of des na on Ghana.

This impression is further bolstered by a lot of interna onal media a en on, whether organic or organised. Ghana o en comes up in all sorts of publica ons and news reports as an important tourist des na on in Africa.

With so much a en on on the country, it is not uncommon to see social media comments from ci zens of neighbouring countries, par cularly Nigeria, bera ng their governments for failing to orchestrate such excitement about their own countries. They would o en wonder what Ghana is doing right that they aren't?

CHIEF MOOMEN

It would appear that one ini a ve, in recent mes, the Ghanaian government got right was the Year of Return (YOR) implemented in 2019 to

POET, PLAYWRIGHT & CREATIVE ENTREPRENEUR

21 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in America. It was a PR success which helped to spur a renewed interest in the country. The private sector took advantage to launch new programmes or intensify exis ng ones. Major cultural and musical concerts such as Afrochella (now AfroFuture), Afrona on and The Black Star Fes val have all leveraged the ini a ve.

With all the excitement around Ghana and the many ac vi es and ini a ves promo ng Ghana as a major tourist des na on in Africa, one would imagine that the country will rank high as one of the con nent´s major tourist des na ons. But, it does not. Ghana does not even feature in the top 10 des na ons in Africa.

I n t h e U n i t e d N a o n s Wo r l d To u r i s m Organisa on´s 2019 rankings, the top three most visited countries in Africa were Egypt (13.0 million visitors), Morocco (12.9 million) and South Africa (10.2 million). The bo om three were Ivory Coast (2.0 million), Kenya (1.9 million) and Botswana (1.7 million). In-between were Tunisia (9.4million), Algeria (2.4million), Zimbabwe (2.3million) and Mozambique (2 million).

In comparison, Ghana received a li le over one million visitors in 2019 according to figures released by the Ghana Tourism Authority. In the authority´s last report for 2022, total visita ons stood at 914,892. It is quite clear that Ghana in nowhere near the big boys when it comes to tourism in Africa.

High on the Numbers In the excitement following up from the Year of Return (YOR), many government officials bandied figures about that sought to create the impression of an unprecedented growth in

Ghana´s tourism in order to claim as much

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

22 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

poli cal dividends as possible. Official sources revealed that Ghana cashed in 1.9 billion dollars as a result of the YOR. This figure was widely quoted by many interna onal publica ons. The amount was, however, challenged by many experts as unfounded and overexaggerated.

Policy analyst Bright Simmons, wri ng for the Africa Report in January 2020 stated that ¨the danger in eleva ng phantom figures to the level of truth is in the complacency they can breed¨. He stressed that ¨sounding the alarm about these widely publicised and widely believed numbers is the wish to forestall such a bad outcome and to mo vate the authori es to see their successful marke ng and communica ons strategies as merely the founda on on which to erect a truly effec ve sales plan for Ghana´s tourism and investment climate poten al. ¨ Bright Simmons is spot on with his observa on that any li le success realised so far must be seen as a founda on to build on. For the success is indeed li le in terms of traffic. A surgical analysis of the figures will reveal that Ghana´s tourism growth is consistent with past projec ons and that the current ini a ves have not led to any drama c increase in tourist numbers. At least not yet. At best, a few tens of thousands more visitors might be the marginal increase in visitors as a result of recent campaigns.

The Booms and Bursts Of course, one that does not expect marke ng effort to bear immediate results. But it is important to note that Ghana has had cycles of boom in its tourism experience followed by corresponding bursts. This will not be the first me Ghana has been in the spotlight. In fact, right from the incep on of the country´s independence, there was great excitement around the country. Ghana was a mecca for freedom fighters and pan-Africanist. Many notable black leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois,

George Padmore, Mar n Luther King Jnr, Maya Angelou and Mohammed Ali were all here.

Kwame Nkrumah´s drive for a united Africa also brought in many African leaders to Ghana. One can, indeed, say that in the late 50s to early 60s, Ghana was the place to be.

The overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah and the subsequent military interven ons that followed created instability that would have affected visita ons into the country. Nonetheless, Ghana s ll hosted one of the biggest concerts in its history, Soul to Soul, in 1971. It featured some of t h e m o st i co n i c A m e r i ca n sta rs o f t h e me—James Brown, Ike, Tina Turner, Santana, Wilson Picket, among others. The Blackstar Square overflowed with tens of thousands of people who came to enjoy the once-in-life- me experience. The concert made waves around the world and has almost become the staff of legend.

Another important epoch in the meline of Ghana´s tourism drive is the Pan African Historical Theatre Fes val (PANAFEST) ini ated

by Efua Sutherland and launched in 1992 by then President Rawlings to encourage a reconnec on of Africa and its diaspora. For many years, PANAFEST was a big deal and a major item on the n a o n a l ca l e n d e r. I t ga r n e re d a l o t o f interna onal a en on and became an important pilgrimage for people of African descent who came in their thousands. The fes val is s ll on to this day, albeit without much of the luster in began with.

These examples are to demonstrate that there have always been moments of a en on and excitement around Ghana. Indeed, there is an organic pull of people, especially, the African diaspora, to Ghana because of the many enslaved people who were transported from here to the new world. And, also, the important role Ghana has played in the Pan-African struggle. Taken together, the various tourism projects launched

over the years and Ghana´s natural pull factor guarantees a certain steady stream of visitors into the country. But this has not been enough to put us up there with the big players in Africa´s tourism. The poten al is, however, there for Ghana to leverage its posi oning to drama cally increase traffic into the country. For that to happen though, we need a NEW DEAL FOR GHANA TOURISM The New Deal for Ghana Tourism Over the years, there have been a myriad of laws, policies and ini a ves meant to bolster Ghana´s tourism industry. The ideas are there, the plans have been drawn and some ac ons have been taken. What is, however, missing is an overarching vision and ambi on to connect the dots and whip all stakeholders in line.

Ghana must aspire to rank within the top 10 most visited countries in Africa. It must set for itself a target to increase annual visita ons from 1 to 5 million visitors within 10 years by leveraging a USD10 billion investment into the tourism sector.

Poli cal leaders must seriously recalibrate their thinking around economic management away from the overreliance on natural resources to the crea on of new economic value that completely transforms the tradi onal structure of the economy.

Since independence, poli cal ambi on has always been to industrialise the economy as a path to prosperity. Every government has pursued this elusive dream and 56 years on, we are nowhere closer to being labeled an industrialised economy. Perhaps this is so because it is not in the interest of the global capitalist world order to have an industrialised Africa. The con nent must necessary remain at the bo om of the pyramid feeding the industrial epicenters in the West—and these days, the East—with raw materials. It is, therefore, not

23 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

surprising that hardly any country in Sub-Saharan Africa can be said to be industrialised.

For Ghana, even as we con nue to seek industrialisa on, how about we take compe ve advantage of some low hanging fruits to bring in billions of dollars annually to support our economic growth? Tourism is easily within our reach.

We need a poli cal leader whose ambi on will be to transform the economy in such a way as to make tourism the number one earner. If he or she succeeds, it would mean a fundamental shi has occurred and new value has been created, and its ripple effects will be so impac ul across the economy. New wealth would have been be created.

Any meaningful transforming in Ghana´s tourism industry leading to drama c increase in traffic will have to emerge from a new deal, from an obsessive ambi on to transform. Without that, we will con nue to just check the boxes and all the excitement around brand Ghana will not lead to any meaningful impact.

UNPRECEDENTED INVESTMENT If we want to play in the big leagues, we must bring out the big guns. There can't be any drama c change in the fortunes of our tourism industry without a drama c transforma on in our tourism infrastructure, experiences and related services. This requires money. A lot of it. It will only take a government whose major priority is tourism to put in the kind of work geared towards a rac ng the colossal investments it needs to transform the sector. Leveraging a USD10 billion financing will have to come through a variety of sources: budgetary alloca ons, foreign direct investments, tourism bonds, public-private partnerships, buildoperate-transferee agreements, among others. Where there is a will, there will be a way.

It is important to note that any such colossal investment will not be at the expense of the general na onal development agenda. The things that tourism needs to thrive are also things that ci zens need; good roads, good public transport, good sanita on, good healthcare, good infrastructure, good public services and many others. Moreover, the dividends from massive investment into tourism will spur general economic growth to the benefit of all.

There are many policies and ini a ves needed to transform the tourism sector and many of these have already been in the conversa on for years. This ar cle has sought to highlight what it believes is the missing link and the most important element needed for any drama c transforma on in Ghana´s tourism development—the ambi on to make tourism the biggest sector of the economy and the will to see it through. We must aim at the heavens, and even if we only reach the stars, we would have s ll made significant progress.

24 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

BRAND DEVELOPMENT, BRAND BUILDING AND DISRUPTIVE GLOBAL MARKET OPPORTUNITIES FOR AGRIBUSINESS, ARTS & TOURISM AND ICT BUSINESSES IN GHANA

KOFI ASANTE BACKGROUND

E

very business, no ma er what category it operates in, needs to have a brand and a brand strategy that are aligned with its business objec ves. That way, the process of developing and building that brand will have a well-thought through founda on.

Developing and building a brand involves a con nuous process of brand development and brand building around two (2) broad pillars, thus: Brand Image and Brand Iden ty.

Under these broad pillars, a business will have to create a messaging framework that influences the manner the business communicates with the buying public and clearly informs their audiences about what value they should expect when they patronize the businesses' products or services.

Now, let's look at the main considera ons when developing a brand.

In developing its brand image, a business will need to focus on: Ÿ

The brand's core values – which will be the values that will guide the conduct of your business it's internal and external engagements. In essence the character of the business

Ÿ

The brand's personality – represents how the business wants its audiences to perceive it.

These are the emo onal connectors that enable the business to achieve affinity with the consumer

Ÿ

User percep on – this is the posi on that a business occupies in the market space,

25 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

directly related to the brand's equity within its category In developing its brand iden ty, a business will need to focus on: Ÿ

Brand name & Logo – the name of the business or its product or service

Ÿ

Typography – brand iden ty elements like fonts are a key part of building a brand's iden ty

Ÿ

Colour pale e – brand iden ty elements like colours are also a key part of a brand's iden ty

These are the elements that make a brand, and t h e s e a r e t h e b u i l d i n g b l o c k s o f b ra n d development.

Brand building involves con nuous periodic brand ac vi es that feed off business and marke ng communica on strategies.

Brand building involves: Ÿ

Conduc ng effec ve market research

Ÿ

Focus on value proposi on

Ÿ

Develop emo onal connec on with consumers

Ÿ

Deliver consistent campaigns

Ÿ

Measurements and itera ons

B ra n d d e v e l o p m e n t a n d b ra n d b u i l d i n g opportuni es The adver sing category has been the main driver of marke ng communica ons in Ghana, and therefore brand development, brand building and digital ac vi es.

The brand development and brand building opportuni es for businesses in the Agribusiness, Arts & Culture and ICT categories in Ghana is prac cally the same. This is because the principles and elements of developing and building a brand for a business remain the same and can be applied across a varied range of industries.

From my 20+ years experience in marke ng communica ons, the last 12 of which has been focused on the digital discipline, major branding

26 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

and rebranding campaigns by some of Ghana's Club 100 members have required the same considera ons in brand development and brand building developing campaigns.

Dis nguished brand like Unilever, Diageo, Nestle, MTN, Vodafone and SMEs like Farmerline, ExpressPay, SlidePay, GhanaPost GPS and Hubtel have all benefited from marke ng communica ons campaign that have helped develop and growth their brand and therefore their businesses.

Even media companies have leveraged their media assets to develop and build their brands. Think of companies the Joy Media, Despite group of companies, Ci News Group amongst others.

As part of the brand building process, a business may need to remind the market of its original proposi on by relaunch the brand emphasise an exis ng posi on or reclaim its posi on .

In other cases, it may need to reposi on itself, and this may mean a change of brand iden ty, personality or core offering. This may require, primarily, a rebranding campaign to communicate the new posi oning and personality.

Some examples of successful branding campaigns Brand campaigns are what spearhead a business's engagement with the consuming public, with the aim to occupy a favourable posi on in the minds of their target audience.

In the realm of brand development and brand building, rebranding campaigns tend to be interes ng and engaging. An example is the Enterprise Group “Your Advantage” rebranding campaign which was precede by a cap va ng “Horse Invasion” teaser, complete with a pseudotrailer of a fic onal movie.

Figure 1: Enterprise Group rebranding campaign teaser -The Horse Invasion

This campaign did not only achieve its objec ve of crea ng synergy between the various subsidiaries, but also resulted in the stock price of the business gaining by about 23% in the month of the launch, June 2014.

There are some campaigns that achieved less success. For example, AsaaseGPS was rebranded and promoted as GhanaPost GPS, based on the “Jack Where Are You?” teaser campaign. This campaign ensured that the digital addressing system that was acquired by the government for Ghana Post Company was introduced to create awareness.

However, a er the ini al awareness drive, the campaign lost momentum as there was no followup campaigns to ac vate and engage with the Ghanaian society. This campaign therefore failed to leverage the full consumer journey, to achieve growth in usage.

Based on the existence of rela vely old and strong agencies like Scanad, Ogilvy, Innova DDB, Dentsu and their track record of developing and building brands, there is, without a doubt an availability of brand development, brand building and transforma on services that are available to Ghanaian businesses.

Figure 2: GhanaPost GPS launch campaign teaser: "Jack Where Are You?"-Outdoor

Reaching Global and regional audiences As of January 2023, 5.16 billion internet users worldwide have been recorded. That is 64.4 percent of the global popula on. Of this, 4.76 billion, or 59.4 percent of the world's popula on, are on social media.

6 5.16

Number of Users in billions

5

4.76

4

3

2

1

0 Internet Users

Social Media Users

Figure 4: Source - sta sta.com

27 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

Of the 5.16 billion internet users globally, 13% of them are in Africa; and this is growing and set to reach 748+ million users by 2028.

Figure 4: Source - sta sta.com

This presents businesses in the Agribusiness, Arts and Culture, and ICT sectors, in Ghana, huge regional and global audiences to engage with, for growth.

Marketplaces like Alibaba, Jumia, Tonaton are opportuni es for small businesses to reach global audiences with their goods and services.

Opportuni es for Market Disrup on The Technology Age is arguably the most disrup ve age in human history, and digital te c h n o l o g i e s h a s d e m o c ra ze d g ro w t h opportuni es for businesses.

The speed with which things change due to technological advancement is mind-boggling.

Because of this, businesses that are at the cu ngedge of their category make the most impact.

Digital trends like So ware-as-a-Service (SaaS), Near Field Communica on (NFC), eCommerce, RFID, Blockchain, eMobility, Cloud Compu ng,

28 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

Big Data, Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have impacted businesses posi vely for growth.

Now let's look at some of the truly disrup ve technologies that can be leveraged for growth by businesses in the Agribusiness, Leveraging AI for business transforma on According to Ray Kurzweil, computers will achieve human levels of intelligence by 2029.

The me has come for AI, and its influence seems to have permeated every facet of business, including marke ng communica ons. This has led to a prolifera on of AI-driven tools and pla orms across the fields of finance, fintech, agribusiness and arts and culture.

In Agribusiness, a Ghanaian AI company, KaraAgro AI, has developed a tool which enables farmers to easily and accurately detect diseases in their crops using Ar ficial Intelligence. By simply

taking a photo of the crop's leaf, the app would analyse it and tell if any diseases are present.

Farmers can detect diseases both online and offline. KaraAgro AI currently has Ar ficial Intelligence systems for detec ng diseases in; Tomato, Maize, Sweet Pepper, Potato, Grapes, Peach, Strawberry, Apple and Cherry.

The influence of AI in marke ng communica ons have reached dizzying propor ons and created a lot of excitement amongst category players regarding the possibili es, which seems infinite.

Then there is Microso 's ChatGPT4 and Google's Bard, the two (2) front-running AI tools for marke ng and adver sing.

Figure 6: Buffer's AI assistant for social media management

Between them, these 2 (two) pla orms deliver: 1. Data Analy cs to analyze data to understand customer behavior and uncover trends, supply and demand, and trends.

2. Analyze leads through customer data to make adver sing recommenda ons based on previous purchase behavior, registra on informa on, search history, etc.

3. Smart ad objects that can automa cally create smart ad objects to increase interac vity, with factors such as age, gender, geographic loca on and interest.

4. Op mize ads: use Machine learning to predict the performance of adver sing campaigns based on historical data use algorithms to op mize ad campaigns, from ad format, posi oning, pricing and ad content. can also track ad results and re-op mize campaigns over me.

5. Deep Learning: can use Deep Learning to analyze images and videos to determine appropriate and effec ve adver sing content.

Another instance is the integra on of AI into social media management tools like Buffer.

Leveraging Content for business transforma on In the Arts and Culture category, Spo fy and Audiomack are examples of audio streaming pla orms that have enabled music ar stes to promote their works to global audiences, while mone zing their traffic.

YouTube, Google's video streaming service is another opportunity for businesses to in the Arts and Culture category to promote and. mone ze their content. It can also be maintained as the video repository for all the brand's videos.

In more recent mes, social media pla orms like Facebook and TikTok have also delivered mone zing opportuni es to content developers, thereby presen ng players with the space to grow businesses in that sector.

Over the years, the saying that “Content is King” has con nued to manifest in even more exci ng and rewarding ways, and players within the Arts and Culture space con nue to benefit from new ways of crea ng content and distribu ng them.

Furthermore, a movie category disruptor like Ne lix has open a huge door of opportunity for filmmakers and other content creators, in Ghana, to showcase their content to a global audience.

29 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

Leveraging Cloud technology for business transforma on Cloud Commerce, Cloud Mobility, Cloud Marke ng are examples of how cloud compu ng has presented businesses with the opportunity to see goods and services online without owning any of the hardware, so ware and tools requires to run an eBusiness.

Cloud Commerce delivers eCommerce solu ons that provide a range of features like hyperlocal marketplaces, mul -vendor marketplaces and payment and delivery processing pla orm integra ons that provides everything a business, whether small or big needs to reach wider markets, with efficiency at low costs. Examples of these players, both local and global, are Alibaba, Amazon, Jumia, Hubtel, ExpressPay, SlydePay, and Tonaton.

Cloud Mobility has transformed the transport sector, with on-demand services like ride-hailing and courier.

In Ghana, global players like Uber, Bolt and Yango have dominated the ride-hailing category. These companies have also diversified into the courier business.

However, small businesses like ShaqExpress and FC Express have disrupted the courier category with the mobile apps. There are many other start-ups and small businesses emerging from this sector.

Cloud Marke ng provides businesses with the marke ng technology (also Martech) tools and pla orms required to increase the audience reach and convert a higher rate of sales leads, across markets.

Cloud compu ng has become the backbone of eBusinesses, delivering low costs of opera ons, agile development and deployment of apps and tools because of access to resources that, hitherto, was within the reach of only a few big businesses.

Promo ng events on a global scale Event organizers are also taking advantage of digital transforma on opportuni es to deliver events to, not just local audiences, but also global ones.

Social media networks, as well as online publica ons have also enabled businesses to promote these events to audiences that, in years past, were inaccessible.

Moreover, COVID-19 precipitated the advent of innova on in terms of how we organized events - cue virtual events. Ÿ

There is a prolifera on of collabora ve and conferencing tools and pla orms like Zoom, GoTo and BlueJeans that have brought immense benefits to businesses that are looking for alterna ves to physical conferences and seminars.

Event tools like Eventbrite can be leveraged to promote business events, complete with announcements and ckets sales.

There are also opportuni es for virtual conferences and seminars delivered using tools like Cvent and Bizzabo, which come with exci ng features like virtual booths, mee ng rooms amongst others.

These pla orms and tools also have marke ng features that enables event organizers to their events to the right audiences.

30 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

CONCLUSION For businesses involved in Agribusiness, Arts and Culture, and ICT in Ghana, these present opportuni es to reach audiences all around the globe, thereby increasing the chances of exponen al growth.

We cannot discuss these exci ng opportuni es without considering the challenges to achieving them, which is basically lack of infrastructure, mainly erra c energy, slow bandwidth and high cost of internet data.

This is a thorny issue at the crux of digital transforma on in Ghana as all these tools and pla orms indicated above will depend on the availability of the internet speeds that come with 5G. 5G is what will deliver the necessary bandwidths and speeds required to seamlessly integrate these disrup ve tools and so ware into rou ne produc vity systems.

Needless to say that the 5G revolu on can be accelerated by a concerted effort between government digi za on agencies, the NCA and mobile network operators (MNOs).

In conclusion, despite these challenges, there has been a significant growth in digital inclusion and opportuni es for businesses in the Agribusiness, Arts and Culture and ICT to thrive and grow.

I dare say that we are at the cusp of formalizing a digital economy in Ghana, as both government and corporate ins tu ons embark on their own digital transforma on agendas.

Therefore, it is within the space of this digital economy that businesses in Ghana will be expected to posi on their brands, if they are to remain relevant in the future.

And the opportuni es are endlessly exci ng.

31 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

THE CHOP BOX JOURNEY

I

Once upon a me, when I was a learned early on the value of student ge ng my first degree, I h a r d w o r k a n d tagged along when Unilever i n d e p e n d e n c e .

Ghana Limited came to campus Concurrently, I saw a father who to talk to us. Through the was fully invested in his whiteNa onal Service Secretariat and collar career as a proofreader for t h e M a n a g e m e n t Tra i n e e one of Ghana's top publishing Program, I was able to land a houses at the me. I'm the fi h posi on with such a Fortune 500 of six kids and I grew up in a big, company in the Fast-Moving loving family. There was barely Consumer Goods (FMCG) sector. enough money between the two Because of this, I got to learn of them to get by. Korkor ice, as about all aspects of customer she was known to those in her development, from enhancing supply chain (fishmongers, ice our sales team's abili es to water vendors, bone shaker expanding our clientele, product drivers, etc.), dealt in ice slabs at lines, and channels of Accra's Salaga Market, as well as distribu on in the modern and charcoal, grains, and other tradi onal markets of Ghana, RAMATU SAI JIMMAH commodi es. When she needed South Africa (where I was sent to find some of the stocks she on an interna onal assignment), Kenya, Nigeria, and traded, she would have to go far out into the Ivory Coast. Three years before leaving the corporate countryside. Technology was far behind where we world, I imagined myself as a successful business were at as a country, but she was fortunate enough to owner.

My burning ambi ons are to leave a las ng use her sister's land line whenever she needed to get in impact, lower local unemployment rates, and touch with any merchants or drivers. Whether my dad empower local women by providing them with access had been paid or not, my mom always made sure we to be er employment opportuni es. had food on the table, helped pay for school, etc.

I picked up a lot of knowledge from observing her business prac ces that has proven useful to me in my own ventures since then. I have a lot of stories to tell, but the two tasks I remember most certainly were collec ng debts and distribu ng goods. I take heart from her toughness and enthusiasm for selfemployment because they give me faith that I, as well, can make it as an entrepreneur. Even though she didn't see me begin this path, her pride in me has never wavered.

34 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

Demanding and difficult, especially as a working mother and graduate student. As I prepared to return to work a er my maternity leave, I needed help from a caregiver, but more importantly, I needed the proper nutri ous, affordable foods to wean my son off.

Homemade Hausa Koko paste (a famous street food) was handed to me by my aunt. This was going to be our super brand someday. Again, I had an experience where my sister had to shop for my niece's school supplies. I found myself wondering, "Can I get someone to do this for me and deliver it to her on

campus without her packing and stressing to se le in to school?" This seemed like a good opportunity, and I figured there had to be others in a similar boat.

Originally, Chopbox Express was a web-based convenience store aimed squarely at college students away from home. The plan was to introduce packaged convenience foods, local foods, etc., a er people became accustomed to our service.

With a plan in place beginning in August 2018, I set out to implement the changes I hoped to see in my life by the following August. On August 4, 2019, I received my first ever paying customer. Finally, in December of 2019, I made the decision to quit my posi on as the Head of Modern Trade at Unilever to focus on Chopbox Express full me.

In the week of COVID locked down in March 2020 in Ghana, we pivoted into convenience agro-foods targeted at working mothers seeking to offer healthier local breakfast, snack and soup-base delicacies prepared within a short cooking me to save the mother me to live be er. This was because children were home and mothers were saddled with preparing quick healthier meal solu ons as well as working from home. This season was the breakthrough for our convenience agro-foods. The product gained a lot of support from family and friends. Though we started without any branding, through word of mouth, we gained 2 new clients every week. My past professional experiences have allowed me to oversee the company's direc on, as well as its branding, quality, sales, and marke ng ini a ves.

One of our differen ators is the adop on of local catchy names which reminds people of the goodness of what they once enjoyed but for me – Toogbei, Pinkaso, Kunu, Hausa Koko etc. This is evidenced by the posi ve feedback we consistently get from customers and advocates of the label.

Though technology is expensive to many especially SMEs like myself, I have consciously worked with engineers and fabricators locally to customize 80% of our equipment, which today Chopbox Express now has

Hausa Koko produc on line which ensures a sanitary end-result. For our portrait sessions, we even have a specialized photo stand (in place of a ring light stand).

We have leveraged on the use of simple ICT tools like the internet, our Chopbox Express website, as well as popular social media pla orms like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twi er, TicTok to drive our presence and visibility. In addi on, 85% of our sales are mainly via social media and ecommerce pla orms.

We support our bookkeeping with an app called OZE which has improved our invoicing system, sales and debt tracking. One key uniqueness with our products comes on the package. This is the QR-code which offers audiovisual instruc ons on how to prepare each product. Regardless of prior knowledge in knowing the food, this feature grants the Chopboxer the opportunity to try it first-hand just by watching and following the instruc ons.

Women make up 83% of our 6-person team aged between 25 and 45. Together we have over 30 years of professional experience.

In addi on to my professional background, I come on board with 3years in food processing, degree in Foods and Nutri on, MBA in Business Administra on, 2 trainings on selected food processing cer fied by the Food & Research Ins tute and a Post Graduate Diploma cer ficate in Agribusiness. Clement has a technical background and joins us with three years of machine opera on experience and four years of retail sales. Both Ruky and Vida have some trading experience despite their educa onal backgrounds (Ruky has a sixth-grade educa on and Vida has none).

Accordingly, we adapted their training to help them perform their assigned du es. We have 2 part me ladies (students) we come in as and when the need arises. In addi on, we collaborate with Challenges Ghana, a venture that supports SMEs with graduates on a 4month project to support SMEs a er an opera onal audit is conducted and iden fied gaps are agreed.

This granted Chopbox Express 3 graduates in the year

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

35 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

to streamline our financial repor ng, enhance presence on social media and this has been of immense benefit. Our zeal to empower the youth in our community is part of our survival.

With the right technological backing, the agro-food industry can offer a lot more possibili es. Flakes made from millet and fonio are just two examples of the modern alterna ves (which are good subs tutes for cornflakes- imported). Flour from some of our root tubers can be a great replacement for wheat flour. The Food Research Ins tute has the knowledge and tools to back up the industry. At Chopbox Express, we have tried and tested the use some of these and it presents same outcome in terms of the taste, texture and colour. We have entered the Swiss, Canadian, and U.S. market through a few select African shops in an effort to cater to the preferences of West Africans. There is a lot of room for growth, and the demand for regional special es is huge.

Everything we do is driven by our desire to give the busy mom (The Chopboxer) a break by providing her with healthier, more accessible meal op ons in her area so that she can feed her family and, most importantly, take care of herself. There's something for everyone in our menu, from light breakfast op ons to hearty soups. To that end, our formula ons aim to cut down cooking mes by as much as 70–90 percent.

Chopbox Express takes the hassle out of meal me by

36 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

providing a variety of op ons in their boxed lunches.

It's why we stock 4 dis nct varie es of Toogbei, 2 dis nct varie es of Pinkaso, Crunchy-Peanut and Cashew Bu er, Pancake, and various spice levels in 2 dis nct formats of our best-selling Hausa Koko.

FUTURE The vision of Chopbox Express is to meet the West African taste across the globe, hence required to have interna onal foods standards and recogni on. This is expected to allow for ease of access to market and an opportunity scale-up to meet the poten al demand consistently. As a Foods and Nutri on degree holder, healthier ea ng enthusiast, coupled with my skills in customer development and marke ng, I believe I am equipped to build a great team, a big brand and leave an aspira onal legacy. The future will be brighter if our team is well equipped, trained and are able to provide for their family's livelihoods. I am commi ed to suppor ng a community that seeks the well-being and nutri onal interest of its genera on.

Shop with us at: h ps://wa.me/c/233248455864, h ps://chopbox.express, h ps://jumia.com.gh , h ps://GHBasket, h ps://plendify.com, h ps://jowato.com.

THE POWER

AND POTENTIAL OF THE ORANGE

ECONOMY Juliet Yaa A. Asante

T

he focus of the Ishmael Yamson and Associates Business Roundtable 2023 on wealth crea on, emphasises its urgency in the current circumstances.

The pandemic provided an opportunity for global reset and some countries and organisa on capitalized on the crea ve space as a route to crea ng a reenergised economy.

The orange economy, which is what the crea ve economy is called, proved to be one of the most resilient sectors, if not the most resilient, during the pandemic. In the United States, average incomes in this sector exceeded those of oil, gas, telecommunica ons, and others by 40% during the pandemic.

During the pandemic, despite challenges in content crea on, there was a surge in demand as global streamers like Ne lix, Disney, and Amazon ramped up their content acquisi ons and produc on. For example, Ne lix announced an investment of over $2 billion in South Korean content (K-Drama) and released a report on their ac vi es in Africa. However, investment levels by streamers in African countries remain rela vely low compared to global trends.

Nigeria's FilmHouse and its subsidiary, FilmOne, led the way in demonstra ng the power of local content during the pandemic. They produced indigenous content, taking advantage when content ou low from global studios was heavily challenged, to enhance investments in local content crea on. This resulted in indigenous content earning millions at the box office, a remarkable achievement. FilmHouse's significant investment in content, coupled with others,

including Government, has propelled the Nigerian film industry forward.

The case of Nigeria highlights the importance of a strategic decision and commitment by policymakers and the business community to invest in the sector.

The launch of ini a ves like the Nollywood Access Fund and support from the Bank of Industry have set an example that many African countries, including Ghana, have failed to follow. Merely wishing for similar results without accompanying investments is insufficient. African leaders o en offer lip service to the sector without implemen ng necessary policies and investments, while African investors tend to priori ze "tangible" investment opportuni es.

However, the sector, valued at over $20 billion according to a 2021 UNESCO report, presents significant poten al. Investors like FilmHouse are already reaping substan al returns, as they emerge as the leading player in Nigeria and expand across the con nent.

Ghana, the second-largest content producer in the West Africa region a er Nigeria, has received minimal investment in the sector. While Ghana has established a film commission - the Na onal Film Authority of Ghana, the lack of the necessary accompanying funding has made it extremely challenging for the Authority to achieve an audacious strategic plan for

37 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

development. Success will mean significant gains for Ghana, as the sector has the capacity to create massive employment and a ract Foreign Direct investments. The example of Atlanta, Georgia in a rac ng over 10 billion dollars and crea ng 300 new jobs in its first year of posi oning as a film hub is a case study for most economies seeking to follow similar plans. Ghana's plan, similarly seeks to posi on Ghana as a film and content hub in the region. It is therefore important that Government follows through with its commitment to the sector. It is worth no ng however, that only 40% of African countries have a film commission, according to the UNESCO report. Despite the difficul es faced, the recogni on of the Na onal Film Authority's work as strategic and innova ve by the authors of the UNESCO report is noteworthy and deserving of acknowledgment.

The private sector in Ghana has been slow to par cipate in the sector, possibly due to the lack of sector data and the inability of players to speak strongly to a clear return on investments.

According to the 2021 Unesco report, the crea ve sector, par cularly film, is the largest employer in Africa. Addi onally, the emergence of anima on and video games presents significant opportuni es. In 2021, Ghanaians spent over $40 million on mobile game downloads, which increased to $60 million in 2022, posi oning Ghana as the second-largest video game market a er South Africa, where over 40% of the popula on are gamers. However, despite the growing interest in the gaming and anima on subsector, which is part of the global industry, es mated to exceed a worth over $400 billion in just a couple of years, Ghana mainly serves as a consumer market.

Local video game and anima on studios struggle to secure investments to expand and tap into the revenue generated from Ghanaian and African consumers' expenditures on gaming.

Three cri cal factors define our me and highlight both reasons for hope and concerns.

Firstly, the popula on explosion in Africa, par cularly the growing youth popula on, with es mates indica ng that by 2030, 40% of global youth will be in Africa, and this number is expected to double by 2050.

This demographic shi surpasses that of China and India, while the rest of the world ages in comparison.

Secondly, the increased internet penetra on,

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

38 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

widespread use of smartphones, and the rise of mobile money, along with the growing middle class, present exci ng developments. In the crea ve space, technology adop on, the establishment of crea ve fes vals and hubs, and the interest of streaming pla orms like Ne lix, Amazon, and Showmax have led to a boom in content crea on, leading to the phrase 'content is the new oil.' Major investments, such as Mul choice's $10 million investment in Ghanaian content for their channels, exemplify the increasing demand and opportuni es in this area.

Thirdly, the adapta on to content pla orms like TikTok, the ability to mone ze YouTube channels and Facebook pages, and the empowerment of individuals to produce, self-publish, and distribute their own content have brought success stories throughout the con nent. Technological advancements have reduced barriers to entry, allowing young people to enter the sector and create viable sources of income.

Furthermore, technology has connected the con nent, facilita ng the rise of content with crosscon nental appeal, leveraging the poten al market size. The African Con nental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents an exci ng opportunity to accelerate this trend. However, policymakers and African investors seem to overlook these trends due to a lack of trust, slow availability of data, resistance to change, and rela vely slower technology uptake, hindering efforts to a ract investors into the sector.

The main obstacle to harnessing the poten al of the African crea ve sector for the benefit of its people is the lack of funding, rather than a lack of opportuni es or skill levels.

The youth popula on in Africa represents energy, a skilled workforce, and poten al spending power.

Considering the aging popula on in other parts of the world, it is crucial for African investors to take the lead in inves ng in African content and not wait to merely follow the footsteps of foreign investors who have already demonstrated a greater appe te and willingness to invest in the sector on the con nent.

CanalPlus, for instance, not only invests but also acquires African investments, such as Iroko TV and Cote Quest, a major distributor serving Francophone countries and one of the four major distribu on companies on the con nent. There are significant investment opportuni es available throughout the value chain, spanning produc on, distribu on, and

exhibi on.

The poten al of Africa's rising youth popula on in rela on to global demographics is o en met with reac ons varying from surprise to alarm in my mee ngs worldwide. It is crucial for businesses, including global ones, to develop a plan to capitalize on this dynamic youth demographic in Africa. Failing to do so means missing out on both the market and workforce. The implica ons of this missed opportunity for businesses worldwide have yet to be quan fied but are undoubtedly significant. The absence of discussions about this topic at policy and investment tables is perplexing. Crea ve sector inclusion in investment summits and outreach, even by organiza ons like the Ghana Investment Promo on Centre, is rare.

Ghana's successful campaigns like "Year of Return" and "Beyond the Return" have highlighted the significant role played by the crea ve sector in driving tourism and subsequent gains for the country.

Infrastructure alone is not what a racts tourists; it is the content and people of a country that engage and cap vate visitors. Film Tourism, in par cular, has proven to be a major driver of tourism globally, with the ability to increase tourist numbers by up to 500% for sustained periods of over 5 years. Examples such as "BraveHeart" and "Game of Thrones" have significantly boosted tourism in Scotland and Morocco as viewers travel to experience the loca ons featured in these films. Moreover, the crea ve space serves as a powerful tool for promo ng culture and so power on a global scale. South Korea's deliberate investment in its people and content as major exports has not only propelled its entertainment industry but has also showcased its language and local products like "Soju" a local drink akin to Ghana's Akpeteshie, to the world.

Soju is now recognized and served throughout the world.

The Ghana film industry aims to establish Ghana as a film and content hub. A rac ng film shoots to the country is a highly compe ve global strategy, par cularly as many economies seek to bolster their inflow of dollars through the sector in the postpandemic era. Major produc ons bring substan al financial investments, known as "so money," that s mulate local economies by suppor ng film crews and various businesses such as hotels, catering houses, clothing houses, and equipment rentals.

Furthermore, the industry's growth contributes to the crea on of local jobs, facilitates skills transfer, and promotes film tourism.

Ghana possesses 60% of the necessary elements to realize its ambi on as a film and content hub, including desirable loca ons, safety, favourable weather, a robust banking sector, a skilled workforce, and training schools. However, cri cal gaps persist in infrastructure, such as studios, equipment and set design houses, skilled workforce availability, and produc on facili es capable of handling large-scale projects. For instance, the poten al interest of Girls Trip 2 to shoot in Ghana raised concerns about the lack of suppor ng infrastructure and the absence of a tax incen ve to a ract global filmmakers. Fortunately, the Na onal Film Authority of Ghana and related agencies are ac vely working on a Tax Incen ve program expected to be implemented in 2023. This program aims to provide tax reliefs to both foreign and local investors in the sector, an essen al factor in a rac ng interna onal producers to choose Ghana as their shoo ng des na on.

The market for content distribu on presents a significant challenge and opportunity for investors in the crea ve sector, par cularly in film. The lack of a clear investment return plan has been a common concern among investors, emphasizing the need for a more business-oriented approach to funding.

The African market, specifically in cinema, faces a substan al gap. With less than 1,000 cinemas and under 1,700 screens across the en re con nent, the numbers pale in comparison to countries like France, which boasts over 6,000 screens. Furthermore, over 70% of the African popula on has never been to a cinema, highligh ng the untapped poten al. While some argue that streaming has replaced cinemas, the reality on the ground suggests that cinema experiences can be adapted to suit the unique African context. Cinema-going remains a cost-effec ve form of entertainment and will con nue to be relevant.

Addi onally, African filmmakers require access to the complete market value chain, including fes vals, cinemas, airlines, television, and video-on-demand pla orms. It is crucial to cater to African audiences, especially considering the significant youth demographic, which dominates content consump on worldwide.

Africa's youth is increasingly connected to global

39 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

entertainment trends, as evident in their following of interna onal programs and engagement on pla orms like Twi er. This highlights the importance of not overlooking the global-mindedness of African youth, par cularly in the film and music industries.

The ques on of adap ng cinema to the African context remains a key topic of discussion. However, Africa represents the biggest opportunity for cinema in the 21st century. The upcoming Africa Cinema summit, taking place in Ghana in November 2023, further emphasizes Ghana's leading role in the industry. The summit serves as a pla orm for African investors to seize this opportunity and determine whether they will take the lead or be overshadowed by foreign investors.

Content crea on in Africa, including live-ac on produc on, anima on, and gaming, is supported by produc on studios on the con nent, including those in Ghana. Le Arts, a video game house, showcases the con nent's poten al by serving as a consultant and designer for global game developer Riot Games.

However, despite their capabili es, many local studios face challenges in securing investments to expand and meet industry demands. This situa on raises concerns about the poten al loss of skilled talent to other regions.

Nigeria's success in local film and music investment, which led to the rise of global giants, serves as a valuable reference for local investors across the con nent.

It is crucial to address key ques ons regarding the prepara on of African youth for upcoming opportuni es and the existence of a comprehensive plan. The implica ons of the youth popula on growth for Africa and the rest of the world need to be understood. Will businesses ac vely seek to recruit from Africa to fill the emerging gaps? Is our educa onal system adequately equipped to train a workforce capable of capitalizing on the poten al global shortages resul ng from mass re rements? Are local investors sufficiently knowledgeable about the sector? What factors hinder local investment, and how can they be confronted? Addi onally, why do African governments con nue to overlook a sector that has the poten al to generate much-needed employment opportuni es amidst the unemployment crisis? How can schools play a role in training the required workforce for the crea ve sector, par cularly in film,

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

40 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

which demands specialized skills? There are notable gaps in suppor ng areas like entertainment law and set design that need to be addressed.

The rise in Africa's youth popula on poses poten al downsides if unemployment levels persist or worsen, considering the current high rates of youth unemployment in many African countries. With a median age below 25 and unemployment rates exceeding 60% in most African na ons, the presence of an energe c but jobless youth popula on becomes a significant risk for socie es and a cause for concern among governments and corporate leaders.

The Africa Con nental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) presents a promising development. However, it is crucial to recognize that internal trade and growth opportuni es for indigenous businesses can only be fully realized if urgent a en on is given to cri cal areas such as access to funds and loans, interest rates, facilita on of travel between African states, and enhancement of technical skills training. These issues demand immediate a en on to leverage the poten al benefits of the AfCFTA. The rise of AI in Africa is an area of interest, but the slow adop on of efficient AI may have its advantages.

Africa needs to con nue relying on human labour while also keeping pace with the AI revolu on.

According to the 2021 Unesco report on Film and Audiovisual in Africa, the crea ve sector is the largest employer on the con nent with low barriers to entry.

The sector currently employs 5 million people and generates $5 billion in income for the con nent.

However, the report suggests that these numbers could poten ally reach 20 million and $20 billion respec vely.

It's evident that the crea ve sector can play a crucial role in addressing the unemployment challenges faced by African youth. This requires immediate a en on from policymakers and corporate en es as a solu on provider.

The key is to maintain a crea ve mind-set and seek innova ve solu ons to generate sustainable wealth within the con nent. It is essen al for policymakers and business leaders to take ac on promptly, as me is of the essence.

THE IMPORTANCE AND CONTRIBUTION OF AGRIBUSINESS TO THE CREATION OF WEALTH, IN THE CONTEXT OF GHANA'S 4TH INDUSTRIAL ERA OF GROWTH.

T

he contribu on of Agriculture to the economic development of Africa and Ghana cannot be underes mated. Of course, this is true for the whole world. Agriculture is what brought the ancestors of the en re human race in the East African savannah some 12,000 years ago from the toils and dangers of hunter gathering to the great civiliza on we see today. Indeed, Agriculture provided the impetus that promoted large scale human coopera on and moved humankind from living in small bands of up to 100 people to large metropolis and subsequently to the forma on of city states, na ons, kingdoms, and empires. It's our quest to develop agriculture in the Nile Valley that brough in its wake the world's first civiliza on. The Nile Valley was and is s ll characterized by prolonged drought and occasional heavy flooding. This scarcity of water and occasional flooding from the Nile Valley planted in the minds of our ancestors the need to come together to construct dams. This gradual mobiliza on of individual human bands to control the raging flood waters in the Nile Valley for agricultural purposes gave humankind its first major civiliza on – The Egyp an Civiliza on.

Since the Agrarian revolu on, which was prac cally started and invented by Africans, the world has gone through three major industrial revolu ons as shown here. Sadly, Africans, the inventors of the world's first large scale revolu on failed to take ac ve part in these

Daniel Asare-Kyei, PhD.

Chief executive officer, Esoko daniel@esoko.com / www.esoko.com modern revolu ons.

The 1 s t industrial revolu on was shaped by mechaniza on and steam engines. The second industrial revolu on was ushered in by electricity which enabled mass produc on and assembly lines.

The third industrial revolu on was powered by automa on, computers, and electronics. It must be noted that, at the heart of all these revolu ons were a big elephant lurking at the background called “Technology”.

This technological magical wand is now ushering in an even more powerful revolu on called the 4th Industrial Revolu on (4IR). The 4IR is being shaped by rapid advancements in Ar ficial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, block chain, Internet of Things (IoT) etc.

What this means is that for an agribusiness to contribute to significant wealth crea on in Ghana's 4th Industrial era of Growth, these 4IR technologies of AI, IoT, Block Chain and Big Data must be harnessed, developed, and incorporated in all facets of agricultural development and along the agribusiness value chain. Big Data, IoT, AI and Block Chain are

41 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

moving into Agriculture in a big way and we if we fail to harness the powers of these technologies we must as well forget about using agribusiness to create wealth.

Our agriculture is s ll saddled with all the elements that our ancestors invented to usher in the Agrarian revolu on. The use of donkeys and animal drawn implements to ll the soil, the use of cutlasses and matchets to clear the weeds and the use of buckets to fetch water to irrigate crops were all major tools invented some 6000 years ago and yet these are the same tools that our farmers are using in the 21st century. These tools can not in any way create wealth from agriculture for the modern man and woman.

To illustrate why these basic tools have lost their relevance in today's agriculture, see the graph below, Africa's popula on was just 100Miillion at the turn of the 1st Industrial revolu on. Now, our popula on is set to hit 3.5B by the turn of the century. It's therefore obvious that the tools that fed 100M people in 1800 can not feed 3.5B people in just 77 growing seasons from now.

less than two hectares in size. Incomes of these Smallholder Farmers (SHFs) remain stubbornly low, largely due to low produc vity levels resul ng from threats of increasingly climate variability and droughts and economic stressors such as high cost of purchased inputs, lack of access to credit, limited access to mechaniza on services as well as high post-harvest losses and lack of market informa on on the value of their crop, among other factors.

The Government's Plan ng for Food and Job program and other ini a ves are changing the narra ves, but we s ll have a long way to go. Among the reasons for low input usage are the high costs of inputs and lack of access to capital to procure inputs. Only 40% of Ghanaian adults over 15 years old have bank accounts and those with formal savings schemes are es mated to be only 19%. A mere 8% of rural households in Ghana had access to credit for financing agriculture and crop and life insurance programs that could make these poor farmers more resilience in the face of these clima c, economic, and social stressors and threats are virtually non-existent.

To change these nega ves and ensure that agriculture indeed contributes to wealth crea on, we must embrace the 4IR in all its forms. Let's see how these technologies can change the face of smallholder agriculture in Ghana with just one example of Big Data, IoT and AI. Big Data deals essen ally with extremely large data sets that may be explored and analyzed computa onally to show pa erns, trends, and associa ons, especially rela ng to human behavior and its interac ons with the physical environment.

Technology is moving into agriculture in a big way and it's moving with the speed of light. Before we delve into how technology is going to change the face of Agriculture around the world including Ghana, let's look at some of the numbers of Ghana's agricultural sector.

In Ghana, the agricultural sector has been a major driver of poverty reduc on and dominates the livelihoods of rural households. Although its contribu on to our GDP has been waning over the years from over 54% in the 2000's to 21% in 2021, it is s ll the major employment source. 71% of rural households are engaged in agricultural ac vi es.

Agricultural land area in Ghana cons tutes 69.1% of the total land area; however, only 57.6% of the arable land is currently cul vated and the poten al for growth is enormous. About 90% of farm holdings are

42 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

In Agriculture, big data will be used to be er understand farmer's behavior in rela on to the crops he grows and field condi ons. Measuring field condi ons such as soil moisture, nutrients, PH, temperature and rainfall and triangula ng that with prices of inputs and outputs will be revolu onary in changing how farmers use labour, buy inputs and op mize their produc on prac ces with the objec ve of op mizing profits and increasing income. This computa onal outcome from Big Data combined with AI will change the way we farm, harvest crops, sell and even eat the harvested crop. Indeed, the 4th industrial revolu on is a data revolu on and the future is going to be owned by those who have the data and those who can make use of the data.

To bring it home and take cursory tour into the future of Big Data and Agriculture we see this scenario.

Within the 21st century, to promote sustainable agriculture, a completely digi zed farmer will have his farmland mapped with Mobile GIS even before the

crops are seeded by drones or planted by robots which also apply fer lizers, crop protec on chemicals and weedicides during plan ng. Such a farmer will have sensors mounted at different sec ons of the farm that track soil moisture, land surface temperate as well as air temperature, rela ve humidity etc. This data is fed in real- me to the farmer's mobile phone through what has become known as the Internet of things and powerful algorithms running at the background with AI engines computes pa erns, reveal trends and show crop growth anomalies. The whole farm becomes modelled on the farmer's hands and the farmer can remotely control crop growth based on the real- me data fed to his mobile phone. Whenever, a sec on of the farm shows signs of water stress or nutrient scarcity or even pest or disease infesta on, the farmers is alerted in real- me through powerful algorithms analyzing all these “big data” and recommend appropriate solu on. Such a recommenda on is site specific and take into considera ons the poten al market value of the crop, cost of inputs etc. and state of the environmental condi ons. The farmer could even automate a response mechanism that sends signals to robo c controls to move to the exact loca on and fix the problem either by applying fer lizers or water or control pests and diseases. It's such preciseness of recommenda ons enabled by Big Data that eventually makes agriculture sustainable and profitable even to the smallholder farmer cul va ng soybean in Tolon.

Upon harves ng, the completely digi zed farmer could be opera ng in a closed ecosystem with iden fied off-takers in a structured market system. The farmer is paid through a smart card that is also linked to the produc on informa on which op mizes selling prices and help the farmer nego ate be er with the off takers. The farmer may be paid digitally through the smart card or have the money sent to his mobile wallet. In a cashless ecosystem, the farmer never handles cash but can order for the next season's inputs through the same card system. The farmer walks to the nearest financial ins tu on, shows his smart card and the banking officer who knows li le about agriculture could swipe the farmer's card onto its data system to reveal the farmer's credit score. The digi zed farmer is given credit and a series of no fica ons are sent to input companies via SMS & Voice, who delivers the farmers inputs.

Ul mately, Ghana's rural folks who currently are not integrated into the formal economy becomes fully digitally and financially included. This is the means by which the whole society gets li ed out of poverty and then we can say indeed, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy because 71% of our rural compatriots who are engaged in this sector can now be tracked by

tax authori es whilst other service provides target them to sell a whole range of consumer goods and services.

The possibili es of big data powered by large algorithms in promo ng sustainable agriculture is endless and even at this stage, our finite minds cannot fathom all the possibili es that may exist.

Commodity value chains present one of the best low hanging fruits to leverage technology to create massive wealth for our country. Ghana s ll spends some $2B annually to import what I call “the cri cal 4 commodi es” – rice, poultry, wheat, and sugar. Along the value chains of these commodites are massive b u s i n e s s o p p o r t u n i e s f ro m p ro d u c o n & mechaniza on, aggrega on, and post-harvest terminal to warehousing to logis cs and value addi on to marke ng. We need to leverage the 4IR technolgoes to unleash the latest poten al inherent in these commodi es to create the wealth that we need.

To go back to the story of industrial revolu ons. Having missed the first three industrial revolu ons, we need to embrace this new age with religious zealousness. It doesn't ma er whether you believe in it or not. As Africans, we gave the world its first civiliza on and even went ahead to populate the en re unknown places of planet earth. Somehow, we folded our hands and watched the first three industrial revolu ons passed by, choosing not to believe in them but rather pu ng our faith in needless religious ceremonies. we cannot afford to miss this train for it may well be the last train.

All is not lost, neither is it too late. There are many young Ghanaians and Africans in general who now believe that the future lies in data and digi za on. We are now moving towards the knowledge economy and no longer believe in the raw material-based economy based on manpower and which were callously enforced by our colonizers.

These young people who are star ng businesses in what we know call “Agritech” companies need to be given direct support through deliberate Government programs designed to encourage further innova on and scalability. These start-ups as well as all the growth stage companies like my own Esoko needs to run faster than we have ever done to keep up with the rapidly evolving mantra of digi za on and data science. In doing so, we must learn to cooperate and work together.

And we must remember that agribusiness cannot creae 21st century wealth with the same tools our ancestors used to usher in the Agrarian revolu on.

43 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

THE PARTY CREW

STORY OUR STORY

T

he Party Crew (TPC) is a licensed tourism agency in Ghana which exquisitely packages Heritage, Adventure, Sightseeing, Recrea onal and Educa onal tourism ac vi es for corporate ins tu ons, groups, and individuals living in Ghana and abroad.

The Party Crew registered with the Registrar General in the year 2013. Our mission is 'to make tourism exci ng' and our vision is to 'a ract more tourists to Ghana and increase the interest in tourism for Ghanaians. The Party Crew provides as part of its services: i. Tours in Ghana and other parts of Africa ii. Organising naming ceremonies for our Brothers and Sisters in diaspora iii. Planning and organising customary marriage iv. Signature tour packages v. Virtual tourism (coming soon) During the first few months of opera on, The Party Crew experienced challenges which brought the firm to a stands ll. Some challenges were: a. The business suffered from low patronage because of targe ng the wrong market. I assumed I could tap into my network from my previous industry to market the services of The Party Crew. I completely ignored the power of social media and the worldwide web as marke ng tools. b. I had an ineffec ve working rela onship with the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) so the GTA did not know how to support The Party Crew b u s i n e s s m o d e l t h a t only required us to operate from our computers since we intended to send

44 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

CYNTHIA CLASSPETERS business proposals to corporate ins tu ons.

We only wanted the targeted ins tu onal clients to find that The Party Crew was registered if they performed a background check with the GTA. Simple. That was the only to reason we decided at the onset to get a tourism licence - in order to be legi mate and credible. Wrong! Registering with the GTA turned out to be a challenging process. The requirement to have a rented office space in

order to receive a licence was discouraging for a young company with no funds for this expenditure. The young company experienced several other hurdles, including the cost of purchasing office equipment, accredita on fees, and acquiring a tourism educa on cer ficate. c. I launched the business with zero cash and support from family and friends. The main issue of low patronage made it impossible to break-even on planned trips.

Between 201 and 2017, TPC went on a hiatus because of the many issues faced but mainly because of the low patronage. During the years of hiatus, the passion for the industry made me restless. The more I suppressed my passion for the business, the more restless I became. I thought through the issues and a er se ng out op ons of the pathways available; I decided to do the following and examine the outcomes: a. I would get a job with a tourism firm in order to gain some experience in the tourism industry. I had previously worked with the Associa on of Business Execu ves, a professional educa on body, and The Ghana Employers Associa on, which is in the training and nego a on industry. I had no experience in the tourism industry and was only driven by my passion and inspira on. I took a job at Jubilee Tours, but learned li le about the tours industry there because they focused more on selling airline ckets and my interest was in tours and not cke ng. I le Jubilee Tours a er two months, but at least I had learned the basics such as preparing a tour plan. b. I visited as many tour sites as possible in order to know first-hand what they offered and the state of the road networks to the sites. This helped me to iden fy that relying on pictures posted on the internet to create my tour packages was dangerous for my business.

The reality of the experience was usually different from what is shown on the internet.

As a tour business, we can now pride ourselves in knowing about 80% of the tour

sites in the country well enough to curate experiences that fit our mission. c. I finally opted to get a licensed partner in order to have shared responsibility and also be a support for each other. The Party Crew partnered with Mereki Tours in 2016, but unfortunately, the partnership did not last.

But I learned some valuable lessons from the partnership, including not being emo onal in business and to u lise my network effec vely for business gains.

How We Got Back to Work a. Giving it a try again – A friend living abroad who believed in the vision of TPC encouraged me and also convinced some colleagues to visit Ghana. In 2018, through my friend's help in running a 14-day tour, three people visited Ghana. The feedback a er the tour was highly posi ve, so he helped with another group tour the following year. In 2019, five people visited Ghana and had a fantas c me, so returned the following year.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 global pandemic dashed the 2020 plans. The feedback from these two groups encouraged me to think about the viability of the business more cri cally. Finally, I concluded that the experience gained and posi ve feedback was enough to help me push forward with the TPC mission and vision, and thus the business was restarted in full swing. b. The Use of Social Media for marke ng – From the incep on of the business ll 2020, TPC did not use social media as a business tool.

During the lockdown of 2020, I realised everyone was promo ng their business on social media. At that moment, I decided TPC would use the power of social media to create brand awareness. TPC's presence on social media generated expressions of interest, which turned into new business opportuni es a er the COVID-19 restric ons on movement were li ed. Since then, the company has been organising tours successfully for Ghanaians.

45 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

c. Introduc on to the Tour Operators Union of Ghana Due to the level of service provided during my first post on Covid-19 tours, a friend of mine and her colleagues helped promote The Party Crew programs to their circle of influence.

During a work interac on, my friend found out that one of her customers was the president of t h e To u r O p e rato rs U n i o n o f G h a n a (TOUGHA). She immediately connected me to the Tougha president to assist me with my issues in the industry.

I had created a working office at home and had a good social media presence. The President of TOUGHA offered to assist me get a Ghana Tourism Authority licence and also become a member of TOUGHA. A er six months of interac on with the TOUGHA president, The Party Crew became a member of TOUGHA and also got its licence from the Ghana Tourism Authority. d. The Use of my Network Between 2021 and 2022, TPC planned and executed many tours. About 90% of our clients are Ghanaians and about 70% of these Ghanaian clients are families, friends and acquaintances from social media pla orms.

Our network has been a significant source of support and we will keep harnessing that for greater gains. Because of this, we have created The Party Crew membership club which comprises about 70% of past clients.

Clients who are members enjoy some benefits s u c h a s d i s c o u n t s , s p e c i a l b i r t h d ay celebra ons and free tourism ps and educa on.

These years of existence and experiences have given us clarity of purpose and passion to promote Ghana and Africa to the rest of the world. Even though as a country we have not invested enough in the tours sector by improving our road networks and adding value to our natural a rac ons, The Party Crew is doing its best to make what we have more a rac ve and beneficial to people in Ghana and beyond hoping things will keep improving in the tourism sector soon.

46 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

Branding and Brand Marke ng Our name, The Party Crew, and our mission 'to make tourism exci ng' has been our brand iden ty and has received accolades from clients as offering outstanding exci ng tours. Even though our name does not scream out “tourism”, it creates curiosity and allows TPC to stand out in the tourism industry.

We have consistently showed to our target market and other major stakeholders that touring Ghana is exci ng, especially with The Party Crew, and the feedback shows our service excellence.

The Party Crew brand is marketed by its logo.

The exci ng logo is on every picture and video we share on social media. This is to put the brand consistently in the minds of our target market.

Insufficient funding has hindered TCP from u lising outdoor adver sement. However, we have recently paid Homebase TV to run a daily adver sement for six months with the aim of making TPC the first choice when it comes to tourism in Ghana. Also, by way of marke ng our brand, staff and members wear The Party Crew Tshirts to showcase the brand.

Incorpora on of ICT The Party Crew started from a laptop and now does 50% of it work from the mobile phone. From clients' interac ons, promo on of upcoming eve nt s , d a i l y s o c i a l m e d i a p o s n g a n d communica ng with the team. This helps to make work truly mobile. We don't have to be sta oned at the office to perform certain tasks.

As a firm, we market, sell and communicate via ICT with the use of email, WhatsApp messages and text messages. Due to this, we mostly meet the client at the me of service delivery of the tour or ceremony. ICT is a key resource in our industry and has been essen al during the Covid19 period in rela on to sending our message across to our target market to create the necessary awareness about our services. We are also developing a website to make us more visible and accessible. Soon, we hope to make about 80% of our work digital. TPC wants to be connected to different digital payment pla orms worldwide and also be able to issue digital receipts. One service we intend to promote and sell soon is Virtual Tourism. This requires

investment in ICT in order to acquire the right gadgets and connec vity for the smooth delivery of this service. As a firm, we will do our best to incorporate the use of ICT at every stage of our business.

Youth Employment When I was working with the Associa on of Business Execu ves (ABE-UK) we conducted research in 2008 and published the findings in 2010. The research was on Ar ficial Intelligence and Robo cs. The lesson I learned from this research was that technology is good but it will also destroy a lot of jobs. The research finding made us (ABE-UK) develop the Entrepreneurship course to train and equip the youth with requisite skills to start their business. This made me think about entrepreneurship for the following reasons; 1. Start and build a business in order for my children to get a place to work from age 15 to build experience and have exposure in the work environment

Ghanaian professionals to take part in our tours was very challenging. Even when they were interested in tours, their preference was to do so overseas. In 2021 we developed a ques onnaire and sent it to some medical doctors, lawyers, bankers, teachers, police officers, nurses and administra ve professionals in Ghana in order to find out why they do not patronise tourism in Ghana. . Below are some findings; a. Tourism in Ghana is expensive b. Tourism is for students and not for professionals c. G h a n a d o e s n o t h a v e b e a u f u l a rac ons These findings helped us with our marke ng strategies and pricing. One strategy that is also helping is making PowerPoint presenta ons to corporate groups. This means maximising R&D and technology will help us reach our vision, so we hope to invest more in this area.

2. Create employment for the youth.

The above reasons drove me to start The Party Crew a er my resigna on from ABE-UK in 2013.

TPC currently employs 4 people between the ages of 25 to 35 years. One administra ve assistant, o n e g r a p h i c d e s i g n e r, o n e p h o t o a n d videographer, and one tour guide. We also have 6 non-permanent staff between the ages of 30 and 40, regional tour guides and drivers, who we call on when needed. That our small firm has offered these people an opportunity to work, learn and earn income is fulfilling.

Leveraging R&D and Technology As a firm, we are passionate about growth and this means we need to invest in the above in order to achieve our goal. My experience in the Ghanaian corporate environment revealed that professionals living in Ghana do not appreciate tourism. At the ini al stages of TPC, professionals living in Ghana and people visi ng from abroad were our main target group. When we started opera ng as a business, we realised that ge ng

47 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 2 3

ISHMAEL YAMSON & ASSOCIATES 2 0 BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE 2 3