Tuesday 9 August 2016
Monday 25 July 2016
Tuesday 19 July 2016
Saturday 16 July 2016
Tuesday 12 July 2016
FOCUS ON GHANA
SPECIAL FOCUS ON
GHANA
Mahama: Changing Lives? Transforming Ghana?
President John Dramani Mahama (as Vice President )stepped into
the saddle in 2010 when his erstwhile boss President John Atta Mills passed on.
With that he became the 4th John in a row (After John Jerry Rawlings, John
Kuffour and John Atta Mills), to lead the emerging West African nation of
estimated 25million people. Taking the reigns of power at a time of global
economic melt down has not been quite easy, but he has managed to swim above
the murky waters. Surviving a close
electoral battle with his major rival Nana Akufo Addo in 2012 has not only made
him tougher but more strategic and more determined to deliver on his promises
to the people of Ghana in all priority areas. Despite criticism from some
quarters and vehement castigations from the main opposition, it is quite
pertinent to note that Ghana has really changed relatively positively in the
past four years of Mahama’s tenure, though there is still work to be done.
There are quite a wide range of criteria for measuring the
transformation indices of a nation at any given time, Definitely,
infrastructural development, improvement in educational standards, rural
development through efforts which encourage small and micro entrepreneurship,
are some of these. These are definitely
some of the areas that the Mahama administration has taken some very visible
strides in the fulfillment of the mandate given it by the Ghanaian people.
Particularly outstanding is the massive investments in the
educational sector that has invariably reengineered an unprecedented turn
around in the hitherto parlous educational standard in the country a few years
back. The administration remarkable efforts in this sector is a clear
indication of a genuine desire to lay a formidable foundation for a nation that
was gradually losing the quest for educating its youth due to poverty in some
cases and the inexplicable lure of fast
money amongst some youth; going by recent researches.
With the hindsight that a country which neglects education
is definitely headed for the rocks, the administration’s prioritization of
education must be applauded.
To further emphasize the importance of the giant strides in this sector in Ghana,
it is pertinent to reflect on the score card presented by President John Mahama
to the people of Ghana at the Parliament when he delivered his state of the
nation address 2016, detailing his administration’s achievements in the
improvement of education in Ghana.
“I would like to
show how we are changing lives. And what a better place to start than with
education, which has been proven to be the single most effective way not only
to changea single life, but other lives that surround it. Education can bAreak
cycles of poverty and abuse. Education is the key that can unlock, for
children, worlds into which their parents could not enter; worlds they never
even knew existed. During this term, my first term as President, we have
consciously developed strategies and made interventions to raise the quality of
education by emphasising its relevance,improving access, and working to
eliminate gender discrimination and inequality. We have also worked to better
train and equip our teachers.
BASIC EDUCATION
Ghana has been commended by the United Nations for meeting
the target of theMillennium Development Goal (MDG) on achieving universal
primary education withgender parity. Despite that achievement, there are still
a significant number of school-agechildren that are not enrolled. These
children are now being targeted under the Compulsory Basic Education
(CBE)programme of the Ministry of Education. In the last year, a total of
54,800 out of schoolchildren in four regions have been enrolled into schools.
These are 54,800 children whowould not have received an education. These are
54,800 children whose lives will now have much different outcomes as a result
of this programme.Other important social interventions that are being
implemented in the educational sector include the issuance of free supplies
such as uniforms, sandals and textbooks.
In June 2015, I launched the free school sandals programme
which saw the start of the distribution of 10,000 Kumasi Shoe Factory
Made-in-Ghana leather sandals to school children in need across the nation.A
number of students would have struggled without the basic necessities with
which to attend school - students like Mohammed Awabu of Moglaa JHS in the
Savelugu District of the Northern Region who received free sandals; or David Aminayire
of Nayagenia JHS, Kassena-Nankana Municipal in the Upper East Region who
received free uniform, free exercise books and textbooks. Last year, I insisted
that the Ministry of Education must ensure that all textbooks areprinted in
Ghana. This is on course. In fact, I would like to acknowledge the statement of
gratitude received from the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association,
led by Mr.James Appiah-Berko. I would especially like to take note of their
indication that this intervention will help create1,400 new direct jobs. Better
still, that is 1,400 new direct jobs in Ghanaian businesses.
In our determination to improve quality education, we have
also introduced two newprogrammes - the Teacher Professional Development
Initiative and the Provision of Teaching and Learning Materials programme.The
Teacher Professional Development initiative aims to achieve a target of 95%
trainedteachers at the basic level by 2020 as set out in the Education
Strategic Plan (ESP). TheProvision of Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs)
programme has seen to the distribution of teaching and learning materials to
10,924 basic schools. In addition, 30,000 teachers were trained in ICT under
the Basic School Computerisation Programme, bringing the total number of teachers
trained under the programme to 50,000.
SECONDARY EDUCATION
Secondary education was plagued with a number of challenges,
notably lack of access,leading to a poor transition rate from JHS to SHS. We
are vigorously confronting these challenges. Under our programme to establish
200 Senior High Schools, I can report that 123 are currently being constructed.
But permit me to place this project in a broader perspective.
The first secondary school was established in Ghana 140
years ago, in 1876. Between that date and 2012, the number of public secondary
schools established was 526. The 123 schools that are being implemented right
now will create more than 200,000 new places in the system, thus making the
Community Day Schools Intervention the biggest ever expansion programme in the
entire history of secondary education in Ghana.
It is because of this programme that 16-year-old Apim
Shulamite is now the Assistant School Prefect of the Atta Mills Community Day
School in Otuam. After completing JHS, Apim, who once dreamt of becoming a
nurse, had to stay home for a year due to lack of access to a secondary school.
Apim's parents are settlers from Somanya. Her father is a taxi driver and her
mother sells second-hand clothing. During the year that she stayed at home, Apim
sold waakye and worked in a chop bar.
Because of the Community Day Schools intervention, students
like Apim are able to gofrom limited prospects to the fulfilment of personal
dreams that ultimately benefit the entire nation. Additionally, under the Secondary
school. Apim's parents are settlers from
Somanya. Her father is a taxi driver and her mother sells second-hand clothing.
During the year that she stayed at home, Apim sold waakye and worked in a chop
bar.
Because of the Community Day Schools intervention, students
like Apim are able to go from limited prospects to the fulfilment of personal
dreams that ultimately benefit the entire nation. Additionally, under the
Secondary Education Improvement Programme (SEIP), 10,400 students benefitted
from scholarships. 60% of the beneficiaries are young women, like Gertrude
Ahyia Yeboah, who is currently a student at St. Augustine's SHS in Bogoso in
the Western Region.
A critical assessment
of Ghana’s educational sector over the past years, when juxtaposed with the
some of the accounts rendered in the state of the nation address, leaves one in
no doubt concerning the sincerity of purpose and genuine intentions of Mr.
Mahama and his team towards the total
revamping of the sector.
The massive efforts the Mahama administration has put in the
educational sector by way of investments
in awesome infrastructural developments, improvement of tutor quality, access
to education for the poorest of the poor through provision of some essentials
like text books, exercise books, uniforms and sandals ( a situation that is
hard for most urban dwelling critics to comprehend ) and free tuition are clear
indices.
The administration’s remarkable strides in the quest to give
Ghana’s education a new, befitting, world class outlook is so vast that only a
fraction is captured in the following 8- page spotlight titled-
GHANA’S EDUCATION MAKES PROGRESS - NEW FACE OF EDUCATION.
In all fairness, the advances in this sector must be
commended as the foundation for a more progressive, visionary and objective
Ghana has been laid by this quest to inspire a new generation of forward looking
Ghanaians through provisions of globally accepted educational standards.
SUMMER TRAINING
ONE WEEK SUMMER EMPOWERMENT TRAINING IN EVENT MANAGEMENT
FASHION AND LIFE MAGAZINE, AFRICA INFORMER, SPARROW EVENTS PLUS, SUPPORTED BY GLORYGATE CAPITAL ARE ORGANIZING A SUMMER EMPOWERMENT TRAINING FOR THE SUMMER FROM MONDAY 15TH TO SATURDAY 20TH AUGUST FOR
Aspiring and practicing entrepreneurs in the Event Management sector in Ghana.
Students on holidays, graduates, workers, young people and not so young, seeking to expand their horizons and those who want or love to be event managers have a lot to learn and gain from this power packed and enlightening programme that will surely better their lives.
YOU GET A CERTIFICATE ON EVENT MANAGEMENT AT THE END OF THE TRAINING PROGRAMME.
The Trainer is SIKEADE ADETU, THE MULTIPLE AWARD WINNING FOUNDER OF
SPARROW PLUS EVENT WHO HAS TRAINED SEVERALLY IN SOUTH AFRICA, UK AND THE UNITED STATES.
REGISTRATION-GHC 300. CALL, TEXT OR WHATSAPP 0555186989 OR 0264185988 FOR DETAILS
Monday 30 May 2016
12 OUTSTANDING ORGANIZATIONS HONOURED AT THE 2ND WEST AFRICA SME INTERNATIONAL AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE 2016, AT THE BRITISH COUNCIL AUDITORIUM ACCRA GHANA.
All awardees pose for photos with host, publisher Africa Informer, Prince Ike Onwuka Smarty in white
The Luncheon and awards
presentation was the second part and grand finale of the 2nd West
Africa SME Conference and International Awards of Excellence, 2016. The
exciting presentation saw deserving accolades go to 12 organizations in the SME
Finance, micro insurance, micro investments, waste management, agro allied and
event management sectors.
Speaking at the presentation,
host and publisher of African Informer, the organizers, Ike Onwuka-Smarty, said “All the organizations here
today have been innovative, creative, outstanding, efficient and deserve
accolades for their exemplary performances over the years. That is why the West
Africa SME International Awards of Excellence is being presented to them to
encourage them to continue to do more.”
ALL THE AWARDEES AT A GLANCE
IZWE LOANS GHANA, a micro finance firm with roots in South Africa
and operations spanning 5 African countries received the WEST AFRICA SME INTERNATIONAL AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE AS GHNA’S TOP
QUALITY INDIGENOUS FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS BRAND OF THE YEAR, with its
concentrated financial products for local businesses and governmental
institutions like police personnel.
LEGACY MICRO FINANCE COMPANY LTD, which started 5 years ago as a
one man business from a bedroom with Ghc5,000 ($1,200), has grown to become one
of Ghana top SME finance institutions with 160 employees, 7 branches, 30,000
customers and financial portfolio in the region of GHc 80 million ($20.2M). A
remarkable story that earned the company the
WASCA 2016, AWARD OF EXCELLENCE AS GHANA’S EMERGING MICRO FINANCE INSTITUTION.
The company’s CEO, Mr. Mark Opoku is one of Ghana’s most amazing serial
entrepreneur.
For NATIONWIDE MICROFINANCE LTD, adjudged GHANA’S MOST EFFICIENT FINANCIAL SERVICES ORGANIZATION FOR MSME GROWTH,
the growth over the past 6 years has been tough but worth the sweat. With
humble beginnings in 2010, the company now has a current turn over in the range
of Ghc 15million ($3.95) and an asset base which stands at over Ghc45 million
($11.45 million). Its platforms for business transformation and networking has
impacted on its efficiency in the growth of its more than 100,000 customers
across the length and breadth of Ghana and beyond.
Led by one of the youngest CEOs
in the mould of Alhaji Salamu Amadu, AFRO-ARAB
MICRO FINANCE CO. LTD, receives the SME INTERNATIONAL AWARD OF EXCELLENCE 2016
FOR SERVICE EXCELLENCE IN MICRO AND SAMLL ENTERPRISE FINANCING, for its
focus on the smallest traders, artisans and the indigenous small businesses etc
in the MSME sector, thus providing and creating employment for a vast majority.
Amadu decade in business management sees him oversee the Afro Arab group that has
interests in properties, travel and tours, sports, jewelry, telecom and
charity.
MAN CAPITALMICRO FINANCE has in the past 5 years been committed to
the building and fuelling of the capital engine of its thousands of valuable
customers in Ghana. This why it emerged the MOST REMARKABLE MICRO FINANCE COMPANY IN GHANA.
With an astounding innovation
that is rare in the insurance world STAR
MICROINSURANCE SERVICES LTD, started a revolution 8 years ago with the
concept of micro insurance, that insures the micro business that has been
neglected by the sector. Today it is reaping the benefits of this foresight
that has of course been emulated by some. It has even gone a step further by
insuring the risks of micro finance institutions. The organization is WEST AFRICA SME INTERNATIONAL AWARD OF
EXCELLENCE RECIPIENT AS GHANA’S BEST MICRO INSURANCE COMPANY FOR SMALL
ENTERPRISE GROWTH.
Lagos Nigeria based SPARROW DÉCOR PLUS emerged WEST AFRICA’S MOST OUTSTANDING EVENT DÉCOR
COMPANY for its over 25 years existence, remarkable experience, creativity
and outstanding skills are the hallmark of the brain behind the brand, Mrs.
Sikeade Adetu. The company continues to manage events for some of the global
multinationals in West Africa; Cadbury, GSK, Zenith bank, Cocal Cola and a host
of others. She has also conducted training for event managers in the US, UK
South Africa, Nigeria.
AUDYLOT SEASONING, started a couple of years back as an agro
processing company packaging a lot of local Ghanaian seasonings to add spice to
the preparation of local delicacies. It also packages less processed products
like packed okro, garden eggs, sliced yam/plantain/cassava etc. The brain child
of former research consultant Audrey Allotey, the company is a testament to
resilience and ingenuity of the youth to carve a niche. This is why we honor Audylot with the WEST AFRICA SME INTERNATIONAL AWARD OF
EXCELLENCE AS GHANA’S FASTEST RISING INDIGENOUS FOOD SEASONING BRAND
With focus on areas like asset
finance, business loans and savings accounts, SIC LIFE SAVINGS AND LOANS has become one of Ghana’s most sort
after SME Finance organizations. Led by UK trained Richard Appietu, the company
has within a few years stamped its feet firmly in the SME finance firmament. It
received the WASCA AWARD as GHANA’S
FASTEST GROWING SAVINGS AND LOANS COMPANY FOR ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT 2016.
Another salute to entrepreneurial
spirit is the award of GHANA’S MOST
EFFICIENT WASTE MANAGEMENT COMPANY
presented to ASADU ROYAL WASTE
MANAGEMENT COMPANY which was founded by Germany trained Edward Asadu.
Starting from humble beginning 20years ago, the company has become one of
Ghana’s top organizations in that sector.
The awesome innovation brought
into investment banking by the Founder of GLORYGATE
CAPITAL, Mrs. Fransisca Karikari,
deserves all the accolades. Another insight to the large funds available in the
SME sector for investment, the company in a deviation from the norm where
investment banking institutions focus mainly on huge financial assets, seeks
fund from SMEs for interest yielding investments which also help the SME secure
their profits. The company received awards as WEST AFRICA SME INTERNATIONAL AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE AS GHANA’S FASTEST
GROWING INVESTMENT INSTITUTION FOR SME GROWTH.
GROFIN GHANA is one of the pioneering SME development financiers in
Africa. Headquartered in Mauritius, it has offices in Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda,
Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria (2), Ghana, Eqypt, Oman and Jordan. It manages
funds on behalf of more than 30 international development finance institutions,
development organizations, foundations, large companies and private funders
with committed funds in the range of $500M. Its unique funding package of
guiding SMEs through important skills acquisitions, business development trainings
and analysis etc before funds release has since high percentage of growth in
SME lucky enough to partner with it. Its unique approach since 2004 has won it
many global accolades. GROFIN received the WEST AFRICA SME AWARD OF EXCELLENCE AS
GHANA’S BEST AND UNIQUE ORGANIZATION FOR SME DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH 2016.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)