New savings culture emerges in Bolga, to fund rural business ideas

In rural communities where modern day banking is still a preserve for the privileged few, a new initiative by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is giving the folks a reason to patronise savings for its long term business opportunities, writes Maxwell Adombila Akalaare





RURAL women in some parts of the Upper East region are quickly embracing, with both hands, a new savings and lending initiative that is fast proving a source of funding to their long-held business ideas.

With a motivation to save in groups and an opportunity to borrow at low rates from their saved monies, women in the area are now beginning to realise their dreams and create business ventures, proceeds of which are used to support their respective families.

Modest as it may be, the Savings and Internal Lending Community (SILC), an initiative of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), is able to mob up funds in areas where commercial banks and their trained bankers would have failed to mobilise savings.

The community-based and savings-centered initiative was started in May 2011 by the CRS with one goal in mind; to encourage savings among rural folks as a way of empowering them to start up their own businesses.

But even before the programme takes shape, beneficiaries and facilitators of SILC have already started using their borrowed monies to start businesses and undertake petty tradings from which they generate incomes to cater for their individual needs.



HOW SILC WORKS

Madam Celestina Aduko, a facilitator within the Talensi-Nabdam District, who took the GRAPHIC BUSINESS through the various operations of SILC explained that persons wishing to join the SILC initiative are first put in groups with membership ranging from 15 to 30 persons per group.

Individual members, she said, are then encouraged to save (contributing any amount that the individual can afford) in a group’s money box which is kept by the group leader. Contributions are taken on weekly basis, a third of which is then loaned to an interested party after every other four weeks.

Madam Aduko explained that although the initial plan was to loan a third of an individual’s savings back to him or her after four week’s of savings, the groups had realised that “the individual’s savings alone will not be enough for him to use in starting something meaningful.”

Repayment of loaned funds, according to Madam Aduko is done base on the amount taken with a flat interest rate of a tenth of the loaned amount.

She mentioned that the programme which started with 19 groups in few communities has now flourished into the entire region as a result of its promising benefits to the people and the economy as a whole.

“The CRS realised that the poverty in our part of the country makes it difficult for the people to find a proper source of living for themselves and their families. And so they brought this initiative to encourage group savings and lending, from which comes businesses,” the SILC facilitator noted.

Madam Aduko added that the SILC initiative has currently brought about various forms of improvements in the lives of the populace with most of the beneficiaries using the proceeds to set up smaller businesses, engage in petty trading and also finance their individual family needs.

The SILC, she said envisions that “non of its members will have any money related problem because we don’t want a situation where members will still be poor, have no source of living and do not create income for members of their families come five years.”



WHY ENCOURAGE SILC

Although the revolution in the country’s banking and non-banking sector has agreeably pushed more people into patronising the services of financial institutions nation-wide, most people off the streets of city are yet to see any reason to do same. And That may not be a big surprise. After all, how many financial institutions have the nerve to set up their operations in these rural areas where money is best known to be saved in bedrooms and pillows.

Naba Moses Agangzuah Koomkiisibugu hands over a SILC savings box to Madm Abampoka Azidizian

But even where financial institutions, especially the banks, have registered their presence for the sake of deposit mobilisations, not many had patronised their services.

With Ghana’s low domestic savings rate of nine per cent, all efforts aimed at encouraging savings must, therefore, be pushed as a savings habit engineers an investment culture.

But in the face of that comes many challenges, some of which are currently facing SILC and its members.

In enumerating the various challenges facing the implementation of the SILC initiative, Madam Aduko said the successful operations of the SILC will be based on the market that will be created for the businesses it generates.

“The people are more than eager to use their savings to start businesses; to weave baskets, produce sheabutter and engage in petty trading. The headache, however is how fast can these produce move to enable them manufacture more.”

Madam Aduko thus called on the CRS and other benevolent institutions to help market the business proceeds of SILC so as to help encourage more savings and investments among Ghana’s rural folks.

“They should try and link our products to buyers outside the region so that the produce can move quickly for them to produce more,” she said.

And once that is done, Madam Aduko said the success of the SILC can then be replicated in other areas and regions to the benefit of the populace and the economy at large.

Ministry launches forecasting model

THE Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) is optimistic that the country’s development partners will soon  express  their confidence in the country’s macroeconomic policy statistics, following the launch of a multi-sectorial macroeconomic policy model  for forecasting and analysing of the government’s economic policy decisions.

The Technical Advisor on Macroeconomics at the MoFEP, Dr Said Boakye, who made the observation during the launch of the model in Accra, said the interconnected and scientifically-based nature of the model should make its use authentic in the eyes of policy analysts and development partners.


The model which is titled: “A macroeconometric model of the Ghanaian economy for policy scenario analysis and macroeconomic forecasting”, will replace the inter-sectorial macroeconomic policy models that existed and were used prior to the model’s coming into being.

The 27-page model was developed by the MoFEP’s Technical Advisor on Macroeconomics, Dr Said Boakye, in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ).

Presenting the model to policy analysts, economists and some of Ghana’s development partners as part of its launch, Dr Boakye said the interconnected nature of the current model in analysing and forecasting government policies made it a credible tool for forecasting.

He explained that unlike recent developments in the country’s economy such as the rebasing which saw services overtaking the agricultural sector, the emergence of oil production and the now inter-connected nature of the various sectors, macroeconomic forecasting and analysing models had failed to catch up with the trend, a situation he said was causing Ghana’s development partners to cast doubts on her macroeconomic statistics.

He said though other models existed prior to this current model, “those models were developed on sectorial bases and were basically not scientific” thereby adding to doubts over the authenticity or otherwise of data compiled from them.

He was thus hopeful that the current scientific nature of the macroeconomic model of the Ghanaian economic for policy scenario analysis and macroeconomic forecasting will serve as a mutual benefit to Ghana and her development partners.

“We also think the model will help minimise the incidence of our development partners imposing their policies on Ghana,” the MoFEP Technical Advisor on Macroeconomics added.

Macroeconomic forecasting and analysing models are benchmarks used as bases for analysing and predicting the effects of major government policies and economic decisions.

Ghana, until now, had been relying on inter-sectorial models developed by various local economists, many of which Dr Boakye said were unscientific and unreliable.

He described the model as one focused on policy issues and “reflects the most current developments in our economy”, therefore it will endear the model to policy analysts and development partners.

On why the model omitted the labour market despite the area’s increasing importance in policy issues (due to hiking unemployment), Dr Boakye said “it was my plan to include that sector in the model. Sadly, however, statistics on that sector does not exist and that made it impossible capturing it.”

He thus charged on the Ghana Statistical Service to compile statistics on the said areas to help research and the formulation of policies.

The model used the country’s economic policy data and statistics compiled from 1983 to 2010.

Finance officers must go beyond the figures

THE Sub-Saharan African Director of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Mr Jamil Ampomah, has tasked Chief Finance Officers (CFOs) to stop what he terms as “hiding behind the numbers” and broaden their horizons to enable them create value for their respective businesses.



He consequently urged them to go beyond managing the financial accounts and risks of their companies alone and contribute to “business strategy while acting as a ‘guardian of the company’s brand both internally and externally.”

Mr Ampomah made the call when he addressed a forum organised by the ACCA, on the theme ‘Accountant for Business Roundtable Discussion,’ in Accra.

“The role of the CFO has transformed and expanded well beyond a traditional focus on finance accounting and reporting responsibilities,” Mr Ampomah said, and added that companies all over the world expected toady’s CFO to act as the “gatekeepers, especially when managers have projects or investment ideas to pitch.”

He identified the need for finance professionals and CFOs to act as ‘standard bearers’ of integrity for their businesses in addition to being relied on by their business leaders to manage and mitigate risks as the most daring roles currently expected from the CFO.

On the relevance of managing risks within companies, the director said the ACCA “believes that risks needs to be better identified and managed than they have been in the past.

He explained that current trends in the corporate world had made it necessary for risk managers and CFOs for that matter to first recognise the existence of behavioural risks as “being crucial to the process of risk management.

“Risk management also needs to be seen within the wider framework of good corporate governance,” he added.

The programme which torched on risk assesments and management, the role of the CFO in taking an investment decision among others had companies finance directors and consultants, managing directors and chief accountants as its guest discussants.

The roundtable discussion also gave members the opportunity to debate on the yet to be implemented integrated reporting which when implemented, would see finance officials of companies integrating financial and non-financial information in their company’s end of year financial reports.

It was attended by the ACCA’s sub-Saharan members, including those in Ghana.

Take anti-money laudering serious, Ghana tell WAMI

GHANA’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has called on the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), the body responsible for the implementation of a common payment and settlement criteria for the institute’s member countries, to include anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing strategies in its operations


The centre has, thus, called on the Central Banks of the respective member countries, including Ghana’s Bank of Ghana, to tighten the screws on acts bordering on internal and external money laundering and terror financing using their respective country’s financial and banking platforms.

Contributing to a discussion on the current state of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) during the first Swift Business Forum for the WAMZ member countries in Accra, Mr Edward M. Musey of the FIC said the WAMI ought to include a money laundering and counter terrorism financing in its cards.

“We are currently witnessing an increase in terrorism financing and money laundering activities using our financial institutions,” Mr Musey said noting that the financial institutions within the zone would now have to be keener on the source of funds coming into their country and the destinations of those leaving their economic borders.

“I think the WAMI would have to include ways of tackling the development even before its common payment and settlement systems for the zone become operational for its members”.

“We have seen what happened in Nigeria some few days ago in addition to the few issues of money laundering activities heard here and there,” Mr Musey said and added that the institute needed to immediately devise ways of tackling money laundering and countering terror financing strategies that could infiltrate its system should it become operational.

Responding to the suggestion, the Deputy Governors of both Nigeria and The Gambia and an official at Bank of Ghana’s Banking and Supervision Department said their respective banks and countries were currently well- equipped to deal with such issues boardering on money laundering and terrorism financing.

Dr Amissah Arthur is the Governor of Ghana's Central Bank.

They, however, contended that the WAMZ, as a future economy block, needed a common platform to deal with such issues.

The WAMZ is an integration of selected West African countries with an aim to establish a common economic and monetary union for its current six member countries, the establishment of a West African Central Bank and a Financial Supervisory Authority and a common currency for the zone.

As a result, the member countries have currently been tasked to develop a common payment and settlement platform for their internal banking and financial institutions prior to the implementation of the zone’s core objectives.

While that of Nigeria and Ghana are virtually on the verge of completing conversion criteria towards meeting the zone’s agreed settlement system for member countries, those of The Gambia and Sierra Leone are yet to put up any meaningful foundation.

A deputy Governor at The Gambia’s Central Bank, Mrs Sara Savage-Samba, said at the forum that “while the speakers of Ghana and Nigeria are saying they have this and they have that,unfortunately, we in The Gambia do not have anything yet” but promised to work harder in achieving the set goals.

She cited lack of participation and the unwillingness of her country’s banking community to make financial commitments towards the implementation of the payment and settlement system as a drawback.

BoG heeds to susu collectors request BUT...............

Earlier requests by some micro-finance institutions in the country that, their regulator, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) softens its stance on a then proposed GH¢100,000 start-up capital for some micro-finance institutions had been heeded to following an outright scrapping of the minimum capital for these institutions by the Central Bank. The institutions latest requests however, seem to be meeting fierce resistance from their regulator. Maxwell Adombila Akalaare looks at the development.
THE Bank of Ghana has willyingly scrapped an initially proposed GH¢100,000 minimum capital for some micro-finance institutions in the country following various concerns raised against the said amount by the institutions’ respective umbrella bodies.Consequently, individual susu collectors, susu enterprises, individual money lenders and money lending enterprises that fall under tier four of the BoG’s categorisation for micro-finance institutions in the country are exempted from raising and maintaining any minimum capital.
Head of the Micro-Finance Unit at the BoG’s Banking and Supervision Department (BSD), Mrs Sarah Ampah-Nunoo explained to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that the idea to allow the said institutions to operate without a stated capital was borned out of the need to encourage their existence rather than stifle their operations.
Mrs Ampah-Nunoo spoke to the paper after addressing the Greater Accra regional members of the Ghana Cooperative Susu Collectors Association (GCSCA) during a sensitisation workshop organised by the association in Accra for its regional members.
The workshop which is the first in a series was to among other things update the regional members on stages of the BoG’s regulatory procedures for the GCSCA members as well as afford the members the opportunity to clarify issues with the Central Bank regarding the regulations.
Mr Ampah-Nunoo noted that though people would have expected the Central Bank to tighten entry procedures into those areas including mandating those institutions to raise and maintain a specified minimum capital as a way of preventing any abuse of the system, the unit was also of the view that a proposed GH¢100,000 as start up capital for these institutions was capable of “throwing some of them out of business and that is what the BoG does not want.”
Meanwhile, the Micro-Finance Unit of the Central Bank’s BSD, which is currently tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the regulations, operations general activities of micro-finance institutions in the country is currently refusing to yield to present requests by members of the GCSCA that the BoG allowed individual members of the association the opportunity to go into loan disbursements to their clients, extend the six month grace period within which new and existing susu collectors should register with the unit as susu collectors and/or reduce the application processing, licensing and renewal fees for susu collectors.
While commending the BoG for not mandating susu collectors to meet a stated minimum capital, some of the GCSCA members at the workshop requested that the Central Bank allowed the individual members to advance loans to some of “our trusted clients.”
On the issue of operational fees for members, some of the GCSCA members said the BoG’s application processing, licensing and renewal fees which sum up to GH¢850 “was high enough to possibly deny some us our SSNIT and other contributions.”
They also requested that the Central Bank relaxed its six month grace period within which all prospective and operating susu collectors in Ghana were expected to finalise procedures towards migrating onto the new regulatory scheme or cease operations.
The members argued that such a period was too short to enable them meet the necessary requirements.
“We are all aware that when banks were recapitalised in this country, they were given about two years within which to meet the new capital requirements. So, how come we the micro-finance institutions are given just six months to comply with these new guidelines,” Mr Philip Danquah, a member of the association asked.
Some of the members also called on the BoG to consider allowing individual susu collectors in the system the opportunity to lend their mobilised funds to interested clients, a request when granted could see susu collectors in the country granting loans to interested parties.
The head of the BoG’s Micro-finance Unit, however disagreed.
According Mrs Ampah-Nunoo, decisions on the permissible duties of micro-finance institutions, the time period within which all affected bodies should comply with the bank’s new guidelines as well as the application procession, licensing and renewal fees for operators was reached “after series of discussions with your members.
“It is not that the BoG is trying to push these measures on you the members; these are decisions the bank took after various deliberations with your association’s heads,” she said and thus called on the individual members to rather strategise towards meeting the said requirements or risk being pushed out of business.
On the members request that individual susu operators in Ghana be allowed to lend to their clients, Mrs Ampah-Nunoo said the ill-equipped nature of the individual collectors made such a mandate very risky in their hands.
As a result, she said “there is no way susu collectors in Ghana would be allowed to give out loans to their clients. The BoG has realised that the individual members do not have the capacity to engage in loan disbursements “especially when it comes to monitoring the loan beneficiaries to ensure proper recoveries.”
CONCESSIONARY LOANS
Though the Central Bank is currently adamant to requests by some of the GCSCA members that they be allowed to do individual loan advancements to some of their ‘trusted clients’, information picked by the GRAPHIC BUSINESS indicated that the GCSCA as an umbrella body of susu collectors in the country is currently awaiting BoG’s response to its earlier memo requesting the bank to grant the association the right to collect loans on concessionary bases from commercial banks for its members.
Should the request be granted, the GCSCA would then be empowered to obtain funds from some of its bigger financial partners such as commercial banks for onward distributions to some of its ‘credible members’ who would intend unlend (advance) the said funds to their respective clients.
Though the National President of the GCSCA, Mr E E Aboagye Mensah would not go into the details of the said memo, he was optimistic the memo would receive the Central Bank’s blessing.
“We are sure that request will be approved by the BoG people,” the president said.
It is however not clear what difference this arrangement (individual susu collectors advancing loans to their clients from a concessionary loan) would make taking into consideration the current claims by the Central Bank that individual susu collectors in the country do not have the capacity to engage in loan advancements to their clients, especially when its comes to monitoring and recovering.

Economy expands in first quarter

THE first quarter of 2011 saw the country’s economy expanding by 23 per cent when compared to the same quarter in 2010.
The year-on-year Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which measures the monetary value of goods and services produced in the first quarter of this year as compared to those produced in the first quarter of 2010 was valued at GH¢6,660.3 million, up by GH¢1,244.9 million from the 2010 first quarter GDP which stood at GH¢5,415.4 million.
The rise in the year-on-year GDP figures in 2011 when compared with those of 2010 was massively influenced by significant growth rates recorded in the crops (mainly cocoa), mining and quarrying (influenced by crude oil production), manufacturing, construction as well as other sub-sectors.
At a news conference in Accra to announce the GDP estimates for the first quarter of 2011, the Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, said the quarter-on-quarter GDP estimates - comparing growth in the economy in the first quarter of 2011 with that of the last quarter of 2010, however, recorded a decline of 5.1 per cent.
She noted that the decline in the quarter-on-quarter GDP estimates was virtually characteristic of every first and second quarters of previous years and largely attributable to the weak performance in the agriculture sector resulting from the sector’s seasonal production pattern.
“The cyclical trend in agriculture output in the first quarter led to a decline of 35.7 per cent in that sector,” Dr Bediako said adding that all the agricultural sub-sectors further witnessed declines ranging from 19.5 per cent to 41.3 per cent.
For the past five years, first quarter GDP has been witnessing negative growth rates, a situation the government statistician said was mainly due to the heavy decline in the agriculture sector within those periods and the sluggish nature of industry, companies and economic activities in the country during the first four months of every year.
On the quarter-on-quarter sectorial GDP outlook, the agriculture sector, thus, recorded the least growth, contributing only GH¢1479.9 million to the first quarter GDP which represents a negative growth of 35.7 per cent.
The industry sector, however, recorded the highest growth rate of 21.4 per cent, contributing GH¢1,607 million to the first quarter of 2011 GDP estimates.
According to Dr Bediako, the significant rise in the industry sector’s contribution to the first quarter GDP of 2011 , higher than the other two sectors - services and agriculture, was hugely due to high growth recorded in the mining and quarrying sub-sectors coupled with the introduction of crude oil production, a situation she said increased the sub-sector’s output by 136.1 per cent.
She added that growth in the service industries was up by 5.3 in the first quarter of 2011, leading to the sector’s GH¢3,185.1 million contribution to the 2011’s first quarter GDP.
Meanwhile, the month-on-month Producer Inflation, which measures the monthly average changes in the (factory gate) prices,  received by domestic producers and manufacturers for their goods and services rose by 0.74 per cent in May from the April month-on-month rate of 0.63 per cent.
Consequently, domestic producers and manufacturers received higher factory gate prices (prices fixed and received by manufacturers and producers) for their respective goods and services produced within May as compared to the rates received in April.
She, however said the year-on-year rate declined to 23.80 per cent in May from the April figure of 24.29 per cent, the first fall in the producer inflation in thirteen months.
The May producer inflation of 23.80 per cent indicated a 0.49 per cent decline compared to the April rate of 24.29 per cent.
Year-on-year producer inflation has been witnessing a consistent rise in the past 12 months, with the highest rate recorded in  April this year.
In the sector by sector out of the PPI, the Government Statistician said the highest year-on-year price change of 71.84 per cent was recorded in the utilities sub-sector while the manufacturing sub-sector recorded 32.60, the least in the sector by sector outlook.
Mining and quarrying however recorded the highest monthly producer inflation change of 1.36 per cent followed by utilities recording a no change, the lowest in the sector-by-sector comparison.

Withstand all forms of manipulation - World Bank's Director of CommunicationDIRECTOR of Communications in charge of the World Bank’s Africa Region, Mr Peter Stevens, has challenged media practitioners in Ghana to withstand all forms of manipulation by both government and corporate institutions.

DIRECTOR of Communications in charge of the World Bank’s Africa Region, Mr Peter Stevens, has challenged media practitioners in Ghana to withstand all forms of manipulation by both government and corporate institutions.
He observed that government and corporate institutions throughout the world had intensified their machination of media practitioners as they both seek ways of hiding some aspects of their improper conducts from becoming public.
Mr Steven made the remarks at a video conference from Wasghinton to journalists in Accra during the opening ceremony of  a 10-day training course for journalists in finance and economic reporting.
The course, which is the first in the series, is organised by El de D Consult, a consultancy firm in Accra and sponsored by Newmont Ghana Gold Limited with support from the World Bank.
According to him, "the manipulation of the journalist has never been done with greater effect as it is currently happening," adding that the practice was not limited to one country but a phenomenon carried out everywhere.
"This manipulation process is not limited only to the USA or UK, it happens evereywhere," he said and thus urged journalist to "keep yourselves above this process and never be part of it".
Mr Stevens was also optimistic that the course in Economic and Finance would help equip the participants to be able to effectively report on issues of finance and economics.
A deputy Minister at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Seth Tepker, who was the guest speaker at the ceremony, called on media practitioners to give more prominence to economic and finance issues.
He said the World Bank had confirmed that the country's economy was going to witness one of the highest growth in Sub-Sahara Africa of over 13 per cent, an issue the deputy Minster said has been "overshadowed by partisan political discussions on our radio and television stations.
"I admit that political discussions do deepen democracy through grassroots participation but economic and financial issues if well discussed will ultimately put bread and butter on the table," Mr Tepker said.
 He thus commended the organisers, El de D Consult, Newmont Ghana and the World Bank for partnering one another on such a noble course.
El de D Consult, the course organisers were optimistic that the 'Finance and Economic Clinic', as it is being refered would help compliment past efforts towards getting media practitioners well positioned to tackling the growing number of economic and finance issues making the headlines in the country.

STC's fortunes to change

TWO months after the Transport Minister’s visit to the Intercity STC Coaches Limited brought to public attention the debt-ridden nature of the company, Maxwell Adombila Akalaare looks at how the company is now surviving in these challenges.

The fortunes of Intercity STC are set to drastically transform in the coming months with the release of 10 additional buses to the company to augment its fleet.
The buses  have come at a time when the existing fleet seldom make it to their destinations, thereby getting passangers stranded on many occassion.
With the competition in the sector getting heated by the day from competitors such as VIP and M-Plaza, STC, the icon of the sector has almost lost its lead as far as the market share is concerned.
The company has survived till date in spite of the huge debt overlay because of the trust and royalty many continue to have in the company. 
The Marketing and Business Development Manager of the Intercity STC Coaches Limited, Gabriella D. Tetteh is confident that the company’s operations would soon stabilise following the loaning of 10  48-seater Yotoug buses to it by the J A Plant Pool, sole distributors of the brand in Ghana.
“We are gradually getting  back our patronage,” she said, adding that the  10 buses had been en-routed to long distance journeys and to Ouagadougou and Abidjan routes.
Ms Tetteh said though the current season does not favour transport patronage due to the lack of festivities and school vacations,  patronage of the company’s buses were gradually picking up especially when compared with the previous months.
“Our Bolga-Wa and Tamale services which are using the new buses are now recording 100 per cent,  up from the initial 88 to 95 per cent patronage recorded some months ago,” she said.
Frequent break downs of vehicles, late departures and other operational difficulties  are some of the major challenges confronting the company.   In years past, STC was a preferred public transport system  and earned the reputation of providing safe, reliable and timely transport to both its local and foreign passengers.
According  to the Business and Development Manager, the compamy had realised its challenges and was now working to improve on them.
She mentioned that the STC’s break down records were “now insignificant following the coming in of the 10 Odehye buses from J A Plant Pool.”
 She further disclosed that the company was  yet to take delivery of another 10 buses from the Metro Mass Transport Limited, another passenger transport company in the country.

Starting harsh, ending sweet, The story of Matamiss Enterprise

 If the saying that progress in life is not an event but a process is anything to go by, then the rise of  Ms Matilda Amissah from street hawking to the establishment of Matamiss Enterprise, a pottery producing and exporting company at Tema in Accra says it better. Maxwell Adombila Akalaare looks at the humble beginnings of the company.

THE virtually half-a-day-long intriguing life story of Ms Matilda Amissah, the brain behind a pottery manufacturing and exporting venture in Tema - Matamiss Pottery is short: She was orphaned at age 17,  took to street hawking as she sought to care for herself and later graduated to a petty trader in clothes and food crops.
But the political tension in the country around the late 1970s did not help matters as it mired her business and caused her to later migrate to Nigeria to engage in kenkey selling for two years. That kenkey selling venture also collapsed thereby catapulting her into househelp jobbing at the then Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso Embassy in Nigeria.  Politically motivated upheavals in Nigeria around her days of stay equally did not help matters as she later had to proceed to the United Kingdom in search of a living. 
Two and half years later - 1998, she returned, but hit a hard rock which nearly shattered her life. But after she was introduced to the Lord, she re-galvanised, chanced upon the pottery business and with an urge for innovations, savings and committment to the job, her Matamiss Pottery has today become a renowned guru in the manufacturing and exportation of pottery products world-wide.

THE BIRTH OF MATAMISS
Ms Amissah told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that Matamiss Pottery is the fruits of her habitual savings from “the little money that I got from my past ventures.”
According to her, she had chanced upon a “a beautiful cane basket that was gifted to a newly wedded couple, I inquired about the whereabouts of the basket and was told that it came from a village in Akim-Oda in the Central region. “I later traced the man who made the basket and convinced him to make them in large quantities for me to sale,” she recollected.
After the man had agreed to her request (make the baskets on commercial quantities for her to sale), Ms Amissah said she stored those baskets for one year and later took them to an exhibition.
But while at the fair, her baskets’ patrons, aside patronising the baskets that she brought there, also requested for “something like flower pots” of which she at the time had little knowledge on.
As a result, Ms Amissah said she later got somebody to supply her samples of the flower pots, of which she intend sought more innovative ways of making the “pots look exemptional and attractive as the pots were just ordinary ones.  
According to her, she later re-traced the man that had supplied her the pots to see “if she could put the basket on the pot.”
The man, she said successfully did just that; “drilled holes round the pot and with a chain, he rapped the basket on the pot” to give it the innovative and exceptional look that Ms Amissah had sought for.
But as news of an intended visit of the then PIER 1, an American buying group to the country filtered to Ms Amissah through the then National Association of Handycraft Exporters (NAHE). She prepared her ‘innovative and exceptional pot-baskets to exhibit at the said event.
“I took my products to the fair and fortunately for me, I got an order to produce 50,000 pieces. That order really threw me off board,” Ms Amissah  recollected.
In her attempt to get the order supplied in time, Ms Amissah said she later brought back the ‘Akim-Oda pot man’ and another  pottery expert at Asamakese to Accra to help in the production.
She mentioned that the deal was well executed and in time “but because I was still new in the business, I paid more for the various services that I employed and that seriously affected my profit margin.
But for a woman who had consistently learnt to save and subsequently “plough the profit into the business,” however small  the profit was.  That according to her was the beginning of Matamiss.
And since then, Ms Amissah said her internationally proned Matamiss has being producing and supplying ceramics to its international markets based on the orders it receives from the frequent international fairs that she attends.
The Matamiss currently has 10 permanent employees and exports its products to the United States of America, Holland, Italy and Germany. As for the local market, Ms Amissah said “I have given that to my son to handle.”
She said the West African Trade Hub, the sub-regional wing of the United  States Agency for International Development (USAID) last year sent the company a ceramic designer from the USA “to help us improve on our work, particularlly the designs.” The said designer, she said has since left after spending six months with Matamiss.

THE CRISIS THAT HIT MATAMISS 
“Everything was good for the business until the 2008 financial crisis in the USA hit us hard and reduced the business drastically,” Ms Amissah remembered,  adding that “during the crunch, there was virtually nothing for me to do but I did not give up. For me, it will be well even when things are terrible.”
At the moment, Ms Amissah said things were normalising and the company was currently sourcing for funds to enable “us acquire a workshop, buy a big oven and electric potters’ wheels that would help us expand our production.”
The export market, she observed was full of uncertainities, a situation Ms Amissah said has  made  it difficult for her to access funds from financial institutions in the country.
But even aside those uncertainities, Ms Amissah said “I don’t always want to waste my time going to these banks.  I just save and later plough those savings into my business.

 ADVISE TO THE YOUTH
On GAWE, Ms Amissah said “this is another good platform for women entreprenuers to come together and discuss things that would push their businesses forward.”
And to those who are thinking of giving up on their present endeavours because they are staggering through series of challenges, Ms Amissah’s advise is “we don’t use one day to whiten decade-old rotten teeth; It is small small, don’t rush. And when things are not going well, pray and ask for the Lord’s directions. There’s no short cut to life in this world yet.” Matilda is on matamissent@yahoo.com

In our next issue, we will discuss what motivated Ms Hettie Mercer-Riketts, the Chief Executive Officer of Spa, Body ‘N Beyond, a newly opened health and body care company at Osu in Accra to 'come home' with his therapeadic experience.

Guinness expands water for life project

THE management of Guinness Ghana Breweies Limited (GGBL), brewers of assorted alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in the country said the company is stepping up its water supply to rural communities under the Guinness 'Water of Life' project to benefit about 100,000 people nationwide before the end of 2011.
The Guinness Ghana 'Water of Life' intiative, the local project of the Guinness Africa flagship community investment programme has since 2007 provided over 500,000 people with access to portable drinking water. 
Speaking to the Daily Graphic after a six kilometer walk to commerate World Water Day which comes on Tuesday, the Managing Director of GGBL Mr Ekumife Okoli said Guinness together with its 'Water of Life' partners was currently implementing 15 water projects across the entire country.
He, however, noted that despite the company's continuous stretch in making portable water accessible to peolpe in the country, Guinness was still aware of the fact that such an effort was only a scratch on the surface of the country's mounting water problems.
"15 projects would be implemented this financial year to provide  100,000 additional  people with clean drinking water. But this is just like scratching the surface of the current water problems in Ghana and we at Guinness together with our water partners are putting on more energy and plans to cover even more communities," Mr Okoli said.
Guinness Ghana last year April hosted major water consumers and stakeholders on a roundtable discussion aimed at facilitating corporate institution's engagement in tackling the country's water problems.
The MD thus called on other corperate bodies and benevolent institutions "to do something about this water problem for our people."
Ghana is currently battling with acute water deficiency, a situation the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) which oversees the production and distribution of portable water has always blamed on lack of funds for expansion works and repair of aging equipment.
Mr Okoli  said the company was at the moment giving out 3,500 water purification filters, the CrystalPur water filter to clinics and schools in some selected regions across the country.
"We'er also selling this filter at a subsidised price to young people who earn below $100 and by the end of August 2011, an estimated 105, 000 people would have be given access to clean drinking water. We do this to help curb the rise in water related diseases in Ghana," Mr Okoli said.
Guinness Africa has, as part of its corporate responsibility programmes to the communities in which it operates a yearly one million water supply target until 2015 and Mr Okoli said Guinness Ghana is set on meeting such  a goal here in Ghana.
On why the company opted for water over other social amenities, the MD said "the issue of water is very pervasive all over the world and  its importance to life in particular."
Added to that, Mr Okoli said the company's huge water usage only "makes it responsible on us at Guinness to give back to our communities what we take from them; we try to replenish the resources that we take from the community for our productions."
He however added that the company was currently encouraging sorghum production in parts of the Nothern region saying that about "2,000 families were employed under the intiative and have since produced well over 3,000 metric tonnes of the cereal."

Toyota Ghana updates skills of garage operators

TOYOTA GHANA Company Limited (TGCL), local distributors of Toyota vehicles in the country, has held its 2011 garage seminar for  mechanics and garage operators within the Greater Accra Region.
The annual event is aimed at updating the skills of  garage operators on Toyota repairs and to also create awareness, among the mechanics, of the need to encourage the use of genuine Toyota spare parts.
 The General Manager of TGCL, Mr Eric Darko,  in his address, recounted the 2010 success stories of the company to the garage operators and added that Toyota could not have chalked up those successes without the genuine support of its stakeholders, including the mechanics.
Last year, the company emerged the number one company on the Ghana Club 100 awards, an award scheme that positions the outstanding performance of companies in the country within a 100 numerical range. The company also maintained its position on the ‘Hall of Fame’ during the Chartered Institute of Marketers awards.
The   General Manager  said the company was bent on keeping the track record it earned in the previous years and therefore called on the mechanics to continually support the company in all ways possible.
 Toyota Ghana has for sometime now been battling with the influx of counterfeit Toyota spare parts into the country and its subsequent high patronage among the brand’s users and mechanics as well. 
According to the Spare Parts Manager at the TGCL, Mr Leslie Ohene, parts such as oil and fuel filters, spark plugs, drive belts, brake parts, shock absorbers, ball joints, clutch and other body parts were the highly counterfeited spare parts.
 He, therefore, called on the garage operators to  educate and encourage their clients  to use only genuine Toyota parts in repairs since it is the only surest way to undo the counterfeit market in the country. 
Participants in the seminar also received some technical training in the use of lubricants  from officials of the oil market company Total.
 The participants called on the management of Toyota Ghana to frequently organise training seminars for their apprentices as a means of updating them on the modern Toyota models on the market.
All the participating garages were given certificates of appreciation for their continuous use of genuine Toyota spare parts during 2010. Four garages, however, received plaques from the company as “awards for their outstanding performance, commitment and continuous use of genuine spare parts in 2010.”

Zenith holds health walk

Some of the participants walking pass the Flagstaff House

Zenith Bank Ghana Limited over the week-end held a health walk for its staff and customers and other stakeholders through selected streets in the capital, Accra.
The health walk is an annual event by the bank and this year’s event, the sixth of its kinds, had various organisations such as Data Bank and Good Life, a healthy life advocacy company participating.
Speaking after the three hour morning exercise, Mr Daniel Asiedu, Managing Director of Zenith Ghana said the bank had, since the introduction of the walk varied its target audience “to include customers from all walks of life.”

The MD said the move formed part of management’s drive to make the bank accessible to all manner of persons from all walks of life.
 Zenith Bank last year relaunched its Zenith Church Premium Account targeted at churches in the country and the MD now says the bank is currently devising strategies to launch a “befitting product to cater for the peculiar needs of the Muslim brethren.”
He thanked the bank’s customers and other stakeholders for their commitment to the bank’s activities over the years and further urged them to keep the relationship going.
Mr Asiedu was of the view that the health walk would help enhance the already good relationship between the bank and its participated customers and stakeholders. He thus thanked them for devoting time to participate.
The three hour health walk started at the El-Wak Sports Stadium through the 37 Military Hospital to the Flagstaff house, past the Ako Adjei interchange, to the fire service headquarters, then to Danquah circle, Morning Star School, the Ghana International School and back to the El-Wak Sports Stadium. 
pix caption: some o f the participants walking pass the Flastaff house during the health walk

Stakeholders meet over Investment Awards

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

Business Leaders in the country have brainstormed a range of criteria and modalities to be adopted as benchmarks towards selecting prospective award winners for the upcoming Ghana Investment Awards night.
At a stakeholders meeting in Accra, representatives from the investment community, among other things, proposed that prospective award winners should be interviewed by the awards selection committee.
That, they maintained, would help reveal the capabilities of deserving firms and individuals of the various award categories.
The meeting, the second of its kind, was to review suggestions made by the stakeholders at an initial meeting held on February 8.
The President of the Premier Networking Investment Club (PNIC), organisers of the GIA, Mr Kwame D Amporful, said the meeting was meant to engage stakeholders in the “weighting to be attached to the criteria to ensure that the selection process is participatory.”
The GIA, the first of its kind in the country, is being organised by the PNIC under the auspices of the Association Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and is slated for April 16 this year.
There are 16 award categories to be bestowed on deserving firms and individuals that distinguished themselves in the investment sector in the 2010 working year.
According to Mr Amporful, the awards criteria were prepared by Hatfield Business Consult in consultation with Morningstar Research, organisers of the Canadian Investment Awards.
He noted that the GIA would help spur excellence and tighten up competition in the country's investment sector.
"We believe the awards would stimulate competition among the industry," the president said, adding that the awards dinner is meant to award industry excellence while creating an opportunity for stakeholders to network.
He said though the award scheme would be administered by a jury, members of that jury would not be disclosed until a few hours to the ceremony, a move which he insisted was necessary to help bring sanity into the event.
 

Book on pensions launched

Dr Charles Andoh of the Department of Finance, UGBS launching the book while Mr Aglobi  (right), Dr Yaw Baah, Dep. TUC Secretary General cheer on

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

A 232-paged book on the country’s pension schemes and retirement planning has been launched in Accra.
Titled “Pensions: The New Investment Perspective for Retirement Planning”, it was  authored by the Chief Executive Officer of the Advice Bank International, Mr Andrews D. Agblobi.
The writer is also a columnist with the Business and Financial Times newspaper, in which he has published over 40 articles on mortgage and pensions in the country.
According to the author, the 12-chapter book does a historic analyses of the development of pension in Ghana; from the CAP 30 through the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS) to the SSNIT scheme which was, last year, replaced by the new pension scheme.
 Mr Agblobi expressed regret at the lack of indigenous books on the country’s pension scheme, a situation which compelled him to rely on foreign materials when he was doing a literature review on the subject of the book.
Mr Agblobi used the opportunity to call on all Ghanaians to take their pensions and retirement planning seriously by taking advantage of the voluntary pension scheme to contribute towards their retirement.
“The idea of pension”, he said, “is always to replace part of your earned income while working with regular monthly pension income until your death.  It is always good to start planning early for your retirement so that in case you are knocked down one day, you can easily fall  on your investments.”
 According to him, the in-depth research and consultations that he undertook prior to coming out with the book make it a good reference material for persons seeking information on pensions and retirement planning in the country.
He maintained that “the aim of writing the book is not to make money but to motivate people to plan well towards their retirement and also to expose them to the country’s pension scheme.”
Dr Charles Andoh of the Department of Finance, University of Ghana Business School, also bemoaned the lack of writing habits among Ghanaians.
He said “most people in the country are authorities in various areas yet they refuse to write, making it difficult for their experiences to be shared with the young in society.”
The first copy of the book was bought for GH¢200 by the Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr Frank Odoom. 

VETURE CAPITAL Capitalises to the Tune of Gh$100m

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

The management of the Venture Capital Trust Fund (VCTF) says it is increasing its fund pool to over US$100 million in 2011 to enable it support small medium enterprise investments.

To achieve that, the management said it expected to leverage its new capital injection with funds from foreign investors as well as local financial institutions to establish new funds.

It will also intensify its public awareness campaign as a way of educating SMEs on the benefits of equity investments as it seeks to attract more funds from local financial institutions.

Addressing a press conference in Accra to launch the fund’s vision for 2011, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the VCTF, Mr Daniel Duku, said the fund had partnered both local and foreign investors to create a pool of GH¢ 83 million for SME investments as at 2010.

“In doing so, the Trust fund has established five venture capital funds and invested the Ghana cedi equivalent of US$ 17 million, adding that more than 1,000 direct jobs have been created by 39 portfolio companies.

The VCTF was established in 2006 by the Ghana Government tasked with the responsibility of providing capital to SME’s and also to promote venture capital, funds set aside to use in assisting SME’s to expand.

The fund started operations with GH¢22.4 million as seed money from the then government and has since vetured into many SME’s in the country.

The CEO said the VCTF recognised the need to complement the government’s efforts toward supporting SMEs and “wil1 continue to secure additional funding through our flagship public private partnership mode”, adding that the VCTF would continue to work closely with permanent source of funding to the fund.
Mr Duku said the fund, in collaboration with its partners, had committed GH¢3.7 million in commodity value chain activities which included sorghum and soybean production as “import substitution”.

According to him, the said capital had yielded an estimated 12,600 metric tons of sorghum, which had a market value of GH¢7.4 million, twice the cost of the capital invested.

The CEO noted that 8,000 smallholder farmers were integrated into the value chain activity which led to the creation of 1,400 full time employment in the participating communities and farmerbase organizations, adding “GH¢45,400 were paid to those communities and districts as local councils tax”.

Touching on the fund’s plans for 2011, Mr Duku said an “Investor Learning Journey” to attract both local and foreign strategic investors will be organised to raise funds.

“Emphasis will be placed on new initiatives such as yellow maize financing to support the poultry and livestock industry”, the CEO said, adding that the vegetable sector would also receive the needed attention from the fund.

Mr Duku said the fund had also resolved to establish and deepen relations with various professional bodies including the Bankers’ Association, Association of Ghana Industries, the Ghana Bar Association and the Private Enterprise Foundation.

He said the Ghana Club 100, an annual award scheme for companies that had excel in their areas of operations, had not targeted the SME’s a situation Mr Duku observed had not motivated the SME operators to excel.

“To spur entrepreneurship within the economy”, VCTF, he said, had thus resolved to collaborate with various industry associations and stakeholders to “institute an SME awards scheme to honour Ghanaian SMEs entrepreneurs who have established and sustained successful profitable businesses”.

New entertainment centre opens in Accra

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare



THE Chief Executive Officer of the Eldorado Gaming International, Mr John Kivinen, says the springing up of more entertainment centres in Ghana will go a long way to enhance the country’s foreign investor attraction potentials.
 He said entertainment centres such as Eldorado which operated slot casinos, roulette, and lounge bars “help the overall package of foreign investor attractions”.

The Managing Director of the DEL, Mr Tomi Korpela, (left) with the CEO of EGL (the mother company of the DEL), Mr Jon Kivinen playing with the slot machines at the ordinary session.

Mr Kivinen said tourist and business investors who came into the country always needed entertainment places such as casinos  where they would spend their time.
He made the remarks during the opening of Delfino Entertainment Limited (DEL) in Accra. The DEL is the first unit of the  Eldorado Gaming International, a Sweddish and Canadian owned entertainment company which operates 70 casinos in 10 countries throughout four continents.
The DEL, located at Osu, currently operates 32 slot machines in the ordinary session and eight in the Very Important Personalities’ (VIP) session.
Mr Kivinen said plans were far advanced to open more gaming centres in Accra and in other regional capitals before the end of the year.
 Mr Jerry Hanson, a sound engineer who  himself had done numerous researches on gambling and the society said such a game “is the fastest paying and  killing game in the world”.
He said the habit of people wanting to win more prices after an initial win is what makes most to loose instead.
According to him “games like these are just for fun and if you want to take them as money making ventures, then you would spell your own doom”.
“In this game, the word is always enough; if you come in with Gh¢ 50 you may leave with Gh¢ 100, but some think they should get more than that and that is what leads most to loose instead”, Mr Hanson added.
An Administrator at the DEL, Mr Alex Kwasi Wiredu, told the Daily Graphic that the focus of the DEL was for its customers to win.
“Our focus here is for you to win; we don’t leave you empty handed”, he said.

Mr Korpela in a "freaky-treaky" move

PZ Cussons, GMA sign pact

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

PZ Cussons, manufacturers of health-related products in the country, has
signed a two-year contract agreement with the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) to promote healthy lifestyles among Ghanaians.
Per the agreement, PZ Cussons will be partnering the GMA to disseminate information to the public on all aspects of health, health care and the medical sciences through the association’s annual public lectures and other programmes.

The agreement would also see the GMA giving endorsements to all health-related products that would be introduced by PZ Cussons.

Jim Judson, MD, Pz cussons Ghana

 The Managing Director of PZ Cussons, Ghana, Mr Jim Judson and the President of the GMA, Dr Emmanuel Adom Winful, signed for their respective institutions.
Mr Judson said PZ Cussons had resolved to partner the GMA to “promote better healthy lifestyles and health conditions of the public.”
Mr Judson said Ghanaians should, in the coming days, expect a programme of action nation-wide from the GMA and PZ Cussons that would be targeted at the people through the creation of awareness of the deadly effects of unhealthy lifestyles.
As to why the two bodies decided to sign the agreement, Mr Judson explained that the idea of PZ Cussons and GMA separately carrying out their individual programmes on health education was rather not the best.
Mr Judson thus said: “People trust PZ Cussons, people trust GMA, put the two together and you would have a powerful brand.”
The President of the GMA, Dr Winful, disagreed with suggestions that the agreement would compel the GMA to compromise on its stance against the quality and health standards of PZ Cussons products.
The quality of PZ Cussons products in the country, he said, “was without question,” adding that PZ Cussons has the expertise in advertising, from which the GMA would tap to ensure successful dissemination of its information.
 The GMA President added that although the signed agreement was for two years, both parties were looking beyond that.

Strengthen banking regulations

Dr Arthur Amissah, Governor of the Bank of Ghana

A banking regulator with the United States Treasury Department Office of Thrift and Supervision has tasked banking regulators in the country to tighten and strictly enforce the rules and regulations governing the country's banking sector.
Mr Francis Baffour, who has over 20 years experience in banking relations and the financial industry, said the rapid development in the banking sector has the tendency of making regulators relax in enforcing the rules.
That, he observed made most financial institutions to go off-track, thereby plunging the entire economy into serious challenges as witnessed in the United States of America.
Mr Baffour made the observation when he delivered a public lecture on the theme "The causes of the financial crisis in the US, the activities that led to the near collapse of the entire financial system in the world and lessons learnt".
The lecture was by the Institute of Chartered Bankers and sponsored by First National Savings and Loans Company Limited, a non-banking financial institution and the Coconut Grove Regency hotel.
Mr Baffour further observed that financial institutions in the country had concentrated so much in credits, a situation that he said led to the 2008 financial crisis in the US.
"There is a lot of concentration on credit so if anything goes wrong, where do we go?" Mr Baffour asked.
According him, banking regulators in the country ought to know the actual assets of the financial institutions and further evaluate them against their capabilities to recapitalise after any internal disaster to the said institution.
He added that financial institutions as well as the regulators must take serious note of consumer complaints about the actions and inaction of their bankers, adding that “when numbers don’t make sense, then there is something wrong somewhere”.
Touching on the US financial crisis which subsequently plunged the entire world into a depression in 2008, Mr Baffour said lots of cash flow came into the US economy from outside sources which caused a boom in the housing sector and resulted in financial institutions engaging in crediting without due course to regulations.

FOOD PRICES STABLE, Despite world record food price hikes

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

PRICES of food crops in the country last December, remained relatively stable despite record food price hikes in the global market.
Prices of local food staples such as maize, rice, millet, yam, cassava and vegetables such as tomatoes, and pepper remained stable throughout 2010, according to statistics obtained from the Statistics, Research and Information Directorate (SRID) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).
Global food prices in December last year, hit a record high in the international market, higher than that of the June 2008 price hikes which caused lots of agitation in many countries world-wide.
The December 2010 edition of the monthly Food Price Index released by the United Nation’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) recorded 214.7 points that indicated an increase of 206 points over the November index, making it the highest since the index started in 1990.
The index tracks the monthly price changes in the prices for a food basket comprising wheat, corn, rice, oilseeds, dairy products, sugar and meats in the global scene.
Though the December 2010 index indicated a record hike in food prices, the December price, according to the FAO, was driven by the rising prices of sugar, cereal, meat and oil, making it different, and perhaps an encouraging news when compared with the 2008 price surge which was mainly due to lower food productions in most countries.
In Ghana, however, the situation as of December 2010 was encouraging with food prices in the local markets remaining relatively stable.
With the increment in the prices of petroleum products coming at the back of the global food price surge, local experts fear the situation could stretch food prices in the country up.

Kwesi Ahwoi, Minster of Agriculture

 

The Director of the Statistics, Research and Information Directorate (SRID) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Mr Samuel Oku, was however optimistic that a food price surge would be avoided.
He told the Graphic Business that prices of local food crops had seen insignificant changes in December and 2010 as a whole.
The prices of stables such as maize, local rice, millet, cassava and yam, according to Mr Oku, had all been stable throughout the last twelve months with monthly average prices recording relatively insignificant changes.
The average price, he said, ranged between GH¢45 and GH¢80 for cereals; GH¢ 24 and GH¢220 for tubers, GH¢30 and GH¢180 for vegetables, and GH¢6 and GH¢25 for smoked herrings and a crate of eggs.
However, he said, imported rice consistently recorded increments in price from January to December 2010 with November recording the highest price hikes.
The SRID director attributed the stability in general prices to increased food production in the country and thus expressed optimism that the increases in food prices on the global market would have less effect on the local scene.
“If prices at the moment are even stable, then I don’t know when they would be up,” Mr Oku asked, adding that the coming harvest season was likely to stabilise the prices even further.
The present soaring food prices in the global market has already caused wide spread fears among policy-makers in some countries as it could lead to social and economic unrest as inflation would be induced.
The BBC last week reported protests already taking place in Algeria over soaring food prices in there.

Ban Ki-Moo, UN Secretay General

The UN has warned that the current price levels, especially those of key grains, could rise even further.
As a result, the Group of 20 leading economies (G-20) plans to discuss ways of tackling the current soaring food prices in its Paris summit later this year.
The 2008 global food crisis rocked the globe at the time Ghana was recovering from the 2006 droughts, which caused poor harvests among most farmers as well as the 2007 floods that destroyed large hectares of farmlands in northern Ghana and further caused matured crops to rot, due to farmers inability to harvest their crops from the flooding waters.
While Ghana at the time was recovering from the 2006 droughts and the 2007 floods as well as their collective harshness in the country, the world was bracing itself for a food crisis in 2008.

Nestle supports Calvary Presby School

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

THE pupils of the Calvary Presbyterian School at Chorkor in the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) will start pairing five pupils to a computer instead of their initial 12 pupils to a computer following the presentation of fifteen (15) reconditioned computers to the school by Nestle’ Ghana Limited.
The school has a pupil population of about six hundred (600) and has since been relying on six computers to serve the twelve classes, both primary A and B .
As a result, upper primary (primary six to four) went to the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) center twice a week while those of lower primary (primary three downwards) went there once in a week, according to Kotey Caleb, the school’s ICT teacher.
Three of their initial six computers, Mr Caleb said, were a donation to the school by Plan Ghana, while the remaining three came from the school’s Parent Teachers’ Association (PTA).
But with the additional fifteen computers from Nestle’ Ghana, the ICT teacher was optimistic “it would help reduce the tedious and hectic nature of my job”.
Mr Caleb further called on other corporate bodies operating in the country to emulate the gesture of Nestle Ghana by donating ICT facilites to schools nation-wide, otherwise, he added, “the nation as a whole would be lacking behind in the near future”.
The headmaster of the school, Mr Marcus Kobla Agbeyone later lamented the poor state of facilities in the school to the Graphic Business.
He said the school which was established about fifty (50) years ago has no Junior High School (JHS), a situation, he said compelled him to go “around lobbying for JHSs for my students after they have completed”.
And these JHSs, he added, are not even in Chorkor, except those at Manprobi and Sempe, two and a half kilometers away from the Chorkor community.
According to him, after its establisment about (50) years ago, the Chorkor Calvary Presbyterian School has since not undergone any major renovation adding that the classrooms are always hot making it unconducive for the students to learn.
Chorkor, Mr Agbeyone stressed, “is not far away from Accra, the capital city, so why should we be treated as a deprived village?”.
He, however, commended Nestle’ Ghana Limited for coming to the aid of the school and promised to ensure that the computers are put to good use.
In an interview with the Graphic Business after the presentation, the Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager of Nestle’ Ghana Limited, Mrs Cecilia Dei-Anang insisted the gesture is not the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility, but “an investment in the community and the children in particular”.
On the monetary value of the fifteen reconditioned computers, Mrs Dei-Anang stressed “it is not the monetary value that we are interested in. It is the future of these young ones that we are. Some of these pupils will one day work on your pension, so you better groom them properly for the tasks ahead”.
Earlier, Mrs Freda Duplan, the Head of Nestle’ Africa Business Services had said the computers have been installed with child-friendly software and networked for efficiency to the benifit of the children.