Category: Business

Over the last decade, the business world has seen a rise in entrepreneurship and innovation as ambitious individuals attempt to bring their game-changing ideas to fruition. In today’s quickly changing economic world, entrepreneurship has emerged as a driving force, with innovative firms and creative CEOs revolutionizing sectors.

Aspiring entrepreneurs seek a competitive advantage in order to effectively traverse the complexity of the commercial world. An MBA Impact Entrepreneurship and Innovation is a specialized graduate program that provides students with the information, skills, and mentality required to excel in the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship.

This thorough program goes beyond typical business management to explore the complexities of founding, scaling, and managing innovative companies. Business model design, startup strategy, market analysis, venture finance, social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial marketing, and effective leadership in entrepreneurial contexts are typical subjects covered in the curriculum.

Renowned entrepreneurs, industry experts, and business leaders routinely share their experiences as guest lecturers, providing essential insights and motivating the next generation of entrepreneurs. The following are some of the advantages of an MBA in Impact Entrepreneurship and Innovation:

Holistic Skill Development

The MBA program equips potential entrepreneurs with a diverse skill set that includes finance, marketing, company strategy, operations and project management, leadership, and other areas. This extensive knowledge helps entrepreneurs to make educated decisions and efficiently manage numerous elements of their enterprises. Students obtain a comprehensive awareness of the social and environmental challenges that impact companies and society. This understanding instills a sense of responsibility in them and drives them to make constructive societal improvements through their business endeavors.

The continually changing corporate environment necessitates adaptation and resilience. Students gain the skills to negotiate uncertainties and bounce back from failures via practical learning and exposure to real-world situations. Students learn about sustainable business strategies and models that consider economic, social, and environmental factors. This understanding helps individuals to start enterprises that not only make money but also benefit society.

Opportunities for Networking

This program will bring together ambitious individuals from many backgrounds, building a large professional network that will last long beyond graduation. The MBA program hosts networking events, conferences, and seminars centered on social entrepreneurship and innovation. These gatherings bring together students, alumni, instructors, and industry experts, fostering meaningful conversations and connection development.

These networking events bring prospective co-founders, mentors, investors, and business partners together, enhancing the entrepreneurial path. Students will visit impact-focused organizations, companies, and incubators as part of the program’s industry immersions or field excursions. Direct connections with experts and potential partners are facilitated by these immersive experiences.

There is also an entrepreneurship competition in which students may present their impact-driven company ideas to panels of judges, investors, and possible partners, providing exposure and networking possibilities for their companies. Students are encouraged to attend conferences and activities related to the impact of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Entrepreneur’s Toolkit

The program equips aspiring entrepreneurs with a comprehensive toolset to help them negotiate the hurdles of beginning a new business. An MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation gives a solid foundation for success, from writing a compelling company strategy to comprehending legal complexities.

The Business Model Canvas is a visual tool that assists students in mapping out their business models, as well as identifying important stakeholders, income streams, and cost structures. It helps them to acquire a clear and thorough grasp of their business concept.

Students learn about the legal and regulatory elements of founding and running a business, such as company formation, intellectual property protection, and compliance. Students are also taught design thinking techniques, which allow students to approach problem-solving from a user-centered viewpoint, boosting innovation and creativity in their entrepreneurial endeavors.

Access to Resources

The MBA Impact Entrepreneurship and Innovation program gives students access to a plethora of resources, such as alumni networks, incubators, accelerators, research institutes, and alumni networks. For aspiring entrepreneurs, these sites provide critical assistance, coaching, and funding options.

In collaboration with the Catholic University of Milan and the E4Impact Foundation, the program provides students with lifetime access to business matching services across the African continent, as well as the opportunity to scale their businesses across Africa and Europe via the E4Impact Pan-African B2B platform. The annual Business Network Week Italy (BNWI) has assisted in unlocking funding and using expert investor technical breakthroughs to build up their enterprises.

Conclusion

MBA Impact Entrepreneurship and Innovation is a thrilling and enlightening experience that equips budding entrepreneurs, scaleups, and full-time employees with a unique combination of skills and expertise. This specialized MBA offers students the skills needed to flourish in the ever-changing world of entrepreneurship, from developing creative ideas to implementing strategic development strategies.

An MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation opens doors to a world of possibilities and accelerates students towards entrepreneurial greatness, whether the goal is to build a startup, expand an existing enterprise, or promote innovation within a corporate context.

Dr Andrews Ayiku

Lecturer/Business Coach

University of Professional Studies Accra

ayiku.andrews@upsamail.edu.gh

Source: Ghana Web

Member of Parliament for Ningo Prampram, Sam Nartey George, has raised concerns over the legitimacy of some real estate businesses operating in the country.

According to the lawmaker, the real estate sector has become a haven for individuals to launder money acquired through illicit means and ways.

Sam George who was speaking on the July 22nd edition of the Joy News’ File lamented the inflated cost of pricing for real estate properties and high rise buildings which are often sold at exorbitant prices.

He suggested that individuals engaging in these money laundering schemes in the real estate sector often exchange these properties as part of a ploy to effectively ‘clean’ illicit funds.

“Real estate business in Ghana is money laundering. If our authorities want to deal with it, they will deal with it,” Sam George lamented.

He explained that “the cost of real estate in Ghana is not justifiable by any stretch. You keep seeing all these new high-rise buildings going up and they are selling them for half a million, a million dollars and they keep buying and buying amongst themselves.”

“…I have dirty money to clean, I put up a real estate property, you have dirty money you come and buy the property from me and then automatically your money becomes clean, then tomorrow you also start building your own then I come back and buy and we are just cleaning the money,” Sam George added.

The Ningo Prampram MP further asserted that the funds generated from such illegal activities are subsequently used to finance political campaigns and among others.

His remarks are coming on the back of a recent newspaper report from The Chronicle detailing how a former Minster of Sanitation, Cecilia Abena Dapaah had been keeping huge sums of foreign currency in her home which was subsequently stolen by her two maids.

Source: Ghana Web

Ghana’s Central Bank has increased key interest rates 30% to curb the country’s soaring inflation.

This is a 0.5% increase.

The hike was announced on Monday at the end of its monetary policy meeting.

“A hike in rates is the best way to go in the midst of the crisis,” financial analyst Richmond Frimpong told the BBC.

This makes it more expensive to borrow money, and is intended to reduce consumer spending.

The West African nation has been grappling with a battered economy marred by inflation currently over 42%, huge public debts and a cost-of-living crisis.

Last Friday, the World Bank said about 850,000 more Ghanaians were pushed into poverty by the end of 2022 owing to the rising cost of living marred by a loss in purchasing power, and an increase in food prices.

Africa’s largest gold producer has received $600m (£518m), the initial tranche of a $3bn bailout programme from the International Monetary Fund aimed at stabilising its economy while it embarks on debt restructuring and other economic policies aimed at boosting revenues.

Source: BBC

In a bid to restore confidence in the banking and specialized deposit-taking sector, the Bank of Ghana embarked on a clean-up exercise in August 2017.

Spending over GH¢20 billion, the Central Bank’s action was to resolve insolvent financial institutions whose continued existence posed risks to the interest of depositors.

But businessman, Raymond Archer, has wondered why government embarked on the clean-up exercise worth GH¢20billion when these collapsed banks needed only GH¢9billion to be in business.

Speaking on Radio Gold monitored by GhanaWeb, he said there was no sense in the move taken by government.

He averred that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has a record shutting down of businesses belonging to members of the National Democratic Congress.

“When this government came into office, they targeted Duffuor’s bank, brought it down, targeted Agongo’s bank because he is supposed to be linked with the NDC, brought it down. In fact, they actually spent 20 billion to bring down those banks that needed only 9 billion. That couldn’t be common sense. Like I said to you, it’s either they know what they are doing and they don’t care…Now, they came for my business,” Raymond Archer told Sena Nombo of Radio Gold FM.

“They have this pattern where they target NDC people when they are in office. They destroy the business, they build their own, destroy the politicians, pop up their own,” he stated.

Finance Minister, Ofori-Atta supervised the banking sector clean-up from mid-2017 to January 2020.

The clean-up saw a reduction in the number of banks from 34 to 23, whilst 347 microfinance institutions, 15 savings and loans and eight finance houses had their licences revoked.

While some of the commercial banks were merged to form the Consolidated Bank Ghana Limited, state-owned GCB was allowed to swallow others.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also announced the revocation of licenses of 53 Fund Management Companies.

A number of these institutions were found to have varying degrees of corporate governance lapses.

The total estimated cost of the state’s fiscal intervention, excluding interest payments, from 2017 to 2019 was pegged at GH¢16.4 billion.

Source: Ghana Web

Minister for Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahir Hammond, has said the Komenda Sugar Factory has become an “albatross” around the neck of the country.

According to him, apart from the factory not being properly set up, the company that originally undertook the construction of the factory has returned with a demand of US$7.5 million, though the previous government spent US$34.5 million on it.

“This Komeda sugar factory has been an albatross created by… (he pointed at the minority without saying a word),” KT Hammond said.

The minister said this in Parliament on Thursday, July 20, 2023, when he was answering questions on the subject, which stood in the name of the Member of Parliament for Bole/Bamboi, Yussif Sulemana.

Asked on his behalf by the MP for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini, the main question was why the agreement with Park Agrotech Ghana Limited, the strategic investor for the factory, was abrogated.

The company was approved by Cabinet in June 2019 as the preferred strategic investor for Komenda Sugar Development Company Limited.

No contract

In his answer, the minister stated there was no agreement between the two to have been terminated from the word go.

He explained that there were some conditions precedent that the company could not meet, thereby, not being able to have a contract with the government.

“Mr. Speaker, there was a long delay in concluding the negotiations between the lawyers of Park Agrotech and the Transaction adviser PWC [Price Water House], in respect of the conditions precedent for the lease agreement, under the agreement between Park Agrotech and Komenda Sugar Development Company to come into force,” KT said.

He said COVID-19 further delayed the company from bringing its partners abroad to access the machine and do the necessary maintenance to restart production.

He added that the ministry, after painstakingly working with the Transaction Adviser on the various conditions precedent, issued a directive that August 31, 2021 would be the final deadline, which the investor could not meet.

According to him, the directive was that if no agreement had been reached at that point, “the transaction process was to be terminated. And the management of the company reverted to the board. By the close of business on August 31, 2021 no agreement had been reached between PWC and Park Agrotech and the transaction process was terminated.”

Pandora’s box

The Minister, after the written answer, had a follow-up from the Bole MP, who, while KT was answering the main question, entered the Chamber.

He asked why the government mobilised the chiefs and introduced the company to “them that these were the people coming to start work,” if there was no agreement.

In his response, the minister said that considering the state of the company, “obviously” the chiefs and the people would be interested to know that the company was coming to work in the factory. He cautioned his colleagues on the other side against the move to blame the ruling government, saying that going on that tangent could only open the Pandora’s Box and “you will get extremely uncomfortable.”

In giving an answer to the follow-up question, the minister gave the history of the factory, saying the then NDC government in an attempt to show the world that the company was operational, “a lot of things were rushed through.”

He cited that “when eventually other engineers went there, it was realised that the structure of the plant was so bad [that] no manufacturing activity could take place.”

Cost incurred

The MP for Bole/Bamboi asked another follow-up question about whether the ruling government had incurred any costs with regards to overhauling, retooling and maintenance, which the minister mentioned, but the minister said he did not have any information about that.

“I do recall that the company that originally undertook the construction of the company has come back to ask for about US$7.5 million. So let me check if some more money has been expended. But I don’t have the information now,” he stated.

The MP then asked about the economic justification for importing semi-processed sugar to be processed by the Komenda sugar factory.

The minister in his response said the company does not import semi-processed sugar, adding that the company is to produce sugar from start to finish to deal with the importation of sugar.

“The company does not import any such material. The Komenda Sugar Manufacturing Company has undergone a comprehensive overhaul, retooling and maintenance to ensure that the factory will have full utilization of its production capacity, in respect of cane milling and refining of raw sugar to substitute imports,” he answered.

Source: Ghana Web

The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in his quest to prove that secretary to the board of trustees of the National Cathedral of Ghana, Rev Victor Kusi Boateng, is operating a dual identity for criminal purposes, released some documents that showed the entities the pastor was involved with, in February 2023.

The said documents were part of an 85-page affidavit filed by Ablakwa’s lawyers in opposition to the contempt application filed against him by Rev Kusi Boateng in the High Court in Accra.

The lawyers listed eight companies that were registered under the name Adu Gyamfi with the Office of the Registrar of Companies and another eight under the name Rev Victor Kusi Boateng.

The court in its ruling stated that there is evidence that the names Kusi Boateng and Adu Gyamfi were used to register different companies.

Below is the list of companies the court stated were registered under Adu Gyamfi and the list of companies that were registered under Kusi Boateng:

Again, the applicant who describes himself as Kwabena Adu Gyamfi alias Victor Kusi Boateng has been involved in the registration of a number of Companies using the name Kwabena Adu Gyamfi as shown below;

a) Dunamis Insurance Brokers Ltd incorporated on 16th January 2023 to provide insurance brokerage services among others (Exhibit 14)

b) Lloyds General and Risk Ltd incorporated to provide insurance brokerage and consultancy services ( Exhibit 1 )

c) New Ware FM Ltd incorporated on 9th December 2021 to operate a radio FM station ( exhibit 16)

d) Great Speed Engineering and Construction Ltd incorporated on 19th April 2021 to provide road and building construction services among others (Exhibit 17)

e) The Four B’s Company Ltd incorporated on 21st October 2020 to provide road consh•uction services (Exhibit 18)

f) Anibees Petroleum Ltd incorporated on 21st October 2020 to provide road construction services ( exhibit 19)

g) El Dunamis Limited incorporated on 19th May 2009 as a General Merchant to import and export general goods (exhibit 20)

h) JNS Talent Centre Limited incorporated on 14th September 2015 to provide talent and skills development training ( Exhibit 21)

The court further notes, that the applicant who says he is Kwabena Adu Gyamfi and that Victor Kusi Boateng is an alias has been involved in the registration of at least eight companies registered at the Office of the Registrar of Companies with the name Victor Kusi Boateng as evidenced below;

a) Vibrant Generation Chapel Worldwide LBG incorporated on 14th May 2021 as a company limited by guarantee to preach the gospel (Exhibit 22)

b) Dunamis Chapel Worldwide LBG incorporated on 20th May 2021 as a company limited by guarantee to preach the gospel (Exhibit 23)

c) National Cathedral of Ghana incorporated on 18th July 2019 to own the assets of the National Cathedral of Ghana (Exhibit lB)

d) El Dunamis Media Limited incorporated on 14th January 2019 to provide media services (Exhibit 24)

e) Onpoint 1 Laundry Limited incorporated on 26th March, 2019 to provide laundry services (Exhibit 25)

f) Kharis Football Academy FC incorporated on 19th June 2017 with the object of running a soccer academy (Exhibit 26)

g) Qharis Consortium Limited incorporated on 11th May 2017 to import and export general goods (Exhibit 27)

h) Duna Media Production registered as a sole proprietorship on 4th April 2014 (Exhibit 28)

Source: Ghana Web

A trader and five land guards, who allegedly conspired to break a fence wall have been granted a GH?50,000 bail with two sureties each by an Accra Circuit Court.

They were jointly charged with conspiracy to commit crime and causing unlawful damage.

The court, presided over by Mrs Susana Eduful, ordered each accused person to deposit ID cards with the Registrar of the Court until the determination of the case was made.

The case has been adjourned to July 21, 2023, where the plea of accused persons will be taken.

Prosecuting Police Inspector Ebenezer Teye-Okuffo told the court that the complainant, Mr Bernard Amarh was a draughtsman surveyor, who lived at Teshie.

The prosecution said Madam Josephine Amissah was a trader, while the other accused persons were all land guards, who lived at Amanfa-Nungua and Nungua-Maamli respectively.

It said Mr Armah owned a plot of land at Lashibi, which he procured from one Madam Korkor Gborbi Agoyao, who happened to be Madam Amissah’s sister, based in Germany.

It said all documents covering the land were issued to the complainant, which he took to the Lands Commission for registration.

The prosecution said Madam Ammisah, who was not in support of her sister’s idea, organized all the other accused persons to break down a portion of a fence wall the complainant had built around the land.

A report was made to the Police and the accused persons were arrested.

It said during the investigation, the complainant submitted his land documents to support his claim while the accused persons did not produce any document.

The prosecution said both parties were paraded before the Regional Crime Officer, who advised that the accused persons stayed off the land, but they did not heed the advice

It said they went to the land, broke down the remaining fence wall and graded the whole land on May 30, 2023.

Prosecution said they later went into hiding and switched off their phones.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) has been conducting engaging, informative and entertaining campaigns across Ghana driving brand loyalty, product awareness and consumer education.

The campaign is targeted at everyone from importers and wholesalers to customers and future chefs.

The latest campaign objective is to educate technical university students on poultry in general. USAPEEC began their campaign with warehouse promotions in partnership with Ghanaian importers, promoting American poultry products, which is of high quality and has many nutritional benefits. Importers in turn gave their U.S. poultry buyers an opportunity to win a range of instant prizes.

Over the years, USAPEEC, instituted a ‘National Cooking Competition’ with all Technical Universities in Ghana. The campaign is hosted biennially with the sixth (6th) edition slated for July 2023.

A two-day hands-on training program will allow second and third-year students, numbering between 80 and 100, from all ten (10) Technical Universities in Ghana, an opportunity to get hands on training in Accra.

The workshop will be hosted by internationally renowned chef, David Bonom from New York, USA as well as the local team from the Labadi Beach Hotel. Following the two-day training program USAPEEC will give the top 10 students from their respective Technical Universities an opportunity to compete against each other to find the ultimate future-chef.

Each institution will have two (2) representatives, the best student doing the cooking and supported by a runner to battle it out in the kitchen. The students will be tasked to prepare a main meal with U.S. chicken and a dessert with U.S. processed egg products. The competition will be led by a highly esteemed local chef Rutherford Opoku-Boahene.

An esteemed group of local chefs and catering professionals, including David Bonom, will judge the contestants and put every bite through a taste test to select the winner.

The campaign will be wrapped up at a gala dinner and awards evening to honour the participating students and their institutions. The winner of the America Chicken Cooking Competition will receive a four-month internship with Labadi Beach Hotel as well as culinary products for him/herself while the technical universities will also receive sponsored prizes.

Source: Ghana Web