Category: General

Absa Bank Ghana has cemented a partnership with Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) to support business enterprises in Ghana with skills training and insights in digital technology. The goal is to unlock new opportunities by co-creating and producing the next generation of innovative entrepreneurs in Ghana and on the continent.

The partnership will also open avenues for MEST and Absa to collaboratively empower startups to provide solutions to intractable business challenges in the country.

The world is a different place compared to a few years ago. The scourge of the pandemic, its aftermath, and its resurgence, mean that things are moving at a faster pace than can normally be predicted. Any business operating in these times can appreciate the challenges – supply chain issues, human resources, competition, dynamic business environment, and regulation. The Absa-MEST partnership, will, therefore, prove useful for businesses trying to make the best of the current situation and prosper.

At a preliminary engagement session last week, dubbed, “Absa-MEST Connects Series,” the two organizations implored businesses and entrepreneurs to adopt technology and digitization for sustainable growth.

Director of Business Banking at Absa Bank Ghana, Grace Anim-Yeboah said:

“This partnership is momentous and important for a number of reasons including enabling employment opportunities for the youth in startups, providing investment to fund initiatives, economic empowerment for young enterprises, and the production of next-generation solutions for the digital ecosystem. We are creating a bona fide platform for success and growth and Absa is happy to be leading the way once again.”

On the part of MEST, Programs Director, Femi Adewumi, also expressed excitement and profound gratitude for the partnership, as “it aligns with MEST’s strategic goal of equipping the continent’s most promising entrepreneurs with the skills required to launch and scale globally successful companies. We look forward to impacting the numerous enterprises that will benefit from this partnership.”

Source: Ghana Web

A former Chair of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Mark Assibey-Yeboah, has asked government not to take negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for granted.

“We should be careful about negotiating a programme,” he told Umaru Sanda Amadu on Face to Face on Citi TV.

A delegation from the IMF is scheduled to start talks with the Ghanaian government over an economic support package today.

But Dr. Assibey-Yeboah stressed that the engagements do not automatically mean the country would be supported.

“The fund went to Sri Lanka for 10 days. There was no agreement. So they [the IMF] coming here does not mean there’s going to be an agreement,” he noted as an example.

Dr. Assibey-Yeboah thus said, “the rhetoric, the posturing, we have to slow things down.”

In the long run, he expects Ghana’s economic situation to change if it finalises support from the IMF.

“I have argued that when the IMF are in town, we get things done right… If I were Finance Minister, I would park the economy at the Fund,” the former MP said.

“The 17th time will not be the last. We will be going to the IMF and going again,” he added.

The government announced last Friday that it would hold formal talks with the IMF.

The move came after the Akufo-Addo government’s controversial revenue generation policy, the electronic transfer levy, failed to generate the needed revenue targets.

Ghana’s economy is in distress as it currently has a total public debt stock of GH¢391.9 billion, as of the end of the first quarter of 2022.

The cedi is also the worst-performing African currency, having weakened 22 percent against the dollar this year.

Source: Modern Ghana

Fifteen years ago, Ons Jabeur’s young tennis sparring partner could see the Tunisian was destined for glory — even if he suffered a broken arm in the process.

Omar Laabidi remembers being repeatedly beaten by a 12-year-old Jabeur, who will Thursday become the first Arab to play in a Grand Slam semi-final, at Wimbledon.

“We used to call her ‘Roger Federer’,” Laabidi said.

He was talking at the tennis club where it all began, in the North African country’s coastal town of Hammam Sousse.

“One time during a training match she hit a drop shot that I tried so hard to return that I broke my arm,” he said.

Jabeur had started by playing on courts belonging to local hotels but she soon joined the Tennis Club Hammam Sousse, which now bears a huge portrait of its most famous graduate.

Coach Nabil Mlika recalls training a talented girl “determined to stand out” against both female and male peers.

It is a determination that has taken her all the way to the world number two spot — one place behind Poland’s Iga Swiatek.

But Mlika, who trained a young Jabeur for 10 years, said there was a moment where she almost quit the sport.

“She had great ball control, to the point where other coaches tried to attract her to handball,” said the 55-year-old.

“Ons thought seriously about switching sports — but decided to stick to tennis.”

‘Queen of the drop shot’

The 27-year-old Tunisian’s fighting spirit has been on show throughout her career.

Despite crashing out in the first round of the French Open in May, she surged back to win the Berlin WTA singles title a few weeks later.

Her appearance in the Wimbledon semis — against close friend and “barbecue buddy” Tatjana Maria — comes just two weeks after she was forced to withdraw from the Eastbourne tournament, where she was partnering Serena Williams in the doubles, with a knee injury.

Jabeur, known to many Tunisians as “the minister for happiness”, was born in the southern coastal town of Ksar Hellal, one of four siblings.

She moved to the capital, Tunis, at the age of 12 to train at a highly rated state-backed sports club.

She has been married to her physical trainer, and former fencer, Karim Kamoun, since 2015.

The right-hander is known for her stamina and the variety of her play.

“She hates playing at one pace,” said Mlika. “She’s always trying to create a spectacle by switching up the game with shots that surprise her opponents, especially with drop shots.

“She’s really the queen of the drop shot.”

‘An example of hope’

Jabeur made a splash on the global scene in 2011, winning the girls’ singles at the French Open at the age of 16.

Laabidi also moved to Tunis around the same time as the adolescent Jabeur and joined the same academy, where they continued sparring.

“She was always fun and quickly got to know strangers,” he said.

“But she was always provocative and competitively debating on all subjects.”

Those who knew her as a teenager say she has changed little despite her growing fame.

“She still runs around gathering up all the balls during training, which she’s been doing since she started playing,” said Mlika.

Unsurprisingly, as her fame has spiralled membership levels have skyrocketed at her home club, from 320 in 2018 to more than 700 today.

For Yousra Koubaa, the mother of eight-year-old student Yasmine, Jabeur is “an example of hope, one we’re always showing to our children”.

Mlika says he uses photos of a young Jabeur to inspire his students today.

“She was a spark of enthusiasm, always moving and wanting to show that she was the best,” he said.

“She always put me in a difficult position because I had to balance between taking the training up a level, or waiting for her peers to catch up with her level and her pace.”

Source: Modern Ghana

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said on Wednesday that Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong is not for sale despite rumours of a departure to the Premier League.

De Jong “is a Barca player and unless we have a need or interest in selling him, we don’t want to sell him,” Laporta said as the club unveiled new signing Franck Kessie.

“We know he has offers. If at some moment we were interested, we would consider it, but right now, we’re not selling the player,” Laporta insisted.

De Jong, 25, has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United and a reunion with former Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, who is preparing for his first season at Old Trafford.

Laporta revealed the club had made an offer to France international Ousmane Dembele, whose contract with Barca expired at the end of June.

“Ousmane is no longer a Barca player, but we made him an offer,” said Laporta. “He hasn’t accepted it yet, but he wants to continue talking.

“We’re going to carry on speaking, at least for now.”

Laporta also acknowledged having lunch with Jorge Mendes, the agent of Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo who is reportedly looking to leave Manchester United.

“We discussed the transfer market in general, but I’m not going to specify if he spoke to me about a player in particular,” said Laporta.

Source: Modern Ghana

Agent Felix Afena-Gyan, Oliver Arthur has said that the youngster could be sent out on loan for next season.

The Ghana striker who plies his trade with AS Roma in the Italian Serie was a key figure for Jose Mourinho’s side last season.

Afena-Gyan was part of the Roma squad that won the maiden UEFA Conference League.

According to the agent, although the loan move is not something that is the first option on the table, it is something that could happen in the summer transfer window.

“It’s something that can happen but at this moment it’s not something we have gone deep into it. I think that he needs to finish the season [last season] and then we sit down and plan with the club.

“I have to know the project of the club, I don’t know the program they have for him. If next season, for example, Tammy Abraham is going to leave then it’s possible he can stay on and get a lot of playing time.

“If the club also thinks that he needs more experience then we go forward. He is young and we are open to anything that brings his development.” Oliver Arthur told Radio Gold Sports.

Afena-Gyan made his Black Stars debut against Nigeria in the 2022 World Cup playoffs in March and scored his first goal for the team against Madagascar in the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] qualifiers.

Source: Modern Ghana

Hohoe (V/R), July 06, GNA – A total of 89 positive Covid-19 cases have been recorded in June, this year in the Hohoe Municipality.

Aside January and February, which recorded 41 and six cases respectively, no positive cases were recorded in the months of March, April and May 2022.

Mr Sylvanus Hadzitsey, Coordinator, Hohoe Municipal Covid-19 Management Centre in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) disclosed that one death was recorded in February, this year.

He said the total active case counts under management as at the end of June was 15 adding that most of the positive cases were from people, who had not taken any of the Covid-19 vaccine jabs.

Mr Hadzitsey said contributing factors to the rise in positive cases could be linked to the easing of safety protocols and failure on the part of people to observe these protocols and the use of materials such as hand sanitizers and nose masks.

He said there remained the absence of the social distancing protocol, the belief that the disease does not exist, failure on parts of institutions including schools to ensure adherence to protocols.

Mr Hadzitsey urged people to get vaccinated as well as continue to observe the safety protocols.

The Municipality recorded a total of 88 positive cases with one death in 2020 and 615 cases with ten deaths last year.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said government cannot admit that it has mismanaged the economy because that is not true.

He said available data between 2017 and 2019 clearly indicate that the economy was doing well.

Asked why it is difficult for managers of the economy to admit that there has been some level of mismanagement, while speaking at the 3businesscolloquium organised by Media General in Accra on Wednesday July 6, he answered “Because you don’t admit something is not true, you will have to look at the hard data. You seek to put a narrative on it but it doesn’t take the fact. Take the Ghanaian economy from 2017 a to 2019 and see . The Ghanaian economy has had its structural challenges in the broader economy, challenges in the fiscal framework. There are even questions as to how monetary policy answers the question of inflation.”

In an earlier interview with TV3, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the conditions that have compelled the Akufo-Addo administration to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for support are completely different from the situation that existed previously when Ghana went to the Fund in 2014/15.

He explained that it is not about domestic economic management rather, it is about international crisis-induced phenomena that have brought over one hundred countries including Ghana, to a point where their buffers have been eroded and they need to respond.

When asked for his views on claims that critics are taunting the government for running to the Bretton Woods institution due to how the New Patriotic Party (NPP) also behaved when in opposition at the time the John Mahama administration went to the IMF for support, Mr Oppong Nkrumah who is also lawmaker for Ofoase Ayirebi told TV3’s Paa Kwesi Asare Asare in an interview that “When you self-induced crisis and then you have to go to the Fund for a balance of payment support programme, then it raises questions about the way you are managing fiscal policy, monetary policy and the broader economy.

“But this is not a situation in which you have a self-induced crisis. This is a different scenario altogether. It is not about your domestic economic management, it is about an international crisis-induced phenomena that has now brought you to a point where your buffers have been eroded and you need to respond.

“That is why for example, from 2020, about half of the world’s countries are applying to the Fund for some support. It is not to say that all of the people who manage all of these over one hundred economies do not know how to go about their jobs but is it evidence of the fact that something external, something exogenous has hit, that is why today, Egypt, Kenya, I understand Tunisia is also applying for some sort of support, are asking for support.”

Asked again whether the government has been embarrassed by this decision, he answered that “The reasons that have brought us here are quite clear.

“If you look at the performance of Ghana’s economy between 2017 and 2019, yes there were still some structural challenges in Ghana’s economy but the economy was performing way better based on, particularly, the fiscal and monetary policy measures and the broader economic policy measures that the administration was rolling out.

“The results were that we were doing better , inflation rate was going down , interest rates were going down , we were having the opportunity to create some more jobs and some more development programmes in the economy. In 2020 ,that stopped, primarily because our economy still with its challenges, was hit by major external factor, not just our economy, many economies around the world. In 2021, we started a path to recovery, so you will notice that in 2021 even though we had depleted a good chunk of our buffers and our reserves, we were still now building back better, trying to rebuild our reserves and trying to get our economy back on track.

“Then, the first part of 2022, I think in February, you had what occurred in the Black Sea area, giving the world another major crisis. Now there is high food prices all over the world, high fuel prices, high cost of financing and it is biting Ghanaians a lot.

“Do you have the domestic buffers still to respond to them? You don’t. You are now just trying to recover and rebuild and so if you look at all your options, despite the initial thinking that you could rebuild those buffers domestically, the president has decided that it is important we start engaging with the Fund for the possibility of getting a balance of payment support from them. To help us rebuild our buffers and better mitigate what is happening around the world and happening here in Ghana as well.”

On Friday July 1 President Akufo-Addo gave instruction to Mr Ofori-Atta to commence the engagements with the IMF following a telephone conversation between the President and the IMF Managing Director, Miss Kristalina Georgieva, conveying Ghana’s decision to engage with the Fund.

The Ministry of Information announced this in a statement.

Source: Modern Ghana

– The John Wesley Methodist Basic School on Tuesday inaugurated a French Club for the school to make the learning of the French Language more fun, interesting and easier for the pupils.

The inauguration was on the theme: “Developing global citizens through language”.

Madam Rahima Hafiiza Obeng, a French Teacher and Founder of the Club, said the zeal to form the club was driven by the passion to teach and impact the lives of pupils by encouraging them to learn the French Language in order to make them capable in many fields of endeavour both locally and internationally.

She said the journey to form the club began in 2019 after she observed how some students were enthused to learn the French language, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic the process stalled for some time until now.

She said as pupils it was important for them to be able to speak and understand the French language as an addition to have an added advantage on the job market since French was an international language use for business around the world and a boost for international trade.

Madam Obeng said, “Ghana is surrounded by French speaking neighbours such as Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Mali. It is, therefore, important that our pupils learn the French Language to enable them to explore the world around them whilst taking advantage of the numerous opportunities that comes with it.”

She noted that currently over 150 pupils from both primary and the JHS level had shown interest and enthusiasm and signed up for the Club.

“In order to broaden the minds of these pupils, activities such as seminars and skill training would be added to the club activities in order for them to gain both theoretical and practical knowledge about themselves and their immediate environment.”

She expressed the hope that the Club would stand the test of time and produce pupils who would pursue the French Language as a course of study to the Tertiary level.

Madam Belinda Ngmenboobo Barwenumah, the Director, France Volunteers, said studying and learning other international languages helped in communicating and socializing as well as relating better with people.

She said language helped citizens to become global citizens to build networks and contribute better to the world around them.

Madam Barwenumah congratulated the school for such an initiative and urged the pupils to show interest in the club and engage their teachers to become exposed to the language and the rest of the world.

“Do not restrict yourself to only one language, because the world has become a global village. Learn other languages, think global, open your horizon, and read more books because that is the only way you can secure yourself for tomorrow.”

Source: Ghana News Agency