Joyce Aryee advises Ghanaian firms to adopt good business practices
Ghanaian businesses have been asked to imbibe good practices and cutting edge concepts that have led to the creation of successful global companies.
Dr Joyce Aryee, former Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Chamber of Mines, who made the call, said to be able to do that Ghanaian entrepreneurs must move from the African mindset of small shopkeepers to build big, profitable enduring companies.
She said: “If you are building a business, you should focus from the very first day on making it a global big business. The failure of most Ghanaian businesses has been the view of ‘doing something small.”
“By adopting such an approach you limit the market and reach of your business and in such a globalised world, you will be out-priced and out-competed by bigger multinational businesses and end up having nothing at all”.
Dr Aryee was speaking at a two-day conference dubbed “marketplace revolution, Ghana’s turn”, and organised by Hopeline Institute, a non-governmental organisation to assist the marginalised, especially women with micro-finance and entrepreneurial education.
The conference, being held in partnership with US-based partners worldwide, brings together business people across four major sectors of agriculture, manufacturing, retail and service for learning, networking and business development opportunities.
Dr Aryee said to become successful in building profitable and multi-dollar businesses, it was important that entrepreneurs think of their businesses and products in more innovative ways.
She said: “If you are going to build a company that is going to be profitable; valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, you have to stop business as usual and focus on doing the research and putting in the thinking to come out with brilliant products and services that solve needs in the market.”
Dr Aryee described Ghana as a virgin market for innovation as people needed things cheaper, faster, better and more reliable and said it was possible to be innovative in Ghana and produce things that could compete in the global world.
She tasked business leaders to brainstorm with their employees, and set up research laboratories that would find out ways to improve their products or businesses.
Dr Aryee asked them to invest in knowledge, follow global trends and build internal capacity of their employees, so that they could come out with ideas to support growth of the business.
Mrs Fanny Atta-Peters, Executive Director, Hopeline Institute, said the conference aimed to inspire business people, to change the way they undertake business to ensure positive transformation in the country.
Source: GNA