Integrity Magazine, a subsidiary of Krif Ghana Limited, has held the maiden edition of a series of webinars to inform and educate businesses on corporate governance practices and strategies to adopt post COVID-19.
The webinar, which was held on the theme ‘Effects of COVID-19 on Good Corporate Governance in Ghana’, served as a platform to inform and educate businesses on the next strategic steps to take as business leaders in order to sail through this coronavirus crisis with minimal losses.
Executive Chairman of Krif Ghana Limited and Publisher of the Integrity Magazine, Rev. Kennedy Okosun, speaking on the topic ‘Effects of the Pandemic on Companies’, opined that many organisations will be the target of hostile activity under the current circumstances and may have to brace themselves for the possibility of take-overs.
“There might be critical unanswered questions rummaging through the minds of many as we move into a period of new normal. Our culture, corporate behaviour and organisational output are going to be affected whether we like it or not. Organisations will never go back to doing business as usual, or doing business the way they knew how. All must embrace change; that change may be negative or positive depending on how we adapt to the prevailing exigencies,” he said.
He added that given the extremely rapid onset of the crisis, most companies did not foresee the dramatic slowdown of the global economy, leaving questions with respect to the liquidity and capital considerations of companies, among others.
On the effect of COVID-19 on corporate governance, he said corporate governance might not be the obvious focus during this crisis for some entities – albeit it is during these moments that leadership and management structures are tested and exposed for their strengths and/or weaknesses.
Chief Executive Officer-Mikensy Consulting Limited, Michael Osikoya, examined the effects of COVID-19 on various stakeholders – mentioning that just as we are recording human fatality, we may not be able to account for the number of businesses which suffers similar fatality at the hands of COVID-19.
He listed tourism and leisure, aviation and maritime, automotive, construction, real estate and manufacturing as some sectors that have been affected badly by the pandemic. “The effects on academia appears devastating to say the least, but the medical supply and services, food processing and retail, personal and healthcare, ICT, e-commerce and agriculture sectors have gained during this period,” he noted.
For solutions to the pandemic’s effects, Mr. Osikoya suggested that business, leaders and stakeholders should enter into a ‘restart’ mode to come out of challenges the virus has imposed on them. He also said that all the various stakeholders in businesses such as the shareholders, employees, customers and others must forfeit certain benefits to bring businesses back on track.
The webinar brought together leaders from various organisations in the corporate environment of Ghana. The next webinar is slated for Tuesday, June 2, 2020 – with focus on the banking sector.
