After the just ended meeting of CEOs and MD’s of state organisations to sign performance contracts with the State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), Mr. James Kwofie, Managing Director of Ghana Post, was contacted to throw more light on how he has been able to lead the team to transform the then ailing company into a healthy one of pride, that has become one of the NPP government’s major achievements.
Background
Mr. James Kwofie is an experienced corporate leader and an entrepreneur with over 20 years of proven success in various industries across continents and deep knowledge in finance, human resource, entrepreneurship, and business administration.
James obtained a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at the University of Kansas in the USA after completion of sixth form from Saint Augustine’s College in Cape Coast. He furthered his education at Baker University also in USA where he acquired a master’s degree in Business Administration.
Corporate Experience
He interned at the United Nations -ECLAC office in Washington DC in his third year of undergraduate study where he researched trade flows between Canada and Latin America and the Caribbean to assess the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a member of the team.
Between 1999 and 2000 Mr. Kwofie was employed at Sprint Telecommunications, working at Kansas City, Missouri as Pricing Analyst responsible for pricing wholesale long-distance products. He performed special projects for executive management and senior management, prepared contracts for the Sprint Long Distance Finance Group and maintained the Pricing Group’s database.
He was moved to Atlanta, Georgia, taking a higher role as a Business Analyst for Sprint, where he undertook responsibilities such as: preparing models, pricing, financial analysis and reporting for new and existing customers, inclusive of all voice, wireless and data products.
In the year 2002 he worked for WorldCom Wireless Finance in Alpharetta, Georgia for 5 months as a Senior Financial Analyst and liaison between sales and executive management for all issues and decisions regarding the Mid Atlantic, Pacific, Southwest, and Mountain regions of the United States of America.
In 2003, Mr. Kwofie returned to Ghana where he has since occupied significant leadership roles in a number of multinational companies including serving as Human Resource Director at British American Tobacco (West Africa Central). At British American Tobacco he was a member of the team that reorganized the organization to become the most cost efficient in West Africa. He was a member of the Africa and Middle East Team that developed a common HIV/AIDS policy for BAT and also member of BAT Africa and Middle East Remuneration team that developed the rewards system.
His quest for success in the corporate space found him with Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited also as a Director of Human Resource. Among the initiatives taken at Guinness were, partnering with executive team in the development of short and long term business strategy, leading the development and implementation of the Organisation and People strategy, managing Organisation and People Development Review process, leading restructuring exercise after merger, embedding a culture of one after merger between Ghana Breweries Ltd and Guinness Ghana Breweries Ltd and developing and implementing new reward systems.
Before accepting the President’s call to serve the nation, taking office as the Managing Director of Ghana Post, James Kwofie had founded Plato Consult Limited in 2007, to provide management and consultancy services to multinational companies and SMEs. Through his drive and passion, Plato Consult has grown to become a major player in the human resource service industry, serving a wide range of clients.
Appointment as MD – Ghana Post
In February 2017, Mr. James Kwofie was appointed by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to the office of Managing Director of Ghana Post, with the mandate of revamping the Postal Service. Through visionary leadership and innovation, James was able to shift the fortunes of Ghana Post by doubling revenue during his tenure, even under the pressures of the negative effects of covid-19. Product diversification, customer focus, new commercial drive and change in work culture were the key drivers that drove this great feat for a state owned organization.
This he said was made possible by adopting new vision, mission and corporate core values. He implemented structural changes including the creation of a separate Commercial Division to concentrate on all the commercial activities which then enabled the operations department, which hitherto combined this responsibility, to concentrate on deliveries and mail activities. The Commercial Department brought Ghana Post onto social media and e-commerce space. In the first year, a customer friendly corporate website was built for effective communication between the public and Ghana Post, not forgetting the ultra-modern call centre and the creation of customer service department which is delivering excellent service.
In 2020 when COVID-19 touched almost all the sectors of society, Ghana Post pivoted from business as usual to picking and delivering mails door to door. They also changed their business approach towards foreign transactions, he alluded. Today, according Mr. Kwofie, some multi-national businesses like, Huawei, DHL, JUMIA, among others have signed with Ghana Post as well as several local companies choosing Ghana Post as a delivery agent.
Under Mr Kwofie’s leadership, there has been a remarkable change in the culture of Ghana Post particularly, employees’ attitude towards work through implementation of a rigorous performance management system. The introduction of Open Office Policy, installation of CCTV in sensitive areas and installation of vehicle tracking systems including motorbikes for delivery has greatly improved operational efficiency and reduced leakages within the organisation.
From 30 connected Post Offices out of 360 nationwide inherited in February 2017, Ghana Post now has connected 320 offices nationwide. Management also took the initiative to augment its fleet through internally generated revenue and leasing, bringing the average age of vehicles down from 11 years to 3 years.
In his bid to modernise and digitise Ghana Post, Mr. Kwofie revealed, Ghana Post secured SAGE 300 ERP alongside the upgrading of the Enterprise Postal System (EPS) and International Postal System (IPS) to fill the technology gap. Some selected Post Offices were also renovated through IGF and E-transform to give the Post a friendly business face.
The Managing Director supported the Ministry of Communications to successfully host the West African Postal Conference in 2018. Mr. Kwofie mentioned that Ghana Post has received several awards from both national and internationally recognized bodies including the Universal Postal Union for best customer care in two consecutive years. Mr. Kwofie has also been personally awarded by credible awarding institutions for leading the turn-around of Ghana Post. He sits on the EMS Cooperative Board as a member of UPU body.
One of his proudest moments is leading Ghana Post to implement the National Digital Property Addressing System, a major pillar of government’s digitization under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications.
His vision for Ghana Post going forward is to transform the range of services provided to Ghanaians especially taking advantage of the emerging world of ecommerce and serving as a critical delivery channel of the Governments digitisation agenda.
He was thankful to the staff of Ghana Post and other stakeholders for the enviable position Ghana Occupies as the lead EMS delivery operator in Africa and 3rd in the World.
Ghana needs such dynamic leaders in our public institutions. Kudos to Mr. James Kwofie. Continue the good works at Ghana Post.
