The 2022 Jospong Group of Companies’ (JGC) Leadership Conference has opened, with a call on management and staff to work hard to bring about operational excellence.
Addressing participants at the conference’s opening at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Accra on Monday (January 17, 2022), the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies and Zoomlion, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, explained that operational excellence goes beyond just making “little changes” to the current way of doing things.
“Rather, operational excellence requires a considered and intentional look at your business processes, followed by drastic and instant action to set it apart positively from others,” he said.
He urged management staff to understand the group’s businesses and bring innovative ways of making subsidiaries in JGC continue to excel.
Operational excellence, he added, can also be better achieved through constant monitoring and re-evaluation of operations.
Dr. Siaw Agyepng advised that though the JGC has chalked up some successes in the past years – even in the midst of Covid, that is not a reason for workers to rest on their oars, adding that: “We need to fine-tune and perfect our operations. We are not in a race with anyone, but aim to fulfil our destiny as God has mandated us to do. We can only be a better version of ourselves,” he noted.
Amid Covid, he urged management staff to prioritise the safety of every employee.
“We must wear our nose-masks at all times. We must continue the education on safety measures,” he emphasised.
He assured all staff members of JGC and Zoomlion that management will not leave them out of the digital space.
9th JGC Conference & Speakers
This year’s conference, the ninth of such annual conferences, is being held both in-person and virtually at over 2,000 various centres set up across the nation for management staff of JGC and Zoomlion; and it is dubbed ‘Sustaining Business Gains through Operational Excellence’.
Guest speakers who are expected to address the staff include Rev. Samuel Adeyemi, an international conference speaker; Mr. Ebenezer Twum Asante, Vice President-MTN Group; Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, Dean of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC); and Mrs. Florence Larbi, the Chief Operating Officer-Environment and Sanitation, Jospong Group
Others are Mrs. Gloria Anti, Managing Director-Zoomlion, Dr. Abena Antwi and Prof. Amponsah Tawiah.
Appreciation
Dr. Agyepong once again used the platform to express his profound gratitude to President Nana Akufo-Addo, and in particular the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, for their efforts to ensure that private sector waste management companies contribute to improving the sanitation situation in the country.
“I would also like to thank the management and staff, including our ever-hardworking District Managers (DMs and Operation Assistants (OAs) and Team Leaders for working tirelessly last year.
“…To the entire staff of Jospong Group and Zoomlion, we are proud of you and I say ‘thank you’ for the hard work. Keep it up. May the Lord continue to bless you,” he expressed.
Capacity building
According to him, one area that Zoomlion and JGC have taken seriously is capacity building.
This, he said, is predicated on the group’s belief that “our human capital is the bedrock of our success, without which nothing can be accomplished”.
Buttressing his point, he said last year the group embarked on various capacity building drives to ensure that its staff members were are given opportunities to learn new technologies and current market trends.
He disclosed that under the Jospong Academy programme, 11 courses have been organised involving 473 participants drawn from over 32 subsidiaries.
These courses, he indicated, cut across management & leadership, basic IT, customer service, administration efficiency, occupational health & safety, team building and business process optimization – adding that these programmes are facilitated by the University of Ghana, KNUST and training consultants.
“24 Executives and Managers were selected to participate in the Global Leadership Summit;
and 18 engineers from 14 subsidiaries were sent to Austria for a 10-day waste-engineering course. These participants have been tasked to develop a course to be rolled out in 2022. In addition to that, they will form the technical core team to support operations of the regional IRECOPs,” he revealed.
Projects for 2022
Dr. Agyepong stated that this year his outfit will continue with implementation of the ‘One Million Waste Bins’ project.
“We will therefore need the support of management and all staff of Jospong/Zoomlion, as well as the MMDAs and other relevant stakeholders, to ensure that every household in Ghana has one waste-bin to store its solid waste,” he urged.
“We will also continue to lend our support to the Church of Pentecost’s Environmental Care Campaign to ensure its success as we did last year,” he firmly assured.
GAF collaboration with JGC & Zoomlion
The Commandant, Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Rear Admiral Beick-Baffour, encouraged the workers to bring new strategies for overcoming new challenges in the business space.
He said the role of JGC in the country’s development cannot be over-emphasised, assuring that the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) will continue to collaborate with Jospong.
