The degree of meaning and purpose you derive from work may be the biggest difference between a job and a career, and that was what my colleagues and I felt and experienced, working with UMB then Merchant Bank. From walking through the doors of this great bank in 1994 as a member of the Credit and Marketing Team, what struck me most and stayed with me throughout my work life at UMB was the sense of family.
The culture was very embracing and one felt enveloped in a family. Leadership indeed were very caring and interested in our development and I am glad to not this has continued, as the bank has grown and evolved. I think because of this, by extension, the bank has always had a posture of treating its customers as family. We were willing to go all out to do anything for our customers, and saw their businesses as part of our family.
The work culture at UMB was great and it enabled all of us to rally around the ethos of who we truly were- The merchant bank of Ghana. Most Ghanaians forget that this bank was set up as a policy bank by the government to provide the first indigenous merchant banking capacity in Ghana and we had a rich source of talent, committed and dedicated to bringing Ghanaians an indigenous taste of world-class banking. It is of no wonder that most of us with the rich source of training and support we received, have gone on to do great things in other spheres of enterprise.
It’s instructive to note that alumni from this bank are currently C-suite leaders in many other banks and organizations. I do believe that strong work ethic is still very visible in the current fabric of staff of this great bank, as I see and experience a team of bankers very dedicated to the CUSTOMER. And I dare say that if this passion is kept aflame, this bank will survive another 50 years. I wish my family- my colleagues who are still here at UMB and the Bank a hearty AYEEKO at 50. May God bless and grow the bank, as it forges forward to another 50 in the service of Ghana
