Professor Stephen Adei has urged marketers to adhere to professional ethics and uphold integrity as a core virtue that is important for the nation’s socio-economic transformation.
Addressing members of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) at the 33rd annual general meeting (AGM), Prof. Adei – a former Board Chairperson of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) – expressed concern about the deteriorating level of integrity in the country, especially in the public sector and among political leaders.
He emphasised that maintaining the highest standards of trust and reliability as professionals is very significant in national development. Additionally, he stated that marketers hold great influence in shaping consumers’ perceptions and purchasing decisions; therefore, failure to uphold integrity in their line of business will plunge the nation into disaster.
“As marketers, integrity must lie at the core of everything you do. Unfortunately, some people think that what we do as a profession is propaganda. Therefore, in whatever product or service one is marketing, if you do not exhibit integrity it will not stand the test of time.
“As marketers also, both individuals and institutions, we should seek to promote integrity in our country; because lack of integrity is one of the reasons this country is not progressing. People in authority and those related to them are tempted to do things that undermine integrity.
“I believe we are faced with the crucial issue of integrity; and as people and institutions, this is the time to speak up and fight for integrity,” he said.
CIMG Induction
The CIMG inducted 56 new members comprising 56 individuals and one corporate organisation into various categories of membership at its 33rd AGM, and urged them to strive for professionalism and to be good ambassadors of the institute.
A majority of the inductees, 36, were recognised as full members; and there were 14 associate members, one graduate member, four emerging associate members and one corporate member.
President-CIMG, Dr. Daniel Kesser Tee, encouraged the members to demonstrate patriotism and patronise made-in-Ghana products and services to promote the growth of local industries in order to leverage the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
PMQ Programme
Touching on the CIMG professional marketing qualification (PMQ) programme introduced in the year 2021, the president indicated that two separate examinations are organised in June and December; and so far about 670 students have registered, which is an impressive achievement.
“The most exciting thing about tonight is that we are able to say that the majority of our inductees tonight are products of the PMQ programme, which shows the great success we have achieved with the initiative.
“The beautiful nature of our programme is that we do not rely on one single institution. We leverage the existing business faculties of tertiary institutions across the country, in addition to the Ghana School of Marketing, to train marketing students on the course outline to register and write the examination.
“Going forward the, institutional collaboration with public and private universities will be stepped-up as we aim to ensure that most business schools in Ghana serve as accredited study centres for CIMG PMQ,” he said.
