By Deborah Asantewaah SARFO
With a damning statistic from the 2023 Global Business Ethics Survey where 87 percent of employees indicated that they do not work in a strong ethical culture, the Managing Director of Absa Bank Ghana, Edward Nartey Botchway, has urged leaders in institutions to change the narrative by implementing strong ethical guidelines at the workplace.
According to him, the statistic is a reminder of the extensive work leaders must do to instil ethical values within the corporate environment and as leaders; they can change the narrative by leading by example and “integrating robust ethical guidelines and training programmes”.
“As leaders, we are positioned to create tangible change and inspire our teams to adhere to the highest ethical standards. We can start by integrating robust ethical guidelines and training programmes, ensuring that these principles are concrete actions we live by every day,” he urged.
Mr. Botchway made this clarion call to leaders within the working environment while speaking at the Absa Business Ethics Network of Africa (BEN-Africa) Conference, held on November 7 – 8 at the Ghana Communications Technology University.
This year’s edition was held under the theme ‘Agenda 2063 and a sustainable Africa: The role of ethical business’.
Referencing the same survey, he noted that amid the high level of misconduct, some employees stand up for what is right by reporting unethical incidents, adding that such positive attitudes must be “supported to protect those who come forward”.
He, therefore, challenged leaders to “build an environment that promotes integrity and transparency; one where ethical behaviour is the norm, not the exception”.
Taking her turn, the Marketing and Corporate Affairs Director of Absa Bank, Nana Essilfuah Tamakloe, underscored constant engagement with government and private institutions as key in ensuring good ethical standards in the country and Africa.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Absa BEN-Africa Conference, she said that having a sector focused on delivering ethical business is a continuous process; hence, “we need to constantly have discourse on such issue and make it an essential part of how business is delivered across the country”.
“I think constant engagement, this is not what I call an event; it is a continuous process so we need to be engaging both government, private sector and some organisational institutions. We need to be constantly engaging on the issue of delivering ethical business,” she emphasised.
Additionally, she noted that Absa Bank sponsored the programme for the second year because the intended objectives of BEN-Africa align with two other values of the bank.
President of the BEN-Africa, Dr. Bryan Robinson, emphasised that while the mission of the initiative is to provide a forum for people to have important discussions, participants after being exposed to the current issues of ethics should implement and also discuss it in their respective homes or place of work to yield the expected impact of the conference.
“So, we want individuals to not only have this awareness that comes out of the BEN-Africa Conference, but to take those conversations back into the workplace or home and critique the decisions that people are making,” he said.
While admitting that Africans have their topmost challenges such as poverty, inequality and others to deal with, Dr. Robinson urged that they give attention to environmental issues; “otherwise we are going to be living in a very inhospitable world going forward”.
The conference brought together organisations, leaders and other stakeholders from private, public and non-profit organisations who shared a passion for ensuring ethical decision-making in all aspects of business practice in Africa.
