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Poor attitude towards payment of taxes and the way forward

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Taxation is defined as a compulsory levy impose by government of a country on its citizenry and inhabitants to raise money to finance government activities. Every government the world over depends largely on tax revenue for its developmental projects. It is said that without taxes, most governments would cease to exist. An American Statesman, Benjamin Franklin rightly put it when he stated that “in this world, nothing is certain but Death and Taxes”. This wise saying implies that in as much as human society exist, death and taxes are inevitable. From the foregoing, one can like taxation as a blood that runs through the veins of nations, without it, the very foundation of nations would be in great danger and human existence would be very much threatened. Ghana being a Lower Middle Income country, is not an exception to this trend of relying on tax revenue for its development.

Notwithstanding this crucial role that taxes play in the country, many people appears to be ignorant of its importance. It is quite disheartening to hear people who are expected to know better showing gross ignorance to the extent of saying that their government is in power and so they are not supposed to pay taxes. Some government officials would go to the extent of chastising tax officers who may be doing their legitimate work to collect revenue for the state because they think the actions of the tax officials is making their government unpopular. Yet, these same people want government to turn the country into Heaven. By whatever means, only they can tell.

 

National Responsibility

The general reception in the payment of taxes by the public can be said to be very minimal and the earlier something is done about it the better. Chapter six (6) of the 1992 constitution, Article 41 (j) states “the exercise and enjoyment of rights and freedoms is inseparable from the performance of duties and obligations, and accordingly, it shall be the duty of every citizen: to declare his income honestly to the appropriate and lawful agencies and to satisfy all tax obligations”.

How many people as well as entities, can be said to have honoured all their tax obligations voluntarily without any enforcement tool applied by tax officials? Many Ghanaians want Free SHS, subsidized fuel, good hospitals and roads, One District One Factory, One Village One Dam and many other good things in the country but do not want to pay taxes. Is this not ironic?

Per the Income Tax Act, 2015, Act 896 as amended, a person who earns a basic salary of GH¢600.00 per month would be expected to pay a tax of GH¢36.60 deducted at source. Similarly, an income earner of GH¢1,000.00 would be expected to pay a tax of GH¢102.75. However, in the informal sector, traders who are in stores, kiosks, containers and hawkers as well as commercial drivers who may be earning more than these formal sectors workers would always try to run away from tax officers who come to them to collect taxes. Some of these taxpayers are issued with Tax Stamps or Vehicle Income Tax (VIT) stickers and pay as low as GH¢10.00 per quarter and yet would be unwilling to pay. Many business men and women would also try to under declare their income in order not to pay the right tax.

Fiscal Data Information from the Ministry of Finance indicates that in the year 2015, government received a total revenue of GH¢32.04billion. Out of this amount, GH¢24.14billion, representing over 75% came from taxes. Again in 2016, an amount of GH¢25.70billion which represent about 76% was collected as taxes out of government’s total revenue of GH¢33.68billion. The same trend can be seen in the current year, 2017, where tax revenue is targeted at GH¢34.00billion and total revenue at GH¢44.00billion. This goes to show that a chunk of government’s revenue over the years comes from taxes. It therefore reason to conclude that, if any government can perform very well to the satisfaction of the citizenry, then more taxes needs to be collected in order to increase total revenue to enable government to do more developmental projects.

Mathew 22:21 states “And He (Jesus) said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Jesus therefore supported the fact that we should all give to the state what it is due. A Christian who thus claims to pay his/her tithe faithfully but fails to pay taxes due the state does not qualify to be called as such. The same can be said about other religious denomination. You cannot therefore be called a good Muslim when you do not pay your taxes. When any country gives loans or grants to Ghana, it is not that these nations purposely print new currencies to be given to us, but rather, it is out of the taxes that have been collected that they give to us as loans or grants.

The UK with almost the same land area of about 240,000sqkm as Ghana is said to have collected a total tax revenue of £550.00b (Five Hundred & Fifty Billion Pounds Sterling) in the year 2016. During the same period, Ghana collected a total tax revenue of £5.50billion (i.e. GH¢25.70billion). That is, Ghana’s total tax revenue collected in 2016 was 1% of what was collected in the UK. This suggest the low level of interest shown by Ghanaians towards payment of their taxes notwithstanding other factors.

The Way Forward

That is why it is more appropriate that the agency responsible for the collection of taxes in the country, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) on Wednesday 1st November 2017, launched a National Campaign to Improve Tax Compliance. The theme of the Campaign has been #OurTaxes-OurFuture. This is to remind everyone that our taxes helped to provide for the Free SHS.  Roads, hospitals and environmental protection rely on the taxes we pay. The GRA has since the launch been involved in a numbers of publicity programmes. These includes multi-media campaign involving radio, television and the press. So far, there have been radio jingles, television programmes, town hall meetings and regular discussions about tax issues as well as a special theme song.

At the launch of the National Tax Campaign, The Commissioner General of the GRA, Mr. Emmanuel Kofi Nti painted a gloomy picture of the number of people in the tax bracket and said “Even though many Ghanaians are engaged in income-earning activities particularly in the informal sector, only about 1.2million people are registered for tax purposes. Out of the number, about one million are in the formal sector, leaving only about 200,000 in the informal sector”. This he said is not the best for the growth of the country. The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his recent visit to the Tema Port during the Greater Accra regional tour stated that the GRA is the future of Ghana. It is therefore incumbent on us all to be citizens by paying our taxes promptly for a better Ghana and not be spectators by refusing to pay our taxes.

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KRIF (GH) launches Customer Feedback System  

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The Embassy of Hungary, as part of its activities marking the 12th Ghanaian-Hungarian Business Forum, assisted in launching the KRIF’s Customer Feedback System at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra last week.

The customer feedback system is a Microsoft- based device which comes with an innovative design, ease of installation, dependability, and can be tailored to dovetail into the peculiarities of any client.

The device is noted to have a user- friendly touchscreen, tablet- based terminals and optional peripherals such as webcam, keyboard, WIFI, motion sensors, among others.

At the forum to showcase their works, were representatives of Hungarian companies in the fields of agriculture, agro- processing, creative- art, ICT, energy, education, health industry and the defence industry.

The forum was attended by Peter Szijjarto, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade for Hungary, Ibrahim Awal, Minister for Business Development, Andras Szarbo, the Ambassador of Hungary to Ghana, and Frank Annoh- Dompreh, Chairperson, Foreign Committee of the parliament of Ghana. Other notables were Mr. Yofi Grant, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), and Dr Lawrence Tetteh, a renowned international Evangelist.

Members for the diplomatic corps, the visiting Hungarian Trade team, and members of the Ghanaian- Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, and the planning committee of the Ghanaian- Hungarian Business forum were among other invited guests.

Reverend Kennedy Okosun, the Executive Chairman of KRIF Ghana Limited said: ‘’KRIF provides an example to buttress the position that the Ghanaian- Hungarian partnership is a workable proposition by officially launching a customer feedback system manufactured in Hungary. Which he described as both heart-warming and reassuring.

The device when deployed, is destined to revolutionize the customer satisfaction assessment architecture of any user entity, for good’’.

Reverend Kennedy Okosun added that: “the device is ideal for teller performance measurement, showcasing customer focus orientation, and guaranteeing confidentiality and objectivity in data gathering. It also serves as an important source for the provision of human resource statistics.’’

The device was launched by Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade for Hungary, and Mr. Ibrahim Awal, Minister for Business Development of the Republic of Ghana.

On a related development, Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister affirmed the business relations between Ghana and Hungary by assisting in improve industrialisation in Ghana by focusing on the ‘one- district, one- factory’ policy by the current government.

‘’My country would support Ghana in the areas of food processing, water, and Information Technology because we have very skilled and experienced technical people to handle this’’, Peter Szijjarto said.

The minister also called for stringent measures by world leaders to address the economic and security challenges in the world, and was confident that the warm relations between Ghana and Hungary will strengthen friendship between both countries, and also help stabilise their economies.

He added: “the best way to improve the economy of every country is through industrialisation and hence their support for the government’s policy of establishing a factory in every district.

We are ready to contribute to the success of yours”

The Minister for Business Development, Ibrahim Awal, urged the business world to also take advantage of government’ incentive to upgrade their businesses.

He said at the forum that government has laid down plans to create two million jobs for Ghanaians, and also stressed that ‘‘measures taken by government are not promises, but plans and that unemployment is a threat to national security.’’

“Our private sector sphere heads the success of our economy and that we don’t want to do things the normal way. Our budget for next year is to reduce unemployment by providing jobs and taking pressure off Ghanaians”, Ibrahim Awal added.

Awal thanked the Hungarian Embassy for its kind gesture to help develop Ghana through  business engagement as well as help develop the agriculture sector which will help solve the  unemployment situation and by supporting the ‘one- district, one- factory’ policy.

Agric sector needs strong regulation – ECA boss

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The agricultural sector on the continent needs stronger regulations to correct the existing governance processes that are fraught with weakness, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Vera Songwe, has said.

“Land rights are not secure, the procurement process for inputs such as fertilizer and other inputs remain highly political in many countries undermining productivity of the sector and most of all its profitability,” she said at the opening ceremony of the 2017 African Economic Conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

It is reckoned that 40-60 percent of Africa’s labour force is engaged in the agriculture sector, most of which are women.

She said because of the weakness in the governance of the agriculture sector, food imports to Africa increased almost four times between 2002 and 2014, adding that one in nine people is not adequately nourished and one in four under nourished people live in Africa.

In the fisheries sector, she said governance issues continue to cripple a sector with enormous potential for diversification, value addition, and overall improvements in lifestyles, especially for women.

“Currently, about 25 percent of all marine catches around Africa are by non-African countries and in many cases the catch never lands on the continent.

Boats are not registered and fishing seasons are not respected. Depleting resources and impoverishing already poor communities,” she said.

To address this problem, she said an appropriate macroeconomic policy framework is critical.

The essential components of macroeconomic frameworks to foster structural transformation across the continent, she said include: scaling up public investment and public goods provision; maintaining macro stability to attract and sustain private investment as well as mobilizing resources and reducing aid dependence over time.

In Ghana, the fisheries sector generates over US$1billion in revenue each year and accounts for at least 4.5 percent of the country’s GDP. The sector also provides livelihood for an estimated 10 percent of the population, representing about 2.5million people.

Significantly, fish constitutes 60 percent of animal protein consumed in Ghana, according to the Fisheries Management Plan in Ghana, a national policy for the management of the marine fisheries sector (2015-2019).

Fidelity Bank holds 4th draw to reward customers in the10x richer promo

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Fidelity Bank has rewarded five more lucky customers in the Fidelity 10x Richer Promo held in Tamale during the 4th draw of the promo. A total of GH¢25,000 was given out to five customers as they each had their coupon balance multiplied by 10 according to the dynamics of the promotion.

The five lucky winners are Richard Osei Boakye of the KO Methodist Branch; Annabel Arthur of the Nungua Branch; Paul Yeboah of the Adum Branch; Felix Osei Boahen of the Berekum Branch; and Zakaria Mariama of the Tamale Branch.

At the draw held in Tamale, the Deputy Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Julian Kingsley Opuni, expressed management’s appreciation to its customers for their continued business over the years. He explained that Fidelity Bank is optimistic that the purpose of launching the 10x Richer Promotion is being achieved as people are saving in order to win in the promo.

“Fidelity Bank recognizes the need for all of us to save for a rainy day, hence every year, we undertake a promotion that rewards customers committed to saving.

The nature of the rewards for these promotions is such that we do not restrict our customers with fixed prizes but give them the flexibility to undertake any project they deem fit with their cash prizes. And after tonight, five more Fidelity Bank customers will have the financial muscle to undertake certain projects to improve the quality of their lives,” he said.

Mr. Opuni stated that Fidelity Bank believes every Ghanaian of bankable age should have the opportunity to experience world-class banking right here in Ghana and in their respective towns and homes. “As a Ghanaian Bank, we embrace as a social responsibility, the task to make banking accessible in the remotest parts of the country.

Thus from the farthermost part in the North to the South, we want to have a Fidelity Bank product in every home, hence our agency banking, which currently provides access to over one thousand agents across the country to meet all your banking needs.”

He was quick to add that the northern regions were very dear to the Bank, hence the Bank’s collaboration with its strategic partners, to embark on a number of programs to improve the lives of the people in communities in northern Ghana.

He added that a couple of weeks ago, Fidelity Bank in partnership with USAID and SNV-Netherlands Development Organization launched the USAID-Smart Agri-Finance Project to provide access to affordable, inclusive banking services in Savannah Accelerated Development Authority zone increased, primarily for women.

The project will also improve efficiency and linkages along the targeted value chains as well as promote inclusive banking, mobile finance and agricultural lending in Ghana. There is one more monthly draw and a grand draw to be held.

In each monthly draw, five lucky customers will each have their coupon balance multiplied by 10. The grand draw will however offer three lucky customers the chance to have their coupon balance multiplied by 10X10, walking away with a total of GH¢150, 000. In all, Fidelity Bank is rewarding customers with cash prizes of almost GH¢300, 000.

New customers will be required to open a current or savings account with a minimum deposit of GH¢500 or multiples of GH¢500. The money must stay in the account for a minimum of one month or more to qualify for the draw.

Existing customers will be required to top up existing account balances with GH¢500 or multiples of it. The new funds must also stay in the account for a minimum of one month or more to qualify.

MainOne urges enterprises to outsource IT services for efficiency

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MainOne Cable, Ghana’s leading communications solutions provider, has reiterated its commitment to assisting enterprises improve efficiency and productivity with premium connectivity, data centre, and value-added services solutions.

This position was emphasised at the recent eCommerce eXpo, held in Accra on the theme ‘Shaping Ghana’s ecommerce landscape through innovation, adoption and regulation’. At the event, MainOne urged enterprises and businesses to continually seek improvement in business productivity and operational efficiency by taking advantage of its reliable connectivity and network solutions.

In his presentation at one of the sessions, MainOne’s Product Manager Ike Nana Amoatin highlighted the company’s products and services offering in Ghana, particularly how organisations can outsource IT services to MainOne.

He emphasised the need for corporate entities and SMEs to align with global trends in digital enhancement and the value of shared IT infrastructure and services, thus enabling them to focus on their core business operations.

He assured customers that MainOne has over the years evolved from a wholesale provider into a business that is increasingly focused on supporting enterprise clients with bespoke services which help them to meet their day-to-day IT requirements, including Internet and other connectivity services as well as value-added services such as cloud-computing and co-location services.

Mr. Amoatin also stressed the benefits of outsourcing key IT infrastructure needs such as data centres, and supporting value added services such as managed security and diverse application suites to MainOne as a single provider; highlighted benefits to the customer include more efficient cost and performance management, and improved overall business efficiency.

On his part, MainOne’s Head of Network-Ghana, Emmanuel Kwarteng, speaking on the theme ‘Shaping Ghana’s eCommerce landscape: Turning challenges into opportunities’, highlighted the shift from traditional operations and IT management to digital services.

He said technology is enabling businesses to not only overcome traditional competition and offer newer and more exciting offers to customers, but also ensure primary business continuity. According to him, “MainOne will continue to drive Internet prices down to increase broadband penetration and allow all business to digitise”.

He also added that MainOne has not only developed the right infrastructure to drive down costs of connectivity, but also gone a step further to make all connections in West Africa really local – by connecting to the Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX), Nigeria Internet Exchange (IXPN) and Open Connect.

This, he added, gives users easy access to ecommerce portals and significantly reduces the cost of connectivity in the region. This is vital for ecommerce providers within the region.

Currently, MainOne’s Data Centre supports local hosting of servers running various applications for players in the ecommerce ecosystem with constant uptime, thus enhancing the global competitiveness of indigenous Ghanaian businesses.

“This is why at MainOne we envision a connected Ghana that enables indigenous businesses in their quest for improved productivity and efficiency, through dedicated and reliable connectivity and value-added services,” Mr. Kwarteng noted.

The eCommerce eXpo 2017 brought together C-level executives, senior level managers in the ecosystem and entrepreneurs across various market sectors: including Emezino Afiegbe and Nkebet Mesele, Business Development Director and Director for Emerging Markets West Africa, both from VISA; Albert Biga, CEO of Zoobashop; Romeo Bugyei, MD of IT Consortium; Daniel Abunu, MD of Viotech; and; Moses Kanduri, COO; and Alex Pay among others.

Huawei partners KNUST to offer Authorised Network Academy

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Huawei has partnered Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to run Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA) program for students at the university.

The HAINA initiative is a global ICT technology education program which authorizes universities and tertiary education organizations to deliver Huawei certification courses to their students. This is the first accreditation in Ghana with plans underway to spread to other universities.

The program adopts the increasingly popular university-enterprise cooperation model and includes training and industry certification in popular ICT technologies, such as WLAN, security, storage and cloud computing.

Through HAINA, IT students at KNUST will acquire knowledge of cutting-edge ICT technology and gain elaborate hands-on practical training experiences. At present, KNUST students going through this HAINA lab will be able to obtain their HCNA/P-Cloud Computing certification, thus helping to boost their ICT skills to increase their chances of employability.

Additionally, HAINA-trained graduates will be given first priority for internships and employment opportunities at Huawei and its partner companies.

Huawei provides certification service by leveraging its years of experience in developing ICT talent. Huawei certification is created to match the career development life cycle of talents for the ICT industry, meeting the needs of various roles, from college students to workplace beginners, associates, professionals, and experts.

Huawei certification covers 10 fields and 12 technical directions. It offers the only certification program of its kind in the industry that covers all ICT technical fields. The students will also benefit from knowledge of cutting edge technologies such as 4G, 5G, LTE, cloud computing and will be offered opportunities for hands on practice in Huawei’s most advanced labs.

“The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is proud to partner with a global leader like Huawei to bring about competitive ICT skills for our Engineering and Computer Science students. We look forward to facilitating a closer interaction between academia and industry to help strengthen and provide highly demanded human resources for the IT and telecom fields in the Country and the sub-region,” says Ing. Prof. Mark Adom-Asamoah, Provost of College of Engineering, KNUST.

Geoffrey Li, Director of the Huawei Enterprise Business Group in Ghana, said the company is committed to the continuous knowledge-sharing and development of the technical workforce for the sustainable growth of the ICT ecosystem in Ghana while bridging the gap between what is learnt in school and what is available and practical on the job market.

“As an international ICT innovator, Huawei actively works with partners on joint projects dedicated to up skilling educational environments and providing the youth with more opportunities to meet the ICT ecosystem’s long-term need for talent,” he added.

Partakes in school’s awards

As part of the partnership with KNUST, Huawei took part in this year’s College of Engineering Awards by rewarding the Best Level 300 Female Telecom Engineering Student. The recipient of the Huawei Special Award was Ms. Deborah Tettehkie Amanor.

Ms. Amanor was presented with a brand new Huawei (Media Pad) M2 Tablet to assist her with her academic and social activities in school while keeping her connected. She also stands the chance of being part of the next badge of students who will be benefitting from the “Huawei Seeds for the Future” program in Ghana. She expressed her appreciation and thanked Huawei for the support.

Huawei’s support and contributions towards the University’s activities was also acknowledged as the College of Engineering presented the company with a special recognition award during the ceremony.

Huawei believes that education is the key to creating endless opportunities and limitless possibilities, and is thus dedicated to improving the education environment and allowing more young people to get education opportunities by leveraging the full potential of telecommunication technologies.

Employers: Should you hire experience or degrees?

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The inspiration for the present article came from a long public chit-chat discussion on LinkedIn; but it seems that the question as to whether you should hire someone with lots of experience or lots of education is a very old one.

Can experience really make up for the lack of a degree? Will you let an experienced nurse to operate on you? But you will let an apprenticing Intern…

Can a University degree ever provide something that experience cannot?

Which one is truly more valuable than the other?

All these are trap- questions because the right answer to all of them is: “it depends“.

 

Some Educational Findings.

In September 2012, the Chronicle of Higher Education, surveyed 50.000 US Employers. Here are some interesting numbers from that study:

  • More than 3 out of 10 Employers believe that Universities and other Higher Education Institutes do a very bad or ‘below average’/ sub-par job in preparing students for the real work force (it was 3.1 out of 10 Employers in 2012, in 2017 seems to be 3.7 out of 10).
  • The Services / Retail (39%), Health Care (35%), and Media / Communications (35%) indicated that colleges and universities are doing a “fair” or “poor” job — more than any other industry.
  • (to translate the above, Universities graduate people with minimal Client Service Attitude or Service Education, and people coming out of Media and Communication programs, are not that great in Effective Communication, despite English been their 1st or native language).
  • Only 2% find the candidates well-prepared for today’s job market while 31% find them unprepared.
  • The Employer- majority across all industries and hiring levels, place more weight on experience, particularly internships and employment during school vs. academic credentials including GPA and college major when evaluating a recent graduate for employment.
  • When it comes to the skills most needed by employers, job candidates are lacking most in written and oral communication skills, adaptability and managing multiple priorities, and making decisions and problem solving. Employers place this responsibility on colleges to prepare graduates in written and oral communications and decision-making skills.
  • Only 19% of employers look for specific majors and do not consider candidates without them, while the majority – 78% will consider any major. Executives are least interested in looking for candidates with specific majors (14%) than Managers (19%) and HR (19%).

 

Some thoughts on Education

  • A University degree is not just about the potential candidate employee getting a job or having a career. The benefits of a University education should be hopefully reflected on your candidates’ ability to think – please, I am not implying that practitioners have their mind ‘turned off’. Also, a University education should benefit a candidate in all parts of his/her life’s: personal, ethical, intellectual, social, economic, etc.
  • This ‘degree’ obsession is caused by Corporate and Recruiting Firms’ Recruiters, who write ‘safe’ job advertisements requiring a specific degree for a given job. And suddenly, the whole job- market starts valuing degrees.
  • A professional certification (e.g. PMI or ACCA or ITIL or CIPS or CMI or CIM or whatever), it might be more valuable than an HND or a Bachelors or even a Master’s (FYI an accredited CMI or CIM or even a CIPD Level 7 Diploma has the same value in the UK as a Masters). But if you read the smart print, all these professional qualifications guarantee an acquired minimum level of knowledge and they are not a real ‘license’ or warranty for on- the- job performance.
  • In 2017, even in Africa (obviously in Ghana too), there are more knowledge workers than 20-30 years who when our parents were entering the job market. The average office worker today has to use more ‘grey matter’ than his predecessors 20-30 years ago.
  • Sure, work experience may teach an employee that ‘doing it that way does not work’, and education may give the candidate the theoretical knowledge and analytical skill to show why it does not work. But employers complain worldwide for ‘underperforming’ Universities and not for underperforming ‘work- experience’. Think about it.
  • Finally, there is the misperception that educated candidates learn faster and more deeply. As a contrary proof to that allow me to present the real life ‘case’ where universities in Europe & the US for the past 10+ have been accepting Masters and MBA students without them having completed a single University course past their High School, as long as they have amble work experience and they can demonstrate the mental ability and maturity to go postgraduate level work.

Obviously, there are fields e.g. all Health & Medical Sciences where a degree might be a must.

I use ‘might be’ because a lot of modern hospital equipment provides full medical diagnosis and needs just an operator with few months training, while in the past it needed a doctor to do the same work and diagnosis.

 

Does Experience rules?

  • If you were to hire a college- dropout with 4 years of relevant experience or a candidate fresh out of a 4-year University programme, honestly whom will you choose?

Who do you think that will add more value to your organization?

  • When is the last time that you looked at the formal University degree qualifications of an experienced IT Developer?
  • Do even all your HR Assistants are University graduates?
  • Sadly, a Bachelors’ degree today is what a High School Diploma was 20-30 years ago.
  • Also, long expired is the notion of a University Degree implying the proven ability to analyze problems, or to learn complex new staff or to have super interpersonal & communications skills.
  • Btw, College graduates still ‘employ’ Poor spelling, bad grammar in their CVs and Cover Letters; or they are even unable to write a targeted cover letter.
  • Slightly less than one-third (31%) of employers require a bachelor’s degree if a position advertised for one. Nearly 70% of employers are open to considering non-degreed candidate who are particularly outstanding or the right fit. (Chronicle of Higher Education 2012 Survey).
  • Obviously the ‘ability’ to be a team-player is not something that can be taught in college.

 

E&Y UK: An interesting Case Study for hiring ‘University Leavers’.

In August 2016, E&Y in the UK was supposed to have started recruiting University Leavers and non-Accountancy majors, using instead a series of numerical tests and online “strength” assessments to assess the potential of applicants.

According to Ms. Maggie Stilwell, EY’s Managing Partner for Talent in the UK, these changes would:

“open up opportunities for talented individuals regardless of their background and provide greater access to the profession”.

Academic qualifications will still be taken into account and indeed remain an important consideration when assessing candidates as a whole, but will no longer act as a barrier to getting a foot in the door. Our own internal research of over 400 graduates found that screening students based on academic performance alone was too blunt an approach to recruitment.

It found no evidence to conclude that previous success in higher education correlated with future success in subsequent professional qualifications undertaken. Instead, the research found a positive correlation between certain strengths which could be assessed and success in professional qualifications.

Transforming our recruitment policy is intended to create a more even and fair playing field for all candidates, giving every applicant the opportunity to prove their abilities,” Ms Stilwell added.

 

I have tried to reach them for an update, but unfortunately, I have not yet received one.

 

Should you hire Overqualified Employees?

There is this weird old fashion assumption that there is the risk that an overqualified employee will soon become bored and unmotivated, so they will either underperform or leave.

Please show me just one single business case study that has proven that! Just one please! The risk is more likely to be for an incompetent or unqualified manager (if that is the case) of that overqualified employee!

Actually, all studies show that people leave a company because of bad management or bad working conditions and not because their skills are above what is needed for their current role. If that was the case, there would be no career climbing.

Please don’t confuse education and experience (even too much of either) with someone’s actual skills; a candidate with lots of experience still may not have the capabilities to do the given job. So, no one is really overqualified or overexperienced if they are not able to do that very job at acceptable performance levels.

So, before you reject such a candidate, try to understand:

  • what they can really do both now and in the future for your organization,
  • who they are as candidates/ humans
  • whether and how you can extend or (re)define the scope of that job/ role in order to accommodate a unique candidate.

 

Some 2017 Numbers.

These are from the 2017 Job Outlook survey from NACE (the National Association of Colleges and Employers):

  • 91 % percent of employers prefer that their candidates have work experience
  • 65% prefer their candidates to have relevant work experience.
  • Another 26 % prefer work experience of any type.
  • Only a mere 5% say that work experience is not a factor when hiring new graduates.
  • Regarding how a graduate’s work experience was gained, 56% prefer that it comes from an internship or a co-op study programme.

 

In Conclusion

Finally, it looks like that there is no such thing as a strong “employer preference” between education and experience. Some managers won’t look at anyone without a blue-chip educational history and they will not even meet a candidate unless they have graduated from one of the best universities.

But is that the kind of a manager you want working in your organization?

But, it seems that relevant experience is slowly becoming the ‘King’ or to be more precise, Employers care more about what value you can add to their organizations and how (if they have to ‘mentor’/ supervise you every single second so that you can outperform, is most likely not an option) and whether you have a degree from Circus University or Harvard is getting less and less relevant.

 

Thank you and Good Luck,

Irene

About the Author: Irene Gloria Addison is the owner of HIREghana [Human Intelligence Recruitment], a niche HRM & Organizational Development Consultancy and a Leader Ghanaian Recruitment Agency, based in Accra.

 

Irene welcomes your feedback/ comments/ remarks/ suggestions via your email message to Press [at ] HIREgh.com. HIREghana can be reached at +233 50 228 5155 or +233 266 555 907

Our website is http://www.hiregh.com

© 2017 Irene Gloria Addison and © 2017 Human Intelligence Recruitment

A letter to the startup: Life, Love and the Business – (II)

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To the issues of friendship, love, business, and war, surprise is the optimistic solution – Amit Kalantri, Author

People have questioned the entities of startup businesses – who they are, what they mean, what they do and whom they do it for. Others just think of it as sprouting small businesses, but they are simply more than that.

Being a startup is not a death sentence; there is more to explore and even outgrow the experience. Many lack the patience and work dedication to make things happen. Starting a unique business, does not mean losing yourself in the process.

You have got to take the pain to apprehend the characteristics of humans; in so doing, you have a hundred percent possibilities of knowing who you are, what you want, why you want them and etc. These are the basis on which the foundations of successful businesses are built – human perceptions.

Having learned about myself and the importance of relationships, networking and building connections between people and my business, I grasped the needs of people which informed our business services and products. This journey of entrepreneurship will teach and give you a lot than you would have to put forth or proffer. Do not lose yourself in daring to build a business.

  • LIFE

Business is the school of life. As I had written above, your own life does get better through learning to make life better for others. Daring to build something to improve the lives of others, should never take your life away; it must make it even better.

It is at the tough times that we need to stand back and question where we are going wrong; even sometimes, where we are going right.

During my struggles of daring to build, I had encountered many loses in life. I was so focused on building a business I had forgotten I needed my life to do that. When I had realized “my life is not my own business”, I had made incorrigible bloopers.

Life is not happening to you. Life is responding to you. You can only take out what you invest into it and not expect miraculous excesses. Life does not give you any overdrafts, loans, profits and losses, and luxury rooms for changes. You get what you put forth.

Don’t make your business your life! As much as businesses and life can be cumbersome to separate or can work apart, one has more importance; that is LIFE.

I have failed times without number in attempts to owning a life self standing off my business. It was effortless and simple. But you should know it is workable and doable. Eventually, I began to see my business as a pleasurable routine. This may not work well with you. There are various articles and stories of how entrepreneurs barely have time for themselves and make the best moments of life.

When I had made significance of what my own life is to my business, I actualized growth in a different kind of way. I sleep when I had to, eat well, take brief breaks when I felt burned out, watch television and have personal time when needed. Work always came second to my life. I have not or never been unproductive with the usual balances I made. Rather, I became better and efficient. Make best of what works for you, your body and mind.

The solutions to some of our most complicated problems are way too simple to believe. We either don’t possess the courage to implement or doubt the power of simplicity. Don’t burden your life with your business. If your business can not improve your life the same way you make it for others, what good is it? Business must be business and your personal life should be your personal life. The two can be truly separated if you dared to.

  • LOVE

The word love is never mentioned in big business; what purposes then will a business serve without love?

Quite often, I’m asked; do you have the time to love someone? How are you able to manage your love life without any business interference? This is not a question to even ask someone because they own a business or seems to a have busy schedules. Most of these questions give me a lousy frown. I feel it is an indirect way of telling someone you do not deserve love or to love because you are a business owner and you’re busy. That is just impolite!

This is what Tony Robbin, the American author, entrepreneur and life coach, had to say about love: “Love is not a business. It is not a transaction. It’s not an exchange or something you get for doing something. It’s not a trade. It is a gift!”

Love is a beautiful gift indeed and entrepreneurs deserve to experience it too.

Business is a lot of work and so is love. Love is work. While businesses evolve around people, understanding their needs and satisfying them, love requires nothing less. Do not be coerced to find yourself at a point where you would have to make a choice between your business and love.

I have had the privilege to love and be loved. I loved people through my business and people have loved me through my business. In both romantic and business relationships, love is what it is and love is work.

Entrepreneurs have had successful romantic and marriage relationships. Many more are enjoying the gift. Be free to experience any form of love. It is an ever ending story. Create one, live it, receive and reciprocate it the best way possible.

“Love the business you do, love the people you do it for, love yourself for doing it and love the people who supports you to do it..” – Harmony Attise, Small business consultant, CEO, Commec Ghana Ltd.

  • … AND THE BUSINESS

“The rule of my life is to make business a pleasure and pleasure my business.” – Aaron Burr,  American politician, third Vice President of the United States

In every success story, you will find someone who has made a courageous decision. A true entrepreneur is a doer and not a dreamer. It is first about the change before the money. Do the business you love and if you get it right, the money will come.

Most entrepreneurs have been through the path you’re now. Success was not handed to them. The challenges are nothing compared to the satisfactions you may derive from meeting people’s needs. Satisfaction is not what your business will thrive on and what you will ‘eat’ as benefit but satisfaction is what will certainly bring you the money. So be the entrepreneur who isn’t just someone who owns a business, but one who makes things happen. Do the hard work and do it with pleasure.

  • There have been many days when I have had no money; you will not become a billionaire overnight and you will not be broke forever.
  • I have woken up to days and months of no directions; you will not be lost eternally, find yourself.
  • Won contracts I knew I would not satisfactorily complete; but who said you can not recommend other businesses? That’s how businesses build reliable relationships.
  • Moments when friends and colleagues are doing so much better than you; everybody cannot be an entrepreneur and not all can be employees. Take some risks.
  • There will be bits of everything; that is why you’re an entrepreneur, fix them.

Love your business like a hobby. Treat your business like a business.

Westrafo  Limited hosts Transformer Conference 2017

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 Mr David Kwateng Darkwa, the Managing Director of Westrafo Ghana Limited, has said Sustainable Peak Load (SPL) transformers with ‘FR3 fluid’ will be the solution for many problems within the distribution and transmission system.

He said the quality of the insulation system influences the expected lifetime of the transformer, as such, the FR3 fluid has the ability to extend the life of insulation paper five to eight times that of mineral oil transformers; thereby improving grid reliability and reducing maintenance cost.

Mr Darkwa made these remarks in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, on the sidelines of the Transformer Conference 2017.

It is being hosted by Westrafo, with the objective of highlighting new technologies that could help improve the electric grid in Ghana.

The conference also aimed at offering solutions to the key challenges that are present within the Ghanaian grid; the increasing demand for energy, the transmission and distribution losses affecting the grid and the low level of transformer installed, contributing to grid instability.

Westrafo is partnering Cargill, a company developing bio-based fluids for industrial application, to develop new series of transformers called SPL; capable of resisting better to the peak loads of the electric grid and to improve the safety of people within civil and industrial application at many levels.

Cargill’s premiere natural ester for transformer application, FR3, is a natural dielectric fluid working in synergy with the transformer to deliver many benefits.

These include fire safety, eco sustainability, increased load capacity, high performance even at high temperatures and more importantly a reduced cost of total ownership for utilities and private users, because of the optimized efficiency and reduced maintenance.

Mr Darkwa said among the key benefits of the FR3 oil was that it has the highest fire point, reaching over 360 Celsius without catching fire, adding that “when there is a fire outbreak this particular fluid will quench by itself”

The Managing Director explained that a transformer when is over loaded becomes hot, its temperature increases and could lead to an explosion.

He said considering the above factors there will be a need for government to support the initiative by implementing policies that will champion the use of sustainable peak load transformers with FR3 fluid; as it will save us money

Mr Darkwa again called on utility companies to patronize their transformers and there was no need to import as they were capable of producing 200 transformers in a month, adding that “we are preparing to team up with them to find solutions to the problem”

Mr Albert Cracco, Chairman, Westrafo Ghana, said based on the experience of major utilities around the globe, the yearly average loading of distribution transformers in the electric grid was between 10 to 25 per cent.

He said with the increased load ability of optimised SPL transformers, a utility could save as much as 20 per cent of total ownership cost, due to no-load losses, reducing the total dissipated energy during one year.

Mr Cracco noted that many users would be able to rationalise the cost of the transformers by choosing a smaller transformer to be installed in the grid.

“Whenever the loading peak is reached during the day, the transformer will be able to sustain it for a typical short duration peak loading time,” he added.

Mr Mark Andre Thelen, Sales Manager of Cargill Industries, said, with the SPL concept, utilities would be able to install transformers that better match actual grid load, obtaining fleet performance and cost flexibility with right size transformers.

He said transformers could have the same load capability but a smaller footprint, without raising concerns about the life of the transformer.

Mr Thelen said an SPL transformer does not need supplementary oil collection basins and could typically be installed with less clearing space.

Sunyani Technical University secures summer vacation jobs for Tourism and Hospitality students

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Sunyani Technical University (STU) has reached an agreement with a world class tourist centre, Ocean City in Maryland, USA for STU Tourism and Hospitality students to work there during summer vacations.

The deal takes effect from June 2018; it is expected to help the STU students gain practical experience and international exposure in the tourism and hospitality industry.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. (ING) Kwadwo Adinkra-Appiah, who announced this said it is one of many academic collaborations it [STU] has secured to enhance academic work. He said STU has also signed MoUs with two foreign Universities-Fochoschule Dortmund and UMES in Germany and USA respectively.

“In the arrangement, students will be allowed to take at least a semester in either of the two Universities and their credits will be transferred to STU when they come back for smooth progression to the next stage on their programmes. Students on our Pharmacy Technician programme, after completion, will also have the opportunity to enroll on the 3-year Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm-D) programme at the UMES, USA, to be able to practice as professional Pharmacists after their training,” he explained.

The VC was addressing the 2nd matriculation ceremony, after the conversion of the then Sunyani Polytechnic to Sunyani Technical University.  A total of 2,226 students were admitted in the 2017/2018 academic year; 1,320 were males and 906 females. About 56% of the fresh students opted for Science and Technology programmes while 44% are to pursue Business/Humanities.

Prof. Adinkra-Appiah revealed that the University owed the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) and Ghana Water Company millions of Ghana cedis. The accrued utility bills were a result of government’s non-payment; a situation that is compounding the financial challenges of STU, he added.

He said: “The University is not able to pay the bills and this has resulted in rampant disruption of electricity and water supply. To ensure constant supply, the University is compelled to use part of its IGF to settle part of the indebtedness to prevent possible students’ agitation that has potential to disrupting academic work.”

The VC made a passionate appeal for the government to intervene and settle the debt to give the University administration the respite to focus on its core mandate of student training.

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