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Nyaho Medical Centre opens at ‘The Octagon’

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The Nyaho Medical Centre has opened its ultra-modern satellite branch at The Octagon in the central business district of Accra, in line with its quest to enhance access to convenient and real-time healthcare delivery to clients and the general public.

Patients of this new branch will have access to over 50 top-level specialists, tried and tested referral pathways, as well as effective and safe clinical care because of its state-of-the-art setup and other advanced features for faster diagnostics and telemedicine support, among others.

With the use of innovative solutions and collaborative healthcare, clients of The Octagon branch will have access to the one-stop-shop model that is run at the Airport facility, with a standby in-house ambulance to transport patients requiring escalated care.

Managing Director of the hospital, Dr. Elikem C. Tamaklo, said at the launch: “With the growing demands of patient’s quest for quality healthcare solutions at their convenience, it is imperative that as a patient-centred organisation we get closer to the doorsteps of our corporate clientele”.

He said the new branch builds on management’s efforts to promote digital medical care in the country, and assured of superior experience for patients who patronise the facility.

Board chairperson of Nyaho Medical Centre, Mrs. Janet Tamakloe, attributed the brand’s success to clients long walk, which has helped the facility to achieve positive experiences and impacts in peoples’ lives.

She said opening the satellite branch is aligned to the founder’s vision of building a modern hospital facility that offers the very best in medical care for patrons both near and from afar.

She added: “This new branch is in response to customers’ quest for convenient, prompt and easy access to medical care, and it will be guided by our core values we have served clients with over the years”.

Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) Dr. Gloria Quansah Asare commended Nyaho Medical Centre for its numerous strides in delivering seamless healthcare in the country.

“The opening of this new branch is a laudable initiative from a private healthcare centre; it will help to improve healthcare delivery to the general public,” she indicated.

Founded some 47 years ago, the Nyaho Medical Centre has carved a niche for itself as a leading private healthcare service provider, guided by its vision to be the most trusted name in healthcare delivery in Africa.

Pass Construction Industry Development Authority bill

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Mr. Rockson Kwesi Dogbegah, Chairman Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) Construction Sector, has called on government to pass the Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA) bill to regulate activities in the construction industry.

He said this is necessary to help build an “indigenised globally competitive construction industry that promotes excellence and supports national development”.

Mr. Dogbegah, who was speaking at a seminar organised by the AGI on local content policy for the construction industry in Ghana, said such a policy is crucial to giving locals a fair share of contracts.

He said the CIDA bill has been pending for over three years, and that the Authority when established will enable local constructors to compete with foreign firms that benefit from protectionist policies of their governments.

Mr. Dogbegah said, under the policy, government through effective legislation will ensure that 70 percent of procurement is executed by local contractors – with provisions for women, the disabled, and contractors captured under the Youth Enterprise Fund.

He said the industry contributes over 15 percent of Gross Domestic Product for the country, and has potential to drive the nation’s economic growth with support from government.

Mr. Dogbegah said growth of the local construction industry hinges on the promotion and uptake of indigenous materials, access to short- and long-term finances and resources, quality services, training, and a strong collaboration between industry and academic research.

He said government must facilitate technology transfers and local capacity development by ensuring effective collaboration with foreign construction companies, while enhancing the construction supply chain.

Mr. Dogbegah said government must also legislate and enforce acts to streamline payment of securities to indigenous companies and enterprises under the local content policy, while integrating construction activities with local economies to expand employment opportunities.

He said there is a need for local participation in the control and financing of joint venture arrangements which promote the use of local resources, materials and services in the construction industry.

Mr. Dogbegah said poor procurement practices, weak legal and regulatory frameworks, and delayed payments for executed contracts remain bottlenecks to the local construction industry’s growth.

Rural Banks appeal to BOG for consideration

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The Northern Regional chapter of the Association of Rural Banks (ARBs) has called on the Bank of Ghana (BOG) to consider rural banks in the three regions of the North which are striving hard to meet its recapitalization strategy requirement.

According to them, they are not getting the required savings to meet the BOG’s requirement which might end up collapsing most rural banks and also to a large extent defeat the purpose for which rural banks were established by BOG.

They said most of the rural banks at the communities have been striving to educate the residence on the need to save with the banks to generate revenue for its operations; the new law might end up collapsing the banks if care is not taken.

They also called on the District Assemblies to endeavor to channel all their accounts to the RCBs instead of with the commercial banks to reduce stress and high theft.

More so government as a necessity should channel funds of decentralized departments, senior high schools and even non-governmental organizations working closely with the assemblies through the rural banks in the districts.

According to them, channeling such funds through rural banks would help address the constraints of capital and liquidity facing most rural banks and better position them to be catalysts for comprehensive rural development, channels of equitable distribution of opportunities and wealth, and support for expanded productivity in rural communities.

The Association made the appeal at the 6th Rural Banking Week celebration held at Nakpanduri in the Bunkprugu-Yooyo district of the Northern region.

The event which was on the theme “Rural Banking, the key to national industrialization”brought together financial institutions across the region to deliberate on the best way to enhance activities to bring about development in their catchment areas.

Some solidarity messages were also made by some rural banks such as Bonzali,Tizaa, Borimanga, Bangmarigu,First Alied,GN Bank among others.

Mr James Kwesi Arko, Manager of Tamale branch of ARB Apex Bank Ltd who represented the Managing Director Mr Kojo Mattah, urged rural banks to partner with government to execute programs that would help alleviate poverty in the rural areas.

“The ARB Bank will make efforts to ensure that rural and community becomes become part of the implementation processes” he said.

He urged stakeholders, traditional leaders and the communities to buy shares in the banks to help improve the capital base of the banks to enable them serve the clients better.

The District Chief Executive of Bunkprugu-Yooyoo Mr Liweel Oscar assured that the assembly would make frantic effort to ensure most of the government funds for the assembly is channeled via the bank.

He urged the rural banks to design innovative programmes that will help create job opportunities for the youths to alleviate poverty in the area that will reduce the migration of the youth to the southern sector to search for non-exiting jobs.

Mr Sylvester Dery, President of the Northern Regional chapter of ARBs called on the RCBs to establish research and product development into agro business industrial products in their respective districts to harness the capacity of small and medium scale enterprises to develop products and branding.

He also called on rural banks to continuously upgrade their capacity, efficiency, sustainability as well as uphold good governance and management practices to help to contribute to the growth and development agenda of the country.

“We in the rural fraternity will continue to come out with new innovative products in future to make banking services easily accessible to the rural folks” he stated.

He assured efforts are being made to install ATM machines at the premises of the various RCBs in the Northern Chapter.

He therefore appealed to the stakeholders to increase their shareholdings in their banks to enable them have long-term funds to expand their activities.

He also appealed to loan and overdraft defaulters to pay back their funds debts to enable the banks to recycle same for the benefit of the communities in their catchment areas.

‘Rural’ tag must not deter RCBs from being innovative – Dr. Tony Aubynn

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The Board Chairman of Amenfiman Rural Bank, Mr. Tony Aubynn, has advised management of rural banks to adapt to the wave of change within the banking environment and invest in technology to make banking easy and effective for customers, and not be dissuaded by their rural label.

He said when rural banks are able to make their customers also benefit from the current products and services in the system, it will put them in a position to even compete with the universal banks.

He said: “The fact that our name has the tag ‘rural’ doesn’t mean we should not do what will help our customers, shareholders, our communities benefit from technology and other means that will make our work easy and effective”.

Dr. Aubynn explained that the addition of rural and community to the banking services was among others adopted by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to reflect the bank’s focus in serving the majority of unbanked people in rural areas, and also provide support to agriculture and small businesses.

This, he stressed, should not be interpreted to mean that the activities of rural banks must reflect times past, but rather should be aligned to current trends.

The Amenfiman Rural Bank, headquartered at Wassa Akropong in the Western Region, leads in innovation in the rural banking industry with its introduction of automated teller machines (ATMs) at almost all its branches to the convenience of customers.

In addition to this, the Board Chairman hinted the bank is also exploring avenues to deploy more modern products and services – like the Internet or electronic banking services (e-banking) to enable customers transact business with their bank electronically from the convenience of their homes and business locations.

Dr. Aubynn observed that such innovation will among others ensure that financial transactions between the bank and its customers become easy, thus contributing to making the bank more attractive to potential customers.

Commenting on support packages provided by Amenfiman Rural Bank to assist the agriculture sector, he appealed for government to make use of rural banks to achieve its target of transforming the agriculture sector.

He asserted that the rural banks are among the few institutions that are closer to farmers, and therefore government should consider using them in its dealings with the farmers – especially with implementation of the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’ programe.

“If government is unsure, it could pilot this idea by using some of the best-performing rural banks like Amenfiman Rural Bank,” he added.

Dr. Aubynn, who is also the Western Regional President of the Association of Rural and Community Banks, speaking in an interview with B&FT also appealed for an extension of the BoG’s directive deadline for rural banks to raise their Stated Capital.

He said the fact the some few rural banks, about 40 out of the about 140 RCBs in the country, have met the requirement does not mean pleas of the other banks should be ignored. However, he equally advised the remaining rural banks yet to meet the requirement to deepen their efforts at raising the required capital.

Second Batch of Caterpillar’s technicians for Africa project graduate

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Mantrac Ghana Limited the authorised dealer of Caterpillar products and services in Ghana has announced the graduation of the second batch of students from Caterpillar’s Technicians for Africa Project – Ghana Edition.

The Technicians for Africa Project is an absolutely free online program for Africans seeking a new and exciting career as service technicians. It is fully sponsored by Caterpillar, the global leader in construction and mining equipment in collaboration with its dealers across Africa.

In Ghana, the program was launched in November 2016 and currently has about 939 students enrolled in the program with the second set of 42 certified students ready to begin an exciting journey as Service Technicians.  Ghana can boast of having 146 active users on the program as at the end of September 2017, the highest number in Africa after Nigeria.

In just 3-6 months you can achieve Foundational Certification and begin an exciting journey towards a possible career as a well-paid and highly valued service technician in the automotive, trucking or heavy equipment industry. It’s an opportunity for Technicians who wish to work with Mantrac Ghana to go through this process making them possible choice once there are vacancies.

Mr. Emad Adeeb, Managing Director of Mantrac Ghana indicated that, “Since the Caterpillar Dealership in Ghana was formed in 1937 we have developed the skills of thousands of Technicians. The Technicians who graduated from our training school have strengthened the overall technical knowledge within the Ghanaian Power Generation, Construction and Mining industries”. We are proud to say we currently have some of the Graduates from the program working with us.

In encouraging the graduating certified students Mr. Adeeb said, “As a professional service technician, you may find yourself working on drivetrains, electronics, hydraulics, electrical systems and more.  The work is challenging, the pay is very competitive, and the opportunities are considerable”

As the construction and mining industries continue to grow in Ghana, more and more large companies are looking for experienced technicians to employ. Workers who have excellent knowledge of the heavy machinery used in various industries are more employable and are highly sought after.

Speaking to the Head of Marketing and strategic planning he indicated that anyone who aspires to be a service technician can gain vital knowledge from this free of charge training.  It is however, no guarantee of a job opportunity at Mantrac Ghana but it can provide you with the credentials to begin an exciting and fulfilling career with Mantrac Ghana Limited and other Caterpillar dealer organisations across the world.  This is one of the many ways through which Mantrac Ghana is boosting the skills of Ghanaians in the construction and mining industry.

AGOA clamours for more Ghanaian products  

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Ghana’s export volumes continue to be unsatisfactory under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provides trade preferences for quota and duty-free entry into the United States for some 6,400 products from sub-Saharan Africa.

Businesses and entrepreneurs have, therefore, been advised to do more and take advantage of the initiative to grow and expand, as well as increase the export rate of the country.

After completing its initial 15-year period of validity, the AGOA legislation was extended on June, 29, 2015 by a further 10 years, to 2025.

Since it was introduced in 2000, Ghana’s participation has not been too encouraging. Last year, the country was able to export US$29million under AGOA.

This figure does not reflect the economy and capability of the country, Mr. Mohammed Abou-iiana, Senior AGOA Specialist, Trade hub, said.

“We always see Ghana as the leader in West Africa and we expect more from the Ghanaian entrepreneur and businesses to export to the US market. We need to know more about the benefit of AGOA and take advantage of the opportunities”, he added.

Mr. Abou-iiana was speaking at an AGOA sensitisation workshop, organised by the Sekondi-Takoradi branch of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub, in Takoradi.

He explained that AGOA is to help West African farmers and firms to compete, attract investment to the region and boost their regional and global trade.

He said it is to also build regional and global trade linkages, streamline regional transport and trade policies.

“We expand trade in sectors such as apparel, cashew, shea and mangoes,” he said.

“AGOA was signed into law on May 18, 2000 and serves as the cornerstone of the United State commercial relationship in trade and investment with Africa,” he said.

“AGOA accords duty-free access for eligible products to the largest single market in the world. It also provides beneficiary countries with a significant competitive advantage over non-AGOA countries that must pay normal tariff rates to enter the United States.

This is particularly true with respect to products that have high U.S tariff rates in many instances, such as apparel, footwear and agricultural products,” he said.

AGOA, has had success in helping many African countries to diversify exports portfolio and has created hundreds of thousands of jobs.

He pointed out that quality, standard, pricing, specification and on time delivery is what customers are looking for in the US market.

Mr. Mark Badu-Aboagye, Chief Executive Officer of GNCCI added that Ghanaian companies need to take more advantage of AGOA, which started about 17 years ago, since Ghana’s exports under the initiative is less than one percent.

AGOA offers entry to some 6,400 products to the United States market without duty or quota.

“If you are exporting under AGOA and somebody is exporting from another country not under AGOA, automatically, you become more competitive because you are not paying any duty and your price will also be low”, he said.

He said the country stands to lose revenue if businesses are not exporting under AGOA.

“We are here to build your capacity and for you to take advantage of the opportunities that abound so that we will see improvement the export sector of the country”.

UBA MD/CEO wins again at 2017 Ghana Accountancy & Finance Awards

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Madam Abiola Bawuah, the MD/CEO of the United Bank for Africa (Ghana) has once again been applauded in the industry, this time with the award of the Finance Personality of the Year, at the just ended Ghana Accountancy and Finance Awards.

When Mrs Bawuah took over the reins at UBA Ghana in 2013, she was faced with developing programmes and strategies that would enable the bank meet up with the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG’s) second round of recapitalization which commenced that year (2013).

A few years on, her impact has been quite evident. In 2016, UBA Ghana Limited announced its unaudited financial results, showing a remarkable 134 percent growth year-on-year in profit before tax, the Bank also recorded significant positive performances in other headline numbers, with a 114 percent growth in Gross Earnings, and 68 percent growth in Customer Deposits.

This resulted in the bank being adjudged the ‘Best Bank – Product Innovation and Services’ and first runner-up for the Best Financial Performance at the 2017 Ghana Banking Awards (GBA).

The CIMG Marketing Woman of the Year, when receiving the award thanked the organisers for the great recognition saying: “Tonight; allow me a moment to dedicate this award to all hardworking Ghanaians, to my board, family, staff, customers, my Regional CEO, Mr. Oliver Alawuba and the Group Managing Director, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka for their great support and direction so far. I would also like to immeasurably thank the Group Chairman of UBA Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu for his inspiring leadership and entrepreneurial drive”.

“I would like to challenge everyone here to keep up with the good job. It is through hard work that we can collectively build this country. Through hard work we would make history and challenge the future generation to even do better”. She added.

United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading pan-African financial services group, with presence in 19 African countries, as well as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and France.

UBA MD/CEO wins again at 2017 Ghana Accountancy & Finance Awards

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Madam Abiola Bawuah, the MD/CEO of the United Bank for Africa (Ghana) has once again been applauded in the industry, this time with the award of the Finance Personality of the Year, at the just ended Ghana Accountancy and Finance Awards.

When Mrs Bawuah took over the reins at UBA Ghana in 2013, she was faced with developing programmes and strategies that would enable the bank meet up with the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG’s) second round of recapitalization which commenced that year (2013).

A few years on, her impact has been quite evident. In 2016, UBA Ghana Limited announced its unaudited financial results, showing a remarkable 134 percent growth year-on-year in profit before tax, the Bank also recorded significant positive performances in other headline numbers, with a 114 percent growth in Gross Earnings, and 68 percent growth in Customer Deposits.

This resulted in the bank being adjudged the ‘Best Bank – Product Innovation and Services’ and first runner-up for the Best Financial Performance at the 2017 Ghana Banking Awards (GBA).

The CIMG Marketing Woman of the Year, when receiving the award thanked the organisers for the great recognition saying: “Tonight; allow me a moment to dedicate this award to all hardworking Ghanaians, to my board, family, staff, customers, my Regional CEO, Mr. Oliver Alawuba and the Group Managing Director, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka for their great support and direction so far. I would also like to immeasurably thank the Group Chairman of UBA Plc, Mr. Tony Elumelu for his inspiring leadership and entrepreneurial drive”.

“I would like to challenge everyone here to keep up with the good job. It is through hard work that we can collectively build this country. Through hard work we would make history and challenge the future generation to even do better”. She added.

United Bank for Africa Plc is a leading pan-African financial services group, with presence in 19 African countries, as well as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and France.

 Using WhatsApp for job advertisement and shortlisting of applicants (2)

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In part 1 of this article, I analysed the response of data collated in three tables namely gender of respondents, age range of respondents and occupation of respondents. In this final part, I will analyse data collated from three more tables’ namely educational qualification of respondents, responds to job advertisement on WhatsApp and forwarding of job advertisement on WhatsApp. I will also discuss how organisations can shortlist applicants who respond to their WhatsApp advertisements.

Table 4: Educational qualification of respondents

Educational qualification % of respondents
PhD 2.3
Masters 24.6
First Degree 43.0
Undergraduate 13.8
Secondary 8.7
Other 7.6
Total 100

Source: Author’s fieldwork, 2017

Table 4 shows the distribution of educational qualification by respondents. 43% of respondents hold a first degree representing the highest number of respondents. With the current higher education curriculum, it will be a debilitating effect for any degree holder not to be attune with modern communication tools like WhatsApp.

This percentage of respondents are also in the majority because they have completed university and the next most probable thing for them to do is to seek employment. In developing countries where majority of the population live in poverty, acquiring a university education is a means to lift the family’s image and provide their economic means therefore not having employment after university education in a developing country is not only a stress to the graduate but also to the family.

Majority of graduates are therefore hooked to social media as means of finding job opportunities amidst other reasons. 24.6% of respondents hold masters degrees of which majority of them are likely to be in employment therefore are not aggressively looking for employment. Their response to job advertisement on WhatsApp will not be the same as first degree holders.

It is equally important to state that 24.6% of respondents is a good number of employment watchers who are seeking better opportunities to change employment as well as those who are not in employment and are therefore seeking job opportunities. Also note that some of respondents who culminate the 24.6% are lecturers in various universities in Ghana.

All said, it is amazing how masters degree holders in developing countries that require high skilled employees to develop their countries do not have employment for such highly educated citizens. This is a problem that requires critical analysis in juxtaposing academic qualification to industry needs.

It is refreshing to note that 2% of respondents hold PhDs. This points to the quality of the sample size of respondents in this study for which reason their views cannot be taken for granted. The quality of respondents validates to a high degree the authenticity of data collected which can form a good data for drafting employment policies and existing employment policy analysis and amendments.

The fact that even PhD holders are looking for better employment package shows that there is a correlation between educational qualification and job satisfaction. The employment opportunities presented by WhatsApp is amazing and available to many in the right network of friends.

Cumulatively, 16.3% of respondents hold other qualifications of which 8.7% are secondary school leavers. Again this statistic poses a huge employment deficiency particularly in developing countries where majority of respondents live. Arguably, the 16.3% are those who spend much time on WhatsApp and are unfortunately those who have less income.

A future study will access respondents who are not in any form of employment and are therefore looking vis-à-vis respondents who are in a form of employment but are seeking better opportunities. I dare say that it will be interesting to note how many are employed but are not happy in their current position and will therefore want to seek another employment and/or start something of their own i.e. go into entrepreneurship.

Table 5: Will you respond to a job advertisement on WhatsApp?

Will you respond to job advertisement on WhatsApp No. of respondents % of respondents
Yes 105 80.8
No  25 19.2
Total 130 100

Source: Author’s fieldwork, 2017

Table 5 tabulates the responses of respondents in the question “will you respond to a job advertisement on WhatsApp?” This is one of the two questions posted to respondents in this study. 105 respondents affirmed that they will respond to job advertisement on WhatsApp. This gives a soothing assurance of the acceptability rate of the WhatsApp tool as an authentic medium of communication; both formal and informal.

Of the 105 respondents who affirmed to respond to job adverts on WhatsApp, some of the respondents had a caveat to their affirmation. They prompted that they will only respond to job advertisements which source of the advertiser can be verified. They also said that; they will respond to job advertisement if the sender of the advert is credible.

Alternatively, 25 out of the 130 respondents of the same question said they will not respond to a job advert via WhatsApp. Since it is a quantitative question, I did not probe to find out why they will not respond to job adverts on WhatsApp but drawing from some caution of some of the 105 respondents who said they will respond, one is tempted to draw a conclusion inter alia that those who outrightly said they will not respond will be because some people have abused the tool for fraudulent purposes.

Table 6: Will you forward a job advertisement on WhatsApp to others?

Will you forward a job advertisement on WhatsApp to others No. of respondents % of respondents
Yes 112 86.2
No 18 13.8
Total 130 100

Source: Author’s fieldwork, 2017

Table 6 tabulates the percentage of respondents to the question “will you forward a job advertisement on WhatsApp to others?” 86.2% of respondents affirmed that they will forward job advertisement on WhatsApp to others. These percentage reflects the confidence of WhatsApp users and the importance they attach to job advertisements on WhatsApp.

However, some of the respondents who affirmed to forward job advertisement on WhatsApp to others were quick to say that they will only forward those adverts when they can verify the source of the advert, the credibility of those who send the adverts among others.

It is interesting to note that none of the 86.2% of respondents who affirmed to forward job advertisement on WhatsApp to others did not complain of cost implication. This points to the fact that though there is cost involved in forwarding those adverts, respondents were willingly doing it at their own cost.

13.8% of respondents to the same question above said that they will not forward job advertisement on WhatsApp to others. Again, since it was a quantitative question, there was no follow question to ascertain reasons why they will not forward job advertisements on WhatsApp to others.

I am inclined to believe that just like the respondents who said they will not respond to job adverts on WhatsApp due to the credibility of those adverts, same way some respondents will also not forward job adverts on WhatsApp. According to the data collected, comparatively, those who will not forward job adverts are less than those who will not respond to job adverts on WhatsApp respectively. Some of the reasons adduced was that though some respondents will not respond to the jobs advertised for various reasons, they will forward it to others.

How to shortlist applicants who respond to your WhatsApp job advertisements

At this stage, the employer now has a number of applicants to shortlist the most suitable and qualified persons for the job. In arriving at the shortlisting, there are a quick observations that the employers should do considering that they are dealing with the applicants via WhatsApp. This process is only to shortlist applicants via the WhatsApp platform in the event that the employer receives more responds than expected.

Obviously the entire employment communication will not be completed on WhatsApp since the employer will have to meet the shortlisted applicants in a face-to-face interview and other formalities so as to complete the selection process. Though social media is used largely for informal communication, employment communication are formal communication therefore all the rudiments of formal communication applies to job advertised on WhatsApp.

In shortlisting applicants for jobs advertised on WhatsApp, the employer must look out for the following:

  1. Formal communication

Because of the mode of communication of most social media users, many respondents to job advertisement on WhatsApp tend to use informal style of communication. They write as if they are about their everyday social media conversation forgetting that it should be a formal style of communication; according it all the necessary ingredients of formal communication.

Respondents to job advertisement via WhatsApp who do not use formal style of communication must be instantly rejected. It shows their laziness and inattentiveness to detail. These same people will not use the informal communication style they use on WhatsApp if they show up in person for an oral-face-to-face interview so why should they do otherwise under the guise of social media.

WhatsApp response to a job advertisement should be same as applicants would have responded if they were doing so by paper and ink. WhatsApp is an effective and cost effective way of modern communication which combines both formal and informal styles of communication.

  1. Display picture (DP)

The popular saying that “a picture tells a thousand words” is as relevant today as the first day it was said. Employers who advertise job vacancies via WhatsApp must look out to applicants display picture on their WhatsApp. The display pictures of WhatsApp users to a large extent tells their beliefs, aspirations, persuasions and what have you.

Depending on the nature of job, applicants display picture should give the employer an insight into the person even before they request an oral-face-to-face interview. WhatsApp display pictures which does not reflect an image of how the organisation want to be perceived should be grounds for the rejection of the application.

  1. Telephone conversation

When applicants have passed the first and second threshold (formal communication and display picture) on the WhatsApp job application process, the next step in further shortlisting of applicants is a telephone conversation with applicants. The caller tune, recipient’s response on the telephone are some of the quick pointers to the aptitude of the applicant. All these must be formal knowing that employment communication is a formal communication irrespective of the medium used.

Face-to-face job interviews are so cosmetic that if employers do not get to know the applicants before they meet them, applicants will put up some impression to please the interview panel thereby hiding their true self. By the time the employer gets to know the true character of the employee it would have cost them time and money.

Employers must reject job applicants whose telephone manners lacks the needed expectation for the position they are applying for.

Conclusion

The results of the study shows that organisations can use WhatsApp effectively for job advertisement by cutting down on their organisational budget for traditional media job advertisement. The cost involved in using WhatsApp as a tool for job advertisement is minimal. There may be the argument of whether or not organisations will attract the right number of applications via WhatsApp instead of the traditional media.

The evidence based data collected shows that a carefully worded and verifiable job advertisement on WhatsApp can make the necessary impact at a lower cost thereby spending less on traditional media for a balance spread of the advert. The changing faces of employment communication is even more evolving with the speedy use of social media, particularly WhatsApp.

What is a bank?

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Institutions that match up savers and borrowers help ensure that economies function smoothly

You’ve  got US$1,000 you don’t need for, say, a year and want to earn income from the money until then. Or you want to buy a house and need to borrow $100,000 and pay it back over 30 years.

It would be difficult, if not impossible, for someone acting alone to find either a potential borrower who needs exactly $1,000 for a year or a lender who can spare $100,000 for 30.

That’s where banks come in.

Although banks do many things, their primary role is to take in funds—called deposits—from those with money, pool them, and lend them to those who need funds. Banks are intermediaries between depositors (who lend money to the bank) and borrowers (to whom the bank lends money). The amount banks pay for deposits and the income they receive on their loans are both called interest.

Depositors can be individuals and households, financial and nonfinancial firms, or national and local governments. Borrowers are, well, the same. Deposits can be available on demand (a checking account, for example) or with some restrictions (such as savings and time deposits).

Making loans

While at any given moment some depositors need their money, most do not. That enables banks to use shorter-term deposits to make longer-term loans. The process involves maturity transformation—converting short-term liabilities (deposits) to long-term assets (loans). Banks pay depositors less than they receive from borrowers, and that difference accounts for the bulk of banks’ income in most countries.

Banks can complement traditional deposits as a source of funding by directly borrowing in the money and capital markets. They can issue securities such as commercial paper or bonds; or they can temporarily lend securities they already own to other institutions for cash—a transaction often called a repurchase agreement (repo). Banks can also package the loans they have on their books into a security and sell this to the market (a process called liquidity transformation and securitization) to obtain funds they can relend.

A bank’s most important role may be matching up creditors and borrowers, but banks are also essential to the domestic and international payments system—and they create money.

Not only do individuals, businesses, and governments need somewhere to deposit and borrow money, they need to move funds around—for example, from buyers to sellers or employers to employees or taxpayers to governments. Here too banks play a central role. They process payments, from the tiniest of personal checks to large-value electronic payments between banks. The payments system is a complex network of local, national, and international banks and often involves government central banks and private clearing facilities that match up what banks owe each other. In many cases payments are processed nearly instantaneously. The payments system also includes credit and debit cards. A well-operating payments system is a prerequisite for an efficiently performing economy, and breakdowns in the payments system are likely to disrupt trade—and, therefore, economic growth—significantly.

Creating money

Banks also create money. They do this because they must hold on reserve, and not lend out, some portion of their deposits—either in cash or in securities that can be quickly converted to cash. The amount of those reserves depends both on the bank’s assessment of its depositors’ need for cash and on the requirements of bank regulators, typically the central bank—a government institution that is at the center of a country’s monetary and banking system. Banks keep those required reserves on deposit with central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, and the European Central Bank. Banks create money when they lend the rest of the money depositors give them. This money can be used to purchase goods and services and can find its way back into the banking system as a deposit in another bank, which then can lend a fraction of it. The process of relending can repeat itself a number of times in a phenomenon called the multiplier effect. The size of the multiplier—the amount of money created from an initial deposit—depends on the amount of money banks must keep on reserve.

Banks also lend and recycle excess money within the financial system and create, distribute, and trade securities.

Banks have several ways of making money besides pocketing the difference (or spread) between the interest they pay on deposits and borrowed money and the interest they collect from borrowers or securities they hold. They can earn money from

  • income from securities they trade; and
  • fees for customer services, such as checking accounts, financial and investment banking, loan servicing, and the origination, distribution, and sale of other financial products, such as insurance and mutual funds.

Banks earn on average between 1 and 2 percent of their assets (loans and securities). This is commonly referred to as a bank’s return on assets.

Transmitting monetary policy

Banks also play a central role in the transmission of monetary policy, one of the government’s most important tools for achieving economic growth without inflation. The central bank controls the money supply at the national level, while banks facilitate the flow of money in the markets within which they operate. At the national level, central banks can shrink or expand the money supply by raising or lowering banks’ reserve requirements and by buying and selling securities on the open market with banks as key counterparties in the transactions. Banks can shrink the money supply by putting away more deposits as reserves at the central bank or by increasing their holdings of other forms of liquid assets—those that can be easily converted to cash with little impact on their price. A sharp increase in bank reserves or liquid assets—for any reason—can lead to a “credit crunch” by reducing the amount of money banks have to lend, which can lead to higher borrowing costs as customers pay more for scarcer bank funds. A credit crunch can hurt economic growth.

Banks can fail, just like other firms. But their failure can have broader ramifications—hurting customers, other banks, the community, and the market as a whole. Customer deposits can be frozen, loan relationships can break down, and lines of credit that businesses draw on to make payrolls or pay suppliers may not be renewed. In addition, one bank failure can lead to other bank failures.

Banks’ vulnerabilities arise primarily from three sources:

  • a high proportion of short-term funding such as checking accounts and repos to total deposits. Most deposits are used to finance longer-term loans, which are hard to convert into cash quickly;
  • a low ratio of cash to assets; and
  • a low ratio of capital (assets minus liabilities) to assets.

Depositors and other creditors can demand payment on checking accounts and repos almost immediately. When a bank is perceived—rightly or wrongly—to have problems, customers, fearing that they could lose their deposits, may withdraw their funds so fast that the small portion of liquid assets a bank holds becomes quickly exhausted. During such a “run on deposits” a bank may have to sell other longer-term and less liquid assets, often at a loss, to meet the withdrawal demands. If losses are sufficiently large, they may exceed the capital a bank maintains and drive it into insolvency.

Essentially, banking is about confidence or trust—the belief that the bank has the money to honor its obligations. Any crack in that confidence can trigger a run and potentially a bank failure, even bringing down solvent institutions. Many countries insure deposits in case of bank failure, and the recent crisis showed that banks’ greater use of market sources of funding has made them more vulnerable to runs driven by investor sentiment than to depositor runs.

The need for regulation

Bank safety and soundness are a major public policy concern, and government policies have been designed to limit bank failures and the panic they can ignite. In most countries, banks need a charter to carry out banking activities and to be eligible for government backstop facilities—such as emergency loans from the central bank and explicit guarantees to insure bank deposits up to a certain amount. Banks are regulated by the laws of their home country and are typically subject to regular supervision. If banks are active abroad, they may also be regulated by the host country. Regulators have broad powers to intervene in troubled banks to minimize disruptions.

Regulations are generally designed to limit banks’ exposures to credit, market, and liquidity risks and to overall solvency risk (see “Protecting the Whole” in this issue of F&D). Banks are now required to hold more and higher-quality equity—for example, in the form of retained earnings and paid-in capital—to buffer losses than they were before the financial crisis. Large global banks must hold even more capital to account for the potential impact of their failure on the stability of the global financial system (also known as systemic risk). Regulations also stipulate minimum levels of liquid assets for banks and prescribe stable, longer-term funding sources.

Regulators are reviewing the growing importance of institutions that provide bank-like functions but that are not regulated in the same fashion as banks—so-called shadow banks—and looking at options for regulating them. The recent financial crisis exposed the systemic importance of these institutions, which include finance companies, investment banks, and money market mutual funds. ■

Jeanne Gobat is a Senior Economist in the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department.

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