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MTN reintroduces cash out feature to enhance customer security

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MTN Ghana has announced the reintroduction of the ‘Allow Cash-Out’ feature on its Mobile Money Platform to enhance customer security for withdrawal transactions.

Starting November 4, 2017, customers will see the “Allow Cash-Out” feature on their Mobile Money Menu and this will enable only the customer to initiate and authorize cash out before an agent can process the transaction.

In addition to the “Allow Cash-Out” feature, MTN has put in place another measure where agents will no longer have to write down customer numbers in their transaction book before any transaction is made. Agents have now been issued with new transaction booklets in order not to disclose customer numbers.

Commenting on the service, the General Manager for Mobile Financial Services, Mr. Eli Hini said there is the need to reintroduce the “allow cash-out” feature because this will enhance customer security and help eliminate Mobile Money Fraud. Apart from the customer’s authorization, nobody can initiate cash withdrawal on behalf of the customer.

“In the past, the “Allow Cash-Out” Feature was part of the Mobile Money menu, however, in responding to customer feedback regarding the process, the service was taken out. To enhance customer security however, we have decided to reintroduce the feature” he added.

While putting in measures to curb Mobile Money Fraud, MTN would like to remind customers to support in the fraud campaign by adhering to the following:

  1. Do not disclose your PIN. It is your secret;
  2. Do not entertain calls or messages concerning your mobile money account;
  3. Do not give out your phones for mobile money transactions to be performed on your behalf.

MTN Ghana launched the Mobile Money Service in 2009 to enable Ghanaians access basic financial services, make and receive payments, pay bills and buy airtime among others using the Mobile phone.

The service has evolved and currently, MTN has over 8 million active users with over 86,000 agent points across the country. Additionally, MTN Mobile Money is ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified which makes the service safe, secure and reliable.

thebftonline.com l Ghana

Delta recognised for commitment to cancer research

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Delta Air Lines has been recognised by the Ghana CSR Excellence Awards for its commitment to raising awareness and funding of vital screenings to help eradicate breast cancer in Ghana. The airline has supported the work of Breast Care International (BCI) for more than 12 months, funding vital screenings for women and men across the country.

Delta joined a number of local and global companies at the Ghana CSR Excellence Awards, which are now in their seventh year. The organisers cited Delta’s long-term involvement to raise funds for breast cancer research and valuable support to the Ghanaian market as key factors for the recognition when presenting the award to Delta.

“Through Delta’s partnership, BCI has screened more than 11,600 people for signs of breast cancer in rural regions throughout the country; and of these detected almost 1,300 suspected cases,” said Tad Hutcheson, Delta’s Managing Director Community Engagement. “We are very proud of this work and humbled that together we are changing lives.”

Globally, Delta has been a supporter of breast cancer charities for the past 12 years; and in that time has raised US$12.8million and funded more than 40 research projects to help end the disease.

At Ghana’s Kotoka International Airport, the airline decorated its check-in, gate area and sales office in pink throughout October to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Its staff also wore pink uniforms and pink products were offered on board, including pink lemonade and pink headsets, while Delta One customers each received a special pink amenity kit.

Delta has operated flights to Ghana since 2006, and operates non-stop services four times a week to New York-JFK. In Africa, it also serves Lagos, Nigeria; Dakar, Senegal; and Johannesburg, South Africa. Through the hubs in Atlanta and New York-JFK, the airline offers an unsurpassed network of hundreds of convenient onward connections throughout North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

thebftonline.com l Ghana

Tonaton.com shapes up to lead Digital Recruitment space in Ghana with new Jobs Portal

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Ghana’s HR industry is at the crossroads of a new dawn – Digital Recruitment – and what most HR Practitioners will acknowledge is that the way companies locate and attract top talent has changed dramatically in recent years.

The days of handing out resumes in person are all but over. The process of collecting and analysing job applications has moved in a completely digital direction, and in Ghana this is being championed by companies like Tonaton.com which outdoored a new jobs portal at the recent HR Focus Conference and Awards.

“Twenty years ago, the resume was a piece of paper,” said Mabel Adu, CEO of Beauty and Health services provider Aloette Africa.

“Now, it’s a collection of all [candidate] data that can be found online. This helps employers to assess whether a person will fit the role specified for the job,” adds Mabel Adu, whose company recruits through the Tonaton jobs portal.

The new Tonaton.com jobs portal, which was introduced to participants at the Conference, has an improved user experience and comes with an updated interface enriched with tools and resources which will delight both employers and jobseekers.

The new portal – Tonaton.com/Jobs – is embedded with features that highlight the following:

A better summary view for the employer dashboard 

The summary view now provides details on total and shortlisted applicants, and provides employers with the option to view ‘All, Active, and Expired’ jobs. It also has an updated design for improved display of important dates.

Actions and Buckets on the job applicants view

Employers can now shortlist and reject profiles to move them into the respective buckets to make progress on hiring for a position. The buckets for Inbox and Shortlist show the count of candidates in each of them.

Bulk actions are supported on the Job applicants view

Users can now bulk shortlist and reject profiles to become more productive. With enhanced Filter and Search features, productivity of the employer dashboard has been optimised.

Candidate Profiles

Tonaton.com has also introduced a new concept of candidate profile. There are going to be hundreds of thousands of candidate-profiles in no time – as every applicant who applies for a job on our platform will have a candidate profile.

These profiles are not seen by users as they are obviously private to the individual candidate. Only when a user applies for a job on our platform is the profile sent to the employer.

“HR is constantly ensuring we add value to the bottom line. This can be easily achieved if employers and recruiters adapt and move to modern recruiting technology faster,” says Janet Asomaning, HR Manager at Tonaton.com. “Employers should invest in their hiring process to find rightly skilled people easily.

“Which is why these new tools we have deployed on Tonaton.com/Jobs will allow recruiters and hiring managers to easily and affordably find, evaluate and organise top job candidates, while innovative assessment and filtering techniques will help provide a 360-degree holistic view of top applicants,” adds Janet Asomaning.

Tonaton’s dominance of the online classifieds space in Ghana, leading with visits of 35,000,000 month-on-month, means that many more people are likely to see job-ads posted on the platform.

It equally means that HR Practitioners will have a bigger talent pool to choose from. But much more importantly, it demonstrates the brand’s commitment to always create products that add value to businesses in Ghana.

thebftonline.com l Ghana

ASA Savings and Loans supports New Life Children’s Home

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ASA Savings and loans Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of ASA International, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility has donated items worth several thousand of Ghana cedis to the New Life Nungua Children’s Home International in Accra.

Mr. Shah Abdul Wahab – Deputy Managing Director, ASA Savings and Loans – said aside from the provision of a Loan & Savings programme, ASA Savings and Loans, the company has incorporated a Corporate Social Responsibility programme and allocated US$35,000 for this year.

“This will be toward general health, which includes Hepatitis B test, Sugar level test, Malaria prevention, drug distribution and donations to orphanages,” he said.

Mr. Abdul Wahab said the activities will be spread in the six regions of Ghana where its operations are captured. A total of 22 activities have so far been executed, with 3,854 beneficiaries within the communities of Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Takoradi and Greater Accra Regions.

Nii Afotey Botwe, Chief and Director of the orphanage, thanked the company for its kind gesture and called on other organisations to emulate it.

ASA savings and loans has 108 Business Offices across 6 regions of Ghana, currently serving more than 163,500 clients. The company is working to reach all the 10 regions by 2018.

ASA Saving and Loans Ghana Limited has rolled out special investment and loan products that target SMEs, high net worth Individuals, Societies, Associations, Clubs, Schools, Churches, Enterprise, and Corporate Bodies.

ASA Savings is a proud member of the Ghana Club 100 and was ranked 20th Best Company in Ghana in 2016.

Meanwhile, ASA operates in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, Pakistan, Myanmar, Philippines, India and Cambodia.

ASA Savings and Loans was also adjudged Overall Best Taxpayer (MTO) 2014. It offers competitive interest rates on Savings, Fixed Deposit & LTS Accounts, Free Advisory Services, NO withdrawal restrictions, NO Commission on turnover (COT), and easy access to SME and individual loans.

ASA Savings staff present at the donation were Mr Sika, Operation Manager; Mr Majad Khan, Regional Manager Accra-North; Mr Joseph Annan, Area Manager; and Mrs. Glanita Osei Agyemang, Nungua Branch Manager.

thebftonline.com l Ghana

The new Friday-Wear of Enterprise Group

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The Enterprise Group, a leader in the insurance industry, has out-doored a new corporate cloth –Friday wear– for its staff as management continues to build the ‘enterprise brand.’

The new cloth comes with different colors, depending on which subsidiary one belongs to, as the Group has about four subsidiaries; that is Enterprise Life, Enterprise Trustees, Enterprise Properties and Transitions.

It is expected that once a staff wears the cloth, he or she becomes an ambassador of the company’s brand, and it is therefore incumbent on them to exhibit professionalism.

Keli Gadzekpo, the Chief Executive Officer of the Group, speaking at the outdooring ceremony said: “As we continue to build the Enterprise brand and the one enterprise culture, we are certain that paraphernalia like these beautiful cloths we wear, helps to entrench it.

It also adds to our professional outlook and speaks to our core value of professionalism. Interestingly, having a professional outlook gives you so much confidence that you can actually live all the remaining core values,” he said.

He said delivering legendary customer service to the company’s clients is a top-most priority for the business.

He encouraged the staff to have this in their minds anytime they engage a client so they can have the advantage they desire because the company is the best at what it does.

How-to Set up your HR Department – 10 tips for Startups, SMEs and others

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Irene Gloria Addison

This is an update on an article originally written 8+ months ago.  Still there are plenty of articles/posts on why the HR function is or can be critical in a Startup or SME Environment. As an HR & OD (=Organizational Design/ Development) Consultancy, we (HIREghana) specialize in HR Setups for Startups and SMEs. So kindly allow me to provide a ‘summarized advice’ here, so I can create some awareness of what things you need to think about and possibly implement.

Although this article is written with Startups and SMEs in mind, all the advice / tips apply to all size and types of organizations.

I use the term ‘summarized advice’ because all these topics could be several articles on their own right and I trust you can google them for more information and a deeper understanding.

 

  1. Start with Organizational Capacity and Design (and Development).

Usually, Human Resources as a function focus on what are the skills and level of experience needed and how many employees are needed.

But, before you go that far, it might be good to think about your organization’s current and future structures.

Organizational Capacity Assessment is obviously the result of your Organizational Capacity, a process that helps an organization to assess their operational capacity, its strengths and all organizational areas that need improvement. These are areas like:

  1. Human Resources: what are the skills and level of experience needed and how many employees do we need?
  2. Material and Physical items: e.g. computers, furniture, warehouse, raw materials, etc.
  3. Financial: how much money is available, predicted and actual cash flow, possible Lines of Credit, etc.
  4. Knowledge/ Information: e.g. data collected, how they are organized, stored and retrieved.
  5. Assets: physical assets owned by the organization, possible licenses and patents, etc. That includes also the inventory and unique identification of every asset |(i.e. full asset management).

Sometimes, people refer to it as Organizational Capability and because capacity and capability are so closely related, for the moment, just ‘assume’ that they are the same.

 

That exercise, is closely related and should be ‘performed’ in parallel with your startup’s organizational design and development.

“Organization Development is an effort

  1. planned,
  2. organization-wide, and
  3. managed from the top, to
  4. increase organization effectiveness and health through
  5. planned interventions in the organizations “processes,”

using behavioral-science knowledge” (e.g. applied sociology, organizational analysis, etc.). This definition comes from the classic book: “Organization Development: Strategies and Models” by Richard Beckhard (1969).

According to the OD Network (a US OD Professional Association), OD interventions tend to be inclusive methodologies and approaches to strategic planning, organization design, leadership development, change management, performance management, coaching, diversity, team building, and work/ life balance.

 

Organization Design is the process and the outcome of shaping an organizational structure, to align it with the purpose of the business and the context in which the organization exists. A lot of people view Organizational Design as an organizational development intervention. The discussion on what OD stands for, is still open and the jury is ‘still out to lunch’.

I do not want to delve on more into this topic, but I hope that I did create the awareness and curiosity in you to search further into these concepts.

These ‘concepts’ / ‘notions’ will help you define and decide on what are the skills and level of experience needed at a particular growth- phase of your organization and how many employees do you need; even what functions to outsource – e.g. web design, payroll, etc.

 

  1. Job Descriptions and & Job Roles

This is really muddy waters. Unfortunately, people refer to Job Adverts as JDs (Job Descriptions). If you decide that these two are the same (let’s assume so), then you need a clear description on what a given Job Role is about: what it entails, what are the required skills, the expected duties and how / what will be the assessment method for the performance of any particular role.

A JD is usually 1-2 pages long; a proper Role Description is 10-30 pages (on the average, we usually write Role Descriptions of 10-15 pages).

A Role Description it is also used for the Development / Career Planning of every employee; actually, it is a must / the foundation for Career Planning.

Let me give you an ‘example’/ another way of ‘seeing’. Suppose that you hire today someone with superb Javascript & PHP skills and that these languages become obsolete in 5 years. What will you do? Will you fire an excellent programmer?

A JD focus on ‘today’s requirement’ for a skilled PHP developer. A Role Description will have that requirement but also the real ‘skill’ behind it: the employee’s ability/ strength to learn (ideally) on his / her own. Also, Role Descriptions get updated periodically since any organization is a living evolving entity, so change is unavoidable.

 

  1. Setup of HR Compensation

People need to get paid, it has to be in a legal manner (so, you will have to pay -for example- their SSNIT contributions in a timely manner), and possibly have health insurance, etc.

You will need to define clear compensation packages and the mechanics that enable compensation. This exercise might give you a more realistic budget for your Startup or SME.

Employee- occurred expenses (e.g. travelling costs or taking out a client for lunch) should be part of your Compensation setup; possibly bonus payments too (at least the amounts).

Btw, somebody has to be able to run your payroll.

 

  1. HR Policies Framework

You will need to setup a variety of HR policies, e.g. absenteeism, time- tracking, employee evaluation / performance management.

Performance Management can be very complex and it is not about bonuses or a pay-rise but about how an employee at a given role performs.

You also need to think and slowly put in place an Employee Reward Management system. Reward it’s not just about monetary compensations.

Make sure that your HR Policies do produce an excellent Employee Handbook and a good induction process for new employees.

 

  1. KPIs & HR Analytics.

You will need KPI- metrics for Employee Performance and monitoring of all HR Processes.

HR Analytics might not be so critical as an early stage in your organization, but you need to start collecting them (and obviously, they need to be defined first) at a certain point in time so that they can make sense in the future.

Don’t overdo it. Humans are not machines and they are definitely not data- driven (at least not their …‘motivationware’); so make sure that you have enough historical data (ideally you need 2+ years’ worth of data before y9u can make sense of them and interpreter them properly.

 

  1. Employee Safety & Health

The Health and Safety of your employees is an HR issue. You can’t hire employees and force them to work in any kind of a dangerous or hazardous environment; especially if you are an agricultural, biotech, manufacturing, a or transport / logistics organization.

 

  1. Automation – the IT staff.

You really need to think whether you have a true need for an HRIS or even a simple employee- portal.

 

  1. Social Media.

Strongly suggest that before your 1st employee comes to work, you have a clear – however primitive- Social Media policy. You can’t blame people for misbehaving on Social Media because you lack such a clearly written and communicated policy.

 

  1. HR Maturity

HR Maturity is a huge topic -possibly for another article.

But, you can start googling it.

 

  1. Recruitment Strategy

Finally -having thought of an HR Maturity Framework, you now need a Recruitment Strategy.

My objective view on it, is that if you are a Startup or an SME, it might be cheaper for you to work with a good Recruitment Agency- it might save you both costs and the damage of hiring the wrong employee.

 

In Conclusion
These 10 items are just guidelines – it’s up to you to decide what make sense for your organization at a given point in time and at the ‘current maturity level of your organization at that given point in time.

I could have written another 10 or even 20+ items, but that is not the point of this article.

So, kindly please think about all these instead or rushing to get the assistance of a ‘hiring/ trigger’-happy Recruitment Consultant. Wrong hiring decisions are costly – a lot more costly that you think of.

 

Thank you and Good Luck,

Irene

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

Nigeria among most improved countries in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business list

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Nigeria was among the 10 economies showing the most notable improvement in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business list published on Tuesday.

It rose 24 places in the ranking of countries to 145th place. Nigeria this year introduced initiatives aimed at improving the business environment, such as new systems to speed up the processing of visas for executives.

Local and foreign business leaders have long complained that red tape, mismanagement and corruption have made it difficult to operate in Africa’s most populous country, which has the continent’s largest economy.

“Three Sub-Saharan African economies – Nigeria, Malawi and Zambia – made it to the list of 10 top improvers in 2016/17,” stated the report.

It said Nigeria made the process of starting a business faster by introducing the electronic approval of registration documents, improved access to credit information and introduced a centralized electronic system to pay federal taxes.

President Muhammadu Buhari said the report “reflects our efforts to make it easy for foreign business visitors to obtain visa on arrival, pass through our airports and do their businesses with ease and speed”.

The annual World Bank report covered the period from June 2 last year to June 1 this year.

…must prepare for the world after oil, says vice president

Nigeria must use its oil wealth to prepare for a future when the world no longer runs on fossil fuels, the vice president said last week  Thursday.

Yemi Osinbajo said the nation, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, needed to develop renewable energy and help other businesses flourish to “adjust to the reality of the dwindling significance of fossil fuels”.

“It is no longer a question of if but when,” Osinbajo said, referring to global efforts to shift away from oil as a fuel.

“Oil-rich countries, such as ourselves, have an obligation to prepare for a destiny that may well be beyond oil,” he told the Oil Producing Trade Section (OPTS) conference in Lagos.

Nigeria’s government has long talked of diversifying Africa’s largest economy away from reliance on oil, but earnings from output of crude still provide two-thirds of state revenue.

The vice president called on oil and gas majors in Nigeria, many of them represented in the audience, to invest in renewable energy research and development to help Nigeria prepare for a “clean energy economy” and the “post-oil world”.

Ailing power infrastructure means that, despite its oil wealth, blackouts are common in the nation of 180 million people. Many businesses rely on costly generators to operate.

The government has previously said it wanted to diversify the power supply.

In the past few months, it has announced a $5.8 billion deal to build the 3,050 megawatt (MW) Mambilla hydroelectric plant, and purchase agreements with 14 solar companies for 1,300 MW of power, are part this drive.

Osinbajo said the country needed to reduce “bureaucratic bottlenecks” in contract awards and approvals.

Credit: Reuters

Striking a balance between staff-centrism and customer-centrism:

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…A re-look at bank closing times (2)

“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity” –  Albert Einstein

Dear Readers, I hope you had a good week and are ready to face another week. My last article was not to create passions among bank staff, but rather generate discussions on the pros and cons of closing late to eventually strike a balance between staff welfare and customer satisfaction.

The Effects of Closing Late

Having caused  a little stir among branch as well as some head office staff, I recommend that management takes a second look at the statistics to ascertain whether there is really any correlation between late closing, errors and medical expenses and sometimes fraud. These are my observations and I stand to be corrected.

Let me share a very interesting article sent by a contributor, V. Subramanian, to “allbanking solutions.com” titled “Late Sitting in Banks – A Brief Analysis: It Needs to be Eradicated”. According to him, late sitting is expected to make the following contributions:

  • Increasing the output.
  • Clearing the backlog of work.
  • Solving organisational problems
  • Taking up certain specialised jobs or assignments that cannot be otherwise done during regular office hours, because such jobs demand total concentration, uninterrupted functioning and special types of skills.
  • Attending to certain confidential matters.
  • Subramanian goes further to say that: “By sitting late, neither the persons concerned nor their institution gain anything….in fact, both tend to lose heavily. From the employees’ side, they undergo tremendous strain and stress, and whatever work they do or pretend to do after regular office hours leads to losing one’s morale and motivation. 

“From the organisational point of view, on the face of it, it may appear that extra output has been achieved.  But, in reality, people’s efficiency gradually comes down during the day, and at one point it tapers off”. 

Perhaps this is an extremist view, but let us look at some of the banks’ objectives in closing later than usual:

  • Mopping up all deposits from customers to ensure they do not keep cash in their shops to be pilfered or lost through accidents and Acts of God. In effect, making the customers happy at the end of the day.
  • To increase bank deposits and liquidity for enhanced business and profitability.
  • To clear all backlogs of transactions and close the books to be ready for the next working day.

 The Reality on The Ground

Once again, I wish to emphasise that staff should appreciate the need to stay and clear certain important and urgent tasks from their desks. This does not necessarily mean it should be the norm. Time-management is of essence here. My advocacy is not to condone laziness among bank staff. It is about re-examining the need for the mandatory extra business hours extended to customers, in view of the modern trends in banking where many transactions can be done on-line. I am sure that the re-examination will involve the following:

  • A trend analysis of the patronage times at various banking halls.
  • The types of transactions, common times of their occurrence during the day.
  • The volumes of each type of transaction.
  • The duration of each transaction as they are keyed online.
  • Viewing the CCTV to ascertain the work situation in the branch, and what the staff are doing. Is there evidence of teamwork? Do some people look over-burdened while others are too laid-back? Do you find some staff idling about when they are supposed to be at their desks?
  • What is the leave policy like? Is there a mandatory effecting of enforced bulk-leave during the year to ensure staff have a good work-life balance?
  • The cost involved in paying overtime allowances to certain categories of staff, the additional expenditure incurred through extra hours of electricity, fuel for the generators, air-conditioning and all other electrical appliances that are kept on to complete the day’s job.
  • Comparing the medical bills of staff in various branches and departments who mandatorily have to close late, as compared to others who do not have to work late.
  • Enquiries into how staff cope and manage within these working hours in terms of welfare? Any periods for brunch and lunch? Any brief resting period for customer-facing staff? Any job rotation to reduce the monotonous and routine jobs which cause fatigue and laxity in controls?
  • Investigations into whether the staff are pretending to work in the late hours, but are really wasting their time and precious resources of the institution.

The Dangers

  • There is always a danger of late closers being branded as ‘slow, lazy, inefficient and obsolete’ by the management.  This affects their reputation and career progression.
  • Late sitting deprives a person of sleep for minimum duration, every day.
  • Late closing sometimes results in sleepy drivers causing accidents on the way home.
  • Some personnel close late in order to plan frauds, go into the system to siphon funds with other persons’ passwords and so on.

Striking the “Centrism” Balance for Customers and Bank Staff

As an advocate for the balancing act, there is no one-size fits all solution. Until empirical facts are ascertained, why don’t you try a few informal strategies to make the staff feel good and not “feel used just to satisfy the customer”. The following suggestions may be explored according to your company’s policies to equalise the ‘centrism” for both customers and staff:

  • All staff working under the above conditions should be each other’s keeper.
  • Regular job rotation to make the work more interesting. Why can’t a bank teller be asked occasionally to join the sales team? Try it and see? Some of them have excellent communication skills and even “flow’ better with the customers. They have a magic wand to bring back a “straying” customer who is lost and whose account is dormant.

I tried some of these things during “market storms” in the bank’s community, and identified some future sales executives among the tellers. Today, I find them rightfully placed. Thank goodness.

  • Can a back-office person who has the requisite skills to face customers be moved to the front, even if for a short while?
  • Some staff have number-crunching skills and can do better in credit analysis or finance. Can a manager identify these skills and recommend the necessary move when it is possible? Let’s think outside the box.
  • I know of a bank that has gym facilities for staff to use after work. Can it be possible for staff to use their short breaks to ‘work out’ in the gym and not necessarily after closing hours? Anything is possible so long as it does not disturb flow of the work.
  • I know of a branch manager who arranged a small camp-bed to be placed in a corner of the corridor leading to the pantry.

What for? For tired and aching limbs to be stretched, even if it is only for five minutes. It was indeed a funny but interesting move. The subordinates felt good and worked even harder.

  • We need more social events and interaction among staff to “let their hair down”. What happened to the soccer clubs, the gala matches, the ladies’ associations, the excursions, the health walks, the family days, the fashion parades and beauty contests, the wrestling matches among the men, the dancing competitions?

Hey guys and girls, take your shoes off – flow with the tide and enjoy your banking career. If you agree with me, say “aye”.

  • A bank staff that smiles more creates happy customers and a happy bank.

Upon all these reflections, can there be an alteration to the closing time if the above research proves me right? If not and the duty demands such, then staff would have to take a second look. Either roll with the punches or change your job if your constitution cannot flow with the tide.

I wish you a pleasant week, and again I will leave you with these words we used to say in the branches: “Early Closing”.

 

About the author Alberta Quarcoopome is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, and CEO of ALKAN Business Consult Ltd. She uses her experience and practical case studies, training young bankers in operational risk management, sales, customer service, banking operations and fraud.

CONTACT: 

Website www.alkanbiz.com Email: alberta@alkanbiz.com  or [email protected]

Tel: +233-0244333051/+233-0244611343

NBSSI pushes garments and textile industry

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The National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has launched an incubator programme in partnership with the Strategies to Promote Innovative Networks (SPINnet)—Garment and Textiles Cluster to groom and accelerate entrepreneurs and small-scale businesses in the garments and textiles sector.

The NBSSI/SPINnet Incubator Programme will train existing and potential start-ups in the sector on compliance standards; provide mentorship and financial support as well as market access, in line with government’s quest to create more jobs for the youth.

About 100 entrepreneurs in the garment and textile industry will be enrolled onto the take-off rogramme.

Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, who launched the initiative, emphasised that the programme will empower businesses in the garment and textile sectors to be globally competitive.

He said the garments and textiles industry is an important economic area in terms of employment generation and poverty reduction with huge potential for foreign exchange earnings in the non-traditional exports sub-sector when given the needed push.

He stressed: “This is an opportunity for the youth—including service personnel and tertiary students with interest in the sector—to learn entrepreneurial skills in the garment and textile sector through this programme.

“Such micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are key to national development efforts looking at their contribution to the country’s GDP.”

Chief Executive Officer of the NBSSI, Ms. Kosi Yankey, indicated that the initiative will enhance her outfit’s role as a key player in the promotion of garments and textiles business in the country.

She added: “This is a welcome initiative considering the dynamics of the garment and textile industry.

“It will serve as a source of livelihood for sector actors as well as help to sustain the garment and textile cluster of the SPINnet.”

President of SPINnet, Samuel Dodoo, commended the strong relations that exist between his outfit and the NBSSI which have led to birth of the incubator programme, and also touched on the benefits to be derived from the initiative.

“Through this innovation, the garments and textiles industry will play a key role in the nation’s development through the exports of finished products,” he said.

The NBSSI/SPINnet Incubator Programme is in two phases: firstly, the Garments and Textile Training Lab (GTTL), sited at the Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC), will train and equip groups of small enterprises to execute subcontracts efficiently and also for employment of both SMEs and larger companies.

Secondly, the NBSSI will focus on business development support training for the programme beneficiaries through ideation, entrepreneurship as well as finance and market access.

By Patrick Paintsil l thebftonline.com l Ghana

Commissioner of Insurance must intervene in NSS insurance brouhaha

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The latest uproar among a section of Ghanaians regarding the intended compulsory insurance for the current batch of National Service Personnel deserves the attention of the Commissioner of Insurance to prevent it for collapsing.

It is disappointing how Ghanaians are responding to matters of national importance of late. Barely a few months ago, the public kicked against the compulsory towing levy which the Presidency unanimously agreed with the public and cancelled it, regardless the impact it would have had on road accidents in the country.

It will be unfortunate and disturbing to allow yet another all-important policy to be cancelled by the Presidency simply because the approach is not likeable by some.  Is this phenomenon or practice gradually becoming an obstacle in moving the nation forward?

Provision of insurance services for our National Service persons is indisputably a good policy.  Considering the state of our social systems and economic status, policies like these are supposed to serve as self-security for the vulnerable in the society.

Insurance is one major tool for risk management and our service personnel are certainly not devoid of such risk in the course of their duties.

As a result of this, African Insurance Aid humbly requests that the Commissioner of Insurance intervene and bring the matter to a closure without it being referred to the highest office of the land.  The Commissioner of Insurance as part of his mission is to grow insurance penetration in the country cannot afford to lose out on a population of 90,000 person.

Moreover, if the policy does not survive it may further deepen the erroneous perception about insurance among the youth.  Some believe insurance is not a priority because the risks being covered are too remote and they get nothing when nothing happens.  But that is their perception and it needs to be corrected through policies like this.

The Commissioner and the Director of National Service have what it takes to make the policy a success.  Consequently, we suggest that the Commissioner refer the matter to the Compulsory Insurance Committee which was inaugurated two years ago with specific terms of reference.  The Committee should advise the commission and the National Service Secretariat on the best approach to implementing the policy.

However, if referring the matter to the Committee would not be possible due to time constraint then, we recommend the following:

  1. The actuarial unit of the commission should ascertain the adequacy or otherwise of the intended monthly premium of GH¢15 per personnel;
  2. Once the commission is satisfied with the rating and the corresponding benefits, all insurance companies should be allowed to participate in underwriting the policy for the personnel.
  3. The premium should be paid once to the selected insurer by the service personnel during the National Service registration, and submit certificate of insurance to the scheme as evidence of insurance. This should be effected before the commencement of the service;
  4. The service personnel may appoint an insurance broker or agent to sign the policy for them with the insurance company of their choice.

We also wish to state that going forward any new compulsory insurance policy that goes beyond one body or association of persons must be assessed and approved by the commissioner through the Compulsory Insurance Committee to ensure healthy business conducts.   This may avoid or reduce any brouhaha that may affect future policies of insurance which seek to address some social challenges in the country.

Credit: Ali Mohammed Sulley – African Insurance Aid

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