NEW CAPITALISM: SOCIAL VALUE CREATION

This article was co-authored by Derek Nnuro (President, Harambe Ghana) and Kojo Annan Ampofo (TheBizmic Himself). Look out for us in the Business & Financial Times - our Media Partner for TEDxHarambe.

Ghana’s burgeoning oil industry provides an opportunity for significant financial gains for not only that industry but all sectors of the economy.  Coupled with such gains is the need for companies to reassess their approach to community investment.

Fortunately for us, here in Ghana, we have had a considerable period of multi-party democracy that has enabled the growth of a thriving private sector.  Though the private sector has been active in addressing social issues and some interventions have been commendable, initiatives must evolve from more common Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) models. 

Ghanaian companies should seek a double bottom line.  In the 21^st century it is no longer enough to earn a monetary return on investments – that is merely the primary bottom-line. 

Owing to pressing social problems that are either regional or global in scope – youth unemployment, environmental degradation, famine, lack of access to basic amenities – companies operating in (especially) developing communities must seek to find ways of alleviating or solving the very problems that plague their operational environments.

Companies can seek a second bottom line through the services and products they provide, supply chain, internal operations, advocacy/philanthropy, and ethics.  Companies can also go as far to recognize that many social problems are lucrative business opportunities awaiting the right capital. A few companies, both local and foreign, are transcending the limited realm of established CSR practices. 

During Tullow Oil’s Capital Markets event in July, Ken McGhee, the CSR Projects Manager gave a presentation on Social Entrepreneurship.  Mr. McGhee’s presentation signaled a CSR maturation and (hopefully) turning point. Mr. McGhee argued for a shift away from ‘handout’ to a focus on long-term social and community investments.  It has been an established norm for most firms to make donations rather than ensuring that the projects they support are in line with the two S’s – sustainability and scalability.

By rebranding CSR as “Social Enterpreneurship” and announcing that Tullow Oil seeks to support ‘enterprise development’ through its efforts, Mr. McGhee demonstrated that Tullow plans to make sustainable and scalable investments in the community. Whether big or small firms, established companies or start-ups, we must find ways to harmonize profit making and social value creation for the long term.

To this end, on November 4^th, TEDxHarambe, hosted by Harambe Ghana, Business Minds Investment Club (BMIC) and their partners, will spark a deep discussion on social value creation under the theme, “New Capitalism.” TEDxHarambe is a local, independently organized event in Accra that strives to re-create the unique experience found at TED; an annual event that brings together the world’s leading thinkers and doers to share ideas that matter in any discipline – technology, entertainment, design, science, humanities, business and development.

Cheers......Don't miss out on TEDxHarambe on NOVEMBER 4, SEE YOU THERE!!!!!

MORE ON TEDxHarambe COMING SOON! Visit the WEBSITE!!!!

Visit the event site HERE!

A HISTORY FROM TIME PAST: AN ESSAY ON NKRUMAH AND GENERATION XYZ

Probably feeling himself small :)

“Kwame Nkrumah had been living abroad for twelve years, an itinerant student, invariably penniless but politically ambitious. In the United States he had collected degrees in economics, sociology and philosophy. To earn a living during student vacations, he had worked as a laborer in a soap factory and as a ship’s steward; he even tried selling fish on street corners in Harlem. Moving to London in 1945, he had intended to study law but soon became caught up in left-wing politics, befriending leading British communists and avidly participating in anti-colonial protests. “There was nothing to stop you getting on your feet and denouncing the whole British Empire,” he recalled. He abandoned his law studies but found it difficult to make ends meet as a political activist. Short of money, he would spend hours discussing politics in cheap cafes in Camden Town, only occasionally able to afford a cup of tea and a bread roll. When the offer of a job with the United Gold Coast Convention reached him, Nkrumah leapt at the opportunity." This excerpt is taken from, ‘The State of AFRICA’ by Martin Meredith. He was a man that believed in the power of politics to cause change, in his seminal speech at the Tenth anniversary of the CPP in Accra he said, “My philosophy, based on two axioms, has been clear from the very beginning, and it is quite simple: ‘Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto it.’ And secondly, we believe that. ‘The independence of Ghana is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.’ ”

The iconic picture of Nkrumah

When Nkrumah came back to Ghana, he was young but brimming with energy, ideas and ambition. He soon fell out with his colleagues in the UGCC owing to their very different views on how to achieve autonomy from the colonial powers. History remembers him as the liberator of the Ghana (then the Gold Coast) under the CPP banner making it the first country to achieve full independence south of the Sahara. He also built the Akosombo Dam, several schools, hospitals, roads, railways, heavily patronized agriculture, and various other community programs. But most importantly, Nkrumah used his new found power to encourage and support complete liberation for the entire African continent. Nkrumah was a legend among legends and in the age where the African was only beginning to release the shackles of slavery and realize his true potential, here was a man that was way ahead of his time. His vision not only affected the lives of Ghanaians but all other Africans since he turned Accra into the nexus of the African Liberation struggle, organizing conferences that brought together representatives from across the continent and nurtured many who were later to achieve prominence in their own countries – Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), Joshua Nkomo (Zimbabwe), Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia), Hastings Banda (Malawi), Patrice Lumumba (Congo), Holden Roberto (Angola), Amilcar Cabral (Guinea) among many others. At the height of his power Nkrumah was prolific on the international front, meeting with eminent personalities of all races and creeds to further his vision for the country and the continent. He travelled around the world bursting with energy, zeal and a magnetism that was unrivaled. He inspired, he motivated, and he fostered a feeling of pride amongst his fellow black men, that we were indeed capable of running our own affairs.

Despite all his achievements, Nkrumah was not perfect. According to Meredith, “Behind all the hurly-burly, Nkrumah was a lonely figure, distrustful of his close colleagues, rarely confiding in them. He enjoyed the company of women, but feared intimacy and declared he had no time to get married”. An English woman with whom he built one of the most trusting relationships he ever formed later described him as “moody, erratic, impatient and volatile, but also charming and considerate when it suited him”. Nkrumah was also known for his harsh treatment of his political opponents, and by the time he was ousted from power in 1966 he had already lost much of the overwhelming support that he had enjoyed in the early part of his political career. In fact in 1964 he orchestrated the passage of a constitutional amendment that made the CPP the only legal party and declared him President of both the nation and the party, for life. I was not there and I do not know, but I can posit that perhaps the trappings of absolute power made him loose touch with the people that he loved so much and it cost him dearly. In the introduction to Selected Speeches of Kwame Nkrumah Vol 3, Samuel Obeng states that, he [Nkrumah] was so reviled and rejected by his own people in his lifetime that it is a testament to his undying charisma that after his death he has been wholeheartedly accepted back by Ghanaians. He remains the greatest icon of love and adoration by all Ghanaians even to this day, and certainly remains one of the most prominent figures that our dark continent has and will ever produce.

Here lie the remains of Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah, forever Loved by his people

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Nkrumah has not been overthrown in a coup d’état supported by the CIA. Consider the aftermath; the vicious cycle of unproductive upheavals that brought the richest sub-Saharan African country in the early 1950s into abject poverty by the late 1980s. Consider also the plundering of Ghana’s wealth by various military regimes and the political elite that resulted in gross mismanagement of our resources, economy, politics and the very essence of our cultural identity. Sometimes I wonder but who knows perhaps it was all for the best; after all everything happens for a reason. But wonderment at Nkrumah and our nations past must pave way for the realities of the present because now I believe that we, the youth of Ghana and Africa at large, are at a crucial point in our history; a crossroads that echo the choices faced by Nkrumah and his generation: theirs was independence now or independence later and ours is development now or development later. We are the true beneficiaries of their bloody fight for total independence; it was their legacy and our inheritance. I say DEVELOPMENT NOW! Enough with the excuses and the blame game that all politicos love playing nowadays; enough with the corruption, cronyism, nepotism, and elitism that keeps the vast majority of Ghanaians, especially the youth in poverty and uncertainty. There has been enough time wasting and the we of Africa’s generations XYZ are faced with the huge responsibility of implementing system wide CHANGE because we cannot abide by the status quo – it has failed abysmally. And it is up to us, to seize the tools, the technology and the vast opportunities that the 21^st century has provided us to carve our own shining destiny out of the present rot permeating the system.

Africa's Generation XYZ.....The Hope of Africa!

However it is not enough for us to just help ourselves, as Nkrumah said, our development, be it as individuals or as a nation is meaningless unless it is linked up to the development of other individuals or nations. Ghana has enjoyed a relatively long period of freedom and stability that has lead to many socio-economic and political gains but even that is not enough. We must rapidly develop our nation and our continent but the present guard cannot do it. I think they know they truth of this matter themselves and they are not actively engaging the youth because they are afraid of losing their power. So I believe that the youth of today, the indigenous youth of Africa must position itself to use whatever means necessary to better ourselves and help others do the same; even if the Old Horses won’t give us way, we must build our muscles and shove past them. As George Ayittey said in his TEDGlobal ‘07 speech, ours is the Cheetah Generation, with whom lie the hope of Africa and we must take charge from the Generation of Hippos (aka Dinosaurs) that grow fat from the current mess and are quite comfortable with the present state of affairs. Like Nkrumah we must REJECT our past that is rife with poverty and chaos and embrace our bright and prosperous future; a future filled with promise, a future where we can catch up with the rest of the developed Global village. As our forbears will inevitably hand over the reigns of power to us, so shall we do the same to our progeny, and it is my fervent hope that we will be able to give a better account of ourselves to our children and their children. This is our chance; we must not waste it!

It is a momentous task but I know it is possible. Why? Because there was once a man who rose from selling fish on street corners to changing the destiny of millions with his words. This same man that went from toiling in a soap factory to hobnobbing with Kings and Queens; from not being able to afford a cup of tea or a bread roll to feeding a nation and freeing a continent. His name was Kwame Nkrumah; forever etched into our history books as a great man and a true visionary. He was just one of many that came before him and after him. If he was able to effect system wide change then why not you, why not me? It is not just our responsibility, it is our destiny.

We are doing our part on Nov 4 at TEDxHarambe; let us achieve our true destiny! Visit our site at www.tedxharambe.com for more details!

Cheers :D

COMMUNICATION: THE MORTAR THAT BINDS EVERY BUSINESS VENTURE

This blog was written by Samuel "Fiifi" Okore Mintah, the Vice President of BMIC. As always his article is a most inspiring and refreshing piece, I hope you really enjoy this! :)

Communication; the imparting or exchanging of information

Rarely is it such a fairy tale for somebody to finish university and almost immediately be at the helm of his own company with an estimated value of almost $100,000 and counting. Well I did it, through cold nights and lonely days at Evandy Hostel where I marshaled my thoughts to build my imaginary company in the form of a well-written business proposal. Though I wrote that proposal under compulsion, I later came to appreciate the amount and value of the work that was put into the business plan. When this plan metamorphosed into reality, I surrounded myself with a team of some of the smartest and talented minds I knew. We immediately jumped into gear, business prospects were looking good then suddenly I watched it all slip out of my hands. But as a firm optimist who believes in determination, hard work and the power of dreams no matter the problems that one encounters, I knew I had within my power the tools to create new and even better opportunities. As the great Winston Churchill said during the blitzkrieg of London, “Never, never, never give up!”

I graduated from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology a year ago, with the grade class I had always wanted. But most importantly, I left KNUST with the right frame of mind and the right kind of friends, and these factors have been crucial to enabling my ideas and plans to come to life. As soon as this great opportunity to run this firm knocked on my door I called on the battalion to come aboard because I knew they were going to propel the business to the next level. Within a month of the platoon hitting the ground, problems begun to assuage the firm, unforeseen and unpredictable problems cropped up all over the place and I watched in horror as this amazing chance disappeared almost as quickly as it came into being. It was a real nightmare especially looking at the kind of personal investment I had made within that short period of time. I had sacrificed my valuable time, every single dime, and as a man in his prime I was ready to capably run this engine and yet, here was I going home without having barely started the engine itself. When I reminisce about that shattering week, I can only grin and sigh with relief that things are back on track now.

What happened you may ask? It had nothing to do with the team I brought on board to take the business to the next level but rather myself. Several minute flaws that I had neglected in my personnel life grew into the very same abyss that derailed my entrepreneurial train.  I have always been a smooth talker brimming with eloquence but a little miscommunication between my business partner and I created an air of mistrust. After many nights of reflection as to what caused this predicament, I came to the conclusion that communication is the most vital ingredient in any and all forms of business; something like the mortar that binds all the other components of a business venture to make it one big whole. In business we may agree, we may disagree and we may even agree to disagree. However without the essential ingredient – effective communication – which builds trust among all stakeholders, no business will be successful.

Since that fateful week, I have done a lot of soul searching and reassessment; I have completely revamped my way of handling business, and to tell you the truth now, I feel like I can walk on water. I am back on my grind with a big bang; thing is this time everything is in place and nothing is bringing me down. I have been thorough in purging those minute flaws, which do not augur well for business in favor of traits that can earn me the chips that can afford me that trip to Monaco twice a year, the mansion on the hill and that McLaren MP4-12c. What did I do to come back on track and resolve all the problems with my partners?  Well I have always been consumed with a burning desire to make it happen no matter the odds against me, but besides that I read voraciously to further become knowledgeable about the efficient management skills that still eluded me. I also delved into my inner person to discover my latent abilities, which I’m developing everyday, and also took the time to unlearn the unproductive things that were part of my psyche.  So now I am back, consumed with the fire of winning and trust me, I am winning. With my formidable team we have built those efficient mechanisms to weather any storms that may blow no matter how great. KTA is back, and here to stay!

Samuel “Fiifi” Okore Mintah,

Chief Executive Officer,

Kreative Terrain Agency

If KTA was possible, so is this! On track to make my dreams REALITY!

DREAMING ON: HUSTLING AMIDST THE TUMULT.....WHY I TRY!

Le pays historique.....

I try because I dream. I am a wishful thinker at heart; deep down I am wildly optimistic. But all the lessons I have learnt in life have coerced me to build a wall of inscrutable sadness around myself. Yet however sad I may get, my hopeful confidence and enthusiasm to dream always shine through. I try to be infectious in my ambitions as well. I think dreamers like to know other peoples dreams as a matter of consequence. They do this to put their own dreams in perspective. You know, those deep down goals and fantastic objectives you had as a kid, but gradually are losing touch with, as you grow older. I ask other people what kind of life they envision for their future and they tend to give a safe answer; you know, the diplomatic response. The reply is always something sensible and expected instead of something incredible and juvenile. I sometimes feel very foolish because rather than play the safe game, I find Astons and yachts skipping all over the place. Hmmmm.....It’s really not my fault you know; blame my overactive imagination that is on a quest to build castles in the air and then proceed to wish them into being. If you are my friend you know as far as I am concerned Monaco is the place to be (probably because I am always trying to impress you with some tidbit of useless information about the principality) even though the closest I have ever gotten to this place is a mind-meld of James Bond, Wikipedia and recently Facebook. Actually Monaco is 641 miles (or 1032 km) away from London, I guess in geographic terms that is the closest I have been to that city-state. Oh, I almost forgot, I know this information because of....Google. Yeah, ‘technically’ Google is the closest I have been to Monaco. In fact courtesy Google, I go to Monaco whenever I want. I am amidst the tumult of 21^st Century Africa, and I dream of visiting some place in France so bad I find myself in random conversations telling people about it. I sometimes even wonder why, why there, why not somewhere else. I guess its an idiosyncrasy I seek to make a cliché, nothing more, nothing less.

Somebody drives one on the streets of Accra :)

And why, why am I always using words of Brobdingnagian proportions when I write, why bother? Its actually extra work you know. To find some obscure word that isn’t commonly used, string it with its brothers and sisters, and try to make them sing. That’s how I see it; I play with words the way physicists play with numbers. You put them together in interesting ways and then you try to convince other people that what you have conjured up makes sense and is relevant to them somehow. Maybe that is why I enjoy writing business plans because I like playing with both words and numbers. And it must be why I enjoy chasing business deals with such gusto because I enjoy playing with ideas; ideas that have a chance at becoming reality. I am not simply doing what I do to make money, no, that is not enough, not nearly enough. There are several easier ways to simply make money – a myriad really. But there is only one way to make an impact, especially a huge impact in the lives of people around you. And that is to look past the profit incentive, past the cash and dollar signs. I am not saying I don’t want money, I certainly do. But more so than that I want to positively affect the world around me, share what I learn, and show people that it is possible to succeed at anything, no matter how outlandish if you just try hard enough. I have learnt that the whole idea is to believe in yourself and never give up no matter what. That is why when people tell me to be less flamboyant in my writing, reduce the scope of my grandiose dreams or trade what I want for something less, I am obstinate to a fault. I really don’t see the point – personally – of wasting one’s finite time, energy and resources to merely exist safely, when one can truly live dangerously. Risk is always equal to Reward. That is why amidst this tumult, my hustle is to simply, try and never stop doing so.

I will try my hardest for supreme excellence because I can never settle for mediocrity. It is a very deliberate decision on my part to do so. I guess the norm is people grow and adjust to reality by downsizing their true dreams. They dilute their goals and they end up making it through this life safely but unremarkably. A few of us do the opposite, we do not adjust to reality rather we adjust to the fantasy we prefer to live in. We choose not to play it safe nor by the rules. Our whole agenda is to show that being unorthodox is another route through this life. A route that is fraught with so much danger and so much risk. A route that is most likely to end up in abject failure. And that is what most people see when they glance down this road, they see the path less travelled by and they shy away. Well, I tightened my belt, set my jaw and plodded on into the dusty winds. It is the avenue of tears and sorrows; where your confidence is sapped and obstacles beset you at all corners encouraging you to just give up. Yet I plod on, because I am willing to take these risks in order to stand a chance at getting the potential rewards. You see, that is all I will ever get if I try, a chance. The way I see it everything we do in life is a gamble, every decision we make will have certain consequences down the line. I would much rather play my game trying than not because the time we have on this earth is borrowed anyway. It’s not guaranteed that I will dream into reality but I don’t care because simply having that chance is good enough for me. Dare to dream and if at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again!

Cheers,

The Bizmic