Don’t wait for government support – Airtel MD to businesses

The Managing Director (MD) of Airtel Ghana and international business leader, Lucy Quist, has challenged young entrepreneurs to operate businesses that will create long term prosperity.

She shared her thoughts and insights on the impact young entrepreneurs can make on the continent through scalable businesses during a talk session at Workshed as part of The Bold New Normal Tour.

The award winning business leader, was emphatic on the role and the potential of businesses, and for that matter entrepreneurs in building economies.

Ms Quist succinctly stated that, “Throughout time, one thing that is certain is that economies have been built by businesses. Somehow, in our part of the world we have come to this expectation that government will build our economies and countries for us, they don’t. Work outputs create prosperity, government alone cannot do that.”

She posited that the responsibility of government was to provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.

Entrepreneurs, on the other hand had to take advantage of the policies, laws and local conditions to build relevant businesses that will grow the economy and bring prosperity to people.

After challenging the perception on the role of government, Ms Quist went on to challenge all entrepreneurs to have a better appreciation of their environment, industries and economies if they are to build businesses that make real economic impact.

“If we are going to be the architects of a more prosperous continent, we need to understand what is going on around us. We need to have relevant numbers at our finger tips as we plan our businesses and think of how we are going to make them grow on a much larger scale to fit into the bigger picture.”

She cited the growth of the services sector and decline of the Agric and Industry sectors in Ghana as examples of local situations that entrepreneurs can consider in creating businesses that will fill the gaps in the economy.

“We have gaps that we need to fill and we need our young minds to think about how we can make these other sectors (agriculture and industry) grow to create prosperity for our people”.

The session at Workshed was also an opportunity to discuss how young entrepreneurs can start and grow scalable businesses through a model that outlives them, creates prosperity for more people and breaks boundaries. Lucy Quist also encouraged entrepreneurs within the same industry to collaborate and push for policies that will bring about growth within their space.

Andrew Bimpong, a co-founder of Workshed, reinforced earlier remarks of Ms Quist that “for startups to have a voice in a country like Ghana, it is better we come together to form strong collaborations that will advocate for the right posture from government.”