Focus and persistence key to success in Ghana - Springfield CEO

The Chief Executive Officer of the Springfield Group, Kevin Okyere has urged Ghanaian business leaders not to be side-tracked by the challenges they face in doing business in the country and instead remain focused and persistent in order to achieve their set goals.

"There will always be challenges in the system as you go along, but the most important point to note in doing business in Ghana is the need to focus and persist in your efforts until you achieve your aim," Mr. Okyere advised.

"Very often people say we should try and think out of the box when confronted with challenges and I ask what box? Who set the box in the first place He asked?"

He challenged the thought of imaginary boxes that usually imprisoned leaders and placed them in a state of inertia, saying growth and success in business boil down to effective leadership, innovativeness and resilience.

Mr. Okyere was contributing to a panel discussion on ‘the ease of doing business in Ghana at the 3rd Ghana CEO Summit, 2018 which opened at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra on Monday. The two-day conference was under the theme Leadership, Innovation and Investment for Business and Economic Transformation.

The conference brings together about 500 CEO’s, business leaders, entrepreneurs and government officials across the globe and provides the perfect forum for business leaders within the emerging and developed markets to meet, share learnings and network on business opportunities within their areas of specific interests.

Responding to a question on the single issue he thought was critical to the smooth operation of Springfield as an Exploration and Production company in the country, he observed that currently there exists the challenge of local companies being regulated under the same financial regime that governed international oil companies in the country.

That, he said, does not incentivize local entrepreneurs to want to venture into the upstream industry.

“It is becoming clear that the framers of the law and regulations did not factor into the regulations the possibility of Ghanaian companies getting into the oil and gas sector. It is also a challenge to ask local companies to pay the same amounts of money as the majors and external E&P Companies. If the majors are paying $1million annually as a regulatory fee, for example, I don’t think it is fair to ask the same of indigenous companies. Doing so will not help local companies to grow and ever build the capacity to participate in the upstream industry," He suggested.

Responding to the same question of the single most challenging issue in his area of activity, the President and Founder of Ashesi University, Dr. Patrick Awuah explained that although it was important to develop the human capital in the country, the initial capital requirement for the establishment of a university in the country was currently too low.

He again noted that it was a huge cost burden administratively and financially, to ask newly set up universities to be under the mentorship of existing Universities for a period of about 10 years and called for reforms in that area.

Other panellists included CEOs of Zeiss Investments Ltd, Reroy Cables, Universal Motors and Representatives from GIPC and the Registrar General’s Department.