(A GNA feature by Caesar Abagali)
Accra, Oct. 11, GNA - The rLG Communications, a Ghanaian indigenous company has pioneered the Information, Communication Technology (ICT) revolution in Ghana by assembling laptop computers and mobile phones in the country. Its CEO, Mr. Roland Agambire who destiny has thrust onto the Ghanaian business scene, has also become one of the biggest entrepreneurial players in the country's ICT sector and even beyond.
Through his vision rLG has put to work over 20,000 youth who had been previously trained under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), a feat unprecedented in the history of the country. What a pioneering achievement in the sub-region.
Some time back a delegation from Nigeria, South Africa and Gambia witnessed what is known as the first ever mobile/laptop assembling plant in West Africa and attended by Ghana's Vice President John Dramani Mahama who commissioned the plant. Also in attendance were some Cabinet ministers to witness the event, which many described as a giant step by rLG to transform the ICT phase in Africa.
The achievement of rLG is an indication that Africa is up to the task. The company is poised to become one of the leading international indigenous companies in Africa, a feat that has become a signal announcing the readiness of the youth to rise up to the occasion. Young as he is, Roland Agambire, still in his early 30s and whose beginnings were anything but easy, stood the test of time has made Ghana proud today because thanks to his spirit of industry, Ghana can boast of having an indigenous mobile/laptop assembly plant that was not established by an expatriate as seen in many cases. Mr Agambire's efforts spanned from entrepreneurial struggle, ranging from selling kerosene, animals, shoes and shirts to a piloted partnership with the NYEP to train ICT beneficiaries. He also sold handicraft in USA, Canada, Germany, and China.
He can be described as someone who understood and embraced Small Scale business right from his early days and built it to higher heights. This young enterprising man has also got numerous awards to his credit. The rLG Company received Good Customer Service Award from the Customer Service scheme in 2010; it was also awarded the Young Entrepreneur of the year (2010) by the ECOWAS, an honour which the Ghana Chamber of Commerce conferred on him.
The Company was awarded a bronze medal for being one of the enterprises that have distinguished itself under the ICT category by Ghana's Ministry of Trade and Industry. Indeed the hall-mark of Roland Agambire has been sheer determination, fortitude and ambition. Barring all the odds, he discarded the yoke of poverty and deprivation associated with the life of an ordinary village boy, and rose to the pinnacle of success.
Vice President John Mahama and Ministers of State who attended the function were all full of praise for Roland and his rLG and pledged Government's continued support for indigenous companies like his. The Vice President advised Ghanaians, particularly the youth, to go beyond buy and sell and rather use their minds to setup their future.
He described Roland Agambire as a young man with vision, who has the passion to meet and overcome new challenges, and asked the youth to emulate him.
Today, Roland has become an icon of determination, combining entrepreneurial skills with creativity to give the sub-region a mobile phone assembling plant that aims to employ some 30,000 people in the next three years. Roland the young entrepreneur said the company was aiming to help Government to achieve its Better Ghana Agenda. Without doubt, rLG is obviously helping to change the lives of Ghanaian youth by offering them self-employment through the ICT module of the NYEP, not to mention offering affordable mobile phones to millions of Ghanaians.
The rLG company has gained popularity in Ghana like wild fire spreading in a grass field of the northern Savanna. Thanks to rLG, most of the TV stations in the country can now telecast news using laptops. The Government has honoured its promise of support and offered rLG a contract to supply some 60,000 laptops to school children.
rLG is currently running various programmes with the Ministry of Youth and Sports under the National Youth Employment programme (NYEP) of the Ministry. Indeed, rLG Communications is the sole implementer of the ICT Module of the NYEP.
This particular project is aimed at training the youth in mobile phone assembling, repairs and servicing. The key objective of the project is to equip the unemployed youth with employable skills in mobile phone repairs, managerial and marketing skills that will guarantee their financial freedom.
It will also make them full-time entrepreneurs who will offer employment to other young persons rather than have them parade the corridors of Government offices in search of non-existent jobs. There are other indigenous companies such as Zoom Lion and Uniq Bank who also have similar beginnings and have today become stalwarts in the business arena.
The rLG ICT programme has since 2008, passed out more than 20,000 trainees throughout the country who are visible on the streets sitting under RLG umbrellas selling and repairing phones.
As part of rLG's training programme, trainees are set up or employed in the company's sales and service centres on a permanent basis. These are business centres ran by graduates of the training institution, with the main task of undertaking sales and repairs of mobile phones and phone spare parts.
The gesture, as earlier indicated, is meant to empower the youth through job creation in applied ICT so as to enhance sustainable national growth and socio-economic development. That is why the Vice President's pledge to support indigenous companies to grow should not remain a lip service but a promise fulfilled to help eradicate poverty in the country.
Again the Vice President's call on Ghanaians to develop the taste for indigenous products should also be taken seriously so that indigenous entrepreneurs would not consider their efforts as being in vain. The various rLG laptops embossed in the Ghana Coat of Arms, the National Flag, as well as rLG logo and other national emblems should make the nation proud.
Now Company has its presence in Gambia, Nigeria and Ivory Coast where similar services are rendered. Samsung, Toshiba, Honda, and Hp among others, are making their nations popular and proud due to their worldwide acceptability and fame.
With the unveiling of the first ever mobile phone assembling plant in Ghana rLG is aiming at commissioning another mobile phone manufacturing plant in the country next year and when that is done more youths would gain employment. Liberia has already tapped rLG's experience and offered the company a contract to help transform that country's communications sector by training its youth in mobile phone assembling.
Given the requisite support, there is no doubt that Roland Agambire and his rLG could easily become huge players in the African telecommunications arena, offering employment to the youth of Ghana and Africa. It is no exaggeration to state that rLG is fast gaining widespread acceptability across the continent for its vision in job creation.
Those who have had the opportunity to visit the Company's joints would attest to the fact that the rLG is indeed an indigenous stalwart that can stand the test of time.
One can only wish the young Ghanaian entrepreneur well and hope that the good people of this country would support rLG Company to grow by patronizing its products. Indeed, nothing can ever stop a person who has the determination to succeed. Given the requisite support, there is no doubt that rLG could easily become a number-one company in Africa just as other world-class giant companies in the industrialized world. And when that happens Government would, to a great extent, be relieved of the uneasy burden of youth unemployment, while the private sector would continue to fulfill to its role as the engine of growth. 11 Oct. 11
