Anthony Adu-Nketiah
ANTHONY ADU-Nketiah, Chief Executive of Thonket Group of Companies, in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, has called for the creation of a high-level consultancy system to supervise businesses in Ghana.
He said he expects the central government to spearhead the establishment of the supervisory body to strategically offer advanced managerial services to businesses in the various sectors of the economy, to achieve sustainable growth.
According to him, professional recruits into organisations should have proven track-record with higher knowledge than the managing directors and their staff running the businesses.
He cited effective management system as the key strategy by which multinational organisations flourish, stay in business for decades and serve as wheels of development of nations.
Anthony Adu-Nketiah noted that the formation of the supervisory system in the country will not only enable businesses to thrive, but also increase tax revenue and help reduce the unemployment rate in the country.
The Thonket CEO, who was speaking to the DAILY GUIDE in an interview last Friday, said most Ghanaian businesses fail to progress and eventually collapse few years after their establishment due to weak supervision.
“I am emphasising supervision because in a business setup, it is like everybody must have a supervisor. The board of directors are supervised by the shareholders at Annual General Meeting (AGM). And on top of that supervision we still have to have supervisors around the managing directors, especially the local ones,” he said.
He, however, expressed worry that most often, the managing directors themselves supervise the professionals who they employ to support them, making it very difficult for one person to have many hats.
“I say many hats in the sense that, as I sit here I have to supervise my accountant, sales manager, warehouse manager, human resource manager and read all bank contracts,” he said.
The Thonket boss noted that even sometimes commercial lawyers are unable to offer the needed consultancy services as each one has different knowledge about different enterprises.
This deficiency, he further explained, occurs because businesses have not properly coordinated the commercial lawyers.
In his view, it is high time Ghana, as a country, institutionalised supervision of all businesses to maximise performance and wealth creation as pertained in multinational organisations throughout the world.
He explained that in multinationals, line managers with their managing director give direct report to a more knowledgeable person to supervise them outside their jurisdiction.
“This is contrary to our case where managing directors have to supervise all those people and eventually become jack of all trades and master of none, leading to the collapse of businesses,” he said.
Anthony Adu-Nketiah urged government to embrace his suggestion and provide the avenue for businesses, especially those in the private sector, to have the system created for posterity.
He further explained that the consultancy system will enable businesses to keep proper accounting records, pay taxes well, pay workers well and reduce the losses businesses incur.
FROM James Quansah & David Afum, Kumasi