Business24 Newspaper - Sept. 7, 2020 by Business24 Online

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NEWS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS

MONDDAY SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

MTN takes on NCA at apex court over SMP declaration By Nii Annerquaye Abbey

Scancom Plc., operator of MTN Ghana, the country’s largest mobile telecommunications network, has filed for a review at the apex court after a high court upheld the National Communications Authority’s decision to declare the mobile operator a Significant Market Power (SMP). In a statement issued over the weekend, MTN Ghana explained that while it acknowledges the duties and powers of the NCA to promote fair competition amongst licensed operators, it believes that the High Court’s decision sets a faulty precedent.

OMCs’ tussle over market share could stabilise fuel prices this month, IES predicts By Benson AFFUL affulbenson@gmail.com

nergy think tank Institute of Energy Security says competition between oil marketing companies (OMCs) to gain market share will compel them to stabilise the selling prices of fuel at the pump within the first pricing window of September, which runs from the 1st to 15th day of the month. hough the institute believes that the appreciation in the prices of Brent crude (2.45 percent) and gasoline (6.23

percent), as well as the 0.17 percent depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar, should have brought a marginal increase in the prices of fuel on the local market, competition among the OMCs might give a different outcome. The IES said fuel prices on the local market remained stable in the pricing window of August, with majority of the OMCs maintaining the prices of gasoline and gasoil during the second pricing window of the same month. “The current national

More See Page 2

President hints of relief package for private schools

average price of fuel per litre at the pump is pegged at GH¢4.80 for both gasoline and gasoil. Over the past two weeks, Santol, Benab Oil, Nick Petroleum, Radiance, Champion and Cash oil joined Zen Petroleum as OMCs spotted by IES’ market scanner as trading with the least rates for gasoline and gasoil within the downstream oil market,” the energy analysts said. The global oil sector was hard hit by the pandemic

By Benson AFFUL affulbenson@gmail.com

President Nana Akufo-Addo has disclosed that the government, through the Ministry of Education, is planning a relief package for private schools whose finances have been affected by the coronavirusinduced school shutdowns. “We have been able to find some way for small, medium enterprises by supporting them with a relief package.

More See Page 2 INTERNATIONAL MARKET

ECONOMIC INDICATORS *EXCHANGE RATE (INT. RATE)

USD$1 =GHC 5.6734*

BRENT CRUDE $/BARREL

*POLICY RATE

14.5%*

NATURAL GAS $/MILLION BTUS

GHANA REFERENCE RATE

15.12%

GOLD $/TROY OUNCE

OVERALL FISCAL DEFICIT

11.4 % OF GDP

PROJECTED GDP GROWTH RATE AVERAGE PETROL & DIESEL PRICE:

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0.9% GHc 5.13*

CORN $/BUSHEL

43.22 1.79 1,842.40 329.50

COCOA $/METRIC TON

1,562.00

COFFEE $/POUND:

$109.65

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NEWS/EDITORIAL

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

EDITORIAL 1

Wash your hands 2

Relief package for private schools at last Hundreds of private school teaching and non-teaching staff are expected to benefit from a government relief package. Indeed, life has been difficult for these workers since government directed the closure of all schools in March as part of measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Though government has allowed the partial reopening of secondary and tertiary schools, the President, in his 16th address to the nation, announced that presecondary schools will remain closed until January 2021. The Coalition of Private School Teachers kicked against this decision by the government,

complaining that it would deprive them of their livelihoods as some school owners have already laid off staff while others have stopped paying salaries to their teachers. Meanwhile, final year Senior High School (SHS) students have completed their West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) across the country, while their junior counterparts at the basic level are yet to begin their Basic Education Examination Certificate (BECE). President Nana Akufo-Addo has disclosed that the government, through the Ministry of Education, is planning a relief package for

private schools whose finances have been affected by the coronavirus-induced school shutdowns. “We have been able to find some way for small, medium enterprises by supporting them with a relief package. I think we should also look at how to support the private schools, too. We know the critical role they play in our education sector,” he said. This publication backs government’s resolve to support private schools in the country.

Cover your cough 3

OMCs’ tussle over market share could stabilise fuel prices this month, IES predicts CONTINUED FROM COVER

Wear a mask Brought to you by

situation as oil prices crashed on the international market. While this was terrible news for exporters, consumers in importing countries have, on the other hand, been enjoying lower prices at the pumps. Analysts have said they foresee global oil prices remaining

depressed in the near term despite recent gains. Rating agency Moody’s said it expects prices to remain lower for longer, which will worsen pressures for oil exporters. However, the market price has begun to appreciate in the last few months as Brent crude price remained above the US$44 per

barrel mark in August. The surge in the price of Brent, according to analysts, can be attributed to the easing of restrictions on economic activities around the world, as well as reaction to the OPEC+ agreed extension to historic production cuts.

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News

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

MTN takes on NCA at apex court over SMP declaration By Nii Annerquaye Abbey

“As a good corporate citizen, and considering the international investment community, we believe that a decision by the highest court of the land would provide certainty and a veritable precedent on the procedural fairness in this and future regulatory decisions of the Authority. This will no doubt safeguard the interest of customers, shareholders, investors and the wider industry,” the company said. The High Court of Justice (Commercial Division) on September 1, 2020 dismissed the company’s application for a judicial review of the NCA’s declaration. The company said while it respects the decision of the court, the judgement did not address its concerns that the NCA’s decision did not meet the requirements of procedural fairness. MTN further said that despite heading to the Supreme Court, opportunity still exists for further engagements with the regulatory authorities. “Indeed, MTN Ghana continues to reach out to the regulator and key

stakeholders to have the concerns of both sides addressed in a collaborative and amicable manner. MTN Ghana further assures its cherished customers, shareholders and other stakeholders of its unflinching commitment to its regulatory obligations and support for the Ghanaian government’s efforts to enhance growth and competition in all segments of the telecommunications market.

“The company will continue to invest and innovate to realise its belief that every Ghanaian deserves the benefits of a modern connected life,” the statement added. SMP declaration The Electronic Communications Act 2008 (Act 775) states that the Authority may classify a network operator or service provider as dominant if, individually or jointly

with others, that network operator or service enjoys a position of economic strength that enables it to behave to an appreciable extent independently of competitors and users. In other words, an operator which can take certain actions, especially related to pricing, which cannot be replicated by other players in the market has a significant market power.

President hints of relief package for private schools By Benson AFFUL affulbenson@gmail.com

I think we should also look at how to support the private schools, too. We know the critical role they play in our education sector,” he said. President Akufo-Addo said the Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, and his team will look at the matter and find a way to provide some support to private schools. The President in March this year directed schools, both private and public, to shut down when the country recorded it first two cases of the global coronavirus pandemic. Though government has allowed the partial reopening of secondary and tertiary schools, the President, in his 16th address to the nation, announced that pre-secondary schools will remain closed until January 2021. The Coalition of Private School Teachers kicked against this decision

by the government, complaining that it would deprive them of their livelihoods as some school owners have already laid off staff while others have stopped paying salaries to their teachers.

Meanwhile, final year Senior High School (SHS) students have completed their West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) across the country, while their junior

counterparts at the basic level are yet to begin their Basic Education Examination Certificate (BECE). Government, as part of efforts to support these candidates at basic level, directed the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to provide one hot meal a day for both public and private final year JHS students and their teachers. About 584,000 students who returned to school on June 29 to prepare for the BECE are benefitting from the intervention, in addition to 146,000 school staff, for a period of 20 school days, starting from August 24 to September 18. In all, there are about 730,000 beneficiaries of the intervention. The intervention has brought relief to caterers who provide school meals for public basic schools under the Ghana School Feeding Programme, since their work was suspended following the closure of all schools in March due to the coronavirus outbreak.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

News

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Rainforest Alliance offers relief to 2,000 smallholder farmers in W/R By Reuben QUAINOO

The Rainforest Alliance has supported the Landscape Management Board (LMB) in the Juaboso-Bia in the Western Region with an amount of US$18,000. The grant will support 2000 smallholder families of the Climate Cocoa Cooperative Union affected by COVID-19 and relief for 200 vulnerable members who were directly affected by a rainstorm disaster in April 2020. The Leadership of the LMB, together with community members, traditional leaders and other stakeholders, organised a durbar to publicly appreciate the partnership with Rainforest Alliance and transparently distribute the relief items to the beneficiaries and install the Community COVID-19 items. Addressing the LMB and stakeholders at the durbar, Mr. Kwame Osei, Rainforest Alliance Country Director, Ghana, expressed his confidence in the LMB and their progress over the span of their existence. “We hope that the grants would motivate and resource them to continue the good work of ensuring sustainability in the landscape”, he said. The Landscape Management Board (LMB), a Forest and Landscape

governance structure, constituted by the Rainforest Alliance through their Conservation Project, in the Juaboso-Bia Landscape, has built the capacity of selected individuals from each community to act as lead farmers that train group members and other farmers in their respective communities. This Management Board oversees the implementation of Sustainable Forest Management, Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices, Cocoa Certification, and livelihood programs in the landscape. The farmers under the Cocoa Certification Program have registered as a cooperative under the laws of the Department of Cooperatives-Ghana as a legal entity known as Climate Cocoa Cooperative Union – Juaboso-Bia. At the beginning of the 2020 major season, the leadership and Group Administrator of the Cocoa Certification program had to halt their preparations towards the audit of their cooperative as it, unfortunately, coincided with restrictions on movement and other protocols that became necessary due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, thereby impacting the conduct of meetings, normal training and farm activities that were scheduled according to the cooperative’s working plan.

In spite of the restrictions which included a lockdown at some point, the leadership and the lead farmers reached out to Rainforest Alliance Staff for information that could help develop other means to reach member farmers for their training to ensure their continuity compliance to the certification standard, protocols, and preparation towards audit periods. Amidst all these adjustments communities in the landscape had to make, they were hit by a heavy rainstorm on April 5, 2020, which destroyed buildings and properties in some communities and the loss of life of one farmer. The disaster coupled with its issues made it unfavorable for farmers to undertake their usual farming activities than to talk of getting foodstuff for their households and the market. This puts the security of livelihood in the

landscape at risk, thus the need to seek support. The leadership of the LMB then appealed to the Rainforest Alliance through RA’s representatives in the landscape for assistance to the affected members by the rainstorm as well as support to smallholder farmers affected by COVID-19 in the various communities. Upon the request, the Rainforest Alliance granted LMB Eighteen thousand US Dollars ($18,000) as household support for smallholder families affected by COVID-19 and the rainstorm disaster (which includes roofing sheets and food packages). This grant also allowed the Landscape Management Board to also provide support to the various communities to follow the COVID-19 protocols and also carry out adapted training programs.

MoTAC announces plans to develop Lake Bosomtwe and others The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MoTAC) would soon commission a consultant to undertake a study of the tourism potentials in the Ashanti Region, and the northern sector of the country. The decision is to develop and give a face-lift to some worldacclaimed tourist sites such as the Lake Bosomtwe, the largest natural lake in the West African sub-Region. Mrs. Barbara Oteng-Gyasi, the Minister, hinted that the agenda was to harness tourism potentials of the Lake, situated within an ancient impact crater that is about 10.5 kilometres in diameter. Lake Bosomtwe is one of six meteoric lakes in the world, whose biosphere reserve sustains about 35 tree species, and also home to a great diversity of wildlife. Its catchment spans two districts, Bosomtwe and Bosome-Freho, consisting of a mixture of three unique types of ecosystems - forests, wetlands and mountains, which contributed to the conservation of vital biodiversity. Mrs. Oteng-Gyasi, who disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Kumasi, after a Memorandum-of-Understanding

(MoU)was signed between Ghana and the China Bengbu International Technical and Economic Cooperation (CBITEC) Limited, said the Lake was of national and international importance. In spite of its strategic research and educational purposes to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the quality of water and existence of the Lake increasingly are being threatened, according to environmental research scientists. The development was attributed to the changing climatic conditions and some unsupervised human activities, including; illegal farming and fishing, sand winning and washing in the water body. The MoU is to pave way for work to commence on the ‘Kumasi International Theatre/Conference Centre’, a multi-purpose edifice to be designed to boost tourism, creative arts and economic growth in Kumasi. Mrs. Oteng-Gyasi said the expansion of the Bonwire Kente Weaving Village was also a component of the major tourism development to be undertaken in the Region. “I am happy to mention that

there will be a sod cutting for the expansion of works at the Village in the coming weeks,” the Minister emphasized that when completed, it would position the facility as an attractive destination for tourists and for commerce. “Our resplendent Kente from Bonwire, Ntonso and Adanwomaso, epitomizes the soul of creativity of the Ashanti Region, and for that matter Ghana. “Kente has become an irrefutable global symbol of African creativity, uniqueness and identity,” the Minister remarked. In a related development, the Ashanti Regional Office of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), has welcomed moves by government to develop the infrastructural base of the tourism-related industry.

Mr. Peter Achampong, the Regional Manager, said facilities such as the ‘Kumasi International Theatre/Conference Centre’ would enable the city to host international programmes and add to the tourism drive and aspirations of the government. Mr. Matthew Osei Prempeh, also known as Nana Prempeh, a Senior Quality Assurance Officer of the Authority, said the Region was endowed with great potentials regarding heritage tourism, creative arts and culture. He called on the international community to partner traditional authorities and the government to develop the sectors in order to boost the local economy for job creation.GNA

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Interview

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

IMF Resident Representative Albert Touna Mama on Ghana’s debt burden and its management Business24 recently engaged Albert Touna Mama, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Resident Representative in Accra, on the country’s debt burden and management in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Below are his responses to our questions. B24: How should the country deal with this debt accumulation in the period of the pandemic? Albert Touna Mama (ATM): Ghana like many other countries is seeing an increase in the fiscal deficit and public debt as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. But we should keep in mind that this crisis is unprecedented in modern economic history. This is not just “any” shock. Responding to the crisis has put an incredible amount of pressure on spending, reflecting the government’s duty of care toward its people, protecting lives and safeguarding livelihoods threatened by the pandemic. In addition, the slowdown in economic activity and trade has slashed government revenues. The question is how to bring the deficit and the debt down once the emergency is over, given that there is a limit to how much debt one can accumulate before getting into trouble. In Ghana, much of the spending increase is coming from the government’s efforts to cushion as many groups as possible and counter the massive revenue and productivity loss. This is commendable and really at par with what more advanced economies have done. It also helps put a floor under the collapsing economic activities. To contain the government deficit to the extent possible, the focus could be on “prioritisation” when responding to this shock. The most vulnerable groups in the economy should come first, also because supporting everybody could be very expensive and not without risks. In addition, and especially in the coming years, some level of “burden sharing” should be targeted, especially among the groups that have not suffered as much a loss of income during the crisis. We think that all these efforts should be supported by a strong impetus to advance fiscal reforms that have stalled in the past, particularly expanding the tax base and improving the efficiency of public spending, including by means-testing wherever feasible.

Elements for this strategy include reviewing property taxes, streamlining tax exemptions, improving tax administration, digitalising the economy, etc. Some of these reforms are also highlighted by the mid-year budget review. Looking at a positive aspect, the pandemic has afforded countries a unique opportunity to build a better future by: maximising the potential of the digital economy; promoting green investment to combat climate change in a jobrich manner; and investing in human capital for a more inclusive economy. B24: In all the options available, does the Fund support a push for debt forgiveness that will ease the burden of a country like Ghana? ATM: The Fund together with the World Bank is supporting the G20 Debt Suspension Initiative (DSSI) for the postponement of bilateral debt service, for which Ghana is eligible. The DSSI could make some US$11bn available to 73 lowincome and lower-middle-income countries through the debt service

postponement. As it stands, over half of the eligible countries have made a request already. Ghana has so far not applied to the initiative, though it is its prerogative. The rationale is that the potential savings from this initiative does not yet outweigh the costs in terms of the risk of credit rating downgrade or the risk of losing access to international capital markets. What I mean by that is, applying to the DSSI may trigger crossdefault clauses in some of Ghana’s commercial debt contracts, depending on the specific language in the clauses. If this happens then it would be very difficult to issue new debt in international capital markets, such as a new Eurobond. B24: What’s the Fund’s view on the government’s plan for restoring compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act – i.e., coming back to compliance in 2024? ATM: The government acknowledges the need to maintain medium-term fiscal sustainability despite the impact of the crisis,

and we certainly support their objective to comply with the Fiscal Responsibility Act in the coming years. However, we should recognise that the situation remains fluid and the uncertainty surrounding the evolution of the crisis complicates any assessment of the mediumterm outlook and policymaking. For example, economists still don’t have a good understanding of whether the economic problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic will be self-reversing or mostly permanent. Looking ahead, the challenge will be to strike a balance between economic recovery and restoring healthy fiscal metrics. The Ministry of Finance has published the broad lines of a medium-term fiscal path. But considering the extreme uncertainty, it may be too early to formulate any solid and reliable medium-term fiscal trajectory. As the situation stabilises, the government will need to come up with well-articulated plans for a return to some sort of fiscal normality. The next big milestone for this, hopefully on the background of a more stable environment, will be the next budget in first quarter of 2021 and to correct course if warranted. B24: Also, what would be the implication for debt accumulation? Does the Fund project Ghana’s debt to be sustainable after the pandemic? ATM: The pandemic has adversely affected both the solvency and liquidity indicators of most if not all low-income countries. Countries would end up in different situations depending on their debt metrics before the pandemic, the extent of their policy response, and the duration of the health crisis both locally and globally. Our most recent assessment of Ghana’s debt, which we published with the report for the RCF [Rapid Credit Facility] in April, found debt at an unchanged high risk of debt distress, but still sustainable over the medium term. Of course, the COVID-19 shock has put more pressure on fiscal metrics and increased risks. For emerging market countries like Ghana, continued access to international capital markets is critical for debt to remain sustainable. This in turn hinges on the credibility of the fiscal trajectory.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Feature

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Secondary Education, Economic Transformation, and the Future of Work in Africa

large and growing youth workforce holds enormous potential for Africa, but only if the continent’s chronic unemployment— and-under employment—issues are addressed. The solution starts with education. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is the world’s youngest region—more than three-fifths of its population is under the age of 25—and it is continuing to get younger. By 2030, the region’s working age population is expected to reach 600 million, 37 percent of which (260 million) will be between the ages of 15 and 24 (defined here as the youth population), a proportion bigger than that in China. With the right education and training, coupled with national transformation strategies and policies that provide the right environment for rapid economic growth and creation of employment opportunities, Africa’s large and fastgrowing youth population could be a great asset for development and a source of comparative advantage on world markets. However, Africa already faces high unemployment— which continues to increase—and vulnerable employment among its youth. In 2015, using ILO’s conventional definition, youth unemployment in Africa was 10.9 percent, significantly higher than the adult (over the age of 25) rate of 5.6 percent. However, using a broader definition of unemployment—such as “Not in Employment Education and Training (NEET)”, which is more reflective of actual conditions—the figure doubles. For instance, estimates from the labor force survey of Ghana in 2015 shows a youth unemployment rate of 14.4 percent. When the NEET concept is used, the figure almost doubles to 27.1 percent. Even among the employed, the numbers offer dire warning signs. More than 80 percent of workers in African countries are in the informal sector, either in traditional agriculture or in urban informal economic activities, where underemployment and low earnings are pervasive. In countries like Ghana, only about 10 percent of the 200,000 that enter the labor force each year find formal sector jobs. Indeed, the unemployment rate among secondary and tertiary school graduates are 24.4 and 15.4 percent, respectively. Ghana is not unique in SSA. Similar trends can be found in countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal. Employment projections to 2030 suggest this picture isn’t going to change soon: • Agriculture will continue to dominate employment in the low and lower middle-income

economies in the region, providing about two-thirds of total employment. • The services sector—including trade, transportation, finance and other commercial services—dominates employment in the upper middle-income economies and ranks second in the two categories of low-income economies. • The manufacturing sector provides the least employment—6.5 percent of total employment— in all three country income categories and shows no dynamism in job creation potential. This raises concerns about manufacturing-led industrialization in Africa. Thus, while economic growth has been decent in most countries— above 5 percent on average across the continent for the past two decades – it has not translated into sustained creation of decent jobs. Research indicates some 90 percent of jobs created are in the low-productvity informal sector. Inequality is also higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other developing regions, underscoring the fact that growth is not widely shared. As a result, the face of the unemployed and informal sector worker in Africa is no longer that of an uneducated man or woman, as it has been in the past. It is now rapidly changing to become that of a secondary or tertiary school graduate. Given Africa’s surging youth population, this shift in the labor landscape not only puts inclusive growth and economic transformation goals at risk but also the continent’s demographic dividend. Without

significant improvements in youth employment rates, Africa’s unparalleled comparative advantage over the next few decades—a young and skilled global labor force—will be squandered. The solution starts with education. A new world order The reasons for the rising number of educated unemployment in Africa stem from both the supply and demand sides. On the supply side, the number of students completing the secondary level have been increasing alongside the population, due in part to improved access to primary school as well as secondary and tertiary schools. Unfortunately, the pace of expansion in job demand in Africa’s formal sectors have not kept pace with secondary and tertiary graduation rates. To make matters worse, part of the job demand in the formal sector cannot be met by the secondary and tertiary graduates due either to the poor quality of their education or to specialization in subject areas (such as arts and humanities) that do not aling with employer demands (such as science, technology and mathematics, or STEM). Projecting the recent economic and (formal) employment growth trends into the future, together with population estimates, and even assuming the same secondary and tertiary school enrolment ratios and no fundamental changes in technological and global trade trends, presents a bleak picture of rising educated youth unemployment in Africa. But secondary enrolment ratios are not likely to stay the same. They will rise as political and social pressure mount in African countries to provide secondary school spaces for all the young children coming out

of the expanded and nearly universal primary education system. Already, several countries (including Ghana, Kenya and Uganda) have introduced free secondary education for all. Secondly, technology is not staying the same. Indeed, what is often called the 4th Industrial Revolution—encompassing the rapid evolution of robotics, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing technology, and the “internet-of-things”— is fundamentally disrupting manufacturing technology, with implications for the nature and growth of jobs. One important implication is the diminished importance of labor as a factor in manufacturing production. Consequently, the need to reduce labor costs is becoming less important in the location decisions of global manufacturing companies and lead firms in global value chains. This is already causing a rearrangement of global manufacturing, with some companies that had outsourced production bringing them back to their home or at least to neighboring countries. For the past 15 to 20 years, the advice to African countries seeking econonimc transformation was simple: follow the East-Asian model. In other words, reduce costs by improving investment climates, and focus on labor-intensive and exportoriented manufacturing to capitalize on abundant labor. This model has been shown to lead to fast growth and employment, mainly in assembly line jobs that often do not require many skills beyond basic literacy. However, with the current disruptive technological changes and CONTINUED ON PAGE 11

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

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its impacts on global production and trade, the way forward is not so clear. What preparation for the youth is needed for the new world order? Substantial challenges to address African countries are recognizing the urgent need for tailored strategies for the future of work even as the unfolding technological revolution is speeding up the present. Two overarching, interrelated factors are key to this: • crafting transformative strategies that promote job creation and boost productivity in labor intensive sectors; and • ensuring young people have the skills for productive and fulfilling work that meet employer needs. The success of the former is reliant on the latter, whereas the latter is less likely to succeed outside the framework of the former. And urgency is paramount. According to African Development Bank estimates, if youth unemployment rates remain unchanged, nearly 50 percent of Africa’s young people (excluding students) will be unemployed, discouraged, or economically inactive by 2025. Countries across the region have invested significantly in education and access to primary education has improved substantially. However, progress against commitments made by education ministers to ensure basic education for all has been slow, and substantial challenges remain.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

•

Educational attainment is low. In Sub-Saharan Africa, one in five children are excluded from primary school, while less than a third of adults have completed primary education compared to nearly all adults in advanced economies. And there is significant variation across countries: fewer than 60 percent of children in lowerincome countries complete primary school, while the top 20 percent countries have a 90 percent completion rate. The quality of education is poor. The challenge of low attainment is compounded by the fact that those who get schooling do not learn much. In SSA, less than 7 percent of students in late primary school are proficient in reading, against 14 percent in mathematics. There is also a learning gap between students from poor and rich families, which widens as children move up through grades STEM-related learning is weak. Leaps in learning for science, technology, and mathematics are crucial for driving transformation in Africa, especially under 4IR. According to McKinsey estimates, Africa needs to enroll 33 million young people in vocational and technical education in secondary schools by 2025 compared to support transformation— compared to the 4 million enrolled in 2012. Tertiary enrolment is lagging. SSA gross enrolment rate in

tertiary institutions is under 10 percent, compared to around 50 percent in China and just over 25 percent in India. McKinsey estimates Africa would need to put 16 million students through university in 2025, up from 6 million in 2013, just to match India’s enrolment rate. The cumulative impact is apparent: many Africans are not developing the skills they need for productive employment. Employers in Africa consistently identify an inadequately skilled workforce as a major constraint to their businesses. As economies and sectors grow, skills constraints are likely to become more binding. A strategic approach to skills investment that covers all skills, from literacy and basic to tertiary education, and that is aligned with evolving labor market demands is crucial for successful transformation, and for Africa to see a true demographic dividend in the years ahead. Toward a demographic dividend Africa is yet to experience the demographic transition that propelled rapid economic growth in East Asia by expanding the working age population and simultaneously decreasing the dependency ratio. In East Asia, in addition to inclusive transformative policies, savings generated by the demographic dividend enabled increased investment in primary, secondary and technical education, and skills development. Thus, the impact of the dividend was huge. Achieving a demographic dividend is, of course, not automatic; it requires strong policy support to ensure there are enough productive

jobs and a workforce with the right skills for those jobs. The SSA region will have to create productive jobs at an average of about 20 million each year until 2035—a fast pace to absorb new entrants into the labor force. And it will have to do so amid rapid technological advances. The challenge is daunting, but the potential is huge for 4IR to help transform African economies and unleash new opportunities. Future employment and industry, which is explored further in Part 2 of this series, may hasten formalization through new platforms and applications that increase efficiency and also create new types of jobs. For example, mobile banking opens up job opportunities for self-employed workers while also making it easier for them to register payments, pay taxes, and gain access to credit. No other region has ever faced the magnitude of the education challenges most African countries will face over the next couple of decades. Strong institutions, including political capacity to make resources tradeoffs between population groups and sectors, will be needed. If countries are able to do so effectively, they are likely to see an increase in the participation of previously excluded people, especially youth and women. They key is ensuring the supportive infrastructure exists, including the right skills and access to technologies, so that everyone can make the most of the potential benefits.

This article is part of the ACET In-Depth Series Schools, Skills & Jobs.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Feature

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Marketing trends to look out for now and post-covid BY BUSINESS FOR BREAKFAST (BFORB)

he New Year is fast approaching, and as 2020 draws to a close we are considering which trends will shape the marketing landscape in 2021 and beyond. Here’s 5 trends to consider in your 2021 marketing plan. 1. Content Marketing Delivering quality content on a regular basis rather than solely sales messages highlights your brand as an authority and positions you as an industry expert in your field. This positioning has a direct effect on the trust your potential customers have towards your brand, and ultimately trust sways customer purchasing decisions. Think about content that will interest your target market. Are there huge news stories in your industry that you could write about and provide opinion? 2. Data and the upcoming changes to data protection. Collection and usage of data will be a hot topic of discussion in 2021 with the introduction of the data protection legislation. Are you prepared for the impending enforcement of changes in data collection, storage and usage regulation? Are your processes aligned to the regulations, or do you need to assess the way your business deals with data? Are the marketing and sales programmes you are using equipped for these requirements? These are questions you need and should be asking as a business. Savvy companies will accept the legislation wholly and see it as an opportunity to review their customer database and the marketing processes used. Relevance is key in marketing, and at BforB we actively advise our clients to maintain a clean and legitimate database. Rather than giving customers the option to ‘opt out’ from hearing from you, note that the legislation in a way causes companies to gain permission from their customers to communicate with them. 3. Social media marketing and social media customer care Social media isn’t going anywhere, so if you’re not embracing social media platforms as part of your marketing strategy, you can guarantee that your competitors will be. The choice in social media platforms is vast, so whether you’re using Instagram for photo and video sharing or twitter to connect with your audience via hashtags, 2021 will continue to shine a light on businesses using social media. Can you engage your customers in meaningful conversations

using bespoke content, helping to create a community and foster an environment of trust between you and your customers? Customer care via social media platforms is also expected to move up the agenda in 2021. Can you support your sales teams by answering customer questions on social media, in turn helping to protect your brand by connecting with customers via the method they choose? 4. Marketing automation and the rise in web personalisation As time is becoming more and more precious, automation is becoming key to businesses. Marketing automation can save your teams time, and in turn help boost productivity. There are a wide range of automation tools on the market so make sure you take the time to research which will help rather than hinder you and your teams. Web personalisation is being used in the market place by brands such as Amazon. As a business, can you provide your customers with a personalised experience when they interact with your brand? Can the information they see online be shaped around

their buying decisions, and the content they want to interact with? Personalisation ultimately enables customers to see information that is relevant to them first, without being blocked by irrelevant information. 5. Authenticity in marketing and video content is here to stay 76% of marketers and small business owners who have used video marketing say it has had a direct impact on their business. Video may seem like a scary and expensive proposition, but it really doesn’t have to be. Video provides a perfect opportunity for you to portray the personality of you and your brand, helping your customers to get to know, like and trust you. Think about meet the team videos or ‘a day in the life of’ video taking customers behind the scenes of your business. In addition, video is now integral to a successful social media presence, with video posts gaining businesses up to 53% more shares than a photo or text post. If as a brand you didn’t embrace video in 2021, you need to be looking at video as an opportunity to add personality to your brand and boost engagement across your platforms in 2021.

Business for Breakfast (BforB) is internationally recognized for creating successful networking meetings, events and training for referral marketing. We create an environment where you can build quality relationships within your group, backed up by an ongoing member support programme. BforB is committed to helping small to medium scale businesses expand. In our professional network, members meet regularly in business networks to develop relationships, support each other and to share and record referral business. We are here to help you get new business from quality business introductions and referrals made through our meetings. Contact us: 059 4 016 432 |info@bforbgh.com| Facebook & LinkedIn: @bforbghana||www.bforb.com

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Feature

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Calming the storms of the “New Normal” with Digitalisation in the wake of COVID-19; a test case for indigenous banks BY BUSINESS FOR BREAKFAST (BFORB) “No product is made today, no person moves today, nothing is collected, analyzed or communicated without some ‘digital technology’ being an integral part of it. That, in itself, speaks to the overwhelming, ‘value’ of digital technology.” —Louis Rossetto, founder and former editor-in-chief of Wired magazine

The New Normal The “new normal” is by far the most widely used phrase today as the behaviour of many has changed and will continue to be so even after the pandemic is over. This was a term used to refer to financial conditions following the financial crisis of 2007 - 2008 and the aftermath of 2008-2012 global recession. It has come to stay as we navigate our ways in the novel corona virus pandemic era. Digitalisation Pre-COVID-19 A number of indigenous banks made lowly strides in the use of technology to activate processes of their delivery to customers. Many challenges have however, bedeviled banks in fully digitalizing, pre COVID-19. A few are outlined below: 1. Haunted by the ghost of legacy platforms: For most banks, legacy infrastructure is the biggest challenge and highest hurdle to digitalization. Having been built up piecemeal over time, they allow banks to replicate certain parts of a given process online, but that is the limit to what they can achieve. They are the source of siloed information and siloed operations: the direct opposite of the agile, nimble digital processes banks will require. Their complexity and old-fashioned architecture are the reason for such immense maintenance spends. 2. Finding the right people to transform: Digital transformation is a complex process, and you need specialists to become a digital bank. Finding the right people, who can guide through this transformation, is a real challenge for many banks. Digital transformations are more about people than machines. Having the right individuals in place to lead the transition is a matter of honestly assessing your own capabilities and shortcomings. As technology continues to shape the way business gets done, placing your trust in people first will be your best strategy for success. 3. Winning or maintaining customers` trust: Trust is the essential prerequisite for widespread adoption of digital banking by customers; they must

be sure that their identity will not be stolen, that fraudulent payments will not be made from their accounts, and that electronicallysigned bank contracts retain the same legal value and validity as hard-copy contracts. Just like legacy platforms, customers of a bank become fixated with traditional services provided by brick and mortar. This therefore makes it challenging to entirely change that with technology. In the event of retaining their clientele, banks will therefore tread cautiously on the digital transformation journey. They want to build a 100% trust for customers. 4. Meeting regulatory requirements: Banks must comply with increasingly stringent legislation associated with digital transformation. These requirements are instituted internationally and therefore pose challenges to indigenous banks who are already reeling under the tough internal regulations. They must also protect themselves from cyber-attacks, etc., to fulfill risk management obligations. The challenge for banks to protect themselves against cyber-attacks and digital fraud is also a risk. Threats have become extremely advanced, and the attackers are smart enough to identify the kind of precautions that the banks can take, and they design their attacks

accordingly. It’s something banks need to be well aware of. The need for Digitalization of Banking in the “New Normal” The new normal is here with us and banks are expected to navigate and get accustomed to it with deployment of technologies and digitized data in different ways in order to stay in competition. Consumers’ desire for digital banking services will most likely increase, forcing many traditional financial institutions to fast-track digital innovation efforts. The following can be considered: 1. Greater investments in platforms supporting financial inclusion: The digital economy is rapidly developing worldwide as the largest driver of innovation, competition and growth. Even though many people have been excluded, tremendous opportunities are available for the digital economy to support financial inclusion for sustainable economic development. Indigenous banks should by all means and at all cost invest strongly to make this a possibility in the new normal. Enough research should be carried out in this area in order to come up with the best innovation. 2. Increased collaboration and investment in Fintech firms by indigenous banks: Fintech has the potential to facilitate increased financial inclusion by enhancing access

to financial services for those individuals and businesses that have been excluded from formal financial markets. Fintech companies are developing digital services that could result in millions of people having greater access to the banking sector and to new investment products. 3. Omni-Channel customer interaction: A digital channels approach removes the dependency on physical contact and lets banks interact with their customers in a way that suits them best (mobile, online, Cards, etc.). Customers are also enabled to start an application online and continue it on another channel if they prefer. This multichannel approach allows banks to extend the same strategy across business lines and geographies to create a consistent, reliable process that delivers the greatest customer satisfaction in these times and beyond.

Ebenezer ASUMANG (CGIA) worked extensively in mainstream Banking & NBFIs. He is a Chartered member of the CGIA Institute, USA, a Google Certified Digital Marketer and an Author. www.ebenezerasumang.com info@ebenezerasumang.com 0242339145

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Feature

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

How (Not) to Fight COVID-19 BY BY: PETER SINGER & JOANNA MASEL

Public-health experts who adhere to rigid rules for containing the pandemic are standing in the way of new technologies that can help us develop a more flexible approach. By focusing on those with the highest risk of spreading the virus, we can inflict less harm and contain the pandemic more effectively.

hen COVID-19 first appeared, strict quarantine requirements and short, tight lockdowns would have been a small price to pay to keep it at bay. Now that the pandemic has infected over 26 million people in 213 countries and territories, we need to find new ways to control it that are not just effective, but also efficient. To avoid inflicting more pain than necessary, we should target stay-at-home orders as precisely as possible to those who are most likely to pose a risk to others. This requires not just tracing the contacts of those who are infected, but also distinguishing which of their contacts are most likely to have been infected. Here, technology can help. We should combine new apps that notify people when they have been exposed to a risk of infection with new testing methods that are fast, easy, and as readily available as pregnancy tests. Contact tracing cannot work without fast test results, but it can work well even if more rapid tests are not as accurate as the ones we have now. Apps can improve not only the scalability of contact tracing, but also, importantly, its speed. Contact tracing, whether conducted manually or by app, recommends quarantine to the close contacts of those who test positive. In the United States, rules issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that 15 minutes spent within six feet (1.8 meters) of a person during their infectious period warrants a 14-day quarantine. Under these rules, we can expect an average of 59 close contacts per infected person. It is plausible that 2% of US residents are infected today. Multiply that by 59 and most people in the US who aren’t staying home already will need to be quarantined. But viruses don’t obey the CDC’s simplified rules. You are in much less danger spending 15 minutes

five feet away from someone at the edge of their infectious period than you are spending eight hours seven feet away from them at the peak of their infectious period. In Arizona, Covid Watch, a nonprofit open-source software developer, is piloting a new app that seeks to estimate infection risk accurately, rather than reproducing CDC rules. The app recommends quarantine only to those above a certain level of risk, and will tell them, in a completely private way, how long to stay home and when to get tested. There is nothing magic about 14 days of quarantine. If you don’t have symptoms five days after being exposed to the virus, your risk approximately halves. Your risk also falls (but not to zero) if you test negative, but countries where everyone in quarantine is tested are using the same fossilized 14-day rule as those that do not test. If, instead, we let people leave quarantine when their risk drops below the threshold we use to decide who should enter it, we can achieve greater safety at lower cost to individuals and the economy. The threshold for quarantine can depend on where you are. Australia and New Zealand have relatively few cases and are aiming to get to zero as soon as possible. They can have stricter thresholds, quarantining people even for shorter exposures than 15 minutes, and requiring either multiple negative test results or longer quarantines after more dangerous exposures. In countries hit harder by the virus, too many

quarantine recommendations could not only cause excessive economic and psychological harm, but also undermine the public support needed for the rules to be effective. Whenever contact-tracing technology is mentioned, people raise concerns about privacy. The new apps that use the Google-Apple framework should put this worry to rest, because they have invented a way to warn you about a dangerous exposure without information about who you meet ever leaving your phone. Our concern about companies like Apple is different. In the interest of making it difficult for users to guess who has put them at risk, successive versions of the application programming interface (API) controlled by Apple and Google have limited the maximum recorded duration of contact, and then restricted the amount of information available to quantify infectiousness. This reduces the app’s ability to distinguish between lower- and higher-risk contacts. These misguided priorities place a possible and limited loss of privacy above the need to target quarantine recommendations to do the most good. There is a moral obligation to limit the harms from quarantine, as well as to stop the spread of a virus that will, unless effectively checked, cause hundreds of thousands more deaths and prolong lockdowns, with all the hardship that entails for billions of people. Such outcomes become more likely if quarantine is recommended indiscriminately

and compliance drops as a result. In a fast-moving pandemic, we must be ready to change rules quickly in accordance with local conditions, the latest epidemiological evidence, and the development of new technologies that help us reduce the spread of the virus. Public-health experts who rigidly adhere to outdated rules, or, as in Switzerland, even write them into law, are standing in the way of new technologies that can help us develop a more flexible approach. By focusing on those with the highest risk of spreading the virus, we can inflict less harm and contain the pandemic more effectively.

Peter Singer is Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University and founder of the non-profit organization The Life You Can Save. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, The Ethics of What We Eat (with Jim Mason), Rethinking Life and Death, The Point of View of the Universe, co-authored with Katarzyna de LazariRadek, The Most Good You Can Do, Famine, Affluence, and Morality, One World Now, Ethics in the Real World, and Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction, also with Katarzyna de Lazari-Radek. In 2013, he was named the world’s third “most influential contemporary thinker” by the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. Joanna Masel, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona, designed the risk-scoring system used by the Covid Watch exposure notification app.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Feature

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Winners and losers of the pandemic economy BY MICHAEL SPENCE

hile it is true that bullish equity markets are out of step with the historic contraction in the real economy, to say that they are disconnected from it misses the point. In fact, the lofty valuations of companies with high intangible capital per employee make perfect sense in today’s economy. Much economic commentary nowadays focuses on “divergence”: while broad equity-market indices are at or near all-time highs, much of the wider economy struggles to recover from one of the most severe downturns ever. Whereas the Russell 2000 is still down 5.4% year to date, the S&P 500 and the Russell 3000 have fully recovered to their pre-pandemic levels, and the Nasdaq, which tilts toward digital and technology companies, is up some 26%. Many have concluded that the market is unmoored from economic reality. But, viewed another way, today’s equity markets may be partly reflecting powerful underlying trends amplified by the “pandemic economy.” Equity prices and market indices are measures of value creation for the owners of capital, which is not the same thing as value creation in the economy more broadly, where labor and tangible and intangible capital all play a role. Moreover, markets reflect the future expected real returns to capital. When it comes to measuring the present value of labor income, there simply is no comparable forward-looking index. In principal, then, if there is a significant anticipated economic rebound, the outlooks for capital and labor income could be similar, but only capital’s expected future would be reflected in the present. But there is more to the story. Market valuations are increasingly based on intangible assets, not least the ownership and control of data, which confers its own means of value creation and monetization. According to one recent study of the S&P 500, stocks in companies with high levels of intangible capital per employee have recorded the biggest gains this year, and the less intangible capital per employee companies have, the worse their stocks have performed. In other words, incremental value creation in markets and employment are diverging. And while this was true even before the pandemic, the trend has now accelerated. There are at least two reasons for this. One is the rapid adoption of digital technologies as part of the response to lockdown

measures. The second is that many labor-intensive sectors (which normally add value mainly with labor and tangible capital) have been partly or totally shut down as a result of lockdowns, social distancing, and consumer risk aversion. For example, the Dow Jones US Airline Index clearly took a large hit and has yet to recover. In normal times, this sector generates value mainly with tangible capital, labor, and fuel (though there are significant digital elements to its business, too).

are, of course, private companies in digital sectors whose valuations and returns are similar to, or even higher than, the upper end of the intangible-capital spectrum in public markets). More broadly, lower-income households and many small businesses with thin, fragile balance sheets have been left with no effective shock absorbers, and many of the labor-intensive sectors that generate significant employment in normal times (including hotels, restaurants, and

To be sure, general market valuations have been supported by the US Federal Reserve and other major central banks’ interest-rate policies. In the current context, highly accommodative monetary policies are principally aimed at creating space for governments to use debt to finance large fiscal programs in response to the COVID-19 shock. But while ultra-low interest rates may provide some general support for today’s market valuations, they do not account for the stark differences across sectors. After all, the part of the economy not represented by publicly traded stocks is also suffering (though there

bars) have been partly shut down. To address these trends, sovereign balance sheets are being used as a shock absorber for large swaths of the economy. But not all swaths. Because the current crisis is actually boosting the value of certain companies, it is worth asking who owns the bulk of their stock. It certainly isn’t the private households and businesses whose balance sheets are too weak to serve as shock absorbers. Today’s high-valuation companies are owned by individuals and institutions with balance sheets that are already substantial enough to provide a cushion of economic resilience.

When the post-pandemic phase comes into view, labor-intensive sectors with lower intangible capital per employee may enjoy a period of outperformance as they bounce back. Yet even in this scenario, the economy’s digital footprint is likely to expand, and the underlying trend favoring intangible capital and its owners will continue. It is not surprising that intangible-capital-intensive sectors would have an advantage. For the most part, their cost structures are abnormally tilted toward fixed costs and low or negligible marginal costs. This makes some platforms massively scalable, which in turn confers significant power in terms of pricing and market access. One could draw a few conclusions from these economic realities. For starters, the pandemic economy has accelerated the pre-pandemic trend favoring intangible-asset value creation through firms with relatively fewer employees. We can expect this trend to continue, albeit not at the heightened pandemicinduced pace. Traditional businesses will recover, but the disconnect between value creation across firms depending on intangibles per employee will persist and remain a major economic and social challenge. The idea that markets and the economy are diverging reflects a narrow focus on particular indices. But no single index can offer a useful summary of overall market, let alone economic, conditions and trends. And in the pandemic economy, equity-market indices obscure even more than they otherwise would, owing to the large divergences in economic outcomes across sectors and for the people who work in them. Finally, given the outsize contribution of digital intangible assets to value creation, it is hard to see a way to reverse the trend of rising wealth inequality. Because the balance sheets of those lower down the income and wealth ladder are largely devoid of assets with high intangible and digital content, the rewards of current economic and technological dynamics will pass them by. Michael Spence, a Nobel laureate in economics, is Professor of Economics Emeritus and a former dean of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He is Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, serves on the Academic Committee at Luohan Academy, and co-chairs the Advisory Board of the Asia Global Institute. He was chairman of the independent Commission on Growth and Development, an international body that from 2006-10 analyzed opportunities for global economic growth, and is the author of The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Aviation

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Airlines are removing seats to make space for gadgets and seafood cargoes Cargo, one of the least glamorous aspects of flying, is proving a rare ray of light for airlines amid the coronavirus gloom. The grounding of passenger planes at a time of increased demand for everything from medical supplies to iPhones has boosted freight rates. With much of the world’s population housebound and shopping online instead of hitting the malls, analysts see no let up in demand, particularly as the peak year-end holiday season approaches. “Airfreight is going to be a bright spot for carriers at least for this year because while borders are closed that doesn’t mean people aren’t buying,” said Um Kyung-a, an airline analyst at Shinyoung Securities Co. in Seoul. “That trend is likely to continue as cargo capacity remains limited.” The sort of goods moving along this global conveyor belt 30,000 feet in the sky also track the pandemic’s unfurling. Masks and gloves have given way to semiconductor chips and PC parts as consumers set up work-from-home arrangements. Fresh produce is also big as people venture out less. Ultimately, once a vaccine is found, airlines will be used to disperse billions of vials quickly and in a temperaturecontrolled environment. Under normal circumstances, about 60% of air cargo globally is flown in the belly hold of passenger flights. With hundreds of those jets parked in deserts waiting out the pandemic, airfreight costs have

spiraled: rates to North America from Hong Kong are up almost 60% this year. For Qantas Airways Ltd., medical freight out of China hit a peak in May and June. “What we saw were huge uplifts of light but very bulky freight — masks and gowns and gloves and the like. That was when we started to see airlines put light, fluffy boxes into passenger cabins,” said Nick McGlynn, who oversees Qantas’s freight sales and network as the unit’s chief customer officer. That’s now subsided and Qantas has since been flying fresh produce from Australia into Asia including “significant amounts” of tuna to Japan and coral trout to Hong Kong, he said. On routes back to Australia, it’s dominated by medical supplies, car parts and electronics, as well as components for Caterpillar Inc. mining equipment from the U.S. Fiji Airways is making a little extra from carrying seafood and kava, CEO Andre Viljoen said during a presentation last week. Bloomberg Intelligence predicts belly capacity from passenger air fleets won’t return to pre-pandemic levels before 2022. Not every airline is able to pivot to address the changed circumstances. But those that can haven’t wasted any time. In the U.S., United Airlines Holdings Inc. recently operated its 5,000th cargo-only flight (the busiest air cargo routes are between Asia and North America.) The carrier’s revenue from cargo jumped more than 36% in the

second quarter to $402 million. American Airlines Group Inc., meanwhile, has relaunched cargoonly services after a 35-year hiatus. In September, it expects to operate more than 1,000 cargo-only widebody flights, primarily Boeing Co. 777s and 787s, to 32 destinations in Latin America, Europe and Asia. In Asia, Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s budget long-haul arm Scoot last month removed the passenger seats from one of its Airbus SE A320s to free up more space, while Korean Air Lines Co., which is also converting planes, and Asiana Airlines Inc. eked out quarterly profits after flying jets loaded with technology components to sate consumer demand for at-home gadgets. With the exception of cargo, global airline share prices have barely risen from the low reached in March, while overall equity markets have recently recovered to pre-COVID-19 levels. Emirates, the world’s fourthbiggest cargo carrier after Federal Express Corp., Qatar Airways and United Parcel Service Inc., said it “reacted very quickly,” scaling up its cargo network to around 50 destinations by early April, 75 by mid-May and 100 by the start of July. “We’ve been able to connect more than 115 destinations with cargo capacity on a scheduled basis,” said Emirates’ Divisional Senior Vice President of Cargo, Nabil Sultan. “We worked round the clock to use not only our freighter fleet, but also our passenger aircraft

for cargo flights.” That’s not to say there isn’t an enormous amount of pain in global aviation. Airlines are hemorrhaging cash and laying off tens of thousands of staff. While the cargo operations of Deutsche Lufthansa AG contributed a record 299 million euros ($354 million) to the group’s operating profit in the second quarter, and the operating margin of the airline’s cargo arm was a robust 39%, the wider Lufthansa group suffered a massive 1.7 billion euro operating loss in the three-month period. Still, in such a tough environment, every bit counts. Indonesia’s PT Lion Mentari Airlines is even hauling basic necessities like nonperishable food stuffs by plane across its vast archipelago. “Canned foods, things you’d normally buy on your grocery trip, are being air flown because this is a more efficient way to have them delivered across the country,” Managing Director Daniel Putut said. “With passengers falling sharply, we have to find other revenue means.” Qatar Airways, one of the world’s heavyweights in freight, doesn’t see cargo rates coming down for at least 12 months. “The world is a village and air cargo is the main street,” said Guillaume Halleux, Qatar’s chief cargo officer. “Airlines in general have become the lifeline for the world, and airlines with strong strategies and agility have been able to sustain themselves most easily.”

President appoints first female Dep. Director-General of CAA Ms. Juliet Aboagye Wiafe, a seasoned auditor, has been appointed by President Akufo-Addo as the Ag. Deputy Director General, Finance and Administration of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, effective immediately. She is the first female to be appointed to occupy the Deputy Director Generals position following the retirement of Mr. Abdulia Alhassan who attained the compulsory retiring age of 60 last July. Ms. Aboagye Waife, has an indepth knowledge of the Aviation Industry having worked with the Ghana Airports Company Limited as the Director of Audit for over 10 years, where she ensured the restructuring of the Audit department to make it more efficient and also helped improved controls , and overall governance processes of GACL. Prior to joining the Ghana Airports

Company in 2010, she worked with Pannel Kerr Forster Charted Accountant as Management Trainee and later joined Ghacem Limited, a member of the Heidelberg Cement Group for 17 years. Due to her strong auditing background she was made to serve as a member of the Audit Report Implementation Committee(ARIC) in several institutions in Ghana including the Minerals Commission, Ghana Highways Authority, Community Water and Sanitation Agency, Local Government Secretariat , and the Statistical Service of Ghana. Ms. Juliet Aboagye Waife is the immediate past President and council Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors, Ghana. She is also a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors (Global)as well as a member of the Association of Airports Internal Auditors (USA). She served as a Board Member of

Servair Ghana Company Limited, an airline catering Company from 2012013 and contributed significantly to the establishing a sound financial and administrative system. Ms. Aboagye Wiafe is the chairperson of the Audit Committee of the Ministry of Local Government

and Rural Development as well as a member of the Audit Committee of the Ghana Health Service. She is also the President of the Women in Aviation International, Ghana Chapter, and a member of the Association of women Accountants Ghana.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

News

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Council urges government to end activities of industrial pair trawlers The Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council has called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to direct all industrial pair trawlers to land their catches at the two designated ports of Tema and Takoradi as was done in 2018. The move, the Council noted, would help the Ministry of Fisheries and Acqua Culture Development and the Fisheries Commission officers to assess the landings of the trawlers and to identify vessels with juveniles or small pelagics. The Council said the presence of observers on the vessels, the CCTV cameras onboard and the Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) of the Monitoring and Control Surveillance Device (MCSD) would ensure that the trawlers did not dump their catch on the high seas. This was contained in a press release issued by Western Regional Chairman of the GNCFC, Nana Emmanuel Odwire and Regional Secretary, Mr Mike Abakah-Edu after a meeting at Axim. The statement said if such measures were taken by the President “it will compel the

trawlers to catch what they have been licensed to catch” and put to rest the illegal transhipment at sea otherwise known as “Saiko”. The Council noted that Saiko was one of the most damaging forms of illegal fishing, which deprived thousands of fishers and the dependents of their livelihoods and thereby threatening Ghana’s food security. The Council, therefore, extended

its appreciation to President Nana Akufo-Addo for his confirmation during his recent tour to the Central Region that “Saiko is illegal and his government is committed to ending it to save the livelihoods of the over 2.7 million Ghanaians who depend on fishing”. The GNCFC also commended President Nana Akufo-Addo on the key steps his government had taken to strengthen the enforcement units to improve their efficiency

in enforcing the laws.“The Council is ready to provide further eyes on the sea as we undertake our fishing expeditions and will report suspected cases of illegal transhipment to the marine police to maximize the use of their limited resources.” The statement said the appeal to the President to end Saiko was informed by the poor catch of fishermen across all the four coastal regions. The Council called for the enforcement of the existing laws as Saiko is prohibited under the Fisheries laws of Ghana, the 2002 Fisheries Act 625 and the 2010 Fisheries Regulations LI 1968 which specifically prohibits the transhipment of fish from a Ghanaian industrial vessel to a canoe. It said the implementation of the 2020 budget statement on Saiko is “more than adequate to address the mother of all illegalities.” The Council called on political parties to formulate policies that would address the issues of illegal fishing in the Fisheries sector.

OMC complexities impose enormous challenges – Marketing Expert The complexities in the oil marketing supply-chain impose enormous challenges for both operators and consumers of petroleum products, Mr David Afiawo, a Marketing Consultant, said on Saturday and called for cooperation among stakeholders. He said management of petroleum products was not the responsibility of filling station attendants, dealers, and managers alone but also involved the driving public and others who operated within the vicinities of filing stations. He said any lapses on the part of any stakeholder, including regulators, would spell disaster and that; “We must all work together to ensure safety at filling stations and around it”. Mr Afiawo, speaking at the commissioning of a filling station at Osino in the Eastern Region by Engen Ghana Limited, appealed to stakeholders in the oil marketing industry to collaborate to ensure the safety of lives and property at all times. He called on attendants and dealers to enforce the disciplinary code including none use of mobile phones and putting off engines

while purchasing petroleum products. Mr Afiawo emphasised the need to adopt best practices to manage challenges in the supply chain and urged the OMCs to focus on transporters of petroleum products, equipment, communication, customers, and finance as any operational deficiency had the potential of affecting the nation.

He called for the training of frontline staff in best practices and effective customer service to inject professionalism into the field of operations. Alhaji Abdulai Yahaya, Dealer of the Osino Engen Filling Station, said operating a filling station in a rural environment was quite challenging but “we must not only look at the financial side of business but

consider the interest of our people at the countryside”. “Operating oil and gas companies in some of the most physically and politically challenging environments may not offer huge financial attraction but service to the people is service to God,” he said. GNA

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Automobile

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Google is finally getting serious about android automotive In addition to Android Auto, the car-optimized Android experience that is powered by a mobile phone, Google is also working on Android Automotive, a platform that comes pre-loaded in every vehicle and which is supposed to provide access to more capabilities Android Automotive, however, is still in its early days, as it’s currently available only on the Polestar 2. But the good news is that the number of brands and models adopting Android Automotive is expected to increase substantially in the coming years, as carmakers like Peugeot, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Volvo, and Opel are all expected to pre-install the system on their new cars. Therefore, it’s now the time for Google to get serious about Android Automotive, and ahead of this projected spike in global adoption, the company is trying to make it easier for users to discover the benefits of the platform. So what Google is doing right now is publish support pages for Android Automotive, pretty much providing drivers with the necessary

documentation to help them figure out how to use the system and the pre-loaded apps. The support pages include information on how to get started with Android Automotive, make calls and send messages, listen to music, news, and audiobooks, but also use Google apps like Google Assistant and Google Maps. Needless to say, Android Automotive integration provides

Paul walker’s personal R34 skyline GT-R is rare and expensive

Nissan made a lot of cool cars over the years, but none are as exotic as this. It comes from Japan, is named Godzilla, and costs supercar money. The R34 is arguably the best Skyline and this particular example was owned by the late Paul Walker. Unlike many of his Fast and Furious co-stars, Walker was a real car nut. And according to the famed technical advisor Craig Lieberman, who supplied cars for the first two movies, “Brian O’Conner” love for all things JDM started when he saw an R32 at the studio. After wrapping up filming on the first movie, Walker got an R34 on loan from MotoRex for several months, which many people believed was his. After that, Walker bought his own, a 1999 Skyline V-Spec in Sonic Silver. Because it had issues with the paint, the movie star sold it and got a white 2001 Nissan Skyline

R34 V-Spec II. After landing with its new owner in Hawaii, the Sonic Silver got a new body kit, wheels, an HKS intercooler, and a $3,000 dry carbon hood. It even had the Blackbird to replicate the car in 2 Fast. The next owner bought it at auction and after that, it was bought by JDM specialist Top Rank Imports in California. It’s where the silver GT-R currently resides, and a number of feature videos have been shot over the past month. Getting back to the question of price, Lieberman believes it’s worth around $400,000 today. It’s not strictly about celebrity ownership, as an R32 that was also owned by Walker recently sold at just over $100,000. When the Skyline becomes legal in the United States, every unit Japan has to spare will be bought. However, none of those were owned by the man who made the R34 into a movie star.

users with plenty of new features over Android Auto, and drivers will be able to perform several new actions using voice commands. According to the support pages, they can even control car features, such as the air conditioning, all with commands through Google Assistant on Android Automotive. For example, some of the commands that will be supported by Google Assistant on Android

Automotive include “Set the temperature to X degrees,” “Turn on my seat heater,” and “Turn on the front defroster.” Google Maps will also benefit from new capabilities, including battery information for an electric car, with more features to be added as the adoption of Android Automotive increases.

Smart city will use cameras to let doctors offer advice in case of accidents Edinburgh is about to become one of the smartest cities in the entire world, as the local authorities have adopted a multi-year digital transformation plan that relies on latest-generation technology to improve the quality of life. Thanks to a partnership with Canadian-based CGI, the Scotland capital wants to embrace a smart revolution that starts with a new traffic light system. Using intelligent traffic signals, this new system can automatically adapt to the current traffic flow and turn to green when needed in order to avoid jams in the largest intersections. Similar tech is already being used in other parts of the world too, and the Edinburgh authorities believe that it should help improve traffic and reduce carbon emissions in the city. In addition, Edinburgh wants to install smart sensors in public bins that would send alerts whenever they’re full, as well as smart streetlights that can automatically control the brightness or allow the council to adjust it manually from a remote location.

In the future, authorities want to use the streetlights to install video cameras that dedicated staff can connect to in case of an emergency and help with advice. For example, if an accident happens in an intersection, a doctor can access one of the cameras in the area and speak remotely into a microphone to provide someone with medical recommendations until an ambulance arrives at the scene, according to Edinburgh Evening News. Further sensors can be installed in homes to detect things like damp, and alerts would then be sent to authorities to help prevent further damage. To turn this digital transformation into reality, the City of Edinburgh Council has extended its original deal with CGI until 2029. “Providing stability for the Council’s ICT services, the extension will save a further £12m and help the Council look further ahead to the future. It will see CGI working with the Council on further digital transformation of services and continuing to be the Council’s primary ICT provider for the next nine years,” a press announcement released by the council reads.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

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MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020

Agyapa Royalties transaction not suspended — Finance Ministry clarifies The Finance Ministry has denied suspending the controversial Agyapa Royalties deal saying that media reports to that effect were inaccurate and misleading. A press release issued by the Ministry on Friday, September 4, said the deal is very much alive except that the government is seeking broader engagement with other relevant stakeholders before it proceeds with the arrangement to list on the London Stock Exchange. “The Ministry wishes to state that, the Agyapa Royalties transaction has not been suspended… “The main outcome of the meeting as acknowledged by both sides was that, the government had fulfilled the requirements of the law. There was, however, the need for broader consultations to ensure the buy-in of all Ghanaians. “The meeting with the CSOs was one such consultation and the Ministry agreed with them to further broaden the consultations and to solicit further input from them and other Ghanaian constituencies going forward. “A number of concerns raised

by the CSOs included registration of the entity in a tax haven, transparency, how the values were arrived and what the country stood to benefit from the Agyapa Royalty Transaction. After their concerns were aptly addressed by the Hon. Minister for Finance and his

Deputy, they called on government to engage other institutions and stakeholders. At no point was there any suggestion that the transaction is being halted as being reported. “It is regrettable for a media house to publish such a story and wrongfully attribute it to people

who contributed meaningfully at the meeting with the Minister for Finance. The Ministry sees the media as a major stakeholder and wishes to call on them to seek clarity, especially on such emotive issues before publishing,” the statement said.

Free zones sets up debt collection system to retrieve all outstanding debt — Baafi Mr. Michael Okyere Baafi, Chief Executive of the Ghana Free Zones Authority (GFZA) has revealed that the organization has set up a new Debt Collection System to retrieve all the monies owed the company. Besides, the organization has also put in place measures to setup a new Credit Control Unit and a task force to recover and manage the debt owed the GFZA. “As I am talking to you now, we have been able to collect the chunk of the money with some of them left, but those are companies not actively operating as Free Zones companies.” Mr Baafi made the revelation when he appeared before the Public Account Committee (PAC) of Parliament, which was considering the 2017 Auditor General’s Report on Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MMDAs). Mr Samuel Nartey George, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prampram during the PAC sitting of also inquired from Mr Baafi whether an amount of US$150,853 being the ground rent and annual licensing fee renewals as well as a total of US$733,789 and GHC271,600 owed as premium on

land or power supply in 2015 has been recovered? Mr Baafi also explained that when they took over the management of the organization, they realized that the credit control and debt collection systems were weak and most of the debt owed them was not paid because they did not have good strategies to retrieve the monies. He said as an organization they decide to setup a new system to recover all the monies owed the Ghana Free Zones Authority.

He said even though some companies were capable of paying for their debts, but were either refusing or delaying in paying because they thought it was not necessary. Mr Baafi also announced that the GFZA is working to delist companies that were not actively operating as Free Zones companies from the concept. He said at the last board meeting the officials gave the organization the go ahead to delist companies that were inactive.

He explained that the inactive companies still had their outstanding balances on their books, which were not good for them, saying that they had to delist them to have a clean sheet. He announced that the organization had prepared letters to serve notices to the inactive companies that were to be delisted from the Free Zones. “As am speaking to you now, the letters are ready and by next week we would serve them notice,” he added.

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Supporting small businesses to access finance for Covid resilience

he COVID-19 pandemic has affected many businesses, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the cocoa sector that provide critical services to smallholder farmers in Ghana. These small businesses, when provided with the needed support, play a vital role in improving the livelihoods of farmers through yield enhancements and market linkages. Access to timely and affordable finance is, therefore, essential to fuel the growth of these enterprises during this pandemic. Preparing SMEs for investment Solidaridad, through its Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme, funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana, has been building the capacities of participating SMEs to roll out service delivery models, referred to as rural service centers under the programme. Through an investment readiness support model, Solidaridad prepares these service centres for commercial funding to grow their businesses. The support is to give the SMEs the professional outlook needed to attract impact investors. To achieve this, Solidaridad provides technical assistance to the SMEs in the area of business modelling, climate-smart cocoa production and entrepreneurship. In addition, Solidaridad facilitates concessional financing for these enterprises to build service centers in rural communities, pay for labour and to procure needed agro inputs, tools and pieces of equipment. So far, 20 SMEs have benefitted from the investment readiness support under the programme. Linking SMEs with investors To facilitate access to finance for SMEs that have gone through the investment readiness support, Solidaridad engages impact investors to finance the growth phase of these enterprises. One such impact investor is Acumen, a non-profit organization with over 15 years’ experience in investing in social enterprises that serve lowincome communities in developing countries across sub-Saharan Africa. One of the enterprises that have benefited from the partnership with Acumen is Emfed Farms and Trading Company Limited, a rural service centre operator at Assin Fosu in the Central region of Ghana. Currently, Emfed provides agro inputs, labour and full farm management services to poor smallholder cocoa farmers in Assin Fosu and its surrounding communities on credit. Established in 2012, the

company joined the first phase of Solidaridad’s Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme (CORIP I) in 2015 as a rural service centre operator to prove the commercial viability of its business model. Having achieved this, the company joined the second phase of the programme to benefit from its investment readiness support to scale up. In 2018, Kwabena Assan Mends, managing director of Emfed Farms and Trading Company Limited, was supported by Solidaridad to participate in the Acumen Fellowship, designed to build a pipeline of connected business leaders who challenge the status quo by inspiring their communities to build a future devoid of poverty. Today, he is an Acumen West Africa Fellow. “Over the past five years, Solidaridad has enhanced our knowledge in good agronomic practices and entrepreneurship through various capacity building training and also provided us with a grant to prove the business case for our service delivery model. This puts us in a better position to deliver value to our farmers and our shareholders,” says Kwabena. He adds that in December 2017, Solidaridad also supported Emfed Farms to put together the company’s board of directors and registered the business as a limited

liability company. This, he says, made the business more attractive to impact investors. Acumen supports Emfed Farms to build COVID-19 resilience Emfed Farms recently received US$ 46,810 from the Acumen Global Emergency Facility, a fund designed to assist enterprises serve their communities’ immediate needs during the pandemic and continue their long-term work of serving the poor and vulnerable after the crisis. The funding was to help the company to continue engaging and providing services to poor cocoa farmers, maintain its core staff and farm hands, especially women, provide personal protective equipment for its workers, and disseminate COVID-19 safety messages to farmers and members of their communities. Prior to receiving the funds, Mends said his company’s revenues had begun to decline because farmers were reluctant to procure services from the company for fear of contracting the virus. In addition, critical labour was in short supply following the government’s announcement of an impending lockdown. The low revenues, coupled with increases in the cost of production, due largely to price gouging, affected the company’s cash flow generation capacity and profitability.

“Emfed Farms is excited to receive this timely intervention from Acumen Global Emergency Facility. This will help us continue to provide farm management services and inputs to our farmers on credit during this period of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful to Solidaridad for providing us with the necessary support to apply for the funding,” says Kwabena Assan Mends. Improving access to finance is at the heart of Solidaridad’s work “For us at Solidaridad, we are happy that our collaboration with Emfed Farms and impact investors like Acumen over the last five years is showing the desired results. We believe that with the right partnerships, our collective aim of lifting poor cocoa farmers in West Africa out of poverty will be achieved soon,” says Hammond Mensah, programme manager for CORIP and head of access to finance, Solidaridad West Africa. Increasing access to finance for small and medium enterprises under the Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme is in line with Solidaridad’s impact investment and innovative finance strategy, which seeks to develop inclusive financial models and create a support structure for SMEs and smallholders to thrive.

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 7 2020