I admit the popularity of the theory that infant businesses
cannot stand the monopolies of giant companies and the same may be said of
today’s leading professionals in our many different sectors; from the arts to
the sciences. However, I must disagree with the notion that the big guys are
doing so good a job at satisfying their customers, that there is little or no
opportunity for today’s guys, in a changing and highly competitive country like
Ghana. Well, I just do not believe in the concept of monopoly. I think there
are too many opportunities out there that people have not yet explored; if they
had then the country’s most basic problems would have been solved by now. These
opportunities that I’m referring to I believe are the key to our individual and
national prosperity, underlying the concept of personal branding. Ghanaian women can be more enterprising , our fresh graduates should create
their personal brands, to beat the competition, and the already employed should
excel in their positions and work towards achieving indispensable status.
Take the case of Vodafone/Ghana telecom.
Sixteen years ago, they not only enjoyed the favor of the Ghanaian government
but had absolute monopoly in the telecommunications industry. Today they share
the market with Zain, Tigo, Espresso, MTN, Africa –on-Line and maybe soon Glo. Why? -Poor pricing policy coupled with poor
service delivery. And also, rather unfortunately, telecom services in general received
in the country, at present, are still characterized by inadequate coverage,
very poor internet connectivity services and just ridiculous price gauging that
gives no consideration for quality service. What’s more, many of our other
industries suffer from this and other similar corporate ailments which are
mostly a result of low standards set at different levels.
These
low standards range from inappropriate corporate structures, to primitive work
behavior of employees along with inadequate customer service delivery systems- which
are very rampant especially in our ministries, 3 and 4 star hospitality
facilities, legal and security systems and indeed a good many of our other
sectors. So, all I’m trying to say is
that, as long as there is room for improvement in any economic structure, it
cannot be claimed that it is choked or has little or no opportunity. And the
long story short of this scenario is that, in my opinion, the current companies
running our Ghanaian economy have failed to achieve monopoly status, and there
is need for more competition to improve their standards. The same however, goes
for all our professionals as well – companies in their desire to provide high
class services, should endeavor to work with highly experienced and useful
employees only.
Okay, I
hope I managed to communicate the fact that monopoly in reality exists only in a
mindset. But, fortunately,
we are talking about personal branding and not our traditional products and
service providers. Tyler Durden from Fight Club once made a remarkable
statement that I want you to visualize as you read out. “You are not
special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You are the same decaying
organic matter as everything else”. Okay,
I know my entries on this blog are supposed to help people realize their
potential to build their personal brands and this definitely cannot be done
with a low self esteem. Exactly my point… In trying to be unique, we need to
understand that we are not the only product …or so to speak, the only
professionals on the market. There are
several others and we need to defend ourselves to people who patronize our
skills, abilities and talents. And this is the whole concept. Because monopoly doesn't really exist, we can “also” make a difference where ever we may be,
because there will always be opportunity to outshine others without involving
them.
Well do you also know that some folks describe our times as the millennium for women? Well yes! And instead of taking this for granted, women can be more appreciative of the opportunities given, for they've not always been there; and work hard and smarter to take their careers to the next level. To do this, women I think should be more enterprising.
I must clarify that I am not referring to women starting their own businesses or anything like that, at least not in this post.
By being enterprising I believe woman can create a whole lot of avenues to grow their careers. - to not only satisfy their creativity but also they can aim at solving organizational problems that come at different levels; by furthering their education, using initiative, being goal oriented, accountable and adaptable to the changing needs of organizations in light of their areas of specialization. Finally, Ghanaian women should be more ambitious than many are today. I believe that nothing we do without passion is worth doing in the first place.
This is a good piece no doubt... l know people will agree with your assertion in fact they do...
ReplyDeleteHowever in Ghana for instance, lack of capital(money, human......)leave organizations and companies with no option than to stick to what is been working for them. They therefor can only accommodate very small changes.
Where all factors are readily available new ideas can always be experimented base on concrete foresight analysis.
There are many factors that can be mentioned here......
Let see what holds for us in the future as we fight and hope to revolutionize things.
Am so much challenged and impressed by your tone of direction and believe that we should have a paradigm shift.....by GIVING NEW IDEAS A SECOND CHANCE
Thank you Mr. Amonoo for your thoughtful comments.
ReplyDeleteYes, I totally agree with you. We need to have a paradigm shift in many areas of our national growth and performance. Hopefully, our generation can take the lead in the process, by being more responsible with the challenges, opportunities and resources that present themselves before us.
What Ghana will be tomorrow, depends on us, and what we doing today. I hope many of us get the picture.
Thank you again.