SPEECH BY MR. MAGNUS REX DANQUAH, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, RICS CONSULT LIMITED AT THE TOTAL EMANCIPATION 2010 EVENT ORGANISED BY FAMILY VISION AFRICA PROJECT AT THE NOVOTEL HOTEL ON SATURDAY, 30TH OCTOBER
Mr. Chairman;
Representative of H. E. the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, Honourable Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs;
Nananom;
Distinguished Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media;
I deem it a great honour for which I would forever be grateful to the organizers, Family Vision Africa Project, considering my rather humble and ordinary beginnings as an orphan at a very early, tender age and also that I have long traveled this road that the youth that the Project will cater for will definitely travel.
Mr. Chairman, please permit me to quote the Holy Book intermittently as I progress with my speech to take us on a path, which is very common to a lot of the youth of Ghana and Africa, especially the needy, under-privileged, orphans but mostly brilliant and gifted, and yet we as a people lose it all because of one thing: DREAMS and how we handle them, especially the dreamers.
It is recorded in the book of Genesis that Joseph had a dream……then later Joseph had another dream………
Let me state that communities, societies, nations, and continents are built and shaped by dreamers, it is dreamers who persevere and turn their dreams into producing inventions and designs that impact on our day-to-day lives, shape the future of tomorrow for all of us; and it is dreamers who worked on the seven wonders of the world, which still stand to our amazement today.
It is people with discernment, however, who could tell which of our children are dreamers, gifted and need the support of an entire village.
Long ago in this country, a whole village could decide to pool resources to sponsor the son or daughter of a neighbor to continue with his or her education, particularly outside the community, believing that that one individual will return one day after furthering his / her education to contribute to the general well-being of the rest of village. He or she is also expected to return and play his or her part towards the growth and development of the village, which helped to put him or her through education.
Gone, also are those days when we were all responsible for more than our own children, making the youth more responsible and disciplined, knowing even when you are in public and aware from the eyes of your own parents, you are not alone since you would be expected to behave with decorum towards all, whom you were supposed to offer the same respect as you would to your own parents.
Mr. Chairman, I have digressed a bit because I gather we have assembled here because of the DREAM of our son and brother, Prince Williams Oduro, the Executive Chairman of the Family Vision Africa.
Like Joseph son of Jacob, our brother and son had a dream in 2007 to establish the Family Vision Africa project to provide capacity building, financial and technical assistance through innovative programmes and strategies to create equal opportunities for the empowerment of under-privileged women for sustainable livelihood; supplying medical assistance; to building schools and providing educational opportunities for the under-privileged children on the streets and in rural communities.
As part of our brother and son’s dream, the Family Vision Africa Project has been able to acquire twenty acres of land in Essiam in the Ejumako-Enyan-Essiam District in the Central Region for a proposed village project.
According to his dream, the 20-acre model community-based educational complex project, when completed will provide an educational complex of classrooms, library, computer laboratory, reading rooms, boarding facility and administrative block; a Sick Bay; Counseling and Placement Centre; Sports Complex and Fitness Centre; Volunteers Block; Arts Museum and Centre; and a Garden for relaxation.
The question we have to answer for ourselves this evening is whether we want to be like Joseph’s brothers and family or like of old, we would as a village contribute so that collectively we can assist our brother and son to realize his dream?
Or would we like Joseph’s brothers and family think otherwise till when the project is completed and we come back during our other lives-after-death and find ourselves as under-privileged, apply for support from the Family Vision Africa project?
Mr. Chairman, before writing this speech, I had wondered why our brother and son chose to select me to come and be part of this evening’s function? What attributes did he and his team see in me and what is it that I am not seeing of myself to question their judgment?
Yes, I was an orphan;
Yes, I had lots of dreams like Joseph and our brother and son, Prince Williams Oduro, indeed admittedly much bigger than this in the beginning but truthfully, I have lived greater part of all these dreams because I had people who like in the village, believed in me and my dreams and helped in diverse ways to enable me realize most of them.
Thus, when our brother and son approached me and invited me to be part of this evening’s event, I wasn’t seeing him but myself at the beginning of my own journey, taking various proposals, projects and events for sponsorship and support by others, both corporate and individuals.
Mr. Chairman, I was looking at myself whilst he tried to convince me of the viability of the project; why I should believe and share his faith in himself and the project he wants to undertake to impact the society; I was looking at myself on my first day at trying my hands at presentation and even not appropriately dressed and yet, the gentleman I was talking to had all the patience to correct me during the presentation and to ask me to come back the following day for my break.
As I talk about all these things, please I would want you to do likewise and to appreciate why we need to give others a break, unconditional, because one day our own children, and children’s children would be sitting before somebody else and what we do here this evening will make the difference in their lives, too.
Life is one long journey and as a nation, we should begin to appreciate that and act accordingly.
The problems we face today as a nation and as a continent are not insurmountable, for as long as we begin to dream again like Joseph and our brother and son, Prince Williams Oduro.
Indeed, let’s begin to dream BIG again for it is only dreamers who shape the future as Joseph did ending up as the head of government in a foreign land; it is only dreamers who can look into the future and build subways in Europe and Americas at a time that there was no traffic but could look into the future and realize the possibilities; it is dreamers who would invent things seen in their dreams and actualize them, knowing that it would help the bigger society, nation and continent.
Dreamers, who get the strategic support of others, create industries to provide employment for our mass unemployed youth; and it is dreamers who see opportunities where others see stumbling blocks to create the kind of future we all desire for ourselves.
Mr. Chairman, it is for all these reasons that I am gratified to be here this evening to be part of the Family Vision Africa dream and call on all to endeavour to lend any kind of support to make the dream come to pass and by it make the district a much better place through this project.
Thank you for your attention and God richly bless us all and make our nation, Ghana great and strong.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
“Citizenship Development Through Sports” ORGANISED BY BRAND GHANA OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY, 1ST SEPTEMBER, 2010
COMMENTARY BY MR. MAGNUS REX DANQUAH, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, RICS CONSULT LIMITED AT THE NATIONAL IDENTITY SUMMIT BREAKOUT SESSION:AT THE COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS AT 8.00AM
0.0 INTRODUCTION
Mr. Moderator, I see my invitation and presence at this Breakout Session: “CITIZENSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SPORTS” of the National Identity Summit organised by the Brand Ghana Office as more than opportune, not so much for my participation, but also for the fact that it is providing the unique platform for me to articulate the critical role SPORTS ought to play in the general theme of this Summit: “Ghana In Search Of A Competitive Identity”.
1.0 WHAT NATIONS, GOVERNMENTS & THEIR PEOPLES SEEK TO DO WITH SPORTS
First, permit me to admit that I will only be making these comments from the point of a concerned bystander, who over the last thirty years, have witnessed with keen interest the global evolution of sports as a platform for talent and skill development, leisure, physical education and recreation into a vehicle for socio-economic changes amongst nations.
What nations and governments have sought to do, in the circumstances, have been to use sport as a tool for re-engineering their economies and increase their sports infrastructure stock by continuously engaging in the bidding war for the rights to host and organise various international sporting events.
In short, nations, governments and their peoples have used these national and international sports events as platforms to ‘brand and or re-brand’ themselves through re-positioning their nations globally in the comity of nations; their culture, music and dance (through elaborate, expensive Opening & Closing Ceremonies); promote domestic & international tourism and particularly sports tourism; showcase their economies and above all else, drive their national development agendas.
Thus, I will opt for a different approach than looking at it wholly from the group title: ‘CITIZENSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SPORTS’.
2.0 MY UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT BRAND GHANA CONSTITUTES?
Brand Ghana, to me, is the sum total of all the attributes that are symbolised in the title ‘Ghanaian’, acquired over the ages from the Songhai Empire with migration to our present location.
History has it that it was Mari Djata, the King of Mali who defeated the Kingdom of Ghana in Western Sudan in the year 1076. As a result, many of the conquered people fled southwards and eventually, it is believed, reached as far as Ashanti and the coastal plains of the Gold Coast. Of this the prevailing theory links the Akan people of the present Ghana, by direct descent, with the people of the great Kingdom of Ghana, which flourished in the old Ghana more than a thousand years ago.
Thus, the brand should by all imagination encompass all our achievements as a people and individual exploits in whatever field of endeavour; our collective and individual failures; our culture; our music; our way of life; our languages; our hospitality; our politics; our leadership; our religions; people’s perceptions of who and what we are; as well as our hurts and emotions.
Again, we could also look at the other academic considerations and areas, which the other breakout sessions will be discussing today.
3.0 SPORTS, INDIVIDUAL EXPLOITS & THE NATIONAL IDENTITY DIALOGUE
Now to my interest in the whole NATIONAL IDENTITY SUMMIT: Sports and the National Identity issue.
For me, the exploits of our sportsmen and women from the period of Gold Coast, pre-independence to date from Mike Ahey, Alice Anum, Floyd Robertson, Joe Tetteh, Azumah Nelson, D. K. Poison, the Black Stars Team that held Real Madrid F/C to a pulsating 3-3 draw, C. K. Gyamfi, Osei Kofi, Aggrey Fynn, Edward Acquah, Abedi Pele Ayew, ‘Abetifi Mustang’, Mohammed Polo and many others not mentioned have all helped by their exploits in the field of sports to add value to the brand GHANA.
Outside sports, we can look at such personalities as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, whose centenary we have celebrated this year, H. E. Kofi Annan, Alex Quaison-Sackey, Dr. Robert Gardiner, Emmanuel Amoako of the ECA, Archbishop Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Tetteh Quarshie – for Ghana’s cocoa, Prof. Francis Allotey and many others sojourning overseas, who have all also added value to the brand GHANA by their exploits of international dimensions.
I am more than happy that the government has found it prudent to establish a Brand Ghana Office to protect, develop and grow the GHANA brand, both locally and globally, and even more especially that its importance is buttressed by its inclusion in the membership of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
4.0 ROLE OF SPORTS IN REINFORCING BRAND GHANA GLOBALLY
For the purposes of my participation in the Summit today, I would rather look only at the role of Sports in reinforcing the Ghana brand globally, especially the contributions of particularly Football in adding value since 2006 to date and for the future.
4.1 From Gold Coast To Ghana & Projecting The African Personality
This is not to discount the achievements of Sports in projecting the African Personality in post-Independence Ghana, especially showcasing the prowess of Ghanaian sportsmen and women at various international sporting arenas like the earlier years of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations Football Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games. One would recall with nostalgia the exploits of Eddie Blay, Sulley Shittu, Roy Ankrah, Joe Tetteh, Floyd Robertson, Ike Quartey, Alice Anum, Christiana Boateng, Beatrice Kankam, Grace Laing, C. K. Gyamfi, Chris Braindt and others whose exploits across the African continent gave the Black Man the pride of place in the comity of nations.
During those times, the senior national football team, the Black Stars was the toast of Africa, gracing various occasions like Independence celebrations of other African countries, whilst other sportsmen and women became the pride of Africans as well as others of black descent at international sporting fora.
They, in their times, laid the foundation of encasing the name: GHANA in letters of gold, especially in the transition from Gold Coast to the newly independent state, the first in sub-Saharan Africa – the Black Star for the present generation to add value.
4.2 Between 2006 Germany & 2010 South Africa World Cups
However, from 2006, we have seen more value added to the brand Ghana through the magnitude of the impact of the triumph of the Black Satellites at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, Egypt 2009 Championship, especially considering the manner in which the finals was played and won against Brazil with 10-men for more than 80 minutes of the game – showcasing the SPIRIT of the Ghanaian as exhibited during the struggle for independence at play and against all odds.
The value of this achievement and the premium it added in enhancing this brand can only be left for posterity to determine.
Again, the legacy of the Black Stars’ performance at the last FIFA World Cup, Germany 2006 and the fulfillment of Roger Milla’s prophesy that the world had seen nothing of the beauty and flair of the African Football Play with his country, Cameroon’s performance till the day of the arrival of the Black Stars, Ghana’s National Team - is also a critical part of the enhancement of the same branding.
Even more importantly is the real time value of the Black Stars’ achievements at the just ended South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, where they were not only the toast, again after 4-5 decades, of the African Continent and her people as well as people of African-descent worldwide. There has never been a much better time for anybody to feel so proud to be a Ghanaian, anywhere on this planet as during this tournament. Indeed, the story is told of a family in Uganda who left their dead son, brother and father to a pastor to bury alone so they could leave the burial grounds early enough to watch a Ghana match at the South Africa 2010 World Cup – callous people, possibly but that showed the strength of the brand Ghana at the peak of its attraction through sports.
4.3 Opportunity Values & Accrued Benefits Of Global Media Exposure
Ghana’s achievements at the South Africa 2010 World Cup also earned for the nation continuous mentions, supported by visuals across all the global media networks, including CNN, BBC, ESPN, Sky, Deutsche Welle and Carnal France International. Mentions that would have cost the nation in excess of US$15 million conservatively to have run an extensive global media campaign of that magnitude of exposure, most of them during prime time.
The extent of the short, medium and long-term accrued benefits that would inure to our advantage as a nation to boost our sports tourism in-flows cannot be fathomed now.
Already, requests have started coming in from USA pupils and students who are desirous of visiting Ghana during their holidays to learn how to play Ghanaian Football; there are also requests for TV and book rights for selected players of the 2010 Black Stars Team; and individual player-endorsement deals.
There is also opportunity for us to develop and grow a new line of product: HOCKEY SPORTS TOURISM, using the newly-constructed water-based turf, the National Hockey Stadium, with its 64-bed hostel facility to attract European student hockey teams to come and use our facilities during their holidays to train and alongside explore and visit our tourism sites.
5.0 THE WAY FORWARD FOR ROLE OF SPORTS & THE BRAND GHANA PROJECT
I would, in conclusion, make the following points for the possible inclusion into the final Summit Report:-
5.1 The Brand Ghana Office should begin to engage the Ministry of Youth & Sports, the National Sports Council and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) towards collaborating on Ghana’s qualification and participation in the following upcoming sports events to showcase Brand Ghana, not only for their individual achievements but even more importantly during the Opening Ceremonies, where our culture – the Kente wear is at play to global TV networks:-
5.1.1 Africa Cup of Nations, 2012 Gabon / Equatorial Guinea, and 2013 Libya;
5.1.2 FIFA World Cup, Brazil 2014;
5.1.3 All-Africa Games, Mozambique;
5.1.4 Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi;
5.1.5 Olympic Games 2012 London & 2016 Rio de Janeiro; and locally;
5.1.6 Biennial National Sports Festivals that seek to showcase regional talents into a national convergence point for giving hope, leadership skills, endurance, focus of purpose and need for unity and cohesion to the youth through sports.
5.2 The Brand Ghana Office should be interested to participate actively in an upcoming national conference on ‘Rebranding Ghana Football’ to be organised next year, to not only define Ghana’s football identity but also to add value to the quality of the Ghanaian Game both locally and globally, especially for our footballers, technical personnel and its impact on Ghana’s economy.
5.3 The Brand Ghana Office should be interested in collaborating with the Africa Sports Museum Project, where Ghanaian sportsmen and women who qualify to be inducted into its Hall of Fame could be showcased;
5.4 The Brand Ghana Office and the National Development Planning Commission (NPDC), and for that matter policymakers at various Ministries, Departments and Agencies should begin to re-think the role of Sports as a critical instrument to drive the national development agenda for accelerated growth, especially in the area of increased employment opportunities for the Ghanaian youth;
5.5 The Brand Ghana Office should seize the uniqueness of sports as a convenient, easily-recognizable and accessible rallying point for mobilizing all Ghanaians behind the National Identity Project through such programmes as ‘Rallying Behind The Flag’ during our participations in various international sporting events; and finally
5.6 I consider a matter of priority that the Government itself re-thinks its position on SPORTS as an integral policy tool for national unity, cohesion, youth employment, attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the deadline 2015 and for district, regional and national development; and most importantly to make it part of every development strategic plan – short, medium and long-term for very obvious reasons.
Thank you for the invitation and for listening.
0.0 INTRODUCTION
Mr. Moderator, I see my invitation and presence at this Breakout Session: “CITIZENSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SPORTS” of the National Identity Summit organised by the Brand Ghana Office as more than opportune, not so much for my participation, but also for the fact that it is providing the unique platform for me to articulate the critical role SPORTS ought to play in the general theme of this Summit: “Ghana In Search Of A Competitive Identity”.
1.0 WHAT NATIONS, GOVERNMENTS & THEIR PEOPLES SEEK TO DO WITH SPORTS
First, permit me to admit that I will only be making these comments from the point of a concerned bystander, who over the last thirty years, have witnessed with keen interest the global evolution of sports as a platform for talent and skill development, leisure, physical education and recreation into a vehicle for socio-economic changes amongst nations.
What nations and governments have sought to do, in the circumstances, have been to use sport as a tool for re-engineering their economies and increase their sports infrastructure stock by continuously engaging in the bidding war for the rights to host and organise various international sporting events.
In short, nations, governments and their peoples have used these national and international sports events as platforms to ‘brand and or re-brand’ themselves through re-positioning their nations globally in the comity of nations; their culture, music and dance (through elaborate, expensive Opening & Closing Ceremonies); promote domestic & international tourism and particularly sports tourism; showcase their economies and above all else, drive their national development agendas.
Thus, I will opt for a different approach than looking at it wholly from the group title: ‘CITIZENSHIP DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SPORTS’.
2.0 MY UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT BRAND GHANA CONSTITUTES?
Brand Ghana, to me, is the sum total of all the attributes that are symbolised in the title ‘Ghanaian’, acquired over the ages from the Songhai Empire with migration to our present location.
History has it that it was Mari Djata, the King of Mali who defeated the Kingdom of Ghana in Western Sudan in the year 1076. As a result, many of the conquered people fled southwards and eventually, it is believed, reached as far as Ashanti and the coastal plains of the Gold Coast. Of this the prevailing theory links the Akan people of the present Ghana, by direct descent, with the people of the great Kingdom of Ghana, which flourished in the old Ghana more than a thousand years ago.
Thus, the brand should by all imagination encompass all our achievements as a people and individual exploits in whatever field of endeavour; our collective and individual failures; our culture; our music; our way of life; our languages; our hospitality; our politics; our leadership; our religions; people’s perceptions of who and what we are; as well as our hurts and emotions.
Again, we could also look at the other academic considerations and areas, which the other breakout sessions will be discussing today.
3.0 SPORTS, INDIVIDUAL EXPLOITS & THE NATIONAL IDENTITY DIALOGUE
Now to my interest in the whole NATIONAL IDENTITY SUMMIT: Sports and the National Identity issue.
For me, the exploits of our sportsmen and women from the period of Gold Coast, pre-independence to date from Mike Ahey, Alice Anum, Floyd Robertson, Joe Tetteh, Azumah Nelson, D. K. Poison, the Black Stars Team that held Real Madrid F/C to a pulsating 3-3 draw, C. K. Gyamfi, Osei Kofi, Aggrey Fynn, Edward Acquah, Abedi Pele Ayew, ‘Abetifi Mustang’, Mohammed Polo and many others not mentioned have all helped by their exploits in the field of sports to add value to the brand GHANA.
Outside sports, we can look at such personalities as Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, whose centenary we have celebrated this year, H. E. Kofi Annan, Alex Quaison-Sackey, Dr. Robert Gardiner, Emmanuel Amoako of the ECA, Archbishop Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Tetteh Quarshie – for Ghana’s cocoa, Prof. Francis Allotey and many others sojourning overseas, who have all also added value to the brand GHANA by their exploits of international dimensions.
I am more than happy that the government has found it prudent to establish a Brand Ghana Office to protect, develop and grow the GHANA brand, both locally and globally, and even more especially that its importance is buttressed by its inclusion in the membership of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
4.0 ROLE OF SPORTS IN REINFORCING BRAND GHANA GLOBALLY
For the purposes of my participation in the Summit today, I would rather look only at the role of Sports in reinforcing the Ghana brand globally, especially the contributions of particularly Football in adding value since 2006 to date and for the future.
4.1 From Gold Coast To Ghana & Projecting The African Personality
This is not to discount the achievements of Sports in projecting the African Personality in post-Independence Ghana, especially showcasing the prowess of Ghanaian sportsmen and women at various international sporting arenas like the earlier years of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations Football Championships, the Commonwealth Games and the Olympic Games. One would recall with nostalgia the exploits of Eddie Blay, Sulley Shittu, Roy Ankrah, Joe Tetteh, Floyd Robertson, Ike Quartey, Alice Anum, Christiana Boateng, Beatrice Kankam, Grace Laing, C. K. Gyamfi, Chris Braindt and others whose exploits across the African continent gave the Black Man the pride of place in the comity of nations.
During those times, the senior national football team, the Black Stars was the toast of Africa, gracing various occasions like Independence celebrations of other African countries, whilst other sportsmen and women became the pride of Africans as well as others of black descent at international sporting fora.
They, in their times, laid the foundation of encasing the name: GHANA in letters of gold, especially in the transition from Gold Coast to the newly independent state, the first in sub-Saharan Africa – the Black Star for the present generation to add value.
4.2 Between 2006 Germany & 2010 South Africa World Cups
However, from 2006, we have seen more value added to the brand Ghana through the magnitude of the impact of the triumph of the Black Satellites at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, Egypt 2009 Championship, especially considering the manner in which the finals was played and won against Brazil with 10-men for more than 80 minutes of the game – showcasing the SPIRIT of the Ghanaian as exhibited during the struggle for independence at play and against all odds.
The value of this achievement and the premium it added in enhancing this brand can only be left for posterity to determine.
Again, the legacy of the Black Stars’ performance at the last FIFA World Cup, Germany 2006 and the fulfillment of Roger Milla’s prophesy that the world had seen nothing of the beauty and flair of the African Football Play with his country, Cameroon’s performance till the day of the arrival of the Black Stars, Ghana’s National Team - is also a critical part of the enhancement of the same branding.
Even more importantly is the real time value of the Black Stars’ achievements at the just ended South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, where they were not only the toast, again after 4-5 decades, of the African Continent and her people as well as people of African-descent worldwide. There has never been a much better time for anybody to feel so proud to be a Ghanaian, anywhere on this planet as during this tournament. Indeed, the story is told of a family in Uganda who left their dead son, brother and father to a pastor to bury alone so they could leave the burial grounds early enough to watch a Ghana match at the South Africa 2010 World Cup – callous people, possibly but that showed the strength of the brand Ghana at the peak of its attraction through sports.
4.3 Opportunity Values & Accrued Benefits Of Global Media Exposure
Ghana’s achievements at the South Africa 2010 World Cup also earned for the nation continuous mentions, supported by visuals across all the global media networks, including CNN, BBC, ESPN, Sky, Deutsche Welle and Carnal France International. Mentions that would have cost the nation in excess of US$15 million conservatively to have run an extensive global media campaign of that magnitude of exposure, most of them during prime time.
The extent of the short, medium and long-term accrued benefits that would inure to our advantage as a nation to boost our sports tourism in-flows cannot be fathomed now.
Already, requests have started coming in from USA pupils and students who are desirous of visiting Ghana during their holidays to learn how to play Ghanaian Football; there are also requests for TV and book rights for selected players of the 2010 Black Stars Team; and individual player-endorsement deals.
There is also opportunity for us to develop and grow a new line of product: HOCKEY SPORTS TOURISM, using the newly-constructed water-based turf, the National Hockey Stadium, with its 64-bed hostel facility to attract European student hockey teams to come and use our facilities during their holidays to train and alongside explore and visit our tourism sites.
5.0 THE WAY FORWARD FOR ROLE OF SPORTS & THE BRAND GHANA PROJECT
I would, in conclusion, make the following points for the possible inclusion into the final Summit Report:-
5.1 The Brand Ghana Office should begin to engage the Ministry of Youth & Sports, the National Sports Council and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) towards collaborating on Ghana’s qualification and participation in the following upcoming sports events to showcase Brand Ghana, not only for their individual achievements but even more importantly during the Opening Ceremonies, where our culture – the Kente wear is at play to global TV networks:-
5.1.1 Africa Cup of Nations, 2012 Gabon / Equatorial Guinea, and 2013 Libya;
5.1.2 FIFA World Cup, Brazil 2014;
5.1.3 All-Africa Games, Mozambique;
5.1.4 Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi;
5.1.5 Olympic Games 2012 London & 2016 Rio de Janeiro; and locally;
5.1.6 Biennial National Sports Festivals that seek to showcase regional talents into a national convergence point for giving hope, leadership skills, endurance, focus of purpose and need for unity and cohesion to the youth through sports.
5.2 The Brand Ghana Office should be interested to participate actively in an upcoming national conference on ‘Rebranding Ghana Football’ to be organised next year, to not only define Ghana’s football identity but also to add value to the quality of the Ghanaian Game both locally and globally, especially for our footballers, technical personnel and its impact on Ghana’s economy.
5.3 The Brand Ghana Office should be interested in collaborating with the Africa Sports Museum Project, where Ghanaian sportsmen and women who qualify to be inducted into its Hall of Fame could be showcased;
5.4 The Brand Ghana Office and the National Development Planning Commission (NPDC), and for that matter policymakers at various Ministries, Departments and Agencies should begin to re-think the role of Sports as a critical instrument to drive the national development agenda for accelerated growth, especially in the area of increased employment opportunities for the Ghanaian youth;
5.5 The Brand Ghana Office should seize the uniqueness of sports as a convenient, easily-recognizable and accessible rallying point for mobilizing all Ghanaians behind the National Identity Project through such programmes as ‘Rallying Behind The Flag’ during our participations in various international sporting events; and finally
5.6 I consider a matter of priority that the Government itself re-thinks its position on SPORTS as an integral policy tool for national unity, cohesion, youth employment, attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the deadline 2015 and for district, regional and national development; and most importantly to make it part of every development strategic plan – short, medium and long-term for very obvious reasons.
Thank you for the invitation and for listening.
Monday, August 9, 2010
PRESENTATION DELIVERED BY MR. MAGNUS REX DANQUAH, AT THE 2010 ROYALHOUSE CHAPEL YOUTH NATIONAL CAMP MEETING ON SATURDAY, 7TH AUGUST, 2010
First permit me to express my gratitude to the Apostle-General, the Most Reverend Sam Korankye Ankrah and the leadership of the Youth Ministry for the kind invitation extended to me to address the 2010 Youth National Camp Meeting under the theme: ‘Going Up’.
I am grateful for the opportunity to share with you bits and pieces of my life under the following areas, as provided by the invitation letter:
THE FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL STATE IN WHICH GOD PICKED ME FROM?
I was born about 55 years ago. I lost my mother before I could make class one and can’t recollect how she looks like. I lost my father; when I was in form one, second term at Mfantsipim School in 1968. At the time of my GCE ‘O’ Levels exams, I was the student with the highest outstanding school fees because it hadn’t been paid for over three years. I felt so humiliated most of the time that going to the dining hall to eat was a real hurdle and therefore preferred staying away and rather engaged myself in hiding and weeping in isolation, but I was determined to study hard and pass all exams as I realised that it was my only way out of the hardships.
Let me say that I did not allow my situation to intimidate me.
In a school, where more than 80% of the students came from very rich, high-society homes and could afford more than the basic needs of the average student; and where the remaining 20% from poor homes included those without weekend family visits with their accompanying baskets of all kinds of home food, the student from the poor home needed to be exceptionally gifted to find his own level, with all the disadvantages.
You could tell the difference between these two types of students from the way they speak their English: whilst those from poor, rural, unsophisticated homes speak our English raw with strong local accent, those from rich homes slang their English in the direction of where they spend their holidays – either Europe / UK or the USA.
Thus, to lose a father and suddenly find yourself move from the fringes of one group to the centre of the other group, was not only nerving and could break many a student, I kept faith with myself and the Lord God to make it through to the University.
Permit me to admit that at that time I didn’t know anything about GRACE and MERCIES of the Lord God, indeed, it was when I joined Royalhouse Chapel that I became aware of what actually kept me, guided and guarded me, and directed my path for the greater glory of His Kingdom.
For whilst my other siblings dropped out for non-payment of school fees, my grand-aunt kept my faith alive that it really didn’t matter and what was left for me to do was to study, and she took care of always begging the Bursar to grant me the peace to learn.
Before the final GCE ‘O’ Level exams, the list of students owing school fees was pasted on the dining hall notice board, requesting that the students involved were to leave and go home. First, this kept me away from eating at the hall because I couldn’t bear the shame as I was leading the list and the next student was just about a third of how much I owed. At that time I had been told a story of how my own father faced a similar situation when he was also a student at Mfantsipim School and therefore he had to drop out for a year to work before coming back to continue and complete his education and also that the then headmaster was his classmate.
I went to see him and told him my story stressing that if I went home I would still come back without any money since there was nobody to pay, but if he could allow me to finish my GCE ‘O’ Level then I was assuring him that I would go and work like my father and come and pay the outstanding before continuing to the Sixth Form. The headmaster looked at me, possibly couldn’t believe what he was hearing and gave me money to go home with; but also gave me an additional to come back if I couldn’t get any money. This I did and when I came back, he gave me some provisions and that was the end of the matter till I finished, collected my share of my father’s SSNIT payment and went back to pay the fees.
Meanwhile, at about Form Three, Form Four, whilst I was roaming in Sekondi during one of the holidays, I met a Lady who apparently knew my circumstances and asked how things were: I told her how rough and also that someone had advised me to go to the Social Welfare Department for them to look after me at school. She told me that was a wrong move because I was going to be great in future and at that time if I consider myself how I declared myself a pauper to get through school, I would hate myself and also be without a story to tell others; and I dropped that thought.
There are lots of other stories to tell but I will keep it short for time allotted me for my presentation. Let me sum it up by saying that when we don’t know our end, our future, how great we would be and be a blessing to others, there is always the temptation that we wouldn’t want to endure the hardships, and wanting a shortcut out of the problems – only to lose the whole import of the lessons of that life.
For me, life’s journey is about how we handle and deal with all the lessons of life we face, every second, every minute, every day: challenges, obstacles, opportunities, death of family members and close friends, sicknesses, health, prosperity and blessings, in short everything because the word says in 1 Thess. 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.
I guess, if I hadn’t gone through all these, I wouldn’t have qualified to stand before you today to speak to you and be part of this year’s Royalhouse National Youth Camp Meeting.
Indeed, the Lord’s Hand has always been over me through my days at the University as a student and a teaching assistant to working with the National Sports Council, Ghana Food Distribution Corporation (GFDC), to setting up and operating with my own company from 1986. Next year, 24th July 2011, my company would have been 25 years in business.
Now I look back with nostalgia to the very beginning of starting RICS Consult from my hall, with no working capital than full of ideas, to getting my first job from Ghamot Company, then local agents for Toyota for a sponsorship sum of 5,000.00 cedis or the current equivalent of fifty (50) Ghana Pesewas, straight conversion into today’s currency.
Within this period too, I have had the unique opportunities to live my dreams through three major international sporting events hosted by Ghana, namely the 1999 CAF Africa Youth Football Championship; the 2008 CAF Africa Cup of Nations Football; and the 2009 AfHF African Cup for Nations Hockey tournaments.
WHERE I AM NOW AND WHAT MY PRESENT STATE IS?
Currently, I have retired from official public service and would now be concentrating on perpetuating a very good succession plan for the companies I have established.
The centre of it all is RICS Consult Limited, an integrated marketing communications consultancy firm; Ethel-Jane Sports Business School, a tertiary institution established for sports business, sports, events management, music and cultural industries; AWD Sports Strategies Ghana Limited, a sports business and management consultancy firm; and RICS Properties, a real estate development and management company.
I have always said that one thing I have in abundance is ideas and dreams. My limitation, as always, will be funding but I am more than persuaded that the Good Lord will show Himself strong and provide a stream in the middle of the desert.
Our intentions, at RICS Consult, is to establish the first stand-alone tertiary institution in Africa to grow new career paths and professions in sports business and aiming at empowering over 500,000 Africans across the continent to manage and promote sports into a self-sustaining veritably competing industry.
Our plan is to build the main campus in Sekondi-Takoradi, where we are currently securing a large tract of land in the metropolis for the construction of lecture halls, administration block, libraries (both electronic and print), cafeteria, hostel and recreational facilities; whilst we are developing corporate offices, lecture rooms, libraries and suites for visiting overseas lectures at our West Tesano premises of RICS Consult Limited.
We are trusting the Lord and coupled with the prophesies of our spiritual father and the Apostle-General, we are persuaded that this dream, this vision and this innovation will become reality to His Glory.
With the AWD Sports Strategies Ghana, named after my late father: Amos William Danquah, it has been established to take over all the sports consultancy businesses of RICS Consult, and grow it into an African brand, with collaborations across the continent.
We are also entering into the real estate market with RICS Properties Company to manage other people’s properties as well as develop properties in Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi for sale and rental and also manage all properties of the Group.
My current pre-occupation is to institutionalise a pragmatic succession plan to ensure the future of the companies are assured through the recruitment of bright young men and women as the disciples for the harvest of growing employment opportunities for the youth of the African continent and establishing sports business and events management as emerging industries.
WHERE I AM ASPIRING TO BE IN FUTURE?
First, let me admit that I am a serious DREAMER, never limited by any constraints.
All my aspirations for the future are embedded in the first part of Proverbs 13:22 “Good people leave an inheritance for their children’s children”.
For me, there could be no greater inheritance to bequeath my children’s children’s children to the tenth generation and ultimately, mankind than to establish a tertiary centre for learning and empowering Africans across the continent, as well as grow new career paths and professions for the youth in sports business, events management, music and cultural industries management.
The beauty of the dream is the challenges and constraints that we will have to surmount to make it a reality.
When I started saying that sports was a big business and that it should be one of the critical indicators of economic growth, national development and a major driving force for rebranding the Continent of Africa, many were the skeptics who took me for a pretender.
Over two decades on the journey, I have stood the test, whilst being the first to admit that the real job is only beginning for Africa to impact the world through sports business.
I want to look back after everything and say that like Apostle Paul, I ran a good race and gave my all to the society.
I made the point at the launching of our 25th anniversary celebrations that after running my course of the last 24 years, it is about time I took the back stage for a new leadership to take control and with new vigour, creativity, innovation, and excellent spirit, take the dream to the next level and drive the original agenda to its God ordained destination.
HOW I INTEND TO BE WHERE I AM GOING?
I know the going isn’t going to be easy and that I know.
What we have started is a whole revolution and we are expecting to fight for each of the grounds we will cover.
Our first requirement therefore is to seek the face of the Lord in all the things we will do. We also intend to rely on the prayers of the faithful, the Church and a Prayer Group, we will ask of the Apostle-General to support the dream. I am asking for the prayer support because I know firsthand what it did for me during the Ghana 2008 Football tournament, as that kept me alive against all the odds to finish the event.
We are also consolidating our Business Plan, which we will be launching for the growth of the dream, source for partners to invest in the project at a later stage for an accelerated development.
Definitely, each stage will be driven by prayers and impartation by the Apostle-General.
ANY ENCOURAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION FOR THE YOUTH TO INSPIRE GREATNESS AND THINK BIG?
Up to this point, I have tried to go by the script as determined by the letter of invitation.
I guess this part is the point that I become myself and talk to you, intimately, about life, dreams, thinking big, encouragement and motivation.
What I have learnt over the past fifty years on my life’s journey is that this journey, which is set for each and every one of us, is about lessons of life and how we react to each and every one of these lessons.
I have grown to realise that the society has never owed anybody and rather it is us, individually who owe the society, making it imperative that within the period we are here on this earth we work to give back to society.
This society has always been shaped by dreamers, people who think big, people who desire to impact the society in whatever field of endeavour they find themselves, be it career, vocation or profession – in music, education, physics, chemistry, medicine, sports, economics, agriculture, mining, sanitation, oil & gas, fishing, pharmacy, theatre, evangelism or business.
Anybody who undertakes his / her pursuits with PASSION: with intense interest, not thinking of the returns becomes the most successful and has the icing on the cake with financial rewards. With passion, you don’t fret nor whine, you serve selflessly, and you accept the position of Elisha and serve a master to the end, not halfway so you earn a double portion of favour. Let me say that passion-driven activities lead to excellence for as long as there is consistency, backed by perseverance.
For me, one major attribute which we are lacking today and leads most people, especially the youth to failure is desire to serve as an APPRENTICE. You need to learn to serve without question.
One of the secrets of Elisha’s successes was being a faithful apprentice to Elijah.
If you read 2 Kings 3:11 – “King Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord? An officer of the King of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”
There is one thing the youth of today lack greatly. Everybody is in a rush to become a MASTER and be on his own. Nobody is ready to learn and serve by continuously pouring water on the hands of the master to the end to earn the double portion of favour.
If you tell yourself, when working for a master that you will go to work late, close early, incite others against your master and wait for the day, you will start your own work and be successful, you are lying. If you leave without the blessings of your master, you will not succeed until you do the right thing, as you would have already acquired the spirit of failure by the way you conducted yourself.
Please, don’t get me wrong: nothing stops anybody from leaving his master at any point in his life to chart a new path for himself but there are principles to follow. Let us take it from a father-son relationship. A man / son needs the consent of the father to move on in life and get married, indeed that is why fathers give away daughters in marriage, just as fathers stand behind sons in marriage. A father needs to bless the son before he leaves his house to set up his own; and that is why the apprentice will have to secure the consent and approval of the master before moving on with blessings. Check Abraham to Isaac; Isaac to Jacob; and Jacob to his Children to appreciate this.
Hairdressers, seamstresses, artisans and fitters also experience this phenomenon by the day and they can tell you the import and implications of this truism better.
The way I work now, was the same when I was working for others: so now I can start early and work late for myself.
Taxi driver and taxi owner story………
For me, I have long accepted that the only thing anybody owns absolutely is his / her head / brains / mind. Any other thing in a man’s life, you could be dispossessed by an armed robber or through litigation. Thus, it should be the place to invest the more in terms of KNOWLEDGE to be successful. So learn, read all kinds of books, not necessarily those related to the subject you read at school.
What we sell as educated people for employment or consultancy is knowledge. Nobody will pay anybody for what they already know, so your value is correlated with the depth of your knowledge over and above that of the person paying you. So please, take your education seriously. That is exactly what I opted for when I lost my parents and I know it will help you.
Finally and most importantly, grow in the Lord. Let the Lord be your teacher. The things I do for business are those that I took for hobbies at Mfantsipim School and admittedly, gift from the Lord and yet without any formal education but reading extensively, I have matured and grown into the best there is in the business.
Thank you for the opportunity to share these points with you.
I am grateful for the opportunity to share with you bits and pieces of my life under the following areas, as provided by the invitation letter:
THE FINANCIAL AND SOCIAL STATE IN WHICH GOD PICKED ME FROM?
I was born about 55 years ago. I lost my mother before I could make class one and can’t recollect how she looks like. I lost my father; when I was in form one, second term at Mfantsipim School in 1968. At the time of my GCE ‘O’ Levels exams, I was the student with the highest outstanding school fees because it hadn’t been paid for over three years. I felt so humiliated most of the time that going to the dining hall to eat was a real hurdle and therefore preferred staying away and rather engaged myself in hiding and weeping in isolation, but I was determined to study hard and pass all exams as I realised that it was my only way out of the hardships.
Let me say that I did not allow my situation to intimidate me.
In a school, where more than 80% of the students came from very rich, high-society homes and could afford more than the basic needs of the average student; and where the remaining 20% from poor homes included those without weekend family visits with their accompanying baskets of all kinds of home food, the student from the poor home needed to be exceptionally gifted to find his own level, with all the disadvantages.
You could tell the difference between these two types of students from the way they speak their English: whilst those from poor, rural, unsophisticated homes speak our English raw with strong local accent, those from rich homes slang their English in the direction of where they spend their holidays – either Europe / UK or the USA.
Thus, to lose a father and suddenly find yourself move from the fringes of one group to the centre of the other group, was not only nerving and could break many a student, I kept faith with myself and the Lord God to make it through to the University.
Permit me to admit that at that time I didn’t know anything about GRACE and MERCIES of the Lord God, indeed, it was when I joined Royalhouse Chapel that I became aware of what actually kept me, guided and guarded me, and directed my path for the greater glory of His Kingdom.
For whilst my other siblings dropped out for non-payment of school fees, my grand-aunt kept my faith alive that it really didn’t matter and what was left for me to do was to study, and she took care of always begging the Bursar to grant me the peace to learn.
Before the final GCE ‘O’ Level exams, the list of students owing school fees was pasted on the dining hall notice board, requesting that the students involved were to leave and go home. First, this kept me away from eating at the hall because I couldn’t bear the shame as I was leading the list and the next student was just about a third of how much I owed. At that time I had been told a story of how my own father faced a similar situation when he was also a student at Mfantsipim School and therefore he had to drop out for a year to work before coming back to continue and complete his education and also that the then headmaster was his classmate.
I went to see him and told him my story stressing that if I went home I would still come back without any money since there was nobody to pay, but if he could allow me to finish my GCE ‘O’ Level then I was assuring him that I would go and work like my father and come and pay the outstanding before continuing to the Sixth Form. The headmaster looked at me, possibly couldn’t believe what he was hearing and gave me money to go home with; but also gave me an additional to come back if I couldn’t get any money. This I did and when I came back, he gave me some provisions and that was the end of the matter till I finished, collected my share of my father’s SSNIT payment and went back to pay the fees.
Meanwhile, at about Form Three, Form Four, whilst I was roaming in Sekondi during one of the holidays, I met a Lady who apparently knew my circumstances and asked how things were: I told her how rough and also that someone had advised me to go to the Social Welfare Department for them to look after me at school. She told me that was a wrong move because I was going to be great in future and at that time if I consider myself how I declared myself a pauper to get through school, I would hate myself and also be without a story to tell others; and I dropped that thought.
There are lots of other stories to tell but I will keep it short for time allotted me for my presentation. Let me sum it up by saying that when we don’t know our end, our future, how great we would be and be a blessing to others, there is always the temptation that we wouldn’t want to endure the hardships, and wanting a shortcut out of the problems – only to lose the whole import of the lessons of that life.
For me, life’s journey is about how we handle and deal with all the lessons of life we face, every second, every minute, every day: challenges, obstacles, opportunities, death of family members and close friends, sicknesses, health, prosperity and blessings, in short everything because the word says in 1 Thess. 5:18 “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.
I guess, if I hadn’t gone through all these, I wouldn’t have qualified to stand before you today to speak to you and be part of this year’s Royalhouse National Youth Camp Meeting.
Indeed, the Lord’s Hand has always been over me through my days at the University as a student and a teaching assistant to working with the National Sports Council, Ghana Food Distribution Corporation (GFDC), to setting up and operating with my own company from 1986. Next year, 24th July 2011, my company would have been 25 years in business.
Now I look back with nostalgia to the very beginning of starting RICS Consult from my hall, with no working capital than full of ideas, to getting my first job from Ghamot Company, then local agents for Toyota for a sponsorship sum of 5,000.00 cedis or the current equivalent of fifty (50) Ghana Pesewas, straight conversion into today’s currency.
Within this period too, I have had the unique opportunities to live my dreams through three major international sporting events hosted by Ghana, namely the 1999 CAF Africa Youth Football Championship; the 2008 CAF Africa Cup of Nations Football; and the 2009 AfHF African Cup for Nations Hockey tournaments.
WHERE I AM NOW AND WHAT MY PRESENT STATE IS?
Currently, I have retired from official public service and would now be concentrating on perpetuating a very good succession plan for the companies I have established.
The centre of it all is RICS Consult Limited, an integrated marketing communications consultancy firm; Ethel-Jane Sports Business School, a tertiary institution established for sports business, sports, events management, music and cultural industries; AWD Sports Strategies Ghana Limited, a sports business and management consultancy firm; and RICS Properties, a real estate development and management company.
I have always said that one thing I have in abundance is ideas and dreams. My limitation, as always, will be funding but I am more than persuaded that the Good Lord will show Himself strong and provide a stream in the middle of the desert.
Our intentions, at RICS Consult, is to establish the first stand-alone tertiary institution in Africa to grow new career paths and professions in sports business and aiming at empowering over 500,000 Africans across the continent to manage and promote sports into a self-sustaining veritably competing industry.
Our plan is to build the main campus in Sekondi-Takoradi, where we are currently securing a large tract of land in the metropolis for the construction of lecture halls, administration block, libraries (both electronic and print), cafeteria, hostel and recreational facilities; whilst we are developing corporate offices, lecture rooms, libraries and suites for visiting overseas lectures at our West Tesano premises of RICS Consult Limited.
We are trusting the Lord and coupled with the prophesies of our spiritual father and the Apostle-General, we are persuaded that this dream, this vision and this innovation will become reality to His Glory.
With the AWD Sports Strategies Ghana, named after my late father: Amos William Danquah, it has been established to take over all the sports consultancy businesses of RICS Consult, and grow it into an African brand, with collaborations across the continent.
We are also entering into the real estate market with RICS Properties Company to manage other people’s properties as well as develop properties in Accra and Sekondi-Takoradi for sale and rental and also manage all properties of the Group.
My current pre-occupation is to institutionalise a pragmatic succession plan to ensure the future of the companies are assured through the recruitment of bright young men and women as the disciples for the harvest of growing employment opportunities for the youth of the African continent and establishing sports business and events management as emerging industries.
WHERE I AM ASPIRING TO BE IN FUTURE?
First, let me admit that I am a serious DREAMER, never limited by any constraints.
All my aspirations for the future are embedded in the first part of Proverbs 13:22 “Good people leave an inheritance for their children’s children”.
For me, there could be no greater inheritance to bequeath my children’s children’s children to the tenth generation and ultimately, mankind than to establish a tertiary centre for learning and empowering Africans across the continent, as well as grow new career paths and professions for the youth in sports business, events management, music and cultural industries management.
The beauty of the dream is the challenges and constraints that we will have to surmount to make it a reality.
When I started saying that sports was a big business and that it should be one of the critical indicators of economic growth, national development and a major driving force for rebranding the Continent of Africa, many were the skeptics who took me for a pretender.
Over two decades on the journey, I have stood the test, whilst being the first to admit that the real job is only beginning for Africa to impact the world through sports business.
I want to look back after everything and say that like Apostle Paul, I ran a good race and gave my all to the society.
I made the point at the launching of our 25th anniversary celebrations that after running my course of the last 24 years, it is about time I took the back stage for a new leadership to take control and with new vigour, creativity, innovation, and excellent spirit, take the dream to the next level and drive the original agenda to its God ordained destination.
HOW I INTEND TO BE WHERE I AM GOING?
I know the going isn’t going to be easy and that I know.
What we have started is a whole revolution and we are expecting to fight for each of the grounds we will cover.
Our first requirement therefore is to seek the face of the Lord in all the things we will do. We also intend to rely on the prayers of the faithful, the Church and a Prayer Group, we will ask of the Apostle-General to support the dream. I am asking for the prayer support because I know firsthand what it did for me during the Ghana 2008 Football tournament, as that kept me alive against all the odds to finish the event.
We are also consolidating our Business Plan, which we will be launching for the growth of the dream, source for partners to invest in the project at a later stage for an accelerated development.
Definitely, each stage will be driven by prayers and impartation by the Apostle-General.
ANY ENCOURAGEMENT AND MOTIVATION FOR THE YOUTH TO INSPIRE GREATNESS AND THINK BIG?
Up to this point, I have tried to go by the script as determined by the letter of invitation.
I guess this part is the point that I become myself and talk to you, intimately, about life, dreams, thinking big, encouragement and motivation.
What I have learnt over the past fifty years on my life’s journey is that this journey, which is set for each and every one of us, is about lessons of life and how we react to each and every one of these lessons.
I have grown to realise that the society has never owed anybody and rather it is us, individually who owe the society, making it imperative that within the period we are here on this earth we work to give back to society.
This society has always been shaped by dreamers, people who think big, people who desire to impact the society in whatever field of endeavour they find themselves, be it career, vocation or profession – in music, education, physics, chemistry, medicine, sports, economics, agriculture, mining, sanitation, oil & gas, fishing, pharmacy, theatre, evangelism or business.
Anybody who undertakes his / her pursuits with PASSION: with intense interest, not thinking of the returns becomes the most successful and has the icing on the cake with financial rewards. With passion, you don’t fret nor whine, you serve selflessly, and you accept the position of Elisha and serve a master to the end, not halfway so you earn a double portion of favour. Let me say that passion-driven activities lead to excellence for as long as there is consistency, backed by perseverance.
For me, one major attribute which we are lacking today and leads most people, especially the youth to failure is desire to serve as an APPRENTICE. You need to learn to serve without question.
One of the secrets of Elisha’s successes was being a faithful apprentice to Elijah.
If you read 2 Kings 3:11 – “King Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord? An officer of the King of Israel answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah.”
There is one thing the youth of today lack greatly. Everybody is in a rush to become a MASTER and be on his own. Nobody is ready to learn and serve by continuously pouring water on the hands of the master to the end to earn the double portion of favour.
If you tell yourself, when working for a master that you will go to work late, close early, incite others against your master and wait for the day, you will start your own work and be successful, you are lying. If you leave without the blessings of your master, you will not succeed until you do the right thing, as you would have already acquired the spirit of failure by the way you conducted yourself.
Please, don’t get me wrong: nothing stops anybody from leaving his master at any point in his life to chart a new path for himself but there are principles to follow. Let us take it from a father-son relationship. A man / son needs the consent of the father to move on in life and get married, indeed that is why fathers give away daughters in marriage, just as fathers stand behind sons in marriage. A father needs to bless the son before he leaves his house to set up his own; and that is why the apprentice will have to secure the consent and approval of the master before moving on with blessings. Check Abraham to Isaac; Isaac to Jacob; and Jacob to his Children to appreciate this.
Hairdressers, seamstresses, artisans and fitters also experience this phenomenon by the day and they can tell you the import and implications of this truism better.
The way I work now, was the same when I was working for others: so now I can start early and work late for myself.
Taxi driver and taxi owner story………
For me, I have long accepted that the only thing anybody owns absolutely is his / her head / brains / mind. Any other thing in a man’s life, you could be dispossessed by an armed robber or through litigation. Thus, it should be the place to invest the more in terms of KNOWLEDGE to be successful. So learn, read all kinds of books, not necessarily those related to the subject you read at school.
What we sell as educated people for employment or consultancy is knowledge. Nobody will pay anybody for what they already know, so your value is correlated with the depth of your knowledge over and above that of the person paying you. So please, take your education seriously. That is exactly what I opted for when I lost my parents and I know it will help you.
Finally and most importantly, grow in the Lord. Let the Lord be your teacher. The things I do for business are those that I took for hobbies at Mfantsipim School and admittedly, gift from the Lord and yet without any formal education but reading extensively, I have matured and grown into the best there is in the business.
Thank you for the opportunity to share these points with you.
Monday, August 2, 2010
SPORTS AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
A paper presented by Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah,
Executive Chairman, RICS Consult Limited; Managing Consultant, AWD Sports Strategies Limited; and President, Ethel-Jane University College of Sports at the 1st International Ghana Physical Education & Sport Thinktank Conference, 2010 at the Alisa Hotels on Friday, 30th July, 2010
Honourable Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Sports;
Mr. Moderator;
Discussants;
Distinguished delegates and participants;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
It is with the greatest of humility that I stand before you this morning to offer my humble viewpoint on the topic: “Sports As An Instrument For National Development.”
In the last thirty years, I have witnessed with keen interest the global evolution of sports as a platform for talent and skill development, leisure, physical education and recreation into a vehicle for socio-economic changes amongst nations.
Thus, within the last two decades we have seen governments look set to sustain or even increase their involvement in sport, despite the ravages of recession.
What nations and governments have sought to do, in the circumstances, have been to use sport as a tool for re-engineering their economies and increase their sports infrastructure stock by continuously engage in the bidding war for the rights to host and organise various international sporting events.
The issues I will be dealing with in discussing the topic will cover the following headings:-
• Vision for sports for development;
• Economic impact assessment of sports & sports events on the economy;
• Sports as an emerging industry;
• Employment opportunities;
• Reinforcing Brand Ghana globally through sports;
• Mentorship, Streetism & Youth Development;
• Hosting & organisation of international sporting events;
• Merchandising, Franchising & Licensing;
• Sports & MDGs;
• National Football League system and national development;
• Role of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies;
• Land Use Planning & Recreation, Leisure and Sports;
• Sports Ethics & Democratic Principles; and
• Conclusion.
VISION FOR SPORTS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Within the context of this paper, I would want to look at a vision for Sports For National Development re-configured to reflect: “To re-position sports as the embodiment of the spirit of a new Ghana, an aspiring leader in the global arena, a tool for poverty alleviation, an avenue for improving the well-being of the Ghanaian and as a vehicle for mobilization for national development and growth through greater public, private sector partnership”.
It is my understanding that this way we should be able to pursue, develop, strengthen, promote and implement inter-sectoral collaborations with both private and public institutions for greater integrated multi-disciplinary planning through interventions at the national, regional and district levels, and with improved community participation in these programmes.
This will also provide us with the opportunity to pursue the increased use of sports as a channel for various national developmental issues, including campaigns against indiscipline, diseases of public health importance and school health, girl child education, female genital mutilation, polio, cholera, malaria, and for youth empowerment as well as enhancement of talents and skills for self-development.
Furthermore, this will accommodate the interface for collaboration between sports and tourism, in using the former as a touristic endeavour in the areas of sports tours; developing sport-specific resort destinations; initiating sport theme parks; establishing specialised sport cruises; adding sports facilities and programmes to hotel & resort settings; developing sports attractions such as museums, specialised stadia and sports hall of fame; and promoting sports events as a basis for improved tourism visitations – all towards re-positioning Ghana as a preferred sports tourist destination.
I want to believe such a holistic vision should inure to our greater attainment of our national developmental goals as we fashion a new legal framework for the facilitation, promotion, development, growth and administration of a better private sector driven sports economy.
Again, all these should be situated in an enabling environment that will accelerate the consolidation of sports as an emerging industry with the requisite incentives for the creation of new career paths and professions as an integral part of overall efforts towards addressing the high rate of unemployment amongst our youth.
ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF SPORTS & SPORTS EVENTS ON THE NATIONAL ECONOMY
It will be imperative that as a prelude to our fuller appreciation of the role of sports as an instrument for national development and for proper take-off, an economic impact assessment be made of sports in Ghana to not only determine its contribution to the national economy but also quantify its strategic importance for national development planning and its use as an economic indicator.
I would envisage the engagement of a reputable consultancy firm to undertake an economic and financial impact assessment of sports development and promotion in the country, including all sports-related activities. The Report should cover such impact at all levels from the district through regional to national. It should also establish the role of the District, Municipal, Metropolitan Assemblies in the provision of sporting facilities through the allocation of percentage of their shares of the District Assemblies Common Fund; and in this regard, I would want to add my voice to the call for an increase in the percentage of the national revenue allocated to the Fund from the current 7.5% to 15% so that they would be empowered to provide such services.
If this is done, we would begin to curb the rural-urban drift through the engagement of our youth in various sporting disciplines for the enhancement of their talents and skills for self-improvement and possible selection into national teams for international assignments. This will in turn provide them with the requisite funding through the payment of bonuses, appearance monies and other allowances for family and community standard of living enhancement through set up of businesses and offer of financial assistance to family members and friends.
Personally, I am not too sure about the contents of the Medium-term Strategic Plan presented by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) recently to H. E. the President of the Republic, but I have as a matter of interest appealed to the Chairman that an opportunity should be offered for a submission of a paper on the same topic: ‘Sports As An Instrument For National Development’ for incorporation of those issues that will impact directly on the work so far done by the Commission.
It is worth emphasizing that our hosting and organising the Ghana 2008 Football and Ghana 2009 Hockey Africa Cup of Nations Championships bequeathed to us as a nation significant legacies, including six all-purpose stadia – Accra, El-Wak, Kumasi, Tamale, Sekondi-Essipun and the National Hockey; fourteen training pitches – some for selected Senior Secondary Schools at the four venues; new arrival and departure lounge at the Takoradi Airport; rehabilitation of the Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi airports’ runway to enable night flights; the construction of the Tamale UDS Hotel Project; donation of eight VW vehicles to form the bulk of the transportation pool for the new Ministry of Youth and Sports; and fourteen Toyota vehicles – 2 Land Cruisers, 5 Hilux Pickups, 3 Avensis saloon cars, and 4 Corolla saloon cars; in addition to a considerable quantity of office furniture and equipment. A greater number of computers were donated to selected senior secondary schools for their e-Library setups.
It must be said that after the Ghana 2008 Tournament, I requested the Bank of Ghana to provide an “Impact Assessment Of The Ghana 2008 CAN Tournament On Ghana’s Economy”, and whilst this was done and submitted by July 2008, I was of the opinion that it fell short of my expectations as it did not take cognizance of all the social investments made such as the four stadia and other developments, whose returns are expected to accrue over the next twenty decades or more.
Indeed, I will be dealing with some of these salient points later in my submissions.
SPORTS AS AN EMERGING INDUSTRY
Over and over again within the last two decades, we have been inundated with the talk by all manner of people including politicians and sports administrators in Africa and more especially Ghana, that sports is big business; and yet the facts on the ground do not support this claim.
Any industry, whether manufacturing, mining, energy, oil and gas, medicine and medical-care, heritage and construction, should be an organised economic activity, connected with the production or delivery of a particular product or range of products or services; or an activity that many people are involved in, especially one that has become excessively commercialized or standardized.
What we are witnessing is a thriving but unorganized sports business as an economic activity of various sub-activities and linkages from the performer to the managers to the broadcasting / events rights, merchandising and licensing to their supporting staff and services, with various professionals to boot without the requisite standardization, even as it has become excessively commercialized.
I must admit that sports as an emerging industry holds great potential of new career paths and professions, enhancing our international sports events management capabilities, broadening our new media landscape, growing new income streams through the application of ICT in all facets & at all levels of sports promotion and development to redefine and consolidate its role in national development.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
One major resultant benefit of any economic impact assessment of sports and sports events on the economy, within the context of sports as an emerging industry, will be the determination of the current levels of employment of the sector.
However, a cursory look without any empirical analysis paint a promising picture – from performers, technical personnel, managers, club owners, administrators, media, rights owners, broadcasters, stadia hawkers and concessionaires, kits manufacturers and shop owners, events owners, service providers, sports-related allied-suppliers, PE practitioners, and the sports academia as assembled here.
I could conjecture a million people employed by sports in the non-formal sector, either permanently, casual labour or as volunteers, from the community to district to regional and then finally to the national level.
We should be more than assured that if we begin to do the right things, take the rights steps, give up individual parochial interests for the greater good of us all, adopt and keep to the dictates of the industry, be more transparent in all our dealings and begin to think outside the box in all matters, we will not need the same number of years that has taken the developed states to grow our industry and catch up with global trends.
Years back, majority of our FAs across Africa could not see beyond the fact that the whole essence of qualifying to play in the FIFA World Cup was far more than a national prestige; and that it has always been a business proposition. I cannot imagine what winning the FIFA World Cup and earning more than US$50 million would do to the economy of say, Ghana?
These are the possibilities for employment opportunities that would accrue in the name of sports against the national development agenda.
For the record, hosting the 2010 World Cup created over 150,000 jobs and 15,000 volunteers against a total expenditure of US$5 billion for infrastructure, security, TV and marketing rights, constructions and services.
What we need to do is to lend ourselves to the rules of the game for the enhancement of sports as an emerging industry to be able to drive its agenda as an instrument for national development.
REINFORCING BRAND GHANA GLOBALLY THROUGH SPORTS
I am more than happy that the government has found it prudent to establish a Brand Ghana Secretariat to protect, develop and grow the GHANA brand, both locally and globally, and even more especially that its importance is buttressed by its inclusion in the membership of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
For the purposes of this paper, I would rather look only at the role of Sports in reinforcing the Ghana brand globally, especially the contributions of Football in adding value since 2006 to date.
Within this period, we saw the magnitude of the impact of the triumph of the Black Satellites at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, Egypt 2009 Championship, especially considering the manner in which the finals was played and won against Brazil with 10-men for more than 80 minutes of the game.
The value of this achievements and the premium it added in enhancing this brand can only be left for posterity to determine.
Again, the legacy of the Black Stars’ performance at the last FIFA World Cup, Germany 2006 and the fulfillment of Roger Milla’s prophesy that the world had seen nothing of the beauty and flair of the African Football Play with his country, Cameroon’s performance till the day of the arrival of the Black Stars, Ghana’s National Team - is also a critical part of the enhancement of the same branding.
Even more importantly is the real time value of the Black Stars’ achievements at the just ended South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, where they were not only the toast of the African Continent and her people as well as people of African-descent worldwide but also earned for the nation continuous mention, supported by visuals across all the global media networks, including CNN, BBC, ESPN, Sky, Deutsche Welle and Carnal France International. Mentions that would have cost the nation in excess of US$15 million conservatively to have run an extensive global media campaign of that magnitude of exposure, most of them during prime time.
The extent of the short, medium and long-term accrued benefits that would inure to our advantage as a nation to boost our sports tourism in-flows cannot be fathomed now.
Already, requests have started coming in from USA pupils and students who are desirous of visiting Ghana during their holidays to learn how to play Ghanaian Football; there are also requests for TV and book rights for selected players of the 2010 Black Stars Team; and individual player-endorsement deals.
There is also opportunity for us to develop and grow a new line of product: HOCKEY SPORTS TOURISM, using the newly-constructed water-based turf, the National Hockey Stadium, with its 64-bed hostel facility to attract European student hockey teams to come and use our facilities during their holidays to train and alongside explore and visit our tourism sites.
I am confident that the Brand Ghana Secretariat could use the platform provided by the South Africa 2010 World Cup to input into the NDPC’s Medium-Term Strategic Plan towards taking advantage of sports as an instrument for national development to reinforce the Ghana brand globally.
MENTORSHIP, STREETISM & YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
One of the major perennial problems facing the youth of this nation, over the last two decades, has been STREETISM, the phenomenon where the unemployed youth, mostly dropouts from the junior / senior secondary schools, polytechnics and business institutes roam the streets, congregating at traffic junctions to sell all manner of consumer items from chewing gums, dog chains to dogs.
Most times, they are nuisances to motorists, peddling in items whose daily returns on investments are not enough to keep body and soul together, and sometimes too suffer greatly during floods as they sleep on pavements in the night because they cannot afford proper, decent accommodation. Their counterparts are the Kayaye, with little or no formal education and adding to the dire strait situations they find themselves in after migrating from the rural to unfamiliar urban settings.
A trace of the backgrounds of the majority of our renowned footballers and sportsmen show a similarity in their growth patterns with those of the street children, victims of streetism as described.
It is my humble opinion that we could use our successful sportsmen and women like Edith Haizel, Rose Hart, Alice Anum, Margaret Simpson, Azumah Nelson, D. K. Poison, Alberta Sackey, Vida Anim, Adwoa Bayor, Abedi Ayew Pele, Dede Ayew, Tony Baffoe, Tony Yeboah, Michael Essien, Asamoah Gyan, Stephen Appiah, Samuel Osei Kuffour and Augustine Arhinful, to name but a few, as role models and mentors to give these youth HOPE to begin their dream again through sports to change their destinies.
This should be an inter-ministerial national campaign, involving the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) to identify sporting talents and nurture same for the national good and as part of the broader scheme of promoting sports as an instrument for national development.
HOSTING & ORGANISATION OF INTERNATIONAL SPORTING EVENTS
Over the last three decades, the desire to host major sports events in all corners of the globe has become stronger as cities and nations have balanced the rising costs against the benefits that such events bring. Considerations for an improved image, updated infrastructure and venues, a healthier nation, an increase in sports tourism, positive economic impact and the chance to promote one’s nation on the world stage are the reasons why nations and cities are often prepared to spend on an event.
I am of the strong conviction that as a nation, we could still continue to use sports events hosting, not only to reinforce the Ghana brand, but also:-
• To re-define our sporting aspirations and strategies as we continue to explore new frontiers for post – tournaments’ stadia management;
• To select target and select events that we can bring to Ghana as part of an overall strategy to optimize use of existing infrastructure and maximize derived incomes therefrom;
• To position sports events bidding at the centre of Ghana’s plans to promote and develop the lesser known sports, increase her sports infrastructure and bring job opportunities and economic prosperity to her citizenry and cities;
• To win event competitions and increase receipts to local tourism and businesses;
• To gain extra use for our existing stadia or venues by attracting sports competitions; and
• To influence the national development agenda through the opportunity that is offered to match Ghana’s development objectives to sports events, in order to deliver long-term benefits and legacies that include city and national branding.
To this end, I would recommend that the Ministry of Youth and Sports should, as a matter of urgency, establish a Bid Study Committee to advise on the way forward for bidding for the rights to host and organise the 2015 All – Africa Games.
The Bid Study Committee’s report should encompass outlining the physical infrastructure requirements; development plan for preparing high performance sportsmen and women for all the disciplines to be competed for during the Games; the requisite financial commitments to prepare, organise and host the Games; and fashioning out specific roles for the private sector towards a successful delivery of the Games.
It is worth reiterating that this is one event that will provide the unique platform for the nation to enhance the development and promotion of its lesser-known or secondary sports.
MERCHANDISING, FRANCHISING & LICENSING
Licensed merchandise is a massive global market worth over US$170 billion per year, with sports a major component.
For sports rights owners of all sizes, licensing and merchandising is an essential part of the business mix, both producing revenue and re-enforcing the sense of fan identity and belonging. Licensing has become one of the most powerful contemporary forms of marketing and brand extension available to brand owners today and it is being used in ever-increasingly sophisticated ways.
Sports brands face a raft of issues from accessing new and developing markets to establishing the limits of brand extension; and from maximising retail performance to fulfilling the ever-growing potential of new media.
It is an accepted fact that African, and more especially Ghanaian, football club owners cannot rely, solely, on sale of gate receipts to run such clubs with increasing administrative and operational expenditures.
It will be prudent, therefore to build football club brands that could maximize returns from merchandising and licensing to realise new revenue opportunities, as sponsors and sports – entertainment brands explore how to use licensing to take their brands to the consumer.
In our desire to promote sports as an instrument for national development, it will be critical for the sustenance of sports associations, clubs, rights owners, and sports marketing professionals to develop and manage advanced, innovative sport licensing and merchandising programmes, providing the essential hands-on knowledge to create uniquely new licensing models for maximizing the value of sports brands.
SPORTS & MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs)
Trying hard to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as tools for national development and growth has been the bane of many countries, including Ghana.
However, Sports can help nations meet the MDGs as sports as a platform could be used to communicate their important messages and to teach people about developmental issues, whilst its attributes such as teamwork and fair-play could also be inculcated to speed up the attainment of these goals by nations.
Indeed, sports could do all these in the following areas:-
Sports and Health – sports have many health benefits: physical activity can help reduce the risk of death from illnesses ranging from cancer to stress and depression as physical activity is the easiest way to improve public health. You can now understand and appreciate why we have too many keep-fit clubs scattered all over the country;
Sport and Education – education is central to all the MDGs, and sports can teach basic values and life skills most important for our youth. Sports can teach such core values like honesty, fair-play, respect, cooperation and confidence. For me, that is why I would recommend that we use sports as a tool in our desired national campaign to fight streetism in the country.
It is thus critical that sports programmes include everyone, no matter their gender, ethnicity or ability; and encouraging girls to play sports could help to break down stereotypes and help speed up gender equality – as sports are traditionally male;
Sports and Sustainable Development – it is said that development has to meet the needs of people living today without taking away from the future generations, and sports programmes contribute to economic and social development and environmental sustainability;
Economic Development – sports, as pointed out earlier, help economies of nations through job creations and as the emerging industry requires goods and services, contribute to economies through such areas as manufacturing, direct employment and in-flows through performers’ earnings at games / fights, appearance fees, bonuses, transfer fees and gifts as well as consequent taxation on these earnings;
Social Development – sports facilitates social development by teaching core values and life skills: bringing people together; and improving social cohesion; whilst providing various platforms for taking on social problems as drug abuse, crime, gender equity, and child labour.
Sports also promote volunteerism as it relies on volunteers at international events as Ghana 2008 & 2009 and community-based activities; and through their recruitments, volunteers learn new skills and feel good about themselves, as volunteerism improves community participation and social well-being.
Environmental Sustainability – sports could also be a very cost-effective but powerful tool for communicating environmental messages. It is understood that sports should be played in an environmentally sustainable manner, without harming the environment since destroying the environment reduces the health and well-being of local populations;
Sports and Peace – admittedly, the international language of sports is able to cross cultures and bridge social, ethnic divides, and making it a powerful tool to promote peace. Sports encourage integration and social tolerance, which are necessary for lasting peace; and most especially in times of instability, sports help people feel normal, and offer some structure in an unstructured environment;
These attributes have been best exhibited in Ghana from our hosting the 1965 & 1978 Africa Cup of Nations events through to the Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup, our hosting again of the 1999 African Youth Football Championship and the 2000 co-host & the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, to the Satellites’ annexation of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2009 and finally to the South Africa 2010 World Cup – when the performances of our footballers have brought the whole nation together as one people, taught us real lessons in unity of purpose, spirit of a nation and teamwork, as well as sports and peace, especially when it showcases the capacity to reduce political tensions to the minimum during such exploits and times.
And finally:
Sports and Partnerships – since sports have the power to bring people together, it is no doubt a very powerful communication tool – sending messages of cooperation as it reaches many different people in many unique ways.
Thus, many organisations tend to work with the world of sports to teach people about key issues locally and globally by using athletes as spokespersons; dedicating sporting events to development issues; using sports to mobilize resources; and taking advantage of media coverage of sports events.
All said, permit me to add that Ghana is one of the first countries that have made the effort at integrating the concept of sport for development and sport for peace into national policies, including incorporating sports as a tool for poverty alleviation in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP); whilst the then Ministry of Education, Science and Sports were very active participants in everything to do with sport for development and peace around the world.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE SYSTEM & NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
I have always believed that the organisation of national football leagues in any developing nations should have two core objects – producing champions to fly the flag of the respective nations on the international stage, whilst using the platform as a tool for all the inherent benefits such as national unity and cohesion, consolidate national integration of all our diverse ethnic groupings into a unitary state with common destiny.
It is for these reasons and more that I will forever continue to preach the monotonous sermon of calling for a re-think of the way we design and manage our national football leagues. No matter what name we give it – premier league – it should not continue to discriminate against the interest of some people or groupings or regions.
Thus, if we will continue to chase those national development goals we so much desire to build this nation, pursuing sports as an instrument for national development, then we should as a nations take a second look at the organisation of our national football league in order to derive more benefits than just a vehicle for declaring champions at the end of every season for participation in international competitions.
I think the time to engage in a dispassionate national discourse on the matter is now and this should be done without any acrimony.
ROLE OF DISTRICT, MUNICIPAL & METROPOLITAN ASSEMBLIES
If we are to actualize the intent of the topic: Sports as an instrument for national development, then there is the compulsive need for a clearly defined role for district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies in the promotion and development of sports, especially as it relates to the provision of infrastructure at the community level.
I know some assemblies, including the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan and Tema Municipal Assemblies, are actively engaged in sports, in some instances sponsoring teams to participate in the division one league and in others, supporting the construction of facilities.
Unfortunately, I hold the opinion that they could do better, especially as most of the assemblies are not applying the 5% share of their allocation for sports development judiciously.
If we, as a people accept that fact that sport has a critical role to play as an instrument for national development for all the reasons I have attempted to highlight in my presentation then we could all join in the crusade for an increase in the allocation of the national revenue set aside for the District Assemblies Common Fund – from the current 7.5% to 15%, with the understanding that the share for sports development and promotion will thus increase from 5% to 12%.
LAND USE PLANNING, LEISURE, RECREATION AND SPORTS
As a nation and as a people, we have failed woefully in strict application of the rule relating to land use requirements for recreation, leisure and sports, as we have always treated this subject as secondary, regarding it as a miscellaneous residual need and almost an after-thought in all situations.
We have witnessed unprecedented disregard for this rule and continued to encroach on lands set aside for recreation, leisure and sports for residential purposes much to their disadvantage.
The incidence of the extent of encroachment that denied the nation the Fadama land in Accra after it had been earmarked for the construction of an Olympic-sized stadium is a case in point. The same sad situation is repeated across the country and has drastically reduced lands originally set aside for recreation, leisure and sports.
The question of how much land should be reserved for recreation, leisure and sports uses depends mostly upon the needs of our population at the community, district, municipal and metropolitan areas.
A rule of thumb regarding municipal recreation-land use requirements recommend that towns of 10,000 or more have ten acres of recreation land for every 1,000 people and that, smaller towns could look at up to one acre for every 40 persons in areas with 1,000 residents.
We could expand these standards to require one to two acres per 1,000 people for local playgrounds and neighbourhood parks, one to two acres for playfields, five acres for larger parks, two acres for parkways, ten acres for natural area reservation or preserves at the fringe of the towns / cities, and ten or more acres for regional parks (Raleigh Barlowe: Land Resource Economic, 1978).
As we strive to consolidate sports as an instrument for national development, it will be imperative that the Town & Country Planning Department in conjunction with the various District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies live up to their terms of incorporation and start reclaiming these lands or protect whatever is left for the future generations.
SPORTS ETHICS & DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
I was listening to Queen Latifah, the African-American movie star and artiste and she made a profound statement on CNN’s Larry King Show that her days as a basketball player made her a much better person to deal with her fame, be a better film producer learning teamwork from her sports days, and appreciating even her competitors.
This obviously made me sit up to recognize what we have all been taking for granted, the influence of the core values of sports, and the ethics of good sportsmanship on the development, growth and entrenchment of our democratic dispensation.
For the avoidance of doubt, permit me to sound like an old record that SPORTSMANSHIP connotes fair conduct, including observance of the rules of the game, rules of fair play, respect for others, and graciousness in losing.
Looking even at our sportsmen and what they, by their performances, teach us: endurance, self-belief, hardwork, competence, fair-play, teamwork, dependability, tolerance and reliability amongst others, what better way for us to build a nation, and eschew greediness – the bane of many a fallen empire.
For me, if all our leaders were good sportsmen in their youthful days, we would have solved half of our national development problems, especially in the sharing of the national cake.
CONCLUSION
I am more than persuaded that this is the time for sports to assume a right place in the scheme of things, as an instrument for national development, especially coming in the wake of the achievements of football on the international scene and its impact on the national psyche.
I am also hopeful that the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) would as a matter of priority, engage sports authorities towards incorporating the strategic role of sport in delivering the MDGs by the target year of 2015 in all position papers and strategies of the Commission.
Sport is very important because it is a driving force in creating positive change, not only in the area of development but also in the area of peace; and for today’s youth, when employment is their single most troublesome dilemma, local sports programmes can offer employment, and also reduce social exclusion among the youth.
Even more critical is the use of sports as the single most influential contributor to building leadership skills among the youth, as it empowers them, giving them a healthy alternative to potentially dangerous, harmful ways of life like streetism.
It will be important for the organisation of, say, football / sports clinics in the ethnically-charged conflict areas of the country towards either taking the sting out of the conflicts or lessening the impact of such conflicts; or better still, to integrate communities through organised sports that bond the communities together and helps them forget a bit of their differences and lessen tensions.
There can be no better way, in my opinion, to perpetuate, accelerate, and consolidate national development than leveraging the full potentials of sports as an agent for change in our current circumstances.
The time for this could not have come than now considering what the Black Stars, as a team, showed the entire continent, peoples of African-descent and Ghanaians particularly, what singleness of purpose, unity, discipline, dedication, commitment, teamwork, virtues of complementarity, and keeping one’s mind and eye always on the greater goal could do to give global hope to the under-privileged of the world.
Finally, finally, permit me to admit that I lack the finesse, expertise and even the courage to do justice to the topic that is why I opted for the easy way out with this approach, just thoughts on sports as an instrument for national development.
I have always held the view that football offers us more than just enjoying a passion that binds more as a nation during moments of international exploits of our national teams. I believe, granted the opportunity, we will begin to see and appreciate the other immense possibilities that such sports hold for driving our national development agenda.
Personally, I think it is about time for Africa and Ghana policymakers and public institutions to re-think their attitudes and mentality towards the use of sports for all the various facets of our socio-economic plans and programmes.
I want to thank you, most sincerely for listening to me and pray that you are not disappointed in any way but rather enjoyed your time listening to me.
Thank you and God bless us all.
Executive Chairman, RICS Consult Limited; Managing Consultant, AWD Sports Strategies Limited; and President, Ethel-Jane University College of Sports at the 1st International Ghana Physical Education & Sport Thinktank Conference, 2010 at the Alisa Hotels on Friday, 30th July, 2010
Honourable Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Sports;
Mr. Moderator;
Discussants;
Distinguished delegates and participants;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
It is with the greatest of humility that I stand before you this morning to offer my humble viewpoint on the topic: “Sports As An Instrument For National Development.”
In the last thirty years, I have witnessed with keen interest the global evolution of sports as a platform for talent and skill development, leisure, physical education and recreation into a vehicle for socio-economic changes amongst nations.
Thus, within the last two decades we have seen governments look set to sustain or even increase their involvement in sport, despite the ravages of recession.
What nations and governments have sought to do, in the circumstances, have been to use sport as a tool for re-engineering their economies and increase their sports infrastructure stock by continuously engage in the bidding war for the rights to host and organise various international sporting events.
The issues I will be dealing with in discussing the topic will cover the following headings:-
• Vision for sports for development;
• Economic impact assessment of sports & sports events on the economy;
• Sports as an emerging industry;
• Employment opportunities;
• Reinforcing Brand Ghana globally through sports;
• Mentorship, Streetism & Youth Development;
• Hosting & organisation of international sporting events;
• Merchandising, Franchising & Licensing;
• Sports & MDGs;
• National Football League system and national development;
• Role of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies;
• Land Use Planning & Recreation, Leisure and Sports;
• Sports Ethics & Democratic Principles; and
• Conclusion.
VISION FOR SPORTS FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Within the context of this paper, I would want to look at a vision for Sports For National Development re-configured to reflect: “To re-position sports as the embodiment of the spirit of a new Ghana, an aspiring leader in the global arena, a tool for poverty alleviation, an avenue for improving the well-being of the Ghanaian and as a vehicle for mobilization for national development and growth through greater public, private sector partnership”.
It is my understanding that this way we should be able to pursue, develop, strengthen, promote and implement inter-sectoral collaborations with both private and public institutions for greater integrated multi-disciplinary planning through interventions at the national, regional and district levels, and with improved community participation in these programmes.
This will also provide us with the opportunity to pursue the increased use of sports as a channel for various national developmental issues, including campaigns against indiscipline, diseases of public health importance and school health, girl child education, female genital mutilation, polio, cholera, malaria, and for youth empowerment as well as enhancement of talents and skills for self-development.
Furthermore, this will accommodate the interface for collaboration between sports and tourism, in using the former as a touristic endeavour in the areas of sports tours; developing sport-specific resort destinations; initiating sport theme parks; establishing specialised sport cruises; adding sports facilities and programmes to hotel & resort settings; developing sports attractions such as museums, specialised stadia and sports hall of fame; and promoting sports events as a basis for improved tourism visitations – all towards re-positioning Ghana as a preferred sports tourist destination.
I want to believe such a holistic vision should inure to our greater attainment of our national developmental goals as we fashion a new legal framework for the facilitation, promotion, development, growth and administration of a better private sector driven sports economy.
Again, all these should be situated in an enabling environment that will accelerate the consolidation of sports as an emerging industry with the requisite incentives for the creation of new career paths and professions as an integral part of overall efforts towards addressing the high rate of unemployment amongst our youth.
ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF SPORTS & SPORTS EVENTS ON THE NATIONAL ECONOMY
It will be imperative that as a prelude to our fuller appreciation of the role of sports as an instrument for national development and for proper take-off, an economic impact assessment be made of sports in Ghana to not only determine its contribution to the national economy but also quantify its strategic importance for national development planning and its use as an economic indicator.
I would envisage the engagement of a reputable consultancy firm to undertake an economic and financial impact assessment of sports development and promotion in the country, including all sports-related activities. The Report should cover such impact at all levels from the district through regional to national. It should also establish the role of the District, Municipal, Metropolitan Assemblies in the provision of sporting facilities through the allocation of percentage of their shares of the District Assemblies Common Fund; and in this regard, I would want to add my voice to the call for an increase in the percentage of the national revenue allocated to the Fund from the current 7.5% to 15% so that they would be empowered to provide such services.
If this is done, we would begin to curb the rural-urban drift through the engagement of our youth in various sporting disciplines for the enhancement of their talents and skills for self-improvement and possible selection into national teams for international assignments. This will in turn provide them with the requisite funding through the payment of bonuses, appearance monies and other allowances for family and community standard of living enhancement through set up of businesses and offer of financial assistance to family members and friends.
Personally, I am not too sure about the contents of the Medium-term Strategic Plan presented by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) recently to H. E. the President of the Republic, but I have as a matter of interest appealed to the Chairman that an opportunity should be offered for a submission of a paper on the same topic: ‘Sports As An Instrument For National Development’ for incorporation of those issues that will impact directly on the work so far done by the Commission.
It is worth emphasizing that our hosting and organising the Ghana 2008 Football and Ghana 2009 Hockey Africa Cup of Nations Championships bequeathed to us as a nation significant legacies, including six all-purpose stadia – Accra, El-Wak, Kumasi, Tamale, Sekondi-Essipun and the National Hockey; fourteen training pitches – some for selected Senior Secondary Schools at the four venues; new arrival and departure lounge at the Takoradi Airport; rehabilitation of the Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi airports’ runway to enable night flights; the construction of the Tamale UDS Hotel Project; donation of eight VW vehicles to form the bulk of the transportation pool for the new Ministry of Youth and Sports; and fourteen Toyota vehicles – 2 Land Cruisers, 5 Hilux Pickups, 3 Avensis saloon cars, and 4 Corolla saloon cars; in addition to a considerable quantity of office furniture and equipment. A greater number of computers were donated to selected senior secondary schools for their e-Library setups.
It must be said that after the Ghana 2008 Tournament, I requested the Bank of Ghana to provide an “Impact Assessment Of The Ghana 2008 CAN Tournament On Ghana’s Economy”, and whilst this was done and submitted by July 2008, I was of the opinion that it fell short of my expectations as it did not take cognizance of all the social investments made such as the four stadia and other developments, whose returns are expected to accrue over the next twenty decades or more.
Indeed, I will be dealing with some of these salient points later in my submissions.
SPORTS AS AN EMERGING INDUSTRY
Over and over again within the last two decades, we have been inundated with the talk by all manner of people including politicians and sports administrators in Africa and more especially Ghana, that sports is big business; and yet the facts on the ground do not support this claim.
Any industry, whether manufacturing, mining, energy, oil and gas, medicine and medical-care, heritage and construction, should be an organised economic activity, connected with the production or delivery of a particular product or range of products or services; or an activity that many people are involved in, especially one that has become excessively commercialized or standardized.
What we are witnessing is a thriving but unorganized sports business as an economic activity of various sub-activities and linkages from the performer to the managers to the broadcasting / events rights, merchandising and licensing to their supporting staff and services, with various professionals to boot without the requisite standardization, even as it has become excessively commercialized.
I must admit that sports as an emerging industry holds great potential of new career paths and professions, enhancing our international sports events management capabilities, broadening our new media landscape, growing new income streams through the application of ICT in all facets & at all levels of sports promotion and development to redefine and consolidate its role in national development.
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
One major resultant benefit of any economic impact assessment of sports and sports events on the economy, within the context of sports as an emerging industry, will be the determination of the current levels of employment of the sector.
However, a cursory look without any empirical analysis paint a promising picture – from performers, technical personnel, managers, club owners, administrators, media, rights owners, broadcasters, stadia hawkers and concessionaires, kits manufacturers and shop owners, events owners, service providers, sports-related allied-suppliers, PE practitioners, and the sports academia as assembled here.
I could conjecture a million people employed by sports in the non-formal sector, either permanently, casual labour or as volunteers, from the community to district to regional and then finally to the national level.
We should be more than assured that if we begin to do the right things, take the rights steps, give up individual parochial interests for the greater good of us all, adopt and keep to the dictates of the industry, be more transparent in all our dealings and begin to think outside the box in all matters, we will not need the same number of years that has taken the developed states to grow our industry and catch up with global trends.
Years back, majority of our FAs across Africa could not see beyond the fact that the whole essence of qualifying to play in the FIFA World Cup was far more than a national prestige; and that it has always been a business proposition. I cannot imagine what winning the FIFA World Cup and earning more than US$50 million would do to the economy of say, Ghana?
These are the possibilities for employment opportunities that would accrue in the name of sports against the national development agenda.
For the record, hosting the 2010 World Cup created over 150,000 jobs and 15,000 volunteers against a total expenditure of US$5 billion for infrastructure, security, TV and marketing rights, constructions and services.
What we need to do is to lend ourselves to the rules of the game for the enhancement of sports as an emerging industry to be able to drive its agenda as an instrument for national development.
REINFORCING BRAND GHANA GLOBALLY THROUGH SPORTS
I am more than happy that the government has found it prudent to establish a Brand Ghana Secretariat to protect, develop and grow the GHANA brand, both locally and globally, and even more especially that its importance is buttressed by its inclusion in the membership of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
For the purposes of this paper, I would rather look only at the role of Sports in reinforcing the Ghana brand globally, especially the contributions of Football in adding value since 2006 to date.
Within this period, we saw the magnitude of the impact of the triumph of the Black Satellites at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, Egypt 2009 Championship, especially considering the manner in which the finals was played and won against Brazil with 10-men for more than 80 minutes of the game.
The value of this achievements and the premium it added in enhancing this brand can only be left for posterity to determine.
Again, the legacy of the Black Stars’ performance at the last FIFA World Cup, Germany 2006 and the fulfillment of Roger Milla’s prophesy that the world had seen nothing of the beauty and flair of the African Football Play with his country, Cameroon’s performance till the day of the arrival of the Black Stars, Ghana’s National Team - is also a critical part of the enhancement of the same branding.
Even more importantly is the real time value of the Black Stars’ achievements at the just ended South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, where they were not only the toast of the African Continent and her people as well as people of African-descent worldwide but also earned for the nation continuous mention, supported by visuals across all the global media networks, including CNN, BBC, ESPN, Sky, Deutsche Welle and Carnal France International. Mentions that would have cost the nation in excess of US$15 million conservatively to have run an extensive global media campaign of that magnitude of exposure, most of them during prime time.
The extent of the short, medium and long-term accrued benefits that would inure to our advantage as a nation to boost our sports tourism in-flows cannot be fathomed now.
Already, requests have started coming in from USA pupils and students who are desirous of visiting Ghana during their holidays to learn how to play Ghanaian Football; there are also requests for TV and book rights for selected players of the 2010 Black Stars Team; and individual player-endorsement deals.
There is also opportunity for us to develop and grow a new line of product: HOCKEY SPORTS TOURISM, using the newly-constructed water-based turf, the National Hockey Stadium, with its 64-bed hostel facility to attract European student hockey teams to come and use our facilities during their holidays to train and alongside explore and visit our tourism sites.
I am confident that the Brand Ghana Secretariat could use the platform provided by the South Africa 2010 World Cup to input into the NDPC’s Medium-Term Strategic Plan towards taking advantage of sports as an instrument for national development to reinforce the Ghana brand globally.
MENTORSHIP, STREETISM & YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
One of the major perennial problems facing the youth of this nation, over the last two decades, has been STREETISM, the phenomenon where the unemployed youth, mostly dropouts from the junior / senior secondary schools, polytechnics and business institutes roam the streets, congregating at traffic junctions to sell all manner of consumer items from chewing gums, dog chains to dogs.
Most times, they are nuisances to motorists, peddling in items whose daily returns on investments are not enough to keep body and soul together, and sometimes too suffer greatly during floods as they sleep on pavements in the night because they cannot afford proper, decent accommodation. Their counterparts are the Kayaye, with little or no formal education and adding to the dire strait situations they find themselves in after migrating from the rural to unfamiliar urban settings.
A trace of the backgrounds of the majority of our renowned footballers and sportsmen show a similarity in their growth patterns with those of the street children, victims of streetism as described.
It is my humble opinion that we could use our successful sportsmen and women like Edith Haizel, Rose Hart, Alice Anum, Margaret Simpson, Azumah Nelson, D. K. Poison, Alberta Sackey, Vida Anim, Adwoa Bayor, Abedi Ayew Pele, Dede Ayew, Tony Baffoe, Tony Yeboah, Michael Essien, Asamoah Gyan, Stephen Appiah, Samuel Osei Kuffour and Augustine Arhinful, to name but a few, as role models and mentors to give these youth HOPE to begin their dream again through sports to change their destinies.
This should be an inter-ministerial national campaign, involving the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) to identify sporting talents and nurture same for the national good and as part of the broader scheme of promoting sports as an instrument for national development.
HOSTING & ORGANISATION OF INTERNATIONAL SPORTING EVENTS
Over the last three decades, the desire to host major sports events in all corners of the globe has become stronger as cities and nations have balanced the rising costs against the benefits that such events bring. Considerations for an improved image, updated infrastructure and venues, a healthier nation, an increase in sports tourism, positive economic impact and the chance to promote one’s nation on the world stage are the reasons why nations and cities are often prepared to spend on an event.
I am of the strong conviction that as a nation, we could still continue to use sports events hosting, not only to reinforce the Ghana brand, but also:-
• To re-define our sporting aspirations and strategies as we continue to explore new frontiers for post – tournaments’ stadia management;
• To select target and select events that we can bring to Ghana as part of an overall strategy to optimize use of existing infrastructure and maximize derived incomes therefrom;
• To position sports events bidding at the centre of Ghana’s plans to promote and develop the lesser known sports, increase her sports infrastructure and bring job opportunities and economic prosperity to her citizenry and cities;
• To win event competitions and increase receipts to local tourism and businesses;
• To gain extra use for our existing stadia or venues by attracting sports competitions; and
• To influence the national development agenda through the opportunity that is offered to match Ghana’s development objectives to sports events, in order to deliver long-term benefits and legacies that include city and national branding.
To this end, I would recommend that the Ministry of Youth and Sports should, as a matter of urgency, establish a Bid Study Committee to advise on the way forward for bidding for the rights to host and organise the 2015 All – Africa Games.
The Bid Study Committee’s report should encompass outlining the physical infrastructure requirements; development plan for preparing high performance sportsmen and women for all the disciplines to be competed for during the Games; the requisite financial commitments to prepare, organise and host the Games; and fashioning out specific roles for the private sector towards a successful delivery of the Games.
It is worth reiterating that this is one event that will provide the unique platform for the nation to enhance the development and promotion of its lesser-known or secondary sports.
MERCHANDISING, FRANCHISING & LICENSING
Licensed merchandise is a massive global market worth over US$170 billion per year, with sports a major component.
For sports rights owners of all sizes, licensing and merchandising is an essential part of the business mix, both producing revenue and re-enforcing the sense of fan identity and belonging. Licensing has become one of the most powerful contemporary forms of marketing and brand extension available to brand owners today and it is being used in ever-increasingly sophisticated ways.
Sports brands face a raft of issues from accessing new and developing markets to establishing the limits of brand extension; and from maximising retail performance to fulfilling the ever-growing potential of new media.
It is an accepted fact that African, and more especially Ghanaian, football club owners cannot rely, solely, on sale of gate receipts to run such clubs with increasing administrative and operational expenditures.
It will be prudent, therefore to build football club brands that could maximize returns from merchandising and licensing to realise new revenue opportunities, as sponsors and sports – entertainment brands explore how to use licensing to take their brands to the consumer.
In our desire to promote sports as an instrument for national development, it will be critical for the sustenance of sports associations, clubs, rights owners, and sports marketing professionals to develop and manage advanced, innovative sport licensing and merchandising programmes, providing the essential hands-on knowledge to create uniquely new licensing models for maximizing the value of sports brands.
SPORTS & MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs)
Trying hard to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as tools for national development and growth has been the bane of many countries, including Ghana.
However, Sports can help nations meet the MDGs as sports as a platform could be used to communicate their important messages and to teach people about developmental issues, whilst its attributes such as teamwork and fair-play could also be inculcated to speed up the attainment of these goals by nations.
Indeed, sports could do all these in the following areas:-
Sports and Health – sports have many health benefits: physical activity can help reduce the risk of death from illnesses ranging from cancer to stress and depression as physical activity is the easiest way to improve public health. You can now understand and appreciate why we have too many keep-fit clubs scattered all over the country;
Sport and Education – education is central to all the MDGs, and sports can teach basic values and life skills most important for our youth. Sports can teach such core values like honesty, fair-play, respect, cooperation and confidence. For me, that is why I would recommend that we use sports as a tool in our desired national campaign to fight streetism in the country.
It is thus critical that sports programmes include everyone, no matter their gender, ethnicity or ability; and encouraging girls to play sports could help to break down stereotypes and help speed up gender equality – as sports are traditionally male;
Sports and Sustainable Development – it is said that development has to meet the needs of people living today without taking away from the future generations, and sports programmes contribute to economic and social development and environmental sustainability;
Economic Development – sports, as pointed out earlier, help economies of nations through job creations and as the emerging industry requires goods and services, contribute to economies through such areas as manufacturing, direct employment and in-flows through performers’ earnings at games / fights, appearance fees, bonuses, transfer fees and gifts as well as consequent taxation on these earnings;
Social Development – sports facilitates social development by teaching core values and life skills: bringing people together; and improving social cohesion; whilst providing various platforms for taking on social problems as drug abuse, crime, gender equity, and child labour.
Sports also promote volunteerism as it relies on volunteers at international events as Ghana 2008 & 2009 and community-based activities; and through their recruitments, volunteers learn new skills and feel good about themselves, as volunteerism improves community participation and social well-being.
Environmental Sustainability – sports could also be a very cost-effective but powerful tool for communicating environmental messages. It is understood that sports should be played in an environmentally sustainable manner, without harming the environment since destroying the environment reduces the health and well-being of local populations;
Sports and Peace – admittedly, the international language of sports is able to cross cultures and bridge social, ethnic divides, and making it a powerful tool to promote peace. Sports encourage integration and social tolerance, which are necessary for lasting peace; and most especially in times of instability, sports help people feel normal, and offer some structure in an unstructured environment;
These attributes have been best exhibited in Ghana from our hosting the 1965 & 1978 Africa Cup of Nations events through to the Germany 2006 FIFA World Cup, our hosting again of the 1999 African Youth Football Championship and the 2000 co-host & the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, to the Satellites’ annexation of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2009 and finally to the South Africa 2010 World Cup – when the performances of our footballers have brought the whole nation together as one people, taught us real lessons in unity of purpose, spirit of a nation and teamwork, as well as sports and peace, especially when it showcases the capacity to reduce political tensions to the minimum during such exploits and times.
And finally:
Sports and Partnerships – since sports have the power to bring people together, it is no doubt a very powerful communication tool – sending messages of cooperation as it reaches many different people in many unique ways.
Thus, many organisations tend to work with the world of sports to teach people about key issues locally and globally by using athletes as spokespersons; dedicating sporting events to development issues; using sports to mobilize resources; and taking advantage of media coverage of sports events.
All said, permit me to add that Ghana is one of the first countries that have made the effort at integrating the concept of sport for development and sport for peace into national policies, including incorporating sports as a tool for poverty alleviation in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP); whilst the then Ministry of Education, Science and Sports were very active participants in everything to do with sport for development and peace around the world.
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE SYSTEM & NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
I have always believed that the organisation of national football leagues in any developing nations should have two core objects – producing champions to fly the flag of the respective nations on the international stage, whilst using the platform as a tool for all the inherent benefits such as national unity and cohesion, consolidate national integration of all our diverse ethnic groupings into a unitary state with common destiny.
It is for these reasons and more that I will forever continue to preach the monotonous sermon of calling for a re-think of the way we design and manage our national football leagues. No matter what name we give it – premier league – it should not continue to discriminate against the interest of some people or groupings or regions.
Thus, if we will continue to chase those national development goals we so much desire to build this nation, pursuing sports as an instrument for national development, then we should as a nations take a second look at the organisation of our national football league in order to derive more benefits than just a vehicle for declaring champions at the end of every season for participation in international competitions.
I think the time to engage in a dispassionate national discourse on the matter is now and this should be done without any acrimony.
ROLE OF DISTRICT, MUNICIPAL & METROPOLITAN ASSEMBLIES
If we are to actualize the intent of the topic: Sports as an instrument for national development, then there is the compulsive need for a clearly defined role for district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies in the promotion and development of sports, especially as it relates to the provision of infrastructure at the community level.
I know some assemblies, including the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan and Tema Municipal Assemblies, are actively engaged in sports, in some instances sponsoring teams to participate in the division one league and in others, supporting the construction of facilities.
Unfortunately, I hold the opinion that they could do better, especially as most of the assemblies are not applying the 5% share of their allocation for sports development judiciously.
If we, as a people accept that fact that sport has a critical role to play as an instrument for national development for all the reasons I have attempted to highlight in my presentation then we could all join in the crusade for an increase in the allocation of the national revenue set aside for the District Assemblies Common Fund – from the current 7.5% to 15%, with the understanding that the share for sports development and promotion will thus increase from 5% to 12%.
LAND USE PLANNING, LEISURE, RECREATION AND SPORTS
As a nation and as a people, we have failed woefully in strict application of the rule relating to land use requirements for recreation, leisure and sports, as we have always treated this subject as secondary, regarding it as a miscellaneous residual need and almost an after-thought in all situations.
We have witnessed unprecedented disregard for this rule and continued to encroach on lands set aside for recreation, leisure and sports for residential purposes much to their disadvantage.
The incidence of the extent of encroachment that denied the nation the Fadama land in Accra after it had been earmarked for the construction of an Olympic-sized stadium is a case in point. The same sad situation is repeated across the country and has drastically reduced lands originally set aside for recreation, leisure and sports.
The question of how much land should be reserved for recreation, leisure and sports uses depends mostly upon the needs of our population at the community, district, municipal and metropolitan areas.
A rule of thumb regarding municipal recreation-land use requirements recommend that towns of 10,000 or more have ten acres of recreation land for every 1,000 people and that, smaller towns could look at up to one acre for every 40 persons in areas with 1,000 residents.
We could expand these standards to require one to two acres per 1,000 people for local playgrounds and neighbourhood parks, one to two acres for playfields, five acres for larger parks, two acres for parkways, ten acres for natural area reservation or preserves at the fringe of the towns / cities, and ten or more acres for regional parks (Raleigh Barlowe: Land Resource Economic, 1978).
As we strive to consolidate sports as an instrument for national development, it will be imperative that the Town & Country Planning Department in conjunction with the various District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies live up to their terms of incorporation and start reclaiming these lands or protect whatever is left for the future generations.
SPORTS ETHICS & DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
I was listening to Queen Latifah, the African-American movie star and artiste and she made a profound statement on CNN’s Larry King Show that her days as a basketball player made her a much better person to deal with her fame, be a better film producer learning teamwork from her sports days, and appreciating even her competitors.
This obviously made me sit up to recognize what we have all been taking for granted, the influence of the core values of sports, and the ethics of good sportsmanship on the development, growth and entrenchment of our democratic dispensation.
For the avoidance of doubt, permit me to sound like an old record that SPORTSMANSHIP connotes fair conduct, including observance of the rules of the game, rules of fair play, respect for others, and graciousness in losing.
Looking even at our sportsmen and what they, by their performances, teach us: endurance, self-belief, hardwork, competence, fair-play, teamwork, dependability, tolerance and reliability amongst others, what better way for us to build a nation, and eschew greediness – the bane of many a fallen empire.
For me, if all our leaders were good sportsmen in their youthful days, we would have solved half of our national development problems, especially in the sharing of the national cake.
CONCLUSION
I am more than persuaded that this is the time for sports to assume a right place in the scheme of things, as an instrument for national development, especially coming in the wake of the achievements of football on the international scene and its impact on the national psyche.
I am also hopeful that the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) would as a matter of priority, engage sports authorities towards incorporating the strategic role of sport in delivering the MDGs by the target year of 2015 in all position papers and strategies of the Commission.
Sport is very important because it is a driving force in creating positive change, not only in the area of development but also in the area of peace; and for today’s youth, when employment is their single most troublesome dilemma, local sports programmes can offer employment, and also reduce social exclusion among the youth.
Even more critical is the use of sports as the single most influential contributor to building leadership skills among the youth, as it empowers them, giving them a healthy alternative to potentially dangerous, harmful ways of life like streetism.
It will be important for the organisation of, say, football / sports clinics in the ethnically-charged conflict areas of the country towards either taking the sting out of the conflicts or lessening the impact of such conflicts; or better still, to integrate communities through organised sports that bond the communities together and helps them forget a bit of their differences and lessen tensions.
There can be no better way, in my opinion, to perpetuate, accelerate, and consolidate national development than leveraging the full potentials of sports as an agent for change in our current circumstances.
The time for this could not have come than now considering what the Black Stars, as a team, showed the entire continent, peoples of African-descent and Ghanaians particularly, what singleness of purpose, unity, discipline, dedication, commitment, teamwork, virtues of complementarity, and keeping one’s mind and eye always on the greater goal could do to give global hope to the under-privileged of the world.
Finally, finally, permit me to admit that I lack the finesse, expertise and even the courage to do justice to the topic that is why I opted for the easy way out with this approach, just thoughts on sports as an instrument for national development.
I have always held the view that football offers us more than just enjoying a passion that binds more as a nation during moments of international exploits of our national teams. I believe, granted the opportunity, we will begin to see and appreciate the other immense possibilities that such sports hold for driving our national development agenda.
Personally, I think it is about time for Africa and Ghana policymakers and public institutions to re-think their attitudes and mentality towards the use of sports for all the various facets of our socio-economic plans and programmes.
I want to thank you, most sincerely for listening to me and pray that you are not disappointed in any way but rather enjoyed your time listening to me.
Thank you and God bless us all.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Celebrating Life’s Milestone (I)
ABOUT twenty-four years ago in 1986, I began yet another major phase in my journey of life, when I opted to resign from the then Ghana Food Distribution Corporation (GFDC), where I was working as the Assistant Estate Manager to incorporate the company – Rex-Image Associates Limited.
I had only worked for about 3 years at the GFDC and therefore I wasn’t expecting any end-of-service package that could have helped me to set up the company as the sole shareholder: in short, no working capital but with lots of ideas and dreams.
I could also not afford renting an office space at the time so I started the business from my living room at North Kaneshie, near Bubuiashie Cables and Wireless Park, where my Secretary operated from with an old Imperial typewriter, whilst I went job-hunting.
Two years before this decision I had started publishing a sports weekly under the name ‘SPORTS COIN’, more as a platform to articulate my views on sports administration, promotion and development in the country, especially as at that time I was also the host of a TV Magazine programme “Sports Digest” on GTV, than for profit.
However, Rex-Image Associates’ first professional job was the institution and management of the annual Toyota’s Most Exciting Player of the Season Award for the best player of the national football league, sponsored by Ghamot Company, then accredited distributors of Toyota Vehicles in Ghana in 1986, worth ¢5,000.00 (five thousand cedis) then, to cover the cost of plaque, organisational expenses, print media advertising, cash prize for the winner plus agency service fee.
616 BOOKS FOR EJUCS
The Ethel-Jane University College of Sports (EJUCS), a project initiative of RICS Consult Limited, has acquired 616 academic books covering various disciplines of higher education in partial fulfilment of accreditation requirements for the university college, which will have its main campus in Sekondi-Takoradi, with an auxiliary campus in Accra.
The books cover such subjects as Architecture; Tourism; Public Relations; Event Management; Investment; Management; Psychology; Philosophy; Accounting & Finance; Journalism; Leadership & Governance; Law & Risk Management; Marketing; and Economics.
RICS to Sponsor
2009 GJA Awards
RICS Consult Limited has accepted to sponsor the 2009 Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Award for Best Layout and Designed Newspaper.
In a letter dated 14th April, 2010, the Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah recalled that the company, then publishers of the best-selling ‘Sports Coin’ and ‘Public Opinion’ weeklies won the maiden edition of the same Award in 1993, with both publications nominated alongside the nation’s highest selling daily, ‘Daily Graphic’ for the Award.
The final Award was won by the ‘Public Opinion’ weekly and the then Editor-In-Chief and now Executive Chairman of the company received the Certificate and Citation at the Labadi Beach Hotel.
Reminiscing, the Executive Chairman recalled the role played by the company through the two weeklies in leading the transition of the era of typesetting with cut-and-paste for newspaper production to mainstream desktop publishing, using Aldus Pagemaker software to design and publish newspapers in the country.
Mr. Danquah intimated that winning the award then was not only in recognition of this unique, all-important role but also appreciating that best newspaper layouts always tell stories of their own.
Sport Business
Donates Books
The SportBusiness Group, publishers of the SportBusiness International magazine, the world’s renowned and foremost global sports business journal, has donated 39 publications for the Ethel-Jane University College of Sports Library setup.
The publications include such titles as The Business of Sport Marketing; Financing The Sport Enterprise; Defining Sponsorship; The Sporting Goods Industry: History, Practices and Products; CHINA: Opportunities in the Business Of Sport; Football in China; International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship; Driving Business Through Sport; Sport And The Law; Football Sponsorship & Commerce; and Maximising Revenue From Licensing And Merchandising.
The other titles include Sport And Wireless; Bidding & Hosting: The Guide to Successful Sporting Events; The Future of Sports Broadcasting Rights; Africa Sports Directory, 2009; Sport And Broadband: An Introduction to a Revolutionary Technology; How to Develop Effective Hospitality Programmes; The Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Marketplace; and SportBusiness Marketplace 2010: The Global Sports Service Directory.
The rest are iGB Affiliate Directory 2010; European Football Channels; The IOC World Conference on Sport and New Media Report; BritSport 07/08: The Definitive UK Sport Industry Directory; Annual Review Of Football Finance; Online Gambling: The Regulation of Global Sports Betting; Master of the Ceremonies: An Eventful Life; Soccer In North America: The Commercial Opportunities; Evian Masters; Persuasion: The Art of Influencing People; and Who Works in Motorsports, 2007.
EC’s Blogger Articles
Blogger articles by Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah, Founder / Executive Chairman of the RICS Consult Group Limited and the Founder / President of the Ethel-Jane University College of Sports (EJUCS) are available for your reading pleasure.
The four articles accessible through link: ricsconsultltd.blogspot.com are:-
Mastering Self Leadership;
Soccer In Africa: Giving It A Business Face;
Ghana Football, What Are We Doing Wrong?; and
Leveraging Ghana’s Appearance At the 2010 World Cup for New Business Opportunities and Enhancing Brand Ghana.
EC at 1st GIPHE Conference
The Founder / Executive Chairman of RICS Consult Limited and President of Ethel-Jane University College of Sports (EJUCS), Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah is scheduled to deliver a lecture on the topic:
“Sports As An Instrument For National Development”, at the 1st International Conference of the Ghana Physical Education & Sports (GPES) Thinktank slated for July 28-31, 2010 at Alisa Hotels, Accra, Ghana.
Services for
Assemblies
In the last decade, RICS Consult has provided PR and Marketing consultancy services to a number of Assemblies, including the Nzema East District, the Cape Coast Municipal (CCMA), the Shama Ahanta East (now Sekondi-Takoradi) Metropolitan (SAEMA) and the Juaboso-Bia District Assemblies.
As part of the consultancy services, Agency produced quality brochures that sought to introduce and advertise these institutions with profiles and accompanying pictorials, portraying investment opportunities, tourist attractions and investible business areas for local and foreign investors and entrepreneurs.
The CCMA and SAEMA brochures traced some historical landmarks like castles, profiles of educational and hospitality industries, cultural festivals among others.
GM for EMBA Program
As part of empowering its top management to stay ahead of competition, RICS Consult is sponsoring her General Manager, Mrs. Nana Adwoa Danquah to pursue an Executive MBA at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS).
A product of Mfantsiman Girls Senior High School, Saltpond; Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ); and the Central University College (CUC), where she graduated with a BSc in Business Administration, Nana Adwoa took over the management of the company after the retirement of the Founder / Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah in 2004.
Nana Adwoa’s style of creative, innovative and pragmatic management has not only added value to the RICS Consult brand but consolidated its position as an integrated marketing communications agency of choice for its discerning clientele.
When EC Met Hon. Boateng
During his days as the Editor-In-Chief of the award-winning ‘Sports Coin’ and ‘Public Opinion’ weeklies, the Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah was a guest of the Commonwealth Office in London (1991), where he held a number of meetings with selected individuals and institutions, including the Advertising Association of the UK, the Newspaper Publishers Association of the UK, the Newspaper Society of the UK, and the Ghanaian-born British Member of Parliament for Brent South, Paul Boateng.
Promoting EJUCS Project
A tertiary institution for Sports, Sports Tourism, Sports Business, Events Management and Music & Cultural Industries Management is being promoted and established by RICS Consult Limited.
The institution, to be known and called Ethel-Jane University College of Sports (EJUCS), will have its main campus in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis in the Western Region of Ghana with the Accra Campus and Corporate offices at Tesano-West.
Under its vision of building human resource capacity for sports, the institute would also facilitate the creation and development of new career paths and professions for Africans to grow the emerging sports business, events management, music and culture management industries.
EJUCS is projecting that by its 10-year programme of work (2012-2022), it should produce 500,000 graduates to act as the vehicle to facilitate and support the uninterrupted rapid growth of sports business and related activities into self-sustaining, veritable competing industries in Africa.
According to the Founder and President, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah, the institution takes its name from two wonderful women in his life: his grand aunt, Madam Ethel Jobson Mitchual of Sekondi & Anomabo and his late mother, Jane Acquah-Cornelius for their contributions towards shaping his life particularly through his days at Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast.
EJUCS has already collaborated with the SportBusiness Group of the UK, publishers of the renowned global-industry recognised magazine, The SportBusiness International to organise the highly successful 1st Sports Sponsorship Certification Course last year at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra.
EC @ 2010 SWAG Seminar
The Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah addressed the Stanbic Bank / Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) 2010 World Cup Lectures at the Media Centre, Ohene Djan Sports Stadium on the topic: “Potential Challenges Facing Media & Socio-Economic Benefits Of The 2010 World Cup For Ghana”.
Mr. Danquah intimated that considering the total cost of the hosting and organising the 2010 World Cup to South Africa, not many African countries can host and organise a future world cup tournament, especially where FIFA itself had abrogated the rotational basis for awarding the rights on continental basis, and even more so that the rights for the next three events are out of reach of the rest of the African continent – 2014, 2018 and 2022.
“The way I see the calculations, the next time the FIFA World Cup will come back to the African Continent will be either 2026 or 2030, and my bet will be on 2030, if and only if as a continent we are able to re-engineer the same sentiments and strategies that made it possible for us / South Africa to have the rights for 2010, after losing out to Germany for the 2006 edition.
“If you look at the conservative figures provided for South Africa, you would appreciate that only about 5 or less oil rich African countries can, tentatively, afford to host and organise any future world cups without serious distortions to their socio-economic development paradigm with possible unrests post-tournament,” he added.
“Personally, I think it is about time for Africa to re-think the matter of CO-HOSTING for future FIFA World Cup in say, 2030 and an OLYMPIC GAMES thereafter, possibly after a COMMONWEALTH GAMES, and I urge all of us here, particularly you of the media, to provoke our government to lead the way as part of the overall strategy to build and increase the stock of our sports infrastructure,” Mr. Danquah concluded.
RICS Gives To Mfantsipim School
As an old student of Mfantsipim School (MOBA ’72 Year Group), Ghana’s oldest senior high school, the Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah has led his company, RICS Consult Limited to demonstrate its corporate commitment and responsibility of giving back to the community, by donating to his alma mater on several occasions, especially in the area of sports promotion.
In October 1997, RICS Consult made one of such rare donations to Mfantsipim School. The items valued at six million cedis (¢6,000,000.00) then included 100 footballs, 5 each of volleyballs and nets, 2 football pumps, 5 table tennis nets and 18 whistles.
In 2000, the Agency donated twelve (12) hockey sticks, ten (10) shinguards, and two (2) hockey balls to Mfantsipim School for sports development. The then Headmaster of Mfantsipim School, Mr. C. K. Ashun on behalf of the School’s Board, Staff and Students acknowledged receipt of items and expressed his appreciation.
On the 130th Anniversary Celebration of Mfantsipim School in 2006, RICS Consult Limited presented plaques, trophies and cash valued at forty-two million cedis (¢42,000,000.00) then.
Fifty (50) deserving students of the School, who had excelled in various sports disciplines were honoured, whilst additionally, twelve million, five hundred thousand cedis (¢12,500,000.00) was used as bursaries for the students. The presentation was made at a special inter-house athletics event held to mark the anniversary celebrations and also as part of RICS Consult’s three-year sponsorship deal with the School.
Again, in December 2008 donated 30 Mitre Footballs to the School at a function, where 400 footballs and apparels valued at GH¢15,000.00 were distributed to 13 institutions, including the SOS Children’s Village, New Horizon Special School, Media XI Football Club and Mfantsiman Girls School.
In July 2009, the company procured a quantity of Bamtex paints for the School, valued at one thousand, one hundred Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,100.00) for re-painting the School ahead of the year’s Speech & Prize-giving Day.
Mentorship Sessions for Staff
RICS Consult Limited has instituted a Weekly Mentorship Sessions for its Staff. The 45-minute Mentorship Sessions scheduled for every Friday, commenced Friday, 2nd July, 2010 with the maiden session delivered by Mr. Anthony Mends, a Consultant on the topic: “Teamwork.”
The second session held on Friday, 9th July, 2010, also by Mr. Anthony Mends, was on the topic: “Corporate Mission, Vision, Goals, Values And New Strategic Direction”, with the Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah outlining a New Strategic Direction for The RICS Consult Group Limited.
Mr. Danquah recalled the early beginnings of the company, from Rex-Image Associates Limited, established and presented with its Certificate to Commence Business dated 24th July, 1986 by the Registrar-General’s Department; to Rex-Image Communication Systems Limited by a change of name in February 1994 with same objects of incorporation; and finally to RICS Consult Limited at the turn of the millennium in January 2000 with improved services delivery and enhanced capabilities to drive its new vision and consolidated objects.
According to the Executive Chairman, the last Friday of every month’s session will be for the staff to deliver their understanding and appreciation of the month’s topics as a form of Peer Presentation and also to showcase their own skills of presentation.
Mr. Danquah exhorted the staff by ending that relationships are the glue that holds team members together because no one undertakes a journey alone; we depend upon others constantly – in ways both tangible and intangible – to move toward our destinations, either individually or collectively as a team. That we all cannot succeed without the help of others as relationships help us reach our fullest potential and that it is in this light that the staff should see their active participation in the weekly mentorship sessions.
Nominations for Africa Sports Hall of Fame
RICS Consult’s novel Africa Sports Museum Project is inviting submissions from sports team members, sportsmen and women, administrators and technical personnel that have won gold, silver or bronze medals in any of the international sporting events or have made significant impact in any sports discipline on the continent of Africa for consideration towards possible induction into the Museum’s Africa Sports Hall of Fame.
The Africa Sports Hall of Fame has been instituted to honour by public acknowledgement, those who merit recognition and distinction for their exploits, accomplishment and leadership in sports on the continent of Africa and the world.
The Africa Hall of Fame will thus have chronicles and testimonies of the rich history, prowess, talents and heritage of sports performances of Africans and people of African-decent for all sporting disciplines and international sports events including:-
All –African Games,
African Cup of Nations (all disciplines and categories)
FIFA World Cup (all categories),
Commonwealth Games, and
Olympic Games
The detailed profiles to be submitted should include local, regional, national and international honours won, newspaper clippings, photo library, evidence of support for and participation in community service, involvement in mentorship events for the youth and list of memorabilia currently available for reproduction by the Africa Sports Museum Project Office for exhibition during inductions into the Africa Sports Hall of Fame.
1986 – Agency developed the concept for the institution of the annual Superstar Draught (Dame) competition, thereby establishing it as a national game with the first-ever documented rules and regulations (1986). The maiden nationwide championship was sponsored by the then International Tobacco Ghana (ITG) Limited and managed by Agency.
1986-1992 – Agency developed and managed with sponsorship by Ghamot Company Limited, accredited agents for Toyota vehicles, the annual Toyota’s Most Exciting Player Award for the best player of the national football premier league for eleven consecutive seasons.
1986-1991 – Agency secured sponsorship for the management and organisation of the annual Greater Accra Toyota Hockey League in collaboration with the Greater Accra Hockey Association for five consecutive seasons in addition to securing financial support for the rehabilitation of the Accra and 37 Military Hospital Hockey Pitches.
1986 – Agency developed the concept for the institution of the annual Leisure Arts & Music Awards Night, and successfully managed the event consecutively for six years, ending 1992. It was a platform for the promotion of authentic Ghanaian arts, music and dance and honoured artistes, both contemporary and posthumous – a must attend social event featuring such talents as Waterproof – for standup comedy, Amakye Dede, Amanzeba Nat Brew, Akosua Adjepong, and Rex Omar amongst others.
1986 – Agency institutionalised the annual Ohene Djan Memorial Lectures to immortalise the achievements of the first Director of the Central Organisation of Sports (COS), the late Ohene Djan. The 1st Lecture was delivered by then Dr. J. E. A. Mills; 2nd by Prof. George Benneh; 3rd by Nana Gyamfi Kumi I (aka C. K. Gyamfi); 4th by late Sam Okyere; 5th by Nana Kobina Nketsia V, Omanhen of Essikadu Traditional Area, Sekondi; and the 6th by Dr. K. O. Quansah of the Circle Clinic.
1988 – Agency through its CEO was commissioned to draft a constitution and Club administrative structures for adoption by the Congress of Accra Hearts of Oak F/C, a national premier division club. Also organised a nationwide membership drive to enroll supporters to offer financial support to the Club through payment of dues, using extensive public education programme
1989 – Agency was commissioned to market and organise the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the formation of Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs F/C, a national premier division club. Also organised a 4-Club Football Tournament, involving Dwarfs F/C, Kumasi Asante Kotoko F/C, Okwawu United F/C and Sekondi Eleven Wise F/C as part of the commemorative activities.
1991-1993 – Agency was commissioned to market and syndicate sponsorship for the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Knockout (FA) Cup competition and secured sponsorship by PEUGEOT, through its local distributors — SCOA Ghana Limited which placed at stake one Peugeot J5 18-seater bus for each year. Agency also secured the donation of a Peugeot 309 Saloon Car to Ghana’s Abedi Ayew Pele, a national football star who was then featuring for Marseille F/C of France, three-time African Footballer of the Year and was the Captain of the National Seniors Football Team, the Black Stars.
1992-1993 – Agency secured sponsorship for the organisation and hosting of the Peugeot / GFA Football Awards Night to honour Clubs, Technical and Administrative Personalities as well as Footballers for outstanding performances in the 1992 / 93 Football Season. Sponsorship wasbySCOA Ghana Limited with event management by Agency.
1992-1995 – Agency secured endorsement package for Azumah Nelson, Ghana’s former three time World Boxing Council (WBC) World Featherweight / Super-featherweight Boxing Champion from then Ghana Motor (Ghamot) Company, local agents for TOYOTA as Toyota Sporting Personality of the Year for three consecutive years.
EC Served As Convenor
The Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah served as a Convenor / Member of a 21-Member National Planning Committee of the 125th Anniversary Celebrations of Mfantsipim School, under the chairmanship of Squadron Leader, Clend Sowu. It was inaugurated by the former Minister for Education, Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi in 2001 to plan and organise various activities in commemoration of the event.
The Committee Members included, Nana Sam Brew-Butler; Mr. C. K. Ashun, then Headmaster of Mfantsipim School; Mr. H. V. Acquaye-Baidoo, former Headmaster of Mfantsipim School; Mr. E. K. B. Kwakyi; Dr. A. H. K. Collison; Mr. K. Egyir-Danso; Dr. J. A. M. Cobbah; and Mr. Kwame Gyasi.
UPCOMING EVENTS!!!
Formal launching of the 25th Anniversary (Silver Jubilee Celebration) of RICS Consult Limited Establishment at Osu Children’s Home on Saturday, 24th July 2010 at 10:00 am .
There will be cleanup of the Home, free medical care and a presentation to the children.
All are cordially invited
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RICS Consult Limited #1 Adaman Cresecent, Tesano West, Accra
P.O. Box AN 11924 Accra North.
Tel: +233 302 233458/244225 Fax: +23 302 232212
Email: rics@africaonline.com.gh
Cell: +233 244 501289, +233 245 399964
ABOUT twenty-four years ago in 1986, I began yet another major phase in my journey of life, when I opted to resign from the then Ghana Food Distribution Corporation (GFDC), where I was working as the Assistant Estate Manager to incorporate the company – Rex-Image Associates Limited.
I had only worked for about 3 years at the GFDC and therefore I wasn’t expecting any end-of-service package that could have helped me to set up the company as the sole shareholder: in short, no working capital but with lots of ideas and dreams.
I could also not afford renting an office space at the time so I started the business from my living room at North Kaneshie, near Bubuiashie Cables and Wireless Park, where my Secretary operated from with an old Imperial typewriter, whilst I went job-hunting.
Two years before this decision I had started publishing a sports weekly under the name ‘SPORTS COIN’, more as a platform to articulate my views on sports administration, promotion and development in the country, especially as at that time I was also the host of a TV Magazine programme “Sports Digest” on GTV, than for profit.
However, Rex-Image Associates’ first professional job was the institution and management of the annual Toyota’s Most Exciting Player of the Season Award for the best player of the national football league, sponsored by Ghamot Company, then accredited distributors of Toyota Vehicles in Ghana in 1986, worth ¢5,000.00 (five thousand cedis) then, to cover the cost of plaque, organisational expenses, print media advertising, cash prize for the winner plus agency service fee.
616 BOOKS FOR EJUCS
The Ethel-Jane University College of Sports (EJUCS), a project initiative of RICS Consult Limited, has acquired 616 academic books covering various disciplines of higher education in partial fulfilment of accreditation requirements for the university college, which will have its main campus in Sekondi-Takoradi, with an auxiliary campus in Accra.
The books cover such subjects as Architecture; Tourism; Public Relations; Event Management; Investment; Management; Psychology; Philosophy; Accounting & Finance; Journalism; Leadership & Governance; Law & Risk Management; Marketing; and Economics.
RICS to Sponsor
2009 GJA Awards
RICS Consult Limited has accepted to sponsor the 2009 Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Award for Best Layout and Designed Newspaper.
In a letter dated 14th April, 2010, the Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah recalled that the company, then publishers of the best-selling ‘Sports Coin’ and ‘Public Opinion’ weeklies won the maiden edition of the same Award in 1993, with both publications nominated alongside the nation’s highest selling daily, ‘Daily Graphic’ for the Award.
The final Award was won by the ‘Public Opinion’ weekly and the then Editor-In-Chief and now Executive Chairman of the company received the Certificate and Citation at the Labadi Beach Hotel.
Reminiscing, the Executive Chairman recalled the role played by the company through the two weeklies in leading the transition of the era of typesetting with cut-and-paste for newspaper production to mainstream desktop publishing, using Aldus Pagemaker software to design and publish newspapers in the country.
Mr. Danquah intimated that winning the award then was not only in recognition of this unique, all-important role but also appreciating that best newspaper layouts always tell stories of their own.
Sport Business
Donates Books
The SportBusiness Group, publishers of the SportBusiness International magazine, the world’s renowned and foremost global sports business journal, has donated 39 publications for the Ethel-Jane University College of Sports Library setup.
The publications include such titles as The Business of Sport Marketing; Financing The Sport Enterprise; Defining Sponsorship; The Sporting Goods Industry: History, Practices and Products; CHINA: Opportunities in the Business Of Sport; Football in China; International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship; Driving Business Through Sport; Sport And The Law; Football Sponsorship & Commerce; and Maximising Revenue From Licensing And Merchandising.
The other titles include Sport And Wireless; Bidding & Hosting: The Guide to Successful Sporting Events; The Future of Sports Broadcasting Rights; Africa Sports Directory, 2009; Sport And Broadband: An Introduction to a Revolutionary Technology; How to Develop Effective Hospitality Programmes; The Elusive Fan: Reinventing Sports in a Crowded Marketplace; and SportBusiness Marketplace 2010: The Global Sports Service Directory.
The rest are iGB Affiliate Directory 2010; European Football Channels; The IOC World Conference on Sport and New Media Report; BritSport 07/08: The Definitive UK Sport Industry Directory; Annual Review Of Football Finance; Online Gambling: The Regulation of Global Sports Betting; Master of the Ceremonies: An Eventful Life; Soccer In North America: The Commercial Opportunities; Evian Masters; Persuasion: The Art of Influencing People; and Who Works in Motorsports, 2007.
EC’s Blogger Articles
Blogger articles by Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah, Founder / Executive Chairman of the RICS Consult Group Limited and the Founder / President of the Ethel-Jane University College of Sports (EJUCS) are available for your reading pleasure.
The four articles accessible through link: ricsconsultltd.blogspot.com are:-
Mastering Self Leadership;
Soccer In Africa: Giving It A Business Face;
Ghana Football, What Are We Doing Wrong?; and
Leveraging Ghana’s Appearance At the 2010 World Cup for New Business Opportunities and Enhancing Brand Ghana.
EC at 1st GIPHE Conference
The Founder / Executive Chairman of RICS Consult Limited and President of Ethel-Jane University College of Sports (EJUCS), Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah is scheduled to deliver a lecture on the topic:
“Sports As An Instrument For National Development”, at the 1st International Conference of the Ghana Physical Education & Sports (GPES) Thinktank slated for July 28-31, 2010 at Alisa Hotels, Accra, Ghana.
Services for
Assemblies
In the last decade, RICS Consult has provided PR and Marketing consultancy services to a number of Assemblies, including the Nzema East District, the Cape Coast Municipal (CCMA), the Shama Ahanta East (now Sekondi-Takoradi) Metropolitan (SAEMA) and the Juaboso-Bia District Assemblies.
As part of the consultancy services, Agency produced quality brochures that sought to introduce and advertise these institutions with profiles and accompanying pictorials, portraying investment opportunities, tourist attractions and investible business areas for local and foreign investors and entrepreneurs.
The CCMA and SAEMA brochures traced some historical landmarks like castles, profiles of educational and hospitality industries, cultural festivals among others.
GM for EMBA Program
As part of empowering its top management to stay ahead of competition, RICS Consult is sponsoring her General Manager, Mrs. Nana Adwoa Danquah to pursue an Executive MBA at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS).
A product of Mfantsiman Girls Senior High School, Saltpond; Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ); and the Central University College (CUC), where she graduated with a BSc in Business Administration, Nana Adwoa took over the management of the company after the retirement of the Founder / Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah in 2004.
Nana Adwoa’s style of creative, innovative and pragmatic management has not only added value to the RICS Consult brand but consolidated its position as an integrated marketing communications agency of choice for its discerning clientele.
When EC Met Hon. Boateng
During his days as the Editor-In-Chief of the award-winning ‘Sports Coin’ and ‘Public Opinion’ weeklies, the Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah was a guest of the Commonwealth Office in London (1991), where he held a number of meetings with selected individuals and institutions, including the Advertising Association of the UK, the Newspaper Publishers Association of the UK, the Newspaper Society of the UK, and the Ghanaian-born British Member of Parliament for Brent South, Paul Boateng.
Promoting EJUCS Project
A tertiary institution for Sports, Sports Tourism, Sports Business, Events Management and Music & Cultural Industries Management is being promoted and established by RICS Consult Limited.
The institution, to be known and called Ethel-Jane University College of Sports (EJUCS), will have its main campus in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis in the Western Region of Ghana with the Accra Campus and Corporate offices at Tesano-West.
Under its vision of building human resource capacity for sports, the institute would also facilitate the creation and development of new career paths and professions for Africans to grow the emerging sports business, events management, music and culture management industries.
EJUCS is projecting that by its 10-year programme of work (2012-2022), it should produce 500,000 graduates to act as the vehicle to facilitate and support the uninterrupted rapid growth of sports business and related activities into self-sustaining, veritable competing industries in Africa.
According to the Founder and President, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah, the institution takes its name from two wonderful women in his life: his grand aunt, Madam Ethel Jobson Mitchual of Sekondi & Anomabo and his late mother, Jane Acquah-Cornelius for their contributions towards shaping his life particularly through his days at Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast.
EJUCS has already collaborated with the SportBusiness Group of the UK, publishers of the renowned global-industry recognised magazine, The SportBusiness International to organise the highly successful 1st Sports Sponsorship Certification Course last year at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra.
EC @ 2010 SWAG Seminar
The Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah addressed the Stanbic Bank / Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) 2010 World Cup Lectures at the Media Centre, Ohene Djan Sports Stadium on the topic: “Potential Challenges Facing Media & Socio-Economic Benefits Of The 2010 World Cup For Ghana”.
Mr. Danquah intimated that considering the total cost of the hosting and organising the 2010 World Cup to South Africa, not many African countries can host and organise a future world cup tournament, especially where FIFA itself had abrogated the rotational basis for awarding the rights on continental basis, and even more so that the rights for the next three events are out of reach of the rest of the African continent – 2014, 2018 and 2022.
“The way I see the calculations, the next time the FIFA World Cup will come back to the African Continent will be either 2026 or 2030, and my bet will be on 2030, if and only if as a continent we are able to re-engineer the same sentiments and strategies that made it possible for us / South Africa to have the rights for 2010, after losing out to Germany for the 2006 edition.
“If you look at the conservative figures provided for South Africa, you would appreciate that only about 5 or less oil rich African countries can, tentatively, afford to host and organise any future world cups without serious distortions to their socio-economic development paradigm with possible unrests post-tournament,” he added.
“Personally, I think it is about time for Africa to re-think the matter of CO-HOSTING for future FIFA World Cup in say, 2030 and an OLYMPIC GAMES thereafter, possibly after a COMMONWEALTH GAMES, and I urge all of us here, particularly you of the media, to provoke our government to lead the way as part of the overall strategy to build and increase the stock of our sports infrastructure,” Mr. Danquah concluded.
RICS Gives To Mfantsipim School
As an old student of Mfantsipim School (MOBA ’72 Year Group), Ghana’s oldest senior high school, the Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah has led his company, RICS Consult Limited to demonstrate its corporate commitment and responsibility of giving back to the community, by donating to his alma mater on several occasions, especially in the area of sports promotion.
In October 1997, RICS Consult made one of such rare donations to Mfantsipim School. The items valued at six million cedis (¢6,000,000.00) then included 100 footballs, 5 each of volleyballs and nets, 2 football pumps, 5 table tennis nets and 18 whistles.
In 2000, the Agency donated twelve (12) hockey sticks, ten (10) shinguards, and two (2) hockey balls to Mfantsipim School for sports development. The then Headmaster of Mfantsipim School, Mr. C. K. Ashun on behalf of the School’s Board, Staff and Students acknowledged receipt of items and expressed his appreciation.
On the 130th Anniversary Celebration of Mfantsipim School in 2006, RICS Consult Limited presented plaques, trophies and cash valued at forty-two million cedis (¢42,000,000.00) then.
Fifty (50) deserving students of the School, who had excelled in various sports disciplines were honoured, whilst additionally, twelve million, five hundred thousand cedis (¢12,500,000.00) was used as bursaries for the students. The presentation was made at a special inter-house athletics event held to mark the anniversary celebrations and also as part of RICS Consult’s three-year sponsorship deal with the School.
Again, in December 2008 donated 30 Mitre Footballs to the School at a function, where 400 footballs and apparels valued at GH¢15,000.00 were distributed to 13 institutions, including the SOS Children’s Village, New Horizon Special School, Media XI Football Club and Mfantsiman Girls School.
In July 2009, the company procured a quantity of Bamtex paints for the School, valued at one thousand, one hundred Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,100.00) for re-painting the School ahead of the year’s Speech & Prize-giving Day.
Mentorship Sessions for Staff
RICS Consult Limited has instituted a Weekly Mentorship Sessions for its Staff. The 45-minute Mentorship Sessions scheduled for every Friday, commenced Friday, 2nd July, 2010 with the maiden session delivered by Mr. Anthony Mends, a Consultant on the topic: “Teamwork.”
The second session held on Friday, 9th July, 2010, also by Mr. Anthony Mends, was on the topic: “Corporate Mission, Vision, Goals, Values And New Strategic Direction”, with the Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah outlining a New Strategic Direction for The RICS Consult Group Limited.
Mr. Danquah recalled the early beginnings of the company, from Rex-Image Associates Limited, established and presented with its Certificate to Commence Business dated 24th July, 1986 by the Registrar-General’s Department; to Rex-Image Communication Systems Limited by a change of name in February 1994 with same objects of incorporation; and finally to RICS Consult Limited at the turn of the millennium in January 2000 with improved services delivery and enhanced capabilities to drive its new vision and consolidated objects.
According to the Executive Chairman, the last Friday of every month’s session will be for the staff to deliver their understanding and appreciation of the month’s topics as a form of Peer Presentation and also to showcase their own skills of presentation.
Mr. Danquah exhorted the staff by ending that relationships are the glue that holds team members together because no one undertakes a journey alone; we depend upon others constantly – in ways both tangible and intangible – to move toward our destinations, either individually or collectively as a team. That we all cannot succeed without the help of others as relationships help us reach our fullest potential and that it is in this light that the staff should see their active participation in the weekly mentorship sessions.
Nominations for Africa Sports Hall of Fame
RICS Consult’s novel Africa Sports Museum Project is inviting submissions from sports team members, sportsmen and women, administrators and technical personnel that have won gold, silver or bronze medals in any of the international sporting events or have made significant impact in any sports discipline on the continent of Africa for consideration towards possible induction into the Museum’s Africa Sports Hall of Fame.
The Africa Sports Hall of Fame has been instituted to honour by public acknowledgement, those who merit recognition and distinction for their exploits, accomplishment and leadership in sports on the continent of Africa and the world.
The Africa Hall of Fame will thus have chronicles and testimonies of the rich history, prowess, talents and heritage of sports performances of Africans and people of African-decent for all sporting disciplines and international sports events including:-
All –African Games,
African Cup of Nations (all disciplines and categories)
FIFA World Cup (all categories),
Commonwealth Games, and
Olympic Games
The detailed profiles to be submitted should include local, regional, national and international honours won, newspaper clippings, photo library, evidence of support for and participation in community service, involvement in mentorship events for the youth and list of memorabilia currently available for reproduction by the Africa Sports Museum Project Office for exhibition during inductions into the Africa Sports Hall of Fame.
1986 – Agency developed the concept for the institution of the annual Superstar Draught (Dame) competition, thereby establishing it as a national game with the first-ever documented rules and regulations (1986). The maiden nationwide championship was sponsored by the then International Tobacco Ghana (ITG) Limited and managed by Agency.
1986-1992 – Agency developed and managed with sponsorship by Ghamot Company Limited, accredited agents for Toyota vehicles, the annual Toyota’s Most Exciting Player Award for the best player of the national football premier league for eleven consecutive seasons.
1986-1991 – Agency secured sponsorship for the management and organisation of the annual Greater Accra Toyota Hockey League in collaboration with the Greater Accra Hockey Association for five consecutive seasons in addition to securing financial support for the rehabilitation of the Accra and 37 Military Hospital Hockey Pitches.
1986 – Agency developed the concept for the institution of the annual Leisure Arts & Music Awards Night, and successfully managed the event consecutively for six years, ending 1992. It was a platform for the promotion of authentic Ghanaian arts, music and dance and honoured artistes, both contemporary and posthumous – a must attend social event featuring such talents as Waterproof – for standup comedy, Amakye Dede, Amanzeba Nat Brew, Akosua Adjepong, and Rex Omar amongst others.
1986 – Agency institutionalised the annual Ohene Djan Memorial Lectures to immortalise the achievements of the first Director of the Central Organisation of Sports (COS), the late Ohene Djan. The 1st Lecture was delivered by then Dr. J. E. A. Mills; 2nd by Prof. George Benneh; 3rd by Nana Gyamfi Kumi I (aka C. K. Gyamfi); 4th by late Sam Okyere; 5th by Nana Kobina Nketsia V, Omanhen of Essikadu Traditional Area, Sekondi; and the 6th by Dr. K. O. Quansah of the Circle Clinic.
1988 – Agency through its CEO was commissioned to draft a constitution and Club administrative structures for adoption by the Congress of Accra Hearts of Oak F/C, a national premier division club. Also organised a nationwide membership drive to enroll supporters to offer financial support to the Club through payment of dues, using extensive public education programme
1989 – Agency was commissioned to market and organise the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the formation of Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs F/C, a national premier division club. Also organised a 4-Club Football Tournament, involving Dwarfs F/C, Kumasi Asante Kotoko F/C, Okwawu United F/C and Sekondi Eleven Wise F/C as part of the commemorative activities.
1991-1993 – Agency was commissioned to market and syndicate sponsorship for the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Knockout (FA) Cup competition and secured sponsorship by PEUGEOT, through its local distributors — SCOA Ghana Limited which placed at stake one Peugeot J5 18-seater bus for each year. Agency also secured the donation of a Peugeot 309 Saloon Car to Ghana’s Abedi Ayew Pele, a national football star who was then featuring for Marseille F/C of France, three-time African Footballer of the Year and was the Captain of the National Seniors Football Team, the Black Stars.
1992-1993 – Agency secured sponsorship for the organisation and hosting of the Peugeot / GFA Football Awards Night to honour Clubs, Technical and Administrative Personalities as well as Footballers for outstanding performances in the 1992 / 93 Football Season. Sponsorship wasbySCOA Ghana Limited with event management by Agency.
1992-1995 – Agency secured endorsement package for Azumah Nelson, Ghana’s former three time World Boxing Council (WBC) World Featherweight / Super-featherweight Boxing Champion from then Ghana Motor (Ghamot) Company, local agents for TOYOTA as Toyota Sporting Personality of the Year for three consecutive years.
EC Served As Convenor
The Executive Chairman, Mr. Magnus Rex Danquah served as a Convenor / Member of a 21-Member National Planning Committee of the 125th Anniversary Celebrations of Mfantsipim School, under the chairmanship of Squadron Leader, Clend Sowu. It was inaugurated by the former Minister for Education, Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi in 2001 to plan and organise various activities in commemoration of the event.
The Committee Members included, Nana Sam Brew-Butler; Mr. C. K. Ashun, then Headmaster of Mfantsipim School; Mr. H. V. Acquaye-Baidoo, former Headmaster of Mfantsipim School; Mr. E. K. B. Kwakyi; Dr. A. H. K. Collison; Mr. K. Egyir-Danso; Dr. J. A. M. Cobbah; and Mr. Kwame Gyasi.
UPCOMING EVENTS!!!
Formal launching of the 25th Anniversary (Silver Jubilee Celebration) of RICS Consult Limited Establishment at Osu Children’s Home on Saturday, 24th July 2010 at 10:00 am .
There will be cleanup of the Home, free medical care and a presentation to the children.
All are cordially invited
If you prefer not to receive
future e-mails of this type, Leave this List
Visit:
www.facebook.com/ricsconsultgroup
www.ricsconsultltd.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/ricsconsultlimited
Sent By:
RICS Consult Limited #1 Adaman Cresecent, Tesano West, Accra
P.O. Box AN 11924 Accra North.
Tel: +233 302 233458/244225 Fax: +23 302 232212
Email: rics@africaonline.com.gh
Cell: +233 244 501289, +233 245 399964
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