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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