The TIN, according to the GRA, is aimed at uniquely identifying potential taxpayers to broaden the tax base.

The Authority has, in recent times, announced that all Ghanaians working must acquire a TIN to fulfill the Revenue Administration Act (RAA), 2016, Act 915.

Some of the institutions that will require TIN are the DVLA, RGD, Passport Office, GRA, Lands Commission, Law Courts, Ministries, government departments, agencies, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.

Addressing journalists at a press conference, the Commissioner-General of the GRA, Emmanuel Kofi Nti warned that institutions mandated to check the TIN must do so before transacting businesses with the public.

“One cannot transact business with these institutions if one does not have the TIN. One cannot clear goods from the ports, register land documents with the Lands Commission, obtain a Tax Clearance certificate from the  GRA, open a bank account, register your company, and obtain payments for jobs or contracts done for government,” he stressed.

He added that without the TIN, a person cannot file a case at the courts, bid for contracts from government agencies, conduct business with any ministry, departments, agencies, metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.

Mr. Nti explained that this is to help increase the number of people currently issued with TIN; a total of 1,090,338 people.

He disclosed that the GRA has already held series of meetings with the key institutions that must help inspect the TIN to ensure the smooth operations of the policy.

“These institutions have been requested to modify their forms to include a field for the provision of TIN. Consequently, GRA expects the institutions mentioned above to demand the TIN of their clients before transacting business with them,” he said.

Sounding a word of caution, Mr. Nti stressed that refusal to inspect the TIN will mean a breach of the law, which will attract the necessary consequences.

He explained that to get the TIN, “one only needs to pick a registration form from any GRA Office, complete and attach the necessary coloured photocopies of a Driver’s license, National Identification Card, Voter’s Identification Card, or a passport and submit at  no cost to the GRA.”

He stated that it is important for Ghanaians to pay their taxes since that is the only way government can redistribute wealth to cover the poor and vulnerable in the society.

“I think we must be tax compliance because that is the only way we can be part of the state and demand development from government. Everybody working must make it a point to pay their taxes.”

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By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

The post You can’t do business with gov’t without TIN – GRA warns appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Consequently, the Ghanaian private sector ended 2017 with solidly improved conditions marked by growth in output and new purchasing orders.

This was contained in the just-released December 2017 edition of the Standard Bank Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). Businesses responded to the higher demand by increasing their input buying and stocks of purchases.

The report further indicates that although new orders continued to rise in December, the rate of expansion slowed sharply from the previous month to the weakest since September 2016.

In instances where new business increased, the growth was linked to good quality products and successful marketing strategies. The rate of expansion in output also eased, but remained solid amid the growth of new orders.

The PMI also reported a sharp rise in purchasing activity at the end of the year in line with higher client demand. This resulted in another accumulation of stocks of purchases.

Some panelists also linked inventory building to expectations of further improvements in demand in coming months. Overall input prices rose at the fastest pace in nine months during December.

Commenting on the December survey findings, an Economist at Standard Bank, the parent group of Stanbic Ghana,  Ayomide Mejabi, said the strong PMI readings for December 2017 indicates strong growth for the Ghanaian economy in 2018.

“This relatively strong PMI reading suggests that while the economy is unlikely to record the same level of growth that it did in the third quarter (9.3% y/y), it should remain robust. Heading into 2018, we expect Ghana’s economy to continue posting strong growth, albeit slightly weaker than in 2017 as the strong base effects wear off. In December 2017, headline inflation will probably rise slightly higher than the 11.6% y/y posted in November, especially as the output price PMI also rose to 55.0 from 54.6 in November”, Mr. Mejabi said.

The Standard Bank Purchasing Managers’ Index is based on data compiled from monthly replies to questionnaires sent to purchasing executives in approximately 400 private sector companies, which have been carefully selected to accurately represent the true structure of the Ghanaian economy, including agriculture, construction, industry, services and wholesale & retail.

The panel is stratified by GDP and company workforce size. Survey responses reflect the change, if any, in the current month compared to the previous month based on data collected mid-month.

For each of the indicators, the ‘Report’ shows the percentage reporting each response, the net difference between the number of higher/better responses and lower/worse responses, and the summary unadjusted and seasonally adjusted values.

The unadjusted summary value is calculated as the sum of the positive responses plus a half of those responding ‘the same’.

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By: citifmonline/Ghana

The post Business activities ‘grew consistently’ in 2017 – Report appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In his submissions, he encouraged potential business owners to ask themselves a series of questions to determine their strengths and weaknesses in sustaining a long-term business.

According to him, the first thing to bear in mind when starting a business is evaluating yourself and being honest with yourself.

“If you want to start a business now, do a personal evaluation. What skills do [you] have? Where lies [your] passion? Do [you] have any expertise? What is [your] comfort zone and are [you] willing to leave [your] comfort zone? Write it down and be honest because you cannot start any business if you are not honest with yourself,” he said.

He also demanded that potential business owners take into consideration the availability of a market for the business they want to start.

According to him sizing up the prospects of a business and whether there is a market for the product or service you intend to provide is key to ensuring its success.

“Think about the business you want to run, think about the business idea and ask yourself, is a customer available? Have you identified the customer? Do you have a customer profile? Is the customer segment profitable? And what is the impact of the product you want to sell?” he advised.

The next step in the realization of a successful business, Mr Ayiku said, is doing an analysis of the industry through market research. This, he believes, is very important in gaining an understanding of the market opportunity.

“How urgently do people need the thing [you] want to offer? Ask yourself what the market size is? Is there a market actually available? Are people already paying for a similar product? What will convince people to come and buy from [you]?” he said.

The fourth step, Mr Ayiku noted, is the registration of the business, making it official and giving it a business label, which he said, will give you and your business credibility.

“If you have a business idea, think about making it official. Is it going to be a sole proprietorship, limited liability, or a partnership? “he said.

Andrew Ayiku also spoke of the need to have a five to ten-page concept paper or an operational business plan for the implementation of your business idea.

He added that considering your finances is very critical to starting a business although he noted that some businesses could be started without a great amount of capital.

“If you are already working, how much money can you save towards the business you want to start up? Do you have family members who are willing and ready to give you money? Look for an incubator, an accelerator and be ready to get finances,” he said.

He explained that once your finances are sorted out it was important to focus on the development of your product, stressing that the quality of the product will either kill or grow your business.

“You cannot take any product or service into the market if it has not been developed. Companies have failed in Ghana just because they didn’t have time to develop whatever product they want to sell. So make sure you sit and understand exactly what you are giving to the customer,” he said.

Mr. Ayiku was emphatic on the need to build a solid team to build your business with, stating that a company cannot be efficiently run by one person.

“Set a clear goal for your hiring protocol. Who do you want to work with? What is the work culture? Get a set of team members who believe in what you are doing,” he said.

The ninth step, Andrew Ayiku said was getting a location for your business. He, however, clarified that a location does not necessarily mean renting a big office, as potential business owners can start small; from their rooms or even their kitchen.

“I started from my room, I have table and chair, and when I sit there, that is when I start working. So you do not need that big office, that you have rented and are paying so much for but are selling nothing from. Start in a small place,” he said.

The last step to starting and sustaining a successful business, according to Mr. Ayiku is ‘trial and error.’

He believes that it is important for persons who want to start businesses to get out of their comfort zone and take risks if their business is to thrive.

“The tenth point is for you to prepare to trial and error. When you produce a product, get people to taste but do not give it to your family members as they may not be completely honest with you. So prepare for a trial” he finally added.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Effective Living Series: Andrew Ayiku’s tips on starting your business appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

[contextly_sidebar id=”tFnHHM7zKgkUo8TfzluuZQKAtw30qDC1″]Making his submission to the committee probing the matter in parliament yesterday [Friday], Mr Kyerematen said the event organizers, the Millennium Excellence Foundation, handled all issues of sponsorship.

“To article 14 preceding the definition of the responsibilities, which says that the MEF, that the foundation, will solicit all funds to hot the Durbar price event, from inception to hosting of the event and that all funds will be lodged into  the MOTI [Ministry of Trade and Industry] account, till after the event is completed,” he said.

He also stated that he has ‘no doubt’ in his mind that there was clarity between the two parties [MOTI and MEF] in regards to the responsibility bestowed on them.

Background

The allegation of extortion against expatriates at the awards ceremony was first made by the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, in Parliament in December 2017.

Mr Mubarak said the fees charged at the Ghana Expatriate Business Awards (GEBA) were not approved by Parliament, adding that the monies were also not accounted for in the Internally Generated Funds [IGF] of the Ministry’s accounts.

The issue was further reinforced by Mr Ablakwa, who suffered verbal assaults from Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah over the matter.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry initially dissociated itself from these allegations.

The Trade Ministry, in a statement, said it played no role in determining prices for seats at the event and clarified that it only facilitated the implementation of a new initiative by the Millennium Excellence Foundation.

But the Ministry after an order from the President to probe the matter clarified that an amount of GHc 2,667,215 was realized from the event.

The organizers of the Awards had also explained that no one paid to sit close to the President and that the amount was raised from sponsorship through a fundraising at the event.

Ablakwa, Muntaka face committee

The Minority Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Muntaka appeared before the committee in its first public sitting on Thursday to provide further details on why they called for the probe.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘Cash for seat’ scandal: Alan Kyerematen denies wrongdoing appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

During the presentation of the 2018 budget statement, the Minister said that 191 companies have been selected for implementation.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Bzrue10c1KnAQLCaksAzDIDW5daB8Nov”]“The Ministry of Trade and Industry completed technical, financial and commercial viability analysis of 462 proposals, out of which 191 covering 102 districts were selected for implementation. It is envisaged that these 191 District Enterprise projects will collectively generate about 250,000 direct and indirect jobs,” he said on the floor of Parliament.

35 of these companies will be in the Ashanti Region, 19 in the Brong Ahafo, 21 in the Central Region and 28 in the Greater Accra Region.

The Northern Region will have 17, the Upper East 4, Upper West 5, Western Region 10, and the Volta Region with 18.

“Out of the 191 projects selected for implementation, 104 will be operating in the agribusiness sector, whilst 20 are businesses in the meat and poultry sector. 40 of these companies will be operating in the construction and building materials sub-sector, whilst the remaining 27 are businesses operating in the cosmetics and pharmaceuticals sectors.

The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, launched the one district, one factory policy on August 25, 2017. At the launch, the president said that the programme will drive industrialization across the country.

Since its launch, the Chinese government’s private sector development corporation has pumped in $2 billion, with the Turkish government promising to partner Ghana to support the programme.

On November 14, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia, cut sod for the establishment of a new cement factory under the programme.

The factory is 90 percent owned by the Iranian government, whereas a Ghanaian partner has ten percent shares in it.

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By: Jeffrey Owuraku Sarpong/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Each district to get Ghc2m for 1 district, 1 factory appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, evidence based research contributes immensely to the growth of business.

Addressing the press on the sidelines of a business insight workshop organized by Noble International Business School, Dr. Anyigba indicated that business owner should employ new approaches to doing things and that can be achieved through research.

“People must begin to realize that we need evidence, proper research and thinking which will add up to growth and success of businesses. The evidence must focus on research.”

International financial consultant, Felix Nana Sackey urged business owners to adapt new behavioral patterns within the current business world to gain competitive advantage

“Managers should think of how to create the right environment for businesses to thrive, how to handle customers because customers are assets. We are in a globalised world and if the same way of thinking persists we will not progress. The literal thinking concept is meant to change the way we do things at no cost to one’s organization and the country and it is needed to remain competitive because we are competing with the world.”

For her part, Group HR, GLICO, Irene Stella Agyenim Boateng demanded that managers should focus on investing into the capacity of employees.

“Employees retention and talent acquisition gives businesses the competitive advantage.  When you have happy employees certainly your customers will also be happy.”

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By: Philip Nii Lartey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Adopt research to boost growth – Businesses urged appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This is the Kweikaru Forest Reserve where giant trees have fallen to merchants of the timber industry, leaving it degraded, but its restoration is on the shoulders of Newmont Golden Ridge Limited (Akyem Mine), a mining company, operating in the Ajenua Bepo Forest Reserve in the Eastern Region.

Offsetting impact
Although the company’s operation is nowhere close to Kweikaru Forest Reserve, the Akyem mine operates open pit mining on 101 hectares of degraded portions of the Ajenua Bepo Forest Reserve. The reforestation programme, therefore, forms part of the mine’s mitigation measures rolled out in consultation with the Forestry Commission to offset the impact of its operations on the forest reserve.

Over 257 hectares of degraded land in the Kweikaru Forest Reserve has been handed over to the Akyem mine for the reforestation programme. This was the outcome of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Forestry Commission (FC) and the mining company last year. As part of the MoU, the Commission provides technical support in terms of supervision and monitoring.

The project is the second phase of Newmont’s reforestation programme, which will see the company nurse seeds and nurture seedlings, plant seedlings and manage these for the next 10 years. The first phase begun in 2014 and it covered 60 hectares of the boundary area between the company’s mining area and the Mamang River Forest Reserve.

The two projects will together cover more than 317 hectares, which is a little more than three times Newmont’s current mining area in the Ajenua Bepo Forest Reserve, and involves replanting indigenous species, including Wawa, Mahogany, Emre, Mansonia, Sapele, Odum, Kyenkyen, Ofram, Kusia, Bako and Asanfena and one exotic species— Cedrela.

Newmont also operates a giant nursery where hundreds of seedlings are kept for the purposes of replacing seedlings that do not survive on the field.

Phase Two
The Reforestation Project at the Kweikaru Forest Reserve has been divided into five blocks, with each block having a different planting design because of the diverse vegetation. There are parts of the forest that have not been degraded much so need enrichment planting. Site preparation for the phase two started on September 27, 2016.

“The other four blocks will be cleared manually and every timber tree with promising bole will not be tampered with but nurtured together with the seedling that would be planted,” Mr Emmanuel Baffour-Asare, Environmental Superintendent, Akyem Mine, told the Daily Graphic. Out of the 300,000 seedlings meant for the reforestation project in Kweikaru Forest Reserve, 100,000 are indigenous and 200,000 Cedrela species. The end product of Cedrela is veneer, which is used massively in the furniture industry globally.

The selection of the timber species are based on studies conducted by the Forest Services Division of the Forestry Commission on past and existing trees that thrived on the land, before being given out on concession to timber contractors.

“The place looks green so people think it’s a forest. But it is full of climbers and Acheampong weed (Chromolaena odorata),” he said in reference to part of the forest reserve, which looked more like a fallow farmland than a forest reserve.

Phase One

A few kilometres away from the Newmont Akyem mine through a well beaten path is a giant plantation—the first phase of the company’s reforestation project.

Here, the whole 60 hectares has been planted with 30 indigenous species and one exotic species (Cedrela) with the District Manager, Forest Services Division, Kade, Mr Samuel Opoku, describing the project as being successful because more than 75 per cent of the trees planted survived.

Under the flourishing canopy of trees were a group of young men clearing weeds and pruning branches of the fast-growing trees that is being maintained since establishment in June, 2014. They are employees of Wellbamax Enterprise, one of three local-local companies operating in the immediate environs of the mine that won a competitive bidding process to establish and maintain the plantation.

Mr Kwame Tawiah, the Chief Executive Officer of Wellbamax Enterprise, told the Daily Graphic that beyond the project creating job for young people in nearby communities, the plantation would serve the communities in other ways. In all, more than 66 people were engaged during the initial stages but it would be trimmed down to half when the project enters the maintenance phase for the next 10 years.

“The communities are grateful because of the diversity in the trees planted because when one tree is fell in the future, we will have a lot for roofing, furniture as well as income for our communities. We have worked for almost three years. We are very happy for the opportunity,” Mr Tawiah said.

The FSD local boss, Mr Opoku, agreed with the observation, saying, “Every tree that is taken out from the forest, the community benefits. We have so many stakeholders who benefit, the District Assembly, the stool land owners and traditional authorities also benefit. If at the end of the day hundred trees are removed from the plantation site, you can imagine the financial benefits.”

“Other benefits the communities will also enjoy is that with the existence of the forest, they are taking what we call non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Once we are able to replenish the area, those non-timber forest produce are going to flow, for them to get the benefit. They hunt from the forest, when it is degraded, the animals are not in, but when replenished, their habitats have been restored.”

Mr Baffour-Asare also had an interesting view on the plantation saying it was strategic because it borders the Mamang River Forest Reserve, adding that “this area was strategically used to serve as a buffer to prevent people from entering the main forest reserve.”

Newmont & biodiversity

With its operations surrounded by forest reserves, Mr Baffour-Asare said the company had a very strict policy on protecting biodiversity.

“Per Newmont’s standard and commitment on biodiversity, we highly protect biodiversity; be it plant or fauna so we don’t kill animals on site and we do not burn weeds too onsite. During the land preparation, fire was never used so that animals that are around including those in the soil are not affected. It is one way of protecting the fauna.”

“When you see an animal you don’t kill it. If you think the animal poses danger, you move out of that area, and call some of us who have been trained to capture and translocate the animals.”

“When the land was being cleared, they encountered a lot of vipers, I came to capture and send them to the forest reserve so that when in some few years this habitat is restored, they will move back and colonise the area. It is only two years but you can hear birds whispering,” he added.

Newmont has shown with it reforestation project that mining can be done responsibly and sustainably but the role of regulators are also as important.

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By: Seth J. Bokpe

The post Offsetting mining impact with reforestation: the story of New Abirem appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

However, some of them are using the influx of entrepreneurship initiatives as a cover to parade themselves as entrepreneurs without any tangible or operational business to show. The majority of them move from one grant initiative, award ceremony or seminar to the other without focusing on and developing their own businesses to profitability, to leverage it as a pedal for further growth.

This is very alarming and must be closely looked at by various players in the entrepreneurship ecosystem to ensure funding is given to dedicated entrepreneurs who are actually seeking to develop sustainable businesses.

The term “Public Relations (PR) Entrepreneurs” has been used to describe mostly young people who are hiding behind the entrepreneurship revolution and using social media to promote themselves and their businesses that are not well grounded, but are portrayed to be extremely viable with skyrocketing profits and impact, sometimes even sugarcoating it to make that impact social.

These PR entrepreneurs move from one social media handle to the other, over magnifying their own achievements, receiving one obscure accolade or the other and luring potential investors and donors to buy into their superficial initiatives.

It is however worthy to note, that everyone possesses the ability to be an entrepreneur – to dream, to invent, to create and to capitalize on opportunities. Yet, others are able to conceive a great idea for a new business, to create an original and innovative business based on a simple but explosive idea.

For some of us, it may take a longer time to develop that ability and it may take more work.  In either case, it is necessary for each of us to know that, learning to invent, to create, to conceive original business ideas, is a process of discovery.

Becoming an entrepreneur is an unending journey of self-development with no final destination. One that requires a constant investment of time and energy,  an attitude of patience, determination and perseverance, all coupled with an enthusiastic  and unwavering belief in your business idea.

Several entrepreneurship initiatives such as Enhancing Growth in New Enterprises (ENGINE), an entrepreneurship development programme funded by DFID and implemented by TechnoServe Ghana, have had to reject certain “entrepreneurs” whose business records of the last three to five years showed that they have been contesting in a plethora of different initiatives using the same concept to compete and yet the businesses were stagnant and not developing as falsely claimed.

Normally when you go to various gated houses in residential areas, it is boldly inscribed “beware of wild dogs” but in this context, one must take great caution to “BEWARE OF PR ENTREPRENEURS”.

Entrepreneurship is a demanding business that requires people to take it very seriously, and put in all the necessary systems and structures to allow it to grow. It is not merely an escape from working for others.

If not properly understood, entrepreneurship may be very misleading and can adversely affect the perceptions of others about entrepreneurs in general. This may consequently reverse the growing interest in the development of entrepreneurship in the country and the continent at large, and will in turn diminish the hard earned resources many stakeholders are investing to improve the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

According to Forbes, any young person in any other area of developing a business, must follow at least 5 of the steps below;

– Developing of a differentiated and value adding business model

– Ensure your business can make money right from the beginning of the business

– Get out of the building and find customers for the product and use customers to help build the product and work consistently to make it a success.

– Invest in continuous experimentations and mastering of the process. By changing different components of the business model canvas based on testing and validating it with the customer or the product and making the appropriate changes, then can move to massive execution.

– Develop the business further and remain sustainable and above the competition.

In the aforementioned listed criteria, there was no mention of jumping from one donor to the other or one grant to the other. Focus on developing the business.

The more we spend time on the business, the more it improves on its viability.  Real entrepreneurs spend an incredible amount of time to develop and sustain businesses to grow profitably.

Sometimes getting grant money to fund a business can be illusive because it does not give an accurate picture of how to independently break-even and become profitable, and the business can stagnate with the slightest withdrawal of the donor or grant.

The wealthiest asset entrepreneurs have is their minds, yet PR Entrepreneurs do not invest in their minds to develop their businesses off the ground with practical measures and systems.

This is a clarion call on all entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs that the world is getting cleverer, the mysterious veil shrouding entrepreneurship is being uncovered and the stakeholders and investors are becoming more warier of who they spend their money or investments on, so we all need to pull our weight and put in the necessary required time, effort, passion, drive and commitment to grow our ideas into sustainable businesses.

Overhyping your business without having robust structures and smooth operations will not sell your business for long. But a very effective mix of marketing with a grounded practical approach, coupled with qualitative experience will allow the business to grow in a sustainable manner, and even outlast the entrepreneur to become a multi-generational business.

Do not use the short cuts, go through the drills of entrepreneurship and grow your business to success.

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Mushrooming of entrepreneurs; separating the wheat from the chaff appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.