Smart mission key for growth in business - MTN CEO speaks at Victory Business Summit
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, Mr Ebenezer Twum Asante, has underscored the need for companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to craft a smart mission statement that ensures their sustainability.
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He explained that a well-developed mission was a determiner to help position businesses well to grow beyond their founders and transcend generations.
At the Victory Business Summit and Fair on July 3 in Accra, Mr Asante said a successful business was a company that had customer service at heart.
He noted that in an era where business growth was directly linked to customer satisfaction, being able to meet and exceed the needs of a company’s clients through excellent customer service was very crucial to the survival of the business.
Mr Asante stated that meeting and exceeding the customer’s expectation required that the company identified itself with the basic desires of the customer whose interest fuelled the growth of the business.
“Every business will begin with the customer and end with the customer,” he said.
“There is a Chinese saying that if one cannot smile, he or she must not open a shop. Therefore, if you think that you can sit at the back office and avoid the customer, that is a lie; because most companies are now saying the back office is even dealing with customers more than the front office,” he added.
Purpose of business
The Host of The Citi Breakfast Show, a radio programme on Accra-based Citi FM, Mr Bernard Avle, said for any business to survive, it must be able “to create a customer that will also create other customers”.
According to him, a successful company does well because its customers who patronise its products or services become advocates for the company.
The broadcaster said, “Marketing is a process which goes beyond just buying and selling. Marketing is a management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies a customer’s needs profitably.”
He stated that a company could not be in business without a market, adding that the fact that a market existed did not mean marketing was going.
Tax compliance key for going global
A private legal practitioner, Mr Prince Asare, called on companies to comply with tax regulations in order to attract investors.
He explained that SMEs must understand and obey tax laws to help them grow their businesses, reduce corruption and maintain transparency in their operations in order to attract investors.
He said one of the major reasons why most Ghanaian firms continuously found it difficult to penetrate the international market was their unwillingness to comply with tax obligations.
“For smaller businesses to grow, they need to get help by attaching themselves to bigger firms to understand the tax regime,” he said.
Mr Asare also advised participants in the seminar to file regular tax returns to enable them to enjoy personal tax reliefs.
Annual Victory Business Summit
The annual Victory Business Summit and Fair (VBSF) is an initiative of the Victory Presbyterian Church, Adenta-Frafraha and supported by dozens of corporate organisations in the country.
On the theme, “Growing your business: knowing the needs of your customers,” the two-day event took place at the church premises at Adenta-Frafraha in Accra.
The Chairperson of the summit planning committee, Mr Adu Larbi, said this was the seventh in the series since the maiden edition of the summit started in 2011.
“We have, since then, been privileged to host seasoned and credential men and women who have made it in life, some against overwhelming odds, to share their experiences with us,” he said.
He explained that the impact of these experiences and the outcomes of the exposure gained by the exhibitors at the accompanying fairs had been enormous.
“Networks have been established. People have been inspired to start their own businesses. Fledgling businesses have made inroads where they had only been a mirage before,” he added.