Graphic fetes, rewards vendors
The Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) has organised an end-of-year party for its 25 agents and vendors from the Akyem Oda area that comprises Oda, Akyem Asene, Akyem Ofoase, Osenase, Kade, Akwatia, Asamankese, Agona Swedru, Winneba and Breman Asikuma.
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At the ceremony, six outstanding agents and vendors were honoured.
Mr J.A.A. Asibu of Agona Swedru, who emerged as the overall best agent, was presented with a refrigerator, while Mr Pius K. Ackaba of Asamankese received a flat-screen television set; Mr Edwin Bartels of Agona Swedru, who received the Managing Directors special award, was presented with a microwave.
Other award winners were Mr E. K. Frempong, a vendor at Akwatia who had a microwave, and Mr E.O. Akomaning, a vendor at Breman Asikuma, who also received a microwave.
A.E.A. Memorial Academy at Oda was presented with a rice cooker for being the outstanding educational institution to patronise Junior Graphic in the area.
Addressing the participants, Mr K. Agyemang-Duah, the Accounts Manager of GCGL, commended them for their contribution to the development of the company.
He said the newspaper industry was facing many challenges due to a number of factors.
Mr Agyemang-Duah advised the vendors to strive to increase the newspapers they sold as the company would continue to reward them annually.
He also urged them to pay the money early after the sale of the newspapers as the company needed huge sums of money to import newsprint, printing ink and other equipment to produce the various newspapers.
According to Mr Agyemang-Duah, the high foreign exchange used for importing raw materials such as newsprint was negatively eroding the fortunes of the company.
The Eastern/Volta Regional Manager of GCGL, Mrs Catherine Ablorh, commended the award winners for their outstanding performance and urged those who did not receive awards not to be downhearted but to strive to win awards in the years ahead.
She said the Eastern/Volta zone had had its fair share of challenges.
Mrs Ablorh said the GCGL had recorded improvement in actual delivery time compared to previous years, despite the occasional setbacks.
She said management was putting in place measures to introduce sales and marketing training programmes for the sales and revenue department and reliable vendors/agents in the zone.
Mrs Ablorh stated that management was also taking realistic measures to increase sales and revenue projections by adopting innovative strategies to attract new customers and maintain existing ones.
During an open forum, the agents and vendors expressed grave concern about newspaper reviews on radio and television stations which accounted for low patronage of the newspapers as the electronic media read the papers from cover to cover.
They, therefore, appealed to the GCGL management to take serious action on the issue to put an end to this negative practice.
In his reaction, the Union Chairman of the GCGL, Mr Henry Addo, said the management had been doing everything possible to stop the practice but to no avail.