Bishop Sappor’s banking journey, girls’ mentorship dream
Bishop Patricia Sappor is an experienced banker with over 30 years experience in Ghana’s banking industry and to crown it all, she is the president of the Ghana Institute of Bankers.
She started her banking career at the erstwhile Bank for Housing and Construction, where she worked for 11 years before moving on to Ecobank, where she worked for over 20 years until her retirement.
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At Ecobank, Bishop Sappor rose to become the Head of Corporate Communications.
Recognised as one of the most influential women in Ghana and an honorary fellow of the Institute of Directors Ghana, Bishop Sappor is the first female President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers Ghana.
Appearing on the Springboard, Your Virtual University, a radio programme of Joy FM, Bishop Sappor described her life journey as a humbling one.
“It has been a humbling journey and more importantly, I look forward to the major tasks and responsibilities ahead,” she stated.
Retirement a new phase of life
Bishop Sappor described retirement as a new phase of life that brings fulfilment really planned for.
“You will be happy, get more connected to the family and do what you want to do, rather than what somebody wants you to do,” she noted.
Dream to help young ladies
As a life coach, mentor and role model to lots of young ladies, she said what drove her to empower young ladies was a dream she had.
“This burden came some time back, 10 years ago when I had a dream. In the dream, I saw myself in a huge labour ward and I saw young ladies who were pregnant and there were no nurses to help them deliver and they were in pain. I was upset that there was no one to help them, and that was when I woke up from the dream.
“When I woke up, I understood the dream, it was so clear and that drove me more into being interested in developing young ladies. The meaning of the dream was the fact that there were a lot of young ladies who were struggling in life to identify their vision and purpose. They have gifts and ability but they need some sort of help,” she explained.
Top 10 principles
Bishop Sappor also shared the top 10 principles that had helped shape her life over the years.
1. Self-discovery: In the journey of life, at a point in time, I became aware of who I was and the capabilities I had and that really changed everything in my life. Knowing my abilities changed everything in life and I realised that I could do everything. Once we come to that place of knowing who we are, it gives us that momentum and passion to do what we want to do. One may not discover that early in life but it is important that one sits down to know who one is.
2. Purpose: This changes everything. You may know who you are and your capabilities but knowing what you have to do makes the difference. Purpose can be in the area of your career, spiritual life, social life and it changes based on where you are in life. Purpose is what will change your life.
3. Honesty and Integrity: This is what drives everything in life. There is no shortcut to life and in whatever you do, you have to be very honest and transparent. Dishonest gains will dwindle fast. Once you are dealing with people, they should have reasons to trust you. Once honesty is consistent, you build integrity.
4. Selflessness: This is key because everybody has a role to play to help other people and we don’t have to be selfish. We need to come to a point where we will be each other’s keeper and be selfless about what we are doing. Whatever we are doing in life, we should have other people in mind.
5. Intentionality: You could identify who you are, have a purpose, but if you are not intentional and deliberate about what you want to do, you will not achieve it. So I believe that intentionality is being deliberate and positioning yourself, and doing what you have to do to get where you want to.
6. Influence: Getting people to change their way of thinking, change their way of doing things and doing something to influence their lives.
7. Sitting down: This means planning, making the time to think through what you are doing. Inspiration without planning can be very chaotic. You don’t just jump into the purpose because God says go and do it. You need to sit down and plan first. Planning that purpose will help you achieve it, otherwise, you will give up along the way.
8. Excellence: Whatever you do in life, you should aim at excelling at it. You should go the extra mile, over and above what you are expected to do. This will require skill, knowledge and adding value to yourself. You also need resilience to excel.
9. Appreciation: In the corporate environment, people forget about appreciation but as humans, we should be mindful of appreciating people who come our way and offer support to us.
10. God factor: You can only succeed and continue to succeed in life with God.