Ghanaian businesses can blossom into big international giants if they avoid mediocrity and develop attitudes that focus on improving quality, pricing and delivery of their products and services, Mr Joel Nettey, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Marketing Communications Company, Innova DDB Ghana, has observed.
Instead of benchmarking international brands and striving at excellence, a lot of indigenous businesses and their owners are always content and satisfied with "mediocre achievements," which he said had caused them to only compete locally, rather than aiming at the global stage.
"Our competitors, whether they are in Africa, in Europe or elsewhere in the world, are always getting better. Unfortunately, a lot of the businesses in Ghana are happy with what I will call mediocre achievements. But we need to focus on not just our immediate environment but being competitive and competing with the rest of the world, offering the quality that the rest of the world has access to. If we do that and we keep at it, I'm sure we will get there”, the CEO of Innova DDB said on December 5.
Mr Nettey, who is also the President of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG) made the observations on Joy FM, when he appeared on Springboard, the virtual university, to share his experiences and the secrets behind his career and entrepreneurship.
He was the 14th guest on the Leaders' Digest, which started on September 7. The series is aimed at providing a platform for top corporate executives to share the secrets behind their success and the values they hold dear.
Steps to going global
Digging deep from his experience, Mr Nettey, whose company provides marketing communication solutions to myriad of multinational and indigenous companies, explained that taking a business to the international stage required a gradual process, with improvement at each stage of the journey.
"You build up slowly towards it; you build up volumes, you invest and you prepare for it. It is a long journey; it is not a sprint, it is a marathon,” he said on the show hosted by Rev. Albert Ocran.
He added: “You need to just act on every single intervention and improve on every step you are taking and you will get to the top".
Big barriers to local businesses
The Innova DDB CEO thinks the progress of most Ghanaian startups and entrepreneurs in general was hampered by negative attitudes, which he identified as a pervasive national challenge.
"What I look out for most in people in business and everything is attitude. If we have the right attitude, we are focused and determined to succeed and we go the extra mile - we put in the extra hours, the research and all the things that we need to put to make our products and services better and make us more competitive - we will succeed," he stressed.
Drawing inspiration from the success story of Innova DDB, Mr Nettey emphasised that local businesses needed to be committed to quality by ensuring that their solutions gave value to customers, stressing, "There is nothing like Ghanaian standards. It is a global village and therefore only a commitment to ‘global standards’ will deliver success”.
The turning point
During his student days at the University of Ghana, Mr. Nettey experienced a number of strike actions on campus that disrupted the academic calendar, one of which lasted over nine months.
This he says, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. That long period gave him the opportunity to participate in various hall weeks and other fundraising activities which exposed him to corporate leaders, especially Marketing and Brand Managers in high level corporate organisations.
He therefore became interested in marketing and advertising. Incidentally, around the same time, he and his colleagues pioneered the setting up of university radio station known then as the “Voice of Legon”… now “Radio Univers”. This led to a heightened interest in the media.
“So those nine months, which would have been wasted, helped shape me into who I am today," he said.
These developments, together with his successful entry into marketing communications and advertising, he said, reminded him of the statement, "The will of the Lord will not take you where his grace cannot sustain you," which he heard while graduating from primary school at Christ The King International School in Accra.
"So, I am convinced that out of adversity, lies opportunities. If we look at it that way and we believe that the will of the Lord will not take you where his grace cannot sustain you, if you do not put your hands up and say 'oh my God I am about to die' when faced with adversity, but we keep at it with the right attitude, success will always come," Mr Nettey said
While encouraging people to believe in the ability of God to help them succeed in their businesses and personal endeavours, he said people should not also stop putting in their best as believing in God was not a substitute for hard work.
"My mother always says to me, ‘trust in God but lock your car’. So, essentially, what I am saying is put in the work, cease opportunities, develop the right attitude and give every opportunity … then believe, that once you have done all these things, God will see you through," he added.
Joel Nettey's core values
The Innova DDB CEO mentioned attitude, humility and integrity as the three core values he holds dear and treasures in his daily life.
For him, everything rises and falls with the kind of posture and attitude people adopt towards the issues they face in life. As a result, he maintained that a positive attitude in every challenge and believes that God will see him through.
Mr Nettey also holds the view that no matter one's level of success in life, there would always be someone else who is better in one way or other. He quotes ‘Desiderata’ and says “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself”.
Consequently, he has learnt to be humble in his dealings with people across all segments of life.
Mr Nettey concluded that his commitment to integrity was because "a man is nothing but his word”. GB