CEO of Unilever - marketing man of the year

Mr Charles Cofie, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Unilever Ghana, has been adjudged the marketing man of the year 2007 by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG).

He won the coveted prize at the 19th marketing performance awards of the Institute, held in Accra on Saturday, during which individuals, organizations and production entities received awards in different categories.

The marketing man of the year award is given to an individual, who have demonstrated sterling leadership qualities, in propelling the growth of his or her organization.

Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, in an address read on his behalf by Mrs Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, called for a change in the attitude of Ghanaian workers if the country was to meet the demands of the competitive global environment.

Vice President Aliu said it was important that workers avoid misapplications of resources, pilfering and acts that generally undermined the pace of the country's development.

He said government was pursuing various policies aimed to enhance manpower development and improve the skills of the workforce and explained that a well-educated workforce could help to prosecute government's agenda of accelerated development.

The Vice President urged the CIMG to partner government to develop training programmes that would meet the goals of competitions and move the country forward. Mrs Josephine Okutu, National President CIMG, said the award scheme had been undergoing constant review yearly to ensure innovations and to also respond to changing situations within corporate Ghana.

In response to certain developments, she said, the institute introduced a new elite category known as the CIMG Hall of Fame into which organizations that had won the awards for three times were to be inducted.

Mrs Okutu said to achieve the middle income status by 2015; the country needed a dedicated workforce with the spirit of enquiry and challenges to develop innovative products, the spirit of perseverance and drive for continuous improvement.

"We also need a motivated work force that celebrates success with teams and does not promote pull him down tendencies in its rank".

This year's award was on the theme: "Improving the work ethos of the Ghanaian-The Role of Strategic Marketing".

Other award winners included Ms Joyce Aryee, CEO, Ghana Chamber of Mines, as Marketing Woman of the Year, and Mr Gakpetor Atsu Gbedevi, Marketing Student of the Year.

This year's award winners were selected by CIMG in partnership with AC Nielsen, a globally reputed research organization, and winners emerged only after a rigorous and scientific based methodology.