She was 25 years old, a woman in a room full of surprised men, and she had just been handed the keys to a bank branch.

Veronica Ablah Adika did not smile. She did not apologise for being there. She simply said, "I'm here to work with all of you."

Recalling her experience as the first female bank manager at the Makola Branch of GCB Bank Limited in a recent interview with Kafui Dey, Veronica Adika, now 88, stated that when she was informed about the position, she was not intimidated in anyway intimidated.

"I said, no problem. I'm not scared. I can handle it."

She joined GCB in February 1961, fresh from the College of Administration at Achimota.

Her father, gave her a simple commandment. "Do what is expected of you. Don't do anything that will bring you trouble."

She never forgot those words. When she discovered two of her own colleagues colluding with a customer to steal money, she did not hesitate. "I immediately called the police, and they came and took them away."

One was jailed for three years. The other was sacked.

Looking back, she admits the move was not procedurally correct. She should have reported to her area manager first. But she does not apologise for the result. After that incident, she says, "everybody stayed in the office till we closed."

Her no-nonsense approach earned her a nickname that followed her throughout her 37-year career: 'Adwumawura", She wore it like a badge of honour.

The hardest part of being first, she said, was never the job itself.

"There's nothing that is difficult. If you apply yourself to it diligently, you can do it. It is the people those who want to put blocks in your way so that you don't do well. Those are the problem," she narrated,

She handled resistance with quiet steel.

"They do resist, but I don't let them go with it. I will query you, and that will affect your yearly recommendations, promotions and postings. It is not negotiable", Veronica Adika recalled.

Her integrity was tested severely during the 1979 revolution. She was implicated in a letter of credit case involving Ghana Airways and accused of causing financial loss to the state.

Dismissals at the time were broadcast publicly on the radio. She heard her own name read out.

"I heard it on the radio. I said, so be it."

A family friend, lawyer, defended her free of charge.

"He said, if anybody would have done something wrong in a bank, it is not my king's woman." He won the case.

Her dismissal was cancelled, her forfeited monies returned, and the court recommended a promotion. The following year, she was promoted.

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She advised the youth to consider enterpreneurship.

"Our youth are not hardworking, but they want money. Attitude to work is the biggest problem." She urges young people to consider self-employment. "Use your education to employ yourself. It is not only white-collar jobs that put food on your table", she stated.

Her legacy, she says with quiet pride, is that she opened a door. Within a few years of her appointment, GCB had as many as ten women managing branches. "I felt great. At least it shows that I have done something that gives management the encouragement that there is more to explore in the female."

As for the nickname? "Adwumawura" She smiles at the memory. "The owner of the work gives his all for it to go well. I accepted it. A good name."

JKB/EB

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