How small to medium-sized enterprises can survive an economic downturn

Theme: Business Resilience Date: Thursday 3rd November 2022. Venue: Labadi Beach Hotel Accra - Ghana. 8 am to 5 pm In partnership with... Introduction The Entrepreneurs Solutions Summit celebrates the hopes and ambitions of entrepreneurs that strive in the challenging market to win. The summit organized annually by African Bagg Recruitment brings together like-minded entrepreneurs and influential leaders to share ideas, inspiration, and insights and gain actionable strategies and innovative solutions to grow businesses. The summit, chaired by Hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyemang (Agric. Economist & Politician. The board chair of CocoBod, 2017 - 2021) has been supported by past speakers Chris Kirubi (a Kenyan businessman, entrepreneur, industrialist, and philanthropist), Dr. Myma Belo-Osagie (a founding partner of Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie, Nigeria), Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta (a Ghanaian economist, investment banker, and co-founder of Databank. He currently serves as the Minister of Finance) Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom (a business consultant and politician. He is the Chairman and founder of Groupe Nduom, Ghana) Ian Lee (Businessman, Singapore) Alex Adjei Bram (Co-founder HUBTEL), amongst others. As the world is changing with companies having to contend with rapid change and uncertainty, business resilience is extremely important to any business because, without it, few businesses are likely to be able to recover from unexpected disruptions or adapt fast enough to sudden changes as this pandemic has caused. The 3rd Annual Entrepreneurs Solutions Summit in partnership with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) will focus on how small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can survive an economic downturn. SMEs are the pivot of our economic growth and therefore this full-day event brings together entrepreneurs, and international and local companies to share best practices and solutions to strengthen businesses in Ghana and beyond. About the organizer African Bagg Recruitment is a subsidiary of African Bagg Limited, renowned for being the local partner for international companies setting up in Ghana. African Bagg Limited specializes in offering market entry support and consultancy services to companies interested in investing in Ghana and the Sub-region. African Bagg Recruitment is one of the leading Human Resource firms in Ghana. We offer Recruitment, Training, Assessments, Accounting, Payroll, and other business-related services to companies in Ghana. We have worked with the likes of Tullow Oil, Mitsui & CO, IE Singapore, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Nokia, Social Security National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Viasat 1, HFC Bank, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) amongst others. Program format The one-day program has been broken down into two sessions: Morning Session 1. Presentation from Keynote Speakers. Afternoon Session. 2. Presentations by international and local companies looking to explore new business opportunities. 3. Networking. Topics will focus on 1. How companies build resilience. 2. Reshape strategy for business continuity. 3. Identify new business opportunities/Innovations. 4. Develop and implement a recovery plan from the crisis. 5. Budget preparation. Wamkele Mene is the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area(AfCFTA) Secretariat. In February 2020, he was elected as the first Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat. He previously served as the Head of Mission to the World Trade Organisation for South Africa. Wamkele later Chaired the Committee on International Trade in Financial Services at the World Trade Organisation. He was the Chief Director for Africa Economic Relations in South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry and South Africa's lead negotiator in the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. Kosi Antwiwaa Yankey-Ayeh is the first female Chief Executive Officer to head the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA) - formerly National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) - an Agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) in mandated to strengthen and grow Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Ghana. Kosi spent the majority of her career focusing on access to finance and agribusiness in Africa. She has worked with Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB)’s where she set up Mobile Business Clinic and helped develop a training program for agribusinesses in Africa. She was also the Founder and CEO of Nuba Foods and Commodities, an organization that helped to bridge the gap between local farmers and industries in the West African sub-region by sourcing agricultural raw materials from smallholder farmers and supplying them to the industries. She also ensured that their activities focused on creating positive environmental and societal impact towards a sustainable development world. In the past seven years, she has raised over US$300 million dollars in funds. Some were earmarked to develop entrepreneurial and acceleration programs to support entrepreneurs, the youth, and MSMEs in Ghana. Her efforts have also resulted in an increase in GEA’s budget and funding streams by over 1000%. Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh graduated from Harvard University, USA, with a Master’s in Public Administration and Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. At Harvard, she received the 2016 excellence award for academic distinction and distinguished contribution to the Edward S. Mason Program and the School. Kosi’s experiences range from working as a Banker at Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and UBS. Her leadership at NBSSI has helped to shape enterprise development in Ghana giving NBSSI a firm footing in MSME development and promotion. Her rich experience in microfinance and finance has helped to scale up the activities of the Board (especially those in the rural areas with better access to business development services; appropriate technology and skills; and financial services) and directed needed resources. She has a certificate from Wageningen University, the Netherlands where she studied Market Access for Sustainable Development, and a 2-year program at MIT in Cambridge focusing on Entrepreneurship and Business Acceleration. Currently, Mrs. Yankey-Ayeh is a Member of the Ministry of Finance Advisory Committee, Accra Digital Centre, and a few others. Lieven Danneels is the Chief Executive Officer of Televic Group. Televic develops and makes communication systems for a number of niche markets, such as nurse-call systems, conference and simultaneous interpretation systems, passenger information systems for the Rail market, and software solutions for the education market. He is also the Honorary President of the Chamber of Commerce West-Flanders; a Member of the board of VOKA Flanders; Chairman of VARIO, the flemisch advisory council on innovation and entrepreneurship. Chair of the advisory council of the institute of entrepreneurship of the Vlerick business school in Belgium; Member of the board of IMEC vzw; Member of the scientific advisory board of IMEC vzw; Member of the board of University Leuven (KUL); Honorary President of the KULAK (university leuven, campus Kortrijk), and since 2020 elected President of VIVES university college, Kortrijk. Lieven Danneels is a Civil Engineer (KU Leuven) and obtained postgraduates in Financial Management (Vlekho) and Business Administration (KU Leuven). Manuel Mota is a Board Member of Mota-Engil Group since February 2016 when he was appointed CEO of Africa, he has subsequently also been appointed CEO of ME Europe in March 2019. He was previously a member of the board of Mota-Engil Europe Engineering & Construction. In his previous role, he acted also as Chief Executive Officer for Mota-Engil Central Europe, which includes responsibility for Poland, the Czech Republic, and other Central European Countries. Manuel Mota started his career in 2009 within the Grope in Angola as an Engineer and progressed steadily to become a Member of the Board of Mota-Engil Angola, until he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer for Mota-ENgil Central Europe in May 2013. He graduated with Masters in Civil Engineering from the University College of London. He has subsequently been appointed as CEO of Mota-Engil Europe which he accumulates with his position at Mota-Engil Africa. Abena Amoah is one of Ghana's leading female investment bankers and financial advisors. On July 15, 2020, she was appointed as the Deputy Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange. In this position, Ms. Amoah is responsible for the operational activities of the Exchange as well as assisting the Managing Director in defining and implementing the Exchange's corporate strategies and plans. Prior to this appointment, Abena was the Chief Executive Officer for Baobab Advisors, a financial advisory services firm she founded. Amoah has served on the boards of Wapic Insurance Limited (Ghana), Access Bank Limited (Ghana), and The African Women’s Development. She received a Newmont Gold Ghana Highest Award for Excellence at the National Youth Excellence Awards in 2006. And was listed as one of WomanRising's 100 Most Outstanding Women Entrepreneurs in Ghana in 2016. Somachi Chris-Asoluka, Director, Partnerships and Communications for the Tony Elumelu Foundation. In this role, she conducts the data gathering, analysis, and methodology review for all research publications of the Foundation and oversees the Foundation’s advocacy initiatives – case studies, workshops, roundtables, symposiums, etc. She also manages all external engagements and relationships for the Foundation and its Founder, Mr. Tony Elumelu CON. Somachi graduated Summa Cum Laude from Saint Mary's College of California and received the “Adam Smith” award given to the best performing student in Economics. She also has a Master's Degree in International and Development Economics from Yale University. Prior to joining the Foundation, Somachi worked with the Corporate Governance and Finance division of Phillips Consulting Limited and she served as a research assistant at the Lagos Business School in 2013 and has interned as a columnist with Business Day newspaper. She is a member of the Financial Women's Association, San Francisco, the Omicron Delta Epsilon (National Economics Honor Society, USA), and a fellow of the Moremi Initiative for Women's Leadership in Africa – a program that annually identifies and engages the top 25 most promising young women leaders on the continent. The 2nd Entrepreneurs Solutions Summit was sponsored by: Stanbic Bank, Groupe Ndoum, Star Assurance, Glico, IVET, B&FT, Topp Security, SMSgh, Unilever, AGI, JOYFM, Kenya Airways, Somotex, JMPL Car Rentals, Nestle, Ghanaye Premier, and Wanjo foods. We are grateful to our sponsors for making this a success. For further information please contact: Yasmin Boama African Bagg Recruitment Yasmin.boama@africanbagg.com +233 (0) 548960144 Facebook, Instagram, Twitter @entsolsummit www.entrepreneurssolutionssummit.org