General

National sovereignty, peace, financial prosperity, and territory management have been the building blocks for independence. Although the world has entered a much more civilized and democratic era, human nature to win and rule has never changed. In the recorded human history of 3400 years, there has been peace for only 268 years, less than 10% of the duration of recorded human history. (NY Times). Let that sink in. However, let us understand independence in terms of historical perspective, dynamics brought by freedom, our duties in this regard, and what makes us independent in a connected global village, where diplomatic pressure and bilateral cooperation is the first step towards successful foreign operations.  Historical Perspective Ghana has been a nation of warriors that survived and fought through many difficult times in history. The region is full of forests and minerals resources, which attracted Europeans to invade and control. (BBC) From the Portuguese to the British, several nations had tried to control Ghana.   However, after the Second World War, and with growing local dissent and agitation, foreign control was relaxed, and the nation fought to get independence from the British under the leadership of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Then finally, on the 6th of March, 1957, independence was declared. The independence drive was backed by organized movements, protests, sacrifices, and hard times. One of such movements was named Big-Six. They formed the leadership of the first-ever political party; the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), which represented the feelings and emotions of the nation and constructed political philosophy. (Africa) A robust mindset backed this movement to achieve independence and people were ready to sacrifice their lives. This was due to our ancestor’s belief that freedom always comes with a price, a price they were willing to pay. The manifesto of the Big-Six was based on a self-regulated people Government, and they laid the strong foundation for a campaign to achieve freedom for the nation. Today, it’s our duty to understand independence dynamics and act in line with national interest leading to durable REAL independence. But, we first need to understand the current independence dynamic accordingly. (Six big) INDEPENDENCE DYNAMICS FOR THE NATION Let’s discuss independence dynamics in terms of basic pillars that help a nation flourish and understand where we stand today. Are we heading in the right direction, or is there something to improve the situation?  Economic Dynamics No power on earth can be sustained without economic independence. The acquisition of economic power is dependent on the geographic atmosphere and the working attitude of the people. After independence, there have been management and country governance problems leading to adverse economic conditions. However, in the mid of 1990, governance reforms were introduced that led the economy on the right path. In fact, in 2019, IMF and World Bank predicted the highest growth rate of 8.8% for the economy after the country placed sixth in the previous year, with a growth rate of 5.6%. (DW) Last year, rating agencies predicted that the economy would grow by 4.8% in 2021, in line with the IMF projections for the same period. (Business insider Africa) This economic growth is driven by growth in different sectors, including oil, agriculture, manufacturing, and the service industry. The main problem with our GDP is that investment is dependent on foreign companies. The higher performance of an oil sector even comes through the direct investment of foreign companies.  Ideally, we must think about whether that makes us dependent on foreign companies for our revenue/GDP. There is the massive potential for conflict of interest, which might lead to compromise on our national interest.  The Justice System The justice system is designed to control law and order in the country. It aims to protect innocents and convict criminals. Without a fair and free justice system, it is difficult to control justice and ensure prosperity in the country. No nation in the world can survive without an effective and robust justice system. In recent times, the need to introduce and implement a strong justice system has increased more than ever. It’s because of increasing digitalization, cybercrime, computer security, and increasing digitalization connected with financial transactions. The coming future is for technology advancement and automation. There is a need to focus on the legal aspects of moving into the digital era. The legal system of Ghana is based on Common law, English doctrine of equity, and customary laws. The law-making system is based on the constitution and the acts of parliament. (Globalex) As the world is changing quickly, there is a need to pro-actively review applicable laws and ensure modification/changes are in line with the digital era/cyber security. The Education System Ghana’s education system was first introduced as missionary schools by the colonial government and this was expanded and has evolved over the years to the current system.  The biggest benefit of a strong education system is the enhanced ability of individuals to make decisions. It helps in poverty elimination, increased human life expectancy, and long-term prosperity.  The education system develops human capital and leads to long-term prosperity in terms of operational life and financial aspects. Further, the science behind educational importance is that it helps to shape humans of the society. In return, these humans help enhance society. We cannot achieve a truly independent state unless we promote educational activities. Ghana is committed to increasing quality education for the people across the country and there have been reforms in our educational policy. The main priorities of the educational reforms have included quality output and efficiency in the educational system. (side martinbro) The Social Mechanics Social mechanics is a broader term that includes family values, size, structure, buying habits, education level, income, community, safety, and many other factors. Social mechanics can be better understood with the concept that some social acts may be acceptable in one society and not in another.  The qualities and attributes of society directly impact the mental and physical health of its members. The qualities that make a social circle a great place to live are freedom, liberty, fairness, democratic

2020 Honda CR-V. Black Edition. Full Option. Tear-rubber, as they call it. I wasn’t even driving that fast on the motorway. Well, it is the motorway after all but I was driving at about 50mph. Not sure how or why it happened; all I heard was a big bang and my rear mirror was smashed to pieces. The boot and bumper were damaged and in one blink, the value of the car probably got cut in half. This was about a year ago. And no I hadn’t got around to comprehensive insurance. It’s one of those things I assigned to one of my staff and ended up costing me the proverbial arm and a leg. With the proper insurance cover, I would have spent far far less getting Bambi back into shape. Yes, I named the car Bambi. That’s how much I loved it. LIFE is uncertain. The business environment is just as uncertain; anything can be expected at any stage. So, it’s your choice to remain exposed to the many risks that exist or provide yourself with some cover via insurance. Insurance is designed to provide cover for anything that can go wrong. However, you have to pay a certain premium to get coverage. The idea of insurance is based on the probability of happening. If the risk of incidence is higher, you are expected to pay a higher premium and vice versa. For instance, if you are getting insurance coverage on your car, the premium to be paid is different if the car is of higher value and different if the car is valued lower. In some cases, the premium to be paid is different if the car is parked inside your home and different if the car is parked outside your home. The concept is simple, the probability of an incident with your car parked outside is more than with your car parked inside your home. Hence, there is a difference in premium. Overall, if you are covered in the insurance, you write off (purchase) policy, pay a premium, and get a promise to be compensated if anything goes wrong within the covered area. What’s covered in the insurance? Insurance companies cover a range of risks, including your life to loss of the asset. Generally, risk coverage includes health, life, disability, chronic illness, hospitalization, medical care, property damage, loss on business assets, long-term care, child plans, auto insurance, and anything covered in the insurance policy. Basically, it gives you peace of mind in terms of survival and continuity, of you yourself and your business. Although insurance is a cost, it saves you from a greater loss like in my case with Bambi. Hence, insurance comes with various advantages. Advantages of insurance coverage Advantages of insurance include but are not limited to the following. Economic and financial protection – Insurance coverage protects your property and other revenue-generating assets. So, your financial interest is protected to a greater extent, and the risk of loss is transferred to the insurance company against payment of nominal premium. Maintenance of living standards – Unexpected losses can impact your living standard. However, insurance cover provides financial protection in terms of money. So, it gives you peace of mind to sustain financial prosperity. Helps to promote foreign trade – Those in the Import/Export business will tell you the risk is massive in international trade. So, traders do not risk sailing the ships without insurance. Hence, overall insurance activity is necessary for international trade to flourish. Almost everyone that trades internationally factors in insurance as a standard cost. Helps with business sustainability – One fire outbreak in the warehouse might bankrupt the business. However, insurance coverage against such incidence might result in business continuity and sustainability. Helps to boost investment industry – The premium collected by the insurance companies is invested in Government and corporate sectors. This boosts up the investment industry and overall trade in the economy.  Helps to raise bank loans – If your business assets are insured, it leads to enhanced credibility in the eyes of the banks and other institutions to raise the finance. It’s because they believe their collateral is safe and free from multiple risks. (Kullabs, n.d.) Disadvantages of insurance coverage Disadvantages of insurance include the following. The process to file the claim involves multiple procedural formalities. So, it’s not always easy to prove the incident and receive the claim. All types of losses may not be covered in the insurance policy. In some cases, the size of the claim may be relatively small. In fact, the amount received under a claim may be smaller than the total premium paid over time.  How do insurance companies make money? An insurance policy provides cover for the potential of the loss in exchange for the premium. The company collects premium (revenue) from multiple clients. It means they have massive credit (incoming) of the revenue against the promise to pay the claim (compensation) if anything goes wrong in the covered insurance area.  However, not all policies receive a claim. In fact, 90% of the life insurance policies cost nothing to the companies against the premium received as these policies get lapse (Scott, 2012). When you fail to pay your insurance premiums on time or after the grace period, the benefits to the policyholder gets terminated, or in technical terms, gets “lapsed”. Furthermore, the premium is collected by the insurance companies from time to time. So, they invest the same in equity and debt instruments to earn a return on the investment. That’s an additional source of income for insurance companies.  Overall, there are three types of cash inflows for insurance companies. These cash flows include the income for policy write-off, the periodic premium for the cover, and the return generated on the investment. The insurance claims and administrative expenses are paid from the revenue, and the remaining amount is just profit for the insurance companies.  Statistics show that 2020 was a blessing for insurance companies selling auto insurance. Their profit during the year amounted to $30 billion globally (Consumerfed,

“A people will grow when their elders start planting trees whose shade they will never enjoy” some old saying goes something like that. The word “Sustainability” could refer to the ability of an organization, a business, a person, a people, to continue over a longer period. It’s highly relevant in the context of setting strategic policies within the immediate setting, choosing operational priorities and ensuring a balance between economic, social, and environmental aspects of the entity. The word “Sustainability” could also mean not to compromise on social and environmental aspects to make a profit and financial fortune alone/only. This can be done by when the entity includes ”Strategic Balance” as a priority in the decision-making process. “Strategic Balance” in this sense means to take care of economic, social, and environmental aspects of the everyday activities of the entity.  This article will briefly touch on different sustainability models, an African perspective and investors’ influence in setting positive sustainability development choices. These choices should lie in areas of highest resource utilization with enhanced ability to recycle/reuse the products, or process before sale. These choices should also be about rethinking how to bring a social and environmentally friendly change. And one of the options can be to gain this strategic competence via a circular economy. Circular economy – this economy is about using resources to add continuous value. Product/waste is not thrown away but used repeatedly to protect the environment. Sustainability models  The universal concept of sustainability is linked with the three aspects of human evolution. These aspects are: Economic sustainability Social sustainability Environmental/ecological sustainability Economic sustainability Economic sustainability refers to the effective utilization of financial resources. It’s about profitable operations. Without earning profits, a business, an organization, a country, is not expected to survive in the long-term. So our institutions need to remain profitable. For instance, phones are not recycled in the environment when we are done with them which leads to economic loss. This loss is globally estimated to be $4.5 Trillion. (weforum, n.d.) As per the report from United Nations Populations funds, there are over 200 million people between the age of 15 and 24 years in Africa. Further, demographic trends suggest that this strength is expected to be double in the next 25 years (weforum, n.d.). This demographic strength of the continent can be used to earn profit in terms of strong, competent workers and strategic competence to earn a financial fortune. Actually, the youth can be an exceptional resource if certain things are controlled and directed in that specific direction. In addition, Africa’s largely entrepreneurial youth are expected to benefit from the African Continent Free Trade Agreement, a revolutionary step to promote trade and bring financial prosperity to the region as this agreement comes with the potential to unlock a market of 1.3 billion people. All these show that the African region is of higher expectations in terms of product innovation and market creation. (UNDP, n.d.) Social sustainability Implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become one of the core strategic competencies worldwide. There is increasing awareness of social sustainability among entrepreneurs and business policymakers. It is important to note that social consideration in the business has massive potential to impact its stakeholder relations. For instance, operational aspects of a business’ performance include but are not limited to fair labour practices, health and safety of the staff, work-life balance, quality, empowerment, volunteerism, community engagement, philanthropy, human rights and living standards. From an African perspective, the region’s culture is diverse and vibrant with a rich heritage and increasing economy that increasingly supports the culture of business and trade. However, overall productivity is limited because of the region’s enduring poverty and social inequality. This leads to the underutilization of natural resources like agricultural land and resource degradation (ISPI, n.d.). Hence, a strict approach to bring social reforms and connect society is expected to bring massive profits and prosperity for the region.  Environmental/ecological sustainability As per reports from United Nations Environment Protection Agency, if 10,000 tonnes of goods are put in the land, six jobs are created, recycling creates 36 jobs, and reuse is expected to create 296 jobs. Hence, steps taken to recycle a massive quantity of goods can be a welcoming aspect from an economic and environmental point of view. (weforum, n.d.) Suppose goods are reused in the economy in the form of recycling. In that case, such an economy is termed a circular economy, and it’s expected to protect organic life on the planet. There has been an increasing awareness in terms of protecting the environment with green efforts. For instance, recently, giant organizations and companies like UNICEF and giant telecommunication companies have called for innovative ideas to bring green innovation in the region. (Forbes, n.d.) Interconnection of “Sustainability” to “Development” and “Model” Today, we live in a dynamic world where consumers better understand the products and services. So, consumers have a clear preference for selecting business partners that take care of the environment. A recent survey conducted by Harvard Business Review reveals that 65% of consumers want to purchase products from companies that take account of social and ecological sustainability (HBR, n.d.).  This is the reason that companies have been advertising their sustainability efforts to their target customers. So, if the company is well known to comply with social and environmental aspects, more and more customers are expected to do business with them. Hence, it’s highly logical to expect enhanced market share, customer loyalty, and higher turnover from organisations that adopt sustainable business policies and models. (HBR, n.d.) Business Model and Sustainability perspective The business model (BM) is a formal description of organizational activities that are used to generate and deliver value for the stakeholders. BM is considered an essential document used in pitching your business idea to raise finance. However, it’s important to note that the business model is not complete without comprehensive aspects of sustainability. It’s because investors prefer to invest in an idea committed to society’s social and environmental aspects.  Further studies have proven that environmental and social values in one’s business model have massive