General

The POWER of Social Media is an easier sell to we the Generation Y business owners (1981-1996). We have a relatively healthy grasp of the before and the aftermath of the internet boom. This aforementioned power of social media is pretty obvious to Generation Z (1997-2012); that’s all they’ve known since they became “aware”. It’s a large number of Baby Boomers (1946-1964) and a lot of Generation X (1965-1980) that might be a bit stuck in their old ways and to them, I respectfully say: FOLLOW THE NUMBERS! The math tells us that there are 3.96 BILLION active social media users as of three months ago. That word “active” means that many more accounts have been created and almost 4 billion of them are not dormant; they are regularly used. Considering that there are currently over 7.8 billion people in the world now, that’s half of the entire world population. I wish I could add the statistics for Ghana’s social media activity. I will take Selassy’s advice and write these articles earlier and on time but in the meantime, I could bet you one pesewa that your target market is on the internet, RIGHT NOW. The frequent question is, how do you reach them? That’s not what I’m addressing today. It should make for a good follow-up article next week. WHY YOU SHOULD REACH THEM is what we are deliberating. Here are 10 reasons why. 1. The first one is obvious, MORE SALES. The principal aim of most businesses is to sell the goods or services that they’re set up for. Half of the world is on the internet actively engaging with other people and businesses. If you aim to reach more people and get more engagement with prospective customers, social media will play a vital role. The world is getting more and more digitally interconnected and social media is the present and future of marketing. 2. Social media engagement GENERATES REAL BUSINESS LEADS. These are real people. In a pandemic, the world has readily embraced the need to incorporate digital technology. The people that are liking and commenting on the content that businesses put on social media are as real as people standing right in front of a billboard. This is just a quick, easy, and effortless way for potential customers to express interest in your product. 3. Most businesses have a website with the full pitch, the full information about the product or services that will seal the deal with any interested and ready customer. The problem is, not everybody knows your company, or where to get the necessary info to make a decision. Social Media can INCREASE YOUR WEBSITE TRAFFICwhen it’s designed to direct people to your website. There’s already a lot of traffic between social media user accounts. When you’re part of that traffic, any engagement with your social media handle can very easily direct people to your website. 4. Also, by indulging in all this social media engagement together with half of the world, you MAKE YOUR BRAND RECOGNISABLE. I don’t have the stats but I could bet you another pesewa that customers would choose brands they have interacted with on social media rather than totally strange ones. By staying on the minds of the public, you increase your chances of actually closing a sale when the opportunity presents itself or when a customer is ready to buy. You humanize your brand and make your company easily accessible and approachable. 5. By making yourself recognizable, you INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS. It’s true that 60% of Instagram users discover new brands on social media. Don’t lose out on that. Social media companies are mainly driven by their ability to display ads to a targeted audience. So, when you join social media, you can promote your ads. It can be a picture with a simple message. Or a short video with whatever message you want to convey. It’s relatively inexpensive and very easy to get the assurance of a lot of eyes on your message at very little cost. 6. Also, you get to USE SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS. Just like on TV, there are some people that are popular and powerful on social media. Studies show that word of mouth has about a 50% chance of swaying a purchasing customer. When someone is actually ready to buy a product or procure a service, a good word from their favorite personality on social media can help. And it doesn’t have to be a big shot celebrity. There are equally long-reaching accounts on social media that are run by normal people that will charge you a fraction of what the big celebrities will. 7. Imagine GOING VIRAL. Just imagine it. Imagine being as viral as Big Shaq. He went viral because of the content he made during a radio interview… RADIO! Yet, it wasn’t radio and TV that made him a household name. It was social media. YOU or your business stand a chance of going viral should your content resonate with the masses. When that happens, for however long it lasts, you will have Ghana’s attention… technically half of Ghana but that’s still a massive lot of people to introduce your business to. 8. It’s possibly never happened to you, and I hope it doesn’t, but if a crisis does befall you, then you don’t want to not have a strategy for SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS MANAGEMENT. It is crucial because in the times we find ourselves, it is social media that disseminate information the quickest. If your company ever has a crisis and word needs to be put out fast and well, you will need a social media plan. To execute an effective social media plan, you have to have been active and engaging with your target audience on social media. 9. Regardless of crisis, smart companies frequently execute REPUTATION MANAGEMENT strategies. During all the interactions that happen on social media, one could influence how others think about and perceive your company. It’s better to get ahead of it. Your current and prospective clients are discussing your product. They’re looking at the good sides and the bad sides to choosing your company. If you follow

Many things can easily be explained with reasonable, logical, yet simple analysis. That is the purpose of this article: to explain what 5G is and to refute the notion that 5G causes coronavirus. Last week, I got a couple of the “I hear 5G can even cause cancers and coronavirus so beware of technology”. There’s this theory that 5G can cause you to fall sick. That theory came about when the map of 5G Towers got superimposed with the map of COVID-19 infection cases. It looks almost like everywhere you find a 5G Tower, you’ll find coronavirus cases. And it really is true, the maps do look alike. But one doesn’t cause the other. 5G doesn’t cause coronavirus. Thing is, population density maps also show similar concentrations and if you take a minute and think it through, just a little, you’ll find that 5G Towers are built in places where you find more people. And coronavirus cases have a high tally in higher populated areas than say, a village. Sometimes, we need to pause and ask ourselves “is there a simple, logical explanation to this theory”. So it helps to know what actually 5G is. What IS 5G? 5G is primarily a software-defined network. This means that while it won’t replace the use cables entirely, it could replace the need for them, by largely operating on a cloud instead. This will allow it to have 100 times the capacity of 4G, dramatically improving internet speeds. For example, to download a 2-hour film on 3G takes about 26 hours. With 4G technology it should takes about 6 minutes. With 5G the movie would be downloaded in about 3.6 seconds. If you lived through the period of LimeWire with all of the hustle and joy that accompanied downloading a 3MB song in 60 minutes, this is even more futuristic that you’d have envisioned. Response Times will be Much Faster. But it’s not just internet capacity that will be upgraded with the introduction of 5G. Response times will also be much faster. The 4G network responds to our commands in about 45 milliseconds (0.045sec). With 5G, it would take around 1 millisecond (0.001sec). That is 400 times faster than the blink of the eye. Smartphone users will enjoy a more streamlined experience. For a world that is increasingly dependent on the internet just to function, a reduction in time delay is critical. Almost everything is about the internet now. At first, the internet was confined to computers. Then the use of mobile phones became synonymous with using the internet. Now we have TV’s, fridges, even watches that have internet functionality. 5G will make Progressive Innovation functional. Self-driving cars, for instance, is a very tangible example of an innovation that clearly demonstrates why and how imperative the role of 5G is in innovation and global advancement in many fields. This is because some new technologies can only be properly introduced to the mainstream public when paired with 5G technology. Self-driving cars require a continuous stream of data. The quicker that information is delivered to vehicles that have no human being driving it, the better and safer they can run. Without that dependability of quick and smooth data flow, the car as a machine without timely instructions through data transfer will malfunction in many ways. It wouldn’t be much of a self-driving car. The above example is one instance of how 5G could become the connective tissue for the internet of things. Technological advancement will largely depend on the reliability that 5G will bring. 5G technology will spark an industry that will grow 3 folds by 2025, linking and controlling not just robots, but medical devices, industrial equipment, and agricultural machinery. 5G will provide Personalised Web Experience. 5G will also provide a much more personalised web experience using a technique called network slicing. Network slicing is a way of creating separate wireless networks on the cloud, allowing users to create their own bespoke network.  You will be able to customise your own bandwidth requirements amongst others stuff too. Because, for example, an online gamer would need faster response times and greater data capacity than a user that just wants to check their social media. Personalising the internet will also benefit businesses. At big corporate events, like the ones that happen at Movenpick and Kempinski all the time, there is always a massive influx of people that congregate in one area using data-heavy applications. But with 5G, organisers could pay for an increased slice of that network, boosting the internet capacity, and thus improving the attendees’ overall online experience. This goes for government functions too. Think of the Independence Day celebrations and how much data is consumed at such events. Think of how many people look down on their phones at the concert shows of Shatta Wale and Sarkodie to upload concert snippets to social media. Think of the streaming of church services.  Basically wherever there’s huge gathering, massive data is consumed. With 4G, consumption is at the same rate as it would be anywhere else. With 5G, organisers could pay network providers for a bigger slice of bandwidth so that while you are attending the program, you will consume data and use the internet at a much faster rate. So when can we start using 5G? Well, in Ghana, not yet. I keep reading some rumours but nothing conclusive. South Korea and the United States have already started the service. In the US, as the first half of last year came to a close, every major cellular network was officially offering 5G services to its subscribers. But the 5G coverage is not across the whole of the United States. Mobile giants like HUAWEI and ZTE have also been getting ready to launch big 5G trials. The fierce brouhaha between the US Government and Huawei concerning a trade ban from Washington that inadvertently hurt the HUAWEI’s 5G ambitions showcase just how pivotal the introduction of 5G is on a national scale. The race to effective rollout has been a hot one. 5G

When a company, a syndicate, a government, or any entity needs to borrow money, to, let’s say, keep the business running, to embark on new projects, to pay back old loans, for aggressive expansion, or for whatever reason, they may issue out what is called “bonds” to interested parties. Quite simply, a Bond successfully issued is a Loan accepted. The borrower is the issuer of the bond and the bond will contain the terms of the loan e.g. the interest rate (or coupon rate), how the interest payments (or coupons) will be made, the time at which the full amount has to be paid to the investor (maturity date), etc. That is a bond.  What is a Eurobond? The EURObond only means the issuer isn’t in the same country or trading in the local currency of the investor/lender. A Eurobond doesn’t have to be about Europe or the Euro. It just points to the international aspect of the bond and the involvement of foreign currency. As Ghanaians, our most recent Eurobonds have meant that the loans to our government will be in a foreign currency, specifically, dollars. This should explain why the government is always confident of the arrest of any fall of the Ghana Cedi against the US Dollar when a Eurobond is near. Eurobonds that the government has been issuing means dollars come coming into the system, thereby reducing the scarcity and the accompanying demand for the dollar. The Eurobond, also known as external bonds, is issued in one country and sold in a different one. Bonds are grouped by the currency in which they are denominated. For example, bonds issued in US dollars is known as Eurodollars. How Eurobonds Work. Anyone in need of foreign-denominated borrowings for a specified time can offer Eurobonds at fixed interest rates. Private organizations, international syndicates, and the government can offer them. The buyers or investors of these Eurobonds are generally large companies, banks, or financial institutions. The interest is calculated annually, and the principal amounts paid at the maturity date. Ghana offered her first Eurobond in 2007 to the tune of $750 million, asking investors to lend that amount with the promise of paying it back in 10 years with interest. Bonds were issued through the Bank of Ghana, while the government received the cash amount in the form of a loan. The general popularity of Eurobonds is because of its ability to be a financing tool. They offer a high degree of flexibility. For governments, it’s usually an immediate, long-term finance option. An investor considers several factors when looking at which country to target for Eurobonds, e.g. favourable interest rates, a stable market, local regulations, or the presence of likely investors. These can all play a role in the decision. Ghana’s Eurobonds, present and past. Earlier this year, Ghana issued a $3 billion Eurobond. It just means we accepted a $3billion loan from outside. The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, indicated in the 2019 Budget Statement last year that the government had the intention to do this. What is really worthy of mention is that when we asked for $3 billion, we got offered an impressive $21 billion and we still only accepted $3 billion. The extra offers made room for lower rates and better terms of engagement, as will any bargaining scenario when the demand for what you offer is high. Also note that, we issued not one but three bonds with three different maturity periods (payback times). So we’re going to pay back the $3billion in installments, with each payment installment having its own terms and conditions. Ghana’s Finance Minister, while presenting the mid-year budget statement in Parliament last month, said, “As you may recall, the government obtained the approval of this August House in December last year to raise up to US$3.0 billion to finance growth-oriented expenditures in the 2020 budget (including restructuring the energy sector) and also to conduct liability management operations”. “Based on the approval, Ghana became the first ever country on the African continent to issue a 41-year bond and a second tri-tranche bond in the history of the country”, he added. He further explained that “Ghana successfully raised US$3 billion in the international capital markets in three tranches of 6-year, 14-year and 41-year Eurobonds of US$1.25 billion, U$1.0 billion and US$750.00 million, respectively on 4th February, 2020”. “The 6-year, 14-year, and 41-year bonds were priced at 6.375 percent, 7.875 percent and 8.750 percent, respectively. Mr. Speaker, this transaction was a landmark achievement in many respects as the bond came with the lowest-ever coupon rate for Ghana and first 41-year bond tenure in Africa”, Mr Ofori-Atta reported to the House. And The IMF Cautions Us. Though we’ve professed to have broken up with the IMF, they seem to still slide in our DM’s with a message or two every now and then. A bond issued is a loan. The IMF cautions that, with all these monies coming in, we would have to pay it all back sometime. So if we don’t invest it well to generate growth and repayment capacity, then there will be a debt crisis on our hands later on. I have always stated that mismanagement is the biggest issue our continent faces.  You should understand why our government is quick to throw in Ghana’s increasing GDP figures and indications that Ghana is working for Ghanaians. That’s because it’s an easily spotted marker for if the country is productive. Of late the World watches Ghana. The macroeconomic data validated by the international community has, for a while now, pointed to a promising future for Ghana. While the global bond markets secretly scrutinised Ghana last year and those before that, Ghana got rebranded as “Beyond Aid”, planned for $3billion in Eurobonds and impressively got offered seven times that ($21million). That’s like leaving your spouse and suddenly getting 21 messages from other suitors the next day after announcing the breakup, but you expected about just 3 IM’s. That means you’re hot! Ghana has been looking very