Dress code, decency must be the watch word

I wish to congratulate the leadership of the church of Pentecost for softening its stand on the issue of dressing to church though some members of the church are not in favour of the directive.

What the church of Pentecost and all other churches should be doing at this time with regards to the matter of dressing to church is to concentrate on encouraging their members to dress decently whether in trousers or not.

I have observed that the church of Pentecost, and some other churches have over the years been used as the measuring tape when it comes to the issue of dressing to church.

Now that those have the measuring tape have lost it, what then becomes the yard stick? This means that the issues are not necessary about wearing or not wearing one thing or the other to the place of worship.

The concern should to trousers, covering or not covering of hairs, among others things. This I call some of the hypocrisies within the Christian fraternity because some ladies wear trousers at home, to the office, market and other social gathering. It must be made clear that God does not exist only in the chapel, so whatever Christian do outside of the chapel is of equal importance as what they do in the chapel.

Christians must begin to appreciate the fact that Christianity is not a stage, rather, a process or better still a way of life that must be lived. Therefore, our dressing to church must not be different from the way we dress to the office, market or to any other social gathering.

Surprisingly, some ladies dress to the house of God exposing their underwear. Some others dress in the, “prescribed kaba” exposing their breast in the congregation whether deliberately or not, I cannot tell. I am only at a loss why this fashion of dressing to expose certain parts of the body has become so common that even some ushers in our churches are enjoying this ungodly fashion.

About a week ago, I attended a singles-summit in Accra organized by a youth group. During the presentation, one of the speakers discouraged ladies from cooking and washing for their fiancés. The speaker went on to say that Christian ladies must not visit their boyfriends without the presence of a third party while they are dating.

One of the reasons given by the speakers was that, the act has the potential of encouraging or leading to sexual intercourse.

This, I disagree and called for a holistic education in the church on how to maintain the purity and holiness of whatever relationship we are in. if we do not visit each other how do we get to know ourselves better before marriage. No wonder the rate of divorce is on the increase even within Christian marriages.

Back to the issue of the Pentecostal dress code, I want to refer all Christians to I Corinthians 7:19 which talks about the nothingness of circumcision or uncircumcision, wearing or not wearing of trousers to church.

Again, Romans 13:13 and I Timothy 2:9-10 mentioned that the watchword in whatever thing we do as Christians must be decency coupled with the will and purpose of God, be it in the church, office or in the home. What should be of concern to the church of God and not the church of Pentecost alone is how to keep to the word of God, for all shall pass, but the word of God.

I want to encourage the Sekondi/Takoradi area head, Apostle Antwi to intensify education on decent dress in the church and let them abide by it rather than the old way of thinking that don’t wear this or that without touching on the heart issue.

In the years past ladies wear vest, which in my candid opinion prevent the indecent exposure of pants and beads, is it finish on the market?

Don't limit branding to painting of buildings

Branding is not only about painting cars and buildings in your corporate colours, it is much more than that. It about providing quality service to your clients and creating an emotional attachment between the company and the customer.
Before one brand, you must first have an identity. These are the visual elements of the company. Logo, colour, sometime the design of your building can also be regarded as an identity. For instance some companies have the same structure of their buildings, regardless of location or size of the company.
Branding is an area that many companies have ignored, but I suggest that they begin to take it seriously because it will give them the needed exposure, for their services and products as well.

What is a brand?

A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, association, trademark or design which is intended to identify the products or services of an organisation(s) and to differentiate them from that of competitors. It is important to note that a brand has functional and emotional elements which creates a relationship between customers and the product or service

Adopt good business practices-Private School owners advised

PRIVATE school owners have been urged to adopt good business practices in their institutions to attract the needed funding for the development of their institutions.
The lack of good business environment has been identified as one of the challenges facing most private schools particularly those operating within less endowed communities in the country.
The Project co-ordinator of the Mitchell Group International (IMG), Mr Baba Donatus Anaba, said this in an interview with the Daily Graphic at a four- day -training programme for private school owners in Accra.
The training programme is being funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and co-ordinated by IMG with Opportunity Industrialisation Centre International (OICI) as the facilitating agent.
Mr Ananba said three main observations had been made with regards to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal of education for all.
Some of the observations were that the governments were not likely to achieve the target of education for all even with the significant assistance being received from donor communities.
Mr Anaba again mentioned the challenges of springing up of private mushroom schools of varying qualities particularly within less privileged communities in developing nations.
It is to address these difficulties that the USAID is sponsoring the programme aimed at teaching private school owners best business management practices, to enable them to strengthen and broaden their financial management capacities.
Mr Anaba said the programme for owners of the 40 selected schools would cover basic records keeping, credit and financial Management and skills in entrepreneurial development.
Facilitators are also expected to take participants through the basic requirements needed to be credit worthy in the above mentioned areas.
Participants would also learn how to develop a good business plan in order for them to write good business plans to access loans from financial institutions.
In 2008, TMG and USIAD carried out a private school need assessment in twenty of the poorest schools in Accra to identify the basic needs and challenges of private schools in the country.
As a result of that assessment and also of likely funding partners and training institutions, this project was developed at a stakeholders meeting in May 2008.
Some stakeholders who attended this meeting included districts and circuit supervisors, Opportunity International; the lending institution, Ghana National Association of Private School (GNAPS), OICI; the trainer, TMG and USIAD as the sponsors.

Women urged to take interest in decision-making

A GENDER and Social Development Consultant, Mrs Dede Bedu-Addo, has said that in spite of the remarkable achievement made by Ghanaians on gender issues, women remain underrepresented in all sectors of the country.
She said for instance, the presence of women in parliament had not increased over the last decade and explained that it did not represent the total population of women in the country as compared to their male counterparts.
Mrs Bedu-Addo was speaking at a day’s public forum organised by ABANTU for Development for women within the Teshie-Nungua community in Accra.
The about 60 participants who attended the programme were women who have shown considerable willingness to partake in the decision-making process of the country.
Mrs Bedu-Addo said the 2000 parliamentary elections resulted in the election of only 18 women into the 200-seat parliament of the country.
She said when the number of seats were increased from 200 to 230, only 25 women were elected into parliament.
Mrs Bedu-Addo was not happy that the number of female regional ministers, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCE), as well as those in parliament and the Cabinet was dropping.
She expressed her dissatisfaction that though a large number of women aspirants contested in the 2008 general election, most of them were not elected due to some unfavourable factors on the political terrain.
She mentioned some of these factors as the process of socialisation that prepared men rather than women for leadership positions, the inadequate exposure of women to public life and the demands of women’s reproductive roles.
The Senior Programmes Officer for ABANTU for Development, Mrs Hamida Harrison, said that participation by women in politics should not be limited to only to supporting the political aspirations of their male counterparts.
“Women have the ability, just as their male counterparts to take up any position in politics, leadership, management and all other sectors of the economy”, she said.
Mrs Harrison was worried that in situations where women indicated their willingness to contest political positions, their efforts over the years had been thwarted by the male-dominated political and administrative structures.
She indicated that just as the women had the right to vote, so do they also have the voice to speak on issues of national development.
She noted that the need for women’s participation in the decision-making process had become more relevant as most of the decisions taken impact more on women and children than any other person.
She said Ghanaians must begin to practise true democracy. “If we are truly democratic, then the minority should not be controlling the majority in the country”, she added.
Mrs Harrison said that women formed about 52 per cent of the country’s population and added “if this information is true, then it should be expected that women should constitute about 50 per cent in all leadership positions in politics both at the local and national levels”.
She emphasised that if politics was truly all about sharing, the women must be allowed to form an integral part of the sharing process in order to address their peculiar needs.
To address these imbalances in the society, both presenters called for affirmative actions, which Mrs Harrison defined as an action to balance the imbalance brought about by, economic cultural, political and educational issues.
This call for affirmative action was buttressed with examples of the free education for children in the north and the School Feeding Programme as affirmative actions taken by governments to correct certain imbalances in the society.

CAL Bank launches rights issue

CAL Bank has launched its rights issue to raise an amount of GH¢30 million through the issue of 150 million new ordinary share to investors.
The offer that opened last Monday will run till Friday, October 23, 2009.
In an address at the launch, the Managing Director of New World Renaissance and lead managers of the offer, Ms Abena Amoah, said the 150 million shares were being offered at GH¢ 0.20 per share.
Ms Amoah said though there was no minimum shares to be bought by investors, each investor was expected to purchase at least 200 shares.
She explained that the offer was an affirmation of the bank's resilience to overcome the challenges in the industry and chart a new future full of opportunities for the bank.
She was confidence that the offer would again enhance the bank’s profitability, boost its lending capacity and strengthen existing processes at the bank, geared at serving their customers better in the years ahead.
A Director of the bank, Mr Paarock Vanpercy, who launched the offer, said it would enable the bank to expand the number of branches which currently stood at 13 and also expand the number of ATMs from 40 to 50 by the close of the year.
He commended investors who invested in the bank in 2004 and had stayed with the bank throughout the period of growth and encouraged them to buy more shares.
The Managing Director of the bank, Mr Frank Adu Jr, said the bank's re-capitalisation process had coincided with the government's desire to reposition itself to gain local and international recognition.
Mr Adu said shareholders in March this year approved an increased in equity capital of up to GH¢ 100 million to enable the bank embark on a new strategic growth.
In 2004, CAL Bank came onto the financial market with an Initial Public Offer (IPO) of GH¢ 5.4 million. Since then the bank has consistently and steadily grown its market share and assets base.

Firm introduces high-tech security products

A foreign firm, in partnership with a Ghanaian company, has introduced a wide range of security products into the country to ensure general security in the banking industry.
The products introduced by Godrej and Boyce Company Limited and Hysen Data System
included burglar and fire resistant safes, strong room doors, security alarm systems and safe deposit lockers for jewellery and other valuable items.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Vice President and Head of Business of Godrej Security Solutions, Mr D E Byramjee, and the Associate Manager in charge of Africa, Mr Deepak Kumar Khara, said the need for security solutions in Ghana, and particularly for the banking sector was necessitated by the increasing numbers of fire outbreaks, theft and burglary and their associated loss of money and valuable property.
He said armed robbery attempts in corporate institutions could not be avoided; rather, measures could be taken to minimise their impact on the affected institutions and individuals in the process.
Furthermore, he explained that the company also offered fire resistant record and filing cabinets which provide total protection for all important files and other valuable documents.
Mr Byramjee said his company’s range of fire and burglar alarm systems, surveillance system, currency handling solutions, and other security systems were among the best in the world.
He emphasised that long before coming to Ghana their security products had captured the markets in the banking sector in Asia, America, Germany, and other continents, adding that the focus now was to make an impact on the African market within the non-banking sector which includes super markets, shops and homes world-wide.
Mr Byramjee explained that to reinforce its global confidence in its products that were rigorously tested and stringently manufactured, the company had implemented an Integrated Management System (IMS) comprising ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14000:2004 and OHSAS 18001:1999, thus making the company the only one in the industry to have tested three certifications.
He assured would-be customers in Ghana that the focus of the company was to give their them total peace of mind while going about their everyday duties.
Mr Byramjee added that the company had duplicate keys and combination keys of all the products they had sold since 1907 when it commenced business in India.
The company has over the last few months trained technicians to handle all the after-sales service needs of their clients in Ghana.
He, therefore, called on the public and corporate organisations to spend some of their budget allocations on acquiring the company’s security systems for their homes and organisations.