Why Ghanaian Companies Grow Fast But Don’t Go Far
Introduction
African owned companies especially the local Ghanaian owned companies could become giants and global entities if the right organizational structures are in place but the recipe for sustainability of growth is elusive. Establishing a company is a very daunting task and what even makes it more challenging is ensuring its longevity. Growth in itself is not bad for a business though how the growth comes about is what is important. Companies grow simply by finding the very best way to meet the demand customers have, and the customers like the solutions and the way it’s being delivered.
Most companies in Africa do not leave beyond the generation of their founders simply because, the idea and the vision rest with just the founder and when he/she dies, the company mostly also die with them.
Some school of thoughts have given reasons that may account for why almost all African owned companies especially Ghanaian owned ones do not go far despite their fast growth after establishment. In Ghana 25% of businesses do not go beyond the founders, all the researches have shown that only about 5% of businesses go beyond the founders in Ghana.
Enumerating some of these reasons to back that thought indeed is the bases for this write up and also make some workable and strategic recommendation going forward. The most predominant reason why African companies especially Ghanaian owned companies grow fast but do not go far is leadership, management style and culture. Most literature on this subject suggest, African founder mostly have the vision of their company in their heads and not on paper, they are unable to communicate it to their team or even document the vision.
Moreover, most founders do not have succession plan or if even they have, it’s a member of the family that succeed the found who may not have or know about the vision.
Majority of locally owned companies in Africa especially Ghana, pride themselves in fast growth to boost profitability i.e. artificial profit so the CEO and EXCO members would be able to enjoy fat bonus and increment in their remuneration. Examples of such companies are the defunct Capital Bank, MenzGold,UT Bank, etc.
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