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IBM to help Ghana small enterprises
grow their businesses
Accra, July 10, Ghanadot/GNA - IBM Corporation is sending a
team of high-potential IBM leaders to Ghana this week to
help develop local businesses while enriching their own
leadership skills, a statement from the company said in
Accra on Thursday.
It said 10 IBM employees from countries such as Canada,
Germany, India, Italy, US and UK would arrive in Ghana on
July 11 as part of the corporation’s newly launched
Corporate Service Corps programme (CSC).
The programme deploys IBM’s leaders of today and tomorrow to
developing countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa to
address socio-economic challenges in emerging markets while
deepening leadership skills including diversity management.
The statement said the team in Ghana would work with three
non-governmental organisations: Association of Ghana
Industries, National Bureau of Small Scale Industries and
Aid to Artisans Ghana in Kumasi to help improve business
processes as well as provide training for a network of small
and medium enterprises in Kumasi trying to scale up their
business models.
"It's a corporate version of the Peace Corps," said Stanley
S. Litow, vice-president of corporate citizenship and
corporate affairs.
"What we as a company get is leaders with a broader range of
skills that can function in a global context. What the
individual participant gets is a unique set of leadership
opportunities and development experiences. And what
communities get are IBM's best problem solving skills. It's
a triple benefit."
The statement said IBM recognised that in today's globally
integrated economy the most successful leaders must be
global citizens, able to understand and effectively
collaborate with people from a diverse range of backgrounds
and perspectives.
An important design point for the programme is to provide
high performance employees the chance to build networks with
people they might otherwise never interact with. This will
also enable employees to bring different perspectives and
expertise to solving problems, as well as encourage
interaction with people from different cultural backgrounds
and traditions.
One hundred IBM employees from 33 countries have been
selected to participate in the CSC programme, part of the
Global Citizen's Portfolio initiative announced by IBM’s
Global CEO and Chairman Sam Palmisano early this year.
The Ghana team, representing six countries and with IBM
experience ranging between four and 24 years, will travel to
the work site in Kumasi where they will be officially
welcomed by Kumasi Mayor Ms. Patricia Appiagyei, including
an audience with Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu.
GNA
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