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The Consultant
**Available from 23 June, 2022
Consider this book the ultimate ‘How To’ compilation on a work area which has become extremely popular and lucrative in recent years — Consulting. The content of this book reflects the Author’s personal and professional consulting experience spanning over forty years, on work that has taken him to various African countries, the United Kingdom, the USA and Singapore.
This book’s primary objective is to share the experience of a seasoned professional to promote Consulting as a vocation. It can truly be described as a manual and a set of guidelines for all Consultants. It particularly targets aspiring and young practicing individuals in the field.
The Author, Dr. Joseph E. Bannerman, describes his work journey so far with his firm, Plan Consult, as exciting , full of dynamic encounters with a host of professionals from different backgrounds, government ministries, departments and organisations within both the public and private sector. His work has resulted in new and reviewed policies of various national sectors to the greater advantage of the beneficiaries of his expertise, of which he is most proud.
The structure of this book adopts a ‘Project Planning Approach’ which the author calls ‘The Consulting Cycle’ and reinforces its credentials as one’s go-to ‘How To’ directional guide on Consulting. The arrangement of the chapters reflect the rich life experiences of the Author and follows his journey step by step to organically take the reader through advancing progressively in their consulting career.
₵250.00The Consultant
₵250.00 -
Igba-Boi: Repositioning the Igbo Apprenticeship System (Hardcover)
Igba-boi: Repositioning the Igbo Apprenticeship System highlights the entrepreneurial exploits of the Igbos of south-eastern Nigeria. Despite the globalisation-accentuated influence of western business culture, the Igbos have sustained their indigenous business system undergirded by an ingenious apprenticeship system, Igba-boi.
This apprenticeship system has existed in the Igboland for decades as an important heritage, embedded in cultural norms and values passed down for generations. The authors argue that the unique framework and rules of operation of this viable socioeconomic empowerment model will, if well-positioned, make significant contributions to the advancement of the boi/Nwa-boi (apprentice), the Oga (Master), the community (Ndi-Igbo) and the achievement of the country’s overall developmental goals.
Case studies of prominent and successful Igbo people in business feature in the book to illuminate our understanding of the system:
• President and Chairman, Coscharis Group – Application of Design Thinking to Igba-boi Business Model leading to extraordinary business success
• Chairman, E. Sunny Vespa International – Disruption of Motorcycle Engine Technology, key lessons and success story
• Chairman and Chief Executive, Chisco Group – Building an Empire on Integrity & Authenticity
• Chairman, Legacy Motors – Apprenticeship, Ndi-Igbos and ASPAMDA Market, Lagos
A timely, easy-to-read, valuable resource and reference text for scholars, practitioners and regulators interested in institutionalising a sustainable business model in Africa based on a tested indigenous apprenticeship system.
₵165.00 -
Failing To Win: Hard-Earned Lessons from a Purpose-Driven Startup
In 2009, Canadian entrepreneur Mike Quinn packed his backpack and moved to Lusaka, Zambia on a mission to find African entrepreneurs building scalable, high-impact businesses. There he stumbled across two South African brothers who had founded a business to help unbanked smallholder farmers receive mobile payments in a market where cash was king. After convincing his retired parents to mortgage their house and lend him $100,000, Mike joined as a co-founder of Zoona and became CEO for nine of the next ten years.
With his partners, Mike built a network of more than 3,000 entrepreneur agents across Zambia and Malawi that enabled millions of unbanked consumers to send and receive $2.5-billion in money transfers and remittances. Headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, Zoona raised over $35-million of venture investment and operated on the leading edge of Africa’s emerging fintech ecosystem.
Mike’s remarkable story gives a rare and honest glimpse into the workings of a pioneering African startup through the lens of a purpose-driven entrepreneur who went “all in”. Zoona faced tremendous adversity along the way: currency crises, investment round collapses, ruthless pushback from the major mobile network operators, and a continuous internal struggle to discover and execute a growth strategy that matched the company’s billion-dollar ambition. It was by failing to win that Mike learned what entrepreneurship is all about, and it was what motivated him to double down and try again.
“This raw, honest account is a must-read for anyone thinking about starting a company and for every entrepreneur who feels alone in the journey.” — Elizabeth Yin, Co-Founder & General Partner of Hustle Fund
“Startups are hard. Most people understand this. However, most people don’t understand why. Mike’s story is a rare glimpse into how challenges present themselves — and ultimately how to overcome.” — Matt Flannery, Co-Founder of Kiva & Branch
“In a rare look behind the scenes, Mike shares a vivid picture of the other side of leadership we don’t talk about enough. As he aptly describes ‘founding, failing and winning’, this book highlights the risk of taking that all-important first step, embracing failure and ensuring you learn the transformative lessons critical to success as an entrepreneurial leader.” — Fred Swaniker, Founder of African Leadership Group
“This story is a gift for entrepreneurs and indeed anyone wanting to learn about the first generation of African fintechs that paved the way for future companies to thrive.” — Katlego Maphai, Co-Founder & CEO of Yoco
“Mike’s humility, resilience and depth of knowledge of how to build a pan-African business are unique, and his testimony of experience is an important short history of the fintech boom on the continent.” — Elizabeth Rossiello, Founder & CEO of AZA
“Failing To Win is a captivating account of an incredibly talented and unusually forthright entrepreneur who built an ambitious purpose-led company that started in Zambia. At Oxford I have taught the Zoona case study to countless MBA students to show how fundamental principles of entrepreneurship can be meaningfully applied in a novel context. It just takes courageous and smart individuals who are not afraid of failing (in order) to win.” — Thomas Hellmann, DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Oxford’s Saïd Business School
“Innovation has gone global, and is transforming people’s lives around the world. But startups are risky. Sometimes they scale and sometimes they fail. In Failing To Win, Mike shares insightful lessons from his journey at Zoona about what it takes to operate with integrity, impact and inspiration in the new Frontier of Innovation.” — Alex Lazarow, Author of Out-Innovate: How global entrepreneurs – from Delhi to Detroit – are rewriting the rules of Silicon Valley
₵145.00 – ₵160.00Failing To Win: Hard-Earned Lessons from a Purpose-Driven Startup
₵145.00 – ₵160.00 -
A Rose Among Thorns
Born on 17th September 1952 in Sakyikrom near Nsawam in Ghana’s Eastern Region, Dr. (Mrs.) Felicia Boateng Danquah (nee Akotua) is the third of five children born to her parents, Mr. Jonas Akotua and Mrs. Clara Akotua.
Due to her father’s regular transfers arising out of his employment with the Ghana Health Service, she was educated in different parts of the country, including Walewale and Bolgatanga, before entering the Komenda Teacher Training College (as it was then), where she trained as a teacher. She worked for some time with the Ghana Education Service as a teacher before going into business full-time.
A devoted Christian and Vice President of Jofel Catering Services in Kumasi, Dr. (Mrs) Danquah is married to Lt. Gen. J B Danquah, Ghana’s Chief of Defence Staff from 2005 to 2009 and President of Jofel. The couple have six children.
The year 2022 serves as a confluence of an important trilogy in Dr (Mrs.) Danquah’s life − her 70th birthday anniversary, the 50th anniversary of her marriage and the 40th anniversary of Jofel, one of the most iconic institutional names in Kumasi and an undoubted leader in the catering and hospitality business in the city and beyond.
In this fascinating, yet simple, easy-to-read publication to mark these important landmarks in her life, the author recalls her early childhood experiences and family, particularly her mother Clara, who she adores, and shares the story of Jofel and its evolution to what it is today.
She also shares her perspectives on the values she treasures that she believes have helped her enormously in her Christian faith, her marriage and family, and in building an award-winning business with the support of her family, among others.
A Rose Among Thorns speaks to the challenges of life that most of us can identify with and seek inspiration from in the knowledge that our lives can flourish like the rose even among the thorns of life with God as our helper and beacon.
₵150.00A Rose Among Thorns
₵150.00 -
Guts and Grit: The Compelling and Inspirational Stories of Six Successful Ghanaian Entrepreneurs
How can a nation address the menace of a growing number of unemployed youths? Why is the private business endeavour perceived largely as a big risk? What does it take for one to brave the storm and establish a flourishing enterprise? This book highlights the success stories of some of Ghana’s current entrepreneurs despite all the obstacles they have faced. Guts and Grit serves as a revelation to our public officials and the society at large towards a behavioural change in how private enterprises are seen, regarded and treated.
The frank and engaging case studies provide the catalyst for dismantling the obstacles to achieving business success. The success stories so freely shared offer a source of inspiration and a springboard to the young people who would be willing to take up entrepreneurship.
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“Guts and Grit is a book that chronicles the gut-wrenching stories of entrepreneurs who have braved significant odds to build viable businesses in a developing economy context.
In choosing to write this book, Alex Banful, the author could not have made a better choice. The choice of entrepreneurship should not be surprising, given that there is at least four decades of scholarship to demonstrate that entrepreneurship, new business venturing, and the development of small and medium enterprises are crucial to Africa’s growth.
Guts and Grit will soon become a leading cross-over entrepreneurship textbook that will be useful
for executive training, undergraduate and postgraduate training programmes in Africa and other emerging economy contexts.” − Prof. Robert E. Hinson, Ph.D., DPhil.; Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Kigali, Rwanda
₵100.00