9th Edition Of Jospong Leadership Conference Opens ,With call to workers to enhance operational excellence

The 2022 Jospong Group of Companies’ (JGC) Leadership Conference has opened with a call on management and staff  to work hard to bring about operational excellence.

Addressing participants at the opening of the conference at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College in Accra on Monday (January 17, 2022,) the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies and Zoomlion, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, explained that operational excellence goes beyond just making “little changes” to the current way of doing things.

“Rather, operational excellence requires a considered and intentional look at your business processes, followed by drastic and instant action to set it apart positively from others,” he said.

He urged management staff to understand the group’s businesses and bring innovative ways to make subsidiaries in JGC to continue to excel.

Operational excellence, he added, could also be better achieved through constant monitoring and re-evaluation of operations.

Dr. Siaw Agyepng advised that though the JGC has chalked some successes in the past years and even in the midst of Covid, that was not a reason for workers to rest on their oars, adding that “We need to fine-tune and perfect our operations.”

“We are not in a race with anyone but to fulfil our destiny as God has mandated us to do. We can only be a better version of ourselves,” he noted.

Amid Covid, he urged management staff to prioritise the safety of every employee.

“We must wear our nose masks at all times. We must continue the education on the safety measures,” he emphasised. 

He assured all staff members of JGC and Zoomlion that management will not leave them out of the digital space.

9th JGC Conference & Speakers

This year’s conference the ninth of such annual conferences is being held both in-person and virtual at over 2000 various centres set up across the nation for management staff of JGC and Zoomlion, and it is dubbed, “Sustaining Business Gains through Operational Excellence.”

Guest speakers who are expected to address the staff include Rev. Samuel Adeyemi, an international conference speaker; Mr Ebenezer Twum Asante, Vice President, MTN Group; Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, the Dean of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC), and Mrs Florence Larbi, the Chief Operating Officer, Environment and Sanitation, Jospong Group

Others are Mrs Gloria Anti, the Managing Director of Zoomlion;, Dr Abena Antwi, and Prof. Amponsah Tawiah.

Appreciation

Dr. Agyepong once again used the platform to express his profound gratitude to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and in particular the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources, Mrs. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, for their efforts to ensure that private sector waste management companies contribute to improve the sanitation situation in the country.

“I would also like to thank the management and staff including our ever-hardworking District Managers (DMs and Operation Assistants (OAs), Team Leaders for working tirelessly last year.

…To the entire staff of the Jospong Group and Zoomlion, we are proud of you and I say thank you for the hard work, Keep it up. May the Lord continue to bless you,” he expressed.

Capacity building

According to him, one area that the Zoomlion and JGC have taken seriously was capacity building.

This, he said, was predicated on the group’s belief that “our human capital is the bedrock of our success without which nothing can be accomplished.”

Buttressing his point, he said last year, the group embarked on various capacity building drivers to ensure that its staff members were are given the opportunity to learn new technologies and current market trends.

He disclosed that under the Jospong Academy programme 11 courses have been organised involving 473 participants drawn from over 32 subsidiaries.

These courses, he indicated, cut across management & leadership, basic IT, customer service, administration efficiency, occupational health & safety, team building and business process optimisation. Adding that these programmes were facilitated by University of Ghana, KNUST and training consultants.

“24 Executives and Managers were selected to participate in the Global Leadership Summit

..18 engineers from 14 subsidiaries were sent to Austria for a 10-day waste engineering course. These participants have been tasked to develop a course to be rolled out in 2022. In addition to that, they will form the technical core team to support the operations of the regional IRECOPs,” he revealed.

Projects for 2022

Dr Agyepong stated that this year his outfit will continue with the implementation of the “One Million Waste Bin project”.

“We will, therefore, need the support of management and all staff of Jospong/Zoomlion as well as the MMDAs and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that every household in Ghana has one waste bin to store its solid waste,” he urged

“We will also continue to lend our support to the Church of Pentecost’s Environmental Care Campaign to ensure its success as we have done last year,” he firmly assured.

GAF collaboration with JGC & Zoomlion

The Guest of Honour, the Commandant, Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Rear Admiral Beick-Baffour, encouraged the workers to bring new strategies to overcome new challenges in the business space.  

He said the role of JGC in the country’s development cannot be overemphasised, assuring that the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) will continue to collaborate with Jopsong.