­It is for this reason that Springboard, Your Virtual University, a radio programme on Joy FM, used this week’s edition to educate organisations on how important structures and systems are to the success of their businesses.

The programme, which is hosted by Rev Albert Ocran, had the Chief Executive Officer of Reroy Cables, Mrs Kate Quartey-Papafio, and a Partner at KPMG, Mr Andrew Akoto, who both shared ideas on the systems and structures that were required to ensure organisational longevity.

Mrs Quartey-Papafio advised businesses to put in place the right governance systems if they wanted to be successful.

“If you want to expand your business then you must have the right governance system because you cannot expand without a proper governance system,” she stated.

She was, however, quick to add that developing the right governance systems alone was not enough as businesses had to ensure the systems were being followed.

“I believe strongly that once you put systems in place, they must work and if you have the right people they will make the systems work,” she noted.

Importance of governance systems

Mr Akoto, for his part, said it was very important for businesses to put in place governance systems to ensure that they managed risks and also did not fall foul of the laws governing their businesses.

“Running enterprises comes with some formality because the moment you begin to generate business and have customers and stakeholders, you will come under some regulations so all of a sudden, you realise that you cannot be informal and that is where the systems and structures begin to come in,” he stated.

He pointed out that it was also important for organisations to ensure that work would still go on even in the absence of the current workers of the organisation.

“Beyond the people who might be running the business of the day, once you have the systems and structures, when you are no more, the business can still carry on,” he said.

“So to ensure that business goes on in the absence of the day-to-day worker, you must put in place those systems to ensure that others can come in and take off from where you left,” he added.

Building blocks

Touching on the building blocks for putting in place the right systems and structures, Mr Akoto said, “in KPMG, for instance, we always advocate what is termed as the three lines of defence models for good organisational management.”

“By this we are talking about the board, the management and those assurance systems that will ensure that corporate objectives are kept in check. So we mention things like risk management systems, compliance management systems, internal audit and internal control,” he mentioned.

To develop these systems, he said, the organisation had to be clear on what it wanted to achieve, both for its internal and external stakeholders.

“The organisation then has to ensure it has a capable management team that will design systems of governance around the objectives of the organisation and ensure that the systems they design are actually put to work,” he added.

Festival of Ideas

The weekend’s edition of the Springboard formed part of the build-up to this year’s ‘Festival of Ideas’ business conference which is scheduled for August 17. The festival is being organised on the theme: ‘‘Succession Planning.’’

Rev. Ocran, touching on the conference, said the process of raising leaders was a deliberate process and there was therefore the need to create a platform where people who aspired to be top executives and CEOs could inculcate the various attributes of leadership.

The morning session of the conference will be held on the theme: ‘’Grooming the next CEOs’’. Speakers at the morning session include the Managing Director (MD) of Barclays Bank Ghana, Mrs Patience Akyianu, who will speak on the ‘Pursuit of world standards’; the Group CEO of Enterprise Group, Mr Keli Gadzekpo; will also speak on ‘Corporate governance and board relations’, the President of the Capital Africa Group, Mr William Ato Essien; will give a talk on ‘A culture of performance and execution, and the Managing Partner of Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa and Ankomah will handle ‘Succession guide for practices and professionals’.

Others are the MD of Airtel Ghana, Mrs Lucy Quist, who will speak on ‘Developing leaders around you’, the CEO of Capital Bank, Rev. Fitzgerald Odonkor, will be speaking on ‘Developing the leader in you, the CEO of Margins Group, Mr Moses Baiden will throw light on ‘Leadership decision making and risk management, while the CEO of Reroy Cables, Mrs Kate Quartey-Papafio, will deliver on ‘Versatility and adaptability as assets in a leader’.

The rest are the CEO of Rancard, Mr Kofi Dadzie, who will also speak on ‘Leveraging technology and smart solutions, the MD of Fidelity Bank Ghana, Mr Jim Baiden; ‘Ideas and innovations as growth pillars’, Partner at KPMG Ghana, Mr Andrew Akoto; will handle ‘Building systems and structures, and the Corporate Services Executive at MTN, Mrs Cynthia Lumor, will speak on ‘Corporate communications and media relations’.

The evening session will be held on the theme: ‘Building trans-generational entities’, and will have the Minister of Finance, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, as the main speaker and Dr Mensah Otabil as the keynote speaker.