SARPONG'S BLOG

By: Mathias Amoah As part of its commitment to improve lives in communities across the country, Vodafone Ghana Foundation has provided free healthcare to over 700 residents of Sunyani in the Brong-Ahafo region. Through its innovative initiative ‘HealthFest’, the Foundation offered members of the community an opportunity to be screened for diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, hepatitis B and glaucoma. The Foundation also created a gym and aerobics section to promote healthy lifestyle and wellbeing. In addition to the screening, the Foundation and its partners provided free medication and medical advice for some specific diseases. “I am so happy to receive this healthcare for free and the doctors have been very helpful,” said Yaa Serwaa, a delighted beneficiary. “I thank Vodafone for making it possible for some of us who would otherwise be denied access to such services due to lack of funds.”   HealthFest, which was launched this year, is in line with the Foundat...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Vivo Energy Ghana, the company that distributes and markets Shell-branded fuels and lubricants as part of its Community Investment Initiatives, has launched a school road safety empowerment programme in partnership with the National Road Safety Commission (NSRC) and the Ghana Education Service. The programme dubbed “My Road Safety, My Life,” has the broad objective of educating school children for a conscious, civilized and safe behaviour on the road as pedestrians, passengers and cyclist. “My Road Safety, My Life” is a pedagogic interactive programme comprising of series of classroom work, outdoor road safety activities, simulation exercises, quiz competitions among other activities. The first phase of the programme is being implemented in ten basic schools in the Greater Accra Region, located on high risk roads. The participating schools are SDA Basic School, Bishop Mixed, Bishop Girls, Accra Sempe Primary, Boundary Road, Kwashieman “1” Basic Sch...

By: Mathias Amoah Zoil Services Limited, an oil and gas waste management and spill response company has officially launched its ultra-modern Anaerobic Thermal Desorption Plant (ATDU) in Nyankrom in the Shama District of the Western Region. Zoil, with its world-class waste treatment Plant, will help minimize or eliminate the negative impacts of industrial activities on society. Zoil Plant, located in the oil region, close to the operations of many oil & gas companies, is capable of treating waste materials such as crude oil tanker bottoms and marine waste, drill cuttings, oily sludge, filter cakes, engine and hydraulic oil, galley grease and soil contaminated with certain categories of hydrocarbons, among others. It specializes in oil and hazardous waste treatment, oil spill recovery services, tank cleaning and general oil and gas waste management advisory services. Dr. Kenneth Asamoah-Boateng, the Managing Director of Zoil Services Limited explained: ‘Zoil acquired a...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong Oracle has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MICROS Systems, a provider of integrated software and hardware solutions to the Hospitality and Retail industries, for US$68.00 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately US$5.3 billion, or US$4.6 billion net of MICROS’ cash. Cloud, mobile, social, big data and the internet are impacting every industry, encouraging companies to modernize in order to compete effectively. According to the company, the addition of MICROS extends Oracle’s offerings in industries by combining MICROS’ industry specific applications with Oracle’s business applications, technologies and cloud portfolio. Together, Oracle and MICROS will help hotels, food & beverage facilities, and retailers to accelerate innovation, transform their businesses, and delight customers with complete, open and integrated solutions. The Board of Directors of MICROS has unanimously approved the transaction. The tran...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The Africa Progress Panel (APP) has urged African leaders to invest at least 10% of their national budgets in agriculture. The panel made the call when African Union summit took place in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The panel said so far few countries have achieved the 10% target. It noted that with about two thirds of all Africans depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, boosting agriculture is an essential strategy to reduce poverty and inequality, allowing more people to benefit from Africa’s impressive economic growth. “If we want to extend the recent economic successes of the continent to the vast majority of Africa’s inhabitants, then we must end the neglect of our farming and fishing communities,” Mr. Kofi Annan, Chair of the Africa Progress Panel, said. This year’s Africa Progress Report Grain, Fish, Money: Financing Africa’s green and blue revolutions finds that agriculture will allow Africa to capture the commercial and economic opport...