Pacific Institute opens branch in Ghana

Monday, March 22, 2010 (Page 38)

THE Pacific Institute (TPI), a development oriented organisation based in Seattle, USA, has set up an office in Ghana to oversee its operations in West Africa.
The Project Director in charge of West Africa, Mr Steve Pappajohn, told the Daily Graphic that the TPI, which operates in more than 60 countries, chose Ghana as its headquarters in West Africa because “Ghana is currently a vibrant place for business in Africa”.
Showering tonnes of praises on Ghana, Mr Pappajohn, who visited Ghana recently, said the country currently enjoyed a lot of international admiration for its thriving democracy and business atmosphere.
“Ghana is making great strides to become an economic force and this a great platform to grow on because there is a great deal of potential in Ghana which can be tapped by the TPI for the benefit of all,” he pointed out.
Mapping out the strategies for the Ghana office, he said facilitators would be trained in Ghana, while home-grown strategies would also be adopted.
He said programmes were drawn to suit the needs of employers and employees in order to build capacity to facilitate the progress of companies.
He explained that the TPI had a track record of changing the behavioural pattern of employees to align with the goals of their employers in order to fulfil the vision of their companies.
According to him, TPI had so far held meetings with heads of banks, manufacturing companies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), professional bodies, among others, adding that those meetings had so far been fruitful.
Mr Pappajohn expressed the hope that companies and the general public would embrace the TPI curriculum because “TPI has, over the years, propelled American companies to increase productivity at all levels”.
For his part, the local representative of TPI, Mr Christian Tetteh Sottie, said TPI had tried to operate in the country since 2004, with a focus on the public sector, but that did not yield many results.
He explained that attention had been shifted towards the corporate world where TPI had structured a curriculum to assist companies to cut down on expenditure, increase productivity and build the capacity of their workforce.
“We want to help companies to motivate their staff to achieve goals and increase their profit margins,” Mr Sottie added.