IFEJ launches Flamingo Awards

Sixty per cent of Ghana’s population lives in poverty, and there is the urgent need to address the situation in the country, the Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Financial Service, Mr Kenneth Kwamina Thompson, has stated.

He partly attributed the problem to lack of financial inclusion.

Mr Thompson was speaking at the launch of the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) Flamingo Awards in Accra last Tuesday.

Financial inclusion

“The breakage of financial inclusion cuts the link of hand-to-mouth needs. Improving financial inclusion will reduce the incidence of poverty and enhance economic growth,” he opined.

Mr Thompson called for access to financial services such as savings or deposit services, payment and transfer services, credit and insurance at reasonable costs.

He said sound and secure policies with clear-cut guidelines in the banking industry would also ensure high performance and standards, adding that it was not the best to have regulators operate in the financial sector.

“Sustainability of financial institutions will ensure continuity and certainty of investment. I also encourage competition to guarantee affordability for clients,” the CEO added.

Mr Thompson further urged journalists to do more in educating the public by providing them with real choices and also holding leadership accountable to ensure financial inclusion in the country.

He called on financial journalists to always improve on their knowledge in the sector, be truthful and ethical in their reportage.

IFEJ

The IFEJ is a non-profit organisation that seeks to provide qualitative analysis of the economic sector while offering necessary ammunition for policy redirection through write-ups by members.

The 2017 edition, which is the fourth since the inception of the awards, is on the theme: “Embracing financial inclusion and innovation for growth and development.”

It is opened to fully subscribed IFEJ members who are expected to submit entries in 10 competitive categories comprising features and news stories in finance, business and manufacturing and information and communications technology (ICT).

The rest are extractives, agribusiness, tourism, development, local economy feature and news and business of health.

Interested entries can visit www.ifejghana.org, www.ghanabusinessnews.com and www.newsghana.com for more information.

Entries

The President of IFEJ, Mr Rayborn Bulley, said last year, the call for published works were launched earlier, stating that the 2017 edition had been delayed to accommodate more stories after surveying the media landscape.

He said an independent five-member jury was expected to preside over the competition to ensure that only the best and deserving journalists were rewarded.

“This year, the ultimate winner must pick up the best in finance and any other category,” the president explained.

He said the institution would invite nominations from the best business columnist and oriented programme for print and radio and television respectively.

Mr Bulley expressed appreciation to event sponsors such as the World Bank, Ghana Stock Exchange, Melcom Group of companies and GCB Bank Limited for their partnership.

For his part, a former Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr Adu Anane Antwi, reiterated the fact that journalists were the eyes of the society and, therefore, were expected to give their best in their respective specialities.

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