The Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) has charged members to support and pursue the “Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda in order to modify the tastes and preferences of Ghanaian consumers in favour of Made-in-Ghana products.
Disclosing this at an induction ceremony of 102 full, associate, emerging associate, graduate members and honorary members as well as two corporate members into the CIMG, President of the Association, Dr Daniel Kasser-Tee said the members owe it as an obligation to support the wonderful Ghana Beyond Aid agenda of the government.
He told Joy Business the preference for Made-in-Ghana goods would facilitate the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Scale enterprises into giant institutions, going forward.
“We can do this in many ways; by helping the huge proportionof Ghanaian businesses, which are classified as MSMEs and reported to be contributing some 70 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, by helping to modify the tastes and preferences of Ghanaians in favour of Made-in-Ghana products and I characteristically pause here to remind you of my total commitment to patronising Ghanaian products and services,” he said.
Dr Kasser-Tee also expressed worry about the adulteration of the country’s culture with western norms and values.
“There is a disturbing tendency of Ghanaians to adulterate our culture in many ways. Our language is fast changing by the adoption of mannerisms, gestures, body language and other non-verbal cues in our daily communications,” he said.
According to him, “there is this research study on ‘Ghanaian Cultural Values and their Foreign Influence: A Spotlight on Clothing’ by four Ghanaian researchers. The findings from the study revealed that the traditional Ghanaian cloths such as adinkra, kente, slit and kaba and fugu (smock), generally promotes Ghanaian values. However, western fashion and dressing styles copied from foreign magazines and television programmes have influenced the patronage of these traditional Ghanaian clothing styles.”
Furthermore, he said “the Western clothing and dressing styles patronised by the Ghanaian youth in the tertiary institutions have had negative impacts on their moral lives, leading to a high rise in moral decadence.”
Continuing, Dr Kasser-Tee charged marketers to be concerned about this early warnings and address the issue/s immediately.
The inductees are coming on board at a time when the CIMG and the entire marketing fraternity in Ghana is happy celebrating the passage of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana Act, 2020, Act 1021.
It is on the back of this the CIMG Professional Marketing Qualifications was launched, ahead of its first local examinations in September 2021.
The institute has subsequently granted accreditation status to eight universities and tuition centres, who are working feverishly at starting the provision of tuition in June/ July to enable them engage students for a minimum of three months before taking the exams. The others are expected to execute their Memorandum of Understanding this week.
Dr Kasser-Tee therefore urged all the inductees that are presently not professionally qualified to take advantage of the opening.
