Speech for the launch of the redesigned website & inauguration of new printing facility for Graphic 31st Oct 2012

I am delighted to be part of this landmark event of this great company, especially on the last day of my first year in Service.  I wish to formally extend a warm welcome to this wonderful assembly honouring our invitation to grace the occasion with your presence in a grand style.

Personally, I am gratified by the monumental strides made by Graphic in its 62 years of existence, and what we are doing today is yet another manifestation of the greatness of GCGL in the media industry in the country. This is the work of our forebears, which we are now enjoying, and it is our hope that we will work SMART & hard to geometrically multiply what we inherited

We of the Graphic family believe that we are operating in an industry driven by technology and have since 1950 made it a policy to be at the frontline of technology. Accordingly, Graphic has made landmark accomplishments in the media industry in the country, having always been the first to introduce new print technology into its operations.

We began our story in 1950 with the installation of machines that not only took the then Gold Coast media by storm, but also put to sleep over 13 competitors which were in operation long before we were born. Our success story was not based on superior technology alone, but on high professionalism based on initiatives and innovations, major attributes that continue to define our strategies.

In 1975, the company introduced the first web offset colour-printing machine into the country, replacing the then obsolete linotype letterpress technology, which was not only labour-intensive, but also time-consuming. Again in 1995, we scored another first with an upgraded version of the web-offset machine. These accounts for Graphic being in a different strategic group when it comes to the Print Media in Ghana.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the facility we are about to inaugurate today is yet another major breakthrough in modern print technology. Computer to Plate (CTP) combined with the KBA Comet Press that eliminates film-making from the printing process and takes the quality of print on an off set press to another level, allowing high speed printing while still maintaining high quality is what we are commissioning today. Its inauguration will bring to three countries in Africa that use this technology. The two other countries are South Africa and Kenya.

I wish to place on record that all these transitions came with their own challenges. In the early 1980s, a major print media technological change christened “the dismantling of the Fleet Street in London” triggered a massive revolution in the media industry worldwide. These technology-driven changes in both the print and electronic media have had their own human resource implications. The maxim being “you either change with technology or you would be left behind”

Our organisation has tried to always cope with these changing situations by investing in the appropriate training programmes to equip our staff with the requisite know-how for the new technologies we introduce.

A classic example of responding appropriately to the changing technology is the event we are witnessing now.

Your Excellency, madam chairperson, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I have to explain, however, that we have been able to achieve this through the hard way.

We have had to rely on commercial loans and internally generated resources to finance this and other projects. Thanks to Ecobank and Stanbic Bank who financed the projects for us. We are still servicing the commercial loans, which has brought intense pressure on our finances and management and staff have had to “tighten their belts” to see the company through the difficult times. It is against this background that I am appealing to His Excellency, for the state as the sole owner of the company to come to our aid by considering our application to the Minister of Finance, for the suspension of dividend payment by the company this year to enable us to channel our resources into the on-going expansion programmes that we have embarked on.

Your Excellency, madam chairperson, you will find out that our new €10 million Press has so much capacity such that even if we printed all the newspapers in Ghana, we will not be able to reach 40% of its installed capacity. The only way in which we can reach the optimum capacity is to get into books and commercial printing on the Press, a process we have initiated.

This Press has designed into it, redundancies to introduce more plant and machinery, we have a Power Sub-station made up of appropriately sized Transformer and a Generator to handle more load that General printing will bring, a huge warehouse and material handling capacity to handle raw materials, the ceiling height to handle expansion and also strategic relationships with plant and equipment manufactures to be able to introduce new equipment at short notice.

Your Excellency, Graphic is currently positioned as the only high quality web-press for books and commercial printing in the country with the capacity to print all the textbooks from the Government of Ghana Contracts. We can print all the books and in collaboration with other local printers, who have invested in new and comprehensive finishing lines, we can finish the entire order within 48 days.

So the era of sending these orders out of Ghana is gone, with the commissioning of this new Press. So His Excellency let’s look within, Local Content, more jobs for Ghanaians, more taxes for the Government and the development of our country Ghana. We also want to assure all book publishers in Ghana, that we can handle their orders, while assuring good quality and timely delivery at competitive rates.

Our other appeal is the need for the Government to look at the issues of taxes on our raw materials. While books imported into our country come duty-free, we the Printers in Ghana have to pay duty and taxes on the paper, inks and other raw materials we use for manufacturing the Books. The Minister of Education has promised to look into this; our appeal is for this to become a reality.

I will also want to appeal to the High Commissioners, the Ambassadors and our development partners who invest into education in our sub-region to also consider Graphic as a very competitive supplier of printing services. We will be hitting the Sub-Region to market our services, and we will want the High Commissioners and the Ambassadors to facilitate our visits.

Distinguished guests, operating in an industry where technological advancement continues to dictate the pace, demands strategic planning and huge capital investments. Inadequate colour pages, poor print quality and late deliveries are now things of the past, following our quick response to the demands of the time.

It is in fulfillment of such a strategic thrust that the company embarked on an ambitious programme to redesign its website to make it more user friendly and highly competitive. This investment again was in response to changing technology and appropriate feedback from the company’s clientele. It is insightful to note that the Newsweek magazine will print its last hard copy in December this year. It is critical that we ride the digital change that confronts our industry. Our new website will provide complete Multimedia experience. This will be your number 1 source for the coverage of the 2012 Elections. Bookmark www.graphic.com.gh on your computers, tablets and Smart phones. What we do today with our website is quantum leap into the future but the beginning of a journey, over the next one month we will keep rolling out new features onto the site, so keep reading our newspapers for what is new on the website.

My cherished brothers and sisters, today’s event is not only important, but also significant in many respects. The contributions made by our company to the development of Ghana, since its inception on October 2, 1950 have been enormous and the timing of today’s event is also crucial.

 We have already initiated town hall meetings to offer the electorate the platform to engage in fruitful discourse with those who want to represent us in Parliament as well as govern this country. These events were streamed live on our old website and the new website will provide you even more of such events both live and also on demand. On the 2^nd of November log on to www.graphic.com.gh/live to watch the Kumasi Town Hall meeting live.

Additionally we have ensured that the pages of the Daily Graphic, our flagship newspaper, are always full of incisive reportage on the 2012 elections, and I believe that the two facilities we are about to outdoor today will add to our rich resources, capacities and capabilities to offer meaningful contributions to the successful conduct of free, fair and peaceful elections on December 7.

Your Excellency, Madam Chairperson, at this point permit me to acknowledge the presence of other highly distinguished members of the Graphic family whose immeasurable contributions, foresight and perseverance in the past have propelled the company from its humble beginnings to the top echelon of the country’s media industry.

Names such as Cecil King, Martin Therson-Cofie, Isaac Eshun, Alando, Kofi Badu, Kwasi Adu, Fiadonu, Assani, Awal, etc. are synonymous with brand Graphic. And on occasions such as this, it is appropriate not only to recognise their individual and collective contributions, but also to salute, some post-humoursly.

The list is endless, but it is only fitting to say Ayekoo to all of them. We also have in our midst children of some of these Graphic heroes. Notable among them are the son of our former Managing Director, the late Emmanuel Ayitefio Mettle-Nunoo, and his very self a former Ag. Managing Director of the company; Hon. Rojo Mettel-Nunoo. Mr. Cecil Therson-Coffie, son of the founding editor of Daily Graphic, Martin Therson-Cofie, also of blessed memory; Lawyer Nii Arday Clegg, son of the late Sam Clegg, also a former Editor of the Daily Graphic, Messrs Samuel K. Fiadonu and Samuel Assani, sons of two of our deceased former managing directors, David Fiadonu and Aki Assani respectively.

Before I resume my seat, permit me Your Excellency, madam chairperson to thank you for honouring our invitation and to all our stakeholders, competitors, well-wishers, our cherished agents, vendors and readers. I welcome you all to this historic function.

Thank you and May God Bless you. Akpe na me! Mi da nye shie!

Me da mo ase!

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