I am not really sure what to expect upon arrival in Ghana. The west African country, a British colony as recently as 50 years ago is a country that is for the most part stable prolifically and economically.
| The gba project in Ghana is to train about 40 owners of SME (small-to-medium enterprise) businesses. The question in my mind, and that I can't seem to find a solid answer for is -- what does a Ghanian SME look like? At what point does a micro-business (a label that I have seen applied to the owner/operators of marketplace stands selling fruit, vegetables, cloth, etc.) become an SME? I suppose I will have to find that out once I meet the program participants. :) This uncertainty contributes to some ambiguity as I sit here with the training materials in front of me. In these next few weeks, we will finalize the reviewing and revising of the material to ensure that we have right-sized it and removed cultural artifacts, jargon, dialectics and metaphors that only an American would understand. My usual starting place is to consider my audience -- and that is where I am stuck. | |
The scope of our training is fairly broad. Before me I have content on basic values that motivate what someone is bound to call a "benevolent entrepreneur". At the core of the gba training are core values of integrity, honesty, fairness, honoring customers, employees and business partners with respect and love, community services, and acknowledging God's dominion.
Based on these values, the training covers the basics of accounting and cash flow management, budgeting, inventory control, selling, promotion, project management and people management. Wow. I am now feeling a bit overwhelmed -- and particularly non-plussed as to how to state these in relevant ways across language, culture and types of business. I have a feeling I am going to stare at it for a while longer.
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