In order to help the country undergo a socioeconomic change, an economist and former Board Chairman of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Professor Emeritus Stephen Adei, has encouraged marketers to retain integrity as a fundamental value.
At the 33rd Annual General Meeting (AGM), Prof. Adei spoke to the members of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) and highlighted worries about the decline in integrity seen throughout the nation, particularly in the public sector and among political leaders.
He stressed how crucial it was for national growth that professionals uphold the greatest levels of trust and dependability. Additionally, he said since marketers made a significant impact on how consumers perceive products and make purchase decisions, failure to uphold integrity in their line of work would be disastrous for the country.
“As marketers, integrity must lie at the core of everything you do. Unfortunately, some people think that what we do as a profession is propaganda. Therefore, in whatever product or service one is marketing, if you do not exhibit integrity, it would not stand the test of time.
“As marketers also, both individuals and institutions, we should seek to promote integrity in our country because lack of integrity is one of the reasons why this country is not progressing. People in authority and those related to them are tempted to do things that undermine integrity.
“I believe, we are faced with the issue of integrity and as a people and institutions this is the time to speak up and fight for integrity,” he said.
Touching on the CIMG professional marketing qualification (PMQ) programme introduced in 2021, the National President of CIMG, Dr. Daniel Kesser Tee, indicated that so far, two separate examinations were organised in June and December, with 670 students registering, which was an impressive achievement.
“The most exciting thing about tonight is that we are able to say that the majority of our inductees tonight are products of the PMQ programme, which shows the great success we have achieved with the initiative.
“The beautiful nature of our Programme is that we do not rely on one single institution. We leverage the existing business faculties of tertiary institutions across the country in addition to the Ghana School of Marketing to train marketing students on the course outline to register and write the examination.
“Going forward, the institutional collaboration with public and private universities will be stepped up as we aim to ensure that most business schools in Ghana serve as accredited study centres for CIMG PMQ,” he said.
In order to support the development of local industries and take advantage of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Dr. Daniel Kesser Tee urged the members to show their pride in their country and support goods and services that were produced in Ghana.
At the 33rd AGM, the CIMG inducted 56 new members into various membership categories, including 56 individuals and one corporate organisation.
The CIMG asked these members to uphold professionalism and serve as worthy representatives of the institute.
The majority of the new members -36- were recognised as full members, followed by 14 associate members, one graduate member, four rising associate members, and one corporate member.
