Mrs. Rose Karikari Annang (right), Executive Director of the Ghana Employers’ Association (GEA), spoke about the role of the Ghana Employers’ Association and the need of its member organisations for cost-effective training and development. The GEA endorsed the Interims programme and Mrs. Karikari Annang urged her members and other companies present to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the programme.

This speech was followed by a presentation by Mrs. Frances Williams (left), the Chief Executive of Interims for Development. The presentation which was entitled Accessing Professional Skills for Ghana’s Development addressed the social and economic reasons for the establishment of the Interims programme, including the scarcity of key skills in Africa, the effects of the African brain drain and the cost of specialist expertise from developed countries.

Mrs. Williams thanked all those present and commended the Government of Ghana’s support of the programme through the presence at the launch of the keynote speaker, the Minister for Private Sector Development. She described the services offered by the Interims for Development programme and the advantages of using the skilled, focused approach offered by an interim assignment.

“(Interims) have no history with the company or allegiance to any particular sector of the organisation. They are able to offer expertise based on the impartial assessment of facts and in the light of their experience in similar roles elsewhere. Because they are working within one company, they will tailor the work they are doing to fit in with the particular business’s corporate culture and way of doing business."

Mrs. Williams spoke of the obligations of the host company in Ghana and outlined the types of assignments that could be taken up by companies. These ranged from specific projects of a strategic or confidential nature, in-house training programmes or projects to syndicated assignments where two or more companies could take an Interim on a shared basis.