The first in the series of Business Breakfast events lined up for the Citi FM Management Development Month comes off this Friday, June 13, 2014 at the Holiday Inn Hotel – Accra.
The theme for the Business Breakfast for I.T. Entrepreneurs is “Created Locally, Going Global.”
Kofi Dadzie – MD of Rancard Solutions would speak on the theme which seeks to equip I.T. Entrepreneurs with the knowledge and skills to help them grow their businesses and enable them create globally competitive brands.
Some of the questions attendees will get answers to include:
– What matters most getting off the ground? Great product or great marketing?
– When does it make sense to raise external capital and what does it take?
– How much does excellence count?
Speaking about the relevance of the Business Breakfast for I.T. Entrepreneurs, Director of News Programming at Citi FM – Bernard Avle, says “the event has been designed to ensure the growing I.T. sector gets equipped with what they need to grow. We have many I.T. start-ups and existing businesses which have the potential to compete and deliver quality globally. That is why we invited Kofi Dadzie, one of Africa’s most innovative technology figures, to share insights as to how I.T. Entrepreneurs can start, grow and sustain their brands.”
To register for the event, call 0268598511 and 0267868057.
Kofi Dadzie
Kofi has been CEO of Rancard since 2006. He has led the company in its evolution from an ERP contract software developer in Ghana, to a multinational mobile telecoms software business with a client base including Google, BBC, VOA, MTV and ESPN and connectivity to global carriers Vodafone, MTN, Tigo, Zain, Airtel, Orange, Globacom and others in more than 25 countries across Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Prior to co-founding Rancard, Kofi worked with a number of companies in the US: Dell Computer Corporation (Texas, USA) as a senior analyst in the BIOS technology team where he filed a patent; and as an engineering intern with Radiant Systems Inc. (Georgia, USA), and Whirlpool Corporation (Tennessee, USA), serving in various capacities related to systems technology, software automation and online commercial platforms.
Kofi is a fellow of the Aspen Global Leadership Network/African Leadership Initiative and has served on Ashesi University’s Corporate Advisory Council. He has a computer engineering degree from Vanderbilt University, TN, USA.
Kofi oversees the delivery of mobile value added services at Rancard.
Rancard’s Rendezvous technology makes mobile networks social with collaborative filtering, viral marketing and other features that map user profiles voluntarily in carrier networks and with external social media platforms.
Kofi was 24 when he started the company and, according to him, sometimes his age was “a bit of a barrier”. In an interview with the BBC, Kofi revealed that the most fundamental hurdle when they founded Rancard was their “own lack of management experience because when we look back now, we realise that everything we did over those years we could have performed three to five times better with stronger marketing and stronger management and, as an entrepreneur, that has been the most significant lesson.”
However, he has gained tremendous experience over the years and has been named on multiple platforms as a revolutionary leader.
“Learn the system and apply yourself to it. Understand your marketing, understand your accountant, understand ethics and understand operations because you’ve got to be able to manage yourself, your people, your market and your product,” he suggests.
Kofi believes budding entrepreneurs should start gradually and ensure the right systems are put in place to ensure business sustainability and growth.
“Spend a whole lot more time planning and understanding your market, and keep redeveloping your market and planning strategy until it makes sense in numbers – that is until you can clearly see that with X amount of money in Y time I can break even. Don’t start until you figure that out,” he says.
“Secondly, get a good team. It’s the structure of management, the structure of the business plan. Get those right. There will always be market demand for something good and something better. There is never a reason to rush ahead of preparation.”
The Management Development Month on 97.3 Citi FM is sponsored by Zenith Bank, Airtel and the Students Loan Trust Fund.
By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana
