BUSINESS
The Chief Executive of Rlg Communications Limited, Roland Agambire, has been voted the Most Influential Ghanaian for 2012 in a nationwide poll conducted by the pan African television network, e.tv Ghana.
This is the third year running that the Ghanaian-owned channel is releasing an official list of Ghana’s Most Influential People published on the station’s official website.
The list, intended to acknowledge Ghanaians who have made a positive impact in their various fields in the year under review, were arrived after series of text messages from viewers of the station.
It is unclear why many viewers of the station voted for Mr Agambire but his ambitious pledge to create 1 million jobs, backed by his efforts to accomplish that goal and achievements over the last decade might have influenced voters.
The poll featured a range of public figures associated with enterprise, politics, sports and other sectors, viewers of e.tv. The top 10 positions are mainly occupied by politicians but rather incredibly, the 38-year old Ghanaian Entrepreneur beat all the politicians and eminent personalities on the list to emerge tops. Key personalities who made the list includes celebrated Roman Catholic priest, Cardinal Appiah Turkson, football legend, Abedi Ayew Pele, Chief Justice, Georgina Wood, NPP Flagbearer, Nana Akuffo-Addo and Ghana’s most celebrated diplomat, Busumuru Kofi Annan.
Agambire, the reigning CIMG Marketing Man of the Year, started Rlg, first as a small internet cafee outlet in Accra, later becoming Roagam Links, specializing in sale of mobile phones and accessories and later on transformed Rlg Communications Ltd as the foremost ICT Device Assembler on the continent. The company currently employs almost a thousand permanent staff and 10,000 casual workers across the country at its Assembly Plant located in Accra’s commercial hub of Osu.
The latest recognition adds to a number of high profile local and international honours for Rlg and its CEO, Mr. Roland Agambire. The Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG) adjudged Rlg phones as Product of the Year 2011 and whilst the global audit, account and finance firm, PriceWaterhouse Coopers decorated Mr Agambire as the Most Respected CEO and the company as the 3rd Most Respected Company in Ghana. The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) latest Ghana Club 100 listing also ranked Rlg as the 2nd Best Company in Ghana in addition to being the Fastest Growing Company, the Leader in Ghana’s ICT Sector and the Best Entrant into the Club. Again, on the continental, Rlg was named among the 12 Finalists in Africa Awards for Entrepreneurship by the South Africa based Africa Leadership Network.
The Rlg Institute of Technology has already trained over 50,000 youth and people with disabilities nationwide and given startup kits and tools to operate their own SME businesses, an initiative considered a rare life changing. The company currently has operational presence in The Gambia, Nigeria, China and Dubai and currently implementing key projects in Ghana to supply laptops to schools and colleges and training 50,000 teachers nationwide to improve on teaching and learning of ICT in basic schools. Agambire’s AGAMS Group and Rlg also continue to invest heavily towards charity and corporate social responsibilities projects on the continent.
Top Ten Most Influential Ghanaian in 2012 on the List
1. MR ROLAND AGAMBIRE
2. MRS THERESA OPPONG – BEEKO
3. DR AFARI GYAN
4. OTUMFUO OSEI TUTU II
5. JOHN AGYEKUM KUFUOR
6. NANA ADDO DANQUAH AKUFO ADDO
7. PETER CARDINAL TURKSON
8. H.E JOHN DRAMANI MAHAMA
9. MRS ELLEN HAGAN
10. JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS
