Consultancy: What Role Does It Play In The Ghanaian Business?

Gradually an enterprise called CONSULTANCY has come to add to the business vocabulary for people who were not consultants.

This article is not attempting to discredit this type of earning income but it is a study in brief to get to know whether what people call CONSULTANCY in our contemporary Ghanaian business sector are indeed what they stand for.

Some years back there was no so much about this Western -introduced concept of giving expertise advice to a business enterprise such as a construction firm when that business as enterprise wins a contract to undertake a huge project for a client.

As pointed out it is a Western business culture in fusing an expertise advice to a project of another company.

In Ghana, since most major projects had been undertaken by foreign - based on locally - partnered construction companies, I will say consultancy has been noted at such a higher level, but for a little over a decade, consultancy firms have sprung like mushroom in Ghana to make it look like a cheap business enterprise - thanks to the computer and its magic of creating all forms of information and ideas.

It began with the portfolio - welding business man going round 'doing business' with his portfolio as his mobile office to the proliferation of communication centres termed as 'business centre' that served all manner of people claiming to be business men.

These 'comms centres' were obliged to photocopy document of the 'business man' while he made several phone calls to clients. This was before the proliferation of mobile phones.

So from the mobile consultancy business the trend ended up with the establishment of deluxe offices , with the latest sets of computers and accessories that could generate any information and images on the screen.

Now the city of Accra and perhaps all the resigned capitals are awash with neon signs indicating where one would get the best of consulting services.

That is, one could be given expertise information, ideas and advice of all kinds to boost up one's business after getting hooked up with a huge and costly bill that can go for a capital to step up one's enterprise.

The question is why has consultancy been reduced to a Makola commodity in Ghana?

What exactly is consultancy?
To the ordinary person the only time one would be confronted with a similar word is at the clinics and hospitals where the sign 'CONSULTING Room No 2' would be exhibited at the entrance of the medical officer in charge. Going in to the Consulting Room would allow your ailment to be diagnosed with or without the duty nurse being privy to your case .The encounter with the doctor is a CONSULTATION to be treated of one's illness, whereas CONSULTANCY gives different interpretation .

A CONSULTANCY AGREEMENT between the CONSULTANCY agency and the client often go to involve the agency in one's business adventure to a maximum level which may include share of the proceeds as a joint venture on paying off the consultant in huge reparation from one's profits.

Many clients go into consultancy only to regret when the expertise advice may already be in the bosom of the client but might have not noticed. Lack of knowledge my people perish, isn't it?

The Alfred Woyome case is a typical example of a bungled consultancy that has resulted in the State paying off GH¢51 plus million judgement debt to one man.

An attempt to get who has registered a consultancy company at the Registrar General's Department in Accra became an exercise in futility as the sole official in charge of that information could not be met after several visits to his office by this writer.

However, a source close to that office confirmed that there had been many companies registered but not particularly as consultancy firms.

'They are registered more as business entities doing business in particular professional field which could include offering consultancy to other enterprises who may need their services especially those in building and road construction projects' she noted.

We all know that the Architectural Engineering Services Company (AESC) is a registered institution that offers consultancy to many major building construction projects both governmental and private.This is a company no one can ignore when it comes to building construction in Ghana.

There are other equally important institutions that could be consulted in matters of road, bridge, dam construction etc. failure to consult them which could be disastrous later to the users.

I don't stand to condemn the ' bodwua-bodwua' consultancy companies since they also have their clients to survive.

All that this article seeks to bring to the fore is the misuse of the word CONSULTANCY by individual or companies which go to duplicate what their clients already have or can do.

The same thing goes for the misuse of the word MEDIA. Where a private video producer would advertise himself as' Media Video Production' when he has nothing to do with the publication or dissemination of news the traditional way. How can coverage of wedding , funerals and birthday parties be considered as media?

The computer age has graduated into the cyber age with the world becoming so small yet very bizarre as anybody can sit in front of the computer to generated any information that could uplift mankind or send as into the doomsday.

Consultancy is not a bad idea in our human development. But one need to be cautious of where he or she taps his expertise from to make it successful in the business would.

God the creator of man has watched over the development of the human race from the days of Adam to our cyber age.

But what God wants all humankind to know as far as expert advice or consultancy is concerned is written in Proverbs chapter one verse 25-26 'Because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity'.

The owner of the Achimota Melcom building paid dearly for his fully in not engaging a consultant in the construction of his five- storey building.

Consultancy, therefore is a must not only for individual but in any human endevour.