Accra, August 16, 2017//“Failure is so important. We speak about success all the time. It is the ability to resist failure or use failure that often leads to greater success. I’ve met people who don’t want to try for fear of failing.” – J.K. Rowling.
I have saved with #UTBank for the past five years and it’s been a great journey. We have done great business together.
Honestly, I was inspired to open the account based on the fact that it was an indigenous bank and also because Prince Kofi Amoabeng gave a great impression about the bank’s prospects at meeting years ago; so I gave it a try and it has been worth .
One of my greatest experiences at #UTBank was when I won an international award (Radio for Peace-building Africa) some years ago and was sent an award money through my current account.
There was a challenge with the spelling of my name and that delayed my transaction at the Airport branch. Being heavily pregnant at the time, I was tired, hungry and getting upset (blame it on the hormones too) so I saw a complaints number placed at the hall to which I called- Guess who picked up? The CEO himself, Mr Amoabeng!
After listening to my long story, this man came down to the hall, took me upstairs to the remittance team and asked that they take the necessary details to enable me get my cash.
He stood by me till everything was sorted out and my Euros given to me!
I remember him telling the staff “Don’t provoke her to deliver here o”. We all laughed and he and the guy who served me walked me to the lift.
I am sure some of you have also had your own experiences with him- and the bank in general
Why am I saying all this?
Joseph Nsonamoah and P.K Amoabeng saw enough prospects in the Ghanaian banking sector when they co-founded UT Financial services and then renamed it Unique Trust Financial Services. UT Financial Services was a non-bank financial services provider (NBFI), in Ghana, which was incorporated in 1997.
Over time, it acquired subsidiaries and was later listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange under the holding company, UT Holdings Limited. In 2008, UT Holdings Limited acquired major shareholding in a Ghanaian commercial bank called BPI Bank. The Bank was later re branded as #UTBank and opened for business in May 2009.
In June 2010, #UTBank and UT Financial Services merged into a new company called UT Bank Ghana Limited- and that was in operation until the recent takeover by GCB.
Despite their challenges, they contributed significantly to the economy and they must be celebrated.
If for nothing at all, they created jobs to ease the burden off families and homes. There are huge numbers of young graduates who were employed at the banks branches nationwide.
It’s a shame they have gone under but I still believe the resilient nature of Kofi Amoabeng has been instilled in his staff and everyone that learnt under his leadership.
He’s one of the CEO’s you could call without fear of being embarrassed and his hands on approach for me, made UT was it was. Staff like Sophia Lissah and Rami Baite also made his work much easier.
Instead of the attacks and vilification, let’s celebrate Mr Amoabeng and his team for trying something and even and failing at it. At least they tried, what about those who don’t lift a finger but criticize and complain about issues everyday?
Like Denis Waitley says “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”
It really amazes me when we jubilate when others fail. We keep talking about building local businesses to stand the test of time yet we are the same people who turn round and condemn every effort to make an indigenous company stand.
We force entrepreneurs to sell stuff for us at cheap rates and end up paying in several installments-making it difficult to keep track of the money yet we are the very people who will not blink in counting and paying cash at so called designer shops for same goods-yet we turn around and complain about the economy!
How is that local business going to be robust and competitive if all their clients take months to pay back goods bought that could easily have been paid instantly in cash?
That is the sad situation most local businesses find themselves .
It’s high time we moved from this hypocritical approach of attacking and not supporting our home grown businesses and yet demanding that same business to remain robust as compared to their international counterparts.
Today, UT and Capital banks have collapsed but it should be a wake-up call to stay true to our commitment to join hands together and build our own economy of solid brands. It’s never too late for us as a people- surely we can! One business at a time.
Who knows, one day we can totally wean ourselves off foreign aid and rather give aid to support other economies.
It is possible.
Today I celebrate Joseph Nsonamoah and Capt. Rtd Prince Kofi Amoabeng,
Gentlemen, Ayekoo
By Lorrencia Nkrumah, Lorrencia.wordpress.com
