Audio Attachment: |
It was all wailing when one of the victims of the Achimota Melcom building disaster was buried in Kumasi last Saturday.
Gerald Osei Akoto, 39, who was the Manager at the Achimota branch of the company, was among the 14 that crushed to death when the company�s rented building collapsed.
Officials of the company, relatives and friends could not hold back their tears as the mortal remains of the deceased were laid in state at the family house at Kwadaso Estate.
Various tributes paid in the memory of Akoto described him as humble, honest and God-fearing.
A joint Managing Director of Melcom Ghana limited, Mr. Manesh Helwane, who led the team from the company to the funeral, said Akoto was a hardworking young man who played his part in advancing the company�s progress.
He told The Mirror that, �I feel sad today for the unfortunate incident that led to this and other deaths.�
Mr. Helwane said the company did everything possible toe sure the success of the funeral.
He stated that the company would continue to put in measures to protect its workers.
The deceased left behind a wife and three children.
Peacefmonline.com reproduces a copy of the tribute read by the Head of Operations of the Melcom Group of Companies, Ashok Nair.
As we drift through the different stages of our life, there are certain people that leave an everlasting impression on our minds. They make life look easy, they make life look happy�Gerald was one of these kinds of people�
I first met him at Melcom Plus-Kaneshie, where he joined us as an Asst. Manager for our furniture section. Melcom Plus-Kaneshie being one of our biggest stores in terms of size and customer expectation, is a high pressure store.
However, whenever I visited the floor he managed, there was this sense of control. He understood his people, the customers and was always on top of things. He performed Par excellence. He was promoted and took the mantle of a Store Manager at our Dansoman store. In a span of just 6 months, he managed to turn around a store, with sales growing many folds. He had this amazing temperament, where he always managed to rise above the storm and look at it from above to come up with better solutions to challenges that one faces in a business environment.
He was again promoted and given a bigger store to handle - Achimota. This was one of our best looking stores. He was given a team which was completely raw in terms of experience and a tough market to handle. He worked tirelessly to build his team block by block and within a span of 6 months, he had made his store a yardstick based on which customers, employees and business associates measured the service levels. We knew that this was solely because of Gerald.
In the retail business, I have often heard famous business heads claiming that �any store is as good as its store manager�. I only realized this when I saw Gerald in action� the store looked classy, the team happy, and the merchandise well displayed at all times� �It was always a pleasure to visit the Achimota store�.
I often wonder how to make 10 or 20 more Geralds with a right mix of class, business understanding, humility, respect, assertiveness and yet have a firm grip on the store. I could never figure that one out, so I took the easy way out�every time a new manager joined us, I would plan for his training and induction under Gerald. I would tell him that �I want a copy of Gerald�.
He would smile and commit that he would try and train the new manager in every aspect to the best of his abilities�some of our good managers are a result of his training.
Today, I write this note with a very heavy heart and with a great sense of loss. We have lost one of our best managers, a great human being and personally a good friend. We will all miss him� but he will always remain in our hearts and minds for the rest of our lives.
It�s not often that we meet such people in this journey called life, people who leave our life enriched with their presence�it�s an irreplaceable loss to us as a family who have contributed immensely to the Melcom growth over the last two decades. Our hearts go out to them and we pray that God gives them the strength to endure this separation.
May God rest his soul in peace�
Ashok Nair (Head of Operations)
Source: Peacefmonline.com with some files from The Mirror/Ghana
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. |