<<Print>>

Stanbic Bank Ghana Limited won the Ghana Club 100 topmost prize of the year when it was ranked the number one company for 2008 in the eighth edition of Ghana Club 100 awards ceremony held in Accra last Friday evening. It thus dethroned Scancom Ghana Limited, operators of MTN, which won the award the last time it was held for the year 2006. However, MTN was crowned the second best in the premium award for companies in Ghana. Stanbic, a subsidiary of Standard Bank, South Africa, has since 2006 grown from strength to strength after a rejuvenation of management headed by Alhassan Andani. The bank also won the best company of the year 2008 for financial services. There was also strong showing from new entrants such as IPMC, which took the ninth position and the best company in the education category. Standard Chartered Bank Ghana took a special award for the best company in corporate social responsibility. According to the rankings, Stanbic posted impressive financial performance for three successive years among others to sweep the number one ranking award. Toyota Ghana, Kasapreko, UT Financial Services, Ghana Rubber Company, CFAO Ghana, The Trust Bank (TTB), IPMC and Ghana OIL Company Limited (GOIL) followed suit when they were ranked the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th respectively in the Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GIPC)-organized programme. From the eleventh to fifth positions were All Ship Logistics, GCNET, Goldfields Ghana-Headline Sponsors of the Black Stars, Barclays Bank Ghana and Ecobank Ghana respectively. Total, HFC Bank, CAL Bank, Antwima Kwanwoma and Twifo Oil Palm Plantation (TOPP) were 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th in that order. Indeed, the top twenty companies would feel very proud as the awards would serve as a benchmark for improving their brands on the market. Once again, the rural banks proved to be tough customers as 17 of them made it into the top 100 companies in Ghana for last year. They included Atwima Kwanwoma from the Ashanti region which placed 19th, South Akim which was crowned 21st, Upper Manya which also placed 23rd and Amansie West Rural Bank from the Ashanti region which placed 28th. TV3 Ghana Limited was the only media house that was crowned in the top 100, placing 90th. According to SEM International Associates which did the rankings, all companies that took part in the survey were limited liability companies, firms which had posted cumulative profits for three successive years, size and growth and if government was a part owner, its shares did not exceed 50 percent. Ghana Club 100 is a programme designed by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre to identify and award Ghana's best 100 companies, according to a benchmark. Vice President John Mahama, who delivered the key note address, assured captains of industry that government would implement appropriate policies and strategies to create a conducive environment to spur the growth of businesses. Speaking on the theme, �Celebrating Ghana's Business Leaders�, the Vice President said government was working hard to stabilize the economy, stem the depreciation of the cedi and bring down inflation to a rate that would make business planning more predictable. �Our bid to improve Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows will continue to focus on measures aimed at reducing obstacles, increasing predictability, promoting consistency, fostering competition and marketing the variety of opportunities the country has to offer,� said the Vice President.