I’m at week 3 already?

It is hard to believe I have only been in Accra for just over two weeks, it genuinely seems much longer, so much so that I’m beginning to forget what life was like before Ghana….
Myself and my Ghanaian counterpart Felix started work at our business last week and since then our experience has been somewhat interesting. Firstly the business we work with is called Fresh logistics and is an aggregator which specializes in quality fruit and vegetables. Fresh Logistics are based in the greater Accra region and eventually plan to export fruits and vegetables outside to the rest of Ghana and eventually the world […so remember the name…]
I will begin by saying that business in Ghana is done very differently than businesses in the UK. To work in a business in Ghana takes a lot of patience and persistence, this is mainly due to a term I’ve become used to called ‘Ghanaian time’ – basically this means if you arrange a meeting for 10am then that meeting probably won’t not take place until 5pm, punctuality does not seem to exist in many places here. Businesses in Ghana also have a different set of priorities, for example in the UK if you were setting up a business then you would look to start with a business plan and any other necessary documents to aid you in your start up – well not in Ghana. Fresh Logistics has neither a business plan nor a marketing plan – but then again that’s why we are here, to help them with both of those crucial documents and continue to reinforce their importance. The first week was relatively slow in gathering the information required but hopefully this week will run a bit smoother, especially since we are now focusing primarily on market research. The staff are nice however and have given us a nice office space to work in.

Outside of work I have enjoyed exploring Accra a bit more and experiencing West Africa. I am living with a nice family of which the mother of the house (or Aunt Tina as we call her) is a reasonably successful Ghanaian entrepreneur and runs a fashion business in Accra.

What else? Well last Saturday a group of us went to a pretty glorious beach to relax after a long weeks work….not a bad way to end the week…even better when I remind myself what the weather is like back in Scotland.

Anyway I am off to have a meeting with my boss now so I’ll stop writing here…..although to be honest the meeting might not take place for another five hours or so….but lets hope not!