The money would be used to renovate a Junior High School classroom- block and construction of washrooms.

Presiding Member of the District Assembly, Mr. Bernard Ansah, gave thumps up to the people for their initiative and urged other communities to emulate the good example.

He reminded the community that it would not be possible for the assembly to meet all their development needs hence the need for them to do their bit to make their socio-economic conditions better.

He encouraged them to pay their taxes to the assembly in order to support community development programmes.

Mr. Ansah also called for co-operation and mutual understanding between the chiefs, assembly and the unit committee.

The Chief, Nana Yeboah Asiamah, appealed the people to support the projects by volunteering their labour.—GNA

Honda, Japan’s third largest car maker and the world’s biggest manufacturer of motorcycles and engines, is in the final stages of getting its USD$4.5 million HondaJet certified. It aims to ramp up the pace of production to 80 a year in the first half of 2013.

Honda received more than 100 orders for the seven-seater jet in three days when it began taking orders in 2006, promising a quieter engine, 20 percent better fuel economy over competing models and operational costs of two-thirds or less.

It has not disclosed an updated number of orders, but Michimasa Fujino, a Honda executive and CEO of its North Carolina-based subsidiary, Honda Aircraft, said it held a backlog of about three years from orders taken through its nine dealerships in North America and Europe.

“I’m very optimistic about our prospects,” Fujino, who initiated Honda’s foray into aviation research in 1986, told a small group of reporters at the automaker’s Tokyo headquarters on Monday.

“We’re doing with HondaJet what the Civic did to American cars from the 1960s. Our competitors are still producing with technology from the 1990s,” he said, referring to Textron’s Cessna and Brazil’s Embraer, which now dominate the 200-a-year small business jet market.

The Civic, known for its reliability, durability and mileage, has consistently been among the United States’ best-selling cars since its launch in 1973, forcing competitors to follow suit with cars to meet the country’s tighter emissions regulations.

Honda’s ambition of making jets traces back to its iconic founder Soichiro Honda. The HondaJet will make Honda the only car maker in the world to build its own aircraft.

Its engine is made by a joint venture between Honda and General Electric.

Honda Aircraft is aiming to turn a profit by 2018, Fujino said.

The business jet industry is expecting a rebound in sales this year after the global economic crisis hammered sales over the past three years.

While the small business jet market has traditionally been limited to North America and Europe so far, Fujino said he was fielding about a call a week from China, both from prospective buyers and eager dealers, while interest was also greater than he anticipated in Brazil, India and the Middle East.

“We want to focus on delivering on the orders that we have, but I’d like to enter Brazil and China earlier than we’d initially planned,” he said, declining to specify a timeframe. New demand from emerging markets could expand the global small jet market to about 300 a year, he said.

Fujino said he was also seeing more interest in the smallest end of the market as medium-sized jet users look to downsize to get more for their fuel, much like the trend in the car industry.

“Most of our customers are owners of small- and medium-sized businesses, and many are looking to get the most out of the jets that they need,” he said.

With operational costs of about USD$1,000-USD$1,200 an hour, HondaJet could make travel for a group of five or six cheaper and more efficient than flying commercially between small cities, he said. Competitors offer at best USD$1,800 by comparison, he added.

Honda Aircraft will add 300-350 factory staff to bring its total workforce to around 1,000 in the first half of 2013, Fujino said.—News.airwise.com

For 2011 as a whole, international passenger traffic was up 6.9 percent versus 2010 and freight traffic was down 0.6 percent. The annual growth in total passenger traffic, including domestic flights, grew 5.9 percent.

The annual decrease in freight, including domestic flights, was 0.7 percent.

Tony Tyler, IATA’s director general, said: “Given the weak conditions in Western economies the passenger market held up well in 2011.

“But overall 2011 was a year of contrasts. Healthy passenger growth, primarily in the first half of the year, was offset by a declining cargo market. Optimism in China contrasted with gloom in Europe.

“Ironically, the weak euro supported business travel demand. But Europe’s primarily tax and restrict approach to aviation policy left the continent’s carriers with the weakest profitability among the industry’s major regions. Cautious improving business confidence is good news. But 2012 is still going to be a tough year.”—News.airwise.com

Kwesi B. Amissah-Arthur, Governor of Bank of Ghana

The Ghana Association of Microfinance Companies (GAMC) is bracing up to protect the industry and help safeguard funds of depositors.

The business group is to operate under the second tier of the regulated microfinance institutions, which include susu companies taking deposits and making profits.

Under the new Bank of Ghana operating rules and guidelines, firms under this category shall hold an initial minimum paid-up capital of not less than GH¢100,000.00 for one unit office.

According to the National Board Chairman of the GAMC, Collins Amponsah-Mensah, over 350 companies have so far been registered with the association and ready are ready to be regulated.

He expects 700 more to be registered by end of year to be licensed to operate as microfinance companies.

The new licensing requirements were expected to take effect within from January 2012.

“The deadline has ended,” Mr. Amponsah-Mensah told Luv Biz Report. “We’ve not officially been informed of any extension. We are just encouraging our members to take advantage of the seemingly relaxed posture of the regulator to file for licensing,” he added.

Mr. Amponsah-Mensah said the Association will be seeking public cooperation to flush out unscrupulous microfinance operators in the system.

He has also cautioned the public against giving money out without cross-checking the background of the receiving company.

Meanwhile, the ministry of finance and economic planning is building the capacity of the microfinance institutions to offer qualitative micro credit to rural farmers and other businesses.

This is part of the ministry’s rural and agriculture finance programme (RAFiP), which supports improved agriculture and sustainable livelihood of the rural poor.

Microfinance companies from the northern sector of the country participated in one of such capacity building programmes in Kumasi.

Mr. Amponsah-Mensah has lauded the ministry for providing a 60 percent subsidy for the cost of training members.

He noted that capacity building is critical for microfinance firms to better manage on-lending funds to boost agriculture financing.—Myjoyonline.com

The move is aimed at providing alternative payment services to customers and business people.

MasterCard’s are invaluable tools especially when making airline and hotel reservations, while eliminating the risk and inconvenience of carrying cash.—Myjoyonline.com

Dr. Kwabena Duffour, Finance & Economic Planning Minister

The West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) and the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), have signed a 2 million-dollar grant agreement to strengthen the ability of the Institute and stakeholders to attain the monetary union goal by 2015.

The move is aimed at facilitating the preparatory activities for the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) among member countries.

The deal was clenched in Accra by Acting Director of WAMI, Mr. John Tei Kitcher, who signed on behalf of the Institute whilst Executive Secretary of ACBF, Dr. Fannie Leautier, initialed for her outfit.

The grant will support the implementation of WAMI’s medium-term Strategic Plan (2010-2015), which is based on five core pillars of Macroeconomic Convergence, Research and Statistical Harmonisation; Trade and Regional Integration; Financial Sector Integration; Payments System Infrastructure, and Institutional and Capacity Building.

WAMZ was formally launched by the Heads of State and Government of Ghana, The Gambia, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone in December 2000, with the objective of establishing a single currency. The membership was increased when Liberia joined the Zone in February 2010.

The WAMZ agreement provides for the establishment of other institutions including WAMI, which has the primary mandate of undertaking all necessary tasks that will lead to the setting of the West African Central Bank.

Dr. Leautier said ABCF support to WAMI promises long-term results in the sub-region, which includes improving the quality of statistical data and enhancing reporting standards in line with the global best practices.

The other benefits comprise the enhancement of macroeconomic surveillance with the convergence criteria and other structural benchmarks.

There will also be the development of an electronic library to facilitate the conduct of relevant research; enhancement of the capacity of the central banks in monetary policy management; increasing financial system stability and reducing fraud as well as stepping up WAMI’s organisational efficiency and effectiveness.

These efforts, Dr. Leautier said, are expected to improve in the long-run ECOWAS Member States economies and lead to a higher Gross Domestic Product growth.

“Let me emphasise that for ABCF, our partnership with WAMI is a strategic and mutually beneficial one that promotes Africa’s development agenda,” she noted.

Mr. Kitcher said the monetary union was to commence in January 2003, after a convergence process, “however, following the inability of member countries to meet the minimum stipulated criteria, the launching of the union has suffered three postponements with the new date scheduled for January 1, 2015.”

He said the Institute had increased its resources four-fold through external partners, while reducing the contribution of member countries.

WAMI is developing payment systems in The Gambia, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone with an African Development Bank grant of 30 million dollars.

“We have also played a pivotal role in the establishment of the College of Banking Supervisors of the WAMZ to promote regional financial stability,” he said.

Mr. Kitcher said the ongoing Greek financial crisis and its impact on the Euro zone and the global economy, highlighted the need for more robust technical preparations for aspiring monetary unions, including the WAMZ.—GNA

The transactions are said to be in online financial services, retail, gaming, and social communities among others.

This was after the US-based company released its key findings on online fraud for the year 2011.

According to the findings on the source of online fraud during 2011, Ghana was first on the top five countries globally, followed by Nigeria, the Philippines, China and Israel.

“Although Ghana topped our list, online fraud is a global problem,” said founder and CEO of iovation, Greg Pierson, in a statement.

“We see proof everyday that cyber fraud knows no boundaries—crossing borders, devices and industries at will which makes it all the more important to share data and about truly global device activity,” Pierson added.

Overall, the company said it stopped 50 million fraud attempts in 2011, and is at a “current pace of 150,000 fraudulent transactions” per day.

According to iovation, it also detected a 400% increase in fraud via mobile devices last year. Although these devices represent only 4% of the overall fraud total, this dramatic increase mirrors general growth trends for mobile usage, and indicates that recognizing and stopping fraud will only become more challenging, the company added.

But the company says it has been able to track some of these fraud attempts with the help of more than 2,000 fraud analysts report as well as the sharing of fraud experiences through its database of internet devices and relationships.

“iovation identified these fraud attempts using its patented Reputation Manager 360 solution, which tracks more than 800 million devices across a broad range of industries and has protected more than 6.5 billion total online transactions to date,” it said.—Ghanabusinessnews.com

George Andah

Glo Mobile Ghana Limited announced today it has reached the threshold set for its number reservation exercise, prompting the company to introduce a second block of number series to enable as many people as possible to reserve their preferred numbers.

It will be recalled that on January 19, Glo Mobile Ghana Limited launched a ‘Reserve Your Number’ campaign as the first of activities lined up to usher in the highly anticipated Glo Mobile network, offering up to one million number reservation slots to enable potential subscribers to reserve their preferred Glo numbers.

Chief Operating Officer, George Andah said: ‘we are highly impressed with the number of reservation requests we received for our 023 3 number series in the space of just two weeks; and we still continue to receive several thousands of requests for reservations of numbers that have been previously reserved.

‘In response to this demand, and being a customer-centric organisation, we have released a second number block - the 0235 - to ensure that when we commence commercial operations, most people will use their preferred Glo numbers and have a strong attachment to those numbers,’ the COO explained.

Glo Mobile Ghana accordingly extended its Reserve Your Number campaign with effect from Wednesday, February 1, by introducing the 023 5 number block series, to ensure that the majority of potential subscribers use Glo numbers which they themselves have chosen.

George Andah said the new range of numbers can be reserved by simply adding the preferred last six digits to the Glo prefix 0235 and texting it to the Glo line 0230010100 on a first request, first served basis. All reserved numbers will be redeemed by their owners at any Glo World outlet within seven days of commencement of commercial operation.

“Our system, as well as the feedback from the market, clearly indicate that quite a number of reservation requests had already been successfully reserved by other persons  and we believe that opening the 0235 number series would offer such people a second chance of owning a special or preferred Glo number,” said the COO.

STORY: KORYEKPOR AWLESU FREEMAN 

Delhi and Mumbai will be the first Indian cities to see Starbucks stores

Starbucks has unveiled plans to open its first outlets in India.

The US coffee giant said the first coffee shops would open by September in a 50-50 joint venture with Tata Global Beverages.

The outlets are to be co-branded “Starbucks Coffee: A Tata Alliance”, on an initial investment of 4bn rupees ($80m).

Starbucks currently operates more than 17,000 cafes, with about 6,000 of them in more than 50 nations outside the US.

Starbucks announced a reorganisation last year, creating a China and Asia Pacific division with the intention of opening in India.

Delhi and Mumbai will be the first Indian cities to see Starbucks stores.

John Culver, president of Starbucks China and Asia Pacific, said: “We’re going to move as fast as possible in opening as many stores as we can so long as we are successful and so long as we are embraced by the Indian consumers.”

The Tata group is a massive Indian conglomerate. Its Tata Coffee division will supply coffee to the joint venture.

Indian coffee sales are put at about $667m annually, with the organised market – mainly cafe sales – accounting for about $140m.

Cafe Coffee Day is the market leader in cafe outlets, followed by Barista and Costa Coffee, both of which have ambitious expansion plans.

Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz has successfully turned around the company’s fortunes since he returned to the top job in January 2008.

He closed under-performing outlets in the US, and extended the company into selling pre-packed coffee in supermarkets.—BBC

Francis Dadzie, Executive Director of AAG

The Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG) has called for its members to be given key roles in a tourism project on Ghana that will be aired on Cable News Network (CNN).

The Vice President, John Dramani Mahama, has directed the Minister of Tourism, Akua Sena Dansua, to conclude arrangement with the CNN for a documentary on the tourism potentials of the country.

The project will be co-sponsored by the government and the private sector and will also use CNN as a platform to market themselves.

The Executive Director of AAG, Francis Dadzie, told Citi Business News it has forwarded the names of eight marketing communication companies to the Ghana Tourism Authority and hope some of them will be duly selected to participate in the project.

“I also remember that during CAN 2008, the Ministry of Tourism did a documentary on tourism potentials on some television networks. I have no future correspondence to that effect but it will be a good thing if it is going to involve local marketing and advertising companies,” he said.

“Whatever medium they use is fine but at least they should involve us in concept building, because with tourism no one can sell the country better than its people,” Dadzie argued.

He has downplayed industry arguments that sometimes local marketing communications companies do not meet the required standards needed for such projects.

He argued that several multi-nationals such as Vodafone that had been to Ghana in the past had worked with local advertising agencies.—Citifmonline.com