COVID-19, 1 YEAR ON AND IMPACT ON THE GHANA EVENTS INDUSTRY
After 121 million cases and over 2 million deaths worldwide in just over a year, government-sanctioned border closures, lockdowns and restrictions on social gathering, the COVID pandemic still rages on.
Though
many industries have been impacted by its ravaging streak, none has been more
affected than the Live Events and Meetings sector, also known as MICE -
Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions / Events - industry. This has
led to major revenue losses and stalled the growth of several companies
globally.
Events
and Meetings generally play a key role in strengthening a nation’s global trade,
intellectual, creative and leisure engagement,
which in turn helps drive the development of its knowledge and creative
economies. A strong events industry will produce broader transformative social
and economic impacts that go well beyond the hospitality industry.
While
the events and meetings industry is often regarded as a tourism market segment delivering
tourism-related benefits, there is a growing awareness globally that the MICE
industry plays a significant role in socio-economic development, and places the
MICE industry at the very centre of the global economy with the underlying
scientific, professional, academic, business, and social advancements that
drive it.
In
Ghana, many major sporting events, festivals, concerts, theatre shows,
including conferences and exhibitions were cancelled in the aftermath of the
pandemic. These events lockdown crept up on the industry, and the hiatus
provided an impetus for practitioners to begin deliberations on their
challenges, keeping a keen eye on developments and begin some advocacy for the
protection and preservation of their sustenance.
The
rapid growth of the Live Events and Meetings industry in Ghana in the past, has
meant little coordination among stakeholders, with a lack of information
sharing and collaborative planning. The relationship between the industry and
its sector Ministry has also been effectively amorphous and needed alteration.
A need, thus, emerged for practitioners to use the opportunity of the slowdown
of business to form a guild, an association that could champion their
interests.
Enter
the Event and Meetings Professionals Association in Ghana (EMPAG).
Already,
in its short existence, EMPAG has made some significant strides. It quickly
became affiliated with the sector implementing agency and worked with the Ghana
Tourism Authority to agree on the Covid 19 Protocols Guidelines that enabled
the easing of some public gathering restrictions towards the end of last year.
It
also commissioned world-renowned business advisory firm, KPMG, to assess the
projected impact of COVID-19 on the industry. The findings were staggering,
observing significant losses of over GHS100m in revenue and a total of over
4000 losses in direct and indirect jobs along the entire industry value chain,
in just 12 months.
This
gets put into perspective when you become familiar with a cross-section of some
of its founding executives and members we spoke to. They include CEO of
Contagion Ghana, Eric Kwakye; founder and CEO of Jandel Limited, Ms Afi Amoro;
CEO of Big Ideaz, Kojo Poku; Charterhouse CEO, Mrs Theresa Ayoade and CEO of E-volution
International, Fred Darko.
As
individually successful as they all are, each of them laments the sudden and
drastic decline of their businesses, and particularly how they have had to lay
off staff. People they know were already struggling to make ends meet.
“We
have been depending on our private resources, savings and few investments in
other businesses unrelated to the event industry to survive. It’s been a real
struggle from paycheck to paycheck,” bemoans Jandel's Afi Amoro, who is an
executive council member of EMPAG.
As
an executive council member of EMPAG, she affirms that none of the members of
the association benefitted from any of the government stimulus packages.
She
recalls initiating the application process, however, the numerous hitches and
bureaucracies discouraged her. Like many of her colleagues, she decided to
rather focus on strategizing on her own to solve her problems.
This
sentiment resonates with all the members of EMPAG. During the pandemic,
government rolled out the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme Business Support
Scheme (CAP BuSS) Economic Stimulus package through the NBSSI - National Bureau
of Small Scale Industries - to support affected businesses. No EMPAG member
benefited from the scheme.
There
was also a $9million Tourism Development Grant from the World Bank for the
sector which also did not benefit any member.
Engagement
with Key Industry Stakeholders
CEO
of Charterhouse, Theresa Ayoade, is also President of EMPAG. She recalls how
the announcement of the ban on gatherings, a few days after the launch of her
company's flagship Ghana Music Awards Festival, shook the foundation of their
activities. The Festival employs over 800 people directly and indirectly. The
ban on gathering meant it had to be on hold immediately despite their
investments, in cognizance of the safety of people and the rising fear across
the country. "Even though the impact on the industry couldn't be assessed
then, we all feared for how the industry was going to survive as our income
flow was affected, and the ripple effects thereof," she observed.
Charterhouse
initiated a mandatory leave for all staff during the lockdown and resorted to
managing the issue from a human resource point of view. Due to the uncertainty
that lay ahead, there were salary cuts so the company could save the jobs of
its 100 employees. As the months progressed, some staff were furloughed and
others eventually laid off.
Hopeful
of benefitting from the economic stimulus packages announced, they applied for
a grant from the $9million World Bank Tourism Development Grant, a special fund
meant for the tourism industry, as a measure to help keep the Festival going
and keep the livelihoods of the 800 odd people who work on it. However, the Ghana
Music Awards Festival, as a tourism project, was also denied support.
With
a lot of cancelled projects in the past year, the events industry is witnessing
heavy revenue losses because they couldn't engage the public in any physical
activities. If this continues without any intervention, the industry will face
a major crisis.
The
rise of online meeting platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams, though great
innovations, is affecting the jobs of event companies. Now happening virtually,
and not physically, the current state of affairs is affecting the income flow
of events companies. And though it is still possible to hold smaller events,
for large capacity events companies like Charterhouse, besides having entire
income streams cut off, they are also having to lose key staff. People whose
livelihoods depend on their jobs.
As
General Secretary of EMPAG, E-volution International's Fred Darko also confirms
that no event organiser directly benefited from any funding support though they
applied, especially for the $9million World Bank grant for the tourism
industry. "My checks from various hotels and hospitality firms also
confirms that they also did not receive any funds."
Fred
notes that as the industry thrives on numbers and if venues are not opened,
establishments that deliver events services have no jobs to do, and this means
the revival of the industry is wholly dependent on the full eradication of the
pandemic.
"Just
as everyone else, we didn't expect the pandemic to last this long. We were just
focused on protecting lives and that encouraged us to secure our human resource
at the beginning of the pandemic. But, as it stands now, we have had to succumb
and have downsized on staff," reflects a sullen Fred.
That
notwithstanding, Fred advises event entrepreneurs to become innovative and
learn to engage their audience on other platforms to receive the needed support
to revive their businesses.
"It's
been a sad year," observes EMPAG Vice President Kojo Poku, who is the CEO
of Big Ideaz. “We provide services that bring people together, so the moment
you stop people from coming together then we don’t have any business to do
anymore.”
From
downscaling operation to laying off staff, his company had to resort to
innovative business ventures which included selling nose masks, face shields
and sanitisers to provide enough money to keep the business alive and make ends
meet.
CEO of Contagion
Ghana Ltd, Eric Kwakye, says he had to cut salaries by 25%, put on hold all
staff training and improvement activities for his companies during the
shutdown. He also joins his colleagues to lament the lack of positive response
from various economic stimulus packages they have applied for.
He is, however,
optimistic that the industry will recover, “but we need to push harder for the
vaccination drive to be a success so that we can return to the activities we
engaged in before 2020.” Though he believes recovery for the industry will take
a long time, in his opinion, “it will be most helpful if this industry and
others that have been badly hit by the pandemic can be looked at specifically
and given the much-needed stimulus to revive. While probably necessary to bring
the national economy back on stream, the recent novel taxes will further press
down those of us in this already badly stricken industry.”
Advice to Event Industry Stakeholders
Sharing some words
of encouragement, Afi Amoro is hopeful that there is hope at the end of the
tunnel and would like to encourage everyone in the event value chain who are
smart people to think critically about solving their problem. She also
suggested fighting together as a unit and inviting everyone to sit at the table
to dialogue on how to develop the path to achieve the help or assistance the
industry needs. In her final words, she noted, “If every event strategist or
industry player thinks beyond this situation and uses it to plan their business
– you cannot continue to do business as usual anymore.”
Fred Darko’s
advice to event entrepreneurs is for them to become innovative about what they
do and how they can engage their audience on other platforms to receive the
needed support to revive their businesses. He also encouraged event organisers
to preach the COVID-19 protocols as advocates until the economy is fully open.
Conclusion
As
we look forward to the opening up of the economy and bringing things back to normal,
we can be hopeful that the event industry will find favour in the eyes of the
government. From multiple shutdowns which has all but slowed down the industry,
it would not just be a blessing but a great incentive to relieve these key
economic stakeholders of all the burdens that have carried for the past several
months.
According
to EMPAG President, Theresa Ayoade, the industry will take approximately two to
three years to bounce back depending on how the control the spread of the virus
is carried out and how our vaccination program is advanced. EMPAG is advocating
for tax reliefs for the event industry as it would be unfair for new taxes to
be introduced to burden it as they work to bounce back.
EMPAG
has recently engaged the Tourism and Creative Arts Ministry on government
support for the events industry, and with the recently signed compact agreement
for post-Covid-19 transformation between the Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture,
Ministry of Trade & Industry and Ministry of Finance under the Ghana CARES
Obaatanpa programme, she is hopeful the Events Industry will finally get the
much-needed business support to sustain the industry since it is indeed the
hardest hit Industry.
Prince
Akpah & Ifeanyi Ahyia Adjei
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