Despite being named in many scandals and corruption allegations levelled against him, he has never been out of business. Not even a change of government could limit his business advancements as he has the capacity to work with any government that comes into power.
Revealing what he does, how he gets awarded contracts as well as reasons for getting those contracts from different governments in Ghana, the Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong said that it is due to the strategies he uses.
To the business guru, it is all about being creative and smart in the business.
Speaking to participants at the 2017 Ghana SME CEO Summit, Dr. Siaw-Agyepong said in order to survive and succeed in the private sector, “one must align himself to government”.
According to him, everything in Ghana revolves around government. Thus he had to quickly learn that grabbing a business opportunity without government’s aid has the tendency to fail.
“You are in a country where everything is revolved around government and government is the largest purchaser of everything. You need government’s flavour; you need the flavour of government. You can’t stand alone,” he said.
Dr. Siaw-Agyepong said his decision to align his business with government’s vision is because the latter is the first point of contact for investors, particularly the foreign investors.
“I recognised that every foreigner who came into this country first looks for government so I joined them. No one has come to look for me……. we went to one investment forum in Ghana here after that everybody wanted to see the president, not me. So I said then I will join government. So that is one of the strategies why I’ve been joining government so that people will see government and see me”.
Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong owns over 40 companies including the country’s largest waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited; SUBAH Infosolutions; the Road Safety Management Services which was awarded the mandatory vehicle towing contract that was later scrapped by government following several public outcries.
He has achieved many feats including being featured as the August 2017 edition cover for Forbes Africa. He was also recently awarded Man of The Year, Business (Magnate Award) at the second edition of the prestigious Exclusive Men of The Year (EMY AFRICA 2017 AWARDS) at the Kempinski Hotel-Accra.
The award was in recognition of his contribution towards Business and Development in Ghana and Africa.
In 2013 Manasseh Azure Awuni’s ground-breaking investigation into massive corruption in the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) led to the cancellation of all contracts under the programme. It also led to reforms which culminated into the passage of the Youth Employment Agency Law.
The main companies that were indicted in the GYEEDA scandal were those from the Jospong Group of Companies owned by Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong and the AGAMS Group owned by Roland Agambire.
Even though the programmes were cancelled, Zoomlion’s contract which had ended was not touched and payments were still made to it.
In 2013 the World Bank banned Zoomlion and its affiliate companies from bidding for the Bank’s contracts because Zoomlion “paid bribes to facilitate contract execution and processing of invoices” in Liberia.
Manesseh Azure’s exposé also revealed and catalogued questionable contracts with various metropolitan and municipal assemblies.
The report exposed how a waste bin contract awarded on sole sourcing basis to the JOSPONG Group was inflated by at least GHC130 million.
Another report revealed how a GHC98 million contract was awarded to 11 companies under the Jospong group to undertake fumigation exercise across the country when Zoomlion, the parent company of Jospong had already been paid to undertake the same fumigation.
