John Kufuor, CEO of The African Regent Hotel of the ... - Upper Reach

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INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Mr. John Kufuor,
CEO of the African Regent Hotel of the Republic
of Ghana
UPPER REACH: The tourism sector in Ghana today is facing some
challenges in terms of infrastructure. A lot of infrastructure still needs to
be put in place before you start promoting the country. Could you give us
your insights as to what policies should be put in place to accelerate this
process and transform Ghana into a tourism destination?
John Kufuor: We have challenges but within those challenges there are
opportunities. I would like to focus more on the opportunities than the challenges.
Everything is relative. In terms of the sub-region and even in terms of Africa we
are seen as a leading player. We are safe, infrastructure has its challenges but it
is relatively good and it is growing. In terms of tourism, we are greenfield. If you
look at most travel catalogues or write-ups, they look at destinations in South
Africa and North Africa such as Morocco and Egypt. There is really nothing for
sub-Saharan Africa. Most international hotel chains are only just beginning to
come into West Africa. But it does not mean that the canvas is completely blank.
There is a wealth of sites and infrastructure, some of which are not up to
international standards, but if you are talking about pure tourism, for people who
want a little bit of a break and want a different experience, this is probably the
best place to come to.
In Ghana we have the biggest concentration of castles in the West coast and
probably in the world from our unfortunate past and the slave trade. East of Accra
we probably have some of the best modern fishing grounds in the world. If you
are going west towards Cote d’Ivoire we have the world-famous Elmina Castle,
which is about 500 years old. Further down the line we have unique villages such
as Nzulezu, which is built on stilts. That is just the coast. Then we have the Volta,
which runs from north to south, which has not been touched yet. Along the water
we have various tourist attractions. That will be opening up as a different way of
navigating the country. We have game reserves, maybe not the same game that
you will find in South and East Africa. We have not spoken about the rainforests
but there is a wealth of stuff here. I think that when people speak about Ghana in
terms of tourism, you will not find a large of number of big resorts that will cost
you €1,000- €2,000 a night. But you will find decent places, which are a different
experience from any other you will find in Africa. Therefore I think we should
focus more on the opportunities rather than the problems.
UPPER REACH: Talking about the opportunities, another was when
Obama came. This was a great opportunity for the country to boost its
image. Although Obama is from Kenya, he chose Ghana because of its
high levels of governance, strong democracy and for the last year the
country has been doing very well in terms of economic fundamentals.
How do you think the country should take advantage of Barack Obama’s
visit?
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John Kufuor: I think we are already beginning to reap the benefits of that
message. Obama came for a day but that day was on all of the major
international networks. More importantly, he visited one of the tourism centres
which I already mentioned. He went to Cape Coast Slave Castle which is about
300 years old. I think that alone gave us exposure. It is one of the things that we
do have to sell. Prior to his coming we did have a tourism industry and a Tourism
Board with plans to promote Ghana. We partake in major international tourism
fairs like the recent World Travel Market (WTM) in London. We want to be part of
this. We see ourselves as being one of the primary local players. We do not have
many local players but this is primarily due to the way we conduct business. Not
many Ghanaian companies or most of the hotels or tourism chains that you find
here are either backed by big foreign companies or institutions like the Social
Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT). If you look at our bracket and
competitive group of hotels, one or two do not have international market players
of brands behind us. We are forging a different route and we want to be part of
what is coming. Like I said I do not want to talk about problems, I want to talk
about potential and the potential is great.
Coming back to the question, Obama has put us on the map. Prior to Obama’s
visit, our focus was on the blacks in the diaspora, mainly from North America but
also South America, including Brazil and Suriname. The concentration of camps
tends to draw blacks, who believe they originate from West Africa, back to their
roots. I think that Obama’s visit and his visit to the castle have highlighted that
again. Going forward it is one of the things we should look to sell in addition to
the other factors that make us who we are: the fact that we have good
government institutions, business works well, we are safe and we are the
gateway to the sub-region. West Africa has about 300 million people and we see
ourselves as the centre for anybody coming to West Africa and to a large extent,
sub-Saharan Africa. Coming first to Accra provides a number of advantages. We
are only six hours from Europe. We have all of the major international airlines
connections. We are lucky to be at the centre of the world. That in itself gives us
tremendous advantages. Once people begin to divert their minds from the normal
tourist destinations, we will be the natural centre.
UPPER REACH: Moving towards the African Regent itself, you have been
around for three years and have become one of the local players. People
know about the Holiday Inn but they do not know about the African
Regent, which boasts international standards but with local taste. Could
you give us a brief definition of the African Regent Hotel?
John Kufuor: We are trying to create a brand. Our tagline is ‘Simply Afropolitan’.
Afropolitan is a combination of African, because we have the Afro influence, and
cosmopolitan. We set out to create a brand which signifies everything good there
is about Africa. We appreciate that are clientele are international. We might
receive someone from China, North America or Europe, and if they want a
cappuccino when they wake up in the morning, they should be able to have a
cappuccino. There are certain international standards. These days standards are
not local. We have created a hotel that can compete with the best international
standards. We do not compromise with our standards. But at the same time,
someone coming from China for a few days does not want to feel as if they are in
New York or Amsterdam. He wants to feel that he is in Africa. We have put a
strong African influence into our hotel. It is so deep that sometimes the trained
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eye cannot even see it. Yes you can see African art, earthy tones and colours but
everything has a meaning. That is for us to try and sell. That is what being
“Afropolitan” is; it gives you a strong hint of who you are. But on the same token,
you know that you are in an international hotel, both international and local can
be seen. At the moment, we know that there is nothing else like this on the local
market. We are a business hotel, given where we are situated in a good
neighbourhood in Accra, at an intersection of some of the main roads. We cater to
business clientele and people who work with multinationals. They form the bulk of
our business and because we have standards we have been able to survive in the
market so far. If we maintain standards and build on this logo, we can create a
good local brand, which is ultimately what we want to do.
Now if you look at the logo, it looks like a flower with four petals and a box. But it
is an Adinkra symbol. All of the art we use has a meaning. This signifies
something in our culture. The Adinkra symbols are used by Ghanaians and they
all have meanings. This symbol, on its own, literally translates as a sack of cola
nuts. In many parts of West Africa when you receive a visitor one of the ways you
greet them is with cola nuts. A sack of cola nuts also means abundance,
hospitality and so on. If you go into the bedrooms, we have this symbol carved
into the headboards. In our language the Adinkra symbol means the crocodile
lives in water but breathes air. There is another showing the horns of a ram that
signifies strength and humility. We have woven all of these symbols into the
fabrics of our blankets. All of these things signify who we are. We have tried to do
something different from the others. Talking about the opportunities in this
country, going forward we hope that our brand will carry us forward in the
tourism sector. Tourism is potentially going to be one of the main revenue
generators for this country. At the moment we are told that tourism is the third
largest source of foreign exchange after gold and cocoa. But the tourism sector
has barely started. That tells you how much potential there is.
UPPER REACH: Of course it also affects other sectors including
communications and infrastructure.
John Kufuor: All of these sectors are improving. Over the last 10 years or so,
the kilometres of tarred road have been doubled. Flights are still expensive but
they are much improved. We should accentuate the fact that we have come a
long way but that there is potential to go further. We are on that path and we are
in a take-off mood. The problem being a local business person is that whereas we
definitely invite people with technical expertise and financial wherewithal to join
in with the locals, the locals must also look to participate. That is what we are
about.
UPPER REACH: There is no global African brand. Having spoken about
your logo and its importance, I hope you can tell us about two things.
First, maybe it is still the early stages of you business, but how do you
see the African Regent Hotel becoming a global African brand? And
secondly, how do you see the African Regent expanding into Western
Africa? Are you open to opportunities to share your expertise and open a
second hotel? Can you foresee that or am I talking too soon?
John Kufuor: No you are not talking too soon. We are trying to create a brand
and we have already thought about these things with regards to the strategy of
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the hotel. Before coming we looked up the environment and what was available.
Being a small player, we looked at what could be unique to the market and we
came up with The African Regent. We say African because as much as Ghana is a
part of the hotel there are also influences and artwork from Benin, Mali and so
forth. We are looking to sell all of the good things that are African. We are looking
to promote Africa. I have seen the West. Here there is a hunger but you do not
see the development. Why do the multinationals keep coming back and doing
business with us? Because we are African and we deliver international standards.
There is an infusion of Africa here.
Where do we think we are going with this? We have talked about opportunities in
this market and the fact that the entire tourism industry here contributes 1.2
billion of tourism receipts. If we were to aim high, maybe in 10 years time we
would be doing 10 billion. It is possible. It will require capital and technical
expertise. But those are nice problems to have if the potential is there. As a small
player in this market, we have a template in Accra. It is a business hotel and
maybe the first thing would be to replicate the template locally in two or three
cities in Ghana. Then we could diversify from purely offering a business
proposition to a tourist proposition, and then franchise. It is the normal order of
things. I do not know how it is going to work out but that is the strategy plan we
are thinking of. That is about as much as I can say at the moment but we
certainly have aspirations.
UPPER REACH: When you are business orientated you follow steps but
you have to see the thing as a whole. Before you get a house, first you
paint it and then you buy the furniture. I was thinking that perhaps you
would like to start something else in West Africa because you have the
expertise here instead of just staying in Ghana. This is the business
model.
John Kufuor: Anything is possible. We are quite open to thinking outside the
box. But there is also conventional wisdom. Maybe the nature of who we are,
being independent and small, means that we will not necessarily follow that
route. We are very open to using other methods.
UPPER REACH: The first step to attract tourism is through conferences.
In your opinion how should this niche in the market be explored? How
important do you believe this aspect of tourism is?
John Kufuor: It is a very important aspect of tourism and it helps the business.
Two years ago there was the United Nations Conference of Trade and
Development (UNCTAD), which was one of the biggest we have ever had. We
were wondering if we could do it because we never had that number of
international visitors and we do not really have the conference space. But all of
that is changing. That conference was hosted successfully in the same year as the
African Union summit with all of the African heads of state in 2008. The potential
is there. We have done it a few times with the limited resources we have, we can
still successfully stage big events in Accra and perhaps to a lesser extent in
Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi, which are our four major cities.
UPPER REACH: You also hosted the World Tourism Day.
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John Kufuor: Yes. So there is an attachment with all of the profile, even with
Obama coming in, there were good elections, that profile is enabling us to attract
the right events. With those prospects, we are also attracting international
brands. If you are looking at the hotels there are at least three major hotel
developments across the country. We have the 5-star Kempinski and a Marriot
which is right around the corner. It shows that major brands are now beginning
to see that this is the place to be. We are in the right place from Europe, America
and even from Asia. All of these point to the future. Big brands do not come to a
destination unless they can assure themselves that they will be able to make
money and maintain the brand. Whereas in the past over the last few years this
sector of the market has contributed less than 10% of tourists, maybe it will be
much more significant than that. In West Africa I do not think there is anybody
else apart from us. In Africa maybe you have South Africa and Egypt who do
about three to five times the number of big conferences that we do. But if you
give it five years I think it will be there. We will at least be on par with them
given the infrastructure improvements and the growth of the local industry. It is
critical for us and this particular facility. It forms a good part of our business and
contributes significantly. One to the local multinationals coming in and to the local
non-governmental organisations. Occasionally we do get international
conferences as well so it is very important for us.
UPPER REACH: We always like to give a personal touch and hear a bit
about the background of our interviewees. You are the son of the former
President but I would like you to tell us about your background, how it is
related to tourism, and how your background helps to shape your
priorities as the CEO of the African Regent Hotel?
John Kufuor: I lived abroad for quite awhile. I did a degree in Business
Administration and Accountancy in what is now Greenwich University but used to
be Thames Polytechnic at the Woolwich campus. After that I went to train as a
management accountant. I got my degree in 1987, finished my accounting exams
in 1989. I worked in the industry and my first job was with what was then called
Border Industries headquartered in Knightsbridge. It is now Redson, a big
multinational quoted on the London Stock Exchange. Then I went into
telecommunications and worked for British Telecom for a year. I was part of a
group of financial analysts who were hired to start up One-2-One, which is now T-
Mobile UK, for about seven years. Then I got my M.B.A. in 1997. I started
working for PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting in 1998 and worked for them for
three years in London. Then I returned to Accra to work for
PricewaterhouseCoopers for Central Africa, before breaking off at the end of 2004
to work on this project.
I have had good business training, first as an accountant and then as a
consultant. In consulting these days the key is not just technical know-how but
the management of knowledge and how to build an effective team once you have
got a properly defined objective. If you bring the right players on board, there are
many different facets of any such project. On one hand you may be looking to
fund the project so you have to speak to financiers. At the same time for myself,
being a promoter, you have to speak with technical people such as hospitality
experts. You are building so you also need engineering expertise. The critical
thing in business these days is not the fact that you are an accountant, but to be
able to look at the big picture, define an objective properly and marshal that
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knowledge to create the outcome. I find that the business training I have had, the
experience in consulting in particular and in industry, people critically look at
every aspect. It is all in the monthly and quarterly reports. That prepared and
immensely helped me to visualise what I wanted, build it and then to manage in
going forward.
UPPER REACH: This is your first time in the tourism sector?
John Kufuor: Yes. This building was here for a while but it was uncompleted. We
acquired the site in September 2004 and we opened for business on March 2007.
UPPER REACH: To finalise the interview, we always like to give the
interviewee an opportunity to send a final message to the readers of The
London Times.
John Kufuor: The message I would like to convey is that, from a tourism and
business perspective, Ghana is open for business. There is great potential for
both businessmen and tourists alike. They should look to chart that unbeaten
course and go where people have not been because that is where the real
potential is in Ghana. If you are coming to Africa, make a stop in Accra and see
what we have to offer. You will be pleasantly surprised at the potential we have in
Ghana. We are looking forward to a very positive future.
UPPER REACH: Thank you very much.
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