Dr. Daniel Mckorley, the chairman of McDan Group has indicated his business is in a rather precarious position due to the pandemic and especially being in the logistics and airline business. He said, “no aircraft is flying in terms of passengers, cargo and it’s only the vessels which are moving. So I’m badly hit”.
“I’m losing over three to four million dollars every month, so that’s what is going on right now with me”, further adding that his hiring process deviates from the norm by not hiring based on certificates.
The chairman for McDan group believes that for businesses to survive especially during these pandemic times then they need to rethink and re-diagnose their businesses, as it has become even more crucial for them now.
He said, “It has re-awoken us to look at areas we were not looking at in our business. We could be making millions and billions, but we are so content with the little we are making. This lockdown has opened my eyes…to look at areas of my business I wasn’t looking at and also to look at the future of certain businesses…putting all of them on a playing field to see which one has future”.
According to Mr. Mckorley who is quite passionate about helping startups in Ghana, “the passion and zeal isn’t there for most business and it’s complicated further by woeful inadequacies in the educational system”.
He was quite blunt in saying, “certificates matters, but attitude supersedes everything…and commitment to work is everything”.
“McDan is very passionate in seeing other businesses grow… there are lots of areas I can go but I want to focus… but you grow with people, you don’t grow in isolation”.
His passion and interest in helping startup companies like most angel investors is under threat due to COVID-19 as it has undoubtedly affected businesses. His company has helped over twenty companies via his startup contest with the winner bagging $100, 000 dollars.
However he insisted, “I’m not doing charity for show… I’m doing charity because I want to see results, if I’m not making much money I cannot go sharing… I need to make sure I reserve a percentage of my revenue to support the youth”.
The crux of most economies is highly dependent on the survival of business and the challenges inherent in most nations now may seem bleak, but Dr. Mckorley thinks “this is the time we can do more” in supporting and cushioning these budding entrepreneurs.
“Many at times, McDan always set the pace, we come up with the ideas then you see a lot of people wanting to follow and that is how the world is supposed to be. We try to be very innovative, very creative in business in a way… it’s about time we look at impact”.
Rather optimistically, he said, “COVID is not all that bad… we are going to see real problems… and this is the time we have to domesticate, this is the time we have to look inward. Ghanaians are smart, young Ghanaians are very smart, but we are importing too much.
“Being a patriotic Ghanaian, I want to see a better Ghana and if we change we will begin to have export surplus”.
Pertaining to government’s plans in cushioning MSME’s, he believes that when state agencies and stakeholders pitch in to help, things will look up. He said, “the engine of growth in this country is in the small and medium scale businesses… Ghana in Africa has the highest number of entrepreneurs…and I’m having 100 CEO’s under my umbrella and I think I should be proud of that”.