Each year, many students, professionals etc. in Ghana look for funding opportunities to further their education. For some if not all of these individuals, the opportunity to further their education is not to only advance their career but also to help them to effectively contribute to the socio-economic development of Ghana. It is from this background that the Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme was set up and individuals like Annabelle was awarded the scholarship in 2013 having successfully gone through the assessment and selection process.
Knowing how having a higher qualification with significant international exposure will enhance her research skills and broaden her understanding of the quantitative skills needed to analyse issues of operations and logistics management and its impact on finance to assist organisations and government, Annabelle sought further education. And having learnt how operations management, logistics and accounting form integral parts of an organisation from her educational background and work experience, Annabelle chose to study MSc Operations Management, Logistics and Accounting at Newcastle University.
Studying at Newcastle University enabled Annabelle to develop an exceptional analytical capacity and also afforded her the opportunity to apply theoretical frameworks, she had learnt in an organisational setting. For example, the opportunity to conduct an action research at Parker Hannifin Manufacturing Limited (domnick hunter Filtration and Separation Division), a Newcastle manufacturing plant. This research entailed the collection of 3 years’ worth of data and analysing one of the major production lines of the company to highlight the company’s systems failures and also made key recommendations to correct them to improve its processes consequently to increase its effectiveness. Parker Hannifin found her solutions very useful in reducing waste and saving costs for the company.
At the end of her master’s education in the UK, Annabelle had gained deeper understanding of Operations Management, Logistics and Accounting, enriching her experience and had also built her leadership and management skills.
Upon returning from the UK in 2014, Annabelle resumed work at LMI Holdings, a highly diversified Ghanaian–owned conglomerate with interests in the construction, property development, logistics, utilities and ICT industry. She resumed work on a new entry level role; Internal Auditor, where she also executed the duties of Head, Treasury (Acting). With this new position, her roles and responsibilities advanced considerably and her newly acquired knowledge, skills and experience, which had built her competence, empowered her to initiate changes to a decade-old company policy and systems realising cost savings and process optimisation.
Within two years of return, Annabelle was promoted to Head the Internal Audit Department at LMI Holdings, becoming the youngest member of the executive team. On daily basis, she is responsible for evaluating and improving the effectiveness of business processes and for advising management and the Board of Directors on how to better execute company operations. Thanks to the master’s education, which sharpened her research and analytical skills, Annabelle is able to effectively collect and synthesize complex data to design work flows and procedures.
Apart from her work at LMI, Annabelle also contributes to the development of operations management, logistics and accounting in Ghana through research and her consultancy.
Together with other professionals in these fields, she has undertaken research and published findings in notable academic journals. She also founded a business start-up in 2015 to provide business process improvement and supply chain training to underserved organisations in Ghana. Bellevision Consultancy & Supply Ltd, an early-stage business process improvement consultancy, serves their clients, which includes a humanitarian organisation by helping them improve business processes through training of account teams to continuously search for optimisation opportunities and to adopt business process transparency. Bellevision Consultancy & Supply Ltd efforts though targeted and seemingly limited, intends to help raise the standards of account team quality and process efficiency in industries they serve.
Knowing the importance and impact of a scholarship scheme on an individual’s future advancement and having benefited from one, Annabelle has also set up the Obengfo Funding Scheme, for Senior High School students. The scholarship scheme is to enable young Ghanaians to follow their passions and to study a course that will be beneficial for their future advancement, knowing that there is funding available to support them in the event of financial crises; a widespread occurrence disrupting the educational trajectory of Ghanaian youth today.
For Annabelle, attaining a Masters in Operations Management, Logistics and Accounting in Newcastle University under the Tullow Group Scholarship Scheme, was an enriching experience and the icing on the cake was winning the “Best Dissertation” award, an accolade that signalled that she was equipped with the requisite skills and knowledge to contribute to the socio-economic development of her community, country, continent and the world at large.
TGSS Alumni Blog 