The Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) has reviewed the criteria for selecting members of the Ghana Club 100, citing implementation problems. Ghana Club (GC) 100 is a prestigious group of top performing companies in the country.

Kwesi Abeasi, Chief Executive, GIPC, told a press briefing on Tuesday that the new criteria would require all entrants to be limited liability companies with government shareholdings of below 50 per cent. In addition, companies must have posted positive cumulative net profit in the recent three years.

Abeasi further explained that the new criteria would require that the rank of a firm be based on profitability, turnover, growth rate in turnover and net assets rather than the previous requirement that dwelt on turnover only, which favoured mostly large companies.

He said companies would be ranked on each of the four indicators that would be given equal weight. "The final rank in the GC 100, would be the weighted average rank obtained after weighing all the four factors and it is hoped that this will give full recognition for successful enterprise building, and make it possible for small but well managed firms to be members of the prestigious club," he said.

Abeasi said the decision to change the qualifying standard was due to problems and challenges encountered over the past years of instituting the programme. He mentioned the prominence of some loss making companies as well as the overwhelming preponderance of government owned organisations in the top of the rankings as some of the major challenges.

Abeasi said the new measures would address the problems and ensure that the club becomes more relevant and responsive to the needs of the private sector. Advisory boards to approve rules of eligibility, models for arriving at ranking, approve special excellence awards and criteria for their determination as well as advise on ways of making benefits available to the GC 100 members would also be set up, he said.

"This is to ensure that the private sector has real ownership of the GC 100 programme and also make the programme most reliable, authoritative and most consistent annual publication on the corporate sector in Ghana," he said. He said an initial registration fee of 500,000 cedis has been dropped and companies could now register free of charge.

Abeasi urged all eligible companies to submit their documentation, which must include copies of the company's audited accounts for 1999-2001, the company's profile, Profile of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), a statement by the CEO about the company's vision and developments for the past years.