Opinions of Monday, 20 January 2020

Columnist: Isaac Ato Mensah

Why Writers and Shakespeares Ghana Limited operates online

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The “credibility” of our company has been called into question, and we must respond in order to offer guidance.

Some anxious prospective mentees have had their internship letters addressed to us from a university internship office blocked by faculty who want to know from the students and us “the location and the work done by Writers and Shakespeares Ghana Limited”.

The said faculty have no problem with “non-scoring” interns coming to us but “graded” internships must be done at a more “credible” organisation.

THE LOCATION

Writersghana.com operates 1) Online, 2) from the home offices of the various directors and consultants, and 3) from the offices and homes of clients.

It is cheaper for us so to do, simpliciter!

Dr. Okraku-Yirenkyi, a director of Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation (GRAF), who is also a full time employee at Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE), Accra, disclosed to writersghana.com on 29 November, 2019 that he “organizes young programmers online” because GRAF has “not grown yet to the level where we can rent an office and pay the related bills associated with managing a physical space”.

WORK DONE

Our services are listed on our website.

Our blog with over 200 peer reviewed publications addressing existential problems around the world have been well received; not even one has been challenged on the basis of facts, evidence and reason.

The posts have been republished on myjoyonline.com, ghanaweb.com classfmonline.com, asembi.com, ghanaguardian.com and other sites, and many organizations have made useful “press cuttings’ from our work.

Our article “Free secondary education and the affordability question” was used by Radio Ghana” last year for “Commentary”.

The Ghana Police Service PR directorate and Ghana Television are now running a promo against the police flashing torchlights into the eyes of passengers.

This is a direct result of our campaign titled “A police cell in Teshie”.

In “Searchlight on the banking scandal” parts one to nine and “ICAG: how to not think”, we provided extensive analysis and offered management advise on a national crises.

We have drafted speeches, brochures and many PR strategies for corporate clients who prefer anonymity.

On a daily basis, we do editing and proofreading for media persons who also prefer anonymity.

A story you read today and liked so much may have been edited by us.

When masters and PhD candidates are struggling with the “academic writing”, they come to us for assistance.

WHY WE DO NOT KEEP REGULAR EMPLOYEES?

There is solid academic research which documents that all the net job growth in the last decade is in “alternative work arrangements”.

That includes temps, on-call and on-demand workers, contractors at companies, independent contractors and freelancers.

Online “gig” work like Uber is a tiny slice of that.

Our typical production cycle involves multiple consultants and peer review teams across various time zones, 0200 hours GMT is a very typical active office hour even in Accra!

For example, a client may need a speech as early as 6am, hence our company sleeps with only one eye closed.

The online school edX and many private universities run online businesses – how about that also?

And the paradox is, does the local politburo expect anyone to successfully market “online courses” for their university with this attitude?

The fourth industrial revolution is already here; we must wake up.

“The theory and the practice cannot be divorced from each other,” my mentor again. “Their ignorance is my food”.

Feedback; ato@writersghana.com; www.writersghana.com; LinkedIn, Isaac Ato Mensah; Instagram, @atomenswriters; Twitter, @Atomens; Facebook, Writers and Shakespeares Ghana; Telegram, Isaac Ato Mensah; Quora, Isaac Ato Mensah; WhatsApp (+233) 020 022 0353.

Writers and Shakespeares Ghana Limited exist to be a moral and intellectual guide to the best practice of PR and integrated communications around the world, beginning with Ghana.