Prof. Joshua Yindenaba Abor: The action-oriented outgoing Dean of UGBS

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader,” John Quincy Adams said of all people-focused persons who become leaders. An imperative is the need for the right actions to be taken for the good of an institution. 

Professor Joshua Y. Abor, the outgoing Dean of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), is one of such leaders who took decisive actions to reposition UGBS as one of Africa’s shining examples in business education during his tenure as the Dean of the prestigious business school.

As a Dean, he showed bold and visionary leadership and his actions were tremendous in repositioning UGBS as a strong brand in the African Business education market. Some major things he did include: The development of a Five-Year Strategic Plan to reposition UGBs as a market leader; initiation and implementation of the UGBS annual report; and the initiation and implementation of a plan for UGBS to attain international accreditation (AABS, AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS). As part of this process, UGBS became one of the few Business schools in the world to complete the EDAF mentoring process under two years compared to the standard three years.

He also worked assiduously to sustain and improved UGBS’ contribution and importance as a member of the Global Network for Advanced Schools of Management—a distinguished group of 35 of the world’s most prestigious Business Schools resident in all the 6 continents of the globe

As “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”, Prof. Abor worked hard and under his leadership, UGBS introduced nine (9) new innovative, relevant and job ready graduate level academic programmes that respond to corporate needs, thereby improving the revenue generating capacity of UGBS.

His passion for faculty promotion and development was without question.

Another key achievement of the Prof. Abor’s administration was the rebranding and repositioning of the ex-while Centre for Management Research and Productivity Development (CMRPD) into the UGBS Executive Development (UGBS-ED) unit to help the unit improve it brand and revenue generation capacity

A key part of university education is its international study programmes. Recognising the need for innovation in that space, Prof. Abor initiated and led the re-organisation and restructuring of the UGBS international study programme, which today has gained such popularity among students and alumni and has become a key reason for student’s choice of UGBS for graduate studies.

The setting up of the Marketing and Communication (MARCOMS) unit of UGBS was a masterstroke that has ensured an effective brand management of the UGBS brand.

The introduction of the UGBS seminar series; the UGBS Policy brief series which covered the practical implications of our academic research on industry and government policy; the introduction of the UGBS Alumni Practitioner Forum, designed to discuss topical national issues to connect UGBS with our Alumni, industry and government; the introduction of a UGBS e-Newsletter that informed students, faculty and Alumni on noteworthy activities in the life of the school; and the introduction and sustaining of a Corporate Executives in Residence Programme (CERP), which connected UGBS to industry, ensuring that students can benefit from coaching and mentoring by industry captains who come to teach on our campus for a semester,  were all critical to the growth of the institution.

On the physical side, Prof. Abor worked with external stakeholders to replace the escalator for the physically challenged students in the UGBS building which had been out of use for more than a decade and a half. He further worked with external stakeholders to donate a 1 Megawatts electricity generating plant to UGBS to mitigate irregular power supply from the national grid to the UGBS.

Other physical developments championed by the dean involved working with external stakeholders to secure funding for the procurement of furniture for the new UGBS graduate building; Refurbished and modernized the K.E Adjei library for undergraduates and worked with Tullow Ghana to develop a brand-new library for graduate students; and Initiated UGBS Graduate building phase two project.

The many actions taken by Prof. Abor, with the support of his team, had far-reaching results for industry and the country at large. The publication of the Ghana Business Development Review– a micro level biannual report on business climate in Ghana–under his tenure, was a testament to his continuous effort to make academic research more relevant and available to policy makers and business in a single document and presented in business-like language.

Prof Abor, whose tenure ends this month, also Initiated and implemented the UGBS Corporate Advisory Group (CAG) concept, composed of top-class business executives to provide general advice on issues that impact on the strategic direction of the school and revitalized UGBS Endowment Fund.

The actions that he took, and the undertones of those actions brought to life some of the wise sayings from the legendary Maya Angelou. Like, Angelou, his actions made us understand that “do your best until you know better. Then when you know better, do better”, and indeed Prof. Abor did far better than many within his very young age.

Prof. Abor’s actions as the Dean of the UGBS shows that: “We may not control all the events that happen to us, but we can decide not to be reduced by them, and as we encounter many defeats, we must not be defeated.” Ultimately, “we should continue to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud as nothing can dim the light which shines from within.”

As he brings his tenure of to an end, UGBS faculty, students and administrative staff and the business community thank you very much, and wish you God’s blessings in your next journey up.