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Structure and Role of the Advisory Board
The Believe Begin Become Advisory Board (AB) provides the strategic vision and direction for the design and management of the programme. The board is made up of outstanding individuals from the private sector in Ghana who embody the characteristics and accomplishments of a successful entrepreneur. The TechnoServe Country Director is also proud to serve as a member of the board.
Members’ insights and support are instrumental in the success and sustainability of Believe Begin Become. The Believe Begin Become management team thanks the members of the AB for their astute guidance and for their unwavering commitment to developing entrepreneurs in Ghana.
Grace Amey-Obeng
Managing Director, FC Group of Companies
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Grace Amey-Obeng is the Managing Director of the FC Group of Companies. She is also a Paramedical Aesthetician, who has distinguished herself as a pioneer in the field of skin and body treatments in Ghana. Mrs. Amey-Obeng has grown FC from a Cosmetic Retail Shop to a conglomerate which now includes FC Skin & Beauty Clinics, FC Cosmetics Industry, FC Perfumery & Cosmetics, and FC Institute of Beauty Therapy, the premier beauty therapy training institute in Ghana, accredited by the Ghana Education Service and affiliated with City & Guilds of London. Mrs. Amey-Obeng has also developed Beauty Scope Magazine, the most recent branch of the FC Group, into the only magazine in Ghana devoted to women’s issues. Mrs. Amey-Obeng is the Vice President of Ghana Association of Beauty Therapists, a member of Professional Cosmetology Association of Ghana, Local Examiner for City and Guilds of London International, and the Financial Controller of Ghana Skin Foundation. Mrs. Amey-Obeng studied Beauty Therapy at Croydon College, UK and obtained a Diploma in Beauty Therapy from Profile Aesthetics Institute, UK. She also studied Paramedic Aesthetics at the Aesthetic Research Institute in the US. She has several advanced certificates from the Newlands Hospital, England and regularly joins refresher courses at the Alan Roy Aesthetics Institute and the Skin Science College in South Africa. She is married to Mr. Johnson Obeng with three children, all of whom work with her to help make the FC Group a successful family business.
In 1996 and 2000 Mrs. Amey-Obeng was the first and only Ghanaian woman to receive recognition as a “Dynamic Flying Angel of Sales” and “Queen of Sales” from the Mary Kay Corporation. She was the 2002 Marketing Woman of the Year and the International Biographical Center’s 21st Century Award for Achievement. That year she also received a Certificate of Achievement from the South African Skin Science College.
Nick Railston-Brown
Country Director, TechnoServe Ghana
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Nick Railston-Brown joined TechnoServe in 1999 as the Ghana Country Director. TechnoServe is an international non-profit organization that works to build businesses that create jobs, income, opportunity and economic growth in developing countries. The organization’s strategy is market-driven and business-oriented. Much of Mr. Railston-Brown’s work in Ghana has focused on conducting industry-specific market research and analyses, identifying high-value agribusiness opportunities, and establishing new and productive market linkages.
Prior to joining TechnoServe Mr. Railston-Brown garnered over 20 years of experience in commercial agribusiness both in the developed and the developing world. He spent six years in senior management positions in Zambia where he successfully turned around Zambia’s largest private soyabean processing company, developed a range of animal feed products that secured 20-25% market share, and lead the agency to becoming a pioneer in the distribution of high yielding hybrid seeds. Mr. Railston-Brown has a BSC in Agriculture from Newcastle University, MSC in Agronomy from Harper Adams College, and an MBA from Cranfield School of management. He has three children.
In recent years Mr. Railston-Brown has forged relationships with local, international and multinational corporate partners to facilitate private sector growth through the promotion and development of entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises. He is a member of the SAGE (Student’s for the Advancement for Global Entrepreneurship) Global Advisory Board. Mr. Railston-Brown helped bring one of the first ever Google Foundation grants to Ghana. He is instrumental in the introduction of Believe Begin Become, Ghana’s national business plan competition, a comprehensive entrepreneurship development programme.
Albert Ocran
Chief Executive, Combert Impressions
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Albert Ocran is Chief Executive of Combert Impressions, a cutting-edge printing company based in Accra. He is also the Lead Consultant of Legacy & Legacy, a human capital development firm.
He graduated with a Major in Economics from the University of Ghana, Legon in 1990 and subsequently read his MBA at GIMPA. He is a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative, West Africa and of the renowned Aspen Global Leaders Network based in Colorado, USA.
Albert serves on boards and provides corporate training services to a number of organisations. He is an international motivational speaker and lay minister. His media outreaches include the motivational radio seminar Springboard which he presents every Sunday evening at 7pm on Joy 99.7FM. Together with his wife, Comfort, he has authored 12 motivational and business books. The couple also travel nationwide every year with the Springboard Road Show, a series of personal and career development conferences.
Djabanor Narh
Partner, Ernst & Young
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Djabanor Narh has many years of management consulting experience to his credit and has led many consulting assignments for major local and international clients in both the public and private sectors. His areas of expertise and specialization include: Institutional Strengthening, Program Management, Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. He has played a leading role in the establishment and management of local consulting firms. He was also instrumental in leading the merger of one with Ernst & Young, Ghana where he is presently a Partner.
Djabanor also acts in an advisory capacity for a number of corporate and non-governmental organizations. He has worked for International Professional Services firms as a Management Consultant in Europe and Africa. Djabanor completed his education in Ghana and the UK, Brunel University (Applied Computer Systems) & Henley Management College (Modular MBA). He is a fellow of the Aspen Institute-affiliated African Leadership Initiative of West Africa.
Petronella Chigara
Africa Hub Manager, ACCION International
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Petronella Chigara is the head of ACCION Africa regional hub office and training center based in Accra Ghana. Prior to this posting, Ms Chigara was working in Tanzania seconded by ACCION to one of its commercial bank partners Akiba. Ms. Chigara brings 17 years of experience in microfinance, SME development, and organizational development in Southern, East and West Africa. She has held operational, managerial, and senior advisory posts in microfinance institutions at both wholesale and retail levels, such as International Labour Organization (ILO), CARE Zimbabwe, and Zambuko Trust. She is an accredited trainer with MicroSave and the ILO and has extensively used PRA tools both in training and program evaluation contexts.
Her accomplishments clearly reflect a comprehensive understanding of the organizational, human, financial, system, product and many other attributes of successful microfinance. Furthermore, she has shown an ability to transfer her skills and knowledge to counterparts, colleagues, and subordinates in several varied settings. Ms Chigara also teaches at the internationally recognized Boulder MFT program.
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