Join Christa Dodoo as she chats with Sampson Opare-Agyemang about IFMA Ghana’s 13+ year journey, tackling FM challenges in Africa. They explore education's role, key skills, and the chapter’s collaborations shaping the future of FM.
In this episode, Christa Dodoo, the First Vice-Chair of IFMA, sits down with Sampson Opare-Agyemang, the President of IFMA Ghana, about the chapter’s 13-14 year journey in advancing facilities management across Africa. They also discuss how education has been pivotal in shifting mindsets, the value of credentials like the FMP, and the adoption of renewable energy and lifecycle costing practices. They also talk about essential FM skills, partnerships with government bodies and associations, and future goals like expanding university programs and developing more local trainings.
Sampson Opare-Agyemang:[00:00:00] What I realized is sustainability, you know solar energy and stuff like that. The, the initial cost, it was scared, you know, of people.Because it is new in Ghana, there are some companies that have taken advantage of it and they are doing full scale of it, but a large number of people, a large number of companies are not so much into it because when they look at the initial cost of it, they get scared a little bit. Yeah, so it comes back to, you know, being able to educate them and convince them.
Host: Welcome to Connected FM, a podcast connecting you to the latest insights, tools, and resources to help you succeed in facility management. This podcast is brought to you by IFMA, the leading professional association for facility managers. If you are ready to grow your network and advance in your career, go to ifma.
org to get started. In today's episode, Krista [00:01:00] Dodu, the first vice chair of IFMA's Global Board of Directors, sits down with Samson Opeyer Ajiman, the president of IFMA's Ghana chapter. Together they discuss the chapter's journey in advancing facilities management across Africa and in Ghana, and they also discuss how education has been pivotal in shifting mindsets, the value of credentials like the FMP, and the adoption of renewable energy in building lifecycle practices.
They also talk about essential FM skills, partnerships, and future goals like expanding university programs and developing more localized training. Now, let's get into it.
Christa Dodoo: My name is Christa Dodoo, the first vice chair of IFMA. I'm here today with Sampson Opare-Agyemang the president of the Ghana chapter. Welcome, Sampson.
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Thank you very much, Christa.
Christa Dodoo: Just by way of quick introduction, can you just walk us through a little bit what the Ghana chapter has been up to, generally?
It's been [00:02:00] like what, 13 years? Yeah, 13, 14 years now. Yeah, so what has been the journey like in the past 14 years for the chapter?
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Thank you, thank you Christa. It's been an interesting journey. I know you were there from the beginning, so I mean, I won't bore you with the struggles we had in the beginning.
But it was fun, it was interesting. I mean, we started with a few professionals interested in facilities management, who want to grow and grow and grow. Facilities management. They want to see facilities management. I mean, done professionally in Ghana. Okay, so it started with small little meetings, you know, having a child and seeing how we can make it happen to have a chapter in Ghana with IFMA Yeah.
There were some stringent rules that we need to meet. And It
Christa Dodoo: was really stringent in the back. It was stringent, yeah. But
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: we put it out, you know. Yeah. So what we did was, I mean, speaking to colleagues. And then Some understood it, some didn't know [00:03:00] anything at all about facilities management. Although they were working in the space.
They didn't know the profession, you know, facilities management. So it paid off by speaking with colleagues and staff like that, who were able to get their requirements, and IFMA fortunately launched their chapter in Ghana in 2013, 2014, thereabouts. Finally
Christa Dodoo: got it. Finally got it done. Yes. Yes. And it's interesting.
You mentioned people working in the space, but they don't know they are practicing facilities management. And when you go around, you talk to people. They're like, Oh, I'm maintenance engineer. I'm a technician, but I don't know. They don't realize what they are doing. That's the definition of facilities management.
So, how are you able to now shift that mindset a little bit in Ghana? Do you think you've made some progress in that direction?
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Indeed, indeed, indeed. We've made a lot of progress in that direction. So, the strategy we took was, I mean I may be in the leader. My, my, my [00:04:00] strategy was education, education, education.
Yeah. I also came to realize that although the, the team that started about 20, 25 of us, it was just one person who was, you know, having an FMP as a professional, you know, facilities manager. So the encouragement was to all of us to have the FMP at least. Yeah, if we have the FMP, and then we go out there and we are speaking to people and trying to educate them to understand and know the profession, then we can refer them to professional, you know, credentials that they can have, okay?
That will improve their work as well. And it paid off, so we started visiting companies we were visiting universities and speaking to them, and I think we've come very far. Today, we are having some universities running facilities management as a course in their faculties.
Christa Dodoo: Okay, that's good. And it's good you mentioned the FMP because that's one of the things [00:05:00] I wanted to mention.
Yeah. Congratulations. You, you, you, the chapter got awarded earlier this morning.
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Yeah.
Christa Dodoo: And well, fantastic. And was congratulation. And one, one of the things was the fact that there's been a lot of FMP credentials in Ghana. Over a hundred. Over a hundred yes. Yeah. FMPs. And it was kind of like, On a huge steady path to just get most of the professionals in Ghana accredited.
So I just want to say thank you for all that work, you know, bringing that education to to to Ghana and congratulations on their work. So In your opinion, still talking about training and you mentioned training, training, training to create the awareness. What do you think are some of those essential skills that FM professionals, specifically in Africa and in Ghana, what are some of those skills that we think we need to be focusing on [00:06:00] for the FM professionals in Ghana to be able to have meaningful impact and value for the organization.
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, personally, what I came to realize, you know, with the profession and working in the space in Ghana, is that we need to get to a point to be able to convince employees, sorry, employers, about the importance of facilities management and what we are bringing on board in terms of productivity.
Yeah, so we push more in the area of energy management, you know, push water, you know, management, waste management and stuff like that. And energy management paid off because electricity bills in Ghana is very high. So if you are able to do a little, little energy conservation, energy management efficiency, and then show the tables to your employer that look, we were paying this much.
When I [00:07:00] started introducing the strategies and we've been able to bring the bills down to that level, they appreciate it so much. And colleagues tell me that when they go to them and then they ask them to sponsor them to do the FMP especially, then they are ready to pay. Yeah. Because they are seeing the results practically on their books.
Christa Dodoo: Yeah. You are adding value. Bottom line for every organization. Revenue and value addition. So I think that is one of the, one of the good things. But beyond energy management and yes, in Africa renewable energy is, is cheap. Let me, and I'm using cheap very loosely because we have the sun 24 7. You do have the sun.
24 7. Do you think beyond organizations and energy management in organizations, do you think renewable energy is something that the African market is really ready for at this point? And are we taking advantage of it?
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Yeah, we, we, we are to some extent, [00:08:00] but I think it's on the, on the, on a very low stage.
On a very low level. Yeah. because what I realized is sustainability, you know solar energy and stuff like that. The, the initial cost, it was scared, you know, of people. I mean, because it is new in Ghana, I may, I may say so. There are some companies that have taken advantage of it and they are doing full scale of it, but a large number of people, a large number of companies are not so much into it because when they look at the initial cost of it, they get scared a little bit. Yeah, so it comes back to, you know, being able to educate them and convince them. Look, in the long run, this is going to, you know save you more, comparatively, if you are using the the traditional way of, you know, using energy.
Yeah.
Christa Dodoo: Well, I guess then that, that brings the topic about life cycle costing.
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Exactly.
Christa Dodoo: You [00:09:00] know and maybe that's one of the skills we should be looking at as essential skill for practitioners on the continent. Cause if you are able to do your life cycle costing, well, you're able to and then you have to present that business case to your employees employers, sorry, and organization, and they realize that it's not just the initial cost, and I do agree, even though renewable energy is cheaper now than it used to be 5, 10 years ago, it's still,
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: it's still, it's the one that comes to our part of the world, it is, so
Christa Dodoo: I, I think maybe that's one of the things we need to, you know, focus on intensive training.
Yeah, on life cycle costing. And I know just putting a little IFMA plug in here, I know they're researching benchmarking team. They are working on life cycle costing benchmarking reports right now. So that's one of the things to look out for. When that comes up, I think we can leverage that. [00:10:00] And push it into the African market and let them use it.
So, shifting gears a little bit looking at collaboration partnerships that you've had so far. I know there are some partnerships between the Ghana chapter and other FM associations in Africa. How do you see that going the next five years? How do you see that partnership growing and how can we take advantage of that to really grow the industry?
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Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Yeah. I mean, when, when, when we started, I mean, the, the, it was really, you know, difficult to, I mean, approaching this other professions in the built environment. Some a lot of them saw it like you know, a competition. You know, we saw it more like a collaboration and then you know, adding, you know, value to each other's area.
But I think the perceptive is changing. It's changing because we, we are, we are engaging them more. For instance, the Institute of Architects, we, we had a meeting with them. I mean, we pushed all this and they were, they were surprised, you know. Things that they need to know as architects, okay? That will add value, you know, to their profession as architects.
So, I mean, going into the future, I see that It's going to help a lot. It's going to grow and it's going to [00:12:00] help, you know FM's in Ghana and also other professionals, you know, in a built environment. Yeah, it's something that we are doing. We are engaging a lot of this time around. Yeah,
Christa Dodoo: I think that collaboration with architects, the design.
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Yeah,
Christa Dodoo: maintenance teams. Yeah, it
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: is. It is.
Christa Dodoo: It is kind of a thing. Attention. It is not just in Africa. Pretty much everywhere. Because there is this lack off synergy most of the time when the project team gets to the table and they start planning and and whatnot, they are thinking about just the design building design.
Yes,
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: yes.
Christa Dodoo: They don't really consider the maintain, you know, which incidentally does the longest part of the, of the whole life cycle of the infrastructure. So it's good and and it's very encouraging to hear that the Ghana chapter is collaborating with the architect institute to be able to ensure that you have that.
Collaboration. And [00:13:00] what about government institutions as well in terms of influencing regulations and policies? Have you done any work in that area with the chapter?
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: Yes, yes, yes. I mean, that's another area that the chapter is doing so well in. We have a committee that the we, we, we have set up, you know, to come up with a bill because we visited the, the Parliament of Ghana.
And we visited the minister of works and housing and they gave us the opportunity to put a bill together and present to them. So for consideration, so it's something that we put a committee together that is working on and when they are done, we'll present it and then take it from there and see where it will get to, because we need policies to actually support, you know, our services and our profession in Ghana very well.
But the profession still looks Very new. Yeah, very new. Yeah. Yeah. To to to even government. Yeah. To even government. And, you know, Ghana is a [00:14:00] developing, you know, country and all we are in an election year. All the promises is about building and infrastructure, hospitals and roads and what have you. These are all things that they do without thinking of the operational, you know, stage of it.
And so we believe that if this thing is able to go through very well, it's going to open a huge job opportunities for us, you know, as facilities managers and people working in the space. Yeah,
Christa Dodoo: good. Good. Some sense. So before we wrap up, What is next for the chapter? Next year, next two years. What are some of the priorities that the chapter has in front of them?
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: One of the key challenges we have is that we don't have, you know, an IFMA certified trainer in Ghana. It's one of the challenges we have, I mean, in leadership. Because some of the cost for running a professional arts education is, is expensive when we are bringing, [00:15:00] you know, instructors from outside, from North America, from America and stuff like that.
So one of the key things we want to do is to have trainers within ourselves to help us bring down the cost of education. You know, running the professional exams, it's, it's very key. And then the next thing is to, we've been able to help some universities to run the professional as a course. We want to push more so that we cover almost all the universities in Ghana to run the profession.
That is a, a good way of, you know, advancing the visibility of facilities management in Ghana, we think.
Christa Dodoo: Good, good. So I, I think that would be, that would be good to, at least with the qualified instructor, it's good to have that localized knowledge, you know, as well. So aside the course components, that localized knowledge to share within the members, that would be really relevant for them.
Thank you very much and congratulations again on your award and [00:16:00] looking forward to more
Sampson Opare-Agyemang: good things.
We actually dedicate that, you know, award to you, you know, to you and John Vinkin. Whatever it is, we say thank you to you guys. So thank you Johnny Vinkin. Thank you
Christa Dodoo: Sampson. Thank you.
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