Akwaaba! Welcome! That
one word immediately typi
fies Ghana. The West
African country, wedged
between Cöte d'lvoire and
Togo, is famed for its hospi
tality and friendliness.
Relaxation, enjoyment and
indeed the celebration of
life are very important to
Ghanaians. Enjoying a bot
tle of beer is part of that
friendly lifestyle.
r: new brewery the s
10
Ghana has around eighteen million
inhabitants, of whom almost two
million live in the capital Accra (pro
nounced with the stress on the final
syllable). In Achimota, one of the dis
tricts of Accra, stands the ABC brew
ery, formerly Achimota Brewing
Company. ABC has been owned by
Heineken since the last quarter of
1997, which makes it Heineken's
second brewery in Ghana. The first
one was the Kumasi Brewery in the
city of the same name. Since 1996
Heineken has owned a majority stake
in Kumasi following the acquisition
of the shares held by Unilever, which
withdrew completely from the beer
business in West Africa to concen
trate on its core activities. Kumasi is
located some 260 kilometres inland
and for very many years the brewery
has been brewing Star and Gulder
lager beers, as well as Amstel Malta
the non-alcoholic malt drink. With
the acquisition of ABC a process was
set in motion to merge the two brew
eries and to exploit beneficial
synergies. A new name had mean
while been found: Ghana Breweries
Ltd.; but the process involved a lot
more. As The World of Heineken
found during a visit to the new brew
ery.
FOLDERS
Martin Eson-Benjamin (49) is a con
scientious man. All the memos and
papers that arrive on his desk are
classified and stored away tidily in
folders. Creating order to keep a clear
overall view seems to be his motto.
Martin Eson-Benjamin is the
Managing Director of Ghana
Breweries. Previously he held the
same post at Kumasi Brewery but,
after the acquisition of ABC, he pack
ed his bags as did the other mem
bers of the management team an
moved to the brewery in Accra
which serves as the operational
headquarters of Ghana Breweries.
Our conversation is regularly inter
rupted by telephone calls or by peo
ple dropping in briefly to ask his
advice. "Here in Ghana everybody
wants to talk to the MD because they
think that it is only when they speak
to the MD that their problems will be
taken seriously", sighs Mr Eson-
Benjamin. It does not make his task
any simpler as director of a company
in transition.