Enterprise Growth
Services
Helping entrepreneurs change lives
Case study: DDP Outdoor, Ghana
Helping entrepreneurs change lives
Enterprise Growth Services (EGS) helps entrepreneurs change lives in
low-income countries. It extends EY’s long-standing commitment to
championing entrepreneurship as a key to sustainable growth in local
economies. As our corporate social enterprise, EGS brings the best
of our people, services and expertise to organizations that wouldn’t
ordinarily be able to work with us.
Our teams help job-creating small businesses, as well as social
entrepreneurs who use the power of the market, to improve health,
education and access to energy in their communities. We’re building
a better working world in areas of real need and giving our people
experiences that last a lifetime.
Enabling growth and reducing risk for a promising advertising company
An inspiring entrepreneurial business, Design Display Placement
(DDP) Outdoor Limited, was established in 1973 by local
entrepreneur Torgbor Mensah, affectionately known as Mr. T.
Mr. T has grown the company to a business with an approximate
turnover of US$5m and 100 staff. The company specializes in outdoor
advertising in Ghana — fabricating, installing, renting and maintaining
billboards, in addition to offering complimentary printing services.
Despite being Ghana’s leading outdoor advertising company,
DDP had reached an inflection point in its growth — its policies and
procedures hadn’t developed in line with the growth of the business.
With assets spread across Ghana and a diverse client base that
included large multinationals, blue-chip Ghanaian companies,
government organizations and small local businesses, the company
needed to address its inefficiencies immediately. There was some
urgency involved because DDP was managing tight cash flows by
prioritizing expenditure on a day-to-day/week-to-week basis. Its
growth and the jobs of its staff were at risk.
EY was asked to provide an EGS team to help DDP for three-and-a-half
months. Given the size of the company, EY deployed one full-time
consultant from the EY UK&I practice, with part-time support from the
local office in Accra and oversight from an EY director.
A structured approach to sustainable business change
With EGS consultant Matt Russell on the ground, the overarching objective of the engagement was to improve DDP’s cash position and its ability to
track and manage its costs, working capital and performance. The EGS team focused on the following areas:
1
Policies, procedures
and internal controls
2
IT infrastructure
Through end-to-end process reviews, we
completed an assessment of the existing
internal controls structure.
We held focus sessions with DDP management
to corroborate our findings and rolled out
presentations and training to DDP employees.
We compiled a detailed policy and procedure
manual for many sub-processes including:
•Bank account and cash management
•New supplier selection
•Purchasing
•Stock control
•New customer management
•Sales
•Customer credit limit
•Customer debt collection
Working with a local IT consultant, we
recommended upgrades to IT software.
We completed a capability assessment and
provided oversight for the upgrade of the Tally
software configuration.
2 | Enterprise Growth Services • Case study: DDP Outdoor, Ghana
3
Management
reporting
4
Resourcing
5
Accounting
policies
Leveraging the new IT software, we helped DDP
develop and produce enhanced management
reporting. We developed a tailored set of
monthly management accounts and ensured that
the process of producing monthly reporting was
embedded as “business as usual.”
We updated the organizational chart, associated
job descriptions and KPIs. We also implemented
a new recruitment process.
We coached DDP’s finance team on preparing
accounts that comply with both local and
international regulations.
“In a dynamic and entrepreneurial context, the EGS team was able both to analyze the situation
and also move to implement solutions. I greatly appreciated their pragmatic approach and ability
to handle both high-level thinking and basic tasks. You did a great job working collaboratively
with the team, internal and external, and we all learned a great deal from each other.”
Nnennia Ejebe
Adenia Partners, Ghana
An Australian in Ghana
After successfully applying to EGS, Matt, who is based in London within
the Transaction Advisory Services division of EY, had to hit the ground
running. This would be a test of how his experience as a valuation and
business modeling manager, together with the part-time support from
EY’s local office, could help DDP — a very different type of client — in
size and nature.
With multiple actions to address immediately, the project demanded
that Matt work closely with the finance, client service and operational
teams at DDP to identify some of their key internal control issues.
Matt also was charged with managing recruitment to the finance team.
Within the first few weeks, EGS had tailored the job descriptions of the
finance team, analyzed aged debtors and identified weaknesses in the
current cash collection process. Additionally, EGS ensured an essential
upgrade of the company’s accounting software was completed, allowing
for more meaningful monthly management reports.
Working on both a strategic and tactical level meant that no two days
were the same — something all our EGS alumni can attest to.
Expect the unexpected
Always expect the unexpected is one of the key rules of EGS assignments,
and the DDP project was no exception. Halfway through the assignment,
Ghana was suffering a power crisis, with multiple electricity outages
affecting all businesses. Following the loss of a full day’s work due to a
software backup failure, maintaining a sense of humor was essential.
EGS is a heavily subsidized and sustainable extension
of EY’s core business — working at accessible rates
for smaller, socially impactful clients.
EGS’s corporate social enterprise model means
it is scalable and prevents costs from falling
disproportionately on the local teams that
contribute participants.
• EY absorbs the costs of the program’s
management team and participants’ overheads.
• EGS participants from mature markets voluntarily
reduce their salaries to emerging market levels
during their time on EGS.
• EGS clients pay fees that are a small fraction of
our normal commercial rates in both mature and
emerging markets.
Enterprise Growth Services • Case study: DDP Outdoor, Ghana | 3
Changing lives and livelihoods
A few weeks after returning to London, Matt received an email from
Joshua Aryeetey, DDP’s most recent hire. Josh asked Matt whether
he would become his career mentor, having been impressed with the
training he was provided with during his induction.
Celebrating triumphs and the
return of electricity
As the project came to an end after three-and-a-half months, it was
a chance to take stock of progress and to celebrate achievements.
DDP was on the way to sustainable growth. The newly standardized
set of monthly management reports had improved working capital
management procedures and made some significant upgrades to a
number of other business processes.
Matt was confident that these new structures and processes
would continue. And Matt was able to hand over a number of his
responsibilities to a new management accountant whom he had helped
recruit and integrate into the team. In addition, DDP’s management had
a clear goal to take the business to the next level and, in the process,
create further employment opportunities for people locally in Ghana and
across the region.
DDP is on track for
a 33% reduction
in its debtor days
outstanding.
With a few Skype mentoring sessions already completed and more
scheduled, Josh continues to take a more strategic and proactive
approach to his career development. Having passed his second set of
exams as part of his chartered accountancy qualifications through the
Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana, Josh has been able to look
at his career in a way that was previously unimaginable. Added to this,
the continued growth of DDP means that he can look at a longer-term
plan, which includes helping support his family.
The chance of a lifetime
Matt took a 50% salary cut in order to work through EGS and make EY
services affordable to the client. “It was an honor and a privilege to have
his opportunity to be a part of the EGS program and to work in Ghana.
For anyone thinking about getting involved, I would recommend it — it is
an eye-opening and rewarding experience,” explained Matt.
For more information on Enterprise Growth Services,
please contact:
Increased IT and
Expansion
reporting capabilities opportunities means
have led to better
creating jobs — next
decision-making.
stop Senegal.
Jon Shepard
[email protected]
+ 44 7919 691 916
Leadership, empathy and collaboration
Working with the CEO, CFO and senior leadership so closely was one
of the best learning experiences for Matt. “It gave me an enormous
sense of responsibility, but also the chance to step up and hone in
my leadership skills,” he explained. “We understood that once the
problems were identified, we needed to get the DDP team on board and
explain how these fundamental changes would help them in the long
run. Everyone knew it could be painful, but we had to make sure the
DDP team believed the outcome would be worth it.”
Abi Smith
[email protected]
+ 44 7768 733 693
EY | Assurance | Tax | Transactions | Advisory
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