We made FIPAG more attractive — Michael Ola

The Public Relations Officer(PRO) of the outgoing board of the Film Producers Association Ghana (FIPAG), Michael Ola, has disclosed that the board chaired by Mr Hackman Asare managed to turn the image of FIPAG around and made it more attractive to corporate investors. 

He, however, gave the outgoing administration an average rating of 55 percent saying there was still many projects and policies the outgoing executive have not been able to accomplish during their tenure. 

In an interview with Showbiz on Friday, Michael Ola who was giving an assessment of the performance of the outgoing board which was elected in 2013, said although it was unable to achieve all it set out to do, it was able to chalk some notable successes. 

“Prior to us assuming office, one of the major challenges facing the association was the poor reputation of FIPAG. We used to be in the news for all the wrong reasons and all the internal infighting among the members of the board was constantly in the news. 

“Thankfully, one of our first priorities was to get this in check and I must say we have been successful in that regard,” he said.

He added that the outgoing executives managed the financial affairs of the organisation prudently and as such, there was a significant amount of money in the coffers of FIPAG, which the incoming executives can draw on to fund their activities. 

He also mentioned the establishment of more FIPAG offices across the country, a welfare fund to cater for executives, a database of all members of FIAPG, training workshops to improve the capacity of members of the association among others. 

Touching on their failures, Michael Ola said, “we failed to establish a film village; this is a piece of land which we had to develop and make available for film makers to shoot movies. 

“We also had issues with the establishment of channels of distribution as well as creating more avenues for revenue,” he said.

Michael Ola identified some areas which he said the incoming executive would have to pay particular attention to. 

“Online distribution is a new area which the new executives have to manage effectively in order to generate revenue for members. 

“In addition to that, the new board has to be more media friendly and democratic in their affairs,” he added.