Graphic Courier marks second milestone

Graphic Courier, a subsidiary of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), has been charged to maintain its superior and valuable services to maintain the top- of-industry standards set by its mother company.

At a business review session to mark the courier service’s second anniversary yesterday[June 16, 2022], the Managing Director of the GCGL, Ato Afful, said even within this short period, and despite the outbreak of the COVID-19, the company had ensured that the vision underpinning the business, which is delivering a superior courier service, was solid and that had kept the business on the right track.

“It is commendable to note that within the two years, and despite the outbreak and impact of the COVID-19, the team has strived to keep the vision of the company alive, which is delivering a superior courier service, and that has helped to keep the business on the right track,” Mr Afful said.

Doing well

While congratulating Graphic Courier, he also challenged it to consolidate the gains made so far to be in tandem with the superior standards every brand of the GCGL was noted for.

He commended the efforts of the management and the team members of the business, saying: “It’s also important to recognise the team members and the visionaries pushing this business. I commend all team members for their consistency.”

Gaining more ground

He said to ensure that the business continued to gain ground and meet the objective of transcending local borders, there was the need to build teamwork and the right level of work ethics to foster the right customer service.

Additionally, he said, with the business thriving on excellent customer relations and experience, it was important for team members to build the right levels of capacity to ensure superior service and build trustworthiness with clients.

“We are not here to do short-term gains; we must transcend boundaries, and to do that, we have to maintain standards and strive for excellence in customer service and relations that will inure to the benefit of the business.

“Also, it is instructive to ensure that the right and enhanced systems are put in place,” he said, stressing that the systems that were currently employed to run the business had had a great impact on the attainment of set goals.

While acknowledging the fact that it had not been easy for the past two years,

Mr Afful urged the management to be mindful of the inherent challenges, be innovative in resolving those challenges and tap into new ideas that would inure to the benefit of the business.

“The challenges that we recognised ahead of ceding this opportunity remains, but the opportunities that we saw and also recognised and enabled would continue to open up and trigger other considerations that we need to tap into,” he said.

To reflect the strategic plan for the growth of the business, Mr Afful asked that all plans for the next few years be structured and documented to serve as a guide.

Now and the future

The Chief Executive Officer of Techmaaxx, the technical firm running the courier service, K.V. Senthilnathan, said the business offered both inter- and intra-city services, as well as customised distribution and international shipments.

He said Graphic Courier had taken over the distribution of GCGL newspaper brands in Tema, Koforidua, Tamale and Takoradi and was looking forward to doing same for other print media organisations.

Going forward, he said, the business was going to place maximum focus on the courier and freight services, the supply chain and cross-border shipments.

Setback, recommendations

Mr Senthilnathan indicated that the business experienced a setback with the COVID-19 pandemic when all economic activities were impacted.

Again, he said, the surge in digital dispatch services in the country affected business, as well as some changes in demand, but those notwithstanding, the business did not relent on its promise to deliver efficiency and effectiveness, a development that had helped sustain operations.

He recommended that strategic decisions be taken in terms of the management, business strategy and operations of the business.

He added that linkages between the GCGL and Graphic Courier should be visited and revised, while operations should also be unique to deter competition.

He further said the business could leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to expand the market base.

Some service areas he recommended as worth considering were digital marketing, digital marketplace, educational technology and classifieds.