A Powerhouse in Ghana’s Retail Sector – Melcom Group

Interview with Francis Sam, Group General Manager at Melcom Group

What is your experience with Melcom Group as a company and in the family, itself?

Working with Melcom is quite different from working at a large multinational company, which is where most of my experience has been from. Previously, I worked in the US with Samsung as North American Controller and also with Unilever for a number of years. Melcom is unique in the sense that it is a homegrown company from Ghana. It is a trailblazer because it has grown over the generations within a family unit, and it has become a powerhouse in the retail sector in Ghana. In my experience, having worked in the US for a long time and coming to what the US would view as a small to medium sized company, it was surprising to see how dominant Melcom was in Ghana. Having been here almost two years, I can say it has been a joy working with them. We still have a long way to go. We are just at the inception of what Melcom will accomplish in the coming years. We recently launched our online platform which was in its infancy when I joined. But with some push, we have gotten it launched and we see big things ahead for Melcom. Another area is our retail establishments. We are growing rapidly, opening three to five stores per year on average. That trend is on track to continue on a yearly basis. We are present in all ten regions in Ghana. Our next goal is to look at a district level and a municipal level presence. The organized retail sector in Ghana is not dominated by the few retail companies here. The total sector is about 4.6% based on Neilson’s estimates last year, and we hope to take it to about 10% in the next decade.

What is the key ingredient to Melcom’s success and the major differentiator between your other competitors?

Melcom’s key mission is to sell everything to everyone at the lowest price possible. Melcom is very focused on the consumer or the end user, who is our main customer. As a result, we try to do everything in our value chain to satisfy that consumer.

Melcom is very focused on the consumer or the end user, who is our main customer.

What is your personal vision for Melcom? Three years from now, where would you like the company to be?

I expect us to continue our growth in terms of not only being present in all the regions we are currently, but looking at district and municipal level presence. We are also hopeful for cross border trade and presence. We are investigating extending our line. We are not only active in retail, we are in manufacturing as well. The presence in other sectors of manufacturing is interesting due to the government’s initiative and its push to have Ghana become more industrialized. We are looking to expand inside Ghana and beyond, and also to enter manufacturing in multiple categories.

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