One District One Factory (1D1F), a private-sector led initiative by the President of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, aims to change the nature of Ghana’s economy from one dependent on import and export of raw materials to one focused on manufacturing, value addition and export of processed goods.
One company born out of this initiative is TIAST Group. It focuses on the localisation of agricultural equipment, the supply of accessories and after-sale services, localisation of technology, and trainings on how to use these machineries to improve agricultural ecological chain and increase the value of agricultural products.
The company since its inception has trained a lot of Ghanaians on the use of these agro-processing machineries as it is the company’s objective to ensure a localised team is established where more locals will be trained in the servicing of processing machines, and this is done by the training and development department at TIAST Group.
Heading this department is Lancaster University Ghana’s alumni, Isaac Oliver Ocansey ‘18. Isaac completed Lancaster University Ghana with a BSc (Hons) degree in Accounting and Finance and worked as a teaching assistant in the institution before moving to TIAST Group. Prior to this, Isaac worked with Access bank for his National Service and worked with other prestigious companies such as the Ghana Water Company and MTN as an intern while still a student at Lancaster University Ghana.
Isaac Oliver Ocansey joined TIAST Group as a training officer in the Human Resource department and rose to the position of Head of Training and Development. In his role, Isaac has trained a lot of Ghanaians to be able to run these agro – processing machineries in factories. He has trained many mechanical engineering graduates and graduates from other engineering fields from various universities such as the University of Ghana, KAAF University, Pentecost University, etc.
Speaking with Isaac about the impact Lancaster University Ghana has had on his corporate journey, he shared that “once you mention Lancaster University Ghana, people have a high expectation of you, and this made me believe I have something very good as my employers saw me as an asset”. “The school has created that impression over the years in Ghana, and therefore the bar is set very high, which pushes you to do well because you have to prove to them that yes, indeed I graduated from Lancaster University Ghana”.
“Studying at Lancaster University Ghana was definitely a great choice for me” Isaac stated. “By the grace of God, if it hadn’t been for Lancaster University Ghana and some exposure that we have while in the university, I wouldn’t be here right now”.
