His elementary and middle school education were at the Breman Kuntanase Primary School from 1948-1953, Breman Jamara Middle School from 1953-1954 and finally at Ajumako Odoben from 1955-1956.
From there he proceeded to Apam Secondary School where he did both the ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels and completed in 1963 with distinction.
He enrolled at the University of Ghana to study B.Sc (Econ) Hons. Degree and graduated from the University of Ghana, Legon, with B.Sc. Economics Honours degree in 1966.
Ishmael spent a brief period at the Ghana Armed Forces Officers Training College but decided to join UAC of Ghana, then a subsidiary of Unilever Plc. His career with Unilever started in Customer Management. He then moved to Brand Marketing before settling in General Management.
In 1983 Ishmael Yamson got his first Senior Management appointment as Chairman of UAC of Tanzania, thus becoming the first African to become Chairman of a Unilever Company outside his home country. His rise was meteoric.
In November 1986 exactly 20 years after joining the Company, Ishmael Yamson was appointed Chairman of UAC of Ghana Limited. In June 1989 he was appointed Chairman, National Committee of Unilever Investments in Ghana. In July 1992 the two major Unilever businesses in Ghana i.e. UAC and Lever Brothers Ghana Limited were merged to form Unilever Ghana Limited and Ishmael Yamson was appointed its first Chairman. At the time of his retirement, he was in addition to his Ghana job, Chairman of the Executive Committee that manages Unilever’s businesses in West Africa.
At the time of his retirement, Ishmael Yamson, Chairman, Unilever Ghana Limited, was managing Ghana’s biggest manufacturing business which largely adds value to palm oil produced in Ghana.
He holds membership of a number of Associations and Institutes. They include:
- Patron and Fellow, Institute of Marketing, Ghana
- Fellow, Institute of Management, Ghana
- Member, Rotary International
- Member, Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Conference Club
- Member, Society of Friends for the Mentally Retarded, Ghana
- Member Global Coalition for Africa
At the national level Ishmael has been a key player and a member of a number of private sector Associations. He had held key private sector positions and continues to hold a number of appointments. The list includes:
1990 – 2000 - President, Ghana Employers’ Association
1990 – 1994 - President, Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry
1991 – 1996 - Member, Private Sector Advisory Group
1991 – 1994 - Council Member, Ghana Stock Exchange
1992 – 1994 - Chairman, University of Ghana Investment Committee
1992 – 1996 - Member GIMPA Court of Governors
1992 – 1996 - Member GIMPA Court of Governors
1992 – 1996 - Member, Central Region Development Commission
1993 – 1998 - President of Governing Council, Private Enterprise Foundation
1993 – 2002 - Member, Centre for Policy Analysis, Ghana
1994 – 1996 - Member, Enterprise Fund
1996 – 1999 - Chairman, Hunger Project-Ghana
1998 to date - Chairman, University of Ghana Council
1998 to date - Member, Commonwealth Business Council
2000 to date - Member, Private Initiative for Africa
2005 to date - Chairman, Governance Committee, Commonwealth Business Council.
During his career he served and continues to serve on a number of Boards including the following:
- Bank of Ghana
- Ghacem Limited
- Twifo Oil Plantations Limited
- Benso Oil Plantations Limited
- Nigerian Breweries Plc
- Standard Chartered Bank
- Barclays Bank
- University of Ghana
Honours
- Scholar of the Year, Apam Secondary School, 1962, 1963
- Honoris Causa (PhD) University of Ghana
- Fellow, Ghana Institute of Management
- Fellow and Patron, Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Association with International Bodies
- Global Coalition for Africa
- Commonwealth Business Council
- International Chamber of Commerce
- Rotary International
- Duke of Edinburgh’s Commonwealth Conference
His hobbies include golf, International Economics, Company Law, Corporate Governance and public speaking.
Ishmael is married to Lucy Yamson with whom they have five children.
Achievements
- Very early in his career in 1967 Ishmael Yamson launched UAC’s first mass market confectionary – Cascade Sweets. UAC being a trading company, this launch was the first entry into the fast moving consumer goods market and major breakthrough for the company.
- In 1975 Ishmael Yamson led the team that developed and launched the new Gulder beer ahead of Nigeria with great marketing success. Gulder has since grown into a major brand.
- Ishmael Yamson restructured UAC’s textiles business when he became the General Manager, introducing scientific distribution processes which ensured equity in the sellers’ market days of the 80’s.
- In 1985 Ishmael Yamson revolutionalized distribution of fast moving consumer goods in this country. His novel ‘Key Distribution Concept’ which delivers products direct from the Key Distributor to the retail point backed by IT systems to monitor stock management, cash management and out-compete the competition transformed Unilever Ghana’s business. Sales volume doubled just by efficiently managing this new distribution concept.
- In 1991 Ishmael commenced perhaps the biggest corporate restructuring in Ghana to focus Unilever’s businesses in Ghana on its core activities. This means merging, closing down or downsizing over 20 separate companies involving over 15,000 employees. A restructuring of this world scale demand great skill and astute leadership.
- Following the restructuring another historic achievement followed with the merger in 1992 of UAC of Ghana and Lever Brothers, two major companies in Ghana, to form the largest corporate establishment in Ghana and the first such merger in Ghana. That the restructuring and the merger were successfully executed with little dislocation confirmed the leadership qualities of Ishmael Yamson.
- At the time of the merger Lever Brothers’ total production was about 40,000 tons and the company was precariously reliant on one brand – Key Soap. In the 10 years that followed, production hit 150,000 tons with 23 brands including major brands such as Royco, Blue Band, Frytol, Sunsilk, Close-Up, Geisha and Lipton. This brand portfolio aligned Unilever Ghana with Unilever’s global business and put Ghana on the world map as consumer products businesses.
- In 1997 Ishmael Yamson led Unilever Ghana to expand Ghana’s palm oil production. Investing US$7.2 million in Twifo Oil Palm Plantation the company’s total acreage rose from 6,000 hectares to over 13,000 hectares. Today Unilever produces more palm oil than any company in Ghana, providing jobs to over 40,000 rural people where per capital income is double the national average.
- In 2001 through Ishmael Yamson’s initiative Unilever Ghana discovered the Alanblackia fruit whose oil has properties that will revolutionalize Margarine manufacturing in the world. Scientific research and accumulation of more knowledge is progressing.
- In 2002 Unilever begun to explore exports to Nigeria under Ishmael Yamson’s initiative. Today the company exports close to 20,000 tons of margarine to Nigeria earning huge foreign exchange for Ghana.
- But perhaps one of the greatest achievements of Ishmael Yamson is the establishment of the Unilever Foundation for Education and Development. It was his brain child and he has remained passionate about it even in retirement. This Fund awards scholarships to SSS students, University students for both under-graduate and post graduate education, funds three Chairs at the University of Ghana, University of Cape Coast and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. The Fund also engages in entrepreneurial training for SME’s while it also provides ambulances for rural hospitals.
- Ishmael Yamson has played a role in developing key human capital for Ghana. In Unilever Ghana over 220 Ghanaians received overseas training and ensured that he was succeeded by a Ghanaian.
- At the national level Ishmael has served his country in many capacities and never asked for any rewards. Ishmael participated in the setting up of the Ghana Stock Exchange and was a founding Council Member. He was instrumental in the setting up of the Private Enterprise Foundation as well as the rebirth of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce. He was the Vice-Chairman of the Ghana Government Private Sector Consultative Group that developed the first ever Investment Code for Ghana. He also was a pioneer in the establishment of the Ghana Investment Promotions Council and a founding Council Member. Currently he is leading the resolution of the manifold issues facing the University of Ghana. He is chairing Ghana’s new thrust into oil palm production and is serving as the Chairman of the President’s Special Initiative on Oil Palm. He has represented Ghana in many international fora where he has excited foreign investors about Ghana.
- In his immediate community at Breman Kuntanase, in 1990 Ishmael Yamson single-handedly provided electrification for the whole village, buying the poles, the low tension cables and accommodating and feeding the entire workforce from the Electricity Company which came to execute the job.
- In the same year he provided pipe borne water, drawing the pipe from Agona Odoben over an 8km stretch. Regrettably, the pipes have all been damaged by road contractors and they are now being restored by the Ghana Water Company.
- He also set up an education fund to fully pay for any four best local students who qualified to enter either SSS or any tertiary institution. One has just completed medical school.
- Ishmael has also recently donated ¢10m (ten million cedis) to the District Assembly Library Fund.
|
