John Uduru-Boateng knows just what it takes to be an entrepreneur. This doctor and medical instructor manages a non profit organisation in Ghana.
John is a professional in NGO project management at the Emmanuel Eye Centre in Ghana. Although the proceeds of this venture go back into maintaining the initiative, John has to employ entrepreneurial skills to keep the centre running.
The Emmanuel Eye Centre in Accra specialises in eye care and offers optometry services to local Ghanaians. It is a very busy healthcare facility that tends to an average of 120 patients a day. With so many patients, and a great demand for medical supplies, running this service requires constant management. This is where John focuses on the ‘ABC’ of business basics.
John Uduru-Boateng: Owner of Emmanuel Eye Centre
In order to keep the stockroom full, John has to check clinic cash flow and the careful balance between supply and demand of medical equipment. To ensure that patients receive the care they need, he has to make sure that the medicines are in stock. This can sometimes prove to be a great challenge, particularly because turnover is tight. This means that for John, managing is much like a skilled act of juggling. From administrators and accountants to the medical team, it is a constant case of ‘keeping his eye on the ball.’ John says it “calls for vision, management, administration and financial analysis,” along with strong organisational skills to put the whole thing together.
A key factor in keeping the organisation efficient has been a business partnership in the management of the laboratory. A medical laboratory requires specialist technicians and particular techniques. The clinic laboratory is run in synergy with a business so as to not overburden the eye centre staff. Co-ordination of this kind is central to NGO project management and is exactly what John concentrates on.
John Uduru-Boateng believes that entrepreneurship is needed in any kind of organisation whether non-profit or commercial. For John, entrepreneurship is devoting himself to every aspect of theEmmanuel Eye Centre
from the staff, to the patients, to the place.”
