Amid the socio-economic challenges in 2022, expectations from leadership of organizations increased and communication professionals have had to give off their best to create value for and maintain their roles.

That coupled with increasing knowledge of Public Relations as an essential tool for growth of any organization, women practitioners continued to make remarkable strides to manage the image and reputation of their organizations.

The work of these women PR practitioners have not only produced value, inspiration and impact in the PR and communications industry, it has also contributed to the quest to shape the minds of young professionals to take up the industry in more creative and diverse ways.

In line with our purpose, Women in PR Ghana annually celebrates the work and expertise of some top 10 Women practicing Public Relations in Ghana, and how they have used their positions to drive positive change for their organization, the PR profession and society.

With these celebrations, we seek to highlight these women who have demonstrated professionalism, innovation, and dedication in their work. Their recognition and achievements serve as inspiration to young professionals, especially women, who are constantly seeking for role models and mentors as they navigate the ever-changing PR ecology. Another objective of these listings is also to encourage professionals to be involved in changing the narrative around Public Relations and communication practice.

We have so far produced four (4) successful annual listings with the 2022 edition being the fifth.

Our 2022 Top 10 Women in PR Ghana list were nominated by the PR community via google forms which was published in December 2022. After the entries were received, a 3-member jury was tasked to review, research and shortlist the final 10 based on the below criteria:

• Must be working or practicing public relations or communications in Ghana with at least 6 years’ experience and above.
• Must have used various media (traditional and digital) to share Public Relations works and best practices.
• Must have planned and executed successful campaigns for their organizations and or clients.
• Must have been recognized through nominations and awards either on their own behalf or on behalf of their organisations or clients or recognized by their organisations.
• Must have engaged in speaking opportunities.
• Must have mentored, educated, and supported young PR professionals.
• Must have led and championed campaigns that have informed the general public about public relations in Ghana and beyond.

Here is our top 10 PR Women in Ghana for the year 2022: 

1. Esther Amba Numaba Cobbah
2. Cynthia Ofori-Dwumfuo
3. Shirley Tony Kum
4. Sophia Kudjordji
5. Patricia Aba Mensah 
6. Praise Nutakor
7. Baaba Cofie
8. Esi Asante Antwi
9. Ohenewaa Brown
10. Naa Korkoi Essah

Esther Amba Numaba Cobbah (CEO and Lead Communications Strategist – Strategic Communications Africa Ltd)

Ms Esther Cobbah has carved a niche for herself as one of Ghana’s top-notch communications experts. For close to three decades, she has led award-winning communication strategies and campaigns for numerous organizations at Stratcomm Africa, a 360-communication agency she founded. With more than 30 years of communication experience, she continues to inspire and shape the PR and communications industry with her craft. 

In the past year, under her leadership, Stratcomm Africa embarked on a number of communication activities worthy of mention and emulation. Notable among these activities is    the maiden Annual Brand Reputation Week and Awards; an initiative that gives opportunity for individuals and organisations to deepen their appreciation of effective communication approaches for personal brand enhancement as well as business/organisational growth and survival. About 30 small and medium enterprises had capacity-building opportunities in corporate communications.

In 2022 also, Stratcomm Africa under Ms Cobbah’s leadership organised the 10th anniversary edition of the Ghana Garden and Flower Movement, a commitment to empower Ghanaians to adopt eco-friendly lifestyles and promote the UN SDGs. 

Ms Cobbah also launched her maiden book “Dare To Be” which catalogued the individual journeys of six (6) outstanding Ghanaian female entrepreneurs.

In terms of awards and recognition, in 2022, Ms Esther Cobbah was ranked among the Top 100 Women CEOs in Africa and was named the Woman of the Year at the 2022 Ghana Outstanding Women’s Award (GOWA). She was also acknowledged at the African Communications event in Côte D’Ivoire as the Public Relations Personality of the Year 2022 ‘As De La Communications’ (ASCOM) for her stellar achievements in communications. She was also listed among the five leading corporate communications professionals in West Africa by bizwatchnigeria.ng.

Ms Cobbah sits as a board member of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) and also serves on the Governing Council of the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana (IPR). 

Cynthia Ofori-Dwumfuo (Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Affairs – Hollard Ghana)

2022 was another exciting year for Ms Ofori-Dwumfuo as she continued to ignite energy and dynamism in the insurance industry. 

She maintained her lead in campaigns and projects for Hollard Ghana through initiatives such as the H. Insured Finance Literacy Series, and the Hollard X Academic Streetwise Finance Mentoring, by signing on the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) and University of Cape Coast(UCC) as Hollard X Academia Partners.

Ms. Ofori-Dwumfuo further leveraged some events and platforms such as The Ghana Institute of Journalism Academic Practitioner Conference, Brand Conference Africa, Women in PR Ghana Summit Mentorship Session, and Twitter Spaces to share her experience in practicing PR and Marketing and how to win in the industry.

Through her significant contributions in marketing communications, she was awarded the ‘Marketing Practitioner of the Year’ 2022 by the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG).

Through her leadership, Hollard Life won the Product of Year at the Chartered Insurance Institute of Ghana Awards as well as three (3) awards at the National PR and Communications Excellence Awards, organised by the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana.

In July 2022, she was among 50 women recognised by ‘Her Network’ as one of the inspiring PR Women on World PR Day.

Shirley Tony Kum (Corporate Communications Manager – Vivo Energy Ghana)

Ms. Shirley Tony Kum, an award-winning communications specialist who is passionate about making a desired impact in society towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), led her organisation to have an amazing year through various initiatives, campaigns, and awards. 

She led Vivo Energy Ghana’s top of mind campaigns and projects such as, Stop, Think & Drive , the International Women Day event, Vivo Energy Community Digital Literacy Project, Pink October and Energizing Hope Employee Charity Programme.

She also brought her excellent and solid crisis communication and stakeholder engagement skills to bear when she effectively managed crises for her organisation in 2022.  

In the year under review, she spoke at a number of events and mentored others at many events including, GBC’s Women Voice, IDMC, The Young Africa Media Fellowship (YAMF) among others.

Under her leadership in 2022, Vivo Energy won many awards including Hall of Fame for Excellence in Corporate Social Responsibility at the 2022 Oil and Gas Awards,  Best Company in Community Development & Infrastructure Project and Best Company in Clean Water Provision Project at the 6th Edition of the Sustainability & Social Investment Awards, NO. 1 Oil Marketing Company and Overall Best in Digital Marketing.

She also led her communications team to win the Best In-house team at the National Public Relations and Communications Award held by the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana in 2022.

Madam Tony Kum has served as the Honorary Secretary of the Institute of Public Relations Ghana since 2020 and is a member of the Publicity, Publication and International Affairs Committee of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana.

Sophia Kudjordji (Chief Corporate Communications Officer – Jospong Group of Companies)

Sophia Kudjordji remains a multiple-award winning communications expert who has drawn on her expertise to give value to her organization in the previous years and all through 2022.

Ms Kudjordji is keen on mentorship and avails herself to mentor many young professionals. She mentored at the Women in PR Ghana Summit Mentorship Session and the fifth batch of the Comms Mentoring Programme by the Comms Avenue. She was also named as an Advisory Board member of The Comms Avenue. 

She has played a key role in sharing her expertise and experience and inspiring the young ones by taking up many speaking engagements such as the National Brands Innovations Forum 2022, GIJ Academic Practitioner Conference, IPR Webinar, Virtuous Ladies Connect among others.

Ms Kudjordji was featured on the cover of Brand Focus Africa Magazine and awarded the Brands Communication Personality of the Year at the National Brands Innovation Awards 2022 by RAD Communications and the 2022 Best Leadership – Woman at the Pan African Corporates Awards of Innovation and Integration by Révélation Public Relations & Corporate Communications in Benin.

She was an Honouree of #WeLeadComms and was honoured with Excellence in Corporate Communications Award by Women’s Choice Awards Africa. She was again named among the five leading Corporate Communications Professionals in West Africa by bizwatchnigeria.ng .

As part of her highlights for the year, the Jospong Group of Companies received four awards at the 5th Edition of the Ghana Business Awards.

Patricia Aba Mensah (Head of Cluster Communications, Sustainable Economic Development – GIZ Ghana) 

Patricia Aba Mensah is a bilingual Public Relations and Communications Specialist with over 16 years’ experience.

As the communications lead, Patricia was instrumental in making communications and publicity popular amongst programmes within the cluster.  She advocated for the allocation of budget lines for communications and public relations activities for projects/programmes within the cluster and for the cluster itself, leading to projects recruiting strong communications professionals for their communications activities.

As part of her works in 2022, she led the communication group to promote and organise the Ghana Job Fair 2022 in four locations: Accra, Sunyani, Kumasi, and Tamale and the promotion of the Ghana Labour Department’s work through the design and implementation of a campaign float. She provided communications support to the promotion and visibility of the ‘African Women Leaders Network’ and the Gender and Migration Conference 2022 and co-led communications for the launch of the West Africa Vehicle Academy in Accra, organised by Rana Motors, Bosch and GIZ Ghana West Africa Vehicle Academy.

Ms Mensah also co-led the GIZ Ghana 2022 International Women’s Day Campaign which produced a compelling story of a female tractor driver, a female sprayer/welder and a female fashion designer, who are breaking the odds in their respective fields.

In November 2022, Ms Mensah was recognised for her outstanding communications support to one of the GIZ-implemented global projects where she spearheaded several media campaigns to move ‘the Special Initiative on Training and Job Creation’ from a zero media visibility status to about 12 unique media mentions within a year.

She moderated the grand opening of a state-of-the-art West African Vehicle Academy #WAVA launch of the Aya Institute for Finance & Management.

Praise Nutakor (Head of Communications and Partnerships – UNDP)

Praise Nutakor maintained her name as the SDG Woman in the minds of many. She is a result-driven communications expert with over 13 years’ experience in communications strategy development and implementation.

She is passionate about development communications and is evident in her many works for the United Nations Development Programme.

As part of her work in 2022, Praise championed numerous SDG activities including Save our Ocean, Clean Energy, Food Security in Ghana, Climate Action and many others.

Ms Nutakor has great mentorship skills and keenly advocates for mentoring the next generation. She participated in the Ghana Institute of Journalism mentorship dinner and Women in PR mentorship session.

She also contributed to many conversations of impact that have shaped lives and contributed to the growth of the PR and Communications industry. 

In 2022, Ms Nutakor was acknowledged by her UNDP resident representative for her dedication to UNDP’s growth and promotion of programmes. 

Baaba Cofie (Managing Partner – Mahogany Consult)

For the past years Baaba has drawn on her expertise in Public Relations and its related areas to continue to impact young professionals and also contribute effectively to her field of work.

In March 2022, Ms Cofie, together with her co-founder Esi Asante-Antwi, led their organization Mahogany Consult to celebrate their 10th anniversary, under the theme: From a Seed to a Tree. 

As part of their 10th-anniversary celebrations, coupled with their desire to groom the next generation of PR Professionals, Baaba Cofie and her partner launched a support programme for selected PR Departments in some communications schools in Ghana.

Beyond this milestone, Ms Cofie kept making an impact through numerous speaking engagements throughout the year. She had speaking engagements at events including Obaasima Summit 2022, Women in PR International Women Day celebration, World PR Day 2022 and a number of key events surrounding their anniversary.

As an academia, who teaches at the Wisconsin International University College and an industry expert, Ms. is passionate about mentorship. She believes that it is necessary to expose students and young professionals to the realities of the field. 

She is the founder of ‘Live Move Have your Being’, a charity organisation she established to support families struggling with infertility. 

In 2022, Mahogany Consult was adjudged the Best in Social Media Management at the IPR Ghana National Excellence Awards.  

Esi Asante-Antwi (Managing Partner – Mahogany Consult)

Esi Asante-Antwi, Managing Partner of Mahogany Consult, has demonstrated resilience in building a business and spearheading female entrepreneurship in Public Relations. 

As part of the 10th anniversary of Mahogany Consult in 2022, Ms. Asante-Antwi, together with her partner, Baaba Cofie collaborated with Women in PR Ghana to inspire young professionals in an International Women Day event celebration dubbed “An Evening under the Mahogany Tree.” 

They also engaged in a number of media appearances to share their entrepreneurial journey notable among them includes featuring on The Couch by Ama Pratt on Pan African TV. She also featured on The PL Show on Joy Prime and also on several online news platforms.

She was a discussant on a panel at a Department of Communications Studies of the University of Ghana webinar that discussed “Evolving Career Opportunities in Media and Communication Industries.” 

In 2022, Ms. Asante-Antwi also led her company to facilitate the 3rd edition of their flagship event, PR101 Workshop designed for SMEs and Startups. 

As a political communications expert, Ms Asante-Antwi moderated a multiple paper presentation on the Russian Ukrainian Crisis at the Wisconsin International University College where she is also a lecturer and teaches Introduction to Public Relations, Issues and Crises Communication, and Media Relations.

In 2022, Mahogany Consult was adjudged the Best in Social Media Management during the IPR Ghana National Excellence Awards.  

Ohenewaa Brown (Manager Communications and PR – ActionAid Ghana)

Ohenewaa Brown is a corporate communications practitioner with specialized skills in media relations and production, events management, community relations, stakeholder engagement and development communications. 

Ms Brown’s works highlight her passion for corporate social responsibility as she has led her organization to achieve many transformative and impact activities that have changed the narratives of people in the society. She plays a key role in change communication and advocacy where she supports campaigns against witchcraft accusations in Ghana, and climate justice.

In 2022, Ms Brown participated in many young generation engagements which sought to mentor and inspire young professionals of the industry. She subscribes to the fact that, “we are all products of mentorship” and that professionals grow and learn more through such engagements. She shared her expertise and experience in events such as Women in PR Ghana Industry vs Classroom, the Ghana Institute of Journalism Mentorship Dinner, BarCamp Series event, International Women’s Day, alongside some significant classroom and media engagements.

Ms. Brown, a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, UK, also shared her experience writing a series of articles for the Business and Financial Times newspaper on topics such as Protecting Women’s Right and Making Schools Girl Friendly.

Prior to her career in PR and Communications, Ohenewaa practiced journalism for five(5) years and she rose through the ranks to become Senior Broadcaster and Parliamentary Correspondent from 2014 to 2016.

Her passion for corporate social responsibility and sustainable development is evident in her host of her CSR Lense, an online show focused on engaging experts in academia, corporate entities and NGO’s on CSR and sustainability. 

Naa Korkoi Essah (Public Relations Manager – Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation, Ghana)

Naa Korkoi Essah through her work in 2022 contributed immensely to shining light on the practice of Public Relations in the public sector. She played a key role in spearheading activities that sought to project well the works of her ministry.

In 2022, she led numerous publicity work on initiatives by her ministry such as the Policy Fair Celebration, Girls in ICT Programme, and the Digilisation Readiness Workshop.

She embarked on numerous media engagements on behalf of her ministry’s Girls in ICT Programme, an initiative that sought to train young girls in five (5) regions including Bono East, Bono, Ahafo, Savannah and Northern Region and encourage them to take up courses in ICT.

Ms Essah was adjudged the Outstanding Woman in Public Relations (Public Sector) at the 11th Marketing World Awards 2022 by Instinct Wave. She was also given a citation for Excellence in Promoting Digital Initiatives at the 4th National Communications Awards organised by RAD Communications.

She was selected among the 2022 Cohort of the Young Africa Media Fellowship.

Naa had speaking engagements in the Women in PR Ghana Industry vs Classroom Series and as a moderator for Panafyl-Ghana’s virtual conference in the year. 

Limitations and Challenges:

This year’s challenges haven’t been much different from previous years. There’s still very limited information around what many PR professionals do and share. While our work mostly puts us behind the scenes, it has become important for PR and Communication professionals to have updated Linkedin profiles and use social media to build their personal brands. We noticed this was one of the challenges as we researched more data to support the entries received. 

Conclusion

As an organisation, we hope to use this listing to spotlight more women to serve as role models and mentors in our bid to increase female leadership in the PR industry in Ghana, Africa, and globally. 

JURY MEMBERS

Yvette Kuwornu:  Development Communications Professional, GIZ Ghana/Ghanaian-European Centre for Jobs, Migration and Development

Ama Amoah: Communications & Events Senior Specialist, Afreximbank

Millicent Atugubah: Communications Specialist, GRIDCo

Faith Senam Ocloo: Founder, Women in PR Ghana