Regardless of the essential position private and govt assistants (PAs and EAs) play in driving efficiency and supporting leadership throughout organisations, many corporations stay unwilling to put money into their skilled improvement, says Maame Ekua Gaisey, Managing Companion of FiveSixFive and organiser of the PA Convention.
Talking forward of the 2025 version of the annual occasion, Gaisey highlighted the persistent neglect of assistants in corporate development structures.
She defined:
This area is kind of untapped,. While you speak about expertise, gross sales, accounting—there’s exercise. However what are we doing to make sure that assistants are outfitted to ship high-quality, skilled work?
In at the moment’s fast-paced and sophisticated company atmosphere, the position of private and govt assistants has developed far past administrative help. They’re typically the strategic companions behind key selections, gatekeepers of knowledge, and important hyperlinks between management and groups
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Gaisey shared a private testimony that speaks volumes concerning the worth assistants place on the convention
She mentioned:
One of many younger girls advised me, ‘Mummy, I will preserve my wage for 2 months and pay for myself,’ and he or she did. She got here final 12 months, and the expansion in her profession since then has been exceptional,. It’s not nearly abilities—it’s about mindset and private improvement too.
Regardless of the success tales, funding and sponsorship proceed to be a serious problem.
Gaisey admitted:
Individuals don’t really feel that is the place they wish to put their cash. However I’m telling you—they may begin on the lookout for us.
The 2025 PA Convention, formally launched underneath the theme “Progress for Cross-Border Relevance,” is scheduled for Thursday seventeenth and Friday 18th July on the Labadi Seaside Resort. For the primary time, the occasion will span two days in response to constant delegate suggestions calling for extra time for sensible periods, deeper studying, and networking alternatives.
This 12 months’s line-up of audio system contains high-profile figures resembling Presidential Advisor Joyce Bawah-Mogtari, Prof Robert Ebo Hinson, worldwide HR govt Bunmi Pratt, marketing consultant psychologist Dr Might Wulff-Caesar, and a number of other different trade chief
Maame Ekua Gaisey revealed plans to ascertain the Africa Institute of Private and Govt Assistants, a devoted establishment geared toward enhancing careers within the PA and EA career throughout the continent. She famous that the initiative is at the moment within the pipeline and expressed robust optimism about its potential to fill a long-standing hole in skilled improvement for assistants.
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Gaisey emphasised the importance of platforms just like the PA Convention in reshaping perceptions.
To all the private and govt assistants on the market—your work is seen, your contributions are appreciated, and your potential is limitless. The PA Convention is a launchpad, an area the place assistants are empowered to redefine what it means to be distinctive within the fashionable office.
She additional urged company Ghana to take the position of assistants significantly and think about structured coaching and profession pathways.
It’s time we stopped seeing PAs as help workers solely. They’re strategic enablers. If we would like higher outcomes on the prime, we should start to take a position correctly in those that maintain the fort behind the scenes.
Empowering private and govt assistants is not only an investment in individuals, however a strategic transfer in the direction of constructing stronger, extra environment friendly organisations.
