The Agricultural Development Bank PLC (ADB) has taken a decisive step in strengthening its leadership and performance culture with the successful hosting of its maiden Inspire to Impact (I2I) Conference, an engagement aimed at aligning mindset, leadership responsibility, and execution across the Bank.
The conference, held at Alisa Hotel on Saturday, 31st January 2026, brought together staff from across the organisation to engage experienced practitioners and thought leaders on themes of leadership, customer focus, people development and collective excellence, as ADB positions itself for exceptional performance and sustained growth.
Opening the conference, Edward Ato Sarpong, Managing Director of ADB, challenged staff to move beyond inspiration to measurable outcomes, stressing that leadership must ultimately be reflected in performance.
He cited the Bank’s recent turnaround from a loss position to profitability as clear evidence of what disciplined leadership, strategic focus, and accountability can achieve.
“We must now institutionalise these gains by embedding a culture of responsibility, customer-centricity and performance discipline at every level of the Bank,” the MD stated.
“The turnaround and performance of the Bank in 2025 did not just happen, but as a result of discipline, decisiveness, and our refusal to settle on a state of poor performance. This necessary course of action by leadership helped change the undesired state of the Bank to the destination of light and historical performance,” he added.
The MD challenged the conference participants and ADB staff as a whole to rise to the occasion by playing their respective roles well, and right for sustained growth of ADB.
Major highlights of the conference were presentations by speakers, Professor Robert Ebo Hinson, Dr. Abena Asomaning Antwi, Kenneth Kwamina Thompson, and the Bank’s General Manager for Retail Banking, Mr. Frank Okyere-Adarkwa.
Professor Robert Ebo Hinson spoke on Personal Leadership, Corporate Leadership and Collective Excellence. He urged participants to see leadership as a personal obligation, noting that strong institutions are built when individual discipline aligns with shared organisational values.
Chartered Accountant and business leader, Kenneth Kwamina Thompson delivered a thought-provoking session on Design Thinking for Growth, encouraging staff to consistently “walk in the shoes of the customer” when developing products, services and internal processes. He emphasised that sustainable growth depends on empathy, innovation and the ability to translate insight into execution.
Also addressing the conference was Dr. Abena Asomaning Antwi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Angel Zoe Foundation, who spoke on values-driven and servant leadership. She urged participants to recognise the broader human and social impact of leadership decisions, stressing that institutional success must ultimately reflect positively on society.
In a session focused on internal leadership capacity building, General Manager for Retail Banking, Frank Okyere-Adarkwa, spoke on Leadership That Scales, highlighting the importance of deliberate people development, data-driven decision-making and consistency in building high-performing teams across the Bank.
Participants described the conference as timely and impactful, noting that discussions moved beyond theory to practical leadership lessons relevant to their day-to-day roles.
The Inspire to Impact Conference forms part of ADB’s broader transformation agenda, aimed at strengthening leadership effectiveness, improving customer & service experience, and deepening a culture of performance, in line with the Bank’s strategic vision of being among the top three (3) banks in Ghana, globally admired for our people, process and performance.
