Group CEO for CDH Financial Holdings, Emmanuel K. Adu-Sarkodee walked away with the “Special Award for Excellence in Corporate Turnaround and Crisis Management” at the recent 40th Anniversary Presidential Ball of the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana. The citation that came with the award described him as “an outstanding achiever and a one-of-a-kind entrepreneur and business executive”, who has since 2004, quietly pulled off a number of incredible corporate turnarounds, and led successful crisis management programmes in Ghana. Adu-Sarkodee first caught the attention of the IPR in 2004, when finance industry regulator, Bank of Ghana placed a moratorium (suspension) on the operations of CDH. The IPR was particularly impressed with how he effectively managed the company’s crises, engaged strategic stakeholders and got back the CDH license to resume operations within just one year of taking over the distressed company. The young entrepreneur remembers Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who was then Deputy Governor of the BOG, for being reasonable and accepting to lift the moratorium with conditions; and that freed some money for CDH to pay off some of its debts at the time. From then on, Adu-Sarkodee and his small team worked to turn CDH around from what he described as a ‘collapsed company’ into a profitable one, and also acquired a number of equally distressed companies and turned them into profitable entities. Some of these companies included the defunct Benefits Insurance, which CDH acquired in 2006, turned it around, separated it into two companies and sold them for profit. Today that company operates as Regency Alliance, and Capital Express. Adu-Sarkodee also stepped up to the plate when Ivory Finance found itself in similar turbulence in 2007, and he led the effort to successfully return it from intensive care to the path of prosperity. He was also credited with turning around the fortunes of Phoenix Insurance in 2008, through his expert management skills, which led to the birthing of two companies: Phoenix Life Assurance, and Phoenix Insurance, both currently highly placed members of the Ghana Club 100. “We actually got a call from the then Chairman of the National Insurance Commission to come rescue Phoenix because at the time we had proved that we had what it takes to turn distressed companies around,” he said with smiles. Adu-Sarkodee did not stop in Ghana; he went all the way to Liberia, on the invitation of the then Commissioner of Insurance of that country, and saved Homeland Insurance in Liberia from losing its license. He is now the Chairman of that company too. But some very dark days preceded the present day success story of CDH. And that is what underpins Adu-Sarkodee’s significance in the CDH story.