Georgina Serwaa Bimpong, former manager of sensational hiplife artiste, Nana Kwaku Okyere Duah known in showbiz circles as Tic Tac, has said even though Ghana has a music industry, there are a lot of challenges hampering the growth of the industry. Key amongst these challenges is the lack of good managers. Georgina who successfully managed the multi-award winning Tic Tac from 2005 to 2009 told Myjoyonline.com in an interview over the weekend that the industry has been slowed down by the absence of good managers which seems to greatly affecting artistes and their output. “...we cannot say we don’t have an industry because we have musicians, we have radio stations, we have venues for performances but all these things need to be put together to make it viable business for our musicians.” “I think the problem is managers. We don’t have a lot of good managers because…you see a lot of artistes are managed by their friends. We don’t have people who know the business that can guide somebody to further their career in the best possible way.” Born in the UK to Ghanaian parents, Georgina has worked with international music outfits such as BMG and Def Jam for five years where she worked with several international artistes including Usher, Alicia Keys, Busta Rhymes, Jay Z, Ludacris and Ja Rule. She said artistes worldwide make money through three different means. Namely, endorsements, record sales and performances but was quick to say there are not many options for endorsements in this country. On her views on sales, Georgina said due to the negative effects of piracy one can’t really count the records sales of an artistes and there are hardly any shows for them to perform to make money. Under Georgina’s management, Tic Tac released three albums; Wope, Accra Connection and 10th Day released in 2009. She called for seminars for musicians: This according to her will help the musicians with immense talent to build their business acumen as well. George proposed that a platform should be created where there will be more events and concerts. She further urged big cooperate entities to make provisions for entertainment in their budgets, adding, “there should be more unions that musicians and managers can relate to. We need to feel the Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA)’s presence; and DJ's are not helping [because they are] playing a lot of foreign songs than local songs.” Story by Ernest Dela Aglanu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana