Mr. Lincoln Donkor

For 10 of those years, he was a Senior Staffer in the Office of the AfDB President Babacar Ndiaye. He accompanied the President on his missions and official visits in and outside Africa to confer with Heads of State and Governments, as well as with fellow MDI Chief Executives, and to articulate the African continent’s development paradigm at various international fora.

Lincoln Donkor is a Professional Translator trained in Ghana and in France. He is proficient in English, French and Spanish.

Before joining the AfDB in September 1977, he free-lanced, providing translation and interpretation services principally to the Association of African Universities and the FAO Regional Office in Accra; and later settled for a full-time job with the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Secretariat hosted by the Ghana Standards Board under Dr. Robert Oteng.

Gifted with a radiophonic baritone, he did part-time sound and TV broadcasting in the early and mid-70s respectively. He was presenter of the popular TV French programme: Parlez-vous francais?

In Abidjan, he was one of the founding members of an NGO called Medecins d’Afrique. Operating under the auspices of the World Health Organization, its prime objective was to cater for street children who, at that time, numbered over 10,000 in Abidjan alone. Medecins d’Afrique undertook to sensitize the populace through TV shows and radio talks about the devastating effects of the street-children phenomenon on the youth and on society as a whole; and to mobilize resources towards rehabilitating the children not only materially and socially, but also spiritually, and towards providing them adequate medical treatment.

Within six months, 100 of the hard-core children were taken off the streets thanks to benevolent donations. The children were provided with permanent tutelage; decent accommodation, meals and clothing; free medical treatment; and trade apprenticeship. This was in 1994.

In 1995, Mr. Lincoln Donkor took an early retirement at 51. In 1996, he incorporated a small-scale fabric screen-printing and garment-making enterprise that commenced business in 1997. He is in partnership with his wife and son, who are Garment Designer and Textile Designer respectively. Himself a natural artist endowed with creative talent, and also a lover of clothes, this was the realization of his very first love.

Given his exposure to international diplomacy, banking and finance; his knowledge of total quality management; and, above all, his passion for excellence, Mr. Lincoln Donkor finds his seat as CEO of Lizdon Fabrics & Garments Ltd. a rather comfortable one that gives real meaning and a new dimension to a fresh career, at close to 56 years, for the fulfilment of his God-given destiny.

Talking about destiny, he recalls that when Lizdon won an award in April 1999 for TEXTILE INNOVATION, a Man of God aptly remarked: “Lincoln, you’ve not retired; you’ve changed jobs to the glory of God”. That says it all.

Senior Donkor has also set up the LINCOLN DONKOR PRIZE FOR THE BEST "A" LEVEL STUDENT IN FRENCH. Since the celebration of the 40th Anniversary Speech Day, Senior Donkor has been providing prizes at Speech days, including the recent Golden Jubilee Speech Day on December 4, 1999. This is his modest contribution to almighty Prempeh College, and to encourage the learning of French -- the language that has been the bedrock of his diplomatic and international career.