Author name: Michael

The MD/CEO of Sanlam General Insurance Ghana, Mrs Mabel Nana Nyarkoa Porbley, has challenged Christians to let their faith and the teachings of Christ inform their personal values, work ethic and how they do business. Mrs Porbley who was speaking at the 4th Edition of the weekly Practical Christianity Hangout last Wednesday at ICGC, The New Wine Temple in East Legon, shared her surprise at being given a list of people who had defaulted on loans and absconded and seeing many Christians on the list. “You can’t say you’re a practical Christian if you will pray for 5 hours but will not commit to paying back a loan you took for your own benefit”, Mrs Probley intimated. The Practical Christianity Hangout, an initiative of The New Wine Temple and its partner organisations, brings together leaders and potential leaders for practical conversations about the critical success factors for personal and professional development as well as the role of faith in the journeys of various leaders. Various leaders in the Agribusiness, Hospitality, Construction, Media, Advertising and Financial Services have so far taken their turn to share their experiences and lessons. Mrs Porbley traced her career progression to how she was raised and the foundation of a very supportive family. She shared how she began her career in a not-for-profit as a personal assistant and rose to become a senior executive in six years. The experienced executive got the audience excited as she shared her diverse experiences of turning around different loss-making companies to become profitable. She challenged young professionals to position themselves for leadership. “If you do not stick up out of the pack, you won’t get noticed. Improve yourself and determine not to be ordinary or like everybody else. And in all things, make your first impressions count”, she advised. Taking his turn, Nana Dwemoh Benneh, CEO of UMB Bank, Ghana, traced his 27-year career journey that had taken him to several African countries as well as the United Kingdom and intimated that it often felt like a dream. He spoke about the different kinds of barriers and challenges he had had to overcome and challenged the youth to make the most of their formative years. “Make the most of your time, especially your youthful days; they are the most exciting and the most definitive time of your life”, he said. He shared how he often found himself as the youngest person in the executive team and how the early exposure helped shape his leadership and outlook on life. He also shared about the role prayer played in his professional journey and how it kept him grounded in the face of difficult situations. The in-person and virtual participants asked questions on a wide range of issues and expressed their satisfaction at what they saw to be a highly beneficial session.  An online participant, Daniel Dadson from the UK wrote, “Even though I am unable to participate in person, I am glad my questions were answered. I will certainly join the online stream again next Wednesday.” “My high point was the networking and cocktail session afterwards where I got to speak freely with all these high-level executives and take pictures with them. It was simply amazing”, said Genevieve Mensah. Organizers of the Practical Christianity Hangout, Rev. Albert and Comfort Ocran, expressed their satisfaction at the content and patronage so far. They indicated their intention to bring together more high-profile leaders from various sectors in these weekly conversations that seek to build professional networks, mentor emerging leaders and also create jobs for the unemployed.

At 38 years, George Andah had an encounter with Uncle Ebo Whyte who challenged him to write a book by age 40. George decided to wait another decade to accomplish more and undertake the challenge by his 50th birthday. It took him another two years, but last month, he finally published a book that chronicles his life experiences, ideas, and lessons learned. But George Andah is not your typical everyday author, so why the decision to write a book? “I primarily wrote for the youth of Ghana and Africa to tell them that it is possible. I also wanted to share a bit about my decision to go into frontline politics.” Even before entering frontline politics, George Andah had already made a name for himself in the corporate space. From being the Brand Manager for Guinness Foreign Extra Stout and eventually becoming the Marketing Director and the Innovations Manager for Guinness Ghana Breweries Ltd, to the Chief Marketing Officer for the then Scancom Ltd., a member of the MTN Group, Chief Marketing Officer of Bharti Airtel Nigeria, and Country Manager/Chief Operating Officer of Glo Mobile’s Ghana Operations, among many other positions, George Andah boasts of a CV, many young executives would die for. And for someone who has achieved so much in the marketing space, one would have thought that George’s journey as a marketer started from his school training. Interestingly, George studied Biochemistry for his first degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). It was his second degree in Marketing that became the turning point in his career. “Your mission is what God has planted in your heart and the impact you seek to create in society. It’s the joy that comes from touching lives like you’re doing here at Springboard.” He told Rev Albert Ocran in a discussion in The Engine Room series on the Springboard Virtual University Programme. Growing up in at Ridge in Accra, George Andah saw a post in the room of his brother Eddie “I cried that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.” That post became his signpost for fighting the challenges and setbacks he would later encounter in life. You might have heard of the popular phrase “Ghana man time” where punctuality is thrown to the wind and people tend to start any event or program at the time most convenient for them. But for George Andah, punctuality means responsibility and it all started at Achimota School “Being a bellboy at Achimota School taught me to be punctual. Extra curricula activities help to broaden your horizons and bring out the leadership and organizational skills in you.” At KNUST, George organized the first-ever Kojo Antwi concert on campus for the Republic Hall Week celebration, and it was a blast. The SRC requested a repeat show, and according to him, it was a financial and technical disaster. Notwithstanding, he learned valuable lessons about supervision and the inherent dangers in the assumption that success is replicable The hallmark of a great leader is the number of people he has trained to take over from him when the time comes for him to move on, and George has always subscribed to that line of thought. “I always handpicked and groomed one or two potential successors in case I had to move on. They often turned out so well that I often felt my leaving was justified to create room for them.” George also indicated that he deliberately opted not to stay in one career role for too long.  “I believe that with career movements, you learn from different roles, and different teams and test your ideas in different environments.” George Andah is on a mission to do more and who knows, perhaps another book is in the offing. Or his business or political life is just about to jet off in a different direction. His passion to do more was fueled by the advice received from his late mother. “My mom called me the final time before she passed and charged me to do more with my life, and that has stayed with me. Till today, I pause to think whether she would approve of something I am about to do.” He charged the youth to cultivate the art of listening, noting that there is power in listening to what others are telling you. You may not always agree but listening helps you to make better judgements. He cited the Member of Parliament for the Efutu Constituency, Alexander Afenyo Markin, as one of the people who constantly challenged him while he was with Occupy Ghana to step into the fray of active politics and directly contribute his quota to national development. “People like Kwamena Bartels, Frank Damali, Gaddy Laryea, Norkor Dua and the late Torgbor Mensah influenced my professional journey and taught me so much of what I know.” He told Rev Albert Ocran when asked about the role of mentors. Springboard is a virtual convocation of great minds and emerging leaders every Sunday on radio, television and online to share their life stories, experiences, lessons learned, and their impact on society. George Andah will feature in a two-part series slated to air from Sunday 15th May 2022.

It was a fine morning in March 2014, the trusted host of the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, had taken a bow after nine years of dedicated service. Another Kojo had been recruited to take over. Nobody knew what to expect on his first day.  The voice was certainly an unfamiliar one with the multimedia audience. But all that today, is history. Eight years ago, Kojo Yankson took control of the consoles, hosting Joy FM’s Super Morning Show to its over 6 million discerning listeners. Blessed with a voice like the creative work of some sound engineering studio, Kojo has demonstrated infectious energy, spot-on humour, and an unhesitating inclination to turn confrontational when it matters. And with an affable, easygoing personality, Kojo has also perfected a more casual approach to interviewing his guests – always leaning forward and listening intently to them, rarely interrupting. “It’s literally a boiling seat hosting the Super Morning Show with so many decision-makers relying on you and leaving little or no room for error. Hosting the Super morning show is all I wanted to do since age 16 when my dial accidentally stumbled on Tommy Annan Forson who seemed to know so much about everything, from yogurt prices to major policy issues, and related so well with everyone who called in.” Kojo Yankson admitted to Rev. Albert Ocran when he appeared on the weekly Springboard Virtual University programme that hosting the super morning show is not for the faint-hearted. “It is very difficult to walk the line of objectivity when our own opinions can easily be a distraction and you have so many interests flying at you,” he said. Kojo’s journey in the media began when he hosted the morning show at Radio Valco while in UCC. “I applied for broadcasting jobs at BBC, ITV, and other stations while working in London but backed off when shortlisted because I would be offered a full-time unpaid internship. I would often lie in my bed in London, rehearse what Komla Dumor and Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah were saying on the show and try to couch it in my way. I am capable of several things, but broadcasting is the only thing I found I loved. It’s difficult to excel in what you don’t love. If I didn’t love this job, I would have failed.” Touching on national development, Kojo suggested that while we often agree on our problems and the solutions, it is the approach to solving issues that ends up polarizing us. He described personal interest as the biggest enemy of public good and one of the reasons why the country is not developing at the rate it should. “Whenever an obvious solution doesn’t get implemented, it is because someone we’ve empowered benefits from not doing it. There is nothing a nation can do that will benefit everyone, but what we do must at least make things better.” But the story of Kojo Yankson can never be told without reliving two moments that have remained sticky points in his career – his reportage of the atomic junction fire incident and the comments he allegedly made about former president Mahama. Kojo described those two as painful mistakes he had learnt from to make him a better person. “Even though we hold the mic, we are only conduits for other people’s perspectives. If someone I don’t know misunderstands me, I don’t react. When key stakeholders or my entire audience get the wrong end of the stick, it’s big for me. I wish I had not made those comments, because I should have known it had the potential to be misunderstood. That’s my responsibility and I take the blame for that.” Kojo describes himself as a sinner saved by grace. For him, his greatest success in life will be the opportunities he gives his son.  “If I fail at everything, I do but, along with his mother, give my son Fiifi the best example and the opportunity to be his very best, I will consider myself a success.”

Professional Master of Ceremonies Jerry Adjorlolo has tasked up-and-coming emcees to approach their work with the same mentality professional boxers do. He described a good emcee as a boxer, who knows when to deliver important punches at any event to make the occasion seamless and memorable. It is this mindset for the past seven years, as a professional MC, that has set him apart from his competitors. Jerry with his unique style and the right blend of exposure, corporate experience, social interactivity, wit, and business etiquette, has become the most sought-after emcee hosting some of the nation’s most high profile premium events And for a man who boasts of emceeing almost 1000 events, one might think, the process comes naturally to him, but that is far from the reality. Jerry told Rev Albert Ocran on his Springboard Virtual University programme, which airs on JoyFM every Sunday at 7 pm, that he treats each event differently and reads hundreds of speeches, while undertaking extensive preparation for events. “In this job, you need to be humble to be teachable. A lot of young people are not teachable and have an entitlement mentality. You must show a good attitude and perseverance. I keep saying that all that you know now is not all there is to know and all that you know should not limit what you could have known” Jerry’s first stint with public speaking was at the age of 9 when he gave a testimony in church. His performance was so well received that he was given several gifts by the congregants. But his journey to becoming a professional MC did not start right after school. He started out in the insurance industry before making that tough decision to go into full time emceeing. “I stepped out of my corporate career in insurance into full-time MCing with apprehension because it was risky. I however felt confident because I had explored the field quite a bit. A few close people also encouraged me.” He mentioned Nashiru Iddrisu of Star Life Insurance, Mawuena Trebarh, formerly of MTN, and Rev Albert and Comfort Ocran as the angels that sowed the seed for full-time emceeing in him. According to Jerry, a good MC must learn to speak intelligently in a few words, must be humble, have respect for his audience, and above all have an insatiable desire to learn new things “The defining moment in my career was when I hosted the MTN Carols night and the commissioning of a tomato factory by former president John Mahama” Jerry believes that anyone who claims they have made it in life without the help of others is either proud or suffering from selective amnesia. He added that to attract mentors, one needs to have the right attitude, perseverance, and make a great case for themselves He advised upcoming MCs to learn to say no to some kinds of work. “Saying no totally frees you to shine at what you say yes to and create even more value in the process.” He indicated. Jerry Adjorlolo is currently the Managing Director of Domotale Africa, a consultancy provider for Ghana’s state, diplomatic and corporate landscape with a specialty focus on events management, protocol services, public relations, business facilitation, media production, and other business-on-demand creation services.

Media personality Berlinda Addardey, popularly known as Berla Mundi, has indicated that she gets shocked when people say that her life and work inspire them. According to Berla, she sees herself as a regular person and believes that many fear to venture out in life because of the many challenges that might confront them. “Everyone is born for a reason and a divine purpose. You can admire someone but don’t desire to be them. God put each of us in the world for an agenda and I see Him working through my talent for His glory.” An inspirational Berla who appeared on Rev. Albert Ocran’s Springboard Virtual University Programme which airs on Joy FM on Sundays at 7 pm, indicated that she got the name Berla Mundi from a friend while on campus. “On my first day on TV, I was asked what name I would like to use, and I gave it to them. I found out later that ‘Mundi’ means the world, so I tell myself I own my world. In 2010, Berla Mundi joined ten other young ladies in the Miss Malaika beauty pageant. Berla was hopeful of winning the competition. Her performance on the night was scintillating and the crown was just inches from her grasp. But a question posed to her on “Who is an African” became her undoing. She froze when it mattered the most and saw the crown slip away. Today, Berla looks back with conviction and says not winning the Miss Malaika beauty pageant was a blessing in disguise. The exposure from that pageant somehow became the springboard for her rise in the media. As a child she always knew she wanted to be in front of the cameras “I grew up imagining myself in front of the camera. I would hold a cane and address the various rungs of our staircase at home and cane them if I felt they were not listening.” Berla Mundi is an alumnus of St. Theresa’s School at North Kaneshie and Achimota School, where she studied Literature, Economics, and Government. She continued to the University of Ghana, where she studied English and Linguistics for her first degree. She then did her Master’s in Public Relations at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. Berla is worried that many young people are uninformed about the professional options open to them, noting, that there is no place to go for help, and parents who should be helping them are themselves often very busy with work. She again expressed concern about the general lack of awareness of money management principles. “People must learn about money management at an early age. I used to save my pocket money to the surprise of my dad, who was a banker. I now advocate financial literacy as an influencer for a financial institution.” Berla is passionate about making a difference. To this end, she has set up the B. You project aimed at empowering young women to make impactful decisions in life. Her project affords the opportunity for mentors like herself to honestly share about their own struggles, challenges, failures, and anxieties in life as they work with the young ladies. She described her mum, her sister, Angela Kyerematen-Jimoh and Dzigbordi Dosoo as her angels and mentors constantly propelling her to greater heights in life. When the story of Berla Mundi is being written someday, she wants it to reflect a woman who built a close-knit, transparent, and loving family, different from what she saw while growing up, and with God right at the center of it.

The Founder and President of Rehoboth Foundation Rev. Celia Apeagyei-Collins has urged leaders to stay connected with persons at the grassroots level in order to understand their needs and work towards meeting them. According to her, some people practice leadership from an abstract place and remain disconnected from persons at the bottom of the ladder where they themselves came from. “Part of our problem now is that we do not have a lot of incarnational leadership. Some of our leaders have forgotten what it is like to be poor. They have forgotten what it is like to stand in the rain, and they have also completely forgotten how it feels like to wait for trotro” She further reiterated that leadership is about serving people and not just corporate objectives. In an Easter message to Ghanaians on Rev. Albert Ocran’s Springboard Virtual University Programme which due to air on Joy FM on Easter Sunday, the award-winning Rev, Celia Apeagyei–Collins who has also been listed as one of the top ten most influential black Christian women in the UK indicated that Ghana and the rest of the world need future-fit leaders “Future fit leaders get off the dance floor and look at the horizon. They get things done and this must be the story of the next generation of leaders the world produces” From a humble beginning as a lay preacher on the streets of Kaneshie and the erstwhile Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Rev Celia Apeagyei-Collins is currently the Director and Trustee of Operation Mobilisation, OM in the UK, and the Vice President for TEARFUND, a Christian charity that partners with churches in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries, as well as an internationally sought-after conference speaker with presence in over 40 countries worldwide. “Whenever I meet anyone, and they tell me about their dreams or business ideas, I tell them to ask themselves these four questions. Who am I? What do I have? Who needs what I have? How can I get it to them?” She further encouraged people to believe in themselves noting that there is nothing more liberating than discovering and knowing oneself. Rev. Celia Apeagyei-Collins’s dream is to see a transformed world, with transformed people thinking, desires, and actions, ready to make a difference in the scheme of things. “Each of us is born, designed, and configured with a purpose or reason for living that is put there by God. “Our competencies, desires, what makes us happy, what books we buy and what prayers we pray, are all indicators of our purpose,” she concluded.

The Creative Director of Oxygen, Nana Kwadwo Duah has urged design professionals to refrain from wholesale plagiarizing of the creative works of colleague designers, adding that while you can admire someone else’s work, copying it trivializes the whole design process. In a submission that is bound to divide opinions, especially at a time of high demand for innovation, the award-winning designer intimated that “copying another person’s work is a great disservice, first to you as the designer, and to the client.” Nana Duah told Rev Albert Ocran in a Springboard, Virtual University, interview to be aired on Sunday 10th April, that young entrants into the Graphic Design space must be self-confident and enjoy the experience. They must recognize that they are in the industry to solve business problems. They must therefore always see themselves as businesspeople. Nana Kwadwo Duah’s story is a reminder of the immense possibilities open to anyone who masters their craft. His Instagram and Facebook pages feature imposing artworks and picturesque designs of notable brands in Ghana and beyond. But the story of Nana Kwadwo Duah and his meteoric rise, from a young returnee from the UK to his current position as Creative Director at Oxygen, a brand identity firm that he owns, did not happen overnight. It dates back some twenty years ago. “I grew up wanting to be a teacher. I had the rare opportunity to study English and Literature at Oxford University, in the UK, but things changed when my mum, the actress Alexandra Duah, passed. Marian Appah-Sampong of MAK Consult & Dezynes became my second mum and introduced me to design.” And since that experience, Nana has never looked back. From MAK Consult & Dezynes, moved on to the Ad Agency, STB McCann Accra, where he met his mentor, Kofi Amos. Nana describes him as “a very creative and no-nonsense boss and the one who polished the diamond in him.” Nana Duah underscored the important role of having a natural flair as a Graphic designer and tasked his colleagues and other up and coming designers, to veer off the norm, and inculcate other things outside design like writing, music, reading, current affairs, literature, history, art and photography in their works. “Exploring non-design themes is very important because a hundred percent concentration on already designed themes in trying to solve a problem creates repetitive solutions and outcomes. Veering out expands the echo chamber,” he added. But just like every other profession, he admitted that there are days when he suffers from the ‘designer’s block’ and nothing creative seems to flow. According to him, when such days come, step back, take a stroll, go for a swim, rejuvenate, and come back to complete the project. He described the cross over artwork for ICGC as one of his most iconic masterpieces that has widely been replicated and become the pivot for several variant designs.

Chief Executive Officer of Farmhouse Productions, Ivan Quashigah has admonished the youth to work for free, noting that working for free and volunteering will pay them for the rest of their lives. In a statement that many young people will find debatable and controversial, especially in the wake of the current economic hardships, the versatile filmmaker and creative director asserted that when young people offer their time and volunteer in jobs, in line with their career aspirations, they gain hands-on experiences that remain unmatched when they eventually launch their careers. Ivan Quashigah told Rev Albert Ocran in a Springboard Virtual University interview that will be aired on Joy FM on Sunday, April 3rd, and subsequently on Joy Prime, that young entrepreneurs must look around for problems and solve them. According to him, the entrepreneurship journey begins when many young people identify a problem, solve it, and get paid for it. He also reiterated the important role of volunteerism in the entrepreneurship journey. “Volunteering to work for an established organization is an important part of a young entrepreneur’s training. You can’t just come out of school and, because you were the best student, decide to start a business. You need to learn from others. Volunteering will give you the experience you need to achieve something for yourself.”, He stated. Growing up, Ivan Quashigah’s journey to becoming a filmmaker could best be described as the ‘divine hand of destiny’. First, he was raised in Keta between two cinema halls – Croydon and Premier. As a child, he sold movie tickets to willing patrons in exchange for the opportunity to watch the movies for free. He later started acting his own version of movies with other colleagues and got children in the neighborhood to pay in kind to watch them. Ivan was mentored by the late Ato Yanney, another movie filmmaker and director, who helped deepened and shape his love for reading and African writers. Through Ato Yanney, he had the opportunity to be on set for the film, ‘The Last Show,’ directed by Allen Gyimah, which saw the likes of David Dontoh, Grace Omaboe, George Williams, Lola Everett starring. His journey to becoming a filmmaker had its own challenging moments. His father was detained just before going to NAFTI and he resorted to selling soft drinks to finance his education till he eventually got a scholarship. His decision go to film school was met with ridicule and even after NAFTI, he was disappointed when he was posted to the National Service Secretariat for his service. But what was supposed to be a disappointment turned out to be a great blessing for him. “While at the National Service Secretariat, we were asked to do a documentary as part of their 20th Anniversary celebration. That documentary enabled me to travel around the country for free, build relationships and appreciate different cultures. Till today, it has been a blessing in my business”, he stressed. From “Things we Do for Love” to “YOLO”, Ivan Quashigah’s works in the creative media space are the silent standard most of his colleagues and other budding filmmakers aspire to. He was also the brain behind ‘sika ooo sika’, a commercial he did for UAC Textiles whiles working with the late Jake Obetsebi Lamptey at Lintas. Behind his cool and calm personality is a tough and decisive leader who would not hesitate to call a colleague at 2am to enquire about why a task has not been executed. He attributes this side of his personality to the training he received from his late father, Major Courage Quashigah, a former military officer, and a Minister of Agric in the erstwhile Kufuor administration. When COVID-19 ravaged businesses worldwide, and many corporate organisations laid off their staff, Ivan, determined to do otherwise. He, together with his team at Farmhouse, set up an App, the Farmhouse Movies App, to create movie content for young people. At the time of its launch in December 2020, the App had already garnered over 50,000 downloads Ivan believes there are two possible outcomes to every pitch in life – A yes or no. A yes means you can proceed, whiles a no gives you an opportunity to learn. He admonishes youth interested in entrepreneurship to find what they love or what makes them happy and be ready to sacrifice time and money to learn and grow in it.

Founder and Managing Director of Eden Tree Limited, Catherine Krobo Edusei, has called for the creation of demonstration farms, that showcase best practices in Agriculture, with high-level technology, as a measure to attract the youth into the sector. According to her, technology is such a big enabler and game-changer in Agriculture that when it is streamlined properly, with the right resources, it could change the narrative surrounding the sector. According to the award winning entrepreneur, who is celebrating her 25th year as a farmer, Agribusiness, though a profitable and lucrative value chain, has suffered due to the negative perceptions and views surrounding it. “Many young people see the Agric sector as a dirty and unrewarding venture, only for the elderly, uneducated, and rural poor. Speaking to Rev. Albert Ocran in a Springboard Virtual University interview to be broadcast on radio, television and online this weekend, Catherine Krobo Edusei stressed that because school farms were used as places for punishing students, many had grown up with a deep-seated psychological dislike for farming. She bemoaned the cost of modern technologies and the lack of access to finances to acquire them. In spite of these challenges, she still sees opportunities to create jobs in farming and agribusiness. “We are not producing enough as a country and we often under-distribute and are forced to rely on exports. What we have therefore done at Eden Tree, is to create a scheme where we give soft loans to smallholder farmers to enable them to plant for us. While this creates income security for them, they sometimes breach trust and try to cheat by side selling.” Sharing how she went into the Agricultural sector, Catherine Krobo Edusei indicated that she entered into farming by default “I relocated to Ghana as a banker, with my two children, and prayed to God for work outside the formal sector. An NGO request for aloe vera in large quantities created an opportunity. I ended up planting culinary herbs like Basel, parsley, dale, coriander, and fennel and the rest is history. Catherine also expressed concern about the cultural perception that farming is not for women. According to her, while it is the men that lead in land acquisition and in the collection of cash, it’s women who plant, harvest, and trade the farm produce. She called on the youth, especially young women, to view agribusiness with an open mind and not see it as below their level since the opportunities in the sector are vast and lucrative. “If COVID has taught us anything, it is the fact that there are endless possibilities with food. The world will continue to demand more food. Considering how much arable land we have, if we make Agric enjoyable and profitable, Africa could end up being the food basket of the world” she concluded.