Konnected Minds Podcast

In this raw and unfiltered episode of Konnected Minds Podcast, Derrick Abaitey sits down with Samuel Agyapong — founder of Banana Bread GH — for a conversation that dismantles the myth that you need to travel abroad or raise millions to build a real business in Ghana. Samuel didn't travel. He didn't get investor money. He started with 600 cedis and an MTN loan — and built two bakeries, all from social media. But this conversation goes deeper than just the success story. Samuel breaks down the brutal truths most young Ghanaians refuse to hear: why 70% of people think you need to go abroad to make it, why investors won't bet on you until you prove yourself first, why some people are born to be employees and that's okay, and why the real opportunity in Ghana isn't in chasing trends — it's in solving problems nobody else is paying attention to. From getting his products authenticated by CSIR and FDA, to doing stability tests without preservatives, to waking up at 4 a.m. every day for something he loves — Samuel's story is proof that the system is broken, yes, but it's also full of gaps you can fill if you're willing to start small, stay visible, and build a track record before asking anyone for a dime. This is not motivation. This is the manual.

In this powerful episode of Konnected Minds Podcast, Derrick Abaitey sits down with Shalimar Abbas - the former spokesperson of The New Force political movement - for her FIRST ON-RECORD interview in Ghana since her arrest, detention, and deportation. Shalimar opens up about everything: growing up as the "different kid" in Belgium, winning her first beauty pageant, falling in love with Ghana, her time at GHONE TV, the viral New Force video that changed her life, the call from immigration, 7 days in the National Intelligence Bureau cells, being abandoned by the movement she fronted, her ECOWAS court victory, and her powerful comeback as a diplomatic affairs advisor working with governments across Africa. This is a story of betrayal, faith, resilience, and redemption - and a side of the New Force saga the public has never heard before.

In this episode of Konnected Minds, Derrick Abaitey sits down with Funke Bucknor-Obrute (FBO) — the woman behind Zapphaire Events, Africa's biggest event planning company. For over 24 years, FBO has built an empire defined by excellence, customer obsession, and an unshakable mindset. But this conversation goes far beyond business. From quitting law after watching a J.Lo movie, to charging her first client ₦10,000, to building a team that runs Africa's most exclusive events without her in the room - FBO opens up about the real cost of building something that lasts. We also get into the conversation everyone's talking about: marriage, women, men, and the weight African women carry. FBO holds nothing back — and the debate gets HEATED. If you're building a business, a brand, or a life worth living, this one is for you.

From working 27 years in corporate across Japan and South Africa to investing over 2 million US dollars in a catfish farm in Ghana to learning the brutal truth that nobody will listen to you when you tell them how to think about risk even if you were the only black equity analyst in Japan nominated by Nikkei as one of the top 15 analysts because you need to let your life shine and people will see what is actually happening to you proving that actions speak louder than credentials and experience, the former senior portfolio manager at Mazi asset management who became head of research managing billions in assets for clients but always knew he would come back to Ghana to do something even though he could have come earlier because he was making very very good money and his aim was capital accumulation working for companies that paid him very well, the stock market expert who survived the Japanese bubble burst when banks collapsed and companies had issues watching as a foreigner wondering what was going to happen but fortunately by the grace of God survived the turbulence when his company was acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ Bank and the parent company was taken over by a consortium led by SoftBank Masayoshi Son, the analyst who moved from the sell side investment banking where companies like Databank and GCB Securities have access to the stock market and just recommend stocks to the buy side where you receive money and invest in stocks for clients creating portfolios and putting actual money in so if it falls the client is going to talk to you unlike the sell side where if the stock falls you hide and don't take calls, the entrepreneur who toured with the idea of setting up his own asset management company in Ghana but looking at the Ghana Stock Exchange set up in 1989 or 1990 the trading volume is dominated by probably one company MTN followed by GCB making it very difficult as a portfolio manager in South Africa to get stocks to buy in Ghana because the liquidity is not there and if you found an interesting company you don't get financial data wondering why the stock exchange allowed those companies to be listed when they are not providing their financials, the visionary who had aquaculture in his mind along with a fitness club and a garage because he came to Ghana and saw Ghanaians fixing cars while foreigners counted the money asking why can't I do it when it's just a question of getting the spare parts getting somebody to look after the warehouse very well and the Ghanaians doing it and probably giving them shares in whatever you set up, the risk thinker who explains that the risk concept in Asia is different from what we are taught in Ghana because when we say something is risky we think it's dangerous and you lose money but that's not how they think about risk and if you look at the Chinese characters for risk the two characters pronounced kiki mean danger and opportunity so you see danger and opportunity together, the opportunity seeker who says when you see risk you don't run away but ask is it very dangerous and where is the opportunity and is the opportunity bigger than the danger because he grew up there and lived with them so it became part of him and when he looks at Ghana yes it's risky but where lies the opportunity and where is the danger, the founder and CEO of Wadicair Farms the award winning farm of 2025 who moved to Ghana in 2021 after working many years in corporate making very very good money and moving to South Africa to join Mazi asset management was actually a huge pay cut but his aim was to set up a black owned asset management company where he was head of research and senior portfolio manager for a mandate in Africa excluding South Africa. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From understanding why parents pushed their children into white collar jobs instead of farming because weeding was used as punishment in school making people grow up thinking farming is for those who cannot read and write to learning the brutal truth that we import 100 million dollars worth of tomatoes from Burkina Faso every year and if a young person can target just 1% of that market that's one million dollars in opportunity but the 25 year old guy doesn't know where to get 50,000 cedis to start and banks are not willing to co-invest because they get high returns from government bonds instead of taking equity in startups proving that there's a big industry in Ghana about talking on problems every day but nothing is done and we need to move from talking to working on the ground, the entrepreneur whose grandparents were big cocoa farmers in Ofori area and grew up on cocoa farms but was pushed into education because parents wanted their children to become doctors or engineers so they could tell their friends my son is a doctor my daughter is a pilot instead of saying my child is a farmer which doesn't bring societal respect or dignity in Ghana today, the reality that when you go to the UK or Japan or USA or Brazil the rich people are farmers milking cows and doing large scale agriculture but in Ghana we've pushed agriculture to the background and left farming for peasant farmers working on one acre or one plot of land feeding their children with agriculture extension officers advising them instead of thinking about large scale farms, the wisdom that education is very very important but we need to revamp the way we teach people because when he was growing up they punished you and asked you to go and weed so you grew up thinking weeding is a form of punishment and farming is exaggerated punishment so people are not going to do it and the farmer cannot even send his son to school, the vision that if we are able to revamp the way we teach and explain agriculture to people they will get to know that you can be a PhD and till the ground and make a lot of money because you can identify a problem like importing tomatoes from Burkina Faso and supply the ladies who are going to buy those tomatoes creating jobs and wealth, the fish farmer who started Wadicair Farms in 2023 with 2.5 million US dollars investment now doing revenues of maybe 750,000 cedis yearly and growing because 2023 was virtually zero but 2024 and 2025 are looking better with more people patronizing the products and off-takers coming from Canada Germany Ivory Coast and locally selling to Max Mart Talegon Max Mart La Bony and Focus Trading in Kumasi, the product innovator who created oven dried sliced catfish instead of just the traditional curled catfish because growing up mothers would finish the soup and have to divide the fish and it's hard when it's curled so slicing it makes it easier for them to give portions to children while the father gets the big curled one but initially people asked where is the head how do I know this is not snake so now they include the head and people are buying the sliced version, the employer who tells his workers you are here not just for a salary because if we make money in this company Kwame is not going to just keep it to himself and his family but will set up a bonus system so workers can get sizeable bonuses to buy blocks and start building something for their families because they live around the village and he wants them to build generational wealth too, the businessman whose motivation for starting the farm was money of course because it's not philanthropy but he doesn't have to squeeze money out of his people and if he can make decent profits selling at 100 why should he sell at 150 or 200 when he has his targets and knows where the business is going. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From understanding why family members should never run your business unless they're your wife or daughters to learning the brutal truth that when you're not around your brother or cousin will undermine you saying oh because I'm the brother do this meanwhile it's not something you recommend and workers will be afraid to challenge them because he's the uncle of the CEO pulling your company down which is exactly why the owner of Wadiqa in Japan said if you live in this part of the world and you want your business to thrive don't work with family, the catfish farmer who sat with Japanese business owners and studied how Toyota Honda Suzuki Panasonic and Sony built generational companies where the structure was so solid that when one guy started it his son became boss his grandson became boss and the family has interests but the company survives for generations proving that culturally the ethics there are very different and he never heard of somebody say I'll not let my uncle work here in Japan but looking at Ghana he had to make that decision, the Christian entrepreneur who looks at his company as the property of the God he serves and has to manage it well so you can't fool around there and see him sitting down watching you destroy it because if you're not a Christian you will not understand but that's his concept and he doesn't waste time firing people who fool around, the business owner who admits the issue is founders have so much passion when they start but the people they hire don't have that passion and you have to get people who buy into your passion to grow your business because if that passion just stays with you and doesn't percolate to the other guys around you then when you're not around they can't move the business forward but if you're able to sell your passion into them or infuse your passion into them even if you're not around they know this is how this business should be moving, the aquaculture entrepreneur whose business started in 2023 not making profits yet but seeing revenues growing growing because he has a lot of assets being depreciated and depreciation is heavy making the cashfish business complicated when some people come and tell oh I started with 500 I made this amount of money but if you look at the cost variables you're going to buy fingerlings and if you don't buy good fingerlings you might lose them so give yourself maybe 5% mortality rate, the fish farmer who breaks down that feed is about 70% of your total cost of production and you can't reduce the price of feed because the company making the feed wants to make money and you don't control them so how do you make money when your feed cost is 70% leaving you with maybe 30% to play around with and you have to pay your workers and transport the feed to your farm, the processor who decided to dry and package fish instead of selling it fresh because when you feed it to a certain point somebody comes to buy and tells you I'm not going to buy it at one KG for 40 cedis I'll give you 30 cedis and if you say no he goes away and comes back a week later saying 30 cedis or even lower and you are buying feed to feed this fish so out of desperation some farmers sell and cry at night, the marketer who explains that people go to Makola and Kaneshie market to buy dried fish because it's a staple in our diet so if you dry and package you become more competitive and don't rely on point and kill people coming to buy your fish fresh because if they don't come you're in trouble and if they buy at a lower price your price realization is not that high, the strategic thinker who says before the four Ps of marketing you need to do research about what is the demand for your product where you are because if you're located in Kwintanpo and you want to sell in Accra you're in big trouble and consumer preferences are very different so you need to look at what do these people want and it may not even be beautiful packaging. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From understanding that danger and opportunity are the same word in Japanese to learning why the brutal truth about entrepreneurship in Ghana is that you can have all the knowledge about risk management from working in top corporate jobs in Japan and South Africa managing billions in assets but nobody will listen to you when you say this is how you should consider risk because you need to let your life shine and people will see what is actually happening to you proving that actions speak louder than credentials, the former head of research and senior portfolio manager at Mazi asset management in South Africa who moved to Ghana in 2021 after working many years in corporate making very very good money because his aim was capital accumulation knowing he wanted to set up something back home but needed the financial foundation first, the investment expert who breaks down the rule of 72 explaining that if the interest rate is 24% you divide 72 by 24 to get 3 which means your money will double in three years if you invest in an asset giving you 24% per annum and reinvest the interest proving that when Ghana treasury bill rates were about 30% people could have doubled their money if they knew this but for lack of knowledge my people perish, the financial literacy advocate who reveals the mistake people make in Ghana is putting all their money in the bank thinking they have 2 million in savings when actually that deposit is a liability for the bank which uses your money to invest in Ghana government funds getting 25% to 30% return while the spread is so high they pay their workers and get their fault checks and you get peanuts from interest while they are living on your savings, the reality that banks bring pretty ladies when they want you to borrow money to buy your house because they understand the rule of 72 and know your debt will double after a season but when it's time for collection they bring much more men to collect their money and if you're not able to pay they take away your house and you are in trouble, the wisdom that if you go to his village in Bocancere people don't understand finance proving that financial education should be paramount in our country and everything is confined to Accra but we need to be more practical with the teaching of economics and finance, the careful expert who has rules and has to be careful whatever he says because it's not like he's recommending for anybody to go and buy this or that so privately he can talk to his friends saying this looks interesting you can do this but in a forum like this if you say this company is good somebody will go and buy then lose money and he's going to be in trouble like a false prophecy, the portfolio manager who admits you don't get it right all the time and just wants to be right maybe 51% or 52% of the time and his client will make money because if he buys Sony and Panasonic in consumer electronics but forgets about Samsung and Samsung goes high while Sony stays there he loses relatively and the client is going to be upset asking why didn't you buy Samsung why did you stay with Sony, the entrepreneur whose balance sheet now is about 12 million Ghana cedis but if he actually looks at the money invested it's about two million plus dollars because he worked for very good companies was paid very well and saved a lot of money so when he was coming back to Ghana his plan was ready with his business plan ready knowing what he was going to do with projected returns everything on his computer. Host: Derrick Abaitey

She turned down $3 MILLION. She's raised $1.5M+ for African entrepreneurs. And she has some brutal truths about why YOU haven't been funded yet. In this episode of Konnected Minds, Derrick Abaitey sits down with business consultant and Fundvestor founder Diane Akuffo - the woman behind one of the highest investor success rates in Ghana (80%). She breaks down EXACTLY how to: ✅ Build a pitch deck investors actually take seriously ✅ Make your business "investor-ready" (most Ghanaian businesses are NOT) ✅ Choose between equity, SAFE notes, and convertible loans ✅ Avoid the 60/40 trap that cost one founder his entire business ✅ Find investors — and what to send them BEFORE you reach out ✅ Use the AI tool that's reviewing pitch decks in seconds (Mangro AI)

From understanding why operating profit margin multiplied by asset turnover determines your return on assets to learning the brutal truth that in aquaculture you can start small with 20,000 cedis drying fish the traditional way but as you make money from the local market you upgrade your equipment step by step until you're exporting to Europe where they test for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that stick on fish skin when you smoke with firewood and might cause cancer which is why investing in modern drying machines matters even though it costs more upfront, the catfish farmer who explains that retailers have slim margins of 2% to 3% but high turnover of 2 to 4 times per year while companies like Fanuc making robots have very high margins but low turnover of 0.5 because they only produce maybe 50 robots per annum proving that scale is everything in the fish business and if you're doing a thousand fish you're going to be in trouble but if you're doing 10,000 tons or 50,000 tons you have leverage over feed companies like Raanan and Coppens because they know you're going to buy from them, the entrepreneur with a 100 kilowatt solar farm who admits he doesn't have the managerial resources to be thinking about making his own feed when companies can provide it and the real strategy to lower costs is just scale not trying to buy maize soybeans methionine and all those ingredients yourself when you should be focused on your fish and marketing marketing marketing, the aquaculture business owner who breaks down the regulatory maze you must navigate before starting a catfish farm in Ghana where the Fisheries Commission charges about 1,000 cedis for permits for both grow out and hatchery operations but the EPA charges around 20,000 cedis after doing environmental research and writing reports based on your capacity, the farmer who uses boreholes and has to deal with the Water Resources Commission which is in charge of all water bodies in Ghana and charges you for water you're drawing from the ground because you're using it to make money though they can't monitor all the farms using boreholes but his farm is right by the road so they can see the tanks and he has to comply, the wisdom that catfish farming is absolutely profitable and tilapia is very popular because any corner you turn in Ghana you see a Banco joint with tilapia and imagine the volume of tilapia we consume every day every week every month while catfish is just a niche but Nigerians have taught us you can actually grill catfish and people in the diaspora want dried catfish to make Banco joint and soup and Indians are waking up to the fact that it has a lot of meat and is not as bony as tilapia so the demand is actually growing, the strategic thinker who says you don't have to narrow yourself to Ghana as your market but think West Africa is my market and then the whole world is my market going through this step by step by step always doing your Japanese due diligence researching the background of where you want to have your catfish farm, the resirculating aquaculture system expert who uses RAS technology where water comes into the tank he feeds the fish they poop into the water and conventionally this water would be flushed out into gutters but in resirculating aquaculture he moves this water into a mechanical filter where the solids are filtered then it goes through a biological filter where any bacteria is eliminated, the minister for fisheries and aquaculture Mrs. Emilia Arthur who came and tried to streamline regulations because farmers had to deal with several regulators and it was really cumbersome and very expensive so they want the Fisheries Commission to be a one stop shop which is very welcome for the industry, the reality that if you're using Ghana Water Company your water bills are going to go up but you have to make a decision. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From building a 100 kilowatt solar powered fish farm with greenhouses to understanding why most Ghanaian companies die with their founders, and why the brutal truth about entrepreneurship is that creating generational wealth means moving away from the one man show mentality where if you're not here the business cannot survive because knowledge and wisdom doesn't reside in only one person and you need to put structures in place that allow the company to thrive even when you're gone which is exactly what happened to great companies in Ghana set up by people from Makropom and other places where when the founder passed away the company died because maybe the structure wasn't great and somebody took over and said I'm not going to do this leaving workers jobless proving that without proper management and vision the business collapses with the founder, the entrepreneur who studied Japanese companies like Toyota Honda Suzuki Panasonic and Sony where one guy started it the structure was there his son became boss his grandson became boss and the family has interests but because the structure is solid the company survives for generations teaching that generational wealth creation is not just about making money but about building something that will take care of your wife your daughters your grandchildren and provide jobs for workers long after you're gone, the fish farmer who decided to breed fish in tanks under tunnels in greenhouses so workers can go in anytime even when it's raining and built his own hatchery for constant supply of fingerlings because selling raw fish makes some money but processing the fish drying it and packaging it with machines is where the margins are high, the businessman who brought in machines to dry and package fish but admits he made a mistake not securing offtakers before starting the project because he was not living in Ghana and didn't trust people to do the research for him and the industry is so fragmented with everybody claiming they're doing 1,000 catfish or 5,000 fish and there are so many lies on YouTube with people getting caught thinking if they buy 1,000 catfish they'll make this amount of money when it's not like that and unfortunately people are falling for such advice, the solar power advocate who saw that energy cost is very high in Ghana and in Asia where he worked in Japan electricity for industrial use is actually cheaper than electricity for households and Singapore is even cheaper but in Ghana it's not like that making it nearly impossible to grow industries with such high cost of power which is why he installed 100 kilowatt solar on his farm to power everything with ECG as backup and two generators as additional backups, the aquaponics dreamer who initially wanted fish water to flow through floating beds where you plant lettuce on styrofoam and the plants pick up the nitrates filtering the water so you don't waste a lot of water and only top up every three months while harvesting vegetables but decided Ghanaians don't eat vegetables so he converted everything into tanks and got stuck with waste water wondering what to do instead of flushing it into gutters like some people do, the innovator who built greenhouses and directed waste water into tanks to irrigate them now producing red and yellow bell peppers after doing tomatoes and cucumbers and buying three more greenhouses from a supplier that will be installed soon bringing the total to six greenhouses optimizing revenue by going back to competency and figuring out which vegetables to grow, the realization that an old friend told him something funny that a man going into retirement is more concerned about losing their money than their life and at this age how long is he going to live so what is he leaving behind for his wife his daughters his future grandchildren. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From understanding that you cannot just wake up and become the MP for Kasoa or expect that buying Tom Tom for somebody will make you successful to learning the brutal truth that building wealth requires going through a process and buying shares then forgetting about them for one year to be amazed by the returns, and why the harsh reality about money is that if you're not disciplined you cannot grow money and you cannot keep money which is exactly why young people need to cut down expenses like the NSS personnel who sees their boss buying 100 cedis jollof and wants to do the same when the boss has worked hard to be where he is while the NSS person is barely making enough to survive let alone spend 100 cedis on lunch, the financial literacy educator who teaches people through 30 Seats Challenge that saving money is hard and the level of discipline required for a teenager to save money is something we don't speak about enough because when you're 17 years old working in London teaching piano for 18 pounds an hour on Wednesdays doing three or four hours but never saving any money it proves that even when money comes easy it's hard to save, the young man who got 30 pounds a week from the government just for going to school but never saved anything probably sending it back home for siblings proving that without discipline and a clear purpose money disappears into Mx90s trainers and immediate gratification, the reality that in Ghana temptation is everywhere because when you're sitting in a trotro with 500 cedis in your pocket the woman selling chewing gum comes around the one selling polo comes around almost pushing it down your nose to buy it and once you get off you see roadside sellers selling plantain and by the time you get home food is not ready so you buy from the seller right outside making it incredibly difficult to save, the wisdom that because it's hard not a lot of people do it and that's the reason why people remain poor because the way people become wealthy is by being disciplined and only 5% just 5% of your habit just being a little bit more disciplined than the average person and you are winning, the phone case seller who walks into the studio without a shop but carries what she sells wherever she goes proving you don't need a shop or big capital to start a business because when someone teaches her that struggling savers just need to be 5% above the average person it's imprinted in her mind and she goes home and works within that 5% showing the power of mindset shifts, the young entrepreneur who explains that people don't start businesses because they want to start big when actually you can provide a service wherever you find yourself and clock it making 4,000 cedis profit selling phone cases without needing a storefront or massive investment, the challenge of changing mindsets when you see someone like Japan Can Be who sold six of his properties and went through the process but a normal person watching the podcast will see it as he's trying to bluff instead of asking what can I give up to make it like him proving we need to let go of our old ways of doing things, the memory of mothers saving money in handkerchiefs inside headdresses before learning about microfinances and growing their savings methods showing that your mindset needs to be able to change things because we do not sit on only ourselves we learn from people around us, the nostalgia of lifting up grandma's blue sheet on her table to find coins never more than three cedis underneath because she didn't have a bank account and mobile money was not available in her time but that's how she saved her money teaching the foundation of discipline, the stepfather who saved his money in the ceiling working as a farmer and chemical seller being smart about hiding his cash until one day somebody went to steal it. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From understanding that savings alone is not enough to learning how to buy shares that can turn 10,000 cedis into 100,000 cedis in one year, and why the brutal truth about building wealth is that young people don't know the difference between shares and treasury bills when treasury bills are regulated by the government giving you fixed returns like water in a cup that's always there when you drink but shares are buying a part of a company like MTN or Gold or Ben's oil palm plantation where if the company does well your shares do well but you cannot determine when it's going to rise or fall, the financial literacy educator who breaks down Maslow's hierarchy explaining that self actualization is where people invest big time into shares that work for them and they do not necessarily have to do something else proving that even when Dr. McDonald says he's not where he wants to be we see him as self actualized but to him he is not showing the difference between social status and perception, the young woman teaching people through 30 Seats that in the typical Ghanaian environment if you die it is what is said about you after the death that matters because if you only had money to take care of yourself and your family and extended family but die right now they would say you didn't leave any property proving it is money it is money not just words, the reality that people comment in DMs asking why will I save my next of kin will come and chop the money when actually you need to work hard to change that perception and leave something behind, the process of buying shares starting with saving then taking a portion of that saving to investment using IC wealth app or Black Star app where you register get a CSD account buy the shares and move forward, the top three shares young people can invest in today being MTN shares which she personally invests in, Gold shares that went from 1,250 cedis last year to now being scarce, and Ben's oil palm plantation which is doing very well, the shocking revelation that one company appreciated by 1,000% meaning if you had saved 10,000 cedis last year now you're making 100,000 cedis from buying the shares proving the power of patient investment, the wisdom that nobody gets huge money in one minute and you can't just wake up and be the MP for Kasoa or expect that buying Tom Tom for somebody will make you successful because it's a process you need to go through, the discipline that shares teach you because if you're not disciplined you cannot grow money and you cannot keep money which is why young people need to cut down expenses like the NSS personnel who sees their boss buying 100 cedis jollof and wants to do the same when the boss has worked hard to be where he is, the confession from the host about working at 17 years old in London teaching a lady's son piano for 18 pounds an hour on Wednesdays doing three or four hours but never saving any money proving that the level of discipline required for a teenager to save money is something we don't speak about enough, the temptation of spending money on Mx90s trainers at 17 instead of saving showing how hard it is for young people to resist immediate gratification, the government money of 30 pounds a week just for going to school that was never saved or invested but probably sent back home for siblings proving that even when money comes easy without work it's hard to save unless you have a clear purpose and discipline. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From interviewing coconut sellers making 300 to 500 cedis profit daily to teaching young people the brutal truth that if you do not want to be poor you have to understand that most of us are stuck on physiological needs of food shelter and clothing thinking that once we have money for these basics we are done when actually a coconut seller multiplying 300 cedis by five days by one month is making more than someone doing a white collar job in an office space proving there are no businesses better than another business but our minds are set to think certain businesses mean you are doing well while other businesses make people think you are joking when you are actually the one making real money on the streets, the financial literacy expert who has always been a money person not in a bad way but loves money because money makes a lot of things possible like buying a car or doing other things and started an accessory business right from university understanding that growing up as a typical African child you are not given money because the money is either handled by your father or given to your mother who gives it to you and even when you have to buy certain things you have to follow an adult because school fees was never handed over but you went to the bank with your father or mother just to be sure the fees was paid, the young woman who learned how to handle money by herself when entering university space where suddenly you are given your money because you are an adult kind of but made the painful mistake of lending her school fees to a friend who used it for betting and the money just got lost explaining why a lot of parents wouldn't want to give money to their children because if a friend mishandles the money who do you run to and it will be so sad if your parents struggled to get the money for you and you just mishandle it, the lesson that no money is enough which really struck her when watching an interview where someone big said he's not where he wants to be proving that even successful people feel they need more and you have to break out of being poor by venturing into businesses and understanding the lies we have been told about the way we should make money because there are businesses that immediately you mention people think you are doing well and other businesses where people do not even have time to believe it works because to them you are just on the streets, the educator from 30 Seats one of West Africa's leading digital platforms on financial literacy and youth empowerment who believes people can start businesses without money because she started by going to a friend's shop at Kasoa who sells phone accessories and after SHS the guy really trusted her so she would take phone cases go to school sell them make her profit and give him back the money proving that trust and starting small works, the conversation split into four parts taking you from not being able to save to saving a lot of money to invest covering the top three shares that young people can invest in today where one company appreciated by 1000% so if you had saved 10,000 cedis last year now you're making 100,000 cedis and why saving money is hard because the level of discipline required for a teenager to save money is something we don't speak about enough when a lot of people spend money on the wrong things but the most important thing is not how much you are saving but the discipline and the consistency. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From breaking down the psychology of money and savings to teaching young people how to escape the betting trap and start real businesses with just 496 cedis, and why the brutal truth about why most people stay poor is because they only focus on the physiological needs of food shelter and clothing asking why do I need more money won't I die and let my next of kin come and enjoy when actually the money you're using for betting could buy a sachet of pure water that you sell and make profit and thrive because there are no two ways about betting it is wrong and addictive with people sliding into DMs telling stories about what they're going through and how they cannot stop, the social entrepreneur running 30 Seats Challenge teaching people to save one cedi on January first then two cedis on January second adding one cedi each following day so by the end of January you have saved 496 cedis which is enough to start a business but people have the misconception that you save one cedi every day when that's not how you get to 66,000 cedis by the end of the year, the young educator who explains that 496 cedis can start a phone accessory business because one phone case goes between 40 to 80 cedis so you can buy five cases wholesale or retail depending on the price and trust because the price they give a different person is not the same price they give you if you are trustworthy and you can sell it with 30 cedis profit especially now that iPhone 16 Pro Max cases are trending and people even buy iPhone 16 Pro Max camera protectors to put on their iPhone 7 Plus to make it look like the latest phone, the problem with society being so full of itself tied to social abilities where people bet with money they don't have and the benefits they get from betting are wasted and it's so addictive they cannot stop which is why the platform educates people that for the sake of your life and your future and your generation stop betting save the money start something small, the savings strategy that teaches you to cut down certain expenses and save for your future knowing that savings is just for a particular time before you move to investing, the reality that before you move from physiological needs to safety needs to love and belongingness it might look like a little step but it's not in money because if you have 50 cedis to cater for food shelter and clothing that 50 cedis is not going to cater for your safety needs when illness strikes because no hospital charges 50 cedis and when you move to love and belongingness with a wife and children what's 50 cedis going to do for you, the breakdown of Maslow's hierarchy showing that people only start thinking about investment at the esteem level after they've catered for physiological needs safety needs and love and belongingness because now they have to take care of themselves and their future before reaching self actualization where they invest big time in shares that work for them and they do not necessarily have to do something else, the opportunity for young people even in SHS or university to start growing cash flow by learning selling skills whether using social media or apps or being able to convince and speak to people because the only thing you need to learn is how to sell. Host: Derrick Abaitey

He started as a BlackBerry campus ambassador. No salary. No guarantee. Just a free phone and a chance to serve. Fifteen years later, they made him CEO of Red Africa. Ayodeji Razaq is one of Africa's most quietly powerful business minds - co-founder of The People Company, CEO of Red Africa, and a man who has spent his entire career doing something most people refuse to do: letting himself be used. In this episode, Ayodeji breaks down the uncomfortable truths about entrepreneurship, employment, money, leadership, and what it actually takes to build something that lasts in Africa - without holding anything back. What we cover: This is not the regular success story. This is the real one.

From selling phone cases without owning a phone to building multiple income streams while still in school, and why the brutal truth about making money is that you need to be trusted because coming by money is a very difficult thing to do and if somebody has set up a business and you want to start yours by feeding from theirs you need to build that kind of trust for somebody to willingly give you something to go and sell and bring the capital back which is exactly how the journey started taking stock from someone's shop selling it and returning the profit before moving into iPhones where a campus friend gave one iPhone 7 on trust and even though the profit was just 300 cedis because of not knowing how to navigate the phone it was enough to keep moving forward, the young entrepreneur who manages a mother's fashion school handling sales marketing and social media analytics while still carrying phone cases in the bag and in the car ready to sell at any moment because at every point in your life the money you started with might not be enough to carry you to the top so you need to grow and even in this studio there are phone cases ready to go because leaving an imprint in someone's mind matters even if they don't buy today, the determination and mindset shift that is the number one skill people need to learn if they want to grow their money or make money because if you want to make money and you don't have a particular mindset towards making money you're still going to be there stuck in the same place watching businesses doing well on the streets but preferring to be under air condition taking home 500 cedis a month rather than being in the scorching sun taking home 500 cedis profit a day, the social status trap that keeps people from entrepreneurship where having a university degree or master's or PhD makes people think selling coconuts means you failed life when actually you're making more money than them but they fail to look at the aftermath and only see the outside which is why coconut sellers around 37 and parliament house wear suits to work purely because of social status and packaging, the coconut seller in a suit with beautiful makeup dressed neatly selling coconuts creating a higher probability that customers choose them over others because packaging puts you out there and some coconuts are served in nice bottles with straws making customers upset when their regular seller doesn't have a straw increasing the probability they move to the next person who does, the 30 Seats platform that focuses on savings because too many people misuse their money spending on watchy egg willy salad plantain and sausage all protein all at once knowing they don't have money for the next day teaching people to cut down spending and expenses and talking highly against betting because the society is so full of itself tied to social abilities and people bet with money they don't have sliding into DMs telling stories about what they're going through from betting which is so addictive they cannot stop, the 30 Seats Challenge that started first January where you save one cedi the first day two cedis the second day three cedis the third day adding one cedi each following day so by the end of January you have saved 496 cedis which is enough to start a business and people have the misconception that you save one cedi every day but that's not how you get to 66,000 cedis by the end of the year. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From importing surgical masks during COVID to building multiple businesses across continents, and why the brutal truth about getting unstuck is that you can't just sit there like a pigeon waiting for someone to put you on because there's something you can put yourself on when you first stand up trust your guts and go out and surround yourself with sharks who are successful people with problems that need solving and every person on earth has a problem even God has issues trying to make children on earth not sin which is why preachers arise providing solutions to God's problems and that's why He blesses them, the young entrepreneur who discovered that to import a whole box of surgical masks during COVID cost less than a dollar but one single mask was selling for 20 cedis in Ghana proving the system does not support local produce in any sector whether health or agriculture because local products are always more expensive than imported ones, the businessman who brought masks into Ghana and watched the price drop from 20 cedis to 5 cedis then 2 cedis then 1 cedi while still making profit showing how predatory pricing works when someone enters the market with better connections and fair pricing, the founder of Mahema and Viet Star brands who considers himself a custodian of people's money because people give him money to do business with them for them and he receives calls from people in Ghana and beyond across Africa in Congo who come with their fathers wanting to do business but don't know what to do with their money, the shock who treats clients and partners fairly making all the people who have investments in his company multi millionaires who have got a lot of money and are very successful but still have problems because it is never enough for humans we need more which translates to the local dialect as even raising the sea, the wisdom that when you find that shock and you find his problem trust me it works because you're already selling and it is working when you don't have anybody younger than you who has given you money because you need to know what you're going to do with that, the advice to people who feel stuck and don't know what to do which means you don't have any source of income you don't have a job you don't even have anything like you're just there like a pigeon saying Charlie put me on put me on put me on when there's something you can put yourself on, the strategy that somebody must know somebody definitely somebody knows somebody so go step up try and build connections and when you meet a shock find out their problem personal problem or business problem because there's no successful person on this planet that doesn't have a problem, the approach to not quickly just jump on the shock saying hello my name is but instead take your time it may take you being like a month two three months because people like him when he meets new people he takes time before he gets them in and it mostly they never even come because they haven't given him a solution to something that he's facing, the value you need to bring to the shock you meet so when you get out there in search of something for yourself and you get the opportunity one time pick and ask of their problems or just try and find out in conversation what the challenge is even if you don't have the solution because once you hear the challenge your action and attempt in trying to help them will already win their trust, the relationship building where you nature it saying hello hi were you able to get this done because trust me we need each other you need someone's shoulders to stand on someone needs to hold your hands someone needs to pull you and those people they need to know the value of why they're pulling you.

From losing everything in three months to understanding why Ghana's rice business is controlled by cartels, and why the brutal truth about entrepreneurship is that when you lose over a million dollars because you trusted the wrong people and tried to help Ghanaians by giving them rice on credit thinking anyone could be a rice seller and make money, you realize you were just being robbed by sharks who knew exactly how to solve your problem of needing people to sell your rice but ended up biting you instead leaving you with no revenue no recovery rice gone company in debt and yourself in debt, the young entrepreneur who brought goods and met new people who said they were businessmen but they were actually the bad sharks who took advantage of his desire to work with Ghanaians and supply rice to anyone who wanted to sell, the business owner who thought a credit based system was a good idea where people could just sell make money bring it come take another one until he encountered dishonesty everywhere and all the rice and all the things went down in just three months losing everything, the reality that taking legal proceedings sounds good until you face Ghana's legal system which deserves much respect but is very slow and frustrating and you need to spend a lot of money to go for what you want, the recovery of only about 5% of what was lost with some people still being pursued by authorities to this day since 2022 for something that happened long ago while he has already moved on, the affliction that brought him back to his senses making him humble and going back to his roots where he began saying no I would rise but now I have the experiences, the year it took to plan the comeback because he didn't just want to jump back in after knowing how to import something and knowing the real buyers and the real people who want to do real business, the phone call to his suppliers over there where he had maintained good relationships proving that your network matters when you fall, the dishonesty in the country that every entrepreneur in Ghana knows making it so difficult to trust people that you're working with, the mentality that employees think they could build a house inside your business when they don't even know how you made it and the first thing that comes to an average Ghanaian person's mind when given an opportunity in that business field is steal, the man in Kumasi at Lancaster having breakfast when someone approached talking about how his employees put him in debt of about half a million cedis because they said they were paying the taxes but were not paying it and there were letters from GRA, the three minute conversation where another man joined in somewhere in Tema with the same story about employees killing his business proving this is endemic in the country, the shirt shop with a sign saying employees needed because the owner had sacked all of them for the same thing, the past five years where out of all the new businesses created maybe only 10% are left and 90% have gone out with one of the main factors being the people we work with, the philosophy brought up in homes that says a successful person is probably an occultist making people think whenever they get the chance to work with a successful person the first thing is hurry up and get out grab what you can and exit, the first year of doing business in Ghana where he sacked about 13 people and had people in his construction business stealing cement and being sold, the cement being kept in the bush behind the studio when they were building because there are buyers who will buy stolen goods, the comment that says oh it's because you don't pay them well when actually the price is set and they come and mention their price and you pay them so why are they still stealing. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From losing over a million dollars in a rice business gone wrong to understanding the brutal reality of predatory pricing and foreign dominance in Ghana's food import sector, and why the harsh truth about entering the rice business is that you can't just walk in with a hundred thousand dollars thinking it's easy money because the moment you show up with your shipment the established players who own 12 brands each will scrub their prices down to cost price and even below just to frustrate you out of the market selling rice at 200 cedis when it's impossible unless they didn't pay duty or got the rice for free, the entrepreneur who faces predatory pricing where competitors intentionally lose money just to keep new players out of the market cutting prices so low that first time importers are forced to sell below cost and lose their capital before eventually quitting the business allowing the big players to raise prices again and recover everything they lost kicking you out, the business owner who warns that 80% of rice importers in Ghana are foreigners from the Middle East India and Lebanon creating a serious concern about food security when the country's food supply of rice sugar and other imports are mainly in the hands of foreigners not because they're not helping the economy or providing jobs but because no Ghanaian businessmen can survive in an environment where the people in the companies are robbing Ghanaians themselves, the realization that these foreign business owners have been here for generations and actually have Ghanaian passports and speak Twi so fluently that if you don't see them and only hear them on the microphone you might think it's a Ghanaian speaking proving how deeply rooted they are in the system, the imported rice versus locally produced rice debate where imported rice is cheaper than locally produced rice because the cost of production in Ghana is so high and all borne by the farmer while in other countries the government provides machinery fertilizers tractors and combined harvesters for free as grants supporting their agribusiness, the farmer in Ghana who has to pay for the tractor buy gasoline rent the combined harvester plow the floor and bear all those costs alone ending up with a product that's not even as fine but still highly priced compared to imported rice making it impossible for any rational Ghanaian consumer to choose local when there's Ghanaian rice at an exhibition selling for 450 cedis while imported rice is way less, the thought of growing rice in Ghana that died after research showed it would result in losses because government promises to help the agri sector never come and friends who own farms in Volta region get no help and have to call for assistance just to sell their rice, the shocking data that the entire rice harvested in Ghana is not enough to feed the people of Greater Accra for two weeks yet people still complain about not having buyers because it's not about demand it's about pricing since farmers spent a lot of money to produce and are suffering, the solution that would affect a lot of importers but could work if the government pushes an agenda for 70% consumption of local produce and 30% importation but only if the government also supports the farmers because otherwise importers would just quit and switch to farming to gain from government support, the threat to the economy when the people who control how much food comes into Ghana are foreigners who are helping the economy yes but building theirs even better sending all the money back to their homes creating a situation where if they decide they're done and leave Ghana will go hungry. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From watching poor families struggle while having an awakening at 12 years old that no one is coming to save you to building six businesses before turning 30, and why the brutal truth about entrepreneurship is that if a thought makes you nervous it's worth pursuing because people who fear money don't get it and the things that scare you the most are exactly where your success is hiding waiting for you to be brave enough to reach for it, the young man who spent time with his grandmother selling beads in Fishy past learning that her generation would work regardless of conditions for five cedis a day to provide for their families while his father's generation would work but could switch jobs and his generation resigns when things get uncomfortable and Gen Z doesn't want to work at all, the first among six siblings who got an awakening around 12 or 13 years old realizing that no one was coming to save his family so while his siblings stayed home to play he would go with his grandmother to sell beads the waist beads and king beads that she made into chains and wrist beads, the grandson whose grandma was the one with the money in the family making beads but also having farms and animals like pigs and sheep that people would buy bringing income and always taking him along to sell teaching him the foundation of business, the pattern that grandmas and entrepreneurs share something special because those who spend time with grandma like him and others become business people proving there's something about that generation that understood work and sacrifice, the 18 year old missionary who spent two years on the streets of Lagos in Nigeria asking himself what next and didn't really believe so much in school because that's not the only way to get educated realizing school is just one of the best ways but not the only way, the young man who turned his Christian mission work into personal life lessons learning that if he could convince a stranger to leave their church and join a new church that was a big skill he could use in business and life, the philosophy that the thought that makes you nervous before you do it is exactly what you should do because that thought that comes to your mind that makes you think so much you get scared of it that is it go for it, the wisdom that if you're asking yourself questions about that thing that thought that has awakened you saying I need to do this I need to do that don't be scared because that thought you are scared of is where your success is, the shark mentality that if you are going for your dreams you are the shark of the ocean and sharks bite fishes but that doesn't mean they're bad sharks that's what they are destined to be they need to survive, the line between being the shark and being a bad shark which is going for what you want the right way by utilizing the resources in terms of people around you to get what you want but the right way, the connector who knows person A has something and person B needs that thing so he gets it from person A and gives it to person B making both happy but gaining more than each of them because that's how you conquer, the choice between being a shark or a shrimp in this world because shrimps get eaten so you have to decide which one you want to be, the business starter who had zero money when he started but just had a vision and a dream and got people to give him money that he wasn't even sure would be a success because he found out the problems people have and provided solutions, the problem solver who understands that someone's problem is they have a lot of money and don't know what to do with it so you go find a solution to that person's problem because a person who provides solutions to problems is a successful person, the reality that all the successful people in the world have always provided solutions to problems without actually using their own resources it's just people they provide a solution to the problem someone has. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From watching wealthy neighbors from a poor home where his father farmed and his mother sold grounded pepper and cassava in the markets to building a rice empire and multiple businesses before turning 30, and why the brutal truth about money is that most people fear it because they were taught to fear it growing up watching Nigerian movies where every rich person was portrayed as an occultist or ritualist making their parents restrict them from dreaming big but when you grow up as the poor child in the only proprietary school in your village walking to school while other kids get picked up in fancy cars you either become bitter or you watch the extremely wealthy neighbors in your backyard and study how they move and decide that fear will not control you, the young man who saw a million dollars in his personal account at 25 years old proving that when people say they made their first million it is real because he lived it and saw the money with his own eyes, the entrepreneur who came across a document of a shipment of rice from Vietnam to Ghana that he was never supposed to see and studied the numbers and something just hit him that this could be it, the founder and CEO of CH Rider Group who owns companies in transport and has his own rice brand and real estate companies building what is already a legacy before even turning 30, the first of six siblings and the first of two males who was taught humility through affliction because when you don't have money and you're surrounded by people who do you learn to value genuine friendship since every friend you made while you were young was actually a genuine friend because they weren't your friends because you had something they just trusted in you, the son whose parents made sure he and his brother got the best even though they were poor sending them to the only proprietary school in the village while his dad went to farm and his mom sold in the markets, the young boy who wasn't allowed to watch movies because his parents thought the Nigerian films showing ritualists and occults would affect them and make them think that's how you make money instilling fear of money in an entire generation, the different mind who watched rich people and their children and saw himself doing even better if he had the opportunity instead of being scared or bitter about the inequality, the man who believes money answers all things exactly like the Bible says and thinks every average person out there should not fear money but should command it because people who don't fear money have the will to control it and turn it into the way they want, the philosophy that if you're able to control money you can control anything so don't be scared of how much money or scared of money just know how to use it, the wisdom that a lot of people fear money and when you tell someone that thing costs a hundred thousand they say whoa and that's fear but he doesn't fear money because he knows if he had it he would know what to turn it into to even tenfold it, the realization that most of his generation were brought up from poor homes and were taught to fear money because their parents didn't have it and how they spoke of money made it seem like people who have money are probably superstitious ritualists or fraudsters or drug dealers limiting the young generation from knowing what to do if they come across money, the neighbor who lived just at the backyard with extremely wealthy people and watched their lives studying how success actually works instead of believing the narrative that money equals evil, the business owner who lost over a million US dollars in three months when rice disappeared with no revenue and no recovery putting the company in debt but didn't let that destroy him.

He built Ghana's most influential blog before the word "blogger" even existed. 20 years. No marketing team. No strategy. Just luck — and knowing when to say yes. But here's what nobody talks about: what happens when the content stops paying? In this episode of Konnected Minds, Derrick sits down with Ameyaw Debrah — Ghana's pioneer blogger, media entrepreneur, and founder of ameyawdebrah.com — for one of the most honest conversations about creative entrepreneurship you will hear this year. Ameyaw has spent 20 years at the centre of Ghana's entertainment and media industry. He launched Pulse Ghana, led YEN.com.gh, and built a personal brand that brands now come to — without him ever having to pitch. But behind the success is a story of calculated gambles, a father's dream that never got to be realised, a regret about ignoring an entire generation, and a very honest question: what is the plan when the content stops? This is not the regular success story. This is the real one.

From teaching English in Vietnam to importing rice worth over a million dollars in Ghana, and why the brutal truth about building trust is that you need to be brought up right where your yes is your yes and your no is your no but you also need to remember that your surroundings matter because you need to surround yourself with winners and listen to their problems and provide solutions to their problems so you can gain their trust, the young man who learned from his own personal experiences that every time you meet a new person you try to find their problem and figure out who they are so you can utilize the resources they have the right way making them happy while you gain more than them, the English teacher who moved from the Philippines to Vietnam in 2019 and met new people and made friends with a very big man in the country who introduced him to his father, a 65 year old General Director of Vietnamese government companies that had never employed any foreigner since its beginning and had never explored outside their territories, the confident young man who was asked what can you do and said I can take your company across Vietnam even though he didn't even know what he was talking about but had that confidence which led to the creation of an international commercial department where he was made the lead, the department head who started searching for whatever he could do for that company making deals and transacting internationally with South Korea and Japan bringing in multiple international deals and getting commission from the company every time, the 24 or 25 year old who made his first million dollars in his personal account proving that when people say they made their first million it is real because he lived it and saw the money with his own eyes, the entrepreneur who came back home thinking he could start something like Grab the Southeast Asian motorbike Uber service and registered a company called Ryder Group with a Y and built the app before realizing it's illegal to use motorcycles for commercial purposes in Ghana only for delivery of packages, the businessman who spent a lot of money from other people on the failed motorbike venture but his own money was still there so he reached back to those people and said we will not be allowed to operate because of this and they didn't pull back because of the trust they had, the employee who came across a document of a shipment of rice from Vietnam to Ghana that he was never supposed to see but took a peak and saw a whole vessel of rice shipment and studied the numbers and something just hit him that this could be it, the young man looking for a legacy that would send his name and make his family proud and help his community even though he had the option to relocate to Switzerland and give his money to a Swiss bank and stay and enjoy the dividends every quarter like his two friends who are currently there doing exactly that, the son who chose not to be selfish and go to Switzerland and forget about everything because he knew what he was coming from and knew the home he came from and knew he had a responsibility to his family and his neighbor and his community and his country, the importer who returned with his money and turned the company and updated the activities from the original plan to importation of general goods and sought the right paperwork to import stuff and did a market research before bringing in a heavy shipment over a million US dollars as the first shipment going all in. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From making hair oil for free on YouTube to building a thriving business with a standard black card and private banking, and why the brutal truth about self confidence is that loving yourself and believing in yourself makes people take certain risks that everybody selling includes you and includes people buying from you, the young woman who went through content creation stopping for six months when she wasn't getting gigs before coming back and continuing proving that giving up is not something you should consider easy because somebody is watching and somebody can relate with your content, the business owner who has never hired an influencer before because people come and post their own videos and reviews without being asked making her feel important when customers say oh my edges can come back again my hair can come back giving her something solid behind the content creator title, the entrepreneur who can now go into rooms and say I'm a content creator but I can handle business I've been doing this for five years and when business goes left right the foundation still stands, the first in person sale in March where people came to buy products and she made sales and people came to see her creating conversations that she's happy to show in rooms saying look at this picture this is all me and I did it in two weeks, the sense of belonging that comes from having a thriving business where you put this and this and this together and you're able to make something that gives you respect especially when it's a thriving business because when you have the influence people say oh she can influence and she has a business too, the standard black card holder with private banking who can now buy the basics she needs even though the luxury items require more thought proving that financial freedom comes in stages, the wisdom that if you feel like starting something grab that feeling and try because if you fail at least you know you tried and sometimes when you get that feeling grab it don't dismiss it try again and see because content creation for her went down she came back and tried again after six months of not getting gigs and she continued, the honest reflection that she's given up on certain things she wishes she had stayed consistent with so giving up is not something you should consider easy, the goal to give five or ten women 20,000 cedis each to start their business this year because she won 5,000 cedis from Sunlight when she was starting and got the opportunity to reach this point so now she wants to create opportunities for others, the young girls who can learn from her and the plan to help them pick themselves up because there's a real struggle and if 10 people every year set up businesses simply by listening to conversations like this in the next 50 years the country will be better because the government can't do all the job and individual people need to build businesses and employ people, the products that make people give reviews without being asked creating hope that edges can come back and hair can grow back making the business owner feel like her work matters beyond just making money. Guest: Princess Ama Burland Host: Derrick Abaitey

From knowing she would be rich without knowing how to becoming one of Ghana's most recognized influencers who treats life like a movie where she's the main character, and why the brutal truth about growing up with a Muslim mother who let you walk around without covering your head and never forced you to become a lawyer is that when you come from a home where conversations are balanced and there's no shame in saying I don't want rice today or I don't think this way, you grow up so confident in yourself that even when brands are bullying you online about your body and the comments are tearing you apart, the head of a major company sees that same post and thinks you're perfect to represent them because empathy works in mysterious ways and sometimes your lowest moment becomes the exact reason someone decides to give you a life changing opportunity, the young girl who lived a simple life where nothing really appealed to her and being a lawyer didn't make sense and being a doctor never crossed her mind because she's a soft girl and the only career she ever considered was being an air hostess because it looked nice and you get to travel, the daughter who could have any conversation in this world with her mother and there's no topic too crazy or too wild because her mom listens and takes time to understand why you think the way you think which is why they'll make food for everybody in the house but won't cook rice for her because it's not by force that she has to eat rice, the confident woman who thinks the way she thinks and if you don't agree that's fine because somebody will say something different and that's just how life works when you grow up in a home where your thoughts are valued and you're not being told don't do this it's like this without room for discussion, the sister from her mother's side who along with all her siblings are very open minded and very able to communicate because that's just how they were raised and it shows in how her auntie and her children also have that same great bond where conversations flow freely, the student who was forced to go to school one day even though she said she didn't want to go and a car knocked her down and the next week her leg was swollen and this whole place melted and her mother was so sad saying oh my God I shouldn't have forced her to go to school which is part of the reason but not the whole reason why her mom became even more understanding, the young woman who always knew she would be rich but just didn't know how because she has this feeling that life is a movie and she's part of the main character so things will always go well for her even if she's going through the worst things, the positive mindset that even when people were bullying her online because she said she brought a package and the comments were just people putting her in, she went for a life changing meeting and one of the heads said I know you I saw when they brought you the package and the comments were tearing you apart and he still found her fit to represent them, the philosophy that even if there's something bad it's building up to something good because the bullying she has gone through has made it easier for her to gain opportunities from people who feel empathy for what she's experienced, the realization that if you keep hitting her like in boarding school where you hit hit hit hit at first it hurts but then it starts feeling numb and you don't feel it again because that's how life works when people keep saying you are this you are this you are this you are this and she realizes it's not really affecting her life in a negative way, the wisdom that the only thing that can affect her life in a negative way is if she actually does something wrong because as long as she has not done anything wrong you can't hold anything against her it's just your feelings about her but not the feeling about what she's supposed to achieve. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From stumbling into influencing in 2019 without even knowing what content creation was to building two businesses on the back of social media attention, and why the brutal truth about being an influencer is that you can't be popular forever because your time will pass and younger people will be more vibrant and more in tune with the culture than you are which is why you have to find something that works for you when you're sleeping and when people don't see your face, the young woman who got paid 800 cedis in 2019 to post bags for a brand thinking it was the biggest deal of her life before realizing people actually get paid serious money for this and she could step up her pricing and start talking to brands properly, the reality that influencing can be very dicey and you can lose it at any moment which is why she doesn't even know how she's been relevant from 2019 till now because usually some people are just there for some months and then they are gone, the wisdom that the moment you get that people are looking at you, you have to find something and put the influence inside otherwise you can't be an influencer forever because it's not possible to have that hold on people forever, the honest truth that just like footballers can't play for the rest of their lives and will retire, influencers also have to retire because you can't be popular for the rest of your life, the blessing of being lucky enough to be an influencer for 10 years which is a long time for people's attention to be on you and within that 10 years you should be able to build something so when you're telling your children that you were popping you can also tell them what you did within that 10 years, the biggest challenge being that she's an on the spot thinker who never asks what questions will be asked in interviews and can't write scripts because she works better in the moment looking at products and deciding what will work better but sometimes that doesn't work with some brands who want you to script it or have their own storyline which becomes difficult because it's not just bad for the brand it's bad for her brand as well when a post gets 50,000 views instead of her usual 500,000 views, the mixed reality that not every brand takes influencing seriously but some brands do and right now they are starting to take influencers seriously because it's better now than when they started in 2019 as brands are starting to understand the power that social media has as compared to traditional media, the fight that one influencer has to say this one I'm taking 10,000 so the next person doesn't settle for 5,000 which reminds her of the type of work Shatta Wale had to do fighting for musicians in the country to get what they deserve, the lack of unity in the influencing business because nobody wants to start that conversation after she went to an interview three years ago and mentioned she was paid 5,000 cedis for a brand to help other people coming up know what to expect and everybody said she was lying so now who wants to have the conversation when somebody tried and people put them down, the reality that people are afraid of sellouts because if they all agree to something somebody will go for less like it has happened to her before, the country where people don't like to talk about finances or give figures but she feels like it's a realistic conversation to know what to expect in the real world like if you have 500,000 followers how much is a good amount or a range so people know what to expect, the disagreement that influencing is oversaturated because anybody can be an influencer just like the number of lawyers that are competing or doctors so why is influencing oversaturated when brands just need to know who they want to pick.

From getting slapped by a teacher in class one and walking home alone because the school bus left to becoming one of Ghana's most recognized influencers building two businesses on the internet, and why the brutal truth about growing up protected is that when your sister is ready to slap someone for letting a child walk home alone after being punished for not having a book and your mother gives birth to you at 37 making you the patient baby with siblings in their 40s who became like three mothers watching over you, that protection keeps you from going out and socializing but it also fills your childhood with so much love that you grow up naturally being a people person even when you don't make actual friends until senior high school, the young girl who went to about 10 junior high schools before completing at Maranatha International School because when a teacher lashed her and made her stay to sweep the compound in class one she had to walk the distance from American House to Ars Road alone proving that moving schools wasn't just about her sister's protection it was about finding safety, the only child between her Ghanaian mother and Scottish father who discovered she had step siblings when she overheard a conversation in GHS one but calls them siblings not step siblings because the bond is that close even though she grew up with her mother's children and her father's children have their own mother and most of them are not in Ghana, the daughter whose father left for the UK when she was very young and didn't come back until she was already in her teens which means the relationship she has with him is based on respect and looking just like him in pictures but it's not the same as the jokes and freedom she feels around her mother who she lived with her whole life, the student who was always first to fifth position growing up and never took exams seriously because good grades came naturally until she went to St. Joseph senior high school in Legon and got 10th position for the first time which shocked her into stepping up and picking back up her performance, the psychology and information studies graduate who studied at Legon but doesn't really use her degree for anything even though people talk to her a lot and call her a lot making her think maybe she should tap into that psychology training because clearly people see something in her, the girl who didn't know what she wanted to become growing up and only thought about being an air hostess when she got to senior high school before changing her mind again proving she never had a fixed vision of the future, the naturally friendly person who could vibe with everybody in school but that doesn't mean you're my friend because being loved by everyone doesn't mean you let everyone in, the protected child who wasn't allowed to go out and socialize which she appreciates now even though she didn't see why back then because that same protection kept her safe and loved and surrounded by family who made sure she never felt alone, the last born whose big sister is 41 or 42 right now and another sister in her 40s creating this situation where she had like two mothers or three mothers all making sure she was protected and loved and never lacked anything, the young woman who made amazing friends at the end of senior high school like Frida and Pre Lakani and others she's still friends with today even though in the beginning she was just there not really making friends just existing in the space, the influencer who people keep saying the industry is over saturated but she doesn't think so because the problem with Ghanaians is everybody wants to be a food content creator everybody wants to do lifestyle when there are so many other content ideas like being unemployed that can also be content, the entrepreneur with two businesses who uses content to push all of them because she knows her brand can influence people to buy her products but also understands you can't be an influencer for the rest of your life because your time will pass, the young girl whose childhood was just love and protection and getting lashed in school and being taken out of schools because her family wouldn't tolerate disrespect, the woman who is here to inspire people with her story especially the young girls and boys who look up to her showing them that you can actually build business on the internet while creating content that you love. Guest: Princess Ama Burland Host: Derrick Abaitey

From posting underwear on day two after wanting to end her life to selling out 10 bottles of hair oil in 30 minutes on day three, and why the brutal truth about building a business from rock bottom is that sometimes your darkest moment becomes the exact turning point where you realize you have to create something for yourself because when a scandal video drops and you're ready to give up but someone reaches out wearing a hoodie to sit with you while you cry and tells you what's there to care about, that shift in perspective can change everything, the young woman who went to a scandal that made her want to kill herself when a video was posted and blogs were talking and people were judging but one person reached out and hung out with her and wore a hoodie and kept her company showing her that someone cared when she felt completely alone, the sister who sells underwear that she posted on day two after the scandal because she had to do something and couldn't just sit there drowning in shame, the hair oil she had been making for free and posting the full process on YouTube without any intention to sell because she was just sharing her personal recipe that people kept asking for, the decision on day three to make something from this for herself by putting the oil she had already made into bottles with no labels just 10 bottles total even though she posted that she had 100 pieces, the 10 bottles that sold out in 30 minutes making people think 100 bottles got finished in 30 minutes proving that even in your lowest moment people are ready to support you if you give them something real, the shy kid who had aunties in the extended family saying this girl when she goes to school this and that making her mother worried and causing relatives to call saying your daughter is doing this this this all because she was always on her phone, the phone that got seized because family members were complaining but that same phone became the reason she's being invited on podcasts and building businesses, the realization that being loved and having the basics like school fees paid and weekly money given doesn't mean you can afford the fancy stuff in life because her mom lost her business when she was in class six going to Togo and China and having goods seized at the port, the mother who sold all her cars and didn't have a car at some point but made sure her daughter never noticed the struggle until senior high school because she still provided at least two meals a day and paid school fees, the advantage of not having to think about paying school fees or taking care of nephews which meant she could focus on building something to move from being average to being comfortable, the weekly money of 150 cedis compared to someone else getting 1000 cedis and the desire to make her own money so she could buy the nice dress and the jewelry without waiting for someone else to provide it, the people she had to prove wrong in the extended family who were pointing fingers saying she's always on her food always quiet always on Snapchat questioning what's going on with this girl, the determination that came from wanting her mother to be proud of her and wanting to show those aunties and relatives that they were wrong about her, the wisdom that happy home and being loved doesn't mean you have money for fancy stuff and the basics being covered is already an advantage that should be used to build something real, the depression she felt at times realizing maybe it was because she couldn't afford certain things and how money really solves a lot of problems even though people say money isn't everything. Host: Derrick Abaitey

He started with GH₵1,000, lost two houses, a container of cars, and millions - and still built one of Ghana's most recognised real estate brands. In this episode of Konnected Minds, I sit down with Ebenezer Saka Addo-Mensah - CEO and founder of Saka Homes and owner of five other businesses - or one of the most unfiltered conversations we've ever had on this podcast. No fluff. No rehearsed answers. Just the raw truth about what it actually takes to build wealth in Ghana from nothing.

From accidentally building an influencer brand on Snapchat to creating a hair care business that started with just 50 cedis and bottles, and why the brutal truth about being an influencer is that you can't be popular forever because your time will pass and younger people will be more vibrant and more in tune with the culture than you are which is why you have to find something that works for you when you're sleeping and when people don't see your face, the young woman who didn't even know what content creation was in 2019 when she had followers and got paid 800 cedis to post bags for a brand thinking it was the biggest deal of her life, the photoshoot with a big company that opened her eyes to the fact that people actually get paid for this and she could step up her pricing and start talking to brands properly, the COVID lockdown that kept everyone home watching her YouTube channel where she changed from just doing hair tutorials to showing her personality making people find her funny and creating clips and memes that made her sort of blow up, the hair oil she was making and using herself that people kept asking for until she finally gave in and started pouring her personal oil into bottles to sell even though she was a student who didn't mean to do business, the pre orders that came in because the oil takes time to make and the realization that just oil wasn't enough so she went to school to learn formulations and expanded into shampoos and deep conditioners and a full product line, the Okada bike her brother trusted her with that she sold after realizing transport service business wasn't her field and put the money back into the business, the Sunlight Shero competition where she won 5000 cedis by writing about her business proving that opportunities come when you're building something real, the wisdom that you can't be an influencer for the rest of your life because people like Nana Ama McBrown who are still relevant are rare cases and most people will eventually be replaced by someone younger, the meeting where brands were looking for artists who appeal to younger people instead of the top three musicians everyone already knows proving that relevance is temporary and you have to build something that works when people aren't looking at your face, the advice that if you're an influencer you should start an agency or find a nine to five or create something that infuses your influence into a business that keeps running even when you're on vacation for a month because influencing can be very dicey and you can lose it at any moment, the honest reflection that she doesn't even know how she's been relevant from 2019 till now because usually people are just there for some months and then they're gone, the reality that you can't be popular forever and it's not possible to have that hold on people forever just like footballers can't play for the rest of their lives they will retire, the blessing of being an influencer for 10 years which is a long time to have people's attention and should be used to build something real so when you're telling your children that you were popping you can also tell them what you did with that 10 years, the biggest challenge being that she's an on the spot thinker who never asks what questions will be asked in interviews and doesn't like to write scripts because she works better in the moment looking at products and deciding what will work better but sometimes that doesn't work with some brands who need structure and preparation. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From making over 20,000 cedis in the first 24 hours on Snapchat to losing an Amazon account because demand was too high to fulfill, and why the brutal truth about explosive business growth is that it can destroy you faster than slow growth ever could because when 100 orders flood in on day one and your supplier quits after 24 hours saying it's too stressful and you're scrambling to find packaging bottles and labeling and responding to customers who trusted you with their money while overselling products you don't have in stock because you didn't have a website to track inventory, the young woman who never started as the average business person selling one or two orders a day but instead jumped straight into chaos with hundreds of orders before she even understood how to apologize to customers or handle delivery delays or navigate the pressure of 20 people being disappointed because the delivery service failed, the early skincare business that shut down completely after one customer left African black soap on her face for 15 minutes instead of one minute and said the product burned her skin sending the business owner into panic mode because at that point she knew nothing about business and couldn't live with the thought that somebody used her product and damaged their face, the wisdom that being popular too fast means you don't know what to do with yourself just like when a business booms too quickly you haven't built the structure or understood your flaws or learned how to delegate which is why she spent two years not making any money because she was too busy learning how to survive the explosion, the decision to hire somebody to reply to Instagram messages just one year into the business because the pressure of responding to everyone and worrying if the way she spoke would make them come back again was eating her alive, the realization that she doesn't work well under pressure and would rather delegate the pressure to someone else so she can focus on production and school while getting a report at the end of the week instead of seeing every customer complaint in real time, the Amazon experiment where she listed products at the lowest price without even calculating profit margins and came back on Monday to over 200 dollars in sales but lost the account because she couldn't meet demand and stock wasn't coming in and she didn't have enough money to buy more inventory, the philosophy that no opportunity is too small to make something out of and people make the most out of the smallest opportunities so no matter what you get try your best to put value to it because that's what keeps you going, the critical lesson that you have to kiss your customers and lay down for them as a business person even when delivery services embarrass you in front of 20 people and you're begging and apologizing and finding solutions because one thing about her is she'll be sad but she will find a solution, the blessing that nobody called her out during those chaotic early days which she credits to God's favor and the consideration from customers who knew she wasn't a scammer because she showed her face and built trust with her followers before the chaos started, the decision to stop taking pre orders completely and only sell products that are physically in stock because she learned the hard way that you can't rely on suppliers who might embarrass you especially when products are coming from abroad. Guest: Charity Boateng (Femlas Founder) Host: Derrick Abaitey

From building Ghana Party in the Park for 20 years without corporate support to losing deals worth millions when artists failed to show up, and why the brutal truth about building a legacy in UK entertainment is that you compete against your own people wasting money you don't have when you could have worked smarter together, the man who ran events that became institutions but never got the corporate backing that Ghanaian promoters in Ghana receive from telcos and banks because the Ghanaian community in the UK is a very small percentage, the 100 percent openness to partnership that brought smiles when Western Union and MoneyGram sponsored events wishing they had done even more because that support validated the work being done, the conversation with his friend David that hit hard about how a lot of us don't like systems thinking we just like to do things and sometimes it looks like ego, the church example where the usher says sit here and you start looking funny because you spotted somewhere you want to sit but for the church and the usher she's thinking this will align with the camera position proving we don't like systems thinking, the fear of change that held him and others back when change is good and change is necessary for growth, the Bissakele show at the Forum in London that sold tickets at incredible speed but could have been twice as big if the venue choice was better, the 696 form system that forced black event promoters to assess every DJ and attendee because of knife culture and fighting at clubs putting everyone in one bracket and making it harder to book certain venues, the Scala venue in King's Cross that said no they don't want to do a black event forcing him to find the next alternative when over 200 people were left outside while inside was jam packed proving they could have filled a space twice that size, the mistakes made that he's learned from because you've got to be able to make mistakes to correct them and life you could always do better, the recounting of what he would have done better including getting more people involved in the work and having better understanding with artists he worked with because some of them were personal friends who don't need to speak to you anymore because things didn't go their way, the money wasted by competing against promotional partners like Aloudia, West Coast, DJ Abramship, and Stuk DJs when there were times they had about three events on the same night and could have done one big event instead, the ego and pride that stopped them from working smarter alongside the reality that competition is healthy but if he thinks about it now they could have done better which they are correcting by working closely together now, the discussion about Ghana Party in the Park becoming like Wireless Festival which he 100 percent agrees with but the business decision of whether to take Ghana out of the title when 80 percent of the niche market was the Ghanaian community, the offer that came in 2020 where he was happy to take away the Ghana from the title and had COVID not come in it would still not be Ghana Party in the Park it would have been a different title, the reality that everything he does is Ghana related and maybe that's wrong of him but that's the foundation he built, the wisdom that Ghana starts a lot of things but doesn't own it and somebody else takes it better and he's part of the system that got it wrong, the experience working with legend Daddy Lumba who was very difficult to work with doing three shows successfully in the UK before the fourth show where Daddy Lumba called just days before to say he's not coming just like that with no fault of the promoter, the heavy loss already made at that time with tickets sold and people ready to attend Guest: Dennis Tawiah (Aqualva UK Founder) Host: Derrick Abaitey

From being dismissed at radio stations and turned away from nightclubs to paving the way for African music on mainstream UK platforms and creating the Diaspora Ghana movement that now defines an entire generation's connection to the motherland, and why the brutal truth about building something revolutionary is that the people who come after you and benefit from your groundwork will often refuse to give you credit while calling you lazy when they weren't there getting rejected, getting told African music doesn't belong, getting sent away from venues that now welcome African artists with open arms because of the foundation you laid brick by brick, the man who genuinely believes his contributions to Diaspora Ghana gave birth to what it is today because he was doing this when Ghana had no nightlife scene and year after year since 1999 he brought the confidence and belief that made it fashionable to return home during the holidays, the opportunities given to DJs in Ghana when nobody wanted to be associated with UK Diaspora events but suddenly when Aquavis became cool everyone wanted to be on the bill and follow the movement, the nightlife scene that kept growing with nightclubs like Faisal and Boomerang coming through creating an infrastructure that didn't exist before, the contribution to getting African music played on mainstream radio that broke the camel's back when 80 percent of lyrics had to be in English before songs could be played forcing him to do research and find tracks like Wale's Sweet Dreams that had enough English to slip through the gatekeepers, the Francophone music from Awilo Longomba, Magic System, and Koffi Olomide that wasn't being played on mainstream radio at the time proving the barriers were real and intentional, the cheap shot from a Nigerian promoter who called Ghanaian promoters lazy when he wasn't there during the struggle getting told your African music doesn't belong here, getting turned away from nightclubs, going to record labels and venues and getting rejected over and over until it finally became fashionable, the credit given to Nigerian promoters like Solomon Savage who put on incredible R&B shows with Mary J. Blige and Jodeci and Keith Sweat, DJ Abbas, KC, and Kokobar who played a major role in the scene but doesn't get enough recognition either, the Nigerian corner venues like Black Knight and Club 419 that created space for the culture when nobody else would, the disappointment in a fellow promoter who has been gifted with numbers and brilliant artists and connections but instead of encouraging the next generation chooses to punch down and dismiss the Ghanaian promoters who invested their own private money to build the foundation he's now standing on, the reality that this promoter wasn't there when they were being sent away from radio stations, wasn't there struggling to get African music played from 4am to 2am to midnight and sticking through the rejection until the doors finally opened, the acknowledgment that yes this promoter works with Ghanaian artists and helps them break boundaries which is good for the culture and should be celebrated, the wisdom that taking it to the next level is beautiful but dismissing what's been done before is where the problem lies, the name that's never been in the story even though flights were being booked to Ghana and movements were being created and foundations were being laid, the reality that a lot of people don't want to give credit where it's due and a lot of promoters and DJs came through what he established and contributed towards but refuse to acknowledge the paving of the way. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From being 19 years old with no job, no university plans, and no vision beyond renting out sound equipment to becoming a household name in UK entertainment, and why the brutal truth about youth and ambition is that sometimes you're just going with the flow making money as a DJ and loving the popularity without thinking about buying houses or saving for the future when you should have been putting money away instead of spending everything on more records and more equipment, the four young Ghanaian boys who pooled their sound equipment together and created what would become 90% Hair Squad starting with just turntables, mixers, microphones, and producer setups, the transition from renting equipment to Acid House promoters at warehouses in King's Cross to becoming DJs themselves putting on their own events, the 19 year old living at his parents' house with no job while his friends Mr. Trips and Mr. Schuchs worked at John Lewis and Moscom produced music, the parents who never turned against him even though his football dream was shattered at 14 and he chose not to pursue university because it just wasn't meant for him, the four Ghanaians who grew to six when Ash and DJ Branch joined creating a collective that played R&B, Ragga, Jungle, Swing Beat, Miami Bass, and went up against legendary household names like Rampage, Boogie Bunch, Tim Westwood, David Rodigan, and David Pearce, the African community and specifically the Ghanaian community that was super proud of these young boys and embraced them when the Caribbean entertainment scene shut them out at every establishment they tried to enter, the African Caribbean Societies at universities like Brunel, Coventry, and Kingston that played a key role in booking 90% for events, the decision to do their first event together called Ghana Independence in 1992 at Shinola's Night Club where Westfield Stratford now stands, the collaboration with Sambike, DJ Francis, and Big Joe from Nakasi Records who was shipping records from Ghana and distributing them to various shops, the first Ghana Independence event that drew 4,000 Ghanaians filling three massive areas proving these young DJs had tapped into something powerful, the 19 to 20 year old who was so happy just playing music and renting out equipment that he didn't see the future or think about change, the mini celebrity status that came with popularity in the community where they all wore matching 90% jackets and t-shirts and people were calling them everywhere, the money he was making as a DJ that should have been saved or invested in property like other young people his age who were moving out of London to buy homes in Essex and Stevenage, the many mistakes made spending everything on buying more records and more equipment instead of putting money away, the young man whose dream was shot down when he wanted to be a footballer and never recovered another dream after that, the parents who would back him to the grave and never turned against him because he didn't do well in school proving unconditional support even when the path wasn't traditional, the reality that to be a footballer in the UK you had to go through the system young and once you got dropped there was no way back in unless you played non-league football and got spotted like Ian Wright who was discovered by Crystal Palace, the house parties and events that built the foundation for what would become a movement in UK African entertainment, the four young Ghanaian boys who became a household name in UK entertainment by just playing music to Ghanaians and then expanding to the entire African community who gripped onto what they were building. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From getting a license to play African music on mainstream UK radio in 1997 to creating the December in Ghana movement that transformed the diaspora's relationship with the motherland, and why the brutal truth about building cultural movements is that you don't just wake up and decide to change how an entire generation sees coming home because it takes years of getting rejected at 4am graveyard shifts on radio stations, years of proving African music belongs on mainstream platforms, years of convincing nightclubs to welcome the culture you're fighting to legitimize, years of chartering planes and teaming up with radio stations like VibeFM and nightclub owners like Tiki Bonsing and Duke Bonsing to create a nightlife infrastructure that didn't exist before you arrived, the six young Ghanaian boys from 90% who kept on knocking on doors until they got hold of a license for North London on Choice FM proving persistence breaks down barriers that seem impossible, the demo tape from 90% his core Choice affair that he still has today as proof of the journey from being told African music doesn't belong to becoming the representation of African music on mainstream radio, the call from Wayne Tanning within 24 hours saying you've got the job come start playing music on Choice which meant selecting three members Moscom, Mr Shooks, and DJ Branch to be the face of Choice while the other three supported from behind, the introduction of DJ Branch to Choice FM through 90% which gave birth to the platform he would eventually take to the next level with the Afro Beat Show, the graveyard shift from 4am to 6am when everybody's asleep that slowly moved to 2am to 4am then midnight to 4am then midnight to 2am proving they were gaining attraction and regular time slots, the credit given to DJ Branch for sticking to it and taking the show from where they started to where he elevated it because you have to give people their flowers when they execute and push through, the birth of Aqualva in 2001 after 90% decided to go separate ways with Mr Trips still producing music, Moscom doing legendary work, Mr Shooks being one of the best MCs in the jungle scene, Blackhash on Choice during the Afro Beat Show, and DJ Branch doing his thing, the conversation with close friend and partner Cliff and the Puku deciding to do an event together without even knowing what to call it until two or three days before when they landed on Aqualva because everything about him has always been Ghana and the first sign you see getting off the plane at the old airport is Aqualva, the six Ghanaian guys who set up Aqualva including Emilio from West Coast, right hand man Eben designed to take him to Jump Promotions, DJ Fire, and Eben's brother creating another collective that would shape UK African entertainment, the realization during the Aqualva era that there was a sense of belonging and it became so cool to be African with massive turnouts at any Ghana event proving the Gen Zs of that time were ready for community and representation, the decision to change the narrative and bring it back home after experiencing being flown out to places like Tenerife, Ibiza, and Greece to DJ at events and seeing the nightlife scene over there realizing he could introduce that to Ghana, the punishment narrative in the diaspora where being sent back to Ghana was used as a threat when you did something wrong creating fear in young people who would rather run away from home than face going back. Guest: Dennis Tawiah (Aqualva UK Founder) Host: Derrick Abaitey

From 600 cedis & an MTN loan to running TWO bakeries - Samuel's story will change how you think about opportunity. Samuel Agyapong (Banana Bread GH) joins Derrick on Konnected Minds to break down why Ghana's youth are losing to social media, how he built an entire business off Instagram without traveling abroad, and the hard truth about hiring staff that most business owners ignore.

From being a 12 year old boy crying in London who just wanted to go home to becoming the man who made December in Ghana a cultural phenomenon for the diaspora, and why the brutal truth about building a legacy is that your name gets erased from the story even though you were there getting rejected by radio stations when 80 percent of lyrics had to be in English before African music could touch mainstream airwaves, getting turned away from venues that now welcome the culture you fought to legitimize, investing your own money into events that became institutions while watching others take credit for the movement you helped birth, the young boy from Osu whose father was a barrister lawyer and former chairman of Accra Hearts of Oak who moved all 14 siblings to the United Kingdom for political reasons without even telling him he was leaving, the 12 year old playing for youth football teams Habo City and Karakim Faisa who thought he had a real chance to become a professional footballer in Ghana until his sister told him to take a bath because they were going out and the next thing he knew he was landing at Heathrow Airport scared and confused riding the underground for the first time in his life, the child who cried most of the time in those early days because he left his friends behind and didn't know what he was going into when all he wanted was to play football and be back home where life made sense, the father who was calm and supportive even when school reports came back showing his son wasn't attending because he was spending his time elsewhere chasing a dream that didn't fit the traditional path, the man who created Aqualva UK and Miss Ghana UK and helped shift the entire mindset of Ghanaians in the diaspora to see coming home in December not as punishment but as something cool and fashionable, the pioneer who was in rooms with record labels and radio stations and pluggers breaking down barriers so African music could finally get played when the gatekeepers said it didn't belong, the promoter who ran Ghana Party in the Park for 20 years without fail building a brand so big that generations of people who came through his events are now at Sony Music and major positions across the industry, the devastating loss of 40,000 pounds in 2023 when an artist failed to show up even after interventions and phone calls and people who bought tickets were left disappointed, the contributions to Diaspora Ghana that gave birth to what it is today because he was doing this when Ghana had no nightlife scene and year after year since the late 90s he brought the confidence and belief that made it fashionable to return home during the holidays, the name that's never been in the story even though he was there in the struggle getting rejected and told African music doesn't belong here, the 14 siblings who all made it to the United Kingdom not just to survive but to get education and opportunities because their father fought for each and every one of them, the relationship he has with his own children today that reflects wanting to be a better version of the father he looked up to so much, the young boy who never wanted anything but to be a footballer living near the stadium in Osu watching matches daily and playing coos football with local teams chasing him before everything changed with one bath and one trip that took him away from the only life he knew. Guest: Dennis Tawiah (Aqualva UK Founder Host: Derrick Abaitey

From dropping out of school at 14 to chase a football dream that ended in rejection to becoming a DJ and sound equipment entrepreneur in London's underground Acid House scene, and why the brutal truth about immigrant life in the UK during the 80s and 90s is that there were no community hangouts, no Ghanaian restaurants, no nightclubs for us because that generation was focused on working morning cleaning jobs and nursing shifts just to send money back home not building the infrastructure we enjoy today, the young boy who moved from chip shop to chip shop and arcade to arcade only showing up to school during lunchtime to play football because everybody wanted him on their side, the father who wrote letters to Arsenal, QPR, and every major London football club to get his son trials even though he had 14 children to care for, the coldest winter of 1986 when his father stood outside from 8am to 6pm in just a jacket watching his son trial at Queensborough proving that even with 14 siblings this father found time for each and every one of them, the devastating moment at 14 years old when Mr. Tom Wally called him into the office and said the journey ends here after two years on a Youth Training Scheme form, the young teenager who wasn't old enough to understand the weight of rejection and still believed another chance would come somewhere else because he was that good of a footballer, the transition from football to working at McDonald's and doing paper runs for seven pounds a week delivering newspapers in freezing cold mornings while still finding money to buy records, the freedom of being 14 to 18 with no responsibilities, no bills to pay, no mobile phones to worry about, no pressure to send money back home just pure freedom to exist without the weight of adulthood, the complete disconnect from friends back in Ghana with no contact until he returned years later because that's just how life was without technology connecting continents, the musical equipment he started buying with his McDonald's money not because he had a plan or vision but because he grew up in Suame surrounded by two nightclubs where music played every single night shaping his love for sound, the realization that there was nothing for young black people to do in London except youth clubs, hanging out on the streets, going to church with parents, or attending funerals because the immigrant generation wasn't building community spaces they were surviving and sending money home, the friend Moscom who changed everything by teaching him to DJ after he saw the technics turntables, the son lab mixer, the microphone, and the full producer setup that made him say teach me I want to be a DJ, the formation of a sound equipment collective that started with four Ghanaian guys and grew to six pooling all their equipment together to rent out for parties and events, the Acid House music scene that was driving the UK crazy with promoters renting empty warehouses in places like Barley Studios in King's Cross needing equipment for the biggest underground movement of that era, the 11th child out of 14 siblings who all somehow made it to the United Kingdom not just to survive but to get education and opportunities that seemed impossible, the father who fought for each and every one of his 14 children making sure they all had a chance even when the odds were stacked against them, the beautiful memories of a time when freedom meant no responsibilities and life was about playing football, delivering newspapers in the cold, working at McDonald's, and dreaming about what could come next without the pressure of knowing what that next step should be. Host: Derrick Abaitey

From not owning the stories and contributions that built the UK African music scene to losing millions when COVID forced event cancellations and why the brutal truth about going with the flow without being intentional is that other people end up taking credit for your work while you watch your children learn your legacy from strangers instead of from you, the man who pioneered African music on mainstream UK radio and created events that became institutions but never documented his role in the movement, the cassette tapes he showed his son who had never seen one before using a pen to rewind it teaching lessons about how far they've come and how much has changed, the regret of not owning a lot of the history because when you look at Zemba or the movements happening right now people think it started with someone's return but there was a group of people who started this and they should have documented it but they didn't, the children he feels he let down because they don't really know his story and it takes other people to tell them when he's never been the type to go around talking about himself but life has taught him you've got to speak up, the beautiful family this unplanned path has given him and how his kids are now seeing what he did and his peers are telling him he needs to speak up and own half of what Africans in the UK are enjoying right now because in a few years nobody will know what they went through, the contributions to getting African music played on mainstream radio which broke the camel's back that people don't know about, the mistakes made because he was just going with the flow and the cost of not being intentional because somebody else comes into the story and other people take the credit and other people tell you that you've been lazy, the 90 percent of conversations and rooms he's been in from record label rooms to radio stations to pluggers that never translated to support for his company or his events, the Ghana Party in the Park brand that ran for 20 years without fail even when others fell and the very good offer on the table in January before COVID came in March and destroyed the deal, the generations of people who came through Ghana Party in the Park who are now at Sony Music and big positions in the industry and how he sees ex patrons everywhere in high positions who all came through his events, the disappointment of not getting rich from Ghana Party in the Park because it's a big brand, a very very big brand that deserved more, the business cap he didn't put on early enough because he matured very late and maturity came to him very late but now he's surrounded by good people like his partner DJ Mensa in Ghana bringing brilliant ideas, the Ghanaian businesses at the time who weren't comfortable with the entertainment scene even in Ghana before telcos like MTN and Vodafone had to invest heavily into Ghanaian music, the shout out to Charter House for what they were doing with Ghana Music Awards and how when corporate came in you saw the beauty of what they were doing, the love for what corporate is doing especially in Ghana with Charter House and iGo House doing Tidal Rave and how banks and drinks companies and telco companies are getting involved but in the UK they don't get that because the Ghanaian community is a very small percentage, the 100 percent openness to partnership and the smile that came from sponsorship from Western Union and MoneyGram at the time wishing they had done even more, the friend David who said something that hit him about how a lot of us don't like systems thinking we just like to do things and sometimes it looks like ego, the example of walking into a church and the usher says sit here and you start looking funny because you spotted somewhere you want to sit but for the church and the usher she's thinking this will align with the camera position proving we don't like systems thinking, the fear of change that held him and others back when change is good.

From making 800K on TikTok and not caring what anyone thinks to building an international feminine hygiene brand by teaching instead of just selling, and why the brutal truth about social media success is that you don't just post products and expect people to care because no one needs your camera until you show them the quality difference between phone footage and professional camera footage, the young woman who started with nothing but a Snapchat account and made over 20,000 cedis in the first 24 hours by posting one product and paying influencers proving that when you give value people will pay upfront without even asking for payment on delivery, the explosive first day that brought over 100 orders and overwhelmed her supplier who quit after just 24 hours saying it was too stressful when customers were ready to pay and wait because she wasn't just selling she was teaching ladies about feminine hygiene that Africans are never taught at home, the bold move of ordering 3,000 pieces wholesale when the first supplier couldn't handle the demand and then jumping to 10,000 pieces even though it sold out the same day and angry customers thought she had scammed them, the year spent investing 80,000 Ghanaian cedis in influencer marketing to make sure her products were on the minds and lips of people before she even touched Instagram or TikTok proving that the first year should be about building trust not just making money, the Snapchat accounts that kept getting reported and taken down by competitors forcing her to move to WhatsApp where 600 people texted her in one day to save their contact because they were actively looking for her, the 2024 decision to finally start posting on TikTok which now drives 90 to 95 percent of her business compared to the 20 percent Snapchat brought because she focused on giving value and teaching instead of dancing and fooling around, the wisdom that every business has value and if you're selling clothes you show people how to style them and if you're selling shoes you teach them what to match with their dress because posting products alone means nothing when people don't understand why they need what you're selling, the revolutionary approach of being explicit and confident about feminine hygiene topics when other Ghanaians are scared to mention those things creating a unique space where mothers and pastors' wives and celebrities come to learn from her, the 12 to 15 FDA approved products she now carries with plans to launch her own production line starting with probiotics and custom feminine washes after traveling to China to find manufacturers who understood her specific ingredient requirements and target customer needs, the trip to China where she was very specific about ingredients and who she was trying to serve refusing to rush the process because she wants to go through it properly and get samples approved before committing to large scale production, the constant video creation whether she's traveling or at home because she's always working to put something good out there for her audience, the post about making 800K on TikTok that people didn't believe but she didn't care because the money was in her account not theirs and if you're going to be on the internet promoting your business you cannot care about what people say Guest: Charity Boateng (Femlas Founder) Host: Derrick Abaitey

From pricing for approval to pricing for sustainability and why the brutal truth about why small businesses stay small is that they price so low trying to make everyone their customer when the reality is not everyone is your customer and if you're scared to tell people your prices are expensive then go where it's cheap you will keep your business stagnant, the young woman who built an international feminine hygiene brand shipping to the US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Nigeria by refusing to pity herself and make people believe they are buying even when no one is buying because people don't want to buy from struggling businesses, the trip to China to create custom packaging that required buying 5,000 to 10,000 pieces across five different sizes proving that if you price too low and don't make good money you can never push your business to the next level, the competitor selling a similar product for 70 cedis after buying it for 50 cedis and wondering why the business isn't working when packaging costs, delivery fees, and operational expenses eat up that tiny 20 cedi margin, the wisdom that when you price something at 100 cedis and people say it's too expensive that's because you're trying to make everyone your customer instead of being selective about your customer base, the revolutionary approach of making products fun and making people believe they need it instead of sitting down pitying yourself posting that no one is buying when people don't want to know why no one is buying from you, the same product launched in June or July selling above 500 to 600 pieces because of knowing how to market it and push it and make it attractive instead of pricing it cheap out of fear, the realization that people are curious to know why others are buying from a business and will push towards you but if you sit down unmotivated showing the world no one is buying you send people away, the critical instruction to think about the future of your business and price for sustainability unless you're just looking for quick money and any margin will do, the discipline that pushes every single day more than motivation because discipline keeps you going when motivation fades, the motivation that comes from the smiles on customers' faces and solving their problems even when most of the time it's not about selling but just giving tips and teaching them, the best advice ever received being don't price for approval price for sustainability which changed the entire trajectory of the business, the book recommendation of Famio Tidal's story that motivated even though people said he had a head start because it's not about getting a head start it's about knowing what you are doing and being consistent, the wisdom that if he didn't continue and wasn't consistent and didn't know what he was doing he wouldn't have gotten to that point proving it's not about coming from money it's about execution and persistence, the refusal to pity small business owners who like to pity themselves posting that no one has bought today when you should never let the world see you struggling because perception drives purchasing decisions and people buy from businesses that look successful not desperate. Guest: Charity Boateng (Femlas Founder) Host: Derrick Abaitey

From making 800K on TikTok and not caring what anyone thinks to building an international feminine hygiene brand that ships across continents, and why the brutal truth about starting a business when you have nothing is that you don't need someone to sit you down and teach you because the same internet people use for gossip has everything you need to learn on YouTube and TikTok, the young woman who learned everything from YouTube and started with dropshipping before building her own brand that solves problems doctors recommend to their patients, the wisdom that if you're going to be on the internet promoting your business you cannot care about what people say because when she posted she made 800K on TikTok people didn't believe her but she didn't care because the money was in her account not theirs, the reality that TikTok and social media work when you give value and show people the importance of what you're selling instead of just posting products because no one cares about a camera until you show them the difference between phone quality and camera quality, the revolutionary approach of not just selling products but teaching ladies how to take care of themselves and solving feminine hygiene problems that Africans are never taught at home, the first supplier who said it was too stressful after just one day when over 100 orders came in from just posting on Snapchat and paying influencers, the realization that she was even the first person to sell such products and while others were just posting without explanation she came in teaching and giving value because she went through those problems in university and wished someone was there to help her understand how to take care of herself better, the wisdom that you have to scout for products and think about what problem it can solve because if you are selling anything you must know who your audience is and what problem your product solves for them, the step by step breakdown of going to Alibaba and learning how to order from China by watching one or two YouTube videos in 2021 even before setting up the business and just playing on the apps until it became easy, the advice that people want to be taught before they take a step when sometimes you just need to start and get the idea and play on the apps because right now we have YouTube and TikTok where people teach these things for free, the critical instruction to make sure you're buying from verified suppliers on Alibaba and comparing prices from different suppliers especially when you're a beginner, the process of sending products for lab analysis first which costs between 1000 to 3000 cedis before sending to FDA for registration which charges about 500 dollars for imported products, the smartest way to start being dropshipping where you sell somebody's products online but you must make sure you know a lot about what you are selling and have knowledge about it because if you don't know you must learn, the reality that there are people who swallow products when they're supposed to be inserted and insert when they're supposed to be swallowed proving you should know what you're doing enough that when they come to you you should know the solution, the biggest challenge being FDA approval because sometimes a product comes and they want to change the name after she's already marketed it with that name creating a whole lot of back and forth, the wisdom that people are usually more focused on the money than the value they give to people which is where she picked her form by actually teaching instead of just assuming everyone knew what the products do, the use of shipping companies like AKT for years because they are reliable and the advice to go on the internet to learn instead of looking for gossip because anything you want is on the internet and people make it available for free. Guest: Charity Boateng (Femlas Founder) Host: Derrick Abaitey

From lying his way into an internship at Nigeria's biggest TV station to building Glitch Africa and the Honest Bunch podcast that millions watch across the continent, and why the brutal truth about escaping poverty and creating success in Africa is that audacity matters more than credentials because when you come from nothing you either take bold action or stay stuck in the loop of waiting for someone to hand you opportunities that will never come. Guest: Best Amakhian Company - Glitch Africa Studios Host: Derrick Abaitey IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey YT: https://www.youtube.com/@DerrickAbaitey Join Konnected Academy: https://www.triibe.io/konnected-academy Listen to the podcast on: Apple Podcast - http://tinyurl.com/4ttwbdxe Spotify - http://tinyurl.com/3he8hjfp Join this channel: /@konnectedminds FOLLOW ► https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds #Podcast #businesspodcast #AfricanPodcast #honestbunchpodcast

From selling over 800K on TikTok alone to building an international feminine hygiene brand that ships across continents, and why the brutal truth about starting a business with nothing is that you don't need perfection, you don't need a physical shop, you don't need everything figured out because the young woman who started selling on Snapchat with no business name and made over 20,000 cedis in the first 24 hours now runs a brand that doctors recommend to their patients, the childhood of being sent away at age two to live with family friends and aunties because her mother was too busy farming to raise six children creating a pattern where all the kids were scattered across different homes, the reality of growing up with different people getting different types of treatment and mistreatment that made her tough but also made her crave freedom so much she started living alone at 14 years old, the parents who are commercial farmers waking up at 4am every single day to go to their farms even in their old age refusing to rest and providing loans to people while educating all six children through university without anyone seeing them struggling, the hard work ethic learned from watching parents who never stopped even when they had the option to rest because their farming business gave them that choice, the university dream of becoming a journalist that shifted to construction after a conversation with a classmate whose uncle made a lot of money in the industry because she liked money and understood that money equals freedom, the childhood restrictions on money even though her parents were doing well because her mom would not let anyone have it easy creating a burning desire to make her own money so she could enjoy it her way, the business journey that started because she always wanted to be a business person and never wanted the 9 to 5 life of being controlled and dictated to even though she tried it and realized it wasn't for her, the first 24 hours of business that brought more than 100 orders just from posting on Snapchat and paying influencers proving that social selling works when you show up consistently, the 20,000 cedis or more made in the first 24 hours just from Snapchat with no WhatsApp, no Instagram, no TikTok because people trusted her so much they were paying upfront without asking for payment on delivery, the waiting a full year into the business before even starting to use Instagram or TikTok because Snapchat alone was generating that much demand, the supplier who got overwhelmed after just one day and said it was too stressful leaving the business hanging but proving the concept worked, the 800K milestone on TikTok that made people not believe her when she posted it but she didn't care because if you're going to be on the internet promoting your business you can't care about what people say, the wisdom that TikTok and social media work when you give value and show people how to use what you're selling instead of just posting products, the reality that she wasn't ready to see success in her first year but focused on making sure people trusted her by showing up more and being consistent, the international expansion shipping to the US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Nigeria because she focused her first year not on making money but on getting her products in the minds and on the lips of people, the thousands of orders and reviews flooding in proving she's fulfilling a purpose of educating women about feminine hygiene that Africans are never taught at home, the trip to China to create the packaging she envisioned because she couldn't get what she wanted in Ghana and wanted something that would entice eyes and not be thrown away, the refusal to compare herself to competitors opening big shops because her path is different and her business can do well without a shop if she shows up consistently and authentically. Guest: Charity Boateng (Femlas Founder) Host: Derrick Abaitey

From leaving home at 14 and never going back to building a business that gave her the voice nobody let her have growing up, and why the brutal truth about why some entrepreneurs push harder than others is that when you grow up without attention, without anyone listening to your problems, without parents telling you they're proud of you or that you're beautiful, the hunger to be seen and heard becomes the fuel that drives you to build something that forces the world to pay attention, the young girl who went to secondary school and never returned home because she craved freedom from a family that didn't know her well enough to understand who she really was, the mother who was against her moving to Accra because she thought it meant prostitution and doing men when the real issue was she never knew her daughter at all, the childhood of being scared of a very hard mother and having a soft father who wouldn't interfere creating a home where if you had a problem you kept it to yourself because there was nobody to talk to, the university years of packing her bags alone and traveling to campus by herself while watching other students arrive with parents and grandmothers and entire families when nobody came to visit her throughout her time there, the realization that the lack of attention from parents and the people she stayed with made her want to be alone but also created a deep desire to be seen and heard which became the foundation of her business, the pattern emerging across successful entrepreneurs where neglect and feeling like their opinion didn't matter in families created a drive to make money because money became the ultimate tool through which society respects people, the moving to Accra with no plan and a friend who never picked up the phone forcing her to stay with a total stranger for months while starting national service, the Apple shop job during service that turned toxic with men and women's stuff leading her to file for early completion after just seven months, the two years at home trying different things including working under someone in construction where she was waking up, going to work, spending 20 to 30 cedis daily on transportation and food without getting paid or learning anything, the day she cried at work and called her friend to say she was coming back home and never showed up to that job again, the guy from a previous workplace who came through for her during those two years at home but the relationship that was saving her eventually stopped saving her, the childhood trauma of carrying water on her head from age eight walking from 18 in Kumasi to Amakom market back and forth, selling food by the roadside, and going through so much that now when she's spending and overspending she tells herself leave it you've been through a lot, the pride of getting to where she is because nobody got her here except her and God when she never thought she would get to this point after doing so many things in pain and being neglected, the transformation from the child whose voice didn't matter to the woman the family now calls before making any decision because no decision goes through the family without passing through her first, the networking problem created by always keeping to herself and her two friends because growing up alone made her want to keep people out of her business even though she wants people to know her, the decision that if she becomes a parent she will show her kids how to love themselves, point to them, and make them her friend instead of making them afraid the way she was afraid of her mother. Guest: Charity Host: Derrick Abaitey

From defying her mother's wishes to leave university and pursue government work to building a thriving feminine hygiene business that ships to the US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Nigeria, and why the brutal truth about starting a business when you have nothing is that you don't need perfection, you don't need a physical shop, you don't need everything figured out because the young woman who started with no business name and bathed with AC water during her toughest days now runs an international brand that doctors recommend to their patients, the painful reality of being the child nobody listened to or understood growing up in a home where your voice didn't matter and being bullied without anyone sitting you down to hear your problems, the university years of feeling invisible and unheard that shaped a determination to create something meaningful on her own terms, the national service period searching for jobs that never came and the five to six years that could have been miserable if she had kept waiting for someone else to create opportunities for her, the moment after service when she moved in with friends and life got so tough they were bathing with water collected from the AC unit because they couldn't afford to fill their tanks in a house with illegal electrical connection, the realization that she hates discomfort so much it became the driving force that pushed her to build something of her own at her own pace, the mother who didn't want her working in shops or informal businesses because she wanted her daughter to wear suits and work the 9 to 5 government job that represented respectability when that path felt like suffocation, the father who understood and supported her vision even when her mother couldn't see it, the business that started without even a name because she was so focused on solving problems for women and creating freedom through feminine hygiene education that Africans are never taught at home, the first three weeks of selling 500 products and then hitting a wall where orders stopped coming but instead of quitting she sat down and asked how can I do this better, the decision to invest everything she made back into the business by reaching out to influencer Dorsey who charged 2,500 cedis for promotional posts, the 24 hours after Dorsey's first post that generated 25,000 cedis in sales proving the product and message resonated, the bold move of taking that same money and paying Dorsey for an entire month of promotion and then another month because she wasn't motivated by short term gains but by the vision of building an international brand, the thousands of sales that came through recommendations because she focused her first year not on making money but on getting her products in the minds and on the lips of people, the biggest problem being FDA approvals that prevent her from adding certain products even though pharmacies stock her items and doctors actively recommend patients come to her, the 2,000 orders in just three days during a sales period proving that online presence and trust can generate massive results without a physical shop, the reviews flooding in that make her so happy because she's fulfilling a purpose of educating women about feminine hygiene and seeing them get real results, the trip to China that finally allowed her to create the packaging she envisioned because she couldn't get what she wanted in Ghana and she wanted something that would entice eyes and not be thrown away when it arrived in people's homes, the wisdom that you don't need to get everything at once and she likes going through the process without rushing on anyone else's timeline, the refusal to compare herself to competitors opening big shops because her path is different and her business can do well without a shop if she shows up consistently and authentically. Guest: Femlas Founder Host: Derrick Abaitey

From defying her mother's wishes and moving to Accra alone with no clear plan to building a six-figure business in 24 hours using only Snapchat, and why the brutal truth about starting a business when you have nothing is that sometimes the desperation to not depend on anyone becomes the fuel that drives you to create something from absolutely nothing, the young woman who packed her bags and left Kumasi for Accra against everyone's advice except her father's because she knew her family didn't understand what she truly wanted and staying in Kumasi meant staying stuck, arriving in Accra with nowhere to go when her friend never picked up the phone forcing her to stay with a total stranger for months while starting her national service, the painful reality of going to university alone carrying your own bags while watching other students arrive with their entire families when no one came to visit you throughout your time there, the Apple shop job during national service that turned toxic with men and women's stuff forcing her to file for early completion after just seven months, the two years of staying home trying different things without passion or results while depending on a man from a previous workplace who was doing well and taking care of her, the relationship that was saving her but also suffocating her because being at home not doing anything and not making money meant having to depend on a man which made her deeply uncomfortable, the 10,000 cedis she managed to save from that relationship by giving the money to a friend to hold because she knew if she kept it herself she would spend it all, the random day she bought a feminine hygiene product from a lady online for way less than the 350 cedis she had paid before and forgot about it until a friend asked for something similar, the moment she realized she could make a business out of it and spent hours on the phone with her friend planning a dropshipping model where she would post products and forward orders to the supplier who would deliver directly to customers, posting the product on Snapchat the same afternoon she came up with the idea and immediately paying an influencer to promote it, the explosive response that brought more than 100 orders in the first 24 hours proving how desperately people needed that product, the supplier who got overwhelmed after just one day and said it was too stressful and she couldn't do it anymore leaving the business hanging, the realization that people trusted her so much they were paying upfront without asking for payment on delivery when she had just put a price there and customers were ready to pay just like that, making about 20,000 cedis or more in the first 24 hours just from Snapchat with no WhatsApp, no Instagram, no TikTok, just Snapchat and influencers she kept paying because the money was coming in and the orders kept flowing, waiting a full year into the business before even starting to use Instagram or TikTok because Snapchat alone was generating that much demand. Guest: Femlas Founder Host: Derrick Abaitey

From the dangerous mindset that marriage is just about finding the right person to the revolutionary truth that the quality of the players in marriage determines whether you see relationship as competition or collaboration, and why the brutal truth about why marriages collapse is that people bring residual effects from their upbringing into marriage without understanding that though you may look polished, educated, and talented, the effect of the environment that raised you is still there and just a little trigger will show where you came from, the young person raised in an environment where you fight for everything creating a competition mentality of survival of the fittest that no matter how refined you appear carries forward into adult relationships, the child who was shifted from one house to another or had wealthy parents who were sound and had everything but gave no time leaving a person devoid of love who had everything going for them but didn't have attention or affection, the partner coming into marriage struggling with trust issues asking can I trust what you are doing because the effect of where I'm coming from is tearing me apart and in my subconscious I'm hearing voices from the past, the realization that the quality of players in marriage is one thing but the pattern of play requires that you fish out your opponent and understand their pattern because no two marriages are the same and you may have a friend whose wife does certain things but you cannot expect your wife to be like that, the wisdom that you must sit down and talk about what are the possible things that can challenge the mindset of a person and bring them to see marriage as competition instead of collaboration, the understanding that when you sit down and truly understand each other that understanding will weave something that brings you to a place of knowing you are a team not competitors, the competition mindset that doesn't happen overnight and may not be resolved by yourself alone but you can get help, the agencies and people coming with competition wanting to prove who is on top which is all lack of knowledge and ignorance that should be sorted out before marriage, the critical truth that there are things that should be sorted out before marriage because if you wait those dysfunctional tendencies will be used as weapons against a fantastic marriage that could have been properly managed for the greatest result, the intense premarital exposure to knowledge and wisdom that digs out a lot about a person because you are not just the man that wears the shirt and trouser in front of me but a combination of a lot of things, the women who are a combination of a lot of things where so many have been broken before marriage and the competitive clamoring is not about competing against you but about the backlog of trauma that may not have been resolved, the women looking for the next victim to lash out on because they may have been violated, abused, molested, talked down to, or considered inconsequential, the beautiful glamorous woman where what you see may just be the container but you do not know the content, the process of knowing the content that takes time starting with meeting the person with the mindset of friendship, the opportunities to create trust that you are not coming as one of the bandwagons of people that abused her one way or the other which will go through rigorous testing where she will test you. Guest: Mama Cathy Host: Derrick Abaitey

From the dangerous mindset that marriage is 50-50 when it comes to household duties and financial contributions to the revolutionary truth that every marriage is different and whether you bring 50% or 100% to the table doesn't determine superiority or inferiority because marriage is teamwork where both people deserve respect, and why the brutal truth about the question "what do you bring to the table" among Gen Z and millennials is that it's almost always about money when marriage has been seriously misconstrued because where purpose is not known abuse is inevitable according to the late Dr. Myles Munroe, the realization that marriage is more about legacy and dominion than money because if you will refer to the manual for a complicated gadget you spent money on so you don't blow it then how many people have referred to the manual for marriage asking whose idea was it and who instituted it, the argument that the Bible as the manual for marriage is so old it seems traditional making young people believe it doesn't work anymore for them when the real issue is clarity about the purpose for which marriage was created because whatever you don't know the purpose for which it was created you are certainly bound to abuse it, the wisdom that people marry based on likes and what they will gain and free feelings that don't work when the conversation about why God started marriage is completely lost, the revolutionary truth for Christians and non-Christians alike found in Isaiah 14 verses 11 to 14, Ezekiel 28 verses 11 to 14, and Revelations showing that marriage will be corrupted if we don't understand it's not about money or communication but the real reason why God established marriage, the scriptural revelation that Genesis 1 is not where everything started because there was somebody here before time who went up to plan a coup d'état saying I will be like God and take over but the coup failed and he was cast down and destabilized the face of the earth bringing confusion which is why Genesis 1 says the earth was without form and void, the critical question of how can God if this God is so excellent create chaos and something that doesn't make sense or have form when the answer is God never created the chaos but somebody messed everything up, the wisdom that God never reacted to the enemy but said let there be, let there be, let there be and put the world in place and in Genesis 1:28 said let them have dominion over the earth, the powerful truth that marriage was established as the institution that will progress and fill the world so marriage is God's idea for dominion but you must know the common enemy who destabilized everything, the 50-50 debate where a woman who brings 50% to the table must realize that if you have disparity sort it out in the bedroom so you don't create a scenario where children believe you can just confront and insult anywhere because bringing 50-50 doesn't mean you stop his authority since there must be a structure and a family is a place where the next generation is groomed, the man who brings 100% to the table and must be careful not to exercise dictatorship because in marriage there's no superiority and no inferiority so because you bring all of the 100% doesn't give you the right to treat your wife as a second fiddle, the scenario where the husband provides 100% for the household and everything and the wife doesn't have to lift a finger if she doesn't want to but if she wants to that's a different case proving every marriage is different, the marriages where 100% works and marriages where 50-50 works depending on the marriage structure. Guest: Mama Cathy Host: Derrick Abaitey

From leaving the Tokyo Stock Market as the only black equity analyst to investing over 2 million USD into a fish farm in Ghana, and why the brutal truth about why young Africans miss farming opportunities is that we've been conditioned to see weeding as punishment and farming as something for people who cannot read and write when the reality is that Ghana spends 100 million dollars per annum importing tomatoes from Burkina Faso. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction: Meet Seth Boakye-Dankwah 00:03:39 From Japan's Stock Market to Ghana's Fish Farms 00:09:29 The Asian Mindset: Understanding Risk as Opportunity 00:18:42 The $2 Million Investment Decision 00:20:18 Recirculating Aquaculture System Explained 00:34:44 The Hard Truth About Catfish Farming Profitability 00:30:33 Why Family Members Are Banned From The Business 00:25:55 Building a Business That Outlives You 00:38:04 The Marketing Challenge: From Farm to Consumer 00:52:55 Advice for Young Africans: Why Farming is Wealth Creation 01:04:47 Product Showcase and Final Thoughts Guest: Seth Boakye-Dankwah Company - Mordecai Farms Web: https://www.mordecaifarm.com/ Host: Derrick Abaitey IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey YT: https://www.youtube.com/@DerrickAbaitey Join Konnected Academy: https://www.triibe.io/konnected-academy Listen to the podcast on: Apple Podcast - http://tinyurl.com/4ttwbdxe Spotify - http://tinyurl.com/3he8hjfp Join this channel: /@konnectedminds FOLLOW ► https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds #Podcast #businesspodcast #AfricanPodcast

From the dangerous mindset that the devil is the one destroying families to the revolutionary truth that until you tame the common enemy you and your spouse can never be on the same wavelength, and why the brutal truth about why millennials and Gen Z don't trust marriage is because the Bible has been corrupted, ministers and preachers have messed up, the older generation managed broken marriages, and some never saw any marriage at all leaving them with no examples to glean from and take into their life journey, the young people coming from broken homes who came from homes that seemingly looked as if they were standing but had no examples they could use as blueprints for their own marriages, the realization that changing the narratives of corruption surrounding marriage so we can trust again is not about money because if your mind is right then as a man thinketh so everything about your perception of marriage is your mindset, the wisdom that until this mind is reguided whatever conversations we hold about marriage will not go far because it's a thing of the mind, the dangerous saying that love is sweet but when money is inside the love is sweeter which is taking advantage when you must understand the purpose for marriage and the purpose for money in marriage, the candid admission that money is sweet, money is comfort, money makes love go to hell but to make that money work for us there also has to be a corresponding peace on understanding and intentionality, the critical question of should women tell their husbands exactly how much they earn with the answer that it depends on who the woman is married to because it's not a blanket yes or no, the right thing being 101% financial transparency but the reality that not every marriage is the same, the marriage where if a spouse knows everything you earn the children's school fees may not be paid, house rents will not be renewed, certain basic needs and utilities will not be taken care of not because the other person is bad but because of the antecedents that need to be understood going back to how we were raised, the man counseled who said all through his life before he married he never had savings, never opened accounts, chopstick finish and start again chopstick which you can't blame because of the effect of upbringing, the woman who should open up completely if she has a husband that understands management and how to handle finances so the two can join heads together making the best out of finances, the dangerous reality of having a man who even when he knows how much you earn finishes it with drinking or taking it to take care of people when thousands of human beings have been exposed to this reality, the man who when the wife used to hand 100% of her salary to him wasn't unfaithful, wasn't playing around with women but used that money to visit people who are not well and the money finished in two weeks leaving children's school fees pending and money for food finished while he filled the car to run around contributing zero to the household. Guest: Mama Cathy Host: Derrick Abaitey