#MotivateGhana: The Unsuccessful Beginning of University Of Ghana Nursing Students Association President

Vincent Owusu Appiah is a level 400 BSc Nursing student at the University of Ghana (Legon). He is the second born of his parent’s five children and hails from Obuasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. To become a medical doctor and a philanthropist are what the young man dreams to achieve in future.  

Madam Mary Appiah is the mother of Vincent. She is a regular trader in Obuasi Market but does everything in her power to make sure her five children attain the best of education in life. Very smart and brilliant young girl, Madam Mary did not get the support from her parents to further her education, hence, ended up selling in the market. This, she does not want any of her children to experience, so, she fights to the extreme to give them all the education they want.

Enrolled at Tutuga Methodist Primary School, brilliant Vincent had his dreams at the back of his mind, so, he studied restlessly and passed out with aggregate 13 in August 2000; climaxing as the best results the school had ever evoked. He later continued to Obuasi Secondary Technical to pursue Science as a course.

His enthusiasm towards studying changed drastically during his secondary school education as a science student. He was peer pressured and did not have time for his books. Passionate about football and a very good player at that, Vincent thought of becoming a footballer instead. He misused all his study hours to play soccer and failed brutally when his SSSCE results came in 2003.

#MotivateGhana: Meet The University Students Storming Accra With Their Delicious Bread

Kofi Tenkorang & Kingsley Darkey

As students of the University of Ghana (Legon), Kingsley Darkey a level 300 Business Administration student, Kumi Richard a level 300 Political Science and Adult Education student and Kofi Tenkorang a graduate, have taken some parts of Accra by storm with their delicious PBM Breads.

PBM Bakery is an abbreviation for Patience Baah Mensah, aunty to Richard Kumi, who has for the past seven years locally been baking all varieties of bread that are mainly seen on the market domain which includes popular ones like the sugar, butter and tea bread.

Among her breads are also the Soya, Coconut and Banana Bread that are made of natural fruits.

#MotivateGhana: The Untold Story Of A Kayayo Who Now Operates A Chopbar With Six Employees

Ghana has over years been confronted with massive migration of people, particularly young men and women mostly from poor communities in Northern part of the country to Accra and other major cities such as Kumasi, Takoradi and Tema in search of jobs and other economic opportunities.

These young migrants engage mostly in head-portage popularly known as “Kayayo” and other menial jobs such as domestic servitude and street trade to earn a living. Most of the girls migrate each passing day to the cities and other urban centres of the country to seek for greener pastures. 

However, life turns out to be harder than they may have imagined. Like so many other young girls and women who migrate to Accra, their goal was simple: to enjoy a better quality of life and live in dignity. What they discovered was a whole different set of life challenges and safety concerns.

#MotivateGhana: The Untold Story Of A Kayayo Who Is Now An Entrepreneur - Part 1

Sodom and Gomorrah is a popular residence in Accra for young men and women who are believed to have migrated mostly from the three northern regions of Ghana seek employment and improve their standard of living.

However, the rampant negative reports about residents living in Sodom and Gomorrah has truly affected those positive people who are working tirelessly to raise money to cater for themselves and their families back home.

Regarded as the largest slum in Ghana, Sodom and Gomorrah is highly significant for its wealth of filth and garbage. The slum is also well-known as a den for armed robbers, prostitutes, drug dealers, adultery, fornication, gay acts as well as child prostitution, child trafficking and child labour.

A recent study carried by Motivate Ghana has indicated that, not all residents living in Sodom and Gomorrah are into such unscrupulous practices, there are some who despite all the negative reports had stayed positive and are taking giant strides to improve their lives  . 

#MotivateGhana - Meet The 21yr Old Student Who Has Been Able To Build A Business Venture In The Field Of Teaching

In recent times, the poor treatment meted out to teachers in the country has made the teaching profession very unattractive. A lot of people with the potential to teach have opted for other more lucrative professions and this has caused a shortage of teachers in our schools. Most persons who are in the profession are now there because there are no other alternatives whiles some consider it as just a stepping stone.

But Eric Vondee, who is yet to enter his third-year at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has created his own business concept called ‘My Home Teacher’ to help connect parents who need special/private teachers to teach their wards at home to well-qualified teachers. These qualified teachers go to the homes of parents in order to teach the children privately.

This business idea Eric explained, came to him at business seminar he attended on campus. “The speaker said something that was very vital to me, he said that every problem is an opportunity to make money or create a business out of it. So it was then that my attention was drawn to students who academically perform poorly in school and will need special attention with a teacher to improve upon their academics. I also thought that every parent wants the best for their children in terms of academics, so they will go a mile to get a private teacher for them, hence the birth of My Home Teacher”

#MotivateGhana - Meet Rita Maame Esi Nipah - The SHS Graduate Who Is Making A Difference In Fashion

‘I was born into a happy family of eight in a village called Breman Brakwa in the Central Region of Ghana. I am the second child of Mr and Mrs Nipah’s six children. My family was not rich neither were we poor but everything we had asked for where given to us. As a young girl, becoming a nurse was my biggest dream so my parents never joked with my education. Shockingly, one day a severe illness affected my mum and lasted over a year.

Her sudden disease drained my dad so much that he was not able to further my education after my home economics studies at Breman Asikuma Senior High School. All my other siblings including me dropped out of school. Rita Maame Esi Nipah is my name but I am famously called Rita and this is my story’.

#MotivateGhana – A School Dropout Who Owns An IT Company / The Story Vincent Agyei

Vincent Agyei Yeboah is a 27 year old Software developer and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of an Internet Startup Company - O.R. Systems. O.R Systems are experts in web and mobile applications. Although it started out as a freelance organization, the company is now a registered company that employs young Ghanaians, and has the potential to employ much more.

With a poor WASSCE performance and a little chance at a University Degree, Vincent and his startup, O.R. Systems have come a long way through its fair potion of challenges.

The young achiever’s life was characterized by failure in most aspect. “I have failed a lot so I am no longer afraid of failure.” the critical failure that imparted his career was debt and a broken heart. “Before I started my business, I went into some ventures and I ended up incurring a lot of debt. It was frightening at first. The debt were very huge. But what it did for me was that it made me lose fear of failure.”