As CEO of Amplify Africa, Dami Kujembola is on a mission to create global representation for African talent and the diaspora, and connect them to their homeland.



The contribution of the African diaspora to the continent’s GDP cannot be emphasized enough. A total of $45 billion was remitted to sub-Saharan Africa in 2021 accounting for a 6.2% increase from the previous year according to the World Bank.



And Dami Kujembola, the CEO and Co-founder of Amplify Africa, is the man on a mission to harness these resources and connections further and bring about economic impact in Africa.



Along with his co-founder Timi Adeyeba, who plays the role of COO, he is creating platforms for education in different African cultures while promoting African creativity to a global audience.



At its core, Amplify is an entertainment/media company, born out of Kujembola’s passion for entertainment law and providing better representation and red-carpet treatment for African artists who travel to Hollywood to receive prestigious awards like the BET Awards.



“We started by throwing parties and we did our first parties to welcome our friends who were nominated for BET Awards and we wanted them to feel welcomed when they came to Los Angeles. We had artists like AKA and other big artists and we saw the interest in people being represented,” he says, recalling the journey.



From there, the parties got bigger and more prestigious, such as when they partnered with the United States Congress to throw a gala as a way to promote Africa to the world.



“A Congresswoman offered to speak at the first event and gave us certificates that legitimized our events and we started hosting the Afro ball gala in partnership with her office.



“We gave awards to amazing Africans but they didn’t get the chance to speak and empower people so the idea for Africon (Amplify’s flagship event) was to create a platform where you have people who were successful in their field to impact knowledge and get people learning from them and show the world that these amazing Africans exist,” says Kujembola.



This was a far cry from his early days in Nigeria. After the assassination of his grandfather who was a politician, Kujembola vowed to become a lawyer with the goal of putting bad guys away. After graduating from Babcock University with a law degree, he interned for a law firm and that is where he found his mentor who would be pivotal to his law career.



“One of my professors was really cool and well-dressed and he taught intellectual property so I wanted to be like him and that is how my interest in intellectual property/entertainment law started. So, I interned at his firm before I finished in law school and once I finished law school for the most part, I decided that was the area I wanted to specialize in,” says Kujembola.



After working for a year, he joined a fledgling record label startup.



“A friend of mine took me to this entertainment conference and there seemed to be a lot of chaos and lack of structure within the Nigerian entertainment system and as a lawyer I wanted to enter that space and build out that structure. I decided I wanted to focus on entertainment law because it wasn’t as developed and crowded like criminal law so I felt it was the best place I could grow,” avers Kujembola.



When he relocated to Los Angeles for his master’s degree at the University of Southern California, he found himself working for an entertainment company which amongst other things, managed artists.



“My experience as an immigrant in a different country pushed me more towards building a company that could help create representation for African talent and the African diaspora. So, I always pitched African talent but they didn’t take it. I also wanted to educate the world about Africa because I got tired of answering questions about gorillas and whether we had mobile phones in Africa,” avers Kujembola.



That drove him to create a company that would provide more representation for Africans and build a community. Africon is a ripple effect of the intention Kujembola and Adeyeba had to create a community, representation and educate people about the African continent. Another focus for the company is to reconnect African-Americans back to their ancestral homeland.



“We realized it wasn’t just immigrants that yearned for that reconnection to the continent. There are a lot of people [who] due to slavery have been robbed of that reconnection and because of the negative stories that are told by Africans in the mainstream media, a lot of people didn’t have any pride affiliating themselves to the continent,” says Kujembola.



Under his leadership, Amplify Africa has grown with a digital audience of over 50,000 millennials across the United States, United Kingdom and Brazil and has produced over 100 events focusing on telling authentic stores about the continent so people in the diaspora feel proud to associate themselves with Africa and ultimately boost its economy.

Screenshot 2022-08-01 at 12.31.15

Connecting African Culture, Creativity And Community

Tobi Amusan’s gold at the recent World Athletics Championships was a win not just for Nigeria but for Africa, says the 25-year-old.



For years, Nigerian-born Oluwatobiloba Amusan considered herself as the “almost girl”. She placed fourth at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019 and fourth again at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.



So, when on July 24 this year, she smashed the 100-meter women’s hurdles world record with an outstanding 12.12 seconds in the semi-finals and 12.06 for the finals, the ‘almost girl’ finally bagged a gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in the United States becoming the first world champion from Nigeria.



“I thank God for his blessing and for finally giving me the strength to come first place. I feel like this is a win not only for myself but also for Nigeria and Africa,” says Amusan.



She beat former record-holder Kendra Harrison’s 2016 record of 12.20 by 0.8 of a second.



“It was very competitive so the goal was to execute and survive to the finals and I thank God for keeping me healthy throughout the process,” says Amusan to FORBES AFRICA.



The 25-year-old sprinter was born in Ogun State in the Western part of Nigeria. She began her sports career as a soccer player until her coach decided she had a lot more potential for the track.



“I ended up beating all the best people in the team and that’s how I found my calling.”



That calling took her to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) where she held several titles including the 60-meter indoor record, the 200-meter indoor record, the 100-meter hurdles as well as the 200-meter flat record.



In a statement conveyed by the special advisor to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Amusan’s win: “The President joins millions of Nigerians in celebrating this outstanding feat by a compatriot and two-time African Games champion, who in one night stunned the athletics world with her superlative and stellar performance. The President thanks the track superstar for making the Nigerian national anthem resonate again from the international podium, leaving the nation with the excitement and unforgettable memories of tears of joy and triumph; hope and victory; incredulity and belief.”

World Athletics Championships Oregon22 – Day Ten

Nigerian Sprinter On Smashing Records In Stunning Feat At Oregon

One of the UK’s top black Britons, self-made entrepreneur Tevin Tobun of Gate Ventures charted his business journey by looking beyond the obvious and venturing into the unknown.



EVERY YEAR, THE DEPARTMENT FOR Education in the United Kingdom (UK) allocates funding to chosen schools to help maintain and improve the condition of their buildings and grounds.



On receiving the funding, the schools invite qualified companies that can execute the project for them, to bid in a competitive tender process. Representing these companies usually are experienced middle-aged individuals in teams of four.



So when 22-year-old Tevin Tobun, fresh out of university, turned up on his own, and with no experience to his name, to respond to a bid worth a staggering £250,000 ($307,000), he stood absolutely no chance of winning – so he had to come up with a gameplan.



“There were about five companies all together pitching. And I was thinking ‘how do you win against these type of guys’? I 



focused on what was different about me and it was the fact that I was young and determined to make my way. So, when it was my turn, I just dealt with the obvious. I said ‘look, I know I am young and I don’t have the experience the others have but what I am determined is to make sure this is the best project you have ever done; if you need me to be up 24 hours, seven days a week, I will deliver this project on time and on cost’,” says Tobun of that first interaction with business.



Against all the odds stacked against him, he won the bid.



“I went from shocked to excited to confused to overwhelmed almost at the same time.”



That was the breakthrough moment he needed.



Today, he heads up one of the UK’s leading transport and logistics groups with a 1,000 employees.



Growing up in South London around mates who made poor choices with their lives, Tobun’s saving grace always was his ability to look beyond his environment and venture into the unknown.



“At the age of 17, I left my area and realized that all my childhood friends were gone and I had to find new friends. That’s when I started to learn that my choices had to be broader than South London. I went to Hammersmith and West London College. Those were the choices I was making that I didn’t even realize were big choices,” says Tobun.



After studying the sciences at Westminster University, Tobun knew even on graduation day when he was receiving his degree that he wanted to venture out into the shark- infested waters of business. He had been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug much earlier in college when he would purchase goods for wholesale prices and sell to local trading businesses.



“Three months after graduation, I decided to start my own business. I live on the news so I am very up-to-date on social and current affairs. At that time, the government had changed the way they funded schools. So, I came up with the idea that I will set up a one-stop-shop service that would do all the maintenance and facilities management for schools and do all the redesign,” says Tobun of his early venture.



With increased student intake, London’s inner city schools needed bigger spaces and overhauling. Tobun’s plan was to be the go-to person for redesigning the offices and classrooms to meet the evolving needs.



Only problem was, he had no experience in interior design or architecture.



“I set up a company with a friend who I grew up with who studied interior architecture. The name of my company was Gate Ventures which was a combination of his name Gavin and my first name, Tevin. I was 22 at the time.”



No sooner had they launched the business when Gavin decided that he preferred working a nine-to-five job instead. He relinquished his shares in the company to Tobun, who was left by himself to drive the business. With no money, his goal was to secure funding.



“I went to the Princess Trust for funding and you do all these pitches and all I heard were so many no’s. I thought it wouldn’t work. I left the building feeling like I should give up because maybe they knew what they were talking about.”



But on the 30-minute ride back home, forlorn and dejected, he had his eureka moment.



“I remember by the time I got home I said ‘no, I am going to try this anyway’. That was the most incredible 30 minutes of my entire life.” As luck would have it, the UK banks at the time were offering new graduates a credit card facility of £250 ($307) with an overdraft limit of £250. So, with £500 ($614), Tobun set out to look for an office space for himself.



All Tobun could afford was a hot boiler room next to a storage room in an office building. And with that, he set about pitching for his new business.



When he walked into that life-changing school tender process recounted earlier, he had absolutely no money. So when he won the bid, the next issue was to finance the project.



“I went to the client and said ‘I am going to issue a payment plan, you pay 30% deposit and we will give you these deliverables’. I had a structured payment plan as the project was evolving and that is how I funded the job.”



Tobun delivered the job on time and on budget and never looked back. Four years later, he stumbled on yet another money-making idea. While still working with schools and the Westminster City Council, Tobun noticed large trucks in the middle of central London trying to make deliveries to schools.



“I would see the chaos these trucks were causing. So, I thought ‘how could I do this better’? They knew me as someone who delivered so they set up a meeting with the Council and the wholesaler and I pitched and they agreed that we would run a trial. That’s how I built the new business which is a large logistics business today,” says Tobun.



His solution was to substitute the huge trucks for three-and-half- ton trucks equipped with technology and communication software to streamline the entire delivery process.



Within his first year of trading, Tobun made over £1 million ($1.2 million) in revenue.



He called the new business the Gate Ventures Group. Today, he is on an expansion drive, also in the African continent.



“We are expanding into Africa through a subsidiary business called Repco Global with a key focus on support and logistics services to the energy sector and FMCG and infrastructure sectors. We intend using key proprietary technology to increase efficiency and output within the aforementioned sectors,” says Tobun.



Arnold Sarfo-Kantanka, Business Strategist, Gate Ventures, calls Tobun “a stoic, resilient and focused businessman who has managed to create a group of companies from scratch.”



At just 46, Tobun’s success earned him a spot on the prestigious UK Powerlist as one of the 100 most influential Black Britons for the third time, alongside Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton and footballer Marcus Rushford. “It is the most humbling thing



to be listed on the Powerlist because you can get caught into this working-hard-with-a-tunnel-vision thing&#8230; When you read about other people who are doing amazing things and you find out you are in the same group, it is very humbling,” says Tobun.

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The 30-Minute Ride That Changed This Self-Made Entrepreneur’s Life

Eritrean twins Feven and Helena Yohannes were born in a house made of mud, grass and sticks in a refugee camp in Africa. Today, their Los Angeles- based black-owned beauty business and cosmetics line is an Oprah favorite and during Covid-19, sales for 2.4.1 skyrocketed.



LOS ANGELES- based twins and beauty entrepreneurs Feven Yohannes and Helena Yohannes are no strangers to life’s struggles. In fact, struggles preceded their birth.



The story they have heard their parents often say is of their long months journeying from their home country Eritrea to Sudan as refugees in search of a better place during the uncertain years riddled by conflict in the eastern African country.



And along the way during this perilous trip, the twins were conceived.



What was this long walk like, they once asked their father.



“And my father said with that bright African smile, that it’s like walking from Los Angeles to San Francisco. He said ‘it took us a few months, but we got there’. That had such a profound impact on me,” says Feven.



Their father, a respected political leader who was a freedom fighter in the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, embarked on the journey after sustaining injuries when his comrade stepped on a landmine.



It was a close call, and that was the first “miracle” for the family.



The second was the twins’ birth and survival.



Several mothers died during childbirth given the lack of proper healthcare in the refugee camps. Having twin babies was almost certainly seen as a death sentence. Initially, it was believed the girls’ mother was having “a big baby boy” because there was no technology on hand to discern the nature of the pregnancy.



“So, we were born in the camp. I came out first and then 15 minutes later, my sister came into the world. It was the biggest shock in the refugee camp&#8230;. Our house was made out of mud, grass and sticks,” recalls Feven of those early years.



After a while in the camp, their father decided there had to be a better life for the family and actively began to look for opportunities elsewhere. One serendipitous day, their mother overheard a conversation about the United States (US) Green Card lottery system and soon after, their next miracle began to unfold.



Helena offers a graphic description of that hot day in the African sun when things started to change: “So, our mother waited in the hot sun with twins in a queue that was almost a mile long and she sees a tree and walks over to the tree for shade. She sees a white guy who looked out of place standing by the tree but she wanted the shade. The white guy asked her ‘are these girls twins’ and my mum couldn’t understand English so someone explained it to her and my mother said ‘yes’ and she says that the man walked us all the way to the front of the queue because twins [were not known to] survive at the time. So, we were like a miracle in the camp.”



And that is when the family got their first big break. After winning the Green Card lottery that gave them the opportunity to immigrate to the US, the family relocated to Memphis before moving to Rochester, New York. Even though they were now finally on greener pastures, the struggle continued.



Their father worked as a janitor while their mother labored as a cleaner for the Presbyterian Church that had sponsored their American dream.



From those early days, they learned the power of family.



“My dad got his masters in Green Public Policy and my mother became a nurse and we always used our struggles as a way to motivate us. Our mum would work night shifts as our dad would go to school during the day and they would almost take turns building a family unit and really showing us what it looks like to have a healthy marriage and a healthy relationship. Our struggles were an opportunity to grow,” says Helena.



And that growth has led them from being political refugees to becoming hardcore businesswomen, creating 2·4·1 Cosmetics, a line of hypoallergenic lip and eye makeup, which made it to Oprah’s Favorite Things list in 2020.



The twins keep their Eritrean roots as a key philosophy in their new business. Product names like The Red Sea are all nods to their heritage.



“We initially chose 2.4.1 because growing up as twins, people would always ask us ‘are we two for one’? My father would have a look of confusion on his face. Then he said to us one day that ‘there is no discount on your self-worth, you are Feven and you are Helena’ and that lesson never left us. We still instill those lessons through our brand ethos and are blessed to have a father who is a feminist in a way,” says Feven.



The company was launched in 2019 after four years of incubation.



“We started looking at the beauty industry and how the people who are heavy-hitters and who are making the decisions about the kind of makeup we are wearing don’t really understand our experiences. They are making decisions not valuing us and more valuing the dollar,” says Helena.



The twins discovered along the way that ultimately the whole essence of beauty was giving women a sense of affirmation.



But no sooner did the brand launch than Covid-19 wreaked havoc across the world.



“The company was building up and gaining momentum. There was no PR team, it was just the two of us. Then, March 2020 and Covid hit,” says Feven.



Their product’s biggest competitors unexpectedly were toilet paper and hand sanitizers. Covid-19 restrictions meant that people were now wearing masks and beauty seemed to take a backseat. Luckily, the Black Lives Matter movement which gained global attention brought in some relief as consumers decided to actively seek out black-owned businesses to support.



“People decided we can vote with our dollars and decided to support us and we got media and press and decided to support us and we got media and press and we went from zero to sales of 600%,&#8221; says Feven.



From trying different entrepreneurial pursuits, ranging from a failed wedding app to a fledgling fashion and lifestyle blog, it seems the Yohannes twins have now finally found their calling.



And their past failures have taught them two invaluable lessons. First, about the power of execution. They use social media and storytelling to constantly engage with their loyal following who are growing daily.



Secondly, the power of believing enough in yourself to self-fund your own ideas. And the reason they had to go that route? “Funding is really hard for people of color; 0.2% of venture funding only goes to people of color. Investing in black women is really good business. When you look at the beauty landscape, we outspend by nine times more than non-black women but yet we are overlooked and overshadowed and that is ridiculous.



“We didn’t take the venture [capital] route, so we are 100% owned and we put our own money into the business. It’s okay to start small. We think the fastest way to get to where you are going is to start slow. We may not have all the funds but we have a loyal customer base,” says Feven.



The long-term goal after cracking the US market is to expand their beauty offering across Africa and give back to their motherland. They are shaping the beauty industry and new thinking for other entrepreneurs too on the cusp of change.

Screenshot 2022-06-21 at 15.17.21

Two’s Company: The Eritrean Twins Shaping The Beauty Industry

Aliko Dangote’s just-launched fertilizer plant expected to help earn Nigeria about $5 billion in export revenue.



IN MARCH, AFRICA’S RICHEST MAN, ALIKO DANGOTE, opened A $2.5 billion urea and ammonia fertilizer plant in Nigeria commissioned by the country’s President Muhammadu Buhari.



In an interview with FORBES AFRICA, Dangote, the president and CEO of Dangote Group, the continent’s largest cement producer, says the new fertilizer plant, which has already started production, could lead to Nigeria earning about $5 billion in export revenue.



“We are getting a huge demand from all over the world with massive orders from the European Union,” says the billionaire entrepreneur, who is also opening an oil refinery, expected to be Africa’s biggest with the capacity to produce 650,000 barrels per day, by the third quarter of 2022.



The war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia, the world’s largest exporter of fertilizers, have meant disrupted global supply chains and this has ignited the price of fertilizers for Africa’s small-scale farmers. Fertilizers provide healthy nutrients for crops and experts say the current impasse can stifle agricultural growth and lead to hunger on the continent.



“As they say, when Nigeria sneezes, the rest of Africa catches a cold and that is exactly what is happening. The Dangote fertilizer plant is important to Africa because with the Ukraine and Russia war, it is just a matter of months that some parts of Africa will be plunged into hunger. We need to have agricultural solutions that do not just rely on the West but rather on Africa,” says Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President and Chief Executive Officer of the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, a think tank based in Accra, Ghana, to FORBES AFRICA.



Nitrogen, potash and phosphate that are important for fertilizer manufacture also come from Russia and Ukraine. The countries’ leading position stems from their influence on the gas ecosystem too. Fertilizers are a by-product of ammonia created when mixing nitrogen and hydrogen gas.



“The price of nitrogen fertilizer has skyrocketed in recent months. In Europe, we are looking at about 1,000 euros per ton. Now, if more developed economies in Europe are struggling with the cost of fertilizer, what do you think the impact on Africa will be,” asks Farouk Rabiu Mudi, President of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN).



Dangote’s fertilizer factory, located in Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos, sits on 500 hectares (over 1,200 acres) of land with capacity to produce three million metric tons of urea yearly. The Dangote Group’s website cites the plant as Africa’s largest granulated urea fertilizer complex.



The oil refinery, also at the same location, will boast 1,100kms of subsea pipeline infrastructure to handle 3 billion Standard Cubic Foot (SCF) of gas per day produced for commercial use.



Nigeria has struggled for years to diversify its economy from oil dependency to other value-added sectors. The former minister of agriculture and President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has asserted Nigeria’s need to diversify its export base to a high- value market product that will pursue wealth creation and value-added manufacturing.



The commissioning of the fertilizer factory by the Dangote Group is expected to boost the investment in the sector and hopefully lead to self-sufficiency in food production for the continent.

Key Speakers and Interviews at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum

Aliko Dangote On $2.5 Billion Fertilizer Plant: ‘Massive Orders From The EU’

Ghanaian entrepreneur Gwyneth Addo went from crunching numbers at a bank to counting on her customers with a successful hair brand catering to the affluent.



Entrepreneurship, it seems, comes naturally to Gwyneth Addo. It’s in her genes.



Her father was one of the first entrepreneurs to start selling media and entertainment gadgets and used goods in Ghana. And Addo started early, watching and learning. Her dad once even helped her bag powdered milk into sachets and sell to her friends.



“He was always an innovator and trailblazer who changed the way I looked at things from an early age,” says Addo, speaking to FORBES AFRICA.



Her mother was also a trader in one of Ghana’s most popular markets, Makola. Every holiday, Addo and her six brothers would take turns opening and closing the shop and serving clients.



“Most of my character traits were picked up from my mum. We learned about customer service in Makola and how to deal with different customer characters,” recalls Addo.



Little did she know that training would pave the way for her to create her own entity, Hair Senta, one of the most sought-after hair brands in Ghana, and deal with myriad customers herself. &nbsp;



Hair has traditionally been associated with social status in Ghana. Africa’s hair market was estimated to be worth a staggering $6 billion back in 2014, according to Reuters. And Addo, like most players in this sector, has banked on the growth. &nbsp;



“Hair is a booming market in Ghana now but it has not always been like this. Weaves and extensions have become popular I would say over the past decade as more and more Chinese products have begun to invade the local market,” offers Josephine Boateng, a beauty consultant in Ghana and a customer at Hair Senta.



But before Addo would find her love for all things weaves and extensions, her professional journey took her into the world of banking – a far cry from the career of an air hostess she had always wanted as a young girl.



“I wanted to travel the world and explore and I loved how they looked in their uniforms. I majored in philosophy at the University of Ghana and then got an MBA with CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) but I found myself in banking and loved it,” says Addo.



Here, she began laying the foundation for what would give her a competitive advantage. She picked up the importance of customer service and how to deal with people without being intimidated.



“That helped me to get a different way of running my business. I didn’t learn how to sell hair from the bank but I learned how to serve. And that helped me when I transitioned into my calling. I don’t call it a business, I call it my calling.”



And that calling, according to Addo, is to serve women. To realize her dream, however, Addo would go through some very trying times. Firstly, she had decided the best way to serve was to provide quality hair products. However, she ran into issues where a lot of people were buying her products on credit and not paying back leading to serious cash flow problems.



“The hair was out there but there was no money to account for it. Something had to change.”



She drew on the early years working with her mother at Makola market for ideas.



“We were there when she started her little business but we knew the challenges that she was going through. So, it made me respect humble beginnings and understand that even though I am not making money now, I see an opportunity.”



But if only life was as simple.



“When I left the bank, I was embarrassed because things didn’t work out as I thought. I had to lie to my friends to say everything was ok but deep down, I was suffering. I traveled to China to buy machines because I wanted to prove to people that I could do it in a big way. I wanted to show off and let my colleagues at the bank feel like they are still working for other people but I had branched out and was following my entrepreneurial dreams. But I realized it is a process.”



And Addo decided she would trust that process. In order for her to achieve the sales figures she wanted, she knew something more had to be done. She began to notice an interesting trend in the hair business in Ghana at the time.



“I realized there were a lot of people bringing in hair but nobody had sat down to brand it. So, they had no name, logos or any kind of solid branding or identity that made them easily recognizable.”



Addo spotted the gap in the market and set her eyes on it.&nbsp;



“I always talk about the gap and need philosophy. People talk about starting a business because there is a gap, but the gap and the need must align.”



And align they did. Addo decided to create a brand name and logo for her products. Hair Senta was born and the brand would be known for its quality hair.



“We chose to be different because we had a global agenda all along. We focused on building the brand from day one. It was all about the logos, our brand colors etc. We were not interested in just selling the hair and making a quick buck.”



She started with virgin hair, which had the market perception of being too expensive.



“Instead of making the business about what the client wanted, I was more interested in what I wanted and for five years we did not grow, until we decided to listen to our customers and then everything changed. I made the mistake of making the business about me.”



The next thing she did was to get her products to her consumer. Addo would step out of her shop and physically meet people to makes the crucial sales pitch.



“We assumed that just because we were in an [affluent] area, it was going to be good but we were in for a surprise. People need hair, yes. Do they need good hair? Yes, but they needed something they could rely on and something they were confident in.”



The stars finally aligned when Addo decided to listen to her target audience.



“Imagine recording zero sales week after week and there is no single buyer and then one day people just queue up in your store and come the night before just to buy your products because we decided to listen to our customers,” says Addo.



“I spend on average GHC5,000 ($680) a month at Hair Senta because they are consistent with their products unlike other suppliers,” says Boateng.



Addo’s newly-refurbished flagship store in Ghana’s upmarket East Legon area caters to clients not just in the region but also in the Ukraine, United States and United Kingdom.

IMG_1573

Crowning Glory: Rooting For Ghana’s Booming Wigs And Hair Extensions Market 

As the battle to acquire customers and retain eyeballs intensifies for streaming platforms, Amazon becomes the latest to court original partnerships with Africa’s movie hub, Nollywood.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Nigerian content is seen by a lot of people all over the world and it is a good opportunity to set up shop here.” – James Farrell, Head of Local Originals for Amazon Studios</blockquote>



Following the move by Netflix, the world’s largest streaming platform boasting a subscriber base of 220 million, streaming service Amazon has also recently set up shop in one of the world’s biggest filmmaking hubs, the Nigerian movie market, also known as Nollywood.



The company is making a number of hires for its original local team in Nigeria following a series of visits by global heads James Farrell, Head of Local Originals for Amazon Studios, and Ayanna Lonian, Amazon Prime Video’s Director of Content Acquisition and Head of World Wide Major Studio Licensing Strategy.



“When you look at the world, there are really five countries that have proven the ability to make great content that can really travel outside their home base. You have countries like the USA, UK, South Korea, [India] and Nigeria is right in there. Nigerian content is seen by a lot of people all over the world and it is a good opportunity to set up shop here,” says Farrell to FORBES AFRICA.



For the past three years, the company has been on a hunt for some of the best content creators in Africa’s most populous economy and has used film festivals like the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) as a courting ground to uncover the next global hits out of Nollywood.



“We have this great team in the United States who make the likes of The Lord of The Rings, The Boys and Coming to America, and then we have the acquisitions team that go around the world and say what movies or TV shows have already been done so can buy it.”



“My team does however focus on what 10 or 20 titles can we add to the service to make sure it’s the best we have in Nigeria. So, if we are going to have a great service for Nigerians, it means we are going to have to make great content locally so we need to go out there and meet those folks who are creating that content,” says Farrell.



And Nigeria’s Inkblot Studios, with successful Nollywood blockbusters to their name, were at the top of Amazon’s list. The company has recently signed a three-year licensing deal with the Nigerian-based studio in a deal which provides exclusive worldwide distribution rights for Prime Video for the company’s theatrical releases from 2022.



“This is Amazon’s first exclusive output agreement with a leading African film studio and we are super excited to see more of such deals as we establish deeper roots in Nollywood,” says Lonian to FORBES AFRICA.



“This three-year licensing deal is historic and it’s the first of its kind which is a testament to all the amazing work Inkblot has done over the years. The deal will run through to 2024 and will push our upcoming releases unto Prime Video after we show it in local cinemas. This gives us a long-term focus



on our deals where we could potentially explore intellectual property deals and franchise potentials on some of our existing titles,” says Zulumoke Oyibo, one of the co-founders of Inkblot Studios.



Amazon Prime Video has about 150 million subscribers according to Farrell most of whom are in the US. Expanding outside its home base to find greener pastures in international markets like Africa, India and Japan is seen as a strategic imperative for streaming platforms to continue growing following saturation in the US.



Most recently, Disney + also launched its service in South Africa. Boasting 129.8 million subscribers worldwide according to the platform as of the first quarter of 2022, the company is taking a different approach by launching on the local DStv platform to attract customers already on the platform to subscribe to its rich content of Marvel films and children’s classics.



Both Amazon and Disney are looking to catch up on the success Netflix has had internationally with hits like the Spanish crime thriller Money Heist and the South Korean viral sensation Squid Game. In Africa, the platform commissioned its first Africa original series which starred South African actress Pearl Thusi as Queen Sono almost five years ago. Following that, there has been a string of acquisitions as well as multi-year licensing deals with Nigeria’s prolific movie producer Mo Abudu.



“We believe that Nigerian films have a truly global appeal and are thrilled to be working with Amazon Prime Video to deliver the very best in entertainment worldwide,” says Oyibo.

In this photo illustration, a hand holding a TV remote

Amazon’s Deeper Roots In Nollywood: What It Means For Local Creatives In Africa’s Most Productive Movie Hub

Art can have many expressions. Jacqueline Suowari’s is as a draughtswoman, with larger- than-life drawings using a ballpoint pen.



FOR AS LONG AS JACQUELINE SUOWARI CAN remember, she had wanted to become an artist. Born in Zaria in Kaduna State, Nigeria, Suowari developed a passion for art the moment she chanced upon a sculpture made by local artists in her neighborhood. Her only problem was convincing everybody else that this was what she was born to do. This was when she was only nine.



“I said I wanted to be an artist, and literally had to fight that battle with everyone. I was being ignored by everyone because they thought I was a child and they wouldn’t take me seriously. Even when I didn’t know what it entailed or what it meant, I stuck to it,” says Suowari.



As she was leaving secondary school for university, her teachers too tried to convince her otherwise.



“But I had to stand my ground and say that being an artist is the thing I want to do even in the face of the impending doom they painted. I knew I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else.”



As the years passed, she eventually became a painter, but that too led her to reinventing herself.



“I went to school as a painter, I trained as a painter. I was second-best graduating student in my department as a painter, and then I finished and then three years down the line, I realized I was not happy. Yes, I went to school, I studied fine art, I am a painter but I am not happy. After some serious introspection, I found out that it was drawing that made me happy. It wasn’t the painting. And I wasn’t drawing anymore because I was now a painter.”



She read a profile on Toyin Odutola, a Nigerian-American contemporary visual artist known for her vivid drawings on work and paper, and that brought Suowari back to her childhood calling.



“She draws with a ball point pen and I saw on her bio on Twitter the word &#8216;draughtswoman’ and that was the first time I saw that. I checked it in the dictionary and at thetimetherewasn’t any word like that,” says Suowari.



That was the light bulb moment she needed. 



It took Suowari a while to find her style but 



once she did, things began to slowly materialize. “At the time, nobody was buying my drawings. Imagine what it’s



like to build four years as a painter and then stop and start again as a draughtswoman. It was crazy but I wanted to draw so I kept on doing work, getting better and building on my skills. I found out my passion was to do bigger work, not just small ones. I wanted to go bigger and bigger to a point where I couldn’t find paper to draw on in Nigeria.”



She started importing paper that could take the size of the drawings she wanted to create. This was her new-found love for drawing with a ballpoint pen.



Alongside, Suowari also offered children art lessons to pay the bills until she got her first big break.



“People were saying nobody has houses with this kind of space and nobody will buy [the drawings]. But I thought to myself, my market is not just restricted to Nigeria. Yes, I’m a Nigerian in Nigeria but I’m making art for the world and the owners of these paintings will find me. When you are passionate about something, you don’t put the money in front, you put the passion in front,” says Suowari.



And she was right. Suowari was signed up between 2014 and 2017 by the Avant Gallery in New York. Today, she is a name in contemporary art exhibitions in Nigeria and overseas; selling from between $10,000 to $40,000 depending on the size of each work.



Her larger-than-life pieces are overlaid with beautiful colors and are in demand but for Suowari, nothing is better than the joy of picking up a ballpoint pen; it’s the same joy she discovered as a wide- eyed nine year old.

Screenshot 2022-05-03 at 13.20.33

The Draughtswoman Making Her Point In Art

How is African business viewing the new growth potential of Web 3.0?



“Africa is ready for Web 3.0,” says Del Titus Bawuah, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Lili Smart City, an entrepreneur in tech, sustainability and cultural impact and an early investor in Web 3.0. His reasoning for this is simple: firstly, global tech businesses have already taken the initiative to set up shop in Africa.



“The second reason is that our youth are now educated and some in the diaspora are well-traveled and we have a consciousness as a continent about the power of Web 3.0 and not to mention mobile user penetration is averaging between 70 percent to 85 percent,” says Bawuah.



Then, finally, the power of technology has already spearheaded the growth in the African fintech space with many users in villages now making millions in daily transactions. The digital future is on our doorstep. Bawuah also talks about global tech businesses flocking to African shores.



The continent is the only one with the majority of its population making up the youth bracket. This has led to the upsurge of innovative and world-leading tech companies such as Twitter, YouTube, Google and Microsoft calling the continent home for their next growth phase.



This trend is the catalyst that moved Bawuah from the lucrative London real estate space where he managed portfolios for some of the world’s richest individuals. He names among his clients Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, and Dubai’s Crown Prince.



Before he would cut his teeth in the lucrative tech space, however, Bawuah was involved in a company which was later acquired for £120 million.



“So, a lot of people approached me to say ‘if you helped them do that, can you help us do it for another business?’ I started doing strategic partnership, fundraising and being able to move a company from early stage to investment. I am the one that you call when you have raised about £2 million but you want to get it to £20 million and they don’t know how to go about raising that capital,” avers Bawuah. After four to five years of consulting, Bawuah moved into the crypto currency space early in 2014 and as a result got a number of insights into the kind of areas he should be looking at when it comes to investing in tech.



Today, he is on a mission to enlighten the African continent about what that next big thing is – Web 3.0.



“The only thing that is not happening in Africa is that more businesses are not being developed. The businesses that are being developed on this Web 3.0 foundation are doing really well. The telcos are doing well and the fintech businesses are booming in West Africa and they are raising very big series A and seed rounds and it has become very clear that this is a hot spot. The opportunities are there.”



“When it comes to Africa and Web 3.0, the argument is really simple. We are home to the second largest bitcoin (BTC) market as well as estimated crypto growth of more than $100 billion in the past year alone. This is the next growth phase for Africa and our tech entrepreneurs need to start waking up to the growth opportunities here,” says Amb. Kwame Opoku, an award-winning futurist, blockchain and crypto enthusiast.



So, what exactly is Web 3.0?



Like other iterations before this, Web 3.0 is the third generation of the world wide web and refers to a unique situation where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and blockchain-based decentralization comes together to create transparent internet experiences. In other words, it’s all about challenging the traditional views about ownership.



How? Through Blockchain.



Built on a public ledger that is maintained automatically on a programmable network of computers around the world, the revolution of Web 3.0 means users are able to own digital assets which are unique. These are also referred to as Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) and they can range from anything from art, music or even video games.



This decentralization of the internet and digital assets are key to unlocking the full potential of Web 3.0 in Africa.



“We have 1.3 billion population, 70% of the world’s youth reside on our continent and our GDP is only $2.5 trillion. We have four tech companies in the world that combined are 10 times the size of Africa in global domestic product. That’s crazy and they employ less than 10 million people. So, the issue in Africa is productivity,” says Bawuah.



For those economies already benefiting from Web 3.0, governments played a pivotal role in fostering these digital innovations. For Africa to catch up, we must do the same.



“Kenya’s hands-off approach allowed for the proliferation of the mobile money payment M-Pesa so if they take the same approach with Web 3.0 then we should see similar success stories. However, in Nigeria, the central bank is blocking these innovative companies from making payments with cryptocurrency exchanges,” comments Opoku.



“I feel like the reason why Africa will be impacted is because we have an opportunity to create an additional industry. We are going to be the world’s resource for agriculture and food and commodities but we can also become the world’s resource for cheap accessibility to Web 3.0 and by creating those industries we are going to have a new lease of jobs and talent and people will look at Africa as a place to come to and not a place to capitalize,” avers Bawuah.



One person already capitalizing on the sudden Web 3.0 wave across Africa is Seyi Awotunde, the founder of a new luxury NFT marketplace called Deliciae. The platform connects High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) with digital, physical and experiential based NFTs (assets).



To think less than three years ago, Awotunde had to take on a job as a house cleaner after losing two corporate sales jobs in the space of three months.



“The first one (job loss) happened a month after getting married and the second happened when my wife was five months pregnant with my son. This all served as fuel to turn my situation around,” says Awotunde.



Web 3.0 has turned his life around.



Today, Awotunde is getting ready to auction 10% of the future publishing earnings from a Michael Jackson song Whatever Happens turned into an NFT on his own NFT marketplace.



“African artists are making remarkable strides in the NFT space, including the likes of Osinachi and Anthony Azekwoh. As Nigeria ranks as the sixth largest adopter of NFTs and South Africa as the 12th, global representation matters and Deliciae has been built to ensure this.”



“NFTs offer a future of economic prosperity for local black artists and communities, Owo, the founder of AfroDriods, an NFT project, has thus funded the first free art school in Nigeria. Challenges of land and real estate ownership can be combated by blockchain and NFT verification – this will change the scope of ownership by supporting local landowners and individuals,” says Awotunde.



Both Awotunde and Bawuah believe that there is tremendous potential to create secondary market liquidity for more African NFT artists and digital entrepreneurs and also believe that the NFT hype is spreading like wildfire. Africa, with its sprawling youth population, will hopefully not miss the spark.

Del Titus Bawuah 1 image supplied

Unlocking Web 3.0 Opportunities In Africa

Glimpses of the ongoing Ukraine war from the Africans who fled and those predicting a wider impact on the continent.



Dr Akintoye Akindele, the Nigeria-based Executive Chairman of Platform Capital, ushered in 2022 in Kyiv, the capital and most populous city in Ukraine now dominating the news. His trip was the culmination of months of negotiations with his Ukrainian partners to launch a new oil refinery in Ghana, West Africa.



Little did they all know what was in store for the Eastern European country and its people.



“We worked on this deal for over nine months and even spent New Year in some of the towns that are now being bombarded. Life happens! Our thoughts and prayers are with our partner and his family and the entire world at large. This war and its undertones, from racism to greed, is a test for humanity,” says Akindele on the ongoing Russian invasion and war on Ukraine.



Vladimir Putin’s one move has led to catastrophic consequences for not just Europe but Africa as well. For businessmen like Akindele, it meant invoking the force majeure clause in his business contract; something he never thought would happen to him in years of deal-making across Africa.



“In layman terms, it means unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract or meeting its obligations under the agreement. Examples include natural disasters and war.



“While parties may not be able to control the occurrence of these unforeseen circumstances, they can prepare a clear, fair and mutually beneficial action plan that will be triggered in a force majeure scenario. This is what we are dealing with in the Ukrainian investment which was a major one for us that we were targeting to close [in] February,” says Akindele.



Like him, many individuals who called Ukraine home, have exited or are doing so. The effects of the Russian invasion continue to permeate globally.



For Ghana, the immediate response was to evacuate the over 1,000 Ghanaian students in the country as soon as news emerged of the war.



Priscilla Adjar, a medical student at the Western Ukrainian National University, was one of those that fled and recounts the horrors.



“I can only describe this experience as something from a movie. It was so terrifying and as I think about it now, I am still shaking. We realized that there was a serious problem when our university told us that we could all go home. Myself and a group of friends decided to make our way to the Ukrainian- Polish border where we heard the Ghana government was arranging flights back home for us,” recalls Adjar.



After hours of walking, they finally arrived at the border where they were asked to form queues. “Initially there were several lines. There was one for the Ukrainians, one for the Indians and one for the Africans. From the looks of things, it seemed like the Ukrainians or white people were receiving preferential treatment to everybody else and were being fast-tracked and I wondered why we were all not in the same line. Do our lives not matter also?” says Adjar.



Her experience echoes that of many foreign students of African descent in the country. The disparity in reporting about the plight of Africans in Ukraine even made it to global headlines. Among those escaping was also Amamchim Steve-Ajufo.



“I actually made a mistake and ventured into the wrong line and I was screamed and shouted at to move back to where I belonged. We were cold and starving and we had to scoop snow on the ground as drinking water because they wouldn’t offer us any water to drink. They gave first-class treatment to the whites,” recalls Steve-Ajufo.



The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ghana took immediate action to arrange for flights to airlift Ghanaian students caught in the looming crisis. Meanwhile, elsewhere, European countries were offering free housing and accommodation to their neighbors in Ukraine.



Some reiterate the disparity in the treatment of refugees.



“The government paying Brits £350 per month to house Ukraine refugees was never on offer for refugees fleeing wars, persecution and danger in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Instead, boats are turned and people deported,” says Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a lawyer and activist based in London.



There is also the issue of the wider impact of the Ukrainian war on Africa.



According to leading non-profit organization, Global Citizen, there is likely to be an increase in food insecurity in Africa as a result of the war because Ukraine and Russia are both major exporters of oil, wheat and corn.



This has led the African Development Bank (AfDB) to launch a food production plan that will focus on increasing the availability of wheat, maize, rice and soybeans on the continent.



According to Reuters, the development institution plans to produce 30 million tonnes of food and also empower farmers with tech tools to help them scale rapidly to meet this demand. Similarly, the International Monetary Fund is also reportedly committing to raising $1 billion to fund the initiative.



“The goal is to prevent a food crisis on the continent from the Russian invasion. We see the Ukraine war as a time for Africa to step up and become self-sufficient and it is the goal of the AfDB to empower small scale farmers through our initiative to fill this void that is being created,” notes AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina.



Solomon Osei, an oil and gas entrepreneur, also sees the potential opportunities of the Ukrainian war when it comes to the provision of gas.



“With Europe’s sanctions against Russia, there is an energy supply issue and we are trying to position ourselves to take advantage of this. I think companies in this space in Africa can be positioned to help bridge that supply gap. We just need the government to back us,” says Osei.



With Africa’s leading oil and gas producers like Algeria, Nigeria and Angola, Africa could now become integral to Europe’s energy security as sanctions against Russia still hold.

Refugees From Ukraine In Poland

‘We Were Cold And Starving’: Notes From The Ukraine War

Alexander Amosu is working with Africa’s wealthiest and aiming to put the continent on the map as one of the top luxury destinations of the world.&nbsp;



For as long as he can remember, Alexander Amosu knew he wanted to be rich. Perhaps it had something to do with sleeping on the floor in the sitting room of a two-bedroom council flat with his grandmother in Kilburn, United Kingdom (UK), or hearing his drunk neighbor beat his wife or maybe seeing needles of heroin addicts all over the floor when he returned home from school.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“It was just a dump. All I wanted to know is ‘what did I need to do to get out of this situation’?” recalls Amosu.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Maybe it was all of the above. Today, that teenager is one of the prominent faces in the African luxury industry. Based in the UK, Amosu is the founder of Lux Afrique, a multimedia platform for marketing and promoting luxury brands targeting audiences on the African continent.&nbsp;&nbsp;



A far cry from his poverty days, Amosu is using Lux Afrique to be the driving partner of any luxury brand entering the African market and introducing it to the high net worth consumer markets. The journey to run away from the days of struggle has been a long and arduous one, filled with serendipitous opportunities for Amosu. At the age of 12, Amosu had already started his first business venture, a fledgling paper run.&nbsp;



“I woke up at 6AM in the morning and delivered about 100 newspapers in the estate that we lived in and I did that for seven days and the owner of the shop would give me £10 and I saved up for four weeks and I was able to buy my first Nike Air Max bubble trainers.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I remember going to school that day and nobody before that day would communicate with me or hang around with me but when I walked in with those shoes, I was the topic of conversation. That day was the moment I realized that if I wanted to make a difference in life then I have to work hard and be rich and that was the catalyst,” avers Amosu.&nbsp;



By the time he was in university, he stumbled on what was to become his biggest money-maker yet – ringtones.&nbsp;



“I was able to buy my first mobile phone and, on the phone, you could create a ringtone. After two or three hours I was able to create a particular ringtone which was Big Pimpin’ by Jay Z. So, my brother heard it and said ‘can I take it to school to show my friend’. So, he took it to school and he came back with 21 people all saying ‘can I program the ringtone on their phone’,” says Amosu.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The entrepreneur in him kicked in. He decided to charge £1 to each of the 21 new customers netting him £21. Then the light bulb went on. After some research into the ringtones market, Amosu discovered that there were no all-black ringtone companies in the UK at the time dedicated to the RnB or Hip-Hop genre. The companies at the time were only doing pop and rock ringtones and so he decided to be the first to service that market.&nbsp;



“We launched the ringtone on the back of a flier I was promoting at university. Within three months we had enough money to open two offices in Islington and I was employing 21 staff. Within a year we turned over £1.6 million and within three years the turnover was just under £9.6 million,” avers Amosu.&nbsp;



He sold the business for £10 million when the ringtone market got saturated. Next up, he decided to venture into the luxury customization business.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“So, I took an iPhone and sold it for £20,000. People thought I was crazy because they asked why would I sell a phone that cost £600 for £20,000,” says Amosu.&nbsp;



He managed that feat by putting diamonds around the front of the phone and adding a luxury concierge service. The success of that business led to the customization of other brands like Blackberry and Motorola. His diamond-encrusted phones became the hottest luxury accessory for top UK celebrities such as David Beckham and Naomi Campbell. Not satisfied with his ground-breaking luxury accessory business, Amosu decided to follow another passion, this time to conquer the world of fashion by creating the world’s most expensive suit.&nbsp;



“They looked at me like I was crazy again. I explained that if you were going to create something there is no point being like every fish in the pond, nobody is going to be able to distinguish who you are.”&nbsp;



To stand out, Amosu went on a search to find the three most expensive fabrics in the world and went a step further to embellish the materials with 22 carat gold pinstripes. The suit cost a whopping £70,000 and went on to win the Guinness World Records.&nbsp;



The next stop? To bring luxury brand ownership to Africa.&nbsp;



“So, I decided to set up Lux Afrique so I could show luxury brands that we had ultra-high net worth [people] across different parts of Africa willing to buy their products.”&nbsp;



Lux Afrique was launched five years ago; you need to earn upwards of £1 million per year to be a part of the brand’s concierge service. And so far, Amosu says he has 500 of Africa’s wealthiest elite on board.&nbsp;



Lux Afrique’s motto is to celebrate African culture and put Africa on the map as one of the top luxury destinations of the world. This led to the birth of the events side of the business with a focus on creating luxury events from an African perspective on the same level as the world’s top events like Formula One.&nbsp;



“We created Lux Afrique polo day. Nobody knows that people play polo naturally in Africa. So, we created an event which is now in its fourth year where we celebrate African polo players and we have our high net worth clients as well as luxury brands together,” says Amosu.&nbsp;&nbsp;



For Amosu, the goal is very clear.&nbsp;



“I want to disrupt the narrative of thinking [that] Africa is all about flies and starvation.”&nbsp;

Alex Amosu1

The Road To Luxury, Riches And A £70,000 Suit 

SAM DARWISH HAS CHOSEN EMERGING MARKETS AS THE UNIVERSE IN WHICH TO GROW AND CONNECT. READ ON ABOUT THE TOWERING AMBITIONS OF THIS ENTREPRENEUR WHO ROSE AS AN ENGINEER TO RUN ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST PROVIDERS OF TELECOMS INFRASTRUCTURE, RECENTLY LISTED ON THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">We went through a lot of hardship, but what that period gave me was a lot of focus and determination. I became an avid reader, thanks to my father’s modest bookshelf, and I used to read his books regularly with a passion. There was nothing to do because you could not go out and play in the streets. The easiest thing for me, which was the most valuable thing for a kid to do, was to read.</blockquote>



SAM DARWISH is no stranger to adversity. He spent his early childhood trying to survive the hardships brought on by the brutal civil war that gripped the West Asian country of Lebanon that he called home. Today, he is Chairman and CEO of IHS Towers, the largest telecommunications infrastructure company in Africa and one of the very few with global operations and aspirations.



With a current valuation of $7 billion, as per the company’s Q3 results last year, IHS Towers is one of only a handful of unicorns in Africa.



In October last year, Darwish marked another milestone by listing IHS Towers on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), a lifelong dream for the telecom entrepreneur, and a move you don’t often hear about in Africa.



“When I rang the NYSE bell on October 14 2021, it was a privilege. I don’t think anyone of similar background or path has done this before. We are talking about ringing the opening bell of the NYSE, the largest stock exchange on earth and the pulsating heart of the global capital markets,” exudes Darwish when we meet him for this recent interview via Zoom.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screenshot-2022-02-14-at-11.23.08.png" alt="" class="wp-image-54295" width="388" height="596" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screenshot-2022-02-14-at-11.23.08.png 486w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screenshot-2022-02-14-at-11.23.08-195x300.png 195w" sizes="(max-width: 388px) 100vw, 388px" /></figure></div>



From Lebanon to Lagos, he is beaming with pride in his business suit, but in scaling to those heights, taller than his towers, he has had to face some pretty low moments.



The trauma he faced in his early years seem like a lifetime ago for him now. Growing up during those bleak war-torn times in Beirut, Lebanon, Darwish had to find ways to not just survive but make meaningful sense of his long days.



“When you are a kid, you don’t realize that everyone around you is dying but over time you realize the adversity of the situation; when electricity is cut for days, when you see your father taking the battery out of the car and bringing it to the house so that he can light a bulb or turn on a small TV; you start to realize that things are not normal,” recalls Darwish of those dark times.



This difficult childhood helped embed two important traits in Darwish – the thirst for knowledge and the value of perseverance.



“We went through a lot of hardship, but what that period gave me was a lot of focus and determination. I became an avid reader, thanks to my father’s modest bookshelf, and I used to read his books regularly with a passion. There was nothing to do because you could not go out and play in the streets. The easiest thing for me, which was the most valuable thing for a kid to do, was to read.”



After receiving a Bachelor of Engineering degree – with distinction – in 1992, he joined MCI, a telecom carrier, as a satellite systems manager and over the following years became one of a small number of cell phone engineers in Lebanon.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-default is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">We are the undisputed leader of telecom infrastructure in Africa. Our plan, however, is global. Excluding China and India, there are over three billion people in the emerging markets with less than a handful of infracos with a global emerging market focus.</blockquote>



A chance encounter with a group of Lebanese entrepreneurs who had acquired a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) license, brought Darwish to Nigeria.



“I helped set up the mobile phone network in Lebanon in the 1990s with Telecom Finland, and thought that coming to Nigeria would just be a two-year period to help set up another GSM network before continuing on to the United States.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screenshot-2022-02-14-at-11.23.00.png" alt="" class="wp-image-54296" width="399" height="596" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screenshot-2022-02-14-at-11.23.00.png 550w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Screenshot-2022-02-14-at-11.23.00-201x300.png 201w" sizes="(max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px" /><figcaption> Photos by Maike Schulz/Gruber Photographers</figcaption></figure></div>



“Emigrating to the US had been my dream since I was young. I saw the US as the land of opportunity, the land where a person is respected as an individual with liberties guaranteed by its Constitution. In my opinion, this is the fundamental thing that defines America which is also why I’m delighted to have become a citizen,” says Darwish.



That two-year layover in Nigeria turned into 23 years.



During that time, Darwish set up IHS Towers, when the former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo privatized the telecoms industry and issued licenses to telecom companies.



“I came from a country of four million people to Nigeria, a country of 150 million people. I felt like Alice in Wonderland given the size and the scale of the country. Yet despite the large population, there were barely any telephones in the country. I think at the time there were about 8,000 mobile phones and only a few hundred thousand fixed telephone lines,” says Darwish.



Nigeria is where he was able to put to test his perseverance and tenacity, traits acquired from his childhood.



“I think it’s important to persevere. Everyone has goals, dreams and aspirations. The difference between people who make it and those who don’t comes down to perseverance. You may fail once, twice or many times but you keep pushing until you make it. Along the way you may stop, reassess and potentially chart a new path to get to your goals. But one thing is for sure, never stop trying.”



No one believed the potential of the mobile telephony market given the high cost of service in the initial years. However, Darwish believed there was a way to reduce communication costs and make mobile phones accessible to anyone who wanted to get connected.



So, in 2001, he set up IHS Towers and started building towers for Africa’s mobile network operators (MNOs).



One of his first clients was Motorola who chose IHS Towers to provide all services related to building and running their towers.



A decade in, and there was more to report.



By 2010, IHS had shifted its focus towards the ownership model.



“We asked ourselves, ‘why don’t we own the towers ourselves and lease them to carriers’? Up until then, MTN, Orange and Vodafone all built their own towers. With each tower, these MNOs had to spend scarce resources on building their own towers, paying rent to landlords and setting up their own power supply; a very inefficient operating model. When we build a tower, we lease space for wireless antenna to several MNOs on the same tower. The infrastructure-sharing saves expenses for MNOs and also allows them to focus on their core business,” notes Darwish.



By 2012, the company had raised its first $79 million equity funding led by the International Finance Corporation.



In 2014, Darwish told FORBES AFRICA he was looking to raise $1 billion for his tower infrastructure business. Today, that investment stands at multiple billions of dollars, representing over 35,000 towers under management in 11 countries across Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.



Along the way, his personal networth has also grown in excess of $500 million, his team confirm. (In the 2014 story on him in FORBES AFRICA, his wealth was cited as $200 million as valued by the Forbes wealth unit in the US.)



“We cover 750 million consumers globally – we either already operate or soon will operate in some of the largest emerging market countries – Nigeria, Brazil, Egypt and South Africa. We are the undisputed leader of telecom infrastructure in Africa. Our plan, however, is global. Excluding China and India, there are over three billion people in the emerging markets with less than a handful of infracos with a global emerging market focus.



“So much potential to grow! The average age in the emerging markets is 20 compared to 40 in the US or 45 in Europe. This is the future, and the universe in which we will grow. For example, there is no reason why IHS cannot be in 30 markets over time. We are the only company with African origins that has come from Nigeria, to list on the NYSE with approximately 35,000 towers pro forma including our MTN South Africa acquisition. This makes us uniquely skilled to tackle the global emerging markets challenges and succeed,” says Darwish.



One of the key reasons for listing on the NYSE, as opposed to an African stock exchange, was to help combat negative stereotypes about Nigerian-origin companies.



As Darwish puts it, this is an issue of governance.



“Investors want to know that you adhere to the best corporate governance practices and that you are a sustainable business. In my opinion, Africa suffers not from a lack of opportunities but from a perceived lack of governance. Investors expect a very high level of governance practices in terms of sustainability, gender equality, and ESG such as whistle-blowing, code of conduct&#8230; and companies need to have zero tolerance towards unethical behavior as part of their DNA to be able to attract capital to scale and grow,” Darwish says.



By coming to New York, Darwish is telling the world that this is the level of governance IHS Towers adheres to. “After all, the NYSE and SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) must approve your listing, banks must authorize it, you have the New York State and the Department of Justice watching you. We are now bound by the highest levels of scrutiny.”



Also, according to Darwish, only sustainable companies can scale in emerging markets because of the limited resources available to them compared to their counterparts in developed markets. So, he believes unless a company is respectful to the environment and community around its operations, there is no way it can scale.



“There isn’t enough to simply carve out and keep a piece. Companies need to expand their universe of opportunity and benefit collaboratively. That’s what building connectivity does.”



Another strategic reason for choosing the NYSE was due to the capital-intensive nature of the business. After investing billions of dollars, Darwish believes they have barely scratched the surface.



“If you look at Africa today, only about 40% of Africans have access to 3G or 4G mobile services, compared to 85% or higher penetration in the developed markets. On the continent, 5G is only available in South Africa. I believe that internet access will evolve in two ways in Africa; 5G services will be offered to address the high-speed mobile communications needs of consumers and fiber to the home or business will be deployed to solve high bandwidth connectivity demand. Both types of networks are substantially underdeveloped both in Africa and other emerging markets and require billions of dollars of investments.”



Consider IHS’ primary geographies – Africa and Latin America. According to Darwish, the average American consumes about 11GB of data a month compared to 1GB in Nigeria and 2.5GB in Brazil. This means there is room for tremendous growth via the provision of better and broader broadband connectivity. This requires greater access to capital which is best found in deep-pocketed destinations outside Africa.



“Remember the most fundamental premise for telecom connectivity is that every human being wants a bigger, wider broadband pipe no matter where they are or who they are. It’s up to us to satisfy that demand. The Covid-19 crisis taught us that whilst the world could survive with less planes, cars and trains, it couldn’t survive without the phone!” says Darwish.



So where can you find that type of money? New York, says Darwish; the NYSE has 10 times the depth of the London Stock Exchange, he adds, and that was his primary goal.



With the new inflow of capital investment, Darwish has embarked on some key strategic acquisitions.



In October last year, the company signed a partnership agreement with the Egyptian government to erect and lease to MNOs 5,800 telecom towers in Egypt during the first three years of the license term. However, IHS plans to expand further as it believes the country is on an upward trajectory.



The following month, IHS Towers signed agreements to acquire 5,709 telecom towers in South Africa from Mobile Telephone Networks Proprietary Limited (MTN), one of Africa’s leading mobile telecommunications groups.



IHS Towers will also provide Power-as-a-Service (PaaS) to MTN at approximately 12,800 sites across South Africa (including the acquired 5,709 sites). On closing, the company says this will make IHS the largest independent towerco in South Africa. In addition, IHS will become the main towerco in the three largest economies in Africa, further strengthening its leadership position on the continent.



Within the company, the growth trajectory has earned Darwish plaudits.



William Saad, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of IHS Towers, talks about his dedication and commitment to success: “Since the first day we co-founded IHS, his focus has been on building strong foundations to be ready for where we are today. Some people dream and talk about their dreams, but, Sam, when he dreams, he turns the dream into a goal and ensures it comes true. That only happens with dedication, long hours, sacrifices, research, learning, planning&#8230; and the proof is the size and geographic spread of IHS today.”



“In my five years working closely with Sam, I’ve been wowed by his ability to successfully lead a company operating in so many complicated places. What I’ve seen as truly special, has been his ability to successfully grow the company’s footprint and bottom line while at the same time truly being devoted to employee wellbeing,” attests Mel Immergut, the former Chairman of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley &amp; McCloy.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">I believe that internet access will evolve in two ways in Africa; 5G services will be offered to address the high-speed mobile communications needs of consumers and fiber to the home or business will be deployed to solve high bandwidth connectivity demand. Both types of networks are substantially underdeveloped both in Africa and other emerging markets and require billions of dollars of investments.</blockquote>



IHS’ signing of the MTN deal coincided with the completion of an agreement with TIM S.A., a Brazilian MNO and fiber operator. IHS acquired a 51% controlling interest in FiberCo Soluções de Infraestrutura S.A. (FiberCo), a former subsidiary of TIM S.A., which includes TIM’s secondary fiber network and assets, in addition to the provision of fiber optic infrastructure services as an Open Fiber Network Service Provider. FiberCo will complement as well as help further develop IHS’ tower footprint in Brazil (currently comprising of around 5,000 towers) in addition to generating revenue from fiber-to-the-X services.



“Brazil has about 200 million people, and Latin America is a few years ahead of Africa in terms of telecom sector development. FiberCo’s network passes over 6.5 million locations; 3.5 million of which is Fiber- to-the-Home and 3.4 million Fiber-to-the-Cabinets. This deal makes us one of the top fiber players in Brazil and positions us for the imminent 5G growth,” says Darwish. Whilethisdealisattractivefromareturn perspective, the main reason Darwish is excited is because of its importance to Brazil’s 5G network rollout.



“Up until now, location has been the most important part of cellphone network rollouts. FiberCo’s 70,000km of fiber strands run through the busy streets of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, etc. This network complements the roughly 5,000 towers we own, and the land bank we acquired last year. This combination makes IHS the most strategically placed digital infrastructure operator in Brazil to assist with the rollout of fast 5G networks by MNOs and other telecom operators. Very exciting!”



The new acquisitions undoubtedly make IHS Towers one of the largest telecommunication infrastructure companies globally. The focus for Darwish now is to use IHS’ increased platform and capital base to help advance Africa’s development through further deployment of digital infrastructure.

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‘THE COVID-19 CRISIS TAUGHT US THAT WHILST THE WORLD COULD SURVIVE WITH LESS PLANES, CARS AND TRAINS, IT COULDN’T SURVIVE WITHOUT THE PHONE!’

Starting with just $45, Ghanaian entrepreneur Violet Amoabeng’s startup has progressed with skincare products you can eat and the unpalatable realization that the only way to make it in business is to crash, break, stretch and succeed.



IT WOULD BE HARD TO decide if you would place Violet Amoabeng’s products in the beauty cabinet or on the kitchen shelf.



Skin Gourmet, Amoabeng’s skincare range, uses natural raw materials that are pure and free of preservatives that you could use on your skin and eat at the same time.



Edible beauty?



“If you cannot eat what you are putting on your skin, then why put it on your face?” asks the Ghanaian entrepreneur who admits to always gravitating towards the unconventional.



“It made more sense because what I wanted to create was something you could either choose to eat or wear, either way it is good for you.”



She launched Skin Gourmet Limited with only $45 five years ago, but it is now a business that generates over $200,000 annually.



“My dad would not give me the money to do any business because he believed that if you don’t do business the hard way, you will not be able to survive when you hit hard times and no one will help you,” recalls Amoabeng about her journey to becoming a self-made businesswoman.



She had to think differently.



Even as a child, when her classmates were debating careers as doctors, bankers or lawyers, Amoabeng opted for poetry, when she could have easily thought of following in her parents’ footsteps.



Her father, one of Ghana’s most successful bankers, is the founder of UT Bank, and her mother was the Managing Director of the Ghana tourist board where her primary focus was social and human development.



“My dad was more of a dreamer and even though his mind was on profitability he wanted to build something that everyone would benefit from. My dad and my mum were more focused on me being a good person and they were not focused on a specific industry. They just allowed me to dream. It was more important that I would leave a good legacy. It was almost like they are responsible for how their children will affect the world.”



Amoabeng now understands just how powerful that upbringing was. Even after her parents’ divorce when she was still young, she was never separated from this goal of adding value to humanity.



Shuttling between Ghana, Uganda and Canada in her teenage years, she graduated with a marketing and business administration degree from the University of Northern Virginia before completing her masters in accounting and finance as well as in supply chain and logistics.



Her initial work experience was in her father’s bank before securing an internship with the African Development Bank in Tunisia.



“At the time, I wanted to take over my dad’s business. As life would have it, that didn’t work out but I still wanted to help people and I knew business is how to do it, but I didn’t know how it would look like,” says Amoabeng.



Her biggest challenge was acquiring capital to kick- start her business.



“I asked family members to help source ingredients etc. I would come back from work and the first formulation I made I got these three ugly containers from my mother. I had designed my logo and everything on my computer. So, I would manufacture, package, label, put it on the shelf and every Saturday I would go to the market to sell these products.”



Being from Ghana proved to be advantageous for her fledgling startup.



“I started to really focus on Ghana because even the idea of eating your skincare [ingredients] is something I realized Ghanaians used a long time ago but we have lost [that tradition]. When I go to source my ingredients, these are products that the local communities eat on a daily basis and it’s been done for a long time. Preservatives are not needed because these communities have not had electricity for a long time so they had a way to preserve the products and keep it [to] the highest qualities.”



To get people to try her products, Amoabeng would give them away for free.



Her father’s lesson in the business of not expecting “any handouts from anyone” started to pay off.



“My dad also started his company with almost nothing and he knew he had to struggle. In my dad’s mind, it is important to struggle because it is the struggle that makes you strong and innovative.



“I started with the love of making body butter without doing any research. The entrepreneurial journey has been crazy hard. It will crash you and it breaks you and stretches you but you enjoy it. When you see an obstacle and it’s hard but every time you find a way over it and that is what makes it incredible. With every stage you overcome, you become a little bit greater,” offers Amoabeng as advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.



Amoabeng has managed to transform Skin Gourmet into a successful startup story with an average revenue growth of 80%. What makes this remarkable is the fact that this has been achieved organically with no outside investment or bank loans.



And with that, she has learned her greatest lesson in business.



“I had a limited way of thinking and I had to retrain myself on how to think. Nothing is impossible, everything is possible and if you can’t do it, it is your fault. You never blame anybody for anything that happens to you.”

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The Ghanaian Entrepreneur With An Appetite For Business

Life has a way of imitating art. For Ifan Ifeanyi Michael, it has been the other way round. The Nigerian celebrity stylist, actor and filmmaker has come a long way from the destitute 10-year- old he once was.



IFAN IFEANYI Michael starts narrating his life story on a Zoom call from Lagos, Nigeria. A call girl, sexual abuse&#8230; and it unravels in ways that could put to shame movie scripts. But that’s how this Nigerian actor, director and brand consultant traversed seemingly impossible odds to become the success he is today.



A FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 list-maker in 2021and recipient of the African Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, Michael, at this interview, talks about what shaped his life, and is overwhelmed with emotions reliving some of the most traumatic episodes from his childhood.



He just cannot shake them off.



“I was sexually abused by a barber because I needed a place to stay and I did not want to be thrown out on the streets. But still, I was kicked out of the house at 1AM in the morning,” Michael says starkly.



Today, he is a living testament that tough times don’t last, but tough people do. He left his home in Port Harcourt in Nigeria at the age of 10 to pursue his dream of becoming a filmmaker in Lagos.



“I came to Lagos to meet a marketer to sell my story to him. When I got to Lagos, his phone was switched off and I couldn’t reach him&#8230; I didn’t think I was going to be duped. I was excited to showcase my work,” says Michael.



He was left stranded but made his way to a popular hotel in Lagos frequented by the film fraternity, hoping to find someone who would believe in his script and help him actualize his dream.



“It was just survival for me. I had nowhere to go. Am I going back to my parents’ two-room where there was seven of us, or who am I going to call?”



He vividly remembers some of the older passengers on the bus to Lagos, who asked where his parents were even as he prayed fervently that they would not take him back home.



Once in Lagos, there was no turning back for young Michael. He had to make things work. He bumped into a lady who was working as a call girl who luckily took him in and provided him a temporary place to stay.



“In the morning, she would bring us in to sleep and in the afternoon, we left so she could get ready for her clients. She felt sorry for me because I was very young. There were times I was not even eating,” recalls Michael.



During the day, he would go to every audition in town to land roles as an extra to make ends meet. He believed the only way to fulfill his dream of becoming a filmmaker was to have more grit and tenacity than the other dreamers who wanted to make it in Nollywood.



“The money was really bad at that time but it was good for food and daily expenses. I used to move all over the place to audition for different roles until I got my first break. I reached out to the producer of the movie and told him how passionate I was. He told me he had someone else for the role. So, I looked for his address and traveled all the way to find him and I told him and he was so surprised.



“I didn’t even have a way to go back home so he let me sleep in his place and that morning he gave me the script for The Evangelist and that was my biggest break in acting,” says Michael.



The hustle didn’t stop there. Michael also began doing public relations for upcoming music artists by taking their CDs to the local marketplace to create awareness about them. The PR hustle landed him a lucrative gig with a new hotel that gave him the capital he needed to finally realize his ambition of becoming a filmmaker. 



Lotana, his first feature film, tells the story of a young man who discovers he has to offset a huge debt to a loan shark owed by his father before his sudden death.



Michael admits he has no educational background, but managed to carve out a niche in the Nigerian entertainment industry with nothing but determination.



And he has many roles.



As a fashion stylist, he has worked with some of the top celebrities in Lagos. He is also the founder of a publicity management company dedicated to the media and entertainment industry.



“The dream even at that time has always been to live my truth in terms of bringing my vision to life. I know I wanted to be an actor and filmmaker and tell stories and let my story influence people as well. I see things and approach situations differently so it has been a major motivation. Everything that I went through I just knew I was unstoppable,” says Michael.



Lotana was released in 2016 and went on to win 10 awards out of 13 nominations at the Golden Movie Awards in Ghana. In 2020 too, he won big for his film Foreigner’s God. With his eyes firmly set on his next feature film, he is one of the inspirational young film talents in Nollywood.



The show must go on.

Ifan

The NOLLYWOOD Actor Living His Truth

Dentaa Amoateng loved sports, singing and acting, but went on to become a paediatric nurse and a cultural bridge between the diaspora and Ghana recognized by the British royals. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“In London, at the time, you had so many knife crimes and black-on-black crimes and so I wanted people, especially young, black people, to know that you have great role models to look up to. And that’s how it started. I called up some friends and we did it.”  </blockquote>



American author Helen Keller once famously said, &#8220;Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.&#8221; For&nbsp;Dentaa&nbsp;Amoateng these words provided the context for her vision to create a bridge between Ghana and the diaspora.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Her&nbsp;work using the GUBA Awards, a&nbsp;non-profit&nbsp;organization that focuses on enriching the African community in the diaspora and in Africa with the aim of empowerment and growth, earned her the&nbsp;prestigious recognition of MBE by the British royal family.&nbsp;



Amoateng has promoted&nbsp;the national interest of Ghana and the African community&nbsp;for the past decade and within that time, the GUBA Awards&nbsp;have&nbsp;welcomed luminaries from all over the world such as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and wife Cherie Blair, British Prime Minister&nbsp;Boris Johnson and Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo.&nbsp;



Through the awards, Amoateng&nbsp;has also championed socio-economic development in Ghana by providing access for Ghanaians in the diaspora to relocate back home and contribute to the development of their country.&nbsp;



Little did Amoateng know that when she relocated from Ghana at age five to the United&nbsp;Kingdom,&nbsp;barely&nbsp;able to speak a word of English,&nbsp;that she would be one of the leading advocates of the country.&nbsp;



“I&nbsp;was&nbsp;bullied because I was the only&nbsp;dark-skinned&nbsp;girl and the only girl with short hair so I looked different and I remember wishing I was white because they were more comfortable.&nbsp;So,&nbsp;growing up was difficult for me. When I was 11 or 12 that’s when I started appreciating where I was from and who I was,” says Amoateng.&nbsp;



With a natural affinity for sports, Amoateng liked athletics and would consistently beat her cousin who was her running mate&nbsp;and&nbsp;who&nbsp;ended up running for the English&nbsp;athletics team. Amoateng was not encouraged by her parents to pursue it. She had a love for singing but was&nbsp;yet again&nbsp;discouraged.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“They also said no to acting which I loved. They wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer. My dad asked me what else I liked instead of the creatives and I said&nbsp;‘I liked children’&nbsp;and he said&nbsp;‘why don’t you be a pediatric nurse’&nbsp;and I said&nbsp;‘ok,&nbsp;I’ll try it’&nbsp;and I loved it. I qualified at 21 as a pediatric nurse,” says Amoateng.&nbsp;&nbsp;



But this time she held on to her dream of acting. She&nbsp;started securing roles on television in the UK&nbsp;in series such as&nbsp;EastEnders&nbsp;and completed her A levels in performing arts, sociology and media&nbsp;before completing a degree in nursing which she still&nbsp;practises&nbsp;today.&nbsp;



She took her love for the media to the next level by creating her own talk show,&nbsp;The&nbsp;Dentaa&nbsp;Show, where she would&nbsp;go to&nbsp;Ghana and interview prominent people and bring it&nbsp;to&nbsp;television networks in&nbsp;the&nbsp;UK.&nbsp;That journey led to the GUBA Awards in 2009 to celebrate the people who were doing amazing work in Africa and the diaspora.&nbsp;



“In London,&nbsp;at the time,&nbsp;you had&nbsp;so many knife crimes and black-on-black crimes and so I wanted people,&nbsp;especially&nbsp;young, black&nbsp;people,&nbsp;to know that you have great role models to look up to. And that’s how it started. I called up some friends and we did it.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We had&nbsp;Channel 4, the&nbsp;BBC&nbsp;and so many media outlets and it was crazy how people took to the awards and ever since,&nbsp;it has just grown. I wanted GUBA to be the African Grammys where people hear about GUBA&nbsp;and get excited,” says&nbsp;Amoateng.&nbsp;&nbsp;



From selling her first car due to a lack of sponsorship for the&nbsp;first GUBA Awards to growing&nbsp;the platform into&nbsp;a&nbsp;movement, Amoateng has come far.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“We started&nbsp;doing the GUBA expo promoting ‘made in Ghana’&nbsp;products to the UK market where we have had Tesco,&nbsp;Body&nbsp;Shop,&nbsp;Asos&nbsp;etc.&nbsp;coming to our events. We also grew to GUBA careers looking at Ghanaians in the diaspora who want to come back home and get jobs. We have managed to get so many people back home to Ghana&nbsp;to&nbsp;work,” says Amoateng.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The platform also&nbsp;offers&nbsp;work experiences where&nbsp;they&nbsp;take nurses from Ghana to hospitals and help them develop.&nbsp;Recently, Amoateng also developed the&nbsp;“Guba diaspora card”&nbsp;which is a discount card, a first of its kind in Ghana.&nbsp;&nbsp;



At the time of&nbsp;her&nbsp;MBE, Amoateng&nbsp;had been organizing the GUBA Awards for only five years.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I got a letter saying I am being&nbsp;honored&nbsp;for my contribution in bridging the gap between the UK and Africa. I had also been able to get a lot of businesses from the UK to&nbsp;Ghana and vice versa and I never expected that. I always thought of MBE for people who were older and to achieve that in my 30s was a bit of a shock&nbsp;and it inspired me to do more and not give up.”&nbsp;

Author: Peace Hyde

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA