Konnected Minds Podcast

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

Guest: Dennis Tawiah (Aqualva UK Founder

Host: Derrick Abaitey

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

Host: Derrick Abaitey

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

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

Guest: Charity Boateng (Femlas Founder)

Host: Derrick Abaitey

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

Guest: Charity Boateng (Femlas Founder)

Host: Derrick Abaitey