Konnected Minds Podcast with Derrick Abaitey

In this episode of Konnected Minds, I sit down with Funke Bucknor Obruthe, the founder of Zapphaire Events, Africa's biggest events company, to unpack the real conversation about marriage, support systems, and what it actually takes to balance building a thriving business with raising a family in an environment that still expects women to do it all.

We dive deep into the question every ambitious woman wrestles with: how do you juggle a 24 year business empire with family responsibilities, and can you really have both without sacrificing one? Funke breaks down the concept of work life integrated balance, why you must put your work in your life and your life in your work so everything is intertwined, and why delegating washing, cooking, errands, and everything that takes time is how you create space for what actually matters. She explains why quality time with your family cannot be delegated, how she literally schedules spend time with the girls and spend time with my husband in her diary because if you don't schedule it you won't do it, and why recognizing the season of your life and understanding what works for you is more important than copying someone else's journey.

We also get into the hard truth about marriage and why the man you marry determines how far you can go as a woman in this part of the world. Funke opens up about why society is patriarchal and favors men more than women, why women are expected to do school runs, take care of the home, and still work while men just come home and put their feet up, and why men must support women more by cutting them some slack, promoting based on competence, and closing the pay gap that exists in sports, corporate, and everywhere else. She challenges men to stop being selfish, to be in the kitchen with their wives even if they're not cooking, and to understand that when the woman rises it's good for the man and when the man rises it's good for the woman because you're working as one unit.

Funke also breaks down the difference between happiness and joy, why happiness is temporary and comes from external things like good news or deals going well, and why joy is a continuous state of mind that only God and the Holy Spirit can sustain even when you stumble or things go wrong. She walks me through how she's integrated her family into every stage of her business, why each season of life requires a different approach whether your children are in nursery, teenagers, or young adults, and why you must define what is important to you and what you cannot compromise on before you can create a system that works.

If you're a woman building a business, navigating marriage, or trying to figure out how to do both without losing yourself, this conversation will show you exactly how to create balance, demand support, and refuse to let society's expectations limit how far you can go.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🎙️ ABOUT THE HOST
Derrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey

In this episode of Konnected Minds, I sit down with Funke Bucknor Obruthe, the founder of Zapphaire Events, Africa's biggest events company, to unpack the real truth about what drives business success, how to build a reputation that speaks for itself, and why personality alone will never sustain a business for over 24 years.

We dive deep into the question everyone asks: is it the energy, the personality, the connections, or the actual work that builds a lasting business? Funke breaks down why her joyful, energetic personality seeps into the business but is not what propels it, why customer service and excellent work are the real reasons clients keep coming back for over 24 years, and how she's built a team so strong that clients now say don't bother coming, your team is excellent enough. She opens up about why not everyone on her team has her energy, how she recognizes different strengths and pushes people according to their capacity, and why the business must outlive her, which is why she's intentionally stepped back to let her team shine.

Funke walks me through the entire event planning process in two minutes, breaking down the three core stages: consultation where you distill the brief and understand the client's expectations, planning where you work on checklists, timelines, budgets, vendor coordination, and creative direction, and execution where everything you've envisioned for months or years must come alive on the day through production timelines, event flow managers, food flow managers, and guest accreditation systems. She explains why every client is different, why budgets are personal and unique, and how asking the right questions about what clients want to spend on, what they don't care about, and what their vision looks like is the foundation of creating accurate proposals and bringing dreams to life.

We also get into the origin story of Zapphaire Events, how Funke discovered her calling while helping friends plan weddings for free during law school, why she thought law would be easy because she loved talking but quickly realized it wasn't for her, and the exact moment she watched The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez and everything clicked. She shares how she helped friends sell clothes, organize events, collect money for uniforms, and coordinate weddings without even knowing she was building the foundation for what would become Africa's biggest events company, and why sometimes your purpose finds you when you're just doing what comes naturally.

If you're building a service business, trying to turn a side hustle into a career, or wondering whether personality, connections, or excellent work matter most, this conversation will show you exactly how to build a reputation that lasts, a team that delivers without you in the room, and a business that outlives you.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🎙️ ABOUT THE HOST
Derrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey

In this episode of Konnected Minds, I sit down with Funke Bucknor Obruthe, the founder of Zapphaire Events, Africa's biggest events company, to break down the entire journey from law school graduate to building a 24 year empire that has set the standard for excellence across the continent.
We dive deep into how Funke discovered her calling while helping friends plan weddings for free during law school, why watching The Wedding Planner made everything click, and the exact moment her cousin challenged her to start charging for what she was doing naturally. She walks me through the three core stages of event planning: consultation where you distill the brief and create the vision, planning where you work on checklists, timelines, budgets, and vendor coordination, and execution where everything you've envisioned for months or years must come alive on the day through production timelines, event flow managers, and guest accreditation systems.
Funke opens up about why she thought law would be easy because she loved talking, how she forced herself through university and law school doing internships hoping she'd love it but never did, and why she chose to walk away from a legal career to pursue events full time after her national youth service. She explains why going to business school was non negotiable even though she was already doing the work, how structure, processes, SOPs, job descriptions, hiring, firing, operations, and value chain management cannot be learned by trial and error alone, and why she's continued her education at Faith Foundation, LBS, EDC, and Stanford Seed because business school teaches you frameworks while the business teaches you execution.
We also get into the reality of building budgets that are personal and unique to every client, why you can't use one size fits all even though experience helps you estimate costs quickly, and how asking the right questions about what clients want to spend on, what they don't care about, and what their vision looks like is the foundation of creating accurate proposals. Funke breaks down why her life is busy but busy good, not busy wasting, how she protects her mental and physical health by doing what makes her joyful like watching series, reading magazines, eating out with friends, and surrounding herself with positivity, and the powerful distinction between happiness which comes from external things and joy which is a continuous state of mind that only God and the Holy Spirit can sustain.
If you're building a service business, trying to turn a side hustle into a career, or wondering whether formal business education matters when you're already doing the work, this conversation will show you exactly how to structure your journey, protect your peace, and build something that lasts beyond the hustle.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🎙️ ABOUT THE HOST
Derrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey

In this episode of Konnected Minds, I sit down with Funke Bucknor Obruthe, the founder of Zapphaire Events, Africa's biggest events company, to unpack the real conversation about marriage, support systems, and what it actually takes to build lasting wealth in an environment that's working against you.

We dive deep into the marriage conversation most people avoid, why having a supportive spouse is critical to business success, and the exact conversation Funke had with her husband before they got married that set the foundation for everything. She opens up about the early struggles of working till 2 AM and 3 AM on the road, how her husband's security concerns were valid but needed understanding, and why communication and asking why instead of jumping to conclusions is what keeps marriages and businesses alive. Funke also breaks down why she believes her success is not just her own but a result of a supportive husband, children, help, PAs, EAs, and staff, and why nobody builds anything alone.

We also get into the hard truth about poverty, wealth, and success in Africa. Funke challenges the idea that there's one formula for building wealth, explaining why some people are not in the right environment, don't have the right support, or don't have the right financial foundation, and why the government must create an enabling environment before people can even think about building wealth. She talks about time and chance, why some of her classmates from primary school, secondary school, and university are doing well while others are not, and why it doesn't mean the ones struggling are not working hard. She also shares the powerful story of a young girl who lost both parents and how Funke took care of her education till university, proving that lifting others is not optional if you've been given an opportunity.

Funke gets real about selfishness, why people with 10 cars and 40 houses need to ask themselves what they're doing with it when others don't have a place to lay their head, and why the Bible says the poor will never leave the land but that doesn't mean we shouldn't help. She breaks down the difference between wealth of money, wealth of people, wealth of knowledge, and wealth of health, and why greatness and success mean different things to different people. She also reminds us that life is in seasons, that you will experience seasons of lack, abundance, sadness, joy, business doing well, and business struggling, and that every season is a learning opportunity.

If you're building a business, navigating marriage, or trying to make sense of success in Africa, this conversation will challenge your mindset, remind you that you cannot do life alone, and show you why lifting others is the only way forward.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🎙️ ABOUT THE HOST
Derrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey

"We cannot memorise our way out of poverty."
In this deeply moving and intensely polarizing episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with Ghana’s former Minister for Education, Member of Parliament, and international education expert, Dr. Osei Adutwum. For the first time, he pulls back the curtain on the brutal, hidden realities of Ghana’s structural failures - from the heartbreaking loss of his own sister to the chaotic reality of an education system that he claims is actively trapping our youth.
He exposes why 50% of high schools in Ghana have a devastating 10% transition rate, why our most gifted children are the most miserable in the classroom, and the uncomfortable truth behind the elite double standard: why leaders champion local languages for the masses while sending their own children to international schools.
This isn't just a political conversation; it is a raw, structural autopsy of a nation's soul. If you’ve ever wondered why a country with so much talent remains stuck in abject poverty, this blueprint will challenge everything you think you know about leadership, survival, and the future of Ghana.
📍 KONNECTED MINDS LIVE - KUMASI
On the 9th of September, 1,600 entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs are coming together under one roof at the KNUST Great Hall, Kumasi.
Ticket Link: https://www.konnectedmindslive.com/

Guest: Hon. Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum is a prominent Ghanaian politician, educationist, and the Member of Parliament for the Bosomtwe Constituency in the Ashanti Region. A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he served as Ghana's Minister for Education from 2021 until early 2025
IG: https://www.instagram.com/yoadutwum/
Web: https://yawoseiadutwum.com/about-me/
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🎙️ ABOUT THE HOST
Derrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey/?hl=en