Konnected Minds Podcast

From understanding why family members should never run your business unless they're your wife or daughters to learning the brutal truth that when you're not around your brother or cousin will undermine you saying oh because I'm the brother do this meanwhile it's not something you recommend and workers will be afraid to challenge them because he's the uncle of the CEO pulling your company down which is exactly why the owner of Wadiqa in Japan said if you live in this part of the world and you want your business to thrive don't work with family, the catfish...

From understanding that danger and opportunity are the same word in Japanese to learning why the brutal truth about entrepreneurship in Ghana is that you can have all the knowledge about risk management from working in top corporate jobs in Japan and South Africa managing billions in assets but nobody will listen to you when you say this is how you should consider risk because you need to let your life shine and people will see what is actually happening to you proving that actions speak louder than credentials, the former head of research and senior portfolio manager at...

She turned down $3 MILLION. She's raised $1.5M+ for African entrepreneurs. And she has some brutal truths about why YOU haven't been funded yet.

In this episode of Konnected Minds, Derrick Abaitey sits down with business consultant and Fundvestor founder Diane Akuffo - the woman behind one of the highest investor success rates in Ghana (80%).

She breaks down EXACTLY how to:

✅ Build a pitch deck investors actually take seriously

✅ Make your business "investor-ready" (most Ghanaian businesses are NOT)

✅ Choose between equity, SAFE notes, and convertible loans

✅ Avoid the 60/40 trap tha...

From understanding why operating profit margin multiplied by asset turnover determines your return on assets to learning the brutal truth that in aquaculture you can start small with 20,000 cedis drying fish the traditional way but as you make money from the local market you upgrade your equipment step by step until you're exporting to Europe where they test for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that stick on fish skin when you smoke with firewood and might cause cancer which is why investing in modern drying machines matters even though it costs more upfront, the catfish farmer who explains that retailers have...

From building a 100 kilowatt solar powered fish farm with greenhouses to understanding why most Ghanaian companies die with their founders, and why the brutal truth about entrepreneurship is that creating generational wealth means moving away from the one man show mentality where if you're not here the business cannot survive because knowledge and wisdom doesn't reside in only one person and you need to put structures in place that allow the company to thrive even when you're gone which is exactly what happened to great companies in Ghana set up by people from Makropom and other places where when...

From understanding that you cannot just wake up and become the MP for Kasoa or expect that buying Tom Tom for somebody will make you successful to learning the brutal truth that building wealth requires going through a process and buying shares then forgetting about them for one year to be amazed by the returns, and why the harsh reality about money is that if you're not disciplined you cannot grow money and you cannot keep money which is exactly why young people need to cut down expenses like the NSS personnel who sees their boss buying 100 cedis jollof...

From understanding that savings alone is not enough to learning how to buy shares that can turn 10,000 cedis into 100,000 cedis in one year, and why the brutal truth about building wealth is that young people don't know the difference between shares and treasury bills when treasury bills are regulated by the government giving you fixed returns like water in a cup that's always there when you drink but shares are buying a part of a company like MTN or Gold or Ben's oil palm plantation where if the company does well your shares do well but you cannot determine...

From interviewing coconut sellers making 300 to 500 cedis profit daily to teaching young people the brutal truth that if you do not want to be poor you have to understand that most of us are stuck on physiological needs of food shelter and clothing thinking that once we have money for these basics we are done when actually a coconut seller multiplying 300 cedis by five days by one month is making more than someone doing a white collar job in an office space proving there are no businesses better than another business but our minds are set to think certain...

From breaking down the psychology of money and savings to teaching young people how to escape the betting trap and start real businesses with just 496 cedis, and why the brutal truth about why most people stay poor is because they only focus on the physiological needs of food shelter and clothing asking why do I need more money won't I die and let my next of kin come and enjoy when actually the money you're using for betting could buy a sachet of pure water that you sell and make profit and thrive because there are no two ways...

He started as a BlackBerry campus ambassador. No salary. No guarantee. Just a free phone and a chance to serve.

Fifteen years later, they made him CEO of Red Africa.

Ayodeji Razaq is one of Africa's most quietly powerful business minds - co-founder of The People Company, CEO of Red Africa, and a man who has spent his entire career doing something most people refuse to do: letting himself be used.

In this episode, Ayodeji breaks down the uncomfortable truths about entrepreneurship, employment, money, leadership, and what it actually takes to build something...

From selling phone cases without owning a phone to building multiple income streams while still in school, and why the brutal truth about making money is that you need to be trusted because coming by money is a very difficult thing to do and if somebody has set up a business and you want to start yours by feeding from theirs you need to build that kind of trust for somebody to willingly give you something to go and sell and bring the capital back which is exactly how the journey started taking stock from someone's shop selling it...

From importing surgical masks during COVID to building multiple businesses across continents, and why the brutal truth about getting unstuck is that you can't just sit there like a pigeon waiting for someone to put you on because there's something you can put yourself on when you first stand up trust your guts and go out and surround yourself with sharks who are successful people with problems that need solving and every person on earth has a problem even God has issues trying to make children on earth not sin which is why preachers arise providing solutions to God's...

From losing everything in three months to understanding why Ghana's rice business is controlled by cartels, and why the brutal truth about entrepreneurship is that when you lose over a million dollars because you trusted the wrong people and tried to help Ghanaians by giving them rice on credit thinking anyone could be a rice seller and make money, you realize you were just being robbed by sharks who knew exactly how to solve your problem of needing people to sell your rice but ended up biting you instead leaving you with no revenue no recovery rice gone company...

From losing over a million dollars in a rice business gone wrong to understanding the brutal reality of predatory pricing and foreign dominance in Ghana's food import sector, and why the harsh truth about entering the rice business is that you can't just walk in with a hundred thousand dollars thinking it's easy money because the moment you show up with your shipment the established players who own 12 brands each will scrub their prices down to cost price and even below just to frustrate you out of the market selling rice at 200 cedis when it's impossible unless they didn't...

From watching poor families struggle while having an awakening at 12 years old that no one is coming to save you to building six businesses before turning 30, and why the brutal truth about entrepreneurship is that if a thought makes you nervous it's worth pursuing because people who fear money don't get it and the things that scare you the most are exactly where your success is hiding waiting for you to be brave enough to reach for it, the young man who spent time with his grandmother selling beads in Fishy past learning that her generation would work regardless...

From watching wealthy neighbors from a poor home where his father farmed and his mother sold grounded pepper and cassava in the markets to building a rice empire and multiple businesses before turning 30, and why the brutal truth about money is that most people fear it because they were taught to fear it growing up watching Nigerian movies where every rich person was portrayed as an occultist or ritualist making their parents restrict them from dreaming big but when you grow up as the poor child in the only proprietary school in your village walking to school while other...

He built Ghana's most influential blog before the word "blogger" even existed. 20 years. No marketing team. No strategy. Just luck — and knowing when to say yes.

But here's what nobody talks about: what happens when the content stops paying?

In this episode of Konnected Minds, Derrick sits down with Ameyaw Debrah — Ghana's pioneer blogger, media entrepreneur, and founder of ameyawdebrah.com — for one of the most honest conversations about creative entrepreneurship you will hear this year.

Ameyaw has spent 20 years at the centre of Ghana's entertainment and media industry. He launched Pulse Ghana, led YE...

From teaching English in Vietnam to importing rice worth over a million dollars in Ghana, and why the brutal truth about building trust is that you need to be brought up right where your yes is your yes and your no is your no but you also need to remember that your surroundings matter because you need to surround yourself with winners and listen to their problems and provide solutions to their problems so you can gain their trust, the young man who learned from his own personal experiences that every time you meet a new person you try...

From making hair oil for free on YouTube to building a thriving business with a standard black card and private banking, and why the brutal truth about self confidence is that loving yourself and believing in yourself makes people take certain risks that everybody selling includes you and includes people buying from you, the young woman who went through content creation stopping for six months when she wasn't getting gigs before coming back and continuing proving that giving up is not something you should consider easy because somebody is watching and somebody can relate with your content, the business...

From knowing she would be rich without knowing how to becoming one of Ghana's most recognized influencers who treats life like a movie where she's the main character, and why the brutal truth about growing up with a Muslim mother who let you walk around without covering your head and never forced you to become a lawyer is that when you come from a home where conversations are balanced and there's no shame in saying I don't want rice today or I don't think this way, you grow up so confident in yourself that even when brands are bullying...

From stumbling into influencing in 2019 without even knowing what content creation was to building two businesses on the back of social media attention, and why the brutal truth about being an influencer is that you can't be popular forever because your time will pass and younger people will be more vibrant and more in tune with the culture than you are which is why you have to find something that works for you when you're sleeping and when people don't see your face, the young woman who got paid 800 cedis in 2019 to post bags for a brand thinking it...

From getting slapped by a teacher in class one and walking home alone because the school bus left to becoming one of Ghana's most recognized influencers building two businesses on the internet, and why the brutal truth about growing up protected is that when your sister is ready to slap someone for letting a child walk home alone after being punished for not having a book and your mother gives birth to you at 37 making you the patient baby with siblings in their 40s who became like three mothers watching over you, that protection keeps you from going out...

From posting underwear on day two after wanting to end her life to selling out 10 bottles of hair oil in 30 minutes on day three, and why the brutal truth about building a business from rock bottom is that sometimes your darkest moment becomes the exact turning point where you realize you have to create something for yourself because when a scandal video drops and you're ready to give up but someone reaches out wearing a hoodie to sit with you while you cry and tells you what's there to care about, that shift in perspective can change everything, the...

He started with GH₵1,000, lost two houses, a container of cars, and millions - and still built one of Ghana's most recognised real estate brands.

In this episode of Konnected Minds, I sit down with Ebenezer Saka Addo-Mensah - CEO and founder of Saka Homes and owner of five other businesses - or one of the most unfiltered conversations we've ever had on this podcast.

No fluff. No rehearsed answers. Just the raw truth about what it actually takes to build wealth in Ghana from nothing.

🎟️ Konnected MInds Live Kumasi, Sept 9th. https://www.kon...

From accidentally building an influencer brand on Snapchat to creating a hair care business that started with just 50 cedis and bottles, and why the brutal truth about being an influencer is that you can't be popular forever because your time will pass and younger people will be more vibrant and more in tune with the culture than you are which is why you have to find something that works for you when you're sleeping and when people don't see your face, the young woman who didn't even know what content creation was in 2019 when she had followers and got...

From making over 20,000 cedis in the first 24 hours on Snapchat to losing an Amazon account because demand was too high to fulfill, and why the brutal truth about explosive business growth is that it can destroy you faster than slow growth ever could because when 100 orders flood in on day one and your supplier quits after 24 hours saying it's too stressful and you're scrambling to find packaging bottles and labeling and responding to customers who trusted you with their money while overselling products you don't have in stock because you didn't have a website to track inventory, the young...

From building Ghana Party in the Park for 20 years without corporate support to losing deals worth millions when artists failed to show up, and why the brutal truth about building a legacy in UK entertainment is that you compete against your own people wasting money you don't have when you could have worked smarter together, the man who ran events that became institutions but never got the corporate backing that Ghanaian promoters in Ghana receive from telcos and banks because the Ghanaian community in the UK is a very small percentage, the 100 percent openness to partnership that brought smiles...

From being dismissed at radio stations and turned away from nightclubs to paving the way for African music on mainstream UK platforms and creating the Diaspora Ghana movement that now defines an entire generation's connection to the motherland, and why the brutal truth about building something revolutionary is that the people who come after you and benefit from your groundwork will often refuse to give you credit while calling you lazy when they weren't there getting rejected, getting told African music doesn't belong, getting sent away from venues that now welcome African artists with open arms because of the...

From being 19 years old with no job, no university plans, and no vision beyond renting out sound equipment to becoming a household name in UK entertainment, and why the brutal truth about youth and ambition is that sometimes you're just going with the flow making money as a DJ and loving the popularity without thinking about buying houses or saving for the future when you should have been putting money away instead of spending everything on more records and more equipment, the four young Ghanaian boys who pooled their sound equipment together and created what would become 90% Hair Squad...

From getting a license to play African music on mainstream UK radio in 1997 to creating the December in Ghana movement that transformed the diaspora's relationship with the motherland, and why the brutal truth about building cultural movements is that you don't just wake up and decide to change how an entire generation sees coming home because it takes years of getting rejected at 4am graveyard shifts on radio stations, years of proving African music belongs on mainstream platforms, years of convincing nightclubs to welcome the culture you're fighting to legitimize, years of chartering planes and teaming up with radio...

From 600 cedis & an MTN loan to running TWO bakeries - Samuel’s story will change how you think about opportunity.

Samuel Agyapong (Banana Bread GH) joins Derrick on Konnected Minds to break down why Ghana's youth are losing to social media, how he built an entire business off Instagram without traveling abroad, and the hard truth about hiring staff that most business owners ignore.

🍌 He started selling lunch in primary school. Got banned. Kept going. 💡 Turned diabetic customers into his biggest market - through education, not ads. 📲 Grew a TikTok page to 50K in 6 months by spotting...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

From making 800K on TikTok and not caring what anyone thinks to building an international feminine hygiene brand that ships across continents, and why the brutal truth about starting a business when you have nothing is that you don't need someone to sit you down and teach you because the same internet people use for gossip has everything you need to learn on YouTube and TikTok, the young woman who learned everything from YouTube and started with dropshipping before building her own brand that solves problems doctors recommend to their patients, the wisdom that if you're going to be...

From lying his way into an internship at Nigeria's biggest TV station to building Glitch Africa and the Honest Bunch podcast that millions watch across the continent, and why the brutal truth about escaping poverty and creating success in Africa is that audacity matters more than credentials because when you come from nothing you either take bold action or stay stuck in the loop of waiting for someone to hand you opportunities that will never come.

Guest: Best Amakhian

Company - Glitch Africa Studios

Host...

From selling over 800K on TikTok alone to building an international feminine hygiene brand that ships across continents, and why the brutal truth about starting a business with nothing is that you don't need perfection, you don't need a physical shop, you don't need everything figured out because the young woman who started selling on Snapchat with no business name and made over 20,000 cedis in the first 24 hours now runs a brand that doctors recommend to their patients, the childhood of being sent away at age two to live with family friends and aunties because her mother was too...

From leaving home at 14 and never going back to building a business that gave her the voice nobody let her have growing up, and why the brutal truth about why some entrepreneurs push harder than others is that when you grow up without attention, without anyone listening to your problems, without parents telling you they're proud of you or that you're beautiful, the hunger to be seen and heard becomes the fuel that drives you to build something that forces the world to pay attention, the young girl who went to secondary school and never returned home because she...