Konnected Minds Podcast

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...

From defying her mother's wishes to leave university and pursue government work to building a thriving feminine hygiene business that ships to the US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Nigeria, and why the brutal truth about starting a business when you have 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 with no business name and bathed with AC water during her toughest days now runs an international brand that doctors recommend to their patients, the painful reality of being the child nobody listened...

From defying her mother's wishes and moving to Accra alone with no clear plan to building a six-figure business in 24 hours using only Snapchat, and why the brutal truth about starting a business when you have nothing is that sometimes the desperation to not depend on anyone becomes the fuel that drives you to create something from absolutely nothing, the young woman who packed her bags and left Kumasi for Accra against everyone's advice except her father's because she knew her family didn't understand what she truly wanted and staying in Kumasi meant staying stuck, arriving in Accra with...

From the dangerous mindset that marriage is just about finding the right person to the revolutionary truth that the quality of the players in marriage determines whether you see relationship as competition or collaboration, and why the brutal truth about why marriages collapse is that people bring residual effects from their upbringing into marriage without understanding that though you may look polished, educated, and talented, the effect of the environment that raised you is still there and just a little trigger will show where you came from, the young person raised in an environment where you fight for everything...

From the dangerous mindset that marriage is 50-50 when it comes to household duties and financial contributions to the revolutionary truth that every marriage is different and whether you bring 50% or 100% to the table doesn't determine superiority or inferiority because marriage is teamwork where both people deserve respect, and why the brutal truth about the question "what do you bring to the table" among Gen Z and millennials is that it's almost always about money when marriage has been seriously misconstrued because where purpose is not known abuse is inevitable according to the late Dr. Myles Munroe, the realization...

From leaving the Tokyo Stock Market as the only black equity analyst to investing over 2 million USD into a fish farm in Ghana, and why the brutal truth about why young Africans miss farming opportunities is that we've been conditioned to see weeding as punishment and farming as something for people who cannot read and write when the reality is that Ghana spends 100 million dollars per annum importing tomatoes from Burkina Faso.

Chapters

From the dangerous mindset that the devil is the one destroying families to the revolutionary truth that until you tame the common enemy you and your spouse can never be on the same wavelength, and why the brutal truth about why millennials and Gen Z don't trust marriage is because the Bible has been corrupted, ministers and preachers have messed up, the older generation managed broken marriages, and some never saw any marriage at all leaving them with no examples to glean from and take into their life journey, the young people coming from broken homes who came from...

From the dangerous mindset that you need huge capital to start a business in Africa to the revolutionary truth that coconut sellers make between 300 to 500 cedis profit daily; proving that genuine wealth building starts with determination and a mindset shift not money.

Guest: Priscilla Atta Peters

Company: 30Seeds

Host: Derrick Abaitey

IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey

YT: https://www.youtube.com/@DerrickAbaitey

Join Konnected Academy: https://konnectedacademy.com/

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From the dangerous mindset that women initiate divorces because they get in there and discover comfort is not just about money to the revolutionary truth that they want time, attention, affection, and a number of things beyond financial provision, and why the brutal truth about why divorces skyrocket is that men don't understand that male and female are wired differently so even when the provision is needed and appreciated, if you do not want to become a victim you've got to come up with a shared vision of what kind of family do we want to be, what kind...

From the dangerous mindset of sizing people based on physique and six packs to the revolutionary truth that nobody will remember you for your work achievements more than family and the children that carry the legacy, and why the brutal truth about marriage longevity is that the older generation had a level of tolerance the younger generation doesn't have because younger people are not ready to put in so much and leave when they're not happy when happiness is not a gift that comes in a breath of gold but something you work out with a threshold of patience...

From the husband who wants to check out because his wife nags and doesn't reason with him to the revolutionary truth that every person has a melting point that determines who they ultimately become, and why the brutal truth about why marriages collapse is that we spend years learning careers like medicine and law but expect to master marriage in six months when the microwave mindset of competing with AI and technology will never work in relationship, the wisdom that nothing good comes easy and if we want to fix society we must be willing to pay the price...