Global Voices » Kofi Yeboah

Ghana's First Ever Social Media Award Winners

Kofi Yeboah — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 05:06:24 +0000

The results are in for Ghana's first ever social media awards.

Thirteen people and organizations were awarded on March 23, 2013 for their outstanding use of social media to create content and promote their work during ceremony in Ghana, which was attended by US Ambassador to Ghana Gene A. Cretz. The contest was hosted by Blogging Ghana, a group of bloggers and social media users writing out of Ghana or about the Ghanaian experience.

Blogging Ghana's website displays the following as the winners of the various categories listed:

Best Business and Commerce Blog - eStock Analysis.

Best Technology Blog - Techy-Africa.

Best Organisational Blog - AccraDotAlt.

Best Showbiz and Entertainment Blog - AmeyawDebrah.com

Best Activist Blog - Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women

Best Citizen Journalism Blog - Circumspect

Best Lifestyle Blog - Ganyobinaa.com

Best Creative, Literary, Short Stories, Poetry Blog - Ganyobinaa.com

Best Photo Blog - A window to Ghana and Africa – Nana Kofi Acquah

Award for Personality with the Best Social Media Presence - @mutomboDaPoet

Best Original Content goes - Kodjo Deynoo Poetry

Best Blog - Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women

Honorary Award for Exemplary Social Media Activism - Ghana Decides

According to Blogging Ghana website, nominations for the award were received from 314 people, totaling 1,128 nominations spread over 13 categories. That averages about 87 nominations per category.

Bloggers Duke it Out for Ghana's First Ever Social Media Awards

Kofi Yeboah — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:04:38 +0000

For the first time in the country's online history, the best and brightest of Ghana's blogosphere will be awarded for their social media savvy.

BloggingGhana, a group of bloggers and social media users writing out of Ghana or the Ghanaian experience, will recognize the best bloggers and social media mavens in categories ranging from technology to citizen journalism to photography in the country's first ever social media awards on March 23, 2013.

The competition is fierce. The blogging group received nominations for the awards from 314 people, totaling 1,128 nominations spread over 13 categories, according to their website. That averages about 87 nominations per category.

Logo of the organising committee. Image source: blogcampghana.com

Categories for the awards include:

Best Technology Blog

Best Business & Commerce Blog

Best Citizen Journalism Blog

Best Creative, Literary Short Stories, Poetry Blog

Best Showbiz and Entertainment Blog

Best Lifestyle Blog

Best Activist Blog

Best Photo Blog

Best Organisational Blog

Best Blog

Other Social Media Categories

Personality with Best Social Media Presence

Organisation with Best Social Media Presence

Best Original Content

The Social Media Awards officially kicked off on January 8, 2013, launched under the theme “Content is King”. BloggingGhana co-founder Kajsa Hallberg Adu (@kajsaha) tweeted:

@kajsaha: With this tweet, I mandate the #Blogcamp13 team to go find the Best Blogger in 2012! blogcampghana.com May the best win! #233moments

BloggingGhana reported that they began to receive nominations only a few hours after the awards’ official launch. The nomination period closed February 1, 2013.

Born from a small meet-up of bloggers in 2008, BloggingGhana seeks to educate the general public in Ghana on social media and promote citizen journalism. Writing about that first meeting, BloggingGhana states on its website:

We wrote:

“we would like to bring the Ghanaian blog community together in real life! There is so much to say…about our green homeland, if Blogger is better than WordPress, if labels are useful, how best to boost and count traffic, what Internet cafées [sic] are fast and of course how blogging changes your life…”

Continuing the tradition of bringing bloggers together offline, the organization hosted a day of workshops in Ghana on May 5, 2012, dubbed BlogCamp. Blogger and science teacher Gameli Adzaho wrote about the event in a post titled “Unforgetable memories of #BlogCamp 2012″:

There are some memories that are easily swept off by the tidal waves of time and events. There are others that are etched deep in our consciousness, replaying like sweet music in our minds as the days roll by. BlogCamp 2012, organised by BloggingGhana, Ghana’s biggest social media community, falls into the latter category. Held at Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT on 5 May 2012, and sponsored by Vodafone Ghana, Google Ghana, US Embassy Accra, etc., Ghana’s first BlogCamp truly lived up to its theme of creating the “Voice of a New Generation”

To cast your vote for best of Ghana's blogs, visit here.

Navigating Entrepreneurship in Ghana

Kofi Yeboah — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:00:21 +0000

Ghana, a sub-Saharan country, has many budding young entrepreneurs. Some have even been recognised and awarded by international organisations, including Bright Simons, Regina Agyare and Elikem Kuenyehia.

But there are also many young Ghanians who are not getting things right in their field. Many of them have faced hurdles they could not cross and end up failing.

For them, Elikem Kuenyehia story might be useful. Kuenyehia is an entrepreneur, lawyer, author and an adjunct lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

In 2006, he founded Oxford & Beaumont, a leading corporate and commercial law firm in Ghana with offices in Accra and London, and has since advised clients Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, Shell International, Vodafone and Citibank.

Kuenyehia is no stranger to awards, he won the 2012 title of Young Business Leader of the Year at the West African All Africa Business Leaders Awards.

He was interviewed by How We Made It in Africa where he shared some of the challenges he faced on his road to success:

For many high profile transactions, because of the sheer value of the transaction and the corresponding financial and other risks, clients tend to feel most comfortable with older law firms with a longer track record. Although I had over seven years post-qualification experience when I started Oxford & Beaumont, many potential clients focused on the fact that the law firm itself had no track record. This was particularly pronounced with potential local Ghanaian clients.

I therefore had to price myself very competitively to get work through the door and then to provide a service that I was confident they would not otherwise find in the Ghanaian market. That makes a difference. The initial clients who took a risk on me quickly become (and often still are) our biggest advocates.

Kuenyehia had this advise to give to aspiring, young entrepreneurs in Africa:

I’d encourage aspiring young entrepreneurs to invest in their own personal development. Africa is changing rapidly and will continue to do so. None of us can predict with real certainty what the various markets and opportunities will look in five, ten, fifteen, twenty (etc) years. But we can prepare for these opportunities if we invest in our own personal development.

Some Ghanaian entrepreneurs also shared their views on Twitter about elements they lack as African entrepreneurs, others blamed the government.

@freduagymenag: Innovation. Appropriate technology.

@ragyare: Ability to pitch and sell your idea, negotiation and networking.

@ragyare: Business acumen to keep the idea running effectively.

@sandistertei : One problem is getting over yourself to maintain high standard.

@novisid: African or European, entrepreneurship to me is a farce.

@ragyare: Simply put early stage funding to help get your idea off the ground

During the interview, Elikem Kuenyehia discussed formal entrepreneurship in Ghana:

My research tells me that there are two main challenges facing formal entrepreneurship in Ghana. The first is human resources – many of the entrepreneurs I spoke to complained bitterly that they could not find the right human resources for their business and when they did, they do not stay. The other is financial capital. Without a developed venture capital or private equity market in Ghana, it can be difficult to source capital for your enterprise, no matter how bright the idea. Banks are completely unhelpful when it comes to supporting growing businesses. The HR challenge could be overcome if business owners spend a bit more time identifying and recruiting the right calibre of staff for their enterprise and by focusing both on competency and values. I found out that too many enterprises do not pursue a rigorous recruitment process. Regarding finance, government and development partners can encourage banks to lend to entrepreneurs through match funding. Our government has set up a government funded and backed venture capital trust fund, akin to a kind of fund which invests debt and equity into venture capital companies. This is a good idea but seriously underfunded. So our government would do well to increase the funding of this vehicle.

Opposition NPP Takes Ghana Presidential Election Results to Court

Kofi Yeboah — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 01:07:37 +0000

The New Patriotic Party (NPP), the strongest opposition party in Ghana has challenged the recent Presidential election results, claiming electoral fraud. Refusing to accept the results declared by the electoral commission, the NPP has decided to take the matter to the courts.

According to Ghana Decides:

The largest opposition party in Ghana, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has challenged the results of the 2012 Presidential election, accusing the Electoral Commission of Ghana of colluding with the incumbent, National Democratic Congress (NDC) to steal votes.

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, has denied the allegations saying the the NPP can challenge the results in Ghana’s courts according to the electoral laws of the country.

The Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, declared President Mahama winner by 50.70% of the votes, beating his main challenger Nana Akufo-Addo of the NPP who polled 47.7% of the votes.

NPP's projected the results online. Photo source: Nana Ado (NPP's presidential candidate) Facebook page.

NPP's projection on their Facebook page showed that they have won the elections according to the results they received from their polling agents. Ghana Decides reports:

The NPP maintains that results on the “blue sheet”, which they received at polling stations and collation centres across the country, where slightly change to favour Candidate Mahama of the NDC.

Party gurus of the NPP have been holding a crunch meeting over the matter whether to consider a court action.

Ghana Decides reports:

Following this, the NPP has resolved to take the issue to court and has vowed to use all available legal means to seek justice. Meanwhile, numerous supporters of the NPP have poured onto the streets of Circle, ostensibly to listen to party leaders who are assembling near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle to address the teeming crowd.

Many observer and monitoring missions, including the African Union and CODEO have endorsed the results of the Electoral Commission and have called for calm.

These are some of the views of Ghanaians on Twitter:

@nosivid: Nana Addo goes round repeating bogus allegations of electoral fraud with the claim of having evidence and calls it EXPLANATION #GhanaDecides

@kwasireports: “I'll go2 court”-Nana Akuffo-Addo reaffirms as NPP preps evidence 2 back claims of electoral fraud by rulin NDC #GhanaDecides #amaniee

‏@nfaoforiatta: It is clear they know they lost. May Ghanaians stand by the truth when it is revealed. Tis our destiny to protect. #GhanaDecides

@Kwabena: Ah well, I thought they wouldn't file. Let the Supreme Court decide now. #GhanaDecides

@sam_btw: Ghana's opposition NPP discovered >10% irregular votes in presidential election 2012. Fraud? Now it's up to the supreme court. #GhanaDecides

Lawyers representing NPP formally filed a petition at the Supreme Court on 28 December, 2012. The NPP only has 21 days to protest against the election results by law or else the incumbent will still be sworn in on 7 January, 2013.

Ghana: Meet Agnes Chigabatia – Ghanaian Female Politician

Kofi Yeboah — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:52:35 +0000

There have been considerable efforts by women to have chance in Ghanaian politics. Ghana Decides, a non-partisan project which aims to foster a better-informed electorate for free, fair and safe 2012 elections using social media tools took a personality profile look on parliamentary candidate Agnes Chigabatia.

She is a former member of parliament for the Builsa North Constituency in the Fourth Parliament of the Fourth Republic from 7 January 2005 to 7 January 2009. She was also a deputy Minister of the Upper East region from 2005 to January 2009.

Ghana Decides is an initiative under Blogging Ghana, a Ghanaian blogging community.

Ghanaian politician Agness Chigabatia. Photo courtesy of ghanadecides.com

In the post by Ghana Decides she shares her story on why she took the step to participate in politics:

She says growing up in northern Ghana; she felt the plight of the people, especially the youth and rural women who needed a little push to make a difference in their homes and communities. With the resources at her disposal, she joined the Builsa Ladies Association in Accra and through hardwork, she was elected President of the association in 1995. In 2002, she established a division of the Builsa Ladies Association in Bolgatanga in the Upper East region. She also helped create the Top Ladies Association to bring together women from the Kasena/Nankana areas of northern Ghana.

She indicates in the post that:

In 1997 after floods destroyed a lot of homes in Builsa she organised a dinner party to help raise funds for the flood victims. She says the success of this project encouraged her to get into active party politics to help the people of the Upper West Region. In 2000, she joined the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and in 2004 she contested the Builsa North Constituency parliamentary seat and won. In 2005, she was appointed into the Gender and Children Committee in parliament and made deputy Minister of the Upper East region.

As a member of parliament and the Gender Committee, Agnes Chigabatia played an active role in getting the Domestic Violence Bill passed into law. She secured soft loans from the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs for women in her constituency to engage in trading activities to support their households.

She describes agriculture projects meant to empower women in her constituency:

After losing her seat in 2009, she has not stopped serving the people in her constituency. She is presently undertaking a project that is putting women in groups to engage in large scale farming in groundnuts, sorghum, millets, cowpea, rice, etc., as well as soap-making and other income generating skills.

Agnes Asangalisa Chigabatia is once again contesting the Builsa North parliamentary seat on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party. She strongly advocates a sheanut sector which is separate from the cocoa industry. With an ever growing cosmetics industry in Ghana, and the world, she believes that the creation of a separate sheanut sector, which is not overshadowed by cocoa, will generate a lot of income for the country and farmers.

She says her first project, when sworn into office, will be to use part of the MP’s Common Fund to expand the children’s ward of the district hospital in her constituency, which she says is too small to accommodate the growing population. According to her, if the mothers in every household in her constituency is empowered, the entire household benefits and the ripple effects is seen in the society as a whole.