Konnected Minds Podcast with Derrick Abaitey

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful businesses in Africa and those who spend their lives trapped in degrees they hate isn't how much money their parents have or which university they attended, but understanding that restlessness isn't rebellion but a signal that you're wired for entrepreneurship, that the young person who thinks they need perfect grades and a nine to five job to succeed has been programmed to ignore the brutal truth that the engineering student who sold his clothes at Yaba Railway to raise 10,000 naira bought a mini grill and created Jamwich selling sandwiches for 60 naira with room delivery for 20 naira discovered something universities will never teach you about channeling excess energy into making money instead of chasing positions 16th or 17th in a class of 20, and that the child who comes home two or three hours after curfew while their siblings never cross the line has stumbled onto something parents will never understand about the difference between discipline that breaks you and strong will that builds empires when you grow up watching your father work 20 hours a day as a marine engineer and entrepreneur? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with Chef Sheriff Sonny founder of Ili Neon restaurant with branches in Canada and Lagos who reveals why he was just always that restless kid the stubborn man of the house the guy that comes home two three hours after curfew, why if there are 20 kids in class he's probably going to be like 16th or 17th position, why disturbedness was somewhat like some kind of strong will that kind of converted to like positive side of life tunneling that excess energy into something, and why his parents especially his dad had an idea of what he wanted them to be like he wanted him to study engineering and really have like a very clear direct path. He breaks down why entrepreneurship is hard and for his dad as a business owner he probably didn't want them to go through like all that struggle building managing staff and systems and couple like the economy and what it means to run a business in Nigeria, why his dad just wanted like going to university study engineering come out with first class with good grades get a nine to five start a career and just take life from there, why as destiny will have it and as personality and everything will have it it was just never for him, and why the grades were not looking exciting but he knew like he was very smart like maybe not just not academically. But he also confronts the brutal reality of what restlessness really means. Why sometimes restlessness comes with just how you are and you're not aiming you're not looking for anything per se, why restless can push you to different spheres of life like you can be so restless that you get into a space where you now find opportunities, why it's just that sometimes you might be unfortunate to also go like to the other side, why he came from a home where his parents were so so super disciplined on them like they raised them well, and why his siblings know they will not cross that line but for him he was just a little bit extra. He reveals why just like every other child you see kids playing having their time being restless running up and down but you never can tell what exactly this child is yearning for looking for why this child is always, why maybe the resistance might have come from one of his parents maybe his dad maybe he was like that too when he was young, why he just channeled all of that into like the positive side of things like making like the paper plane or making like boots and stuff and trying to sell to like his friends as young as he was then, and why while everybody was focusing on trying to become an engineer doctor lawyer he was focused on trying to make money. But he also exposes what shaped his entrepreneurial mindset from childhood. Why it was greatly impacted by his dad who's such a strong man a still businessman who doesn't play, why he just grew up seeing him work like almost 20 hours a day, why they had good friends around them which was also like some of like the very solid impacts, why their parents also didn't want them to come out as children that other children or other parents know their kids to relate with, and why they were raised well and had very good people around them because their parents made sure that they had very good people around them. He breaks down why when he went to university he just wanted to start something, why he knew like one of his strongholds was just always around like food, why his mom as a full time housewife was literally like always in the kitchen always cooking for them and they always had like fresh meal at every point in time, why he just knew that one with the other like he's just going to do something around food, and why when he was in high school he was like the food prefects coordinating thousands of students for breakfast lunch and dinner..

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful businesses in Africa and those who spend their lives chasing degrees and job applications isn't how much education they have or which university they attended, but understanding that you can sell your own clothes to raise capital and start with 10,000 naira that equals $7 today, that the engineering student at University of Lagos who went from selling sandwiches for 60 naira with room delivery for 20 naira to running the first student owned restaurant on campus discovered something universities will never teach you about the brutal truth that your grades might suffer when you prioritize business but if you don't have passion for what you're studying the classroom will never give you the fulfillment that building something of your own will, and that the young person who thinks they need massive capital or perfect conditions to start has been programmed to see obstacles instead of opportunities when you can literally take a mini grill from your father's house create a concept called Jamwich and build a business that supports you without asking your parents for pocket money?
In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with someone who reveals why he remembers there was a time when he was going to university and needed to raise some cash to start his business so he took some of his clothes and stuff to Yaba Railway and sold them, why he packed a jacket and pants and some shirts and raised about 10,000 naira which if you take into dollars today is $7 and into cedis is 80 cedis, why this was like 2009 2010 about 17 years ago, and why he knew his dad had this toast machine like a mini grill very small electric grill for breakfast in the house and he went home and asked for it saying he just wanted to take it to school.
He breaks down why he was just thinking what can I start and he started to sell sandwiches in his hostel at University of Lagos Jajal B312, why he created a concept called Jamwich which was his own recipe because he wanted something different from what every other person could get in the hostel, why people usually just had bread and eggs and toast but he wanted something that would have tuna or sardine or jam or eggs something really flavorful and tasty and delicious, why he was selling 60 naira and room delivery for 20 naira, and why it was really exciting because he got to make money and it felt so good that he didn't even need to ask his parents for pocket money.
But he also confronts the brutal reality of balancing business and academics. Why he rather sold his sandwiches than go to class until his semester GP went to 1.9 something and this is engineering, why his course adviser called him and said if he didn't perform better and better his grades they might kick him out of the College of Engineering or even out of the school with what they call easy advice to withdraw, why he just needed to choose either slow down or stop the business and just focus on academics, and why he had to look for the most brilliant guys in his class and roll with them and go for extra classes and tutorials which helped build his grades even though he honestly knew he'd already found what he had passion for and it wasn't engineering it was food.
He reveals why when he had his grades stable he went for training at a catering school to learn the art of cooking and maybe just starting up a business, why he registered his first business Sunny Case in 2011 as an event catering outfit, why after his training he started to do small events here and there like birthday parties and small weddings catering to 50 people 20 people 30 people, why some students who wanted to have their ready parties in their hostel would hire him to provide small chops like finger foods mocktails chapman, and why he got a lot of support from students at the University of Lagos which is why till tomorrow they do scholarship programs every year to impact the lives of students there.
But he also exposes what happened to his friends who took the traditional path. Why a lot of his friends who finished university and went to look for jobs found it was tough, why some were fortunate to get jobs and some had to go back to do masters to upgrade their degrees so they could get better opportunities, why people that had businesses running like him and maybe just a few people already had their thing going and after school were just facing it head on, and why before he even graduated he already had his restaurant running which was the first student owned restaurant on campus that was hiring students.
He breaks down why skill development is as important as your academic pursuits, why if you want to go into IT you need to start learning things outside of the classroom like AI, why his friend learned how to build websites back in 2010 2011 using basic programming languages and if he had not gone out of the classroom to acquire these skills he would not have...

What if the biggest difference between people who break out of poverty in Africa and those who stay trapped in small rooms with six or seven people isn't how much money their parents have or which family they were born into, but understanding that you must want something different with personal conviction so strong that you're willing to sell your own clothes to raise capital, that the young person who thinks golden spoon children don't know what they have because life is hard has been programmed to see obstacles instead of opportunities when the internet and social media have created a level playing field where people go viral and get flown to the US UK and Netherlands based on talent alone, and that the engineering student at University of Lagos who sold his clothes at Yaba Railway to raise 10,000 naira bought a mini grill and created Jamwich selling sandwiches for 60 naira with room delivery for 20 naira discovered something universities will never teach you about the brutal truth that you need 101 times more motivation in Africa than your counterparts overseas but environment and company determine whether you tap inspiration from your community or get demoralized by drugs and crime? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with Derrick Abaitey who reveals why when you make a tough decision that this is what I want to do this is what I want to aspire to be this is what I want to achieve in life company is very important because the kind of inspiration you get in your community or your space that's what sustains you that's your gas, why when you're tired when you're depressed when you're less motivated if you don't have the company friends community that keeps reminding you that hey Derrick you need to keep moving this podcast has to be on a global stage if you don't have that support it would just be a personal conviction, why it might just die there because if you're not inspired by your immediate community your space the friends that you have and family if you don't have all inspiration and motivation from the community you might not really get that necessary gas to keep the motion, and why as humans as the continent is as Nigeria is there are reasons to get demotivated a lot of times because the struggle existing as a person in the country and in the continent generally it can be demoralizing sometimes. He breaks down why you need that community where either someone inspires you or you are inspiring someone and if that energy just keeps revolving it will just keep moving, why if you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go further go with people who are holding hands together and while one person is tired we're pushing and striving and moving for greater strides, why for young people there's a lot of distraction in today's world and it's very easy now to go into any type of crime that you want maybe now than ever, and why there's drugs and a lot of things that can keep you distracted and make you feel good at the state of life that you are. But he also confronts the brutal reality of what poverty looks like in Nigeria today. Why he met a young guy who said oga life is really hard and the people who are born into a family that have financial stability they don't know what they have in this Nigeria, why the young boy said the children who are born into an environment like this who have golden spoon they don't know what they have because we are struggling, why the place he stays there are six or seven people in the same room a very small room, and why for someone coming from that kind of environment is going to be extremely tough on such person or such people. He reveals why you must want something different and you must be willing to make a change and you must be willing to change the narrative and this starts from your personal conviction, why that kind of space is definitely not sustainable so he might need to go out there to find opportunities get skills acquire skills and leverage, why there are people from the ghetto who are still making arts learning how to weave and they do these things package it so good and now they even sell to arts galleries and some go for trade fairs, why some bring those items out and one very rich guy will see you find interest in you and invest in you and you're set for life, and why you must be willing to say you know what I don't want my kids I don't want to raise a family that will go through this. But he also exposes why environment is a major factor that people don't understand. Why if you stay in a community where you see people are very hardworking people are going you can see progress there's a chance that you also tend towards you become successful there's already like 80% chance, why you are literally seeing you are tapping inspiration and motivation from your immediate community, why but we're in a place where everything is demoralizing people are doing drugs and it's just unfortunate and sad that we're still...

What if the biggest difference between African startups that succeed and those that fail isn't how fast they can build with AI or how passionate the founder is about their idea, but understanding that the most likely outcome of every startup is failure, that the young developer who spends months building a fintech app in his room without talking to a single customer has been programmed to worship technical skills while missing the brutal truth that you cannot build for a market you have not engaged, and that the founder who thinks they can compete with the top five fintech companies in Nigeria without understanding what those companies are not offering has stumbled onto something universities and startup accelerators will never teach you about the mathematics of market research and competitive advantage? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with Glory Olami Ngoke who reveals why there are a lot of startups in Africa and there's somebody in his room right now trying to do something but the issue we have is that very few succeed, why the most likely outcome of every startup is failure, why even the most successful startups today globally like Google Microsoft and Apple failed at some point and were able to learn from failure to pivot into things they are doing now that are successful, and why a good number of these guys did not start out in the beginning doing what they're doing now so failure taught them lessons and they pivoted. He breaks down why the quality of the kind of product you're building is critical and as a founder you need to ask have you done enough research, why if you get the product wrong and you are building something that doesn't solve a clear problem you will fail, why if you're building something for which there is not sufficient market meaning enough potential customers you will fail because what keeps the startup light on is money and revenue, and why to make money you have to have enough customers out there not just enough customers but enough customers willing to pay you money for what you're offering. But he also confronts the brutal reality of competition and market research. Why there are many startups that have had the right product but did not do enough investigation on their competitor, why if you're building and launching a fintech product today in Nigeria you know that in that industry there are the top five guys big ones and these guys have owned the markets in terms of market share, why if you're trying to launch something to that same market without understanding what they are offering and using that to figure out what they are not offering that the market wants which will be your unique competitive advantage it means you'll be offering something that already exists and it means failure, and why you need to do research on what industry you're building in and research your potential market sufficiently and research your competitors sufficiently. He reveals why with the advent of AI there's somebody in his room right now trying to do something and he's built something that for him is going to change the world and you know how a lot of these tech guys are just indoors constantly always indoors focused on just making sure that they get the product right, why the same AI which is a tool that has made building technically of a product a lot faster and easier is also a very critical tool that aids in research, why once a person has a technical skill and now with AI you can build that Facebook app that took months to build years back in a week but that doesn't guarantee success, and why it's really a knowledge gap. But he also exposes the critical mistake of building without validation. Why a lot of people build out of passion and he's seen persons even himself build things that he wanted to use alone but if you're building for the public you can't build for the public without talking to the public, why in the startup world it's called making assumptions and research helps you validate those assumptions, why when you're building something for a problem you believe it exists but it's an assumption until you can talk to people to validate it is correct, and why you're assuming people have a problem and without talking to them to validate that the chances of failure are in there. He breaks down why they had a recent program where a few startups that originated from his tech talent platform Tech Nexus as well as Tech Revolution Africa which he co-founded were sent out on the streets to talk to users, why one of them an ed tech platform building something for kids wanted kids to be able to learn local African languages and they said for the category of kids you're building for the people you should talk to are the parents, why they told them go out there and find parents go to schools on ground and use online medium to find parents and talk to them, and why you cannot build for a market you have not engaged and you cannot build for a market...

What does it really take to survive as a music producer in an industry that doesn't exist? Can talent alone sustain you when there's no governing body, no royalty system, and no guarantee you'll see money for seven years?
On this episode of Konnected Minds Podcast, Derrick Abaitey sits down with Edward Nana Poku Osei, better known as Hammer of The Last Two, the legendary Ghanaian music producer behind some of the biggest names in Ghanaian hip hop and hiplife.
In this raw and unfiltered conversation, Hammer reveals:
• Why his banker father warned him that musicians in Ghana have no industry to protect them
• How he turned down Full Sail University in Florida because Obrafo's hit dropped
• Why musicians are not supposed to be businessmen but the absence of an industry forces them to be
• How producers survive on publishing royalties that can take seven years before the first return
• Why he never charged for beats and only got paid $2,000 once in his entire career
• How selling 60,000 loaves of bread a day at 10 pesewas commission gave him financial freedom
• Why Sarkodie is the only artist he ever called first and how their relationship remains solid
• What happened to Agyekum, the cleaner he discovered who recorded one song and died before it was released
He breaks down why the Ghanaian music industry has no centralized governing body, why GHAMRO is ineffective without a proper login system, why Nigerian artists like Davido don't need brand deals to live large because their industry protects them, and why Ghanaian producers and artists survive on barter and relationships instead of upfront payments. He confronts the brutal reality of why 85.4% of Ghanaian musicians have no pension scheme, why successful musicians in Ghana are only a handful, and why being a teller at a bank offers more financial stability than being a musician without an industry.
But he also exposes why his father's wisdom was correct, why dishonesty from both artists and businessmen prevents the industry from growing, why AI will not replace human creativity but will reward those who master the right prompts, and why he's coming back to music full time now that bread money gave him the freedom to create without competing.
Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction: The Reality of Music Economics in Ghana
00:01:18 Growing Up: A Banker's Son with a Rebellious Streak
00:06:02 Father's Wisdom: Why Music Didn't Have an Industry
00:08:15 The Missing Industry: Why Ghanaian Music Lacks Structure
00:11:05 The Turning Point: Obrafo Hits and Missing Full Sail University
00:13:44 Musicians Aren't Supposed to Be Businessmen
00:28:05 The Publishing Game: How Producers Actually Make Money
00:34:06 Seven Years Before the First Return: The Adam Album Story
00:38:36 Discovering Sarkodie: The Only Artist Hammer Called First
00:41:54 The Bread Business: Finding Financial Freedom Outside Music
00:48:39 AI, The Future, and Coming Back to Music Full-Time
00:52:29 The Agyekum Story: Music, Hope, and Loss
00:57:04 Legacy and Lessons: What Really Matters

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Guest: Edward Nana Poku Osei (Hammer of The Last Two)
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🎙️ ABOUT THE HOST
Derrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate.
IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey
Web: https://www.abaitey.com/
#MusicIndustry #GhanaMusic #KonnectedMinds