Konnected Minds Podcast

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 stations like VibeFM and nightclub owners like Tiki Bonsing and Duke Bonsing to create a nightlife infrastructure that didn't exist before you arrived, the six young Ghanaian boys from 90% who kept on knocking on doors until they got hold of a license for North London on Choice FM proving persistence breaks down barriers that seem impossible, the demo tape from 90% his core Choice affair that he still has today as proof of the journey from being told African music doesn't belong to becoming the representation of African music on mainstream radio, the call from Wayne Tanning within 24 hours saying you've got the job come start playing music on Choice which meant selecting three members Moscom, Mr Shooks, and DJ Branch to be the face of Choice while the other three supported from behind, the introduction of DJ Branch to Choice FM through 90% which gave birth to the platform he would eventually take to the next level with the Afro Beat Show, the graveyard shift from 4am to 6am when everybody's asleep that slowly moved to 2am to 4am then midnight to 4am then midnight to 2am proving they were gaining attraction and regular time slots, the credit given to DJ Branch for sticking to it and taking the show from where they started to where he elevated it because you have to give people their flowers when they execute and push through, the birth of Aqualva in 2001 after 90% decided to go separate ways with Mr Trips still producing music, Moscom doing legendary work, Mr Shooks being one of the best MCs in the jungle scene, Blackhash on Choice during the Afro Beat Show, and DJ Branch doing his thing, the conversation with close friend and partner Cliff and the Puku deciding to do an event together without even knowing what to call it until two or three days before when they landed on Aqualva because everything about him has always been Ghana and the first sign you see getting off the plane at the old airport is Aqualva, the six Ghanaian guys who set up Aqualva including Emilio from West Coast, right hand man Eben designed to take him to Jump Promotions, DJ Fire, and Eben's brother creating another collective that would shape UK African entertainment, the realization during the Aqualva era that there was a sense of belonging and it became so cool to be African with massive turnouts at any Ghana event proving the Gen Zs of that time were ready for community and representation, the decision to change the narrative and bring it back home after experiencing being flown out to places like Tenerife, Ibiza, and Greece to DJ at events and seeing the nightlife scene over there realizing he could introduce that to Ghana, the punishment narrative in the diaspora where being sent back to Ghana was used as a threat when you did something wrong creating fear in young people who would rather run away from home than face going back.

Guest: Dennis Tawiah (Aqualva UK Founder)

Host: Derrick Abaitey

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 a gap nobody else saw.

Key topics covered:

Financial management & the social media trap

Why discipline over motivation (every time)

How to attract & keep the right staff

Starting a business with little to nothing

Why Ghana's broken system is full of opportunity

"Solve a problem and the problem attracts wealth."

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

Guest: Samuel

Web: https://bananabreadgh.com/

Host: Derrick Abaitey

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

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

Join Konnected Academy: https://www.triibe.io/konnected-academy

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

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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 others take credit for the movement you helped birth, the young boy from Osu whose father was a barrister lawyer and former chairman of Accra Hearts of Oak who moved all 14 siblings to the United Kingdom for political reasons without even telling him he was leaving, the 12 year old playing for youth football teams Habo City and Karakim Faisa who thought he had a real chance to become a professional footballer in Ghana until his sister told him to take a bath because they were going out and the next thing he knew he was landing at Heathrow Airport scared and confused riding the underground for the first time in his life, the child who cried most of the time in those early days because he left his friends behind and didn't know what he was going into when all he wanted was to play football and be back home where life made sense, the father who was calm and supportive even when school reports came back showing his son wasn't attending because he was spending his time elsewhere chasing a dream that didn't fit the traditional path, the man who created Aqualva UK and Miss Ghana UK and helped shift the entire mindset of Ghanaians in the diaspora to see coming home in December not as punishment but as something cool and fashionable, the pioneer who was in rooms with record labels and radio stations and pluggers breaking down barriers so African music could finally get played when the gatekeepers said it didn't belong, the promoter who ran Ghana Party in the Park for 20 years without fail building a brand so big that generations of people who came through his events are now at Sony Music and major positions across the industry, the devastating loss of 40,000 pounds in 2023 when an artist failed to show up even after interventions and phone calls and people who bought tickets were left disappointed, the contributions to Diaspora Ghana that gave birth to what it is today because he was doing this when Ghana had no nightlife scene and year after year since the late 90s he brought the confidence and belief that made it fashionable to return home during the holidays, the name that's never been in the story even though he was there in the struggle getting rejected and told African music doesn't belong here, the 14 siblings who all made it to the United Kingdom not just to survive but to get education and opportunities because their father fought for each and every one of them, the relationship he has with his own children today that reflects wanting to be a better version of the father he looked up to so much, the young boy who never wanted anything but to be a footballer living near the stadium in Osu watching matches daily and playing coos football with local teams chasing him before everything changed with one bath and one trip that took him away from the only life he knew.

Guest: Dennis Tawiah (Aqualva UK Founder

Host: Derrick Abaitey

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 arcade only showing up to school during lunchtime to play football because everybody wanted him on their side, the father who wrote letters to Arsenal, QPR, and every major London football club to get his son trials even though he had 14 children to care for, the coldest winter of 1986 when his father stood outside from 8am to 6pm in just a jacket watching his son trial at Queensborough proving that even with 14 siblings this father found time for each and every one of them, the devastating moment at 14 years old when Mr. Tom Wally called him into the office and said the journey ends here after two years on a Youth Training Scheme form, the young teenager who wasn't old enough to understand the weight of rejection and still believed another chance would come somewhere else because he was that good of a footballer, the transition from football to working at McDonald's and doing paper runs for seven pounds a week delivering newspapers in freezing cold mornings while still finding money to buy records, the freedom of being 14 to 18 with no responsibilities, no bills to pay, no mobile phones to worry about, no pressure to send money back home just pure freedom to exist without the weight of adulthood, the complete disconnect from friends back in Ghana with no contact until he returned years later because that's just how life was without technology connecting continents, the musical equipment he started buying with his McDonald's money not because he had a plan or vision but because he grew up in Suame surrounded by two nightclubs where music played every single night shaping his love for sound, the realization that there was nothing for young black people to do in London except youth clubs, hanging out on the streets, going to church with parents, or attending funerals because the immigrant generation wasn't building community spaces they were surviving and sending money home, the friend Moscom who changed everything by teaching him to DJ after he saw the technics turntables, the son lab mixer, the microphone, and the full producer setup that made him say teach me I want to be a DJ, the formation of a sound equipment collective that started with four Ghanaian guys and grew to six pooling all their equipment together to rent out for parties and events, the Acid House music scene that was driving the UK crazy with promoters renting empty warehouses in places like Barley Studios in King's Cross needing equipment for the biggest underground movement of that era, the 11th child out of 14 siblings who all somehow made it to the United Kingdom not just to survive but to get education and opportunities that seemed impossible, the father who fought for each and every one of his 14 children making sure they all had a chance even when the odds were stacked against them, the beautiful memories of a time when freedom meant no responsibilities and life was about playing football, delivering newspapers in the cold, working at McDonald's, and dreaming about what could come next without the pressure of knowing what that next step should be.

Host: Derrick Abaitey

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 pen to rewind it teaching lessons about how far they've come and how much has changed, the regret of not owning a lot of the history because when you look at Zemba or the movements happening right now people think it started with someone's return but there was a group of people who started this and they should have documented it but they didn't, the children he feels he let down because they don't really know his story and it takes other people to tell them when he's never been the type to go around talking about himself but life has taught him you've got to speak up, the beautiful family this unplanned path has given him and how his kids are now seeing what he did and his peers are telling him he needs to speak up and own half of what Africans in the UK are enjoying right now because in a few years nobody will know what they went through, the contributions to getting African music played on mainstream radio which broke the camel's back that people don't know about, the mistakes made because he was just going with the flow and the cost of not being intentional because somebody else comes into the story and other people take the credit and other people tell you that you've been lazy, the 90 percent of conversations and rooms he's been in from record label rooms to radio stations to pluggers that never translated to support for his company or his events, the Ghana Party in the Park brand that ran for 20 years without fail even when others fell and the very good offer on the table in January before COVID came in March and destroyed the deal, the generations of people who came through Ghana Party in the Park who are now at Sony Music and big positions in the industry and how he sees ex patrons everywhere in high positions who all came through his events, the disappointment of not getting rich from Ghana Party in the Park because it's a big brand, a very very big brand that deserved more, the business cap he didn't put on early enough because he matured very late and maturity came to him very late but now he's surrounded by good people like his partner DJ Mensa in Ghana bringing brilliant ideas, the Ghanaian businesses at the time who weren't comfortable with the entertainment scene even in Ghana before telcos like MTN and Vodafone had to invest heavily into Ghanaian music, the shout out to Charter House for what they were doing with Ghana Music Awards and how when corporate came in you saw the beauty of what they were doing, the love for what corporate is doing especially in Ghana with Charter House and iGo House doing Tidal Rave and how banks and drinks companies and telco companies are getting involved but in the UK they don't get that because the Ghanaian community is a very small percentage, the 100 percent openness to partnership and the smile that came from sponsorship from Western Union and MoneyGram at the time wishing they had done even more, the friend David who said something that hit him about how a lot of us don't like systems thinking we just like to do things and sometimes it looks like ego, the example of walking into a church and the usher says sit here and you start looking funny because you spotted somewhere you want to sit but for the church and the usher she's thinking this will align with the camera position proving we don't like systems thinking, the fear of change that held him and others back when change is good.