Konnected Minds Podcast

In this raw episode of Konnected Minds, host Derrick Abaitey sits down with Dennis Tawiah - the man behind Akwaaba UK, Miss Ghana UK, and the architect who made it fashionable for Ghanaians in the diaspora to come home every December, revealing the exact moment when four young Ghanaian boys pooled their sound equipment together to become 90 Percent Hi Squad and fought establishments that turned Africans away, radio stations that refused to play African music, and a system that said "you're not allowed" until they became a force so undeniable that Choice FM, ACS societies at every UK university, and 4000 Ghanaians at Chinola's nightclub proved the community was ready.

Guest: Dennis Tawiah

Company: Akwaaba UK

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

Listen to the podcast on:

Apple Podcast - http://tinyurl.com/4ttwbdxe

Spotify - http://tinyurl.com/3he8hjfp

Join this channel: /@konnectedminds

FOLLOW ► https://linktr.ee/konnectedminds

#Podcast #businesspodcast #AfricanPodcast

From jobless graduate to distribution powerhouse solving problems in Ghana's essential goods market, and why putting your degree aside to sell toilet rolls and fabric softener door to door is the only way to make money when the system isn't giving opportunities to youth, the three-year job search that ended with the realization that "if I don't get this job, I'm going to create my own" using skills learned from the market and school, the strategic move of offering customers lower prices than their current suppliers even at zero profit just to break even and build long-term relationships because "it's difficult for a customer to change his supplier," the godfather moment when Mr. Frempong's integrity and network with CDage manufacturers opened doors to 100 packs of fabric softener on credit without paying upfront, the first sales girl hire and the Muslim imam Muhammad Tahiro who knew customers in Koforidua and Abram and sold 250 boxes on his first day proving "this guy can really help me," the 800-box minimum policy from suppliers that keeps small retailers locked out but creates opportunity for distributors who buy in volume and break it down, and why the ultimate truth is this: money in Ghana is in trade, not in white-collar jobs, because the market woman who takes goods worth 15,000 cedis and pays cash that same day proves that if you want to make money you need to solve a problem whether it's sanitation or essential goods or communication, and putting your ego aside is the only way to unlock the wealth that's hidden in the dirty jobs nobody wants to do.

In this raw episode of Konnected Minds, host Derrick Abaitey sits down with a young entrepreneur who dismantles the dangerous "I need a white-collar job to be successful" mentality that keeps graduates stuck in three-year job searches, revealing the exact moment when taking 10 packs of fabric softener on credit from a supplier, selling them to customers in Koforidua, and returning the money after a week while earning 40 cedis per pack became the foundation of a distribution business built on integrity, relationships, and the willingness to do the work nobody else wants to do.

This isn't motivational business talk from Instagram influencers, it's a systematic breakdown of why solving a problem is the only way to make money whether you're Elon Musk with internet connections or a young Ghanaian selling toilet rolls and washing powder because essential goods are money, why prospecting customers and offering them lower prices than their current suppliers even at zero profit builds long-term relationships that pay off when you're ready to scale, why Mr. Frempong's integrity and recommendation opened doors to 100 packs of Safari Mini Jumbo fabric softener on credit from CDage manufacturers without paying upfront because "the man stood in and because of his integrity they brought it," why the power of recommendation comes when your integrity leads you and people you've been truthful with open doors you couldn't open yourself, why poverty's best friend is information asymmetry like two people in a race where one knows taking glucose and steroids makes you run faster and the other has no idea so the one with information wins, why bringing in Muhammad Tahiro the imam who had worked with Mr. Frempong before and knew customers in Koforidua and Abram led to 250 boxes sold on the first day proving the right hire changes everything, why suppliers do volume with 800-box minimums and policies that say "a car no move unless you pick 800 packs" which locks out small retailers but creates opportunity for distributors who buy bulk and break it down for the market, why customers care about quality but ultimately it's all about pricing because suppliers aiming for abnormal profits get ditched when someone offers the same product at lower prices,

Host: Derrick Abaitey

From societal pressure to financial sacrifice to the brutal truth about why marriage timelines and designer lifestyles are destroying young people's futures - and why the pressure to marry at 28 as a woman or settle down as a man without having your life figured out will send you into depression for the rest of your life watching your classmates buy cars and houses while you struggle, the Instagram illusion where people see someone wearing a beautiful dress and think they bought it when the truth is designers made it and gave it to them for free, the 28-year-old man taking out loans to pay for a wedding he'll spend two years paying off because he allowed societal pressure to control his decisions instead of waiting until he was ready, and why the brutal reality is this: if you go into a relationship, settle down, have another human being to take care of when you're not ready - you will be depressed every day watching your friend Derek who was your classmate doing his podcasts, practicing his pharmacy, able to buy his car, able to buy a house, and you are wondering what's happening to me, while the real question becomes: why are you making your life's clock somebody else's clock when you don't know what they're doing with their money or what other responsibilities they have, because the pressure we felt 25 years ago should not be felt today and the children of today should not go through what we went through with the "at this age you must marry, at this age you must have your car" mentality that puts people in boxes and limits their potential.

In this raw episode of Konnected Minds, host Derrick Abaitey sits down with Nana Aba Anamoah - a powerhouse media personality who dismantles the dangerous "follow society's timeline or you're a failure" mentality that pushes people into marriages, debt, and decisions they're not ready for, revealing the exact moment when the girl wearing that dress on Instagram didn't actually buy it because designers made it and gave it to her so don't go looking for money to buy what you see someone else wearing.

This isn't motivational life advice from Instagram influencers - it's a systematic breakdown of why the pressure to marry at 28 as a woman or settle down as a man without having your life figured out will send you into depression watching your classmates succeed while you struggle, why people see someone on social media wearing a beautiful dress and think they bought it when designers gave it to them for free so don't go looking for money to buy what you see others wearing, why making your life's clock somebody else's clock is unfair because you don't know what they're doing with their money or what responsibilities they have, why allowing yourself to be put in a box limits your potential and lets people control your narrative, why showing up to a 9 a.m. meeting at 9:15 and waiting until 9:30 is the maximum even if you need a favor because sitting for hours while someone thinks they're big is disrespectful and you will walk out, why being consistently late is disrespectful to other people especially for important meetings, why two people with the best CVs showed up at 10 a.m. for an 8 a.m. interview and didn't get interviewed because if you don't take the interview seriously you won't take the work seriously, why you must have self-respect and standards or you're not heading anywhere, why your character must count for something because people watch and the days when God was just giving out blessings are over - now you have to work for it, why friends were buying new cars every year but the sacrifice was made to pay expensive international school fees and thousands of dollars in US university tuition instead, why wanting to give your child the best education means not buying designer bags that cost 4,000 pounds and not doing certain things for yourself, why making a pact with your son saying \"whatever you need I will provide, focus on the books, I'll buy the sneakers and shirts you want, just ace your grades\" is the commitment that requires sacrifice, and why if you have a child and want to give them the best education but you're not wealthy like other wealthy people - don't be dreaming of buying designer bags while sitting there unable to pay school fees, making sacrifice, self-respect, and refusing to let society's timeline control your decisions the foundation of building a life where your children get the best opportunities and you don't spend the rest of your days depressed watching others succeed while you struggle under the weight of choices you made to impress people who don't matter.

Guest: Nana Aba Anamoah

Host: Derrick Abaitey

From career freedom to parental control to the brutal truth about why being a parent means being a friend, a guide, and a mentor all at once - and why children who can't get support at home will seek guidance from complete strangers you have no control over, the young boy at work doing AI research who sent a long WhatsApp message explaining that anytime he comes around it's not because he has nothing to do but because he's found a new interest and wants to work part-time while still in school, when the parents don't get it and it's troubling the child so now he's talking to someone his parents don't even know instead of opening up at home, the son who wanted to be a formalist then a rapper then a graphic designer then business economics then IT and now artificial intelligence, when financing the music video and letting him put it on YouTube knowing he would come back and say "I don't want to do that again" was about respecting his choices and letting him feel free to make his decisions, when he went to university in the US and second year said "I don't think I like business economics" and the response was "whatever you want to do feel free to do it as long as I'm alive and I can take care of you no problem," when choosing a state where he didn't know anybody instead of New York where he had too many friends so he could focus on his studies, when raising a latchkey child who knows where the food is, where the fridge is, when to sleep, who can be on his own and be comfortable in his space even when his mother travels for two weeks, and why the ultimate truth is this: your responsibility as a parent is not just financial, it is emotional, it is mental, you have to be present at all times because you have decided to be responsible for another human being.

In this raw episode of Konnected Minds, host Derrick Abaitey sits down with Nana Aba Anamoah - a powerhouse media personality who dismantles the dangerous "I pay the school fees so I control your future" mentality that creates distance between parents and children, revealing the exact moment parents have put a wall between them and their children, when society should not tell a woman that because she has two or three children now and her husband is making so much money she should stop working and stay at home and take care of the home, when even the men are comfortable with their wives working but it's those on the peripherals who are calling the shots because they think this is how a woman's life should be, when a woman's decision is hers to make just as much as you would make the decision for a man - you cannot say that because you have a male child and he is a male he has to do a certain job because he's a man.

This isn't motivational parenting talk from Instagram influencers - it's a systematic breakdown of why you must be a parent, a friend, and a guide all at once so your child is comfortable talking to you about anything without judgment, why being present means noticing when the young boy at work stays late because he's found a new interest and needs guidance but can't get it at home so he's reaching out to someone his parents don't even know, why parents must stop imposing and superimposing what they wanted to be that they couldn't achieve on their children - wanting them to be lawyers and pharmacists and doctors because it was a dream for them they didn't achieve is not fair, why being adventurous and allowing them to go through different phases is part of growing up in a different generation that has evolved so much, why independence means letting your child make their choices and when they make a disastrous mistake they know mommy is there, uncle is there, auntie is there, why you shouldn't just be seen as a parent but as a guide and a friend from get go so your child is comfortable talking to you about every and anything without being judged, why parents who are so stuck in their ways declaring "this is what my child is going to be as far as I am paying school fees" create children who go wayward because if they're not getting support at home they'll get it somewhere else, why the most dangerous thing you can do is let your child get guidance from a complete stranger you have no control over, and why your responsibility as a parent is not just financial but emotional and mental - you have to be present at all times because you have decided to be responsible for another human being, making presence, friendship, and mentorship the three roles every child needs you to play if you want them to grow into confident, supported, and emotionally healthy adults who come to you first instead of turning to strangers who don't have their best interests at heart.

Guest: Nana Aba Anamoah

Host: Derrick Abaitey

From parental control to emotional presence to the brutal truth about why being a parent means being a friend, a guide, and a mentor all at once - and why children who can't get support at home will seek guidance from complete strangers you have no control over, the young boy at work doing AI research who sent a long WhatsApp message explaining that anytime he comes around it's not because he has nothing to do but because he's found a new interest and wants to work part-time while still in school, when the parents don't get it and it's troubling the child so now he's talking to someone his parents don't even know instead of opening up at home, the son who sits for a surprise test and comes home scratching his hair saying "we had a surprise test today and it didn't go well" and instead of harsh judgment the response is laughter and the lesson that you must always be prepared because that's why it's a surprise test, and why some parents are so stuck in their ways declaring "this is what my child is going to be as far as I am paying school fees" without understanding that's not fair and that's why some children go wayward - because if they're not getting support at home they'll get it somewhere else, while the real question becomes: are you present in your child's life, do you notice when your child stays longer than usual, do you invite their friends over so you can hear their conversations and understand their personalities, because sometimes people are not looking for handouts - all they need is to be noticed and recognized, and the ultimate truth is this: your responsibility as a parent is not just financial, it is emotional, it is mental, you have to be present at all times because you have decided to be responsible for another human being.

In this raw episode of Konnected Minds, host Derrick Abaitey sits down with Nana Aba Anamoah - a powerhouse media personality who dismantles the dangerous "I pay the school fees so I control your future" mentality that creates distance between parents and children, revealing the exact moment when a young boy at work doing AI research sent a long WhatsApp message that couldn't be replied to for two days because he's seen a new interest and wants to work part-time while still in school but the parents don't get it, when that young boy is now talking to someone his parents don't even know because ideally if he's unhappy with something he should be able to open up to his parents but parents have put a wall between them and their children, when the son comes home from a surprise test scratching his hair saying "it didn't go well" and instead of harsh rebuke there's laughter and the lesson that you should always be prepared because that's why it's a surprise test, when reviewing the child means acknowledging "you should have done better because the previous term you did better" but also praising what went well instead of focusing only on the negative, when inviting the son's friends over means sitting with them hearing their conversations understanding their personalities and being called Nanaaba or Ro instead of auntie because they're comfortable, when some friends would call without the son's permission saying "can I come and spend the weekend at your house" and the answer is always "why not, come, be comfortable," when some would even ask "can you call my father or my mother and tell them that you want me to come" because their own parents have created fear or are just not present or not caring enough to notice.

This isn't motivational parenting talk from Instagram influencers - it's a systematic breakdown of why you must be a parent, a friend, and a guide all at once so your child is comfortable talking to you about anything without judgment, why being present means noticing when the young boy at work stays until 7 p.m. instead of leaving at 3 p.m. and saying "yo, you're still here" because that recognition makes him feel noticed when at home no one is present, instead of parents just taking the piss and always looking for faults, why being a parent is not a futile job but a fun job because you have decided to be responsible for another human being, and why the most dangerous thing you can do is let your child get guidance from a complete stranger because if they're not getting support at home they'll get it somewhere else - making presence, friendship, and mentorship the three roles every child needs you to play if you want them to grow into confident, supported, and emotionally healthy adults who come to you first instead of turning to strangers who don't have their best interests at heart.

Guest: Nana Aba Anamoah

Host: Derrick Abaitey