Konnected Minds Podcast with Derrick Abaitey

What if the biggest barrier to building a successful business in Africa isn't capital or competition, but infrastructure and systems that simply don't exist?

Kofi Abonu has worked and lived in both the UK and West Africa, managing operations across multiple markets. He's seen firsthand the challenges that African entrepreneurs face daily, challenges that would never exist in Western markets. From inconsistent supply chains where a 1.2kg chicken order can arrive as anything within a range, to processing plants that can't keep up with demand during peak seasons, to infrastructure gaps that turn six month projects into two year struggles.

But his perspective might surprise you.

In this powerful episode of Konnected Minds, Kofi Abonu breaks down why he believes Africa is not behind the West but simply operating with different challenges, why he tells his team that if he put them in McDonald's UK they would shine because they wouldn't have to deal with 50% of the problems they solve in Africa, and why despite having British passports and the option to live anywhere, his children choose to pay for tickets to come to Ghana every time.

He shares why you can eat the same kinky at Antigone's corner for 10 cedis or pay 50 cedis at a fine dining restaurant simply because of environment and presentation, why Africa has modified fashion, music, and food rather than invented something completely new but that doesn't mean we're behind, why cocoa was taken to the UK to make chocolate yet Africans keep importing Kit Kat and Snickers instead of building their own chocolate brands, and why the growing pride of being African, the Afro-Americans returning every December, and the excitement around Detty December signals something powerful happening across the continent.

But he also confronts the uncomfortable truth about what African governments must do. Why life isn't meant to be easy but it also shouldn't be almost impossible, why entrepreneurs should struggle and enjoy the process but shouldn't spend two years on something that could take six months simply because infrastructure, discipline, systems, and processes are not in place, and why the respect, opportunity, and fulfillment he's found in West Africa makes it impossible for him to imagine living anywhere else.

This is a raw conversation about entrepreneurship in Africa, infrastructure challenges, supply chain management, operational excellence, African pride, diaspora engagement, business strategy, and the brutal reality that building in Africa requires solving problems that don't exist in the West but that doesn't mean Africa is behind, it just means Africa is different.

Guest: Kofi Abonu - Operations leader and entrepreneur with extensive experience managing businesses across the UK and West Africa, including Nigeria and Ghana.

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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

What if your degree is not enough to build the life you want?
Chef Sheriff Sanni went from selling sandwiches for ₦16 as a university student, struggling academically with a 1.9 GPA, and eventually sleeping in his food truck - to building a successful restaurant business and taking Nigerian food and culture beyond Africa.
But his story is about much more than food.
In this powerful episode of Konnected Minds, Sheriff Sanni opens up about the realities of entrepreneurship, failure, poverty, education, skills, family pressure, building a business in Africa, and what it really takes to keep going when everything seems to be working against you.
He shares how he started with just ₦10,000, why he believes young Africans should build practical skills alongside their degrees, what he learned from repeatedly losing business locations, and how one Nigerian dish - pounded yam - helped transform his restaurant business.
Guest: Chef Sheriff Sanni - Nigerian executive chef, entrepreneur, and the visionary founder of ILÉ IYÁN. He has built a massive culinary brand centered around traditional Nigerian and Yoruba culture, elevating everyday local delicacies into a globally recognized dining experience.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanni-sheriff-1075104a/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/chefsanni/?hl=en
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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://abaitey.com/

["What happens when a former Minister of Education reveals that 50% of Ghana's high schools have only a 10% pass rate on WASSCE, and the only way to transform these failing schools is to poach examiners, create post retirement contracts for top headmasters, and replicate the DNA of high performing schools through strategic affiliation systems? In this powerful and deeply insightful episode of Konnected Minds Podcast, we sit down with a former Minister of Education who stopped examination leakages at the BECE level through serialization, created school affiliation programs that turned struggling schools like Abumusu STEM into high performing institutions by bringing the DNA of Presec and Wesley Girls, recruited examiners to teach in his constituency schools using his own money, and discovered that leadership is 50% of what makes a school succeed because when you transfer an assistant headmistress from Wesley Girls to Mfantsiman Girls or Agona Nyakrom the entire school transforms, for a raw conversation about education reform, school affiliation, leadership in education, examination integrity, post retirement contracts, performance contracts, pass rates, university access, and the brutal reality that if you want change in Ghana you cannot just sit and expect it but must back the change by supporting candidates across political aisles who will sign on to your 10 point plan and execute your agenda in parliament. From explaining why he created school affiliation where Abumusu STEM was affiliated with both Wesley Girls and Presec and brought an assistant headmaster from Presec to replicate the DNA and best practices until a Presbyterian chaplain would come to the school so you are literally replicating Presec as much as you can, to revealing that Bosumtri Girls recently won a robotics competition in Ghana then went to the U.S. and competed against 26 countries and placed fourth, to admitting that after he left government he recruited examiners to go teach in the schools in his constituency and pays them himself because it's not on government payroll, to proposing that Ghana should create post retirement contracts for teachers who retire as examiners so if you are Presec and you turn 60 and retire we can give you up to five years to go to Cockrobatto Senior High School that is struggling and serve them for five years and change the school, this is the story of what happens when you understand that leadership counts in education and 50% of Ghana's high schools have a 10% pass rate on WASSCE meaning if 100 students go only 10 can move on to university and the only way to transform this is to transfer high performing headmasters and assistant headmistresses from Wesley Girls and Presec to struggling schools and watch them change everything. Our guest breaks down why Mfantsiman Girls is a high performing school now because an assistant headmistress from Wesley Girls was transferred there and she changed the school, why Agona Nyakrom got an assistant headmistress from Wesley Girls and she almost changed the school until she was transferred, why Ahantaman Girls got an assistant headmistress from Wesley Girls and now it's a top performing school, and why leadership is 50% of what makes a school succeed because when you bring the right leader the entire school transforms. He explains why when he became minister for education one thing he is proud of is that they stopped examination leakages at the BECE level, why they started serialization so that all the regions had different questions, why there was a website where people were selling questions and they shut it down because the question that came they didn't know which region it was for, and why this single intervention restored integrity to the examination system. But we also confront the uncomfortable truth about pass rates, why 50% of all high schools in Ghana have a 10% pass rate on WASSCE meaning only 10% of students qualify to move to the university from high school, why there were some schools getting 1% pass rate where if 100 students go only one can move on to university, and why he brought all of them together and they signed a performance contract where MasterCard Foundation supported experts through something called TITEL who went to the schools to get them to improve. We discuss why when the new government came they said headmasters don't have to sign a performance contract because it was part of the campaign, why when you discontinue performance contract the headmaster is not under the gun and there's no sense of urgency, and why when the results went down people were blaming even the former minister because the new government discontinued the performance contract that was holding headmasters accountable. We dive into the concept of school affiliation and why he created a researcher who went and looked at the unique features and unique attributes of high performing schools in Ghana, why they decided to literally put those attributes in the new schools...

What happens when a former Minister of Education reveals that Ghana's schools were testing 20 out of 40 questions on memorization, zero on critical thinking, and the only way to transform the nation was to force WAEC to change the exams because teachers will never change what they teach if the test doesn't change? In this powerful and deeply insightful episode of Konnected Minds Podcast, we sit down with a former Minister of Education who built 200 science labs across Ghana, recruited 100 estate managers to create maintenance culture in schools for the first time in history, transformed dilapidated schools from remote Jetokoe to Osu St. Barnabas, and discovered that the biggest gap in Ghana's education system is not curriculum but assessment because if you don't change the exams teachers will keep teaching memorization instead of innovation, for a raw conversation about education reform, maintenance culture, STEM education, gifted and talented programs, assessment transformation, critical thinking, access versus quality, and the brutal reality that you cannot memorize your way out of poverty but you can innovate your way out of poverty. From walking into Osu St. Barnabas, the former seat of government, and discovering dilapidation worse than the remotest villages where if it rains they have to shut the school down because the roof is leaking everywhere, to explaining why Ghana doesn't have a maintenance culture because there is no maintenance budget and he became the first minister to budget for maintenance and recruit 100 maintenance officers with degrees in land economy, estate management, and building technology, to revealing that Accra STEM Academy is a school that begins from kindergarten all the way to high school where gifted students from across Accra can channel through and stay until graduation, to calling WAEC Ghana before the first reformed BECE in 2021 and asking them to show him the questions and discovering that 20 out of 40 were on remembering, 10 on understanding, 10 on application, and zero on synthesis, evaluation, and creating, this is the story of what happens when one leader refuses to accept that a nation can memorize its way out of poverty and forces the entire examination system to demand critical thinking instead. Our guest breaks down why he went to the United Nations and said something that went viral without even writing it down, why he declared that we cannot memorize our way out of poverty but we can innovate our way out of poverty, and why this statement became the foundation for transforming Ghana's entire assessment system from rote memorization to critical thinking. He explains why he told WAEC Ghana that this is a case of the tail wagging the dog because the country wants critical thinkers but their exams don't test critical thinking, why the country should tell WAEC what to assess students on instead of WAEC taking the lead, and why if the exam doesn't change teachers will never change what they teach no matter how beautiful the curriculum looks on paper. But we also confront the uncomfortable truth about access versus quality, why access means everyone getting opportunity to be educated because the ones you leave out may be the ones who are gifted but happen to come from a remote village, why the ones sitting on trees in classrooms that are leaking without teachers may be your Einstein but you've forgotten and left them behind, and why when you do access and open the floodgates you must also make sure there's quality education with quality infrastructure and equipment. We discuss why he built 200 science labs across the country and traveled around opening them everywhere, why you cannot do quality education without that infrastructure and equipment, and why improving the quality of education that you are offering is just as important as expanding access. We dive into the New Bloom's Taxonomy and Webb's Depth of Knowledge, why the lowest level of learning is remembering where students just recall what was said but don't understand it, why understanding requires analogies and deeper appreciation of concepts, why application means students are using knowledge to do something profound, and why synthesis, evaluation, and creating are the highest levels where critical thinking actually happens. We break down why Ghana's education system through rote memorization prepares children for routine tasks and manager led environments where they wait for instructions instead of preparing them to walk into a company and say I think we can do this better, and why the assessment system does not require critical thinking so teachers teach the lowest level possible. We unpack the moment he was passing by Osu St. Barnabas one day and decided to stop by the school and couldn't believe that if it's raining they have to shut the school down because the roof is leaking everywhere, why this was worse than any school you will see in the remotest of villages and this was Osu the former...

What happens when a former Minister of Education reveals that Ghana has been memorizing its way into poverty instead of innovating its way out, and the only way to transform the nation is to force the entire examination system to test critical thinking instead of root memorization? In this powerful and deeply insightful episode of Konnected Minds Podcast, we sit down with a former Minister of Education who took on WAEC, challenged the entire West African examination system, and introduced critical thinking assessments that are now being piloted in 33 Ghanaian high schools and adopted by Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, for a raw conversation about education reform, critical thinking, assessment systems, curriculum transformation, STEM education, access versus quality, and the brutal reality that if you don't change the exams teachers will never change what they teach no matter how beautiful your curriculum looks on paper. From confronting WAEC Ghana and telling them that the country wants critical thinkers but their exams don't test critical thinking because 20 out of 40 questions were on remembering, 10 on understanding, 10 on application, and zero on synthesis, evaluation, and creating, to reversing the entire CIA framework in education by putting assessment first instead of curriculum first because if the exam doesn't change teachers will not change what they are teaching, to launching 33 pilot high schools that now test students at level 3 and 4 of Webb's Depth of Knowledge where students must apply critical thinking skills instead of repeating memorized answers, to introducing biomedical science, engineering sciences, robotics, advanced computer science, and aviation as high school courses in public schools across Ghana, this is the story of what happens when one leader refuses to accept that Ghana can memorize its way out of poverty and forces an entire examination system to demand innovation instead. Our guest breaks down why he went to the United Nations and said something that went viral without even writing it down, why he declared that we cannot memorize our way out of poverty but we can innovate our way out of poverty, and why this statement became the foundation for transforming Ghana's entire assessment system from root memorization to critical thinking. He explains the CIA framework in education which stands for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, why most nations design curriculum first then instruction then assessment and wonder why transformation doesn't happen, and why he reversed the order by changing assessment first so that teachers would scramble to teach critical thinking because that's what students will be tested on. But we also confront the uncomfortable truth about access versus quality, why access means everyone getting opportunity to be educated because the ones you leave out may be the ones who are gifted but they happen to come from a remote village, why the ones sitting on trees in classrooms that are leaking without teachers may be your Einstein but you've forgotten and left them behind, and why when you do access and open the floodgates you must also make sure there's quality education with quality infrastructure and equipment. We discuss why he built 200 science labs across the country and traveled around opening them everywhere, why you cannot do quality education without that infrastructure and equipment, and why improving the quality of education that you are offering is just as important as expanding access. We dive into the New Bloom's Taxonomy and Webb's Depth of Knowledge, why the lowest level of learning is remembering where students just recall what was said but don't understand it, why understanding requires analogies and deeper appreciation of concepts, why application means students are using knowledge to do something profound, and why synthesis, evaluation, and creating are the highest levels where critical thinking actually happens. We break down why Ghana's education system through root memorization prepares children for routine tasks and manager led environments where they wait for instructions instead of preparing them to walk into a company and say I think we can do this better, and why the assessment system does not require critical thinking so teachers teach the lowest level possible. We unpack the moment he called WAEC Ghana before the first reformed BECE in 2021 and asked them to show him the kind of questions that would be on the exam, why out of 40 questions on a particular test 20 were on remembering, 10 on understanding, 10 on application, and zero on synthesis, evaluation, and creating, and why he told them this is a case of the tail wagging the dog because the country wants critical thinkers but you don't want critical thinking in your exams. He explains why he said you can't take the lead for the country, the country should tell you what to assess the students on, why they took it back and changed it so that 40% of the...