Progress!

Nov 15th 09

I’m actually surprised to have gotten a couple of phone calls asking when I’m updating my blog. I’m glad to know that people actually read what write. Terribly sorry for the delays. Been doing a lot this past couple of days! First things first, my job offer is still pending because apparently they are in the middle of organizing a major event so they will get back to me in a couple of days. PATIENCE is something I don’t have on a normal day, but I’ve developed it by force! Don’t really have a choice. To be honest I have been extremely busy too working on the BE BOLD project event so I'm not bored sitting at home. Infact I do an 8am till 7pm sometimes. There’s too much to do!! Things can be very slow unless you go out there and really follow up on things. Getting sponsors and support letters has been the biggest task! So far we have Lincoln Community School, Koala Shopping Center, Possibly Vodafon and a couple of other independent sponsors sponsoring us. The support we are getting is ridiculous! Been approaching the minister of communication, minister of youth & sports and minister of Education to support the event and also give us some job postings for the website. Companies are calling in to be a part of the event networking aspect and Im doing a lot of individual face to face advertising already! Our designers for the fashion show are Renee Q, Christie Brown, Honey Bee, Allen Davids, Aya Morrison, Duaba Serwa to list a few. We also have several registered up and coming companies going to be present. Greatest news is that TV3 is also going to come and cover the event!! Still working on a lot so i’ll definitely keep you updated at least once a week. For the meantime take a look at my interview with ISO Paely (Ghana’s own TV3’s Entertainment Manager)! And I went to take some pictures of Citizen Kofi Entertainment (venue for BE BOLD project)!!!






Name: Iso Paely Job: Entertainment Manager at TV3 Station

BB Interviewer: What advice do you have for Africans studying abroad?

ISO paeley: First of all I would tell them to get some experience abroad before coming down. I think that is essentially important. The mistake a lot of us make when we travel and get back here is that we look down on a lot of people down here, which is a very big mistake. There are people who come back down here who realize that their friends they left behind have excelled so much that they even have a hard time catching up. So first of all when you come back you should take them as colleagues, even though you studied in the States, Canada, Europe or wherever. You need networking. You need to know somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody THAT can give approval for a job. So you need to make maximum use of your network. So when you come down make sure you build your network so that it is very powerful and can get to where u want to go.
I think essentially you need to adapt fast! It’s not like you went to London or America so you come back and you don’t like banku or fufu anymore for example. If you don’t like it anymore KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. The common thing you hear is “oh the weather is too HOT!” Keep it to yourself. This is how I have been able to penetrate the system even though I’m not Ghanaian (ISO is a Liberian originally and moved to Ghana 17 ago after studying abroad).
Be able to communicate with people in the way that they will understand you. You may be used to talking fast, however you’ve been here before so you should know how people talk here. Communication is KEY. If you’re talking and people keep saying “pardon”, then you should check yourself.

BB interviewer: What was the most difficult part for you when you came down to Ghana to re-establish yourself?

Iso: I started from scratch. It was hard. I was rebuilding a foundation, so my whole life stopped and i had to re-start it. It was difficult, but sitting back now and looking at those days I’m grateful because now I see life from a whole different perspective. This is what i want, i set my priorities straight. Im living a comfortable life, got my own beautiful house, drive the cars i want to drive, but then i know how hard i worked to get those things so i know how to manage those things. Easy come, easy go. The bible says “as a man thinketh, so is he”, you are who you think you are so if you think it then you definitely will be. Back to guys who are coming. You need to be focused and know why you are coming home. Are you coming home because everyone else is coming? Are you coming home because you want to re-settle and contribute? Or are you coming home because your parents want you to come? You need to have that fundamental understanding first, so that by the time you get here you know where the story is going to take you next. And once you do that DO NOT CREATE ANY FORM OF DOUBT. Think: Im going back and Im going to make it and I will do it! For some people it might be fast, for others it might be slower, but the point is eventually you want to get there!

BB Interviewer: So what do you do at TV3 station? Tell me a bit about that.

ISO: I am the manager for entertainment. I manage all the entertainment that you see on TV. The reality shows, the special shows and production you see on TV. I don’t like to just sit there as manager so I also go down to the studios because I love what I do. Another advice i have for those abroad is “LOVE WHAT YOU DO”. You’ve got to have the passion. I speak to a lot of producers and musicians that come onto my show. One of the questions they ask me is “do you love what you’re doing or do you just do it for the benjamins? If I was doing this for the money, I would have been gone a long time ago because of other offers I’ve received abroad. But I love what I do so I even though I’ve tried other places, I always told myself “I have to go back to Ghana” because when I’m here I’m in my environment, back into my zone. This is where I belong. You need to have that natural vibe. It needs to be there.
Understand that when you come back here you are not more important than everybody else here. That is the biggest mistake, because there are smart people down here. Be level headed and humble and see where the story will take you next. If you don’t believe, you will never receive! BUT It also comes with something called hard work.

BB interviewer: Will you be attending the BE BOLD event?
Iso: Most definitely. I would love to talk to those coming back perhaps even before the event in a formal gathering. I would love it!

BB Interviewer: Thank you very much for your time. We look forward to seeing you at the BE BOLD event!

In the HEAT of things

In the HEAT of things

HEAT HEAT HEAT...And I’m loving it!!! I have been up to a WHOLE lot since I last blogged. First of all I did get a call back from the company I applied to and they are giving me an offer!!! YAY! They said they were drafting me a proposal for the job offer and would call me back. So I’m excited and waiting. Apparently it was very competitive and I made it! Meanwhile I’m glad because I need a lot of time to work on the BE BOLD project. We have a VENUE! I have successfully managed to partner up with graphic designers, website designers, fashion designers for the event and artists. I’m also having meetings with relevant ministers, the x high commissioner to Canada and companies to start getting job offers for our inencareers.com website. Things are looking very good and everyone’s supporting the event so I’m positive it’s going to be exceptional.

Aside from that I’m working on interviews to give a broader picture of the REALITY in Ghana. Check it out.

INTERVIEW

Name: Fifi Nuno

Universtiy: 2^nd Year Central university college, Ghana

Studying: Banking & Finance (Bsc)

Christal: Tell me a bit about yourself

Fifi: I’ve lived here all my life. Went to Achimota and Im currently in Centreal Uni.

Christal: What do you think about the BE BOLD Project

Fifi: I think it’s a good concept and it’s very necessary because every year we have students applying to go outside the country and they hardly ever come back, especially when they get good jobs out there. As a result Ghana is on standstill.

Christal: Have you ever applied for a full time job? As a local student what has been your biggest challenge in trying to find a job?

Fifi: Not exactly. To find a job in Ghana, it’s more or less whom you know. I’ve never had to go out myself to look for a job because I happen to know a few people who tell me “oh come and work here”. However, I know a lot of people who come out with their degrees and can’t find jobs.

Christal: What is better for students that are coming back into the country? Is it better for them to start looking for jobs or better for them to set up their own companies?

Fifi: I think its practically necessary for everyone to try and start up their own thing, but you definitely have to work for someone first to get some experience. If people want to work outside of Ghana to gain some experience, there’s nothing wrong with that as long as they keep it in mind to come back to Ghana later. Even if you’re going to work outside eventually you should come back and start your own thing here in Ghana, because its not you working for a company here that’s going to move Ghana forward but you starting your own thing. And that’s one thing that students here lack a lot. As soon as everyone comes out of University they start looking for a job. Nobody gets up to start their own thing. We hardly see that.

Christal: how about internships do people out here get chances to do internships?

Fifi: Yes, People out here get a chance to do internships a lot. Me for example, when I’m on holiday I work for a banking financial institution. They are always looking for more people who are also on holidays to help out. Internships help because you get a lot of experience in the field that you are already studying before you come out.

Christal: What do you think will be useful for people like you on the inencareers website.

Fifi: If it would be possible to get in contact with companies that are willing to hire interns and put those internships out there. A lot of people are not aware of how to get those and mostly get them through who they know. So having some internships on the website will definitely help people like me.

Message from Fifi for all those out there:

Let us not forget our country Ghana where we learnt our values which make us proud and stand above in our daily lives.

BE BOLD

The BE BOLD project memoirs...Day 1

Nov 2nd

It’s the first day of me coming back to Ghana to live the BE BOLD project initiative. I’m feeling a mixture of tired, enthusiastic, courageous, spontaneous and bold. Yes BOLD! Why? Because it’s NOT THAT EASY! Simply put we all know how scary it can be coming down to Ghana to work for the very first time. I mean I just graduated and although the economy in Canada has not been the best place to find a job, I’m certain I would have found one if I tried just a little harder. Then I would be able to pay my rent, phone bill, food, eat out here and there and maybe even save a little something or NOT! I don’t know about you but I’m the biggest spendthrift ever so saving close to nothing might as well be nothing at all. It was a very big decision, but It’s only the first day and so far I feel like I just made the BEST decision of my life. Here’s why. Recently INEN Organized started working on their new project called the BE BOLD project. BE BOLD stands for Bringing Education and Building Opportunity for Leadership and Development. I’ll tell you more about the project later because right now I’m giving you the rundown of my first day experience of this initiative. You see I’m not the best of writers; in fact I despise writing diaries because well my siblings used to be the kind that never respected anyone’s privacy when we were younger so I never went past “dear diary”. This right here is necessary though. I hope to share my experiences with you through the most important events that happen henceforth specifically concerning making that move to your home country for work. If I’m going to be starting a movement (BE BOLD) to bring all Africans home I might as well live it myself right? Feel free to ask any questions or share your concerns right here with me. I plan to interview others and hopefully include some pictures in here.

Day 1

I arrived last night and I have a meeting at 3pm with the job I have been following up with since I was in Canada. A good friend of mine (bless her) referred me to them and so I sent them my resume and got an assignment a couple weeks later. My assignment was to write a proposal for a task (which ended up being 15 pages long !) and a 10 page PowerPoint slide outlining specific details of my resume that pertain to the job description all in 2 days. The proposal part was the hardest because I also had to include a budget for the event that I was organizing and in Ghana we don’t have a lot of prices just sprawled over the internet. People won’t reply your emails either! So I decided to call everyone to get the price quotes. It was hectic but I managed to do the best with it. Luckily they were happy and gave me a phone interview which I also had to call them for. YES YES I called them for it! Interview went great! In fact I was hinted at that I got the job! So I packed my belongings and said ASTALAVISTA BABY I’m off to Ghana!

Got here and had the interview at 3pm. I arrived there thinking it was me coming to sign papers and and finalize my pay, but NOOO it was another 3 hour interview. GUYS I have never been grilled so much by any company before!! Before I even finished what I was saying he would ask a rebuttal. It was the boss so if I wasn’t confident I would definitely have stuttered out of nervousness. Wheeeew! Then I was also sent to another supervisor who grilled me some more and told me he doesn’t like to work with women!!! So I convinced him that I can do the job. Lastly I was given a 1hour and 30 minutes aptitude test! INTENSE! Math questions, English questions and computer skills test! ALL ON THE SPOT ALL IN ONE DAY. Expecting a phone call by Wednesday. Meanwhile I’m sending off more applications out to banks and working on my business plan for INEN Organized Ghana and of course the BE BOLD project this Christmas. Wish me luck.