In 2015, Kojo Amoako Nzoley offered me my first full-time job in Media as an Online Executive for Focus1 media in Takoradi, a week before getting into Takoradi Technical University to study Commercial Arts. I was in charge of designing graphics, and helping with online and social media management. Working with Focus1 media was the foundation of my perception of what corporate life is; becoming organized, relating to people, and meeting deadlines. Kojo was a great boss and friend.
In 2017, I had to leave Focus1 media in order to focus on my brainchild Young and Ambitious Show, which has now grown into The Ambitious [ambitious.com.gh]. Managing my own team and becoming a better leader was my next challenge. We did well; we were able to produce four seasons of the show and got named among the Top 100 Student Entrepreneurs in Ghana by The African Network of Entrepreneurs, TANOE.
Fast forward, I left school in 2018 and started work at Citi FM and Citi TV thanks to Philip Kofi Ashon and Mawuli Tsikata. This was the next challenge in my career in Media at the national level.
In my first year at Citi, I worked as a National Service Personnel at the New Media department, generally helping with data visualization and anything available. I learned a lot about the media business, leadership, systems, working with people, and the community life at Citi.
In my second year at Citi, I began to work closely with the Sports desk, Citi Sports, covering Premier League RoadShows across Accra, experimenting with videography and also learned post-production for video. I also produced and hosted a segment on Citi Trends, and covered PR events, thanks to recommendations by Kwame Dadzie.
In my third and final year at Citi, I had developed my photography skills and began covering social events for Citinewsroom.com and sporting events, mainly the Black Stars and Ghana Premier League, thanks to Godwin Allotey and Fentuo Tahiru. My work with the sports desk graduated to handling the designing of all graphic content for the various social media and for TV shows. I stepped into shooting and handled post-production for the majority of video content for Ghana Weekend, and was still a member of the team handling data visualization at the New Media department.
I even wrote that that was the year I became Yaw Antwi Owusu, so why quit?
Well it has always been my dream to build a career in technology and most importantly to build a technology-enabled company to solve problems in Ghana/Africa. And I feel this is the moment for me to trust my progress and switch industries.
What is next for me?
I accepted an offer from MEST Africa to join the Entrepreneurs in Training Class of 2022. I accepted to join the program to learn how to build a technology business and my goal is to start an Edtech company after my study there.
Quitting my job at Citi to join MEST Africa’s EIT Class of 2022 is one of the most ambitious decisions I’ve ever made. I know there will be a number of challenges on this new path but I am ready for all of them.
I have an open mind now like never before, to become a better version of myself, document each stage as it happens, and finally start that technology-enabled company after this program.
I will always be that guy with the media background in every industry I find myself, today that industry is technology.
If you have read this far, I want to say a big thank you! I plan to write a lot more this year and document most of the stages I pass on this journey to build a technology-enabled company.
You can get in touch with me via me@yawantwiowusu.com or [+233] 020 8158 864