Latest / Masterminds Podcast / Excellence Is Not an Act, It’s a Habit: The Kojo Soboh Story | Masterminds Podcast EP21

Transcript

Excellence Is Not an Act, It’s a Habit: The Kojo Soboh Story | Masterminds Podcast EP21 · Masterminds Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Can I convince you to start a podcast?
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: I always say that inspiration is one of the biggest catalysts.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: A young person would go and sell their father's land and go and give it to the Visa Connection man just so they can go to the UF.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: So for us at EM1 Africa, we are intentionally excellent at our execution.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: And once you understand it's possible, it's possible.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you captured it very nicely in your book that excellence is not just for yourself, it inspires the people around you and it elevates your work.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I think that's one thing about the universe, that's one thing God does for you, right?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: When you believe in excellence, when every idea you get, you actually pursue it.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's your network is your net worth.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: You do good work, yeah.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Put out good products, don't cut corners.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: We should stop thinking there's anything that's not possible.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I want to change that word to I am possible.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Masterminds Podcast.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Richie Menta, and I'm your awesome tour guide on this exciting journey to mastering your most powerful tool, your mind.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: Our goal here stays the same to help you to get one step closer every day to becoming a mastermind.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, this episode we are going to address a misconception.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people, when they think about excellence, when they think about being great, always see it as a one destination that they need to achieve, one thing that they need to do right to be excellent.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: But the truth of the matter is, excellence is a habit.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: Excellence is in every single thing that you do every single day.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: So to discuss this, I needed to bring a man who exudes excellence.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when you take all of Ghana, in fact, let me correct myself.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: When you take Africa, there's one man who has managed to be excellent in everything he's done, whether it's the way he dresses, whether it's the events he's hosting, whether it's like we're just discussing how he's able to get magic sponsorships that I've tried, I can't get, whether it's the way he networks, you know, he knows how to maintain relationships, make sure people are always feeling special.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: He embodies excellence.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope by the end of this conversation, you can learn how to do the same.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: The CEO and founder of EMY Africa.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Was it me?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Was it me we are talking about?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now who else?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Who else is so excellent?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, my brother Richie.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Charlie, half.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Charlie, it's always a pleasure to sit with you.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you are I always say that you're one of the young people in the industry that I really respect and love.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, because of your mind, because of your work as well.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we were having a discussion before the cameras um came on.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I was telling you how how proud I am of you for all the great things that you achieved and everything you uh you attempt you do very well at it.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm also truly really proud of you and even for this podcast and for what it's trying to do to um speak to masterminds to encourage and inspire people to be the best that they can be.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: I I think that we need more of platforms like this.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, we do.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: So can I convince you to start a podcast?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, help me.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Help me do it.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know you you you've for you you started this not too long ago, but actually the strike.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's incredible.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's it's something that I would also want to um do, to also share uh my experiences, my mind, yeah, with people because that is what we need to do as Africans to uplift each other.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's important.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: I think people need to be able to see the examples of those who fought for the good fight and have been able to achieve that.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we can inspire each other to grow.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because as you were saying, you admire the work I do, I'm also there admiring the work that you do.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: So we need to keep growing like that.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: I always say that inspiration is one of the biggest catalysts for success.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um when people see examples, yeah, um, they feel it, they see it, they can it's it's it's one of the things that can inspire people to want to dream, you want to want to be.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: And especially when you see people who look like you, speak your language, who come from where you come from, um, it's it's even better.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And as Africans, we need to do a lot of that because when I was growing up in school, we used to read about people from the West.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: The um the successful entrepreneurs from the West, the bulgates and stuff.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: We we didn't have stories about people who Africans who have who have told, who have built businesses, um, who have done something extraordinary that we can learn from.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And people, if you are going to read about people from the West, their terrain is different.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes I I I personally think the only thing we've not done is we've not told our stories.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, our telling our story is very, very important, and everything is hinged in everything in this world is hinged on storytelling, yeah.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so we need, as Africans, as a matter of urgency, to tell our story and tell it well.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um a lot of our young people are going through perilous perilous journeys, going through um the sea, going through uh difficult journeys just to go to the West.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Why are they going there?
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because the West has told a story that this is paradise.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so this is where all your dreams will come true.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: When you watch so many movies that say the American.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's a storytelling, yes.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: It is storytelling, and you want that dream.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And it's very deliberate.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so a young person would go and sell their father's land and go and give it to the Visa Connection man just so they can go to the US.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you use that money to start a business?
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's all because somebody has told a great story and we've bought into it.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Why are we not telling our stories?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: We have to change the narrative.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I remember when it became public knowledge that the richest man to have ever lived was Mansa Musa.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody was amazed that he's an African.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's like, yes, but did you not know this?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Which means if we had been telling this story all along, you have a lot of Africans who know you can be here and be that great as well.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Be that great and make it.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I think it's starting to turn around.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Now you have people like the Dangortez, people like the Richard Niamakwe, people are telling their story to show other people that you can do the same.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:40
  unknown: Yeah.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Tedola just wrote um his book.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, telling about his struggles and how he was able to come out of it and become who he is today.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the things we need to we need to see.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the things that our uh our friends, our children, um, the young Africans need to read.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because this is a man who was born in uh Nigeria, who grew up in Nigeria, built his business in Nigeria.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: So you you can relate um to it.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And once you understand it's possible, it is possible, then you know that you can do it too.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: You can do it too.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that when um you go through the challenges and the difficulties, you you know that you have to choose your heart.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Choose your heart to make it, yeah.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard to be it's hard to be poor, it's hard to be rich.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Choose your heart.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: Choose your heart, absolutely.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that is very, very important.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that is why I'm also very um passionate about excellence.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: I uh when people ask me what do you do or who you are, I say I'm an advocate for African excellence.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why I am an advocate for African excellence is because we as Africans are innately excellent.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: But we've been told so many times that we are not good enough.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so it it is uh a duty.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: I find it as a duty to propagate or to make African excellence very infectious through the work that I do.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, you know, through celebrating people who are doing incredibly well, you know, their great work, spotlighting their great work, and also even products that that that come from here.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know for a long time I thought the E and M E stood for excellence?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because of what we represent.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we we represent.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um for so for us at EMY Africa, it's not just about just celebrating people who are doing incredibly well, um people who are extraordinary in in their work, but we are also intentionally excellent at our execution and everything that we put we put uh we put out so that once you engage with a brand, you you live inspired, you leave um challenged that you want to be the best uh you know version of yourself.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Let's start the story from the beginning.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: How like growing up, how how were you able to have these sort of ideas to build this sort of character that makes you want to be excellent in everything you do?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm I'm very fortunate to have grown up in a community in the Western region.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: It was called Bogos.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And my dad is a geologist, so um, he was one of the um senior staff of the of the mining company at the time.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so we lived in a very beautiful community for uh the senior staff of the company.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we're just a bit we're just a handful of blacks in in the community.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um most of my friends were from Australia, Canada, uh, South Africa.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I grew up even though I had not traveled much, I still encountered these countries vicariously, vicariously through these friends uh of mine.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I was also very fortunate to be introduced to foreign content really early.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I started watching the KTVs, MTV bases, um, the award shows uh very early.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that I saw these beautiful stages, these beautiful productions, and that that was my reality.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: So when when I when I watch uh uh local content, I I usually compare that why are these people doing this thing at this level and why are we we could be yeah it could be done at that level.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that I it just influenced my taste.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and so I am not able to do anything, just anything.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Anything that I I attempt to do, I try to do it at a certain level, and that is what excellence is about.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Excellence is about um you know being outstanding in everything in every every single time.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's it's uh it's it's the pursuit for the highest um standard, it's not perfection, just like you rightfully uh put it put in your in your book, it's not perfection, it's it's the everyday um I you know attempt to be the best you know with regards to your timing, how you relate to people, your respect to people, the work that you put out, if you give people your way that I okay, I'll deliver the work on Thursday, you try to deliver the work on Thursday.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not able to do it, yes, if you're not able to do it, it's even how you communicate to the person that okay, because of this one challenge or the other, I couldn't do it.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get what I mean?
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then people would see you and they say, Oh wow, I like the way you do your work.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not even the biggest thing.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes people think excellence is the big stages, the big lights, and all that.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's a part of it, if you can.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: But the little things also matter, and sometimes it's the accumulation of these little things that can get you to be able to put up a big stage for people because the big stage does not just get there, it's the little things that come together for you to be able to build those things.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, you captured it very nicely in your book that excellence is not just for yourself, it inspires the people around you and it elevates your work.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's it's it's a summary of what EMY stands for.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, celebrating greatness to inspire greatness.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we know that the celebration of the African excellence is definitely going to inspire the next generation of African leaders, and that is what we you know, that is what I'm about.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I see that as my my life work.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, um I remember the first time I did a video shoot in South Africa, something like stuck with me, right?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: And as I'm here, I don't even remember the work that the person did, but the makeup artist that we booked, so we gave the makeup artist 10 a.m.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: to be there.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: And at 9:50, the makeup artist called and said, I'm so sorry, I'm stuck in traffic.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: I underestimated how much traffic will be there, so I'll be late.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: I'll get there by 10:15.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, Okay, I wasn't used to that, you know.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: I was very used to somebody being late and they don't even care.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they don't care the looks, you'll come in at 12.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: I won't even apologize and it was you know.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: So now she got there at 10:10.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: So she said she'll get there at 10:15.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: She got there 10 minutes past 10, and as soon as she got there, started taking out her things.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so sorry for being late.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Please forgive me.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: And she started working.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, as I'm sitting here, I don't remember the makeup she did.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even remember the video, but I remember that.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: I remember the way she handled her work.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, yeah, and excellence.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: I I I saw this um definition that Mel Robbins and Emma Greed came up with, and it's beautiful.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: They described the difference between excellence and perfection.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: And they said perfection is trying to do something to please people externally.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Excellen's is trying to do your best internally.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: Trying to make sure that at every point in time, everything that is in your power, you have done.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: You've done.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: If it's beyond my power, yeah.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: That's fine.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: And one once we start getting people to understand that, like, how are you showing up?
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: How are you dressing up?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_01: How are you speaking to people?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, all those tiny, tiny details will build the excellence.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, a lot of the times people ask me, uh I mean, our our terrain or environment is very difficult to um achieve excellence in everything because we are so accustomed to mediocrity.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: We applaud mediocrity that because and to to a point to the point that sometimes when you want to be excellent, you become alien and you you are alienated.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're too known.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, you're too, you're too known, and people see you differently.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so it's very hard to be able to achieve that because people are not accustomed to it, they don't understand.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you don't understand it.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: So people ask me a lot of times how I've been able to, you know, consistently um been able to do what I've been able to do.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't come easy, it's it's not a walk in the park, it comes with a lot of sacrifice, yeah.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And like just like you said, uh, you choose your heart.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: I've chosen to be excellent, and I know it's going to be hard.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: I could have decided to be mundane or medium mediocre.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: That is also hard.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: It's also very hard, it's also very hard, you know.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: But I've chosen to be as excellent as possible.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, as much as I can do within the environment that I find myself, I would out out I'll do it.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: And what you're saying, you know, it's very sad that uh if you get to a place on time, it's like hey, why is it so early?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you won't even find anybody there.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's why you're going for a party, yeah.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: But you gave me six o'clock.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's it's not normal, it's it's abnormal to be early, yeah.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I used to have this argument sometimes with like the different members of my management and everything.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe when we're dealing with artists, and an artist is supposed to be somewhere at two o'clock, and they say tell the artist one so that they'll come at two.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, no, tell them two so they come at two.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: Why are we okay that somebody will come late?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, why is mediocre okay?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when excellence is an easy option as well.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: They are both difficult.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you need to be somewhere, it will take you the same amount of time to get dressed, yeah, take you the same amount of time on the road to get there.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, why are you choosing to not move earlier?
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you see, um, we at EMY, we've set our standards so high that people judge us with our old standard.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: With the old standard, yeah.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I I think that a few of the events I've done, sometimes you are, I mean, we try our best, but the thing is that you work with people.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and sometimes maybe the light guy has to come at a certain point, maybe they delay a little bit, the stage, the stage guy delays a little bit.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes you want to start the event on time, but you're not you're unable to start.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you are like maybe sometimes we are 30 minutes late or 20 minutes late, and my board members and faculty will be like, you said they're going to start the event at seven.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I tell myself that do they go to other events?
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're judging you by your standard.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I told us, do these people go to another event?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why are they complaining that we are 30 minutes late?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is like 30 minutes late.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I I'd rather think again, I'm like, they've seen that we've built an excellent brand.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that is one of the reasons why they are actually there in the first place.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: That they've decided to back us with their the glory, their you know, experience and all that.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to keep up.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: Let's take it from there.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: How did you come up and start building the EMY brand?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I I started as a musician.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, after after um The Runner Days.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: So after university, will you give us a small performance?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'll give it to you.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: As long as your$50,000 is ready to get it.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, please bring the checkbook, bring the checkbook.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I started as a musician um with the group um runner, yeah.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: After after uni.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we competed in the um Nest Africa.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Nest Cafe Africa Revelation.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Revelation competition.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we did very well.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're in the top five.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think we came at we came third or fourth or something.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um when we finished, we were signed on on by um Apetus.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then yeah, I enjoyed the ride.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, I for me, I think that every experience um should be educational.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: You should learn from the experience.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I I learned a lot from there.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: So um from there, my uncle established uh an ad agency at the time, and um I convinced him to create an event department so that I can head it.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: But he he dragged his feet a little bit because you know, this is a young guy who's uh who's a graduate, he's now doing music, he has no formal experience in event management.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: I told him that I've always loved events when I was young, um, you know, at at Pogo Soul where I used to stay, because it was um it was a mining community, and we were far away from the city center, we had to create our own entertainment.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I would bring all the kids together, Christmas party, I organize it.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, so I organization growing up had become a part of me, and I like to put things together and see people have fun.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'll throw out through a pool party and all that.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I had those natural skills.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: I had no honed, I'd I'd not had um a formal education to hone it, but I had just just by share um street experience.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Your street.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was sweet smart.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: I knew that I could do it.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I pleaded with him, and then after a period of time, he agreed to set up the events company, events department so that I could head it.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so when I came in, my first project was uh legends and legacy ball.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um remember um so my concept.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: That was your first project.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: That was my first project.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this man, you're a big achiever.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, that was my first project.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I told them that it would be very good for us to um honor the older musicians by having younger ones you know perform their songs, pay homage to them, just to keep the music alive, but also to inspire these young people on the achievements of the older ones because some of these young musicians don't know much about the older generation, so that they in order for them to learn from from you know the experiences, learn from their mistakes, you know, pick up some of the great things that they have also done.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I came in.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: The first Legends and Legacy Ball was was a massive success.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: I remember I said I wanted to do a double decastation, so I I came in with a huge appetite.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: So the first stage we did at the uh conference center was a double decast.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody had done it before.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: I said I wanted the stairs on the side, and I was very fortunate to have um a man somebody introduced me to Mr.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Michael Monkwafu.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so he was appointed because I was young, and so everything that I was saying, they thought I was just it was just a wishful thing.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I fortunately got Uncle Mike.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: on on the project as a consultant.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then I went in with Uncle Mike.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then I told Uncle Mike all my ideas.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: And Uncle Mike was so fascinated with me.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: He was it was a Uncle Mike is an older man but he also he's also a dreamer like myself.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: We connected so much so that he's one of my mentors.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: I I call him one of my mentors.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought Uncle Mike was aligned with my vision.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: So through Uncle Mike the company my uncle's company you know accepted that we could we could do the things that I was dreaming about.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: The first event was massive we honored um that Lumba of Blessed Memory and we had uh the president at the time that's uh former president as president kufour we had uh we had uh what's his name Rollins of Blessed Memory former president Rollins of Blessed Memory and we had his wife as uh as well Nana Kunedu yeah and then you know before that event people thought it was a rift between between those those two and they came to the event and and they they danced together it was world news but at the time there was no social media so yeah it wasn't the good old days the good old days but it was world news because we're getting calls from Germany Australia people even wanted us come and replicate the same events okay in in you know at at this place I think BBC even reported about it and all that and so overnight the company was how it was a household name our uncle was like wow because they had been in in business for a while and nobody knew who who they were so that event really brought the company to the fore people became you know household name and subsequently we had we had maybe three or four um more editions successful editions I also created the Ghana Stance in Worship um at MTN was a sponsor at the time we brought in Donnie McClerkin so I I did a lot of things with with with my uncle and so through that I was able to build relationships I honed my skills really well and then I moved on to form my uh my own company and then um started the EMY Africa brand I actually started with a friend of mine um but I think two or three years into the into the partnership he he fell off.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: So this is how this is the genesis of Carbon AV.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes so I I left um my uncle's company advertising I think in 2015 okay and then I started at Carbon AV and then eventually EMY AR2015.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: So that means EMY Africa was your first imagine you started at Carbon AV.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yes yes yes EMY Africa we did the first event at uh the Statehouse okay I remember um first event but you know what we had because of my time at Imagine advertising had built a lot of respect in the industry because I worked with most of the of the suppliers okay and we're fascinated by this young man's drive my ideas my vision you you can't you couldn't tell me nothing because I had this vision and when once you tell me that I can't do it I find a way of cutting you off.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah was nothing was going to get in my way of of you know getting what I wanted and so the people in the industry I've I built very great relationship Frankie and I's relationship yeah you know started from there uh Kojo pu I built so when I wanted to start my event all of them wanted to support me because they knew that I wasn't joking.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: They knew I was going to do something and do it well.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um that is also another important lesson that you know everybody as a young person if you want to build a business or you want to um venture into anything is the relationship that you've built that is going to hold you because sometimes it's not about money.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: I remember we didn't have money we didn't have a lot of sponsorship because it was our first event but because we had built relationships um I had had friends I could call you know for support.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: And the truth is excellent people are actually attracted to excellent people because you want to keep doing excellent things.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: True and even the kind of people we were able to pull to the room for a first event yeah blew people away and that is how EMY you know started growing and how we got the respect um I remember the first year we owned um Parquisindom we owned despite um oh we we had one we had some great people and they all turned up it was it was it was beautiful but it was beautiful haven't you ever had doubts like when you are starting these things and swinging so big haven't you ever had doubts that maybe I'm doing too much maybe I should just be mediocre today it's today I still have doubts I'm planning the 10th year Africa was I still have doubts but it's just the faith um and the belief that it can be done so where does that where does that faith come from um it comes from God because once you believe in God because God says that um as little as a master seed you can do anything.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: So what your belief in God can also um be a good backbone it's a good backbone for me.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I I feel that it's it's getting so hard I pray I mean I pray every day but I I always commit everything that I'm doing into God's hands.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah you know and I don't leave it at that I go out and try but then there's a bigger force that you have to uh entrust all your um your dreams and goals and aspirations into this answer.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: A question I ask myself anytime I feel doubt why not me?
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because maybe whatever big thing I want to do other people have done even bigger things you know I always talk about the Wright brothers yeah that they invented flying when you know so today it's a mystery right it's a mystery how did they think about that they invented flying when all we could do was walk and drive so if they could do it why not me because you know sometimes you'll be in the air and then it splits for a split I'm hanging yeah I'm in the hell you know the the worst one was when I I was in a helicopter yeah and we took off you see when you're going in a plane as it's gradual but the way the helicopter just took off I'm like hey hey what did before crazy those guys spend man but it's you know it is possible they believed they they they had a vision yeah and sometimes you see once you believe and you start the universe just supports supports you in one way or the other do you get what I mean it's people the support will just come but people are afraid to start I think that one of my superpowers is execution I'm able to execute like I'm able to execute I think in pictures so if I want to do em for instance this year I know how I want my stage to be I have an idea of it of course I'm going to get um professionals to design my stage and but I have an idea of what I want I I have an idea to the point of how my walkway into the event is going to be like throughout the year through my travels through watching movies like I pick up little little ideas and bring it together as to how I want the experience you know let's discuss that do you know for a long time in my life I didn't know there were two types of people there are those who think in pictures and those who think in words yeah I think in pictures I think in words okay so Baba for instance thinks in pictures yeah I think in words that's why I'm very good at planning putting together you know a plan on how I'm going to execute things because I have like a constant I say I'm I'm going to do an episode on this thing because it's a very huge thing it is I have like a constant voice that's going on in my head but then I I learned that no there are other people who are always thinking in pictures it comes in pictures like this is how one has to be and for some some way somehow that vision I have in my mind should come to pass.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's how it is so I work towards it that's amazing though yeah I work towards it so I and that is why when I'm doing an event I'm like a lion trying to protect that vision because you've seen it I've seen it so you nobody's going to cross me yeah so my people always say that I'm I'm not the nicest person when when it comes yes I'm not because I have a vision and that vision must come to pass nobody's crossing you'll not be lit you will not come and put like you will not come and put something that is not what I envisioned envisioned you know it has to come to see Kojod blasting I'll just be laughing.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah because it has to come together and when it comes together really nicely even the people you blasted will come and say oh yeah it's looks really nice if I didn't blast you it wouldn't have come together nicely because sometimes people are not in your head people don't understand what you're trying to achieve even if you you have it on paper they still don't see it.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah they don't see it they still don't see it because we all don't see things the same way yeah we all don't see things the same way but thankfully um through the years I've been able to build some good community like yourself Baba Frankie um you know um Tony Tometi like I built a good community that operates at that level yeah so once you you once you share your vision with them they're able to come along and help you to um you know bring that vision to the to the fore because you can't do it all alone yeah and so it I'm happy that we you know gradually we are building a great community that look at what we did with the uh RNAq at 40 40 it wasn't just one person's work it was a whole army yes a whole army and you you were able to spot because you were the team lead you're able to spot great talents I mean I I was the the call that came let's go jo I want us to uh my uh my boss wants us to do this um the biggest the biggest uh event ever and you are one of the people that I think can help bring this vision to the fore and then Baba as well and I remember our first meeting very very vividly how we ideas were just flowing ideas were just flowing things impossible things and do you remember how many people told us ideas were impossible and you see is because we we had consolidated the idea yeah and we believed in the idea so nobody could tell us no and you as as as stubborn as I am and that's why we are friends you get what I mean Baba is as stubborn as as both of us and so once we consolidated um our minds as excellent as we are our minds told us that it was possible we had envisioned it and it was going to happen yes yeah we listen and the everything we saw on the grounds at the a current at the grand um conference uh what is the call this place at the independent independent square we had envisioned we had talked about it yeah and we did everything to the T Yeah except that one thing do you remember yeah but but I mean that was that was between us nobody knew what and then it's you know what we didn't plan actually even ended up yes absolutely look at what we did I mean it's the biggest uh and I'm just looking for the the next person that can beat this this record or we'll beat again ourselves or we will beat it again ourselves but yeah but it's it's just it's just believing and and understanding that impossible is nothing and you know I think that's one thing about the universe that's one thing God does for you right when you believe in excellence when every idea you get you actually pursue it yeah more is thrown to you yeah you know there's there's this I haven't said this anywhere before right but the day I came up with the idea to do the Lynx reverb headphones I was talking to Baba about it and I said like I want to do headphones and this we're going on a walk in the morning like early morning walk and we're discussing it and I was talking about the headphones and the first one is going to be all black blah blah blah blah blah and I told her something that see this idea just came in my head right but I've seen the logo and I've seen that logo in my like when I saw the logo in my head it's it didn't feel like an idea it felt like this is something real yeah that has already actualized in the future and I'm getting a glimpse of it you know I I think it's like the story of the talent in the Bible it's if if you you actually use what is given to you life just keeps throwing more if you have not done it somebody else would have done exactly because ideas they travel they are like waves it's there to be given waves yeah so it's like do you want it do you want it if you don't then give to somebody else yeah absolutely so a lot of people who keep thinking they are not achieving enough in life it's probably because every time life throws you something you say oh but we'll love what yeah am I good enough oh my country people won't like it and a lot of people are also defined by their environment yeah a lot of people are defined by environment so oh Ghana you know Ghana it's is we this is our standard we can't do it why can't you just endure a little bit of discomfort and set yourself apart because you know excellence sets you apart yeah but I think it's also because you see there's one thing that we don't understand something going international right we always compare our local achievement to an international achievement what we don't get is when you are watching the biggest thing when you're watching the World Cup and comparing the World Cup to Ghana Premier League the World Cup is the best of the best in the world if you go to their like the different countries you will find lower leagues that are not as good.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_01: When you are looking at the biggest event and you are watching the Grammys or you're watching that they've done that so well that they stand out.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah they're CC yes thank you whatever yes but there are people there who are also struggling just like we are over here you know like when I was in in LA like two years ago or last year or something and I was going around and they were talking about their problems they have in the industry and they are suffering with copyright and all and I was like really you see it is bro it is storytelling yes so you have to go there to face the realities.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: But but before you realize you've gotten you've gotten there they've taken you've you've you've the foreign exchange has already gone yeah do you get what I mean?
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: How are we telling a story?
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Listen Africa has problems and so does the West thank you everywhere has problems where what what are we focusing on?
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Are we focusing on our problems or we are focused on our solutions or are focusing on the on the um the blessings that the Lord has given us the resources the great minds the great people are we telling those stories telling those stories would help us even solve our problems yeah and everyone who wants to be an entrepreneur out there entrepreneurship is just about solving problems.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes absolutely if you feel you are in a country which has too many problems make some money solve one absolutely and make some money yeah and then you see with all the things that is going on in the world this is all the things that's going on in the US all the things that are going on in in in London and around the world it's telling us that build your home yeah build your continent this is your home nobody can come here and say go go back home yeah this is where you come from yeah so if you build your businesses here if you build your wealth here you know you are keeping it nobody's come to take it away from you and we have the power we have we have the resources too we have the people we just need to be proud of what we have and shout it out you know one thing I always say I'm glad of is the fact that I started to travel because of work and every time I leave Ghana I think wow Ghana is a beautiful country I don't think I've ever been out of Ghana more than three days and not gotten homesick like Ghana is a beautiful country Ghana is a peaceful country Ghana we are so innovative we have everything that we need here but because we've not told our story well even to ourselves yes even to our that is very important yeah even to ourselves because you see our youth have to understand that Africa is also paradise.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: They need to understand that they can make it here so that they will stay because the youth is the most important resource that Africa has.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: We are losing it you're losing that resource that this resource is even more valuable than gold yeah it's more valuable than diamonds because listen most of these countries are doing all these exchange programs to get it's brain drain they are getting our people there to build I mean I'm sad I learned brain drain in social studies and it's still happening.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes I'm telling just so they can come and build their their countries yeah and after they you finish building your country then you make some small money they'll push you back yeah but they don't need you anymore.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it is it is it is our duty to empower you to give them hope.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: The hope that would let them stay here and build our country and also that our leaders should also create a good environment because you see once we talk about hope hope hope we need to also create a good environment so that these young people can thrive.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you see with a land that has a lot of things that need to be solved that is the best place to actually grow.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: So then let me let me reveal a secret right so when I started Lynx you know the concept behind starting a record label was I wanted to make RB like music hip hop music and nobody was doing that.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I I decided let's create a community let's create a number of people so that when we do it we'll have a ripple effect that will keep things going over and over again.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: But now it was very difficult how do we achieve this then I said okay nobody's really established record labels here in the past maybe they do it for a short time then we'll they'll stop uh so why don't we take the countries that have done this for 80 years 100 years and solved problems that they had there now they've managed to solve that problem we still have that problem here why don't we just take what they did and solve our problem here and through that we're able to keep succeeding yeah over and over and over again so if you are in a country and you see that a lot is going on wrong things are not working here things are not working there come up with a solution it's excellent about it yeah and I also think that we we as um as blacks or as Africans should patronize ourselves patronize our products patronize ourselves and not think that it's inferior it's not everything that comes from um Africa is inferior there are people do great so I mean my suit is is is from here my trousers is from here there are people caveman does beautiful watches let's patronize once think something is coming from Africa people automatically think that it's inferior and because most of the things from here are superior yes like a chocolate is superior yeah but people would go out there and buy chocolates more expensive chocolates than even buying the ones we have here I I once watched them marketing something yeah on a on a US show and it was an exfoliating sponge and it was called Sapo just a sapo sapo yes so they took sapo yeah and they have packaged it nicely and they were talking about all the benefits and this and that I was like I'm telling you they just our Ghana must go and they are selling it for three thousand dollars I've seen it and a Ghanaian would go and buy that three thousand yes I will not buy or an African will not buy a the bag from a young African who has hand stitched the bag and thank you they will not do it because it's coming from yes because they are coming from it's true I mean the designers and then the product developers should do better branding to tell better stories about the brands that they are building yeah but our consumers should also consume it.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we do all this storytelling and you don't consume it for how long can you do the storytelling and your own people don't believe in you like here in in Africa for people to even sometimes take you seriously they want to see you doing things outside the country or bring in some Ubroni to come and be part of an event before they say oh this is a big thing if or even sometimes when people receive awards here people take Ghana music awards they receive Ghana music awards they want to receive a Grammy award or an international award for them to be validated.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm sorry why do you I'm sorry to attack those in my industry do you get what I'm saying the the awards that we have if you receive the Ghana Music Awards be proud about it but you go out there talk about how you are happy to receive Ghana music awards that is how people respect the award because the Grammy is an international award it started in the US it's a US award and the US have glorified it that is why we also see that you want to receive it there's nothing wrong with you receive a Grammy award when anybody receives another Grammy award they should be proud they should talk about it but also talk about what you receive later Locally, you know, talk about it, be proud about it.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: That is how we are going to grow.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let's be proud about things from our continent.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we rather want to glorify anything that is not from here.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever I hear musicians and I'm putting it and everybody's saying, Oh, we need to win a Grammy, we need to win a B T.
• 44:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking, why?
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying it's not a good thing to win.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's a good thing to do.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's beautiful, but why isn't what we have as precious as what they have?
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now Grammys even trying to come to the to Africa.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: Why are they coming here?
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because Africa, it's a blessed continent.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants to be part of Africa.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you, once you are going to be able to do it, when people are coming here, you realize everybody loves Africa.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: But Africans.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, it's it's it's it's just sad.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: So it works both ways.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: People doing the work must put in good work.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: Excellence must be at the center of what you're doing, whether it's a product, whether it's a service you're providing.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_00: Excellence.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because, you know, I always say that everything is storytelling.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: Richie, you are telling a story about Africa.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_00: When you go out there and they ask you where you're from, you're Ghanaian, you're a young entrepreneur, you've you've built links entertainment, you've you you know, um, you've you have helped you know, musicians come up, you've you have the links with like, and how excellent you've done with your work.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's tell the story that good things can come out from Africa as well.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: And when people interact with you, your brain, what so we are all ambassadors of our continent.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever you're doing, whatever you are putting out, if it's a product, if it's a service, you do it well because you are marketing our continent.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we are all ambassadors for it.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: And and the thing that people say about environment, you always need to think, think about plants, right?
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_01: There are plants that can grow in the desert, and there are plants that can grow in very wet soil.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_01: So you can grow in any environment.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: Your environment shouldn't define you.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: You can adapt, you can learn.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_01: And the truth of the matter is one thing I've come to see is when you are in a tough environment and you are able to survive, you become stronger.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: I remember when Gil Green and some of the directors came to Ghana and they saw the Ghanaian directors.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: They were like, Really?
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_01: You guys hold camera, do lights, edit, come up with concepts.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like how?
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and even the cost, the cost of producing is very cheap, but we're able to get, you know, yeah, um, the product is good.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's just we we have it all.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: The the kind of excellence we have within us.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and sometimes you look at the the kind of budget we have, and what things will be able to do with the budget.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the the entire EMY Africa budget will probably be less than a pre-party for an outsider world show.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean your one-year budget.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: When I do events in London, yeah.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: How much does backdrop cost you?
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: A simple backdrop would cost you like 3,000 pounds.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what?
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm always complaining.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you see, here the the amount of money and the kind of things I can never with the budget we have do what we do with EMY in London.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: Or even do it in America.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have a friend who is also does a beautiful award show, moved the award show to um um the US and has brought it back to Africa because the cost of production is mind-blowing.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and what he's able to do here in Africa with with the budget that he has is great.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying that we don't need money to do our production.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: We need money, we need corporate to support us.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_00: But what I'm saying is that we are very excellent people.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_03: We are problems solving problem solvers.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Africans are problem solvers.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: So wherever you put us, no matter how small it is, we're able to create something out of it.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_00: Things that will kill an Oibo person.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we would we are resilient, yeah.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_00: So God has blessed us with everything: resilience, resourcefulness, uh, like everything.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: So there's no way we should we should be where we are today.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: But all the things that you've done, which one do you say tested you the most?
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I think that everything has been a if it's not a challenge, I'm not doing it.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: Everything has always been a challenge, it's been a challenge.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_00: I always want to be um better than than the year before.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: So every every event if you follow the EMY uh platform, everything we do, every year it gets better, every year we we get bigger.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think that everything that I've done has been a challenge, but I've always believed that you know we can do it and do it well.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um over the years we've grown, we've become the premier brand that celebrates excellence, um, that inspires greatness, that spotlights leadership.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's it's I mean everything about EMY is is is is it's challenging.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: But but but we we manage to do it anyway.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, getting the people to honor, and sometimes you see, the people we honor are not ordinary people.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: Getting them sometimes people from outside the country to come in, to accept, to accept the award, come in and receive the award, the production, the idea ideation of what we're gonna do every year.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's every year is a fresh start.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: People think that it's it's we've we travel 10 years, so it's easy.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: No, every year is a fresh start for us.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: What are we doing this year?
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_00: How are we going to top um last year's event?
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: What is our our our communication?
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm blessed to have a great team who are not um uh are not yes men.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: So tell it's we tell we tell it your face, we challenge each other.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the process is is is is crazy.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: It starts at the beginning of the year, the selection process, the nomination process, the there are so many moving parts that come together to form the uh that night, one night that everybody is gonna watch on TV.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: So they all see that one day of glamour.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: One day of glamour, but it starts the steps.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it starts right from the beginning of the year.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: The selection of the uh nominees, the the board meetings, the faculty meetings, the debates, who has to win what, does the person deserve it?
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's just incredible.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: But I think let's attack ourselves too.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that is part of the problem.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: We don't let people see the struggle.
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I think a lot of people don't achieve much because when they see those at the top, they think it was easy for them to get there.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_01: So when they start and they are struggling, then they think, nah, must be doing something wrong.
• 51:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's not working.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know that everyone who got there went through that same hustle.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like every time a rich man comes to sit on TV or holds a mic and says, I started with one chicken or I started with one chicken.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: They think that I mean when Mr.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: Que said he would watch plates and all that to today, people still challenge me.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: But how did he watch people?
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: I was saying if people are in the US watching washing plates in in restaurants, yeah.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if I if I if I was in the US because he started his life in London, yeah, and probably worked in a restaurant and was washing the plates, people will not believe it because today they see him as a very rich man, they think that he pressed jump and got there.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_01: So when they are hustling, they think there's no connection between the hustle and the success.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, social media has made it that way.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_00: But that is why platforms like this is very important.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_00: That we come, we don't only talk about the the glam or the beautiful things, but we also talk about where we came from, the struggles, the difficulties that we go through.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let's be real.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when we started Tigon, right, Baba gets a lot of DMs, a lot of people saying, Oh, we want to work with you, your work is so beautiful because you see the work that Tigon does, especially the set design, the photo installations, the final work is what you see.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and it's very beautiful and artistic and glamorous.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, when the person comes and then they have to go 20 hours non-stop, 24 hours non-stop.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_01: When you are shooting a music video, the call time for the music video was 6 a.m.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_01: and it's 4 a.m.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_01: and you are still shooting, then that's when the people start thinking, eh?
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_01: But that but that's what it takes.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's what it takes.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the sleepless nights.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've I always have conversations about when people talk about things like work-life balance or you need to work less and everything, but I don't know any successful person who works less than me.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's not possible.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_01: Every time I meet somebody who I really respect from afar, I'm like, oh, I respect what this person is doing.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_01: When I meet the person, they are either as hardworking as I am or more.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_00: More, yeah.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I leave the office at eight.
• 53:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I'm having a meeting.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yesterday I had the meeting around 9 p.m.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I was in a call with a friend, and I was saying I was going for a meeting at night.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: Is it nine o'clock?
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, this is the time that the person I want to meet gave me.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_00: Would I say I will not pick the I will not take the meeting?
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take the meeting.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_00: You do you get what I mean?
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_00: So these is a there's a lot of stuff.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_00: People see all only the glance.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes people even see that you are traveled, you are posting the nice parts of the things, but sometimes maybe the travel, I'm going to do some bidding, I'm going to meet some somebody to to to do some um like to share my ideas to get some funding.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_00: That people do work.
• 54:13
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes don't be deceived by just the beautiful things that you you know you see, you see on social media.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, there's you have to choose your heart.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's no substitute for hard work.
• 54:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: EMY does not just happen.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_00: The awards does not just happen.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's a lot of work.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like I get turned away.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: I get sponsors turn me away.
• 54:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not, we are not superhuman.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like once because we emy is emy, sponsorship is automatic.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: Bro, we get turned away.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: But the if you say no to me, it's I see it as an opportunity for a bigger yes.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: So you do you do you say no to me today, I'll come back again better.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_00: Or I'll go to the next person who is going to say yes.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so I keep going until I get the yes.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_00: And usually the yes is is is is much better than the the other person who said who said no to me.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_00: And once you say no to me, you regret that you say no to me.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because for me, no brings out some uh some things in me.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_00: When you say no to me, it challenges you.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_00: The the the I the Jew the ideas that no is going to generate in me that's that project that you said no to me, if you get the opportunity to watch, you're like, whoa, I should have been part of this.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody gets no.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_00: People don't tell you the things they go through to be able to do the beautiful things that they do, but people face rejections all the time.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: People go through on social media.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: I know these days, because everyone can take a phone and say what's on their mind.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people are saying, don't work hard, work smart.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, you have to work smart, but you have to work hard.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_01: The whole point is without the hard work, nothing happens.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: But if you add working smart onto it, then it multiplies.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but it's not a substitute, it's not an either-or type of thing.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, there's no either.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: Both exist together.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, both exist together.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_00: There's no sub that's why they say there's no substitute for hard work.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, there's no substitute as well.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: All the things that inspire us, you know, all the big projects that inspire us.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you see then the work that goes into achieving that, yeah, um, and the and the investment that goes into it.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and the investment is not just financial, it's it's it's actually putting in the work.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a sacrifice.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: What kind of personal sacrifices have you had to make to maintain your level?
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um I I believe that I you know with with with EMY, I because of how excellent I always like the event to be, I think we put in a lot.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like when I promise a sponsor that is what we are going to do, or whatever we have planned, or whatever we have planned, whatever I have in my mind the goal is to achieve it.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get what I mean?
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so it's and I mean truth to truth truth be told, getting resources here to to fund the kind of uh excellence, the kind of vision that we have with EMY is very, very difficult.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so how to marry the two, the the the resources that we have and the kind of vision we have to achieve is usually very, very it's really really very very tough.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to work twice as hard, you know, beg twice as hard, you know, negotiate hard because you go to um all these suppliers and say this is the vision that I have.
• 58:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is my budget, this is my budget.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you we we have to work with this.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sometimes they'll push back, maybe add this to it, add that to it.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just the um the drive to be able to achieve the vision with the little resources that has always been the challenge.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I'm grateful for the commit as I say again, the community that we've we've built, people who stand with us, who support us.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we know that we don't pay them as much as we're supposed to pay them, but it's the ecosystem.
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_00: We believe that the work we are doing is going to open bigger doors for us, for you know, for the future, that people would know, the corporate would know that is we can also do it.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so and so that they will give us the um the funds or the resources that would match the kind of production um you know that we do.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_01: See, I like how you're always talking about relationships and everything, because I think your one person I've really learned that networking is not just what you benefit from the person, but it's also the value that you offer the person.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's a win-win situation.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a win-win situation.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I always say that your I mean, it's it's it's almost it almost sounds like a broken record that your network is your net worth.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_00: 100%.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_00: You get what I mean?
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but once you have a relationship, you have to save that relationship.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_00: The relationship must also serve you.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_00: You get what I mean?
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_00: You it's it's not a one-sided um situation.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_01: If it's one-sided, then it's parasitism.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and and one will run away.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: One will run away.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one will run away.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_00: And especially when you have um very successful people as friends who have very little time, yeah, um, who have so many people competing for their attention.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_00: If they give you the opportunity to be in their space, to be in their friends, what are you giving them?
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sometimes it's not even it's not about money because you don't have as much money as they do.
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but when you come around, what do you what do you give them?
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_00: What value do you add to them?
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you have to have some sort of value that you are bringing um to the relationship for you to be able to keep that relationship.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_01: Like a lot of people don't think when they think about mentorship and stuff, they don't think about the fact that what are you offering to the person?
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I've seen people who walk up to someone and say, I respect you, I want to work for you for three months for free.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to pay me afterwards, that's great.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_01: If not, we part ways.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: Do you get me?
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then the person thinks, okay, if they do a good job, cool, I get a great employee.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if not, yeah, I took a risk and that's it.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: But most people will come, oh, but also do me a favor, oh, something.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_01: Then you just end up pushing everybody away.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about what they what they can get um immediately.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, people are not willing to sacrifice for the future, and that is the case expression.
• 1:01:02
  SPEAKER_01: Either increase your sacrifice or reduce your desire.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you're not willing to sacrifice, then just be there and be happy with your drive in the nicest car, you want to be a business owner, it comes with a lot of sacrifice.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do you get what I mean?
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_00: It comes with a lot of sacrifice.
• 1:01:18
  SPEAKER_00: So you you you have to be ready to say another sacrifice quote.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_01: I like they said you either sacrifice for what you want, or what you want becomes a sacrifice.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good one.
• 1:01:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a good one.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we need we need to um create more platforms like this where we can let the because Charlie, social media is just messing up the minds of young people who think that they can just get everything on a silver platform.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: So now you employ a young person and they come, they don't want to work, but they want to be paid.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_00: They will come to you and say, boss, I want to take the day off.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: You want to take the day off to work.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_00: Hey when I have the boss, when the when it's time for when it's five o'clock, they'll pick up their bag and they'll be going.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_00: When sometimes they've not finished the work that you've allocated.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a new message.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_00: How do you expect to grow?
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_00: How do you expect the business to get money to even pay you at the end of the month?
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_00: And when the month um comes, they're expecting their salary.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_01: If the salary delay is small, pay you a problem.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's a toxic work.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like soft life.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's nothing you work hard, there's nothing wrong with soft life.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, just like the the quote said.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you want soft life, then sacrifice, you know.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_01: But people just want the soft life without the sacrifice.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you are getting soft life without you sacrificing, it means somebody sacrificed for you.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, somebody sacrificed for you.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_00: The person who's giving you that money is working hard, yeah.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so you have to.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: There's no such thing as a free lunch.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's nothing like that.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_01: Your free lunch means somebody else is paying for you.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_00: So we need to do all these things, the this platform talking to people, and and a lot more where we can engage young people and and they should also choose it.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_01: Because what I mean by that is you can either go on social media and watch a rich man sitting in his yacht or flying in his private jet and be enthused by that, or you can watch a conversation like this that the same rich man is having about how he made it, yeah.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_01: He made it.
• 1:03:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you either sit there and be wild by their life and continue to suffer in yourself.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_00: Either way, it's hard because you're using data.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_00: Same effort, yeah, but one you leave you leave with some nuggets, yeah.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how the person was able to build their wealth, yeah, uh, and apply that to your life.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_00: You pick one or two things, you might even get um an idea from there to start your own business.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and because success takes time, you need to start now.
• 1:03:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I always say one of my biggest blessings was that I started my company at 17.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I got to make all my mistakes, experiment, fail while I was young.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_01: And as I'm older and I have more responsibilities now, I've been able to, you know, yeah, succeed towards it, yes, yes, yes, yes.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_01: But I know reach where I want to go yet.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_00: You I mean, but you're on your way.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to start today.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you're watching this, whatever you are doing right now, start.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_01: If you are working for somebody, you have a business idea, start a side hustle.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I say you have 24 hours in the day, you're working nine to five.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let's even say you want to be extra healthy and sleep eight hours.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_01: You have an extra eight hours that you can use to work for yourself, work on your dream.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but you are the one who's choosing to use it to play, to play video games and to go out drinking with friends.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's your choice.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:04:53
  SPEAKER_01: So when in 10 years you have accumulated and become the best FIFA player, but you are not doing it professionally and you are hungry.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_01: Who do you have to blame?
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there are lots of things that I used to do when I was younger.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like even when I was building links and everything, I could watch series non-stop, especially because I work very fast.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_01: So let's say it will take somebody maybe 10 hours to finish a song, it can take me one hour.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_01: So now I have an extra nine hours.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'll use those nine hours to watch series, play video games, all those kinds of things.
• 1:05:30
  SPEAKER_01: And I felt there was nothing wrong with it because I was achieving.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_01: But then at a point I realized, but I can achieve more, yeah.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you so if you did one, so you could have done three.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so people have to have that discipline discipline.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you say every day you are going to watch comedy videos, are you planning on being a comedian?
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, why why?
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, if those things serve your purpose, because maybe if I want to be uh I'm a comedian.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to be a better comedian.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'll suggest you watch people who have gone ahead of you, people who sell.
• 1:06:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:06:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if what you're watching is just purely for entertainment, then you need to.
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_00: Entertainment is good.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you work so hard and you just want to take some time.
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_00: Let go.
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:06:18
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's just pure entertainment, you're not taking anything from it, people are actually making money from you just watching.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_00: And not making anything of it.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I take time to watch bigger productions.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was going to say that.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I take time to watch bigger project productions.
• 1:06:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or watching the Oscars, I'm not just watching it for entertainment.
• 1:06:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll after I've watched it, I would have gotten one or two or three ideas because that is the industry.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's the thing I always say about entertainment.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_01: You can choose entertainment in your area of interest.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe sometimes not even something you're working with.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe right now you are in farming and you plan on becoming an event organizer in the next five years.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_01: So if you are watching events every day, you are subconsciously preparing yourself for that.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_01: But if you are into farming and you are hoping that one day you will become a banker and every day you are watching Super Bowl, tell me how you connect.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_00: How does it connect?
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_00: And and then you know, one thing that I've also um realized with my years of working in this space is how the um corporate Ghana is reluctant to invest you know the right amounts of money into talent or into projects that are from here.
• 1:07:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you often hear some of the you know supports that they give supposedly um events that are coming from the West.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_00: Even sometimes when you are bringing an international artist, then they are willing to give you more money.
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're using a local artist back to the storytelling, yes, if you're if you are if you're using a local artist, you're not you're not willing, you're not able to get sponsors who will be able to give you this the same amount of money that they would have been willing to give for the international artist.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's the story we've told ourselves, it's a story that corporate person has told himself that anything coming from outside is better is better.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we we need we need to change that narrative because if we have to build um you know an Africa that we will all be proud of, an Africa that our children are going to be proud of, our youth are going to be proud of, then we all have a responsibility to play.
• 1:08:47
  SPEAKER_00: So the players, everybody who's every player has a responsibility.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_00: And there's one thing in the world.
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the service provider, um, the um the founder who's founded a business.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, do good work.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, put out good products, don't cut corners.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of the times when even some of we event organizers or project managers will take money from people, promise them the wealth, and once we get their money, we're not able we don't even do a quarter of what we said we're going to do.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_00: Do you get what I mean?
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that affects your credibility.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_00: And some then subsequently the sponsor will not be willing to sponsor you or even give you the amount of money they gave you before.
• 1:09:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I would also say that when people do good work, when people put in good work, those are the people that sponsors must put money behind.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes there's nepotism, people have friends, have families, and so I know this guy.
• 1:09:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know this guy.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so even if the guy is doing something and the thing is not at par, the thing is not excellent, they will still support that thing.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah because the person is my family, or I know this person, or I'll get my cut.
• 1:09:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll say, That's the worst one.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll say, why don't you support the person who's doing good work?
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_00: Whose work is excellent, whose work is inspiring greatness, and still get your cuts, but you would have still supported excellence.
• 1:10:12
  SPEAKER_00: We've still helped in shaping our storytelling as Africans.
• 1:10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you continue um supporting mediocrity, if we are still giving projects to the person who's going to do the road and just do uh first quote and will not do second quotes, and two years down the line, there's still potholes.
• 1:10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Just because you know the person you're going to get your cut.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_00: What are we doing?
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of story are we telling?
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_01: You get what I mean?
• 1:10:41
  SPEAKER_01: We have to reject mediocrity.
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_00: We just have to reject mediocrity in every shape, way, or form.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_00: In every industry that we find ourselves, from government to corporate to you know, musicians to the creative arts, we need to.
• 1:10:55
  SPEAKER_00: When I say doing good work, it doesn't mean giant stage or giant production.
• 1:11:02
  SPEAKER_00: But even the little things that you're doing.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if if there's one thing we could change in Ghana, that alone, if we could change time, yeah, where people stop being late, that alone would shift a lot of things to excellence.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a it's a it's it's a little thing.
• 1:11:19
  SPEAKER_00: So let's invest in ourselves.
• 1:11:20
  SPEAKER_00: If there's money, if there's budget, uh our our you know, brands, people, our marketing people should invest in ourselves because yeah, once we grow, it's an ecosystem.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_00: You also grow.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because if I make more money, I'm bringing if you're a bank, I'm bringing more money to put in the bank.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_00: If I am bringing an international artist and you give me more money for the international artist, and I'll use that money to pay the international artist, you'll take the money.
• 1:11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why won't you help me to support the same money or even close to the amount of money you give me?
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let me give it to a local, give it to me so I can pay a local artist more money.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_00: The local artist makes more money, puts, comes to your bank, opens an account, and do you get what I mean?
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody benefits one way or the other.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's what we should invest in as well.
• 1:12:05
  SPEAKER_01: I love using Ghanaian vendors for whatever I'm doing.
• 1:12:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when um we're coming to do RNA Q40, a lot of people felt we should bring foreign vendors.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm thinking, no, let me let my same Ghana people do it.
• 1:12:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if by doing this event they need to bring in some equipment, this means this equipment is now going to be available in six months' time when it needs to be used again.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_01: But if I say, Oh, give it to a Nigerian vendor, give it to a South African vendor, after they buy that equipment, they take it back, they take it back.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Build your ecosystem, build your ecosystem.
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and and look at what we did.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I say, the excellence is in it.
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_00: We have it in us all.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we just have to believe and bring that excellence out.
• 1:12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Look at what we were able to do.
• 1:12:49
  SPEAKER_00: People were surprised, and people thought that we brought people from um from our side to come and do it.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people were looking for the foreigners organizing it.
• 1:12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Why must it always be foreigners?
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we uh as for us, we we we are we we don't know what we're about.
• 1:13:05
  SPEAKER_01: Once you believe, and that's the thing, you see, the reason that event worked so well is everybody there believed in the everybody believed it, yeah.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes, and as as as as leaders of the project, we also believed, and we're you know, a lot of the time, if you're if you're a visionary and you have a vision and you are you are your vision is unwavering, people tag along.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's because we believed, yeah.
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So anybody who came, I mean, those who came who and who had issues and did not believe cut off.
• 1:13:36
  SPEAKER_00: And those who believed, or even had a quarter of belief at the beginning, they are their belief in the project came together full circle as we moved on and and things started coming together.
• 1:13:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you got to see, oh, actually, it's possible.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, possible, yes.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's possible.
• 1:13:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because I remember so many meetings we had.
• 1:13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Some people were still in there, but were a bit, you know, really, are we able to do this?
• 1:14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the ideas were very lofty.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_01: We are crazy about it.
• 1:14:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm telling you.
• 1:14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the ideas were were like, are these people really serious?
• 1:14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Are they able to do what they what what they are planning to do, what they are saying to do?
• 1:14:16
  SPEAKER_01: Every time I'm driving under the Adomi Bridge, or I'm on the Volta River or something, I think I kwame Kroma was excellent.
• 1:14:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, that man he had ideas then that guy did, we are still using them to today.
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and some of the things we are even in recent uh recent years, we are not able to do it.
• 1:14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, look at the adomi bridge, look at the akosumbo dam.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a man 50 years ago was able to think about these things and uh manifest it as a man.
• 1:14:54
  SPEAKER_00: He's an enzema.
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's my it's my we should stop thinking there's anything that's not possible.
• 1:14:59
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
• 1:14:59
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I want to change that word to I am possible.
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, it is possible.
• 1:15:04
  SPEAKER_00: Listen, I always tell people that if you believe and you are not even able to achieve what you wanted to achieve, you would have at least gotten closer.
• 1:15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do you get what I mean?
• 1:15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes when you have the idea in your head, nobody's in your head.
• 1:15:19
  SPEAKER_00: A few people around you might and might know because you probably would have communicated because you work in a group.
• 1:15:25
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're not able to achieve, like the uh RNAQ per day, for instance, there were a few more things we wanted to do that.
• 1:15:32
  SPEAKER_01: But what we were able to achieve, yeah, shoot, so that even if you land on 300, it's still very good.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, but if you shoot for 100, you'll land on 30.
• 1:15:42
  SPEAKER_01: 30.
• 1:15:42
  SPEAKER_00: So what we were able to achieve still blows people's minds.
• 1:15:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, still people don't know that some of the plans we had.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, some of the guests too much.
• 1:15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and even the kind of uh obstacles we face, which like the the RQ event, it's it's it's something you can um it's like life, yeah.
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you having these big dreams, big big goals, and you facing obstacles even to the day before the event.
• 1:16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the rain, the day before the event everything came down.
• 1:16:15
  SPEAKER_01: When you say day before, it sounds like dawn.
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_01: The dawn of the events, like everything came down.
• 1:16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody knows this, yeah.
• 1:16:23
  SPEAKER_01: Bro, everything came down, everything came down, and this is a structure all the vendors came back, had to put everything back up again within hours, and this is a structure that we built on a plain ground, bro.
• 1:16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Everything is possible, everything is possible, and it's and we can do it here, here in Africa.
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we can.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's not even we can, we will do it.
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_01: We'll keep having these conversations until every African believes, and then as a continent, we will move together.
• 1:16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, you know.
• 1:16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um I believe that they know, yeah.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they know how excellent, how brilliant we Africans are, and that's why they worked on our mind.
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they had to.
• 1:17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why I like this the name of this podcast, Masterminds.
• 1:17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Masterminds.
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that we can so that we can we can declare that misconception that we have that we are not enough.
• 1:17:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, once you believe that you are not enough, that is where you'll be.
• 1:17:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just want to say You cannot dream beyond anything.
• 1:17:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:17:37
  SPEAKER_01: I want to say this, this may sound wrong, right?
• 1:17:40
  SPEAKER_01: But when you meet a powerful animal, what do you need to do to take control of it?
• 1:17:46
  SPEAKER_01: You tame it.
• 1:17:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're tamed.
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_00: What would we're tamed?
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_00: We were we're tamed.
• 1:17:52
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, like if I meet a lion or if I meet a dog or like an animal which can overpower me, I can't overpower it with strength.
• 1:18:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll tame its mind.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what happened to us.
• 1:18:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and that's why the song emancipates your mind from mental slavery.
• 1:18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Slavery is is very, very, very important.
• 1:18:11
  SPEAKER_00: We because we was the slavery, was not the physical thing.
• 1:18:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, so many years down the line, we are still enslaved.
• 1:18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we are mental slavery, we have gone from physical to mental, and that is even more dangerous, yeah.
• 1:18:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because now you're not even fighting to get out of it.
• 1:18:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 1:18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's even more dangerous.
• 1:18:30
  SPEAKER_00: So if if if you're an African, you know, you know, you know about um the frog and boiling water.
• 1:18:36
  SPEAKER_01: So if you drop a frog into boiling water, it will jump out instantly.
• 1:18:42
  SPEAKER_01: But if you put a frog into normal water and you boil it, it will stay until it dies.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we are doing.
• 1:18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm telling you.
• 1:18:50
  SPEAKER_00: So um we we as Africans should believe, should be audacious, should should never, never, never, never, never let anything um tell us that we are not enough.
• 1:19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because we are we are, you know.
• 1:19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Any African who has been audacious, who's believed, I mean, irrespective of all the challenges we have, any African that has believed and has been audacious has done some incredible things.
• 1:19:19
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes some of these great things that we hear in this world, some of these great inventions, sometimes blacks are behind it, but they never get the credit.
• 1:19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because they did it on another man's land.
• 1:19:31
  SPEAKER_00: They never get the credit.
• 1:19:33
  SPEAKER_01: Could you do something for me?
• 1:19:35
  SPEAKER_01: If you could picture that, you can stretch your hand through the camera right now and drop an idea into the person watching's mind that will change their mindset and set them on the path of success.
• 1:19:48
  SPEAKER_01: What would that be?
• 1:19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so one of the events we've done this year uh was an event we did in New York with um New York University.
• 1:19:59
  SPEAKER_00: And our keynote speaker who is um uh Mr.
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Tebe Kalefe, um one of the uh brightest minds that we have in Africa, said one thing that was so profound.
• 1:20:12
  SPEAKER_00: And he said that as Africans we should stop begging, we should stop blaming, we should stop borrowing and brand.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that sat really, really well with me.
• 1:20:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um that what we need to do as Africans, and if if I say Africans, it's all of us.
• 1:20:32
  SPEAKER_00: So anybody's watching is an African, you should be the change you want to see you know around you.
• 1:20:39
  SPEAKER_00: And if I say be the change, it's the storytelling.
• 1:20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um for me as Kojo Sobu, I say I am an advocate for African excellence.
• 1:20:48
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever work I do, I try to have excellence run through so that anybody who encounters my work will respect Africa because of the work that the person has seen me do or the work that I've I've put out.
• 1:21:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if whatever you're doing, whether you're a carpenter, whether you are you an entertainer, whether you're a doctor, whatever work you're doing, do it well.
• 1:21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Brand.
• 1:21:12
  SPEAKER_00: Put out good work because whatever you're doing, you're telling a story about Africa.
• 1:21:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're a storyteller.
• 1:21:16
  SPEAKER_00: If you're an African, you're a storyteller.
• 1:21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And whatever story you're telling is a story of Africa.
• 1:21:21
  SPEAKER_00: So tell a good story.
• 1:21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, make sure that you do good work and show it in style.
• 1:21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Kojo, thank you, thank you so much.
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Your story is inspiring, your words are inspiring.
• 1:21:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm hoping as you are watching this, you've been inspired and you've come one step closer to being the mastermind that you are meant to be.
• 1:21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 1:21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Richie.
• 1:21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Mastermind, Richie.
• 1:21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for watching this episode.
• 1:21:50
  SPEAKER_01: The fact that you stayed all the way through to the end tells me that you're not only curious, but you have the discipline to see what you do all the way through to the end.
• 1:21:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now, let's build a community of thinkers who are ready to become the best version of themselves.
• 1:22:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, subscribe to the channel and the mindset that you will develop and grow every day to become a true mastermind.