Latest / Masterminds Podcast / From Radio Sales to Charterhouse: The Story of Theresa Ayoade - Masterminds Podcast EP13

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From Radio Sales to Charterhouse: The Story of Theresa Ayoade - Masterminds Podcast EP13 · Masterminds Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_04: Um, by the time I finished my A levels, things had changed at home financially.
0:04
SPEAKER_04: My father got caught up in those um political couples.
0:08
SPEAKER_04: I had to leave um Accra and move to Kumasi to set up Love FM.
0:13
SPEAKER_04: So I was one of the first uh female uh radio sales executives um when radio started.
0:20
SPEAKER_04: Ghanaian music is really growing at a very fast pace.
0:23
SPEAKER_04: At that time, we were far ahead of the Nigerian industry.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: So that means Charter House started with Ghana Music Awards.
0:29
SPEAKER_04: Yes, Mana Boy was on the rise and he was supposed to have attended and he wasn't able to make the fly.
0:34
SPEAKER_04: That was the first time an artist has built out on us.
0:37
SPEAKER_04: For our 20th anniversary edition where we had the altercation on stage.
0:42
SPEAKER_04: I mean, what the things that we do in the creative space are really for the culture.
0:45
SPEAKER_04: I look around me in Ghana, Africa, and all I see is opportunity.
0:49
SPEAKER_04: You need to move you as an industry be bigger than your industry.
0:53
SPEAKER_04: You hear somebody say, ah, it's good though, but the only challenge is as long as you hear challenge, that's opportunity.
1:00
SPEAKER_04: I've been on my own, I've been independent since the age of 18.
1:03
SPEAKER_04: Self-discovery is the most important thing, eh?
1:06
SPEAKER_04: A lot of the things I envisioned for myself have come to pass.
1:09
SPEAKER_04: You've even defeated yourself before you started.
1:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, so we go through all of those, and that's where the the mastermind, the mind mastery has to come in.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Masterminds podcast.
1:24
SPEAKER_00: Over here, our mission always stays the same to help you to shape your most powerful tool, your mind.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: My name is Richie Mensa, and I'll be your guide on this exciting journey.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: Now, today we're going to have an excellent conversation because I am honored to be sitting here with one of the most respected individuals in our country when it comes to excellence, it comes to creativity.
1:47
SPEAKER_00: Now, not from only what she has led her entire team to do over and over again for so many years, she's a decorated soldier in general, but also for her decorum, for the way she composes herself, the way she commands respect, but still is able to lead with a soft and beautiful touch.
2:08
SPEAKER_00: So I am honored to be sitting here with Theresa Ayude.
2:12
SPEAKER_04: Hi, Richie.
2:14
SPEAKER_04: It's an honor to also be part of your podcast.
2:17
SPEAKER_04: I've seen um all the great things that you also do.
2:21
SPEAKER_04: You're also a young person I really admire.
2:24
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
2:24
SPEAKER_04: Um your bravery in venturing into this space.
2:28
SPEAKER_04: As you know, it's not an easy space to be at all.
2:32
SPEAKER_04: But I also appreciate your tenacity and your your desire to really make something substantial out of it.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: I feel so honored because I know you wouldn't do this with most people.
2:46
SPEAKER_00: So the fact that you agreed to come, you know, even when I was asking you, I was shy or something, she will say no.
2:52
SPEAKER_00: But I'm so glad that you're sitting here.
2:55
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
2:55
SPEAKER_04: It's an honor to be here as well.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: And I think my favorite part about this conversation is there are a lot of young creatives out there who need to benefit and understand for some of these conversations.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: I keep saying that, like I've met a lot of great people in this industry, and then I've met a lot of people who don't know what it takes to make it in the creative industry.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: And I keep wondering how do we bridge that gap?
3:20
SPEAKER_00: So just a conversation like this from that young creative sitting there could take them, you know, miles ahead in their career.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: So let's let's jump right into it.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Great, ready for you.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: Now, first I want to talk about a part of you most people don't know.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: They they all know you as a CEO of Charter House, but most people don't know your career in multimedia before Charter House.
3:42
SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about that first.
3:43
SPEAKER_00: What was it like being in radio and TV?
3:46
SPEAKER_04: Um, it was very interesting.
3:48
SPEAKER_04: My surjourn in radio and radio particularly was um at a time when private radio had just been licensed.
3:57
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
3:58
SPEAKER_04: So, you know, prior to that, we only had um state-owned media houses, GBC and the whole range of GBC stations.
4:07
SPEAKER_04: And so um Joe FM, which was under multimedia broadcasting, was one of the first uh the first private radio station to be officially licensed to break.
4:19
SPEAKER_04: So we were a bunch of young, eager um people who were just interested in just uh um showing what we could do.
4:29
SPEAKER_04: Okay, really.
4:29
SPEAKER_04: There was nothing before us to uh watch and observe, there was no templates to just and we wanted to be different um from what already existed.
4:38
SPEAKER_04: So we the onus was on us to lead the innovation to drive the innovation and the creativity that would really make the impact.
4:47
SPEAKER_04: So I joined multimedia in 1996, which was about uh six months after they had started.
4:53
SPEAKER_04: I think they started in 95.
4:55
SPEAKER_04: Okay, around July or so um in 95, or maybe a year after or something like that.
4:59
SPEAKER_04: I know I know it was January 96 I joined.
5:02
SPEAKER_04: Okay, and um I initially I wanted to be on T on radio as a presenter.
5:09
SPEAKER_04: Oh, okay.
5:10
SPEAKER_04: So my first interview with um Kwechu Chum, the owner, was that I wanted to be an on-air personality.
5:17
SPEAKER_04: But at that time, at the very early stages of radio, there was nothing like on-air personality, it was about DJs.
5:23
SPEAKER_04: Okay, yeah.
5:24
SPEAKER_04: So either you just want to come in and play music, and music was what drove the content.
5:28
SPEAKER_04: So I said to him that I'm not into I'm not a music person, but I want to have interviews, I want to talk to people, I want to get to know people, you know, to discuss issues.
5:38
SPEAKER_04: But I think I was ahead of my time.
5:42
SPEAKER_04: So I'm trying to imagine you as a presenter.
5:45
SPEAKER_04: That would have been a thing.
5:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, because I wanted to have conversations and chat, not to play music.
5:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but at that time, and it was written by music, so um, they said, okay, um, I said I didn't want to play music, they said they tried to now box me into okay, then maybe you should do newscasting or reading announcements.
6:05
SPEAKER_04: Because those were the two options, yeah.
6:07
SPEAKER_04: Whether you're playing music or you're reading the news.
6:09
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so they tried me with the news reading, with announcements, and they said no, I I wasn't cutting it in that space.
6:16
SPEAKER_04: So I said, okay.
6:17
SPEAKER_04: Then he said, but why don't you try your hands at sales?
6:20
SPEAKER_04: And I was like, radio sales, okay.
6:22
SPEAKER_04: And um, that's why I was a little hesitant because I hadn't done it before, but I had done retail sales.
6:28
SPEAKER_04: I'd been in the I'd just come in from the UK and I was working in retail, then the Gap store, okay, etc.
6:36
SPEAKER_04: So I had an idea of retail.
6:38
SPEAKER_04: So he said, since you've done retail, why don't you try sales?
6:41
SPEAKER_04: So he gave me a whole pile of books to go and read about radio sales, and um I went home, read all through the night.
6:49
SPEAKER_04: And it sounded really exciting, and sound sounded like I could make some good bugs from that as well.
6:54
SPEAKER_04: So I went back and said, Great, I'll take it up.
6:57
SPEAKER_04: And so I was one of the first uh female uh radio sales executives um when radio started.
7:05
SPEAKER_04: So when I joined the team, there were mainly males.
7:07
SPEAKER_04: I think it was one other female, first time, but she about a few months after moved into traffic.
7:12
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so I was the only female in there for years.
7:17
SPEAKER_04: Wow, yeah.
7:17
SPEAKER_04: I think till I probably left.
7:19
SPEAKER_04: I think I must have been the only female um full of males.
7:23
SPEAKER_04: So we went out there selling the good news of radio, nice, you know, to anybody who would listen.
7:30
SPEAKER_04: And um, we're also well equipped.
7:32
SPEAKER_04: Um, those days there was this um Tico Tico Tico Tico by the Tico Cam.
7:37
SPEAKER_04: That had just come in, and we're one of the few people who had them, you know, driving around town.
7:42
SPEAKER_04: So it was quite a cool thing to see these young people driving around in these Tickles, branded Joy FM, you know, going around doing radio sales.
7:51
SPEAKER_04: So it was very and it was very excited time, a very exciting time to be in radio.
7:55
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
7:55
SPEAKER_04: And um, we did our best.
7:56
SPEAKER_04: We sold, you know, and um we did interesting activations as well.
8:01
SPEAKER_04: I mean, radio wasn't just about selling the sports advertising, it was about creating content to encourage people to listen to radio throughout the day.
8:10
SPEAKER_04: So we had terms like um do activities that would increase time spent listening, TSL, okay, um, that would create top of mind awareness, Toma.
8:19
SPEAKER_04: You know, so we had all these terms that we were using to drive content and activities.
8:24
SPEAKER_04: And we also did a lot, they went on a lot of training.
8:27
SPEAKER_04: I remember we went to National Association of Broadcasting, Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas, and where we got to, you know, mingle with the who's who of radio, and we did a lot of um radio syndication programs, etc.
8:40
SPEAKER_04: Interesting it was very a very interesting and exciting time.
8:44
SPEAKER_04: We were with the eight people, you know.
8:46
SPEAKER_04: All this built you up.
8:47
SPEAKER_04: It's very nice to hear this.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: I think most people only know the latter part of your journey, so they don't know you came from this.
8:54
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yes.
8:54
SPEAKER_04: So I did Joy FM, um, rose through the ranks from sales executive to senior sales executive.
9:00
SPEAKER_04: Okay, and then the opportunity came for the opening of Love FM.
9:04
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
9:04
SPEAKER_04: So I was approached by um this is my boss, and said, Listen, I want you to go to Kumase um with um the general manager to set up Love FM.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
9:15
SPEAKER_04: So I had to leave um Accra and move to Kumasi to set up Love FM.
9:21
SPEAKER_04: So we set up Love FM, myself and the general manager.
9:24
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
9:24
SPEAKER_04: We recruited all the local talents, and um we basically our mandate was to sell an English station in Kumasi.
9:31
SPEAKER_04: In Kumasi, and she's and she is speaking town, yeah.
9:34
SPEAKER_04: Sell an English station, you know.
9:36
SPEAKER_04: So um, yeah, we went there, we recruited, and we started going from door to door selling and selling the station, and we decided to go the path of events.
9:47
SPEAKER_04: Okay, you know, so we used our leverage of Joy FM and Accra to attract musicians to come to Kumasi to organize big shows and concerts.
9:56
SPEAKER_04: So that's how we really got in, make made new roads and also try to attract the people who would appreciate what we were offering.
10:04
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, we I was in Kumasi for about a year and a half.
10:07
SPEAKER_04: We did great, great, big, big, bold, wonderful things.
10:10
SPEAKER_04: And by the time I was leaving, um, Love FM had been well established and was one of the number one English-speaking station in Kumasi.
10:18
SPEAKER_00: So, how were you able to leave?
10:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of people right now talk about the fact that the only way to really succeed is to start or be part of starting a business.
10:27
SPEAKER_00: But it's a very difficult transition from a safe, secure job, getting a salary, yes, to starting something which is 100% risk.
10:36
SPEAKER_04: And I tell you that, I mean, all of these things I was doing, I was I think by the time I left Kumase to come to Accra, I was 25.
10:45
SPEAKER_04: So I was doing all of these things from the age of 23.
10:48
SPEAKER_04: From 22, 23, 24.
10:52
SPEAKER_04: By 24, I was heading Kumasi.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: Love them.
10:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
10:55
SPEAKER_04: And by the time I did my stunt and came down, I was about 25.
10:58
SPEAKER_04: And I got married around 26.
11:00
SPEAKER_04: So that means you have to take care of all that.
11:02
SPEAKER_04: I had lived a whole life.
11:04
SPEAKER_04: A whole life before that.
11:06
SPEAKER_04: And don't forget I said before that I was in the UK, I was working.
11:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
11:09
SPEAKER_04: So from the age of 18, I tell people that I've been on my own, I've been independent since the age of 18, in terms of every single aspect of myself, where I would live, what I would eat, my transport, my movement.
11:21
SPEAKER_04: Since the age of 18, I've been completely independent.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you lived more like more than some 40 years old.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
11:28
SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes.
11:28
SPEAKER_04: It's been a long road.
11:30
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
11:30
SPEAKER_04: And it's been a very independent, independence building journey.
11:34
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
11:35
SPEAKER_04: So I've been used to chatting my own path, okay, figuring out things, making my own choices and decisions.
11:45
SPEAKER_04: I've been in control of that.
11:46
SPEAKER_04: Once I got to the self-realization, you know, that my life is what I designed it to be.
11:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I love that.
11:56
SPEAKER_04: So I envisioned it and I said, this is the kind of life I want to live.
12:00
SPEAKER_04: And no one can get it for me except myself.
12:02
SPEAKER_04: And I can work for it.
12:04
SPEAKER_04: So that was it.
12:05
SPEAKER_04: So I didn't play with my work.
12:06
SPEAKER_04: I love it.
12:07
SPEAKER_04: I was very serious with my work.
12:08
SPEAKER_04: And my my bosses saw that.
12:10
SPEAKER_04: So that's why they kept promoting me.
12:12
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
12:12
SPEAKER_04: When the opportunities came, I was the one they always called to move forward.
12:16
SPEAKER_04: And I tell you, by the time I left, I'm a very systems and process-led person.
12:21
SPEAKER_04: So by the time I left Kumata to come to Accra, I had set the whole foundation running and I was able to create succession for those somebody I had trained to step up and take up the role and continue to run the station.
12:34
SPEAKER_04: And so it was amazing.
12:36
SPEAKER_04: I came back to Accra to set up the promotions desk.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
12:41
SPEAKER_04: So I said to my boss that you know, when you are that good, you can negotiate your terms.
12:46
SPEAKER_04: So I said to my boss, I have to come back to Accra because then I had met this handsome young man who was worrying me.
12:53
SPEAKER_04: That if you continue to stay in that Kumasi, you will continue to be girlfriend and boyfriend, you know.
12:58
SPEAKER_04: So till you head back to Accra for us to really start settling down.
13:02
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
13:02
SPEAKER_04: You know.
13:03
SPEAKER_04: So I had to take that decision to do, you know, I've done it in Kumasi.
13:06
SPEAKER_04: You know, I've got to go back to Accra and see what's next.
13:09
SPEAKER_04: So I spoke to my boss then that I have to go back to Accra, settle down, you know.
13:14
SPEAKER_04: Um, the young man has proposed, and you know, I don't think we can do a long-distance relationship.
13:20
SPEAKER_04: He says I've done what I have what I came to do in Gumasi.
13:22
SPEAKER_04: So I'd like to go back to Accra.
13:24
SPEAKER_04: But this time around, I want to do some promotions.
13:26
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
13:27
SPEAKER_04: Because I'd seen how that had worked in Gumasi, creating excitement, creating content, you know, building that experience for people.
13:35
SPEAKER_04: People remember experiences, you know.
13:37
SPEAKER_04: So I came to introduce that in Accra as well.
13:40
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
13:40
SPEAKER_04: Accra was doing it, but um they didn't have a special unit for it.
13:44
SPEAKER_04: So it was part of the sales activity and radio programming.
13:48
SPEAKER_04: But we now, I came now and we set up a desk for the promotion.
13:52
SPEAKER_04: So I was a promotion, I came back as a promotions manager.
13:54
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
13:55
SPEAKER_04: And um, our job was to create excitement on the station and keep people engaged and interested in wanting to listen.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: So that means a lot of these Joy FM events and stuff started.
14:06
SPEAKER_04: Yes, we started from the promotions desk.
14:07
SPEAKER_04: Interesting.
14:08
SPEAKER_04: At Joy FM, yeah.
14:09
SPEAKER_04: So we started coming up with great ideas and we worked together with the programming department to come up with great ideas, but our we moved from just on-air excitement to live events, live event experiences.
14:22
SPEAKER_04: We did great things.
14:23
SPEAKER_04: We did, um, took families to Disneyland.
14:26
SPEAKER_04: We we we gave a whole life.
14:28
SPEAKER_04: We had a promotion called Get a Life Promotion, okay, where we gave away a whole life, like a house, a car, and the house was fully furnished with everything.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: You just basically just can you redo that promotion and give me a house, a car?
14:42
SPEAKER_04: You know, so can you imagine corning, something like that?
14:44
SPEAKER_04: You had to go around, speak to a real estate developer, get a car company, interior decorator company, appliances, yeah, you know, everything, woodwork, carpentry.
14:53
SPEAKER_04: We had to basically do everything from A to Z, and we handed it over to one listener, you know, one faithful listener.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: This means that everything you did there sort of prepared you for the journey.
15:04
SPEAKER_04: Definitely, definitely, definitely.
15:06
SPEAKER_00: So, is that how it was easy to transition into starting chatters?
15:10
SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes, because while at Joy FM, I had built the network with corporate Ghana.
15:16
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
15:16
SPEAKER_04: I I was I was the account manager for um it was then it was called Ghana Breweries Limited, GBL, and um Unilever and all of them.
15:26
SPEAKER_04: So I had built all those corporate relationships.
15:29
SPEAKER_04: And so when it was time to move on, those were relationships I leveraged on to sponsor some of our new events that were coming up.
15:37
SPEAKER_04: And that's how we we got going.
15:39
SPEAKER_04: And apart from that, also because I had already been in the driving seat of conceptualizing, putting together proposals, going out there, marketing ideas, talking to people, convincing them, yeah, and then also being out there in the field, actually executing and getting these activities to happen, I was already in that space.
15:57
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
15:57
SPEAKER_04: And and my husband then was uh running a company called Multiple Concepts.
16:02
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
16:02
SPEAKER_04: And they also had been created, they had created a platform called Agro, which was uh a platform for Western Union that was being um used to promote Western Union across the country.
16:11
SPEAKER_04: Okay, and that platform involved um musicians and a game show, etc.
16:16
SPEAKER_04: So they were doing full-scale um audiovisual production and class live events because apart from it being a TV show, it was also a roadshow.
16:26
SPEAKER_04: So we're going around the country and all of that.
16:28
SPEAKER_04: So um we just kind of had a conversation around um doing something for the music industry, which has insurprisingly came out of a backstage conversation that was between Ochiame Kwami and Lord Kenya during Agra.
16:43
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
16:43
SPEAKER_04: So he said he came back home one day and he said, Ah, I went to Agra, and during this production, these two artists were arguing backstage about who was the most popular.
16:52
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
16:54
SPEAKER_04: In Lord Kenya, that's Achiami.
16:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, at that time, in Lord Kenya.
16:59
SPEAKER_04: So it was just watched them and just what the argument was going on and on.
17:02
SPEAKER_04: And so if I go out there, you see the fans I'll have.
17:05
SPEAKER_04: I'll have more fans than you.
17:06
SPEAKER_04: So we watched all of that.
17:07
SPEAKER_04: You came in, so I think Ghanaian music is really growing at a very fast pace.
17:12
SPEAKER_04: At that time, we were far ahead of the Nigerian industry.
17:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, uh hip life had really taken off.
17:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
17:17
SPEAKER_04: So it was like, I think there's a really good thing going on in your in in the Ghana music industry and the way the musicians are whatever.
17:22
SPEAKER_04: So let's let's I think we should create something like you know, like the Grammys, you know, like the Ghana Musical Award, something like that.
17:28
SPEAKER_04: So we came up with a name and then we're like, wow, okay, let's go with it.
17:31
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
17:31
SPEAKER_04: So at that point, I went to my bosses and said, okay, I think I've done my bit, I want to move on.
17:39
SPEAKER_04: So um I had I left the company to join my husband, basically at almost like one-third of the salary I was earning.
17:47
SPEAKER_04: So a big sacrifice, you know.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: How did your family and friends see that?
17:51
SPEAKER_00: Because it's like leaving something very stable, yeah, in a career that was on the rise, you know.
17:56
SPEAKER_04: Well, um, I think I was excited about the opportunity of creating something new.
18:01
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
18:01
SPEAKER_04: And something that could had had the potential to really be big.
18:05
SPEAKER_04: So that was really what was driving me.
18:07
SPEAKER_04: And um, I've always told my mindset, has always been that whatever you think you can do.
18:14
SPEAKER_04: So once we thought that this was something that was really going to be huge, okay, let's do it.
18:18
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
18:19
SPEAKER_04: So that's that's how that's always been me.
18:21
SPEAKER_00: So that means Charter House started with Ghana Music Awards.
18:25
SPEAKER_04: Yes, Charterhouse started with Ghana, but prior to that, we had multiple concepts, multiple concerts.
18:29
SPEAKER_04: Which was um already running.
18:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I remember our growing agro.
18:33
SPEAKER_04: Aggro was a try, yes, yes.
18:35
SPEAKER_04: It was already running, going all around the country, promoting the studio.
18:39
SPEAKER_04: They had already done so much, gone to Europe, they had done a Europe tour, and all of that.
18:43
SPEAKER_04: So um Charter House was was created to build content for the creative industry.
18:50
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so that was what so we set up a new company.
18:53
SPEAKER_04: I came in.
18:54
SPEAKER_04: So multiple concepts was more for the corporate was advertising.
18:57
SPEAKER_04: Okay, for example.
18:58
SPEAKER_04: It's an advertising agency, okay, advertising and production.
19:01
SPEAKER_04: Okay, and then for events and just to be to create um to be like cultural curators, yeah, and creators.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: So, what was it like in the early days?
19:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, taking this big risk, you started, you're organizing an event for an industry which wasn't even well formed.
19:20
SPEAKER_00: What was it like in that day?
19:21
SPEAKER_04: Oh my god, it was very challenging.
19:23
SPEAKER_04: I mean, the the good thing was because we were doing aggro already, which was like the biggest platform for most of the artists to get to tour the country.
19:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there was no other vehicle.
19:34
SPEAKER_04: So as soon as you released your music, you have to.
19:37
SPEAKER_04: The next thing we added you did was to get onto agro.
19:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because and if you're able to get onto aggro for a series of shows, that means at no cost to you, really.
19:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you were being taken across the country.
19:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and so coming on TV, over TV over and over.
19:50
SPEAKER_04: So we would go to uh Konongo and we're being invited to all the festivals.
19:54
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so as soon as it's a festival, there's an aggro as part of the program, yeah, and whole weeks aggro was part of it.
20:00
SPEAKER_04: So we were already scheduled, you know, and we had it like it had a tour lined up already for the year.
20:06
SPEAKER_04: So as soon as you plugged into it, we took you on tour.
20:09
SPEAKER_04: So that was really one of the touring vehicles for the musicians.
20:11
SPEAKER_04: So we had already through that build that relationship, we already had an A and R coordinator who was working with musicians all the time.
20:19
SPEAKER_04: At that time, yes, we had someone who was in charge of booking the artist and you know working with them on what they were going to play and all that.
20:25
SPEAKER_04: So we already had that going, so it was easy to just leverage on that relationship that we had already built.
20:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and for us, it has always been about leveraging on the relationships we've already built with the artist.
20:37
SPEAKER_04: So then we now had to sell the idea of the Ghana Music Awards, and it wasn't easy.
20:44
SPEAKER_04: Yes, I really want to know.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to be easy.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: An artist in those days that we want to organize an award, so yeah, nothing like that existed.
20:53
SPEAKER_04: So they had a number, but they had is it aircrack or something, entertainment and critics exist on that level.
20:59
SPEAKER_04: There was aircraft, there was there were others, sunshine, other award schemes existed, but we said we wanted to do ours differently, yeah, and we wanted to involve the public because most of those awards were um just honorary, yeah.
21:14
SPEAKER_04: And ours, we wanted ours to be competitive to get the public to vote.
21:18
SPEAKER_04: So actually, when we started, it was 100% public voting.
21:21
SPEAKER_04: Okay, yes, and that was that took place for a few years, and then we began to bring in other layers of voting.
21:29
SPEAKER_04: So we just wanted to be a people's choice award, and that's why we will always have the public voting as part of it.
21:37
SPEAKER_04: That was a initial concept, making it a people's choice award.
21:39
SPEAKER_04: Then the public votes, let us tell us who their favorite artists were.
21:42
SPEAKER_04: I mean, from the arguments that they were having, we're having backstage, yeah.
21:45
SPEAKER_04: That was that was the genesis of it.
21:47
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so it was always at the heart of it, has always been the fans.
21:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the fans should be involved in telling us who their favorite musicians were.
21:54
SPEAKER_04: So we had to go around and get back in from all the stakeholders.
22:00
SPEAKER_04: So that with music, Alajiku Bray was very supportive.
22:03
SPEAKER_04: He saw the vision, he latched onto it.
22:05
SPEAKER_04: At the beginning, he had a lot of resistance from his people that why can't we do our own?
22:09
SPEAKER_04: Why are we supporting these people?
22:11
SPEAKER_04: But I think he also saw the earnestness with which we were doing it, we're pursuing it.
22:16
SPEAKER_04: So they saw what we had already achieved with Agra and thought that I think we are on to something good.
22:21
SPEAKER_04: We had to talk to all the musicians.
22:24
SPEAKER_04: I remember going all the way to um Acras Central at that time, Makula, I think, and that's where Amanzeba.
22:31
SPEAKER_04: He had a restaurant, a very big restaurant there.
22:34
SPEAKER_07: Okay.
22:34
SPEAKER_04: He and um Akusei Japan at the time.
22:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
22:37
SPEAKER_04: So I would go all the way there several times to meet him, to have a chat with him, to explain to him what we are doing.
22:45
SPEAKER_04: I went to look for Rexoma.
22:47
SPEAKER_04: We engaged because they were the top musicians at the time.
22:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
22:50
SPEAKER_04: I went to see um Kojo Entri, you know, he uh to basically explain to them.
22:57
SPEAKER_04: I remember going all the way to Achimota to see Dadilumba of Blessed Memory to explain what we're trying to do and to get them to accept to be nominated because they were the top musicians at the time.
23:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know.
23:10
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we had to just go around everywhere, just talking, engaging, engaging.
23:15
SPEAKER_04: And one person who was very helpful during that period was Fred Nuyama.
23:19
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
23:20
SPEAKER_04: Fred Nuyama was acting as our AR actually.
23:23
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
23:23
SPEAKER_04: During Agra.
23:24
SPEAKER_04: So he had to be able to do that.
23:25
SPEAKER_04: He was helping us to books our artists.
23:27
SPEAKER_04: He was, I think at that time, the Sebrae's manager.
23:29
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
23:30
SPEAKER_04: Das Mediaman of Blessed Memories manager.
23:32
SPEAKER_04: But beyond that, he was um acting as an AR.
23:36
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
23:36
SPEAKER_04: Booking up the artists and all that.
23:38
SPEAKER_04: So he was setting up all these meetings, and then we would go together, go and talk, and it was was was cumbersome, but it was necessary to get the buy in.
23:48
SPEAKER_04: And uh there was a lot of objection and protests.
23:52
SPEAKER_04: These aggro people, the agro aggro music awards, those sorts of things I was going uh a lot, a lot of a lot of that, but um we knew what we were doing.
24:03
SPEAKER_04: Okay, we were very clear on the kind of event we wanted to do and um the kind of um image that we wanted to create for the artists.
24:14
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so that drove us, and we felt that really our industry was doing really well.
24:18
SPEAKER_04: We had transitioned from high life to burger high life, and now we were on the cusp of hip life.
24:25
SPEAKER_04: So that's that was to see growth.
24:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
24:28
SPEAKER_04: And we thought we had to just capture all of that, you know.
24:31
SPEAKER_04: So we yeah, so that was it.
24:33
SPEAKER_04: We had to bring everybody in, and then we also had a very, very important partnership with GBC.
24:40
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
24:40
SPEAKER_04: At that time, GTV was still the strongest TV station, so we needed to have them on board to um air this program live.
24:48
SPEAKER_04: Live, yeah.
24:48
SPEAKER_04: So because we knew that was really important.
24:50
SPEAKER_04: So we um approached um Professor McDodu, um, who was then the director general and um Fusena of Blessed Memory, Fusena Jaguar.
25:00
SPEAKER_04: She was very instrumental in getting us the deal.
25:04
SPEAKER_04: We were able to broker a live news and live coverage, and uh, we did all the promotion, etc.
25:11
SPEAKER_04: And on the D-Day, we went live.
25:13
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
25:14
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we had great people like John Cenew doing the set design those days.
25:18
SPEAKER_04: You know, set design was all about wood and painting.
25:22
SPEAKER_04: Yes, but the interesting thing was they used to do these 3D models, yeah, you know, actual like with cardboard.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: So instead of so, like how they do the rocks these days, yes, yes.
25:35
SPEAKER_04: Oh, you'd see.
25:36
SPEAKER_04: So we had the whole set, everything you were gonna see on set was actually done in a 3D live model.
25:42
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so we had the sitting on the table, we look at it, okay.
25:45
SPEAKER_04: So this artist will come from here and do that, and now you have everything digital, but in those days it was all manual.
25:51
SPEAKER_04: Everything that you wanted to imagine, you had to see, you know, in a 3D model.
25:55
SPEAKER_04: So was the first one an instant success?
25:58
SPEAKER_04: It was amazing.
25:59
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we went on air, I mean, we hadn't done the live TV production before because Agra was always pre-recorded and edited, but this was live, so we went no like three, two, one live, and I mean, but it was we were we were novices at live TV, but everybody was so fired up on the ball that the event just went on pam, pam, pam, pam, pam, pam, pam, pam, pam.
26:24
SPEAKER_04: No gap, no error, no mistake.
26:27
SPEAKER_04: By the time the event was over, everybody was like, wow, we really did the thing, you know.
26:33
SPEAKER_04: It was amazing.
26:34
SPEAKER_04: And and we we we, I mean, that's that's that's I mean, was was was um amazing.
26:39
SPEAKER_04: It just blew people's minds.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: I hope more people are listening to this to understand that you have to take the risk, you know.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I know a lot of people will see something like Ghana Music Awards and think it started was started by people who knew exactly what they were going to do, how they were going to get it done.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: But most of the time, to get something great done, you need to take the risk, even when you don't know how it's going to take it.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
27:03
SPEAKER_04: It mostly turns out exactly.
27:04
SPEAKER_04: We just had a picture in mind, yeah, and we just wanted to achieve it, and things just worked out.
27:10
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but you see, we everybody was on edge, everybody wanted it to be what wanted it to go well because it was live on TV.
27:17
SPEAKER_04: There was no room, yeah.
27:18
SPEAKER_04: There's no cuts, any mistake, no cuts.
27:21
SPEAKER_04: The MCs were wonderful.
27:22
SPEAKER_04: We had Kwame Mr.
27:24
SPEAKER_04: Fakai, Chairman General.
27:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he was our MC at the time, and we had wonderful people working with us backstage.
27:30
SPEAKER_04: Padron, no Padron Jackson, he was working with us backstage, and we had a whole amazing team.
27:37
SPEAKER_04: Um, Nana Benin Datson was a producer at the time.
27:40
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's a very strong team.
27:42
SPEAKER_04: It was a very strong team.
27:43
SPEAKER_04: We had Mrs.
27:44
SPEAKER_04: Japan from GTV also directing.
27:47
SPEAKER_04: You know, it was amazing.
27:49
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: And then right after doing Ghana Music Awards and succeeding.
27:53
SPEAKER_04: First edition, and then we rolled on.
27:55
SPEAKER_04: Then we had some great sponsors who saw the vision also and came on board to help us get it going.
28:01
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: Then the next thing we see, okay, you've done something great for the music industry.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: Now, something great starts to happen for the uh comedy industry from the thousand laughs to having something for the beauty industry for Miss Malaika.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: And I personally remember Stars of the Future.
28:18
SPEAKER_04: Yes, because that's how I met Chapter first.
28:20
SPEAKER_04: Yes, yes.
28:21
SPEAKER_04: And actually, we really want to bring Stars of the Future back, but in a modern version.
28:25
SPEAKER_04: You should.
28:26
SPEAKER_04: Because the industry needs it.
28:27
SPEAKER_04: The industry needs it.
28:28
SPEAKER_04: The industry really needs it because there needs to be a talent development platform, it has to be on ongoing, ongoing, ongoing.
28:35
SPEAKER_04: So that's it's that's a soft landing for some of these talented musicians because finding your own way can be really tough.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Really, really tough.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: One thing that made me see Stars of the Future was efficient was this was after I had released, so I think like 2008 or so, um, a young boy came to the studio and came to ask for voice training.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: And when I asked him why, he said he wanted to be trained to go and compete in Stars of the Future.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Wow, that's cool.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: I mean it's working.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: So was it a deliberate attempt to fix problems in the different sectors in the creative industry?
29:10
SPEAKER_04: Actually, when we started Stars of the Future, we were looking at a full-scale um creative industry talent development.
29:19
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
29:20
SPEAKER_04: So um we looked, we the first categories we came up, but the first edition of Stars of the Future, we had dance, we had comedy and music.
29:28
SPEAKER_04: So the first edition we had Discovered Stars, like that's where Foster, yeah, Romanus was discovered, and there's another guy who won.
29:36
SPEAKER_04: I've gotten the guy's name, but there were two at two Gobidians that came out of the comedy aspect of it.
29:42
SPEAKER_04: Then we had dance, there was one guy called Solomon, another guy who came out of the dance competition.
29:48
SPEAKER_04: Then we had the music, which was um Irene, and Ramsey and Irene and Jane.
29:53
SPEAKER_04: You know, so we actually had those three streams, yeah, all coming out of Stars of the Future.
29:59
SPEAKER_04: So the idea was to keep running this and developing these talents in that space.
30:05
SPEAKER_04: And um, we're able to, I mean, by God's grace, do it for about five years, but we had to drop the other two along the line because it was quite difficult in challenging in terms of funds to do all of that.
30:17
SPEAKER_04: So we just went along with music.
30:19
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I can only imagine if we had been able to continue these three talent forms throughout.
30:24
SPEAKER_04: Can you imagine the amount of talent that we would have on our scene?
30:28
SPEAKER_00: So, would you say the biggest challenge in event organizing is funding in Ghana?
30:32
SPEAKER_04: Yes, funding, funding is absolutely important.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's it's we have that's where you start.
30:38
SPEAKER_00: First of all, I even have to ask, how do you guys make money?
30:42
SPEAKER_00: You know, as somebody who's organized events and I've been on all the different sides of the industry, right?
30:48
SPEAKER_00: Every time we're organizing an event, yeah, for me, from my side of the industry, yeah, we're organizing it for the brand.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: Like maybe I'm organizing a kitty concert to uplift his brand, yeah.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: But I'm not thinking about making money from it.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: So whenever we organize an event, what I think after is A.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: So I'm a charter house making money.
31:11
SPEAKER_04: Well, the secret to our success is that we have to diversify our income streams.
31:15
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
31:16
SPEAKER_04: We have to diversify income streams in order to make money elsewhere and then use these events as brand promotion.
31:23
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
31:23
SPEAKER_04: That's it.
31:24
SPEAKER_04: So it's similar to a point where we are we were asking ourselves why are we doing this?
31:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
31:29
SPEAKER_04: Because it doesn't bring you any money, but it brings you the fame.
31:32
SPEAKER_04: You get it?
31:33
SPEAKER_04: I heard a story.
31:34
SPEAKER_04: So there was a trade-off.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: That's why you change it to for the culture.
31:38
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
31:39
SPEAKER_04: We're doing it really for the culture.
31:41
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
31:41
SPEAKER_04: I mean, what the things that we do in the creative space are really for the culture, because it's very difficult getting your money back when you invest in the creative space.
31:50
SPEAKER_04: I mean, people sit down and based on how big it sounds and everything, they think that you're making so much from the sector.
31:59
SPEAKER_04: Even the musicians themselves think you're making money.
32:03
SPEAKER_04: But really, I think that what has helped us stay consistent in what we do is because we have over the years also invested in a lot of logistics.
32:12
SPEAKER_04: A lot of logistics to support what we do.
32:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
32:15
SPEAKER_04: And that has helped.
32:16
SPEAKER_04: I mean, look at you, you've invested in this studio, and that has considerably helped achieve your dreams.
32:22
SPEAKER_04: If you didn't have specific to rent everything, can you imagine if you had to be renting this?
32:26
SPEAKER_04: So you realize that because of the big the largest of your dream and what you want to do, yeah, it's important that you own some of the logistics and you actually create the you invest in logistics, make it now available for the industry.
32:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
32:38
SPEAKER_04: So now people come and come and use the space for you as well, and you can also have access to.
32:42
SPEAKER_04: So that's what we that's really what we did because we were first movers in most of the things we did.
32:48
SPEAKER_04: And we couldn't find what we needed on the market because people were not doing things to that level.
32:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
32:55
SPEAKER_04: So it got to a point where we had to invest.
32:59
SPEAKER_04: And um, you can't maintain the level you want to obtain.
33:03
SPEAKER_04: Otherwise, your creativity, innovation is capped by what's available merely.
33:08
SPEAKER_04: So if you think I want to do this and you can't find the equipment, you can't find the logistics, you can't find the technology locally, then you can't do it.
33:15
SPEAKER_04: So for us to be able to do all the things we wanted to do, we had to move and get the things in.
33:21
SPEAKER_04: And and I always say to people that if I take you through the history of charter house and the events and the shows that we've done, it will actually show you through what we've been doing, the evolution of our own industry.
33:34
SPEAKER_04: Okay, true.
33:35
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, true.
33:36
SPEAKER_04: Because starting from the wooden stages being painted, yeah.
33:39
SPEAKER_04: So hey, now there's a new technology, then they can print on flexi.
33:42
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
33:42
SPEAKER_04: So then we now said, no, it wasn't even flexi before, it was printing on fabric.
33:46
SPEAKER_04: It wasn't even printing, it was screen printing.
33:49
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yes, yes, I remember screen printing.
33:50
SPEAKER_04: Screen printing banners.
33:51
SPEAKER_04: Remember those banners?
33:52
SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
33:53
SPEAKER_04: So that was to be progress from printing um from painting on wood to now printing on fabric.
34:01
SPEAKER_04: Before the flexi came.
34:03
SPEAKER_04: Before, you know, so now we then we moved to printing on fabric.
34:06
SPEAKER_04: So that was what we were using.
34:07
SPEAKER_04: No, new technology.
34:09
SPEAKER_04: Then the next one was printing on uh flexi.
34:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, then we started doing that.
34:14
SPEAKER_04: Then the next thing was um what do you call them LED carpets?
34:19
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
34:20
SPEAKER_04: You know, those LED was there, or this um what do you call like a curtain?
34:24
SPEAKER_04: LED curtains, okay.
34:25
SPEAKER_04: Okay, LED curtains was like a curtain, like those black drapes, yeah, with LED lights in them, and they could be programmed to create patterns.
34:33
SPEAKER_04: To give yeah, designs and so that was in the new one now.
34:36
SPEAKER_04: So now when you're doing your set design, you incorporate that in it.
34:39
SPEAKER_04: So we're always the ones moving to bring in this as soon as we hear there's something new, we go get it.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: So, but how how was it coming?
34:45
SPEAKER_00: Wasn't that difficult?
34:46
SPEAKER_00: Always having to innovate because you could always just say, Okay, this has been working for us, let's just keep doing it for a while.
34:52
SPEAKER_04: This is what is happening, this is the newest thing now because we wanted we wanted the aesthetics to look good, to look international level, to really bring us apart with the global trends.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: And you always keep doing that.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: Like as I'm here, I always know if I'm doing an event and I need the best screens, I have to come to Chata House.
35:11
SPEAKER_00: We have the best in town, yeah.
35:12
SPEAKER_04: We have the best in town, and a lot of people don't invest in the best because you can get cheaper ones, yeah.
35:17
SPEAKER_04: And when a client asks you to provide LED screens, they would ask you for the particular pixel, except it's an international production company that is used to certain quality.
35:27
SPEAKER_04: But in Ghana, most of the time it's an LED screen, so you can get very cheap ones and then you can really get the high quality ones.
35:34
SPEAKER_04: So in Ghana, I can tell you that when it comes to production logistics, we have the highest level because for events, top grade events like the Ghana Music Awards, we do not compromise on quality.
35:45
SPEAKER_04: So we have P2, P3s, whereas most people are using P5s, P6, etc.
35:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you know, I have P4.
35:52
SPEAKER_04: We have P4, huh?
35:53
SPEAKER_04: But we have P2.
35:54
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and I'm sure very soon.
35:55
SPEAKER_00: So I mean, I have screens, but I come and rent yours, of course.
35:58
SPEAKER_04: Depending on what you want, yeah, outputs you want to get.
36:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so we always had to be at the forefront of the industry, rushing to get the new technology, new technology, you know.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: But wasn't that like draining on your budgets?
36:09
SPEAKER_04: It was.
36:10
SPEAKER_04: So, what we did what we did was once we brought in the new technology and we used it for our events, then we had to look for events to use it for.
36:17
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so then we networked the industry to let them know that this was available now.
36:21
SPEAKER_04: So then gradually the general standard industry also moves, also rises, yeah.
36:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so this is the new technology now.
36:27
SPEAKER_04: We most of the time would outdoor it at the GME and then we'll now make it available to other people.
36:32
SPEAKER_04: So then they're also doing events, they come and rent it and also use it to uplift their events because now people say ah, now there's uh printing on flexible, so we can't do wood anymore.
36:41
SPEAKER_04: So then everybody now starts doing for the flexi.
36:43
SPEAKER_04: Because everybody wants the best.
36:45
SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
36:45
SPEAKER_04: So the whole industry moves.
36:47
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the whole industry moves, you know, when you move, the whole industry moves.
36:50
SPEAKER_04: So that was basically what we're doing.
36:52
SPEAKER_04: So we moved from the LED cap screen curtains.
36:56
SPEAKER_04: Then now there are these, we said they put in L C D L C D screens came.
37:01
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like the normal.
37:05
SPEAKER_04: You know, to just give you that, you know, digital feel.
37:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
37:09
SPEAKER_04: So we went through that whole phase again.
37:11
SPEAKER_04: Then now the LED screens actually came, the first batch came.
37:15
SPEAKER_04: But those were the very bulky boxes.
37:18
SPEAKER_04: It wasn't this cute thing.
37:19
SPEAKER_04: It wasn't these cute things we're seeing now, very bulky.
37:22
SPEAKER_04: Like one, I mean, like really bulky.
37:24
SPEAKER_04: The back end was like huge, like a television, yeah, those old-time televisions.
37:29
SPEAKER_04: So we started with those as well, you know.
37:31
SPEAKER_04: You see them on screens.
37:32
SPEAKER_04: All of those we had to invest in them.
37:35
SPEAKER_04: We had to get them and then start incorporating them into the screens, and other people started also getting them, you know.
37:41
SPEAKER_04: So it took a long time for there to be multiple suppliers of logistics.
37:47
SPEAKER_04: For a long time, we were the ones who were always leading and supplying to the industry and more.
37:54
SPEAKER_04: I think for people having worked with that and seen a lot of events now using that, people now began to also invest in that space, and now we have more of so much logistics on the market.
38:04
SPEAKER_04: But in the early days, it was tough.
38:06
SPEAKER_04: I mean, anything new, any innovation, anything we wanted to do, any ideas, we had to uh invest in the technology, and we also had to bring in uh foreign expertise to operate them to a certain level.
38:20
SPEAKER_04: So we had to I mean I remember this time we had a great relationship with um South Africa.
38:24
SPEAKER_04: Yes, I was just coming to say you bring in South African Sound engineers.
38:28
SPEAKER_04: South African um audio technicians, video technicians, um yeah, uh enlightened technicians, lightened directors.
38:37
SPEAKER_04: So we had to build bring them in, and uh and through that we also achieved a lot of um skills transfer.
38:42
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so when they came in, they worked with the local train the people to train the local people to also be able to uh do these productions at a certain level.
38:51
SPEAKER_04: Okay, you know, so we did that to a point where now we don't even bring uh them in anymore, except we need a higher level of expertise.
38:58
SPEAKER_04: But uh, I mean, we even had one um technician stay with us for three years.
39:02
SPEAKER_04: Okay, yeah, we just came to Ghana, lived with us, and trained a lot of locals before going.
39:07
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so by the time you know that most of the top people in the area, especially the lighting industry, were trained by this gentleman, okay, and are now you know they have their own leaders in their own spaces.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: So, aside the money, which we know funding is always a big problem, which other big challenge do you say you face in the event and creative industry?
39:28
SPEAKER_04: I would say uh surprisingly, I would say talent.
39:32
SPEAKER_04: Okay, creative talent is I can understand that because our educational system is not cute towards training people for the creative sector, yeah.
39:43
SPEAKER_04: It's very high on academic study.
39:46
SPEAKER_04: And um if you are you show a lot of promise as a creative talent in your childhood, most of the time parents are very confused, they don't know what to do with your your creative talent, yeah.
39:56
SPEAKER_04: And so they just bury it and force you to go mainstream, yeah.
40:01
SPEAKER_04: And then rather and another thing that we make we've done, which is so bad for the sector, is not helped the development of the sector is calling creative studies or creative activities um extra character.
40:14
SPEAKER_04: Yes, they call it extra character.
40:16
SPEAKER_04: So after you have finished the main work, then uh where you are growing.
40:22
SPEAKER_04: It's like you are playing agro.
40:25
SPEAKER_04: So then when a child is really good in those areas, yeah, they become I mean diminished.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're always said like when I'm watching, so that's when I'm watching some maybe foreign movies and stuff, and I see school of performing arts, yeah, and I see people who are going to school and they're learning DJing, singing, dancing, acting, writing.
40:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then I'm like, okay, so that explains it.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: That explains why you can watch a movie, yeah, and that movie has a hundred people who are acting, dancing, and singing at the same time.
40:58
SPEAKER_00: But over here, because it's not taught, yeah, somebody can naturally sing, and that's all they can do.
41:04
SPEAKER_00: It's not been harnessed, it's not been it's raw talent.
41:06
SPEAKER_04: Just raw talent.
41:07
SPEAKER_04: We're operating on raw talent.
41:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so the talent pool has been quite challenging.
41:12
SPEAKER_04: And so you realize that um the talent is not evolving as fast as your ideas, yeah.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes you have an idea, but who's going to do it for you?
41:24
SPEAKER_04: Finding the people to execute it is quite difficult.
41:26
SPEAKER_04: It's better now because there are more people who have more people who have entered into the space.
41:30
SPEAKER_04: But I can imagine way, way, way back then, yeah, when you were thinking of these big things.
41:34
SPEAKER_00: I mean, back then, how many people what a set designer was?
41:39
SPEAKER_04: So for a long time we did our own set designs.
41:42
SPEAKER_04: We would uh bring in graduates from tech, we would train them internally, we would uh they would come in as um graphic designers, 2D.
41:54
SPEAKER_04: By the time because of the things that we are doing and the things we want to do and create, then they'll now start doing 3D.
42:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, then they'll now move into set design.
42:02
SPEAKER_04: Then we had we had one particular person who came in, they went came in as graphic design national service, did 2D, 3D, 4D, went on to do animation, and is now a big time one of the top, top, top uh animators and video producers and producers in Ghana.
42:20
SPEAKER_04: You know, I I keep thinking that's one of the things that you can do.
42:23
SPEAKER_04: So we we created a lot of uh we developed a lot of people through work, yeah, through work, and so I wish we could multiply that scale that up for the country.
42:32
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the learning care was very long, very long.
42:35
SPEAKER_04: So a lot of people working at our company have worked with us for a long time.
42:39
SPEAKER_04: We take you from scratch and then we train you and build you up, and uh, because of the the multiplicity of things that we do, you you don't get bored, you're doing this tomorrow, you're doing that, you're doing that.
42:51
SPEAKER_04: You know, we used to do TV production as well.
42:53
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we were, I mean, uh at some point we're the biggest independent TV producer.
42:57
SPEAKER_04: Oh, okay.
42:57
SPEAKER_04: In those the days, the heydays of TV.
42:59
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we had about eight titles.
43:01
SPEAKER_04: Remember, um, it takes to takes two uh master spots, guess who's coming for dinner?
43:07
SPEAKER_04: Yes, guess who's there?
43:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, we had like plenty.
43:10
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we had stars of the future, we had so many titles running, so we had like a full studio, we had producers, directors coming to work every day, working on so so you're asking us how were we surviving?
43:25
SPEAKER_04: Those were the things, okay, not just not the events, the events the drains, event the event drains you, but those other productions and things that we were doing, those were more commercial.
43:40
SPEAKER_04: And so they were bringing in the income that was sustaining us and allowing us to come and dream.
43:45
SPEAKER_04: So we fantasize and dream with the events and then make all the noise.
43:48
SPEAKER_04: You guys make the money and face mandate and make all the money to to keep.
43:52
SPEAKER_04: So they so so we're employed.
43:55
SPEAKER_04: A lot of the people you know, I mean, all came to back with us, a paper, all of them.
44:00
SPEAKER_04: All cut their teeth working with us at Charterhouse on productions.
44:04
SPEAKER_04: So many people in the industry have all passed through Charterhouse.
44:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:08
SPEAKER_04: If you really wanted a career in the creative sector, it was a place, it was the place to come to learn.
44:15
SPEAKER_04: Because when you come in there, I always tell them when you come, we just throw you in.
44:20
SPEAKER_04: You sink or you swim.
44:23
SPEAKER_04: Thank God for those two examples.
44:26
SPEAKER_04: If you are creative, you survive.
44:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:29
SPEAKER_04: Because then your creative change is a good idea.
44:30
SPEAKER_04: But honestly, that's the best thing.
44:32
SPEAKER_04: That's the best way.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: But even when you mention your own story with the first Ghana Music Awards, you threw yourself in.
44:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:39
SPEAKER_04: And then you start creating and imagining and putting action to it.
44:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
44:44
SPEAKER_04: So that was it.
44:45
SPEAKER_04: So we we had a whole bouquet of um TV productions.
44:48
SPEAKER_04: So that was what was sustaining us.
44:50
SPEAKER_04: You know, after we do the Ghana Music Awards, by the time that is done, we come back.
44:54
SPEAKER_04: We have it takes two to produce.
44:56
SPEAKER_04: We have um this guest who's coming for dinner, we have this, all of that includes involves producers, scriptwriters, directors, etc.
45:06
SPEAKER_04: We had invested in a lot of camera equipment, yeah, studio setups.
45:10
SPEAKER_04: I mean, so we had a whole engine that was running um with for creatives.
45:15
SPEAKER_04: So people would graduate from NAFTI and come to us to work with us because we were creating all this content.
45:22
SPEAKER_04: Um, we had we did we discover talents like Bella Mundi, Justin Dumas, all of them were on various rhythms.
45:28
SPEAKER_04: I mean Justin was really rhythms, etc.
45:33
SPEAKER_04: And even for Miss Malaika, yeah, we we would take the very good talents from the start developing them as presenters, as you know, various areas they wanted to uh and I think that's one thing Chatterhouse always did well at it, didn't just stop at the events because even like stars of the future, you would still invest in the talent afterwards and the future.
45:54
SPEAKER_04: We we're really invested in getting them the good production deals that would really get them going as artists because we wanted to create an artist, not just a talent show winner.
46:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and that has always not been what we are.
46:08
SPEAKER_04: We always want you to become a bona fide artist.
46:12
SPEAKER_04: The show has discovered you now make thrive as an artist, yeah.
46:16
SPEAKER_04: So we help you to thrive as an artist, and that's why most of the talent shows we all we organize the um stars of the future, developed um all these female artists, the uh Irene and um Yala and all of them came through Stars of the Future, and then we also hit Maker.
46:35
SPEAKER_04: We moved on to Hitmaker, we took the same um approach, Hitmaker.
46:39
SPEAKER_04: We worked with you on Hitmaker as well, and um Kiddy and Rami Ugin and all of them came through that, and um, etc.
46:47
SPEAKER_04: So um that has really been the journey.
46:50
SPEAKER_04: We've just been very involved in in creative talent development.
46:55
SPEAKER_00: So, which which events do you say would have been your most difficult, most challenged?
46:59
SPEAKER_04: I mean, some of the challenging, most challenging events we've had have not been public events.
47:06
SPEAKER_04: Okay, yeah, they'll most likely probably be an event you're organizing for a client which had really difficult circumstances.
47:13
SPEAKER_04: I mean when there was one event we did in um Cape Coast, okay, I think it was for the British Council was about the an event that was marking hundred years of slavery.
47:21
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
47:22
SPEAKER_04: It was done at Elmina Castle.
47:23
SPEAKER_04: Oh my god.
47:24
SPEAKER_04: The sun by the time we finished that event and we came back to Accra, all the crew skin were peeling.
47:35
SPEAKER_04: The hot debilitating sun was something else.
47:38
SPEAKER_04: And then we've also had other events where um maybe attendance wasn't as you would have expected it considering how much you've invested, you know.
47:51
SPEAKER_04: But unfortunately, you can't also charge so cheap because it's costly.
47:56
SPEAKER_04: You know, so there are these kinds of um dynamics that you get faced with, yeah, you know, with um some of the events.
48:03
SPEAKER_04: And of course, I mean, I don't remember there was one Ghana Rocks we did when I think we had um Benner Boy.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, Ghana Rocks was one of the things that started the whole December.
48:14
SPEAKER_04: So did December actually started with Ghana Rocks when we quite we collaborated with Aquaba UK to bring the UK people here, the Ghanaians in the UK, you know, to bring them back home, and then we did it.
48:27
SPEAKER_04: We started with the um the Ghanaians who were doing great music in the UK, yeah.
48:32
SPEAKER_04: Cinti Strida, and all of them.
48:36
SPEAKER_04: We began to bring them home and come and do concerts in Ghana and bring the diaspora.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite personal performances ever was on Ghana Rocks.
48:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so that was like the big the big cultural event that we were doing in Christmas, you know, to bring all these artists.
48:52
SPEAKER_04: And remember there was one that we did the last one we did where Ben Benner Boy was on the rise.
48:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and he was supposed to have attended, and he wasn't able to make the flight, and he was so disappointing to our audience.
49:04
SPEAKER_04: That was the first time.
49:04
SPEAKER_00: How do you handle those kind of disappointments?
49:06
SPEAKER_04: Well, it happened.
49:08
SPEAKER_04: What can you do?
49:09
SPEAKER_04: You just need to manage the audience and um explain to them what happened and find a way to um compensate them if they are willing for compensation, and then yeah, we move it from there.
49:20
SPEAKER_04: But that was, I mean, that was the first time an artist has not made um had biggled out on us um the answers we're expecting because it was supposed to have arrived with a private jet, and unfortunately, for one reason or the other, I don't know, just couldn't make it.
49:34
SPEAKER_04: But he made up for it by coming for the Ghana Music Awards the following year, and that was another horrific year where we had the altercation on stage.
49:43
SPEAKER_04: Oh, that was our 20th anniversary edition.
49:46
SPEAKER_04: We had planned it to the tea.
49:48
SPEAKER_04: Ah we had planned and planned and planned this, brought in all the big international weeks, big weeks to be part of it.
49:56
SPEAKER_04: We have brought the mobile award CEO, you know, to come and see what Ghana is doing so we can collaborate and put Ghana on the international map.
50:04
SPEAKER_04: You know, we had brought in oh so many invited guests all over to sit down, and then that altercation happened on stage.
50:13
SPEAKER_04: That was the worst ever.
50:14
SPEAKER_04: So you asked me one of her most challenging that that was that that tops it.
50:19
SPEAKER_04: That tops it, that was really challenging for us because I mean it was scary because there were safety concerns, yeah.
50:26
SPEAKER_04: First of all, and then there was also the brand concerns because you had sponsors who had come to associate their image with you, yeah, their brand with you.
50:36
SPEAKER_04: And I mean, we had news stories all the way in the Daily Mail in the UK because of the particular sponsor who was on that.
50:42
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it was an international brand, so it was all I mean, but I must I mean really thank um Madame Patricia Obonai for really, really um supporting us and uh standing by us.
50:57
SPEAKER_04: And if you see her anywhere, I should tell her to thank her because she really showed a lot of empathy in the situation because other another brand would have said that's it.
51:06
SPEAKER_04: We have to do that.
51:07
SPEAKER_00: And they would just pull out, yeah.
51:09
SPEAKER_04: What would we have done?
51:10
SPEAKER_04: You know, that was a time that we a brand, I mean our partner should pull out.
51:15
SPEAKER_04: That's when we needed all the support, and she really stood by us and said, I mean, we work with you through this, and and we need partners like that, you know.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: So how do you stay calm in those kind of moments?
51:26
SPEAKER_00: Because that's heartbreaking.
51:29
SPEAKER_04: In fact, what surprised us was after all that scuffle, and people stayed.
51:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, people stayed, people stayed to continue the show.
51:36
SPEAKER_04: At that point, I was thinking, oh, it's me, the show is over.
51:39
SPEAKER_00: This is the show must go on.
51:41
SPEAKER_00: That night was the truth.
51:41
SPEAKER_04: The show the show must go on, I tell you.
51:44
SPEAKER_04: I mean, we were shocked because we thought that everybody was just gonna go home.
51:49
SPEAKER_04: But I mean, after the initial whatever, and people, the few people wanted to leave, left.
51:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, people stayed.
51:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if you are going, go medium here.
51:57
SPEAKER_04: People stayed.
51:58
SPEAKER_04: So we just when we saw that people were once we had contained it, and and we we we were now trying to figure out the next we move forward, then we saw that people had uh the place had calmed down, people were staying.
52:13
SPEAKER_04: So we went backstage and we said, okay, it looks like we can carry on.
52:17
SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, the the scaffold has been, you know, whatever.
52:20
SPEAKER_04: So let's carry on.
52:22
SPEAKER_04: And we carried on, you know.
52:24
SPEAKER_04: And um, if you notice, we didn't announce the last award because we were worried that if we announce it then, maybe there were still some other fans in the audience and it could be too whatever.
52:34
SPEAKER_04: So we said that you know what, we will not announce it.
52:36
SPEAKER_04: So we had to finish the show without announcing it.
52:40
SPEAKER_04: But luckily for us, we had you know towards the end of the show, that's when the big, big acts uh coming in.
52:45
SPEAKER_04: So we had that's when Benaboy came to perform, and then we had Samini, you know.
52:50
SPEAKER_04: So we closed the show on a big eye, even though all of that happened, and of course, the following day we had to do damage control.
52:58
SPEAKER_04: Oh my god, the media was all over.
53:01
SPEAKER_04: But um, I had a friend who called and she said, You know what?
53:04
SPEAKER_04: She's a top corporate um lady, Madam uh Maidie, Lady Aku.
53:09
SPEAKER_04: She was the uh MD of Inileva then.
53:11
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so she called me and she said, Teresa, I saw what happened.
53:15
SPEAKER_04: I said, I don't know, you know.
53:16
SPEAKER_04: She said, You know what?
53:17
SPEAKER_04: This was just a security breach.
53:19
SPEAKER_04: I know you put in all the effort, but sometimes you may put in all the effort, and yet some people will breach.
53:26
SPEAKER_04: And when that happens, it's a bit out of your hands.
53:28
SPEAKER_04: So I think this is the way you should look at it.
53:30
SPEAKER_04: So she gave uh me a kind of um empath to that okay for you to accept that this is what happened.
53:37
SPEAKER_04: So sometimes you have to accept your vulnerability, yeah, and then just uh you know move forward.
53:42
SPEAKER_04: You know, you can't come defending or whatever because it took us all by surprise.
53:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we we take a lot of things for granted.
53:48
SPEAKER_04: Ghana is a safe and peaceful place.
53:50
SPEAKER_04: So we don't even think sometimes that's what happens, but then that obviously showed us that we have to pay more attention to those areas.
53:56
SPEAKER_04: So we had to go and do the media rounds, admit that there was a security breach and that we'll do better next time.
54:03
SPEAKER_04: And did a lot of engagement with the police and the security forces and uh sponsors and our partners, and um, we were able to overcome that and move on.
54:14
SPEAKER_04: So that was one of the most challenging, challenging, challenging.
54:18
SPEAKER_00: How do you handle for the brand?
54:19
SPEAKER_00: How do you handle all this crazy?
54:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, you see, when you have something big and it's so positive, it also comes with so much negative.
54:27
SPEAKER_00: How do you handle all that with the critiques and the people you know saying bad things?
54:32
SPEAKER_04: Saying that um, what do you call it?
54:34
SPEAKER_04: Um, who won what yes, who won what this person should have won this.
54:38
SPEAKER_00: Why wasn't this person nominated?
54:40
SPEAKER_00: How do you handle all that?
54:41
SPEAKER_04: There were years when those those things used to get to us.
54:44
SPEAKER_04: Okay, there were years they used to get to us a lot in the early years.
54:48
SPEAKER_04: I remember there was one year when I think the whole award scheme was won by five artists.
54:56
SPEAKER_04: I can't remember which year it was, but I remember um it was a year that daughters of glory won like about six artists.
55:03
SPEAKER_04: I think VIP also won.
55:05
SPEAKER_04: I think it was just five out five musicians and they swept everything, everything.
55:09
SPEAKER_04: And I think that was the last year we did 100% public voting.
55:12
SPEAKER_04: Okay, yeah, that was the last year we did 100% voting voting.
55:14
SPEAKER_04: Because when the public is voting, they can just push it with passion, but they don't even do any analysis anymore.
55:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, they just go wherever you see their baby artists in there, just pick it.
55:24
SPEAKER_04: So after that, we realized nah, that's that was the after the fifth year.
55:27
SPEAKER_04: We said, nah, we can't do 100% public voting.
55:30
SPEAKER_04: We need to break the voting pattern.
55:32
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
55:33
SPEAKER_04: So we began to what happened was after that we called an industry gathering.
55:38
SPEAKER_04: Um, we just opened up, people came.
55:40
SPEAKER_04: I think we did the British Council, we did the open house.
55:43
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
55:44
SPEAKER_04: So people came to share their thoughts, give us suggestions.
55:46
SPEAKER_04: So after all of that, we took the feedback and we sat down, analyzed it, and realized that okay, I think we cannot rely on 100% public voting.
55:54
SPEAKER_04: So let's introduce other layers.
55:56
SPEAKER_04: Let's not make it as simple.
55:57
SPEAKER_04: So then we brought in the academy, and then a few years down the line, we also introduced the board.
56:03
SPEAKER_04: So now it's three layers of vote, and I think that has worked effectively.
56:08
SPEAKER_04: Yes, it's protected it a bit more and allows for more um analysis, more deeper analysis, but still gives the public essay.
56:17
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
56:18
SPEAKER_00: You guys have been running like Charterhouse has been going consistently and successfully for 26 years, 25 years, 25 years plus, because we're 25 in February.
56:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
56:28
SPEAKER_00: So, how have you been able to maintain the high standards throughout this entire journey?
56:34
SPEAKER_04: Um, we have an internal motto, the quest for zero defect, okay, which is borrowed from Panasonic.
56:40
SPEAKER_04: Okay, any Panasonic cameras here.
56:44
SPEAKER_04: Our public um slogan is the power behind the performance.
56:48
SPEAKER_04: Okay, that is our slogan.
56:50
SPEAKER_04: That's we are the power behind the performance.
56:51
SPEAKER_04: The performance, and so um if you see a great performance, we are the power behind it.
56:58
SPEAKER_04: So that's basically, and that's where the term powered by powered by came back.
57:03
SPEAKER_04: Oh because we when we're doing an event, we said powered by charter house, the power behind it.
57:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, actually, got that anytime you're saying powered by links.
57:12
SPEAKER_00: I got it from charterhouse.
57:14
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people now say powered by at least in love is when I see an event and then it says powered by charter house.
57:20
SPEAKER_04: I was like, oh isn't this that came from our slogan, but our internal motto is the quest for zero defect.
57:27
SPEAKER_04: Okay, like we we we seek perfection in everything that we do, and we we're gonna I like to term it excellence, excellence, yeah, yes, excellence, actually, you're right.
57:38
SPEAKER_04: We seek excellence in everything that we do, so we we drive the team to towards that, and uh, we've also driven the brand values in the team that listen, I mean, this is the brand that we are, but when you mention our name, what comes to mind?
57:52
SPEAKER_04: Excellence, quality of delivery, execution, you know, etc.
57:56
SPEAKER_04: So people know what to expect from our brand.
57:59
SPEAKER_04: So we have to live by the brand, okay, by the brand values, and so that's what we imbibe in the team, and we work um our processes that we we put our processes in place.
58:09
SPEAKER_04: I this I'll say that there's a charter house way of working, okay, and that has been imbibed in everybody who comes to work with us, even in our suppliers and uh uh vendors, they know how you can do it.
58:22
SPEAKER_04: You may work with the same vendors on another event, yeah, but you may not drive them the way we would drive them, or make certain demands on them, or have certain levels of expectations, delivery expectations that we would place on them.
58:37
SPEAKER_04: So when they come to work with us, they know that hey, you can get away with certain things with other places, but not us.
58:44
SPEAKER_00: But how do you manage?
58:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of creatives believe in operating from chaos, not discipline.
58:51
SPEAKER_00: How do you manage to get creatives to act from a place of discipline?
58:57
SPEAKER_04: Um we all we also believe in uh um I don't know what to say.
59:03
SPEAKER_04: Is it the 8020 rule?
59:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, Pareto's principle.
59:06
SPEAKER_04: You you spend 80% of the time planning, yeah.
59:09
SPEAKER_04: Planning, planning, planning, going over everything over again, trying to think what could happen.
59:14
SPEAKER_04: What if, what if, what if, plan A, plan B.
59:18
SPEAKER_04: So we spend a lot of time planning.
59:20
SPEAKER_04: So when it comes to execution, it's like you've gone over the event several times in your head.
59:25
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
59:25
SPEAKER_04: So execution becomes pam, pam, pam, pam, pam.
59:28
SPEAKER_04: But we spend a lot of time around the table planning.
59:30
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I don't know if you've worked with us on any of our committees.
59:34
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
59:35
SPEAKER_04: When we're doing some of these events, you know, like the the Ghana Music Awards, we have a technical committee that that plans the technical aspect of the event.
59:43
SPEAKER_04: It didn't use it.
59:44
SPEAKER_00: I think I've been called for just a meeting for the brainstorming of it before.
59:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
59:50
SPEAKER_04: So we've we we we work, there's a lot of planning that happens, meetings and discussions and sharing of ideas.
59:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
59:58
SPEAKER_04: And now with all this technology, we now have all these tools that we use for meetings, etc.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_04: So you don't have to be physically showing up.
1:00:05
SPEAKER_04: We can join by Zoom and be part of the planning and thinking process.
1:00:08
SPEAKER_04: So a lot of that happens before we roll out.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_04: And so by the time we roll out, everybody is very clear on what they need to do.
1:00:17
SPEAKER_04: And then um having the venue, the the grand arena also helps because then we can also rehearse.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_04: We can have enough time to set up and rehearse.
1:00:28
SPEAKER_04: Previously, we didn't used to have that.
1:00:30
SPEAKER_04: So you are executing probably like the execution is probably what you should have done in rehearsal after rehearsal, but we don't have the time.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_04: But having the logistics and the infrastructure also really helps.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_04: I mean, if you attend the show abroad, I mean the size of what we do, they will be set up for like almost a month.
1:00:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, way ahead.
1:00:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I mean, we've watched a lot of these making of um concert videos, and you see how long is it they set up a rehearsal, they rent warehouses, simulate the stages they are going to perform on for months.
1:01:06
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I had rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing one day.
1:01:10
SPEAKER_00: When we organized the RNA Q40, I had somebody, an international person, ask me how long it took.
1:01:15
SPEAKER_00: Because we did 18 days, but they were like, if an event like that was done outside, it would have been done for at least four months.
1:01:22
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, yes, but in Ghana is like we don't get that luxury.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_04: No, no, no, no, no, no.
1:01:27
SPEAKER_04: So having the infrastructure helps, yeah, and um that was one of the reasons why we invested in that infrastructure because the industry really needed it.
1:01:39
SPEAKER_04: I mean, the the die was cast when we we had that um the power outage during the kind of music I was remember at the conference center.
1:01:50
SPEAKER_04: I remember the night and the power that went off.
1:01:53
SPEAKER_00: You know, that day I I remember it taught me a very valuable lesson in event organizing, right?
1:01:58
SPEAKER_00: Because I remember the the night before we came for rehearsals.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_00: Okay, either Kiddie or Kwame was performing also, so we came for rehearsals the night before, and I was chatting with Yola and I was asking him, like, is everything set?
1:02:10
SPEAKER_00: And he was like, Oh, yeah, like said that was one year that he felt super confident because everything was set, yeah, and I could see from around everything was set, and everything was going perfectly.
1:02:23
SPEAKER_00: Red carpet was just on time, everything, and then yes.
1:02:28
SPEAKER_00: So I always tell people when we are organizing events or productions, I tell them, look, you plan for everything and get ready for that thing, that one thing to mess everything up.
1:02:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so so basically what happened with that was that um the kind of technical demands we're placing on this on the venue, the venue didn't have that capacity.
1:02:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because this was a building that had been built about 20 years ago.
1:02:53
SPEAKER_04: And wasn't even built for that purpose, it was built for news.
1:02:56
SPEAKER_04: We were pushing it beyond, it was built for conferences, really.
1:02:59
SPEAKER_04: You know, a simple stage shows.
1:03:02
SPEAKER_04: But this was a full multimedia production, yeah, all this new technology, screens, etc.
1:03:08
SPEAKER_04: Even though the cables were not built to take all this equipment, you know, that were now forcing the cables to handle the power source.
1:03:18
SPEAKER_04: So the power sources were overloaded, and it just went off.
1:03:22
SPEAKER_00: It was for like almost an hour.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_00: Almost an hour, yeah.
1:03:25
SPEAKER_00: Almost an hour.
1:03:25
SPEAKER_04: We're off live on TV.
1:03:27
SPEAKER_04: Can you imagine?
1:03:28
SPEAKER_00: That was crazy.
1:03:29
SPEAKER_04: It was crazy.
1:03:29
SPEAKER_04: So after that incident, you realized that you know we can only push this venue so far so far.
1:03:34
SPEAKER_00: Because uh, before that, there was do you remember the dome?
1:03:36
SPEAKER_04: Yes, was a point too that it was being organized in the dome, yes, but then it was shut down for technical reasons, and then um it never opened, so we were stuck with the space, and yeah, apart from the the audience over spill, more and more people wanting to attend, creating problems at the gates because we couldn't admit them all, uh sometimes even like putting pressure on the conference center, glass walls, and breaking glass walls, it was just getting too cumbersome.
1:04:05
SPEAKER_04: So we we really had to go and appeal to the government to help us uh put up a venue.
1:04:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we know we're like, okay, you know what?
1:04:14
SPEAKER_04: Um we can't really rely on the government for everything, but this is something our sector needs.
1:04:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so we as players in the space and at the forefront of what we do and are the people who need it urgently.
1:04:26
SPEAKER_04: Please, please, please allow us to set up the center of the space so that we can create help, you know, and it's been so beneficial to the entire industry.
1:04:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it has, yeah.
1:04:37
SPEAKER_04: So that was what we considered the home of the Ghana Music Awards that allowed us to really step apart our production elements, you know, of the whole of the whole event.
1:04:50
SPEAKER_04: I mean, the kind of experience and production we can give you at the Grand Iron A big, I mean, it's like three times way more than what uh you experienced at the conference center.
1:05:00
SPEAKER_04: And that has opened it up for us, open it up for the industry.
1:05:04
SPEAKER_04: Now we can get very creative in ideas.
1:05:07
SPEAKER_04: Now you can do an a production with multiple stages, left, right.
1:05:11
SPEAKER_04: You can use the space really well, and it just kind of puts us at par with the world, you know, the standards around the world.
1:05:19
SPEAKER_04: You know, very, very great.
1:05:20
SPEAKER_04: And I tell you, the great things that we are doing here are also inspiring our neighbors like Nigeria and other countries to also, you know, shore up their game and also invest in this infrastructure.
1:05:30
SPEAKER_04: So Ghana has led the way in a lot of these things.
1:05:33
SPEAKER_04: We are the Black Star, you know, yeah.
1:05:35
SPEAKER_00: So um that has been even though there's some way left to go, we have to appreciate where we've reached as well.
1:05:41
SPEAKER_04: We've done a lot, we've come so far.
1:05:42
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, um, our creative industry is it's really one of the leaders in the continent, and there's so much more we can do.
1:05:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:05:51
SPEAKER_00: So, but leadership style.
1:05:53
SPEAKER_00: What type of leadership style does it take to get creatives to perform so Excellent.
1:06:02
SPEAKER_04: I think it's a vision the visionary the visionary type of leadership.
1:06:06
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:06:06
SPEAKER_04: I think we are I mean my husband and myself are very visionary leaders.
1:06:12
SPEAKER_04: You know, we um we always paint the picture of where we want to go, what we want to do, and we sell it to the team and get them to buy into it so that they understand where they are going.
1:06:26
SPEAKER_04: We all move together.
1:06:27
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:06:28
SPEAKER_04: And for us it's important that we keep what we are doing alive because we have to be alive to be able to hire more creatives, to be able to create employment for creative people.
1:06:39
SPEAKER_04: You know, when you are a creative, you don't fit in a bank, you don't fit in a hospital, you don't fit anywhere else.
1:06:44
SPEAKER_04: Okay, even in normal, yeah, you know.
1:06:47
SPEAKER_04: So if you can if you are creative, there should be an agricultural to absorb you.
1:06:52
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's your industry.
1:06:54
SPEAKER_04: If you want to work in agric, you go into the agric industry and you work as an agric person.
1:06:58
SPEAKER_04: If you want to be a law, you go into the legal industry or in any work.
1:07:01
SPEAKER_04: If you want to be a banker, you train, go and work in the banking industry and provide your you know, thrive there.
1:07:07
SPEAKER_04: So if you are creative, where do you go?
1:07:09
SPEAKER_00: There needs to be a creative industry.
1:07:10
SPEAKER_03: There needs to be a creative industry.
1:07:12
SPEAKER_00: You know, one thing I keep preaching these days to let people understand is that, and when we say creative industry, we are we're not just referring to artist, actor, dancer, comedian.
1:07:23
SPEAKER_00: There's an entire industry, there's an entertainment lawyer, like you mentioned, there's an AR, you know, there's a salesperson because you are doing sales in a creative industry.
1:07:36
SPEAKER_00: So I know a lot of people who are going to work nine to five, and they are creatives and they can't stand maybe somebody they're very good with numbers, so they are working in a bank.
1:07:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but deep down inside, they like the creative industry.
1:07:49
SPEAKER_00: You can be a finance expert in the creative industry.
1:07:53
SPEAKER_04: My my office has, I mean, everybody there can organize an event, yeah, but there are still professionals in there.
1:08:00
SPEAKER_04: We have accountants.
1:08:01
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
1:08:01
SPEAKER_04: I mean, my finance manager is one of the best event managers in our company.
1:08:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, every event I see him.
1:08:06
SPEAKER_04: Project manager, Joanna, Miss J.
1:08:08
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:08:09
SPEAKER_04: You see, I see Miss J too.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_04: Tiny, powerful, helpful lady.
1:08:14
SPEAKER_04: You know, she can drop a budget close with her eyes closed, yeah, financially manage a project from A to Z, but she can also come on location and organize the system the setup and make sure that things are running smoothly.
1:08:27
SPEAKER_00: Because it works hand in hand, yeah.
1:08:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, the person drawing up the budget for creative events, everything that is required.
1:08:34
SPEAKER_04: Thank you, can negotiate to this procurement in there, negotiating with your vendors to get the best deals, or else don't don't understand how to do it if the person just comes from a finance background.
1:08:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they'll say, Oh, what's the use of all these screens?
1:08:47
SPEAKER_00: Cut it, it's costing too much.
1:08:48
SPEAKER_04: But when they understand that, okay, that is given the explanation, the experience, then this is what is useful, this is the outcome of what it does, and all of that, then they understand how to treat it in the book.
1:09:00
SPEAKER_04: So you have top top financial experts working in the creative sector, like law, law.
1:09:04
SPEAKER_00: One thing I keep saying is that we are lacking entertainment lawyers because when you go to the US, the UK, Denmark, and stuff, the entertainment industry is run by entertainment lawyers, exactly.
1:09:15
SPEAKER_04: And we say there's unemployment in Ghana, so much and I say come to the creative sector, yeah, and that's when you see that there's underemployment, yeah.
1:09:26
SPEAKER_04: When we need skills, then we cannot find people who are skilled.
1:09:29
SPEAKER_04: You're talking about entertainment lawyers.
1:09:31
SPEAKER_04: How many lawyers do I mean graduate from uh law schools every year?
1:09:35
SPEAKER_04: And they don't have jobs, do and they don't have jobs.
1:09:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, how many of them are specializing in entertainment law?
1:09:41
SPEAKER_04: How many lawyers do we need in entertainment space?
1:09:44
SPEAKER_00: Do they even understand IP?
1:09:46
SPEAKER_04: They don't know anybody, yes, yeah, but we don't have enough.
1:09:49
SPEAKER_04: In fact, if any, the one I know is the one who passed.
1:09:53
SPEAKER_00: Cynthia, she passed.
1:09:54
SPEAKER_04: You know, I don't know of anybody else.
1:09:55
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know one, she's called Antoinette Boomat.
1:09:58
SPEAKER_00: I hope I got the name right.
1:09:59
SPEAKER_00: She's a very good entertainment lawyer as well.
1:10:01
SPEAKER_00: But right now, she's the only one that I know.
1:10:04
SPEAKER_03: See, so it's underemployment.
1:10:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, if you're a lawyer looking for work, go and study entertainment law and look for work.
1:10:12
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, let me even give this idea to anybody in the food industry out there right now.
1:10:17
SPEAKER_00: Every single day, there's an event or there's a video production or something, and they always need to feed their people, and they have to go and buy food from a restaurant which isn't tailor-made to them.
1:10:29
SPEAKER_00: One food industry person can decide I'm catering to the creative industry.
1:10:34
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you know, the same way we have some people who their main thing is supplying officers.
1:10:38
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you could decide or schools, yes.
1:10:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you could decide this is your sector so they can understand that oh, the streets will go to 2AO.
1:10:47
SPEAKER_04: There's markets for a caterer in that space.
1:10:49
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
1:10:49
SPEAKER_04: Young person looking for a job, set up a catering business and cater for the creative industry.
1:10:53
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
1:10:54
SPEAKER_04: Um, I mean, accountants, you can provide accounting services to musicians, they need it, they're supposed to pay taxes, they don't know how to maneuver all of that.
1:11:04
SPEAKER_04: You can offer your services to the sector, yeah.
1:11:07
SPEAKER_04: You know, so any professional can work in the creative industry.
1:11:11
SPEAKER_04: It's a full industry, it's a full industry, it's a full industry that requires the service of all kinds of professionals to function, but that's where we are suffering because all the professionals are not aware, and so they channel all those skills towards other sectors.
1:11:28
SPEAKER_00: I think it's because our front end side is so visible and loud.
1:11:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, people think that's the only thing because as you're watching this right now, you see two people sitting here, so they think, Oh, I need to be a Richie or to be a Theresa to be here.
1:11:41
SPEAKER_00: But there are about 20 people in the room, everybody is playing an important role.
1:11:46
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so there's a huge industry that is um waiting to be tapped.
1:11:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so I mentioned to you that I'm planning to come up with a podcast series.
1:11:55
SPEAKER_04: You know, we set up our foundation in 1025, where we're thinking that there's so much we want to do for the sector.
1:12:02
SPEAKER_04: Having worked in for 20 years, we've seen so many challenges, but also opportunities.
1:12:07
SPEAKER_04: And we don't want to just come do a bit and go and leave the issues as they are.
1:12:12
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, how do we make the industry better for the future creatives, the unborn ones?
1:12:18
SPEAKER_04: What kind of industry are they coming to meet?
1:12:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, is it going to be the same industry of just talking and complaining?
1:12:25
SPEAKER_04: Or are we going to solve?
1:12:27
SPEAKER_04: Or are we going to help solve the problems?
1:12:29
SPEAKER_00: No, we keep saying entrepreneurship is about solving problems to make money.
1:12:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:12:35
SPEAKER_00: So then everybody should be looking at the creative sector because we have plenty of problems to be solved.
1:12:40
SPEAKER_04: For me, I see problems and challenges as opportunities.
1:12:43
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
1:12:43
SPEAKER_00: So the creative look at Spotify.
1:12:45
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:12:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, I was watching an interview with the CEO, and he mentioned the fact that he he was a musician, he played the guitar and stuff, and he was looking at entering the music industry and he didn't know how to enter.
1:12:57
SPEAKER_00: Then he realized that musicians had a problem.
1:13:00
SPEAKER_00: So he solved it by creating Spotify.
1:13:03
SPEAKER_00: It's a 33 billion dollar company now.
1:13:05
SPEAKER_04: So there's so many challenges and problems to be solved and opportunities.
1:13:09
SPEAKER_04: So the foundation that we've set up is called the Charterhouse Creative Africa Foundation.
1:13:14
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:13:15
SPEAKER_04: We set it up because it's a not-for-profit, it's here to fix the problems, not on our own, but working through collaboration with like-minded individuals and organizations to be able to come up with um solutions to some challenges.
1:13:29
SPEAKER_04: We've we've scanned through the industry and we've identified certain areas that we want to intervene, and we've created uh initiatives that we feel will address some of these issues.
1:13:40
SPEAKER_04: And not just to talk about them, but to create um opportunities for creatives to thrive through those initiatives.
1:13:49
SPEAKER_04: And so the idea is that there's a problem, we we we try to fix it, and through that we are empowering creatives to make a living.
1:13:58
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so it's not just uh advocacy that's just talk, stop, talk.
1:14:01
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's the end game is to create an opportunity for creatives to thrive in that space.
1:14:07
SPEAKER_04: So we have the foundation, we will announce, we'll launch it fully.
1:14:11
SPEAKER_04: We've kind of announced it in various um.
1:14:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, rolling it out.
1:14:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but we will announce it fully.
1:14:16
SPEAKER_04: One of the first things that we are doing is the um Ghana Music Hall of Fame.
1:14:21
SPEAKER_04: I think I've mentioned it to you.
1:14:22
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yes.
1:14:23
SPEAKER_04: Um, it's a big project, but we are rolling it out in three phases.
1:14:27
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:14:27
SPEAKER_04: The first phase is the Ghana Music Awards at 25 exhibition.
1:14:33
SPEAKER_04: So that's we are rolling out in December.
1:14:36
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:14:36
SPEAKER_04: We've we are collaborating with the um National Museums, the Monument Board, and then the Black Star um Black Star Experience to roll it out in December, as part of the December event.
1:14:52
SPEAKER_04: But it's going to run for about six months to one year.
1:14:54
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:14:54
SPEAKER_04: And because that's because over the past 25 years, we've become the you know, we have all the music.
1:15:00
SPEAKER_04: We have the history, all the music sitting in our shelves, and we have to make it available for public consumption.
1:15:06
SPEAKER_04: It's a national property, basically.
1:15:09
SPEAKER_04: So by putting it on display in the museum, we believe that we'll be able to cement our history better and um open it up to a lot of academic research, tourist attraction, etc.
1:15:22
SPEAKER_04: So um that's a big project we have coming up.
1:15:25
SPEAKER_04: And the idea is that after we finish the Ghana Music Awards exhibition, we will now move to the second phase, which is uh um the Ghana Music Hall of Fame, okay, where we are now going to work on the curation of our entire music history from inception till now.
1:15:44
SPEAKER_04: And that we will need help with because we have to work with um creators, yeah.
1:15:51
SPEAKER_04: And then after that, we are at the next level is the um museum of the arts.
1:15:57
SPEAKER_04: So I just discussed that with the Black Star experience.
1:16:00
SPEAKER_04: We really want to create a museum of the arts to be able to have all our arts history under one place.
1:16:07
SPEAKER_04: So you'd have music, you'd have Hall of Fame there, you would have fashion, you have the movies.
1:16:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so this huge building you come to as a tourist or as a student of whatever, and you come in there, you just basically through spend the whole day there, yeah, just soaking in Ghana's rich arts history.
1:16:28
SPEAKER_04: You know, so that's the big dream, and that's like a big legacy project that we want to do it after having worked in this space for so long.
1:16:35
SPEAKER_04: And uh, I know that's a bit long term, but uh, but one step at a time.
1:16:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, everything you've done before you did it, it looked like it was too big to do, and you still achieved it.
1:16:46
SPEAKER_04: So that's one of the big things we're doing, aside of the other initiatives that we have.
1:16:50
SPEAKER_04: And we are we launch the foundation, we'll have another chat, I believe.
1:16:53
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
1:16:53
SPEAKER_00: You know me, I'm always here.
1:16:55
SPEAKER_04: Yes, and one of the one of the things you want to do as a foundation is a podcast like you are doing.
1:17:00
SPEAKER_04: Okay, but our main theme is to focus on the creative sector and conversations that throw the spotlight on the sector and extract the value that can be achieved by the sector.
1:17:14
SPEAKER_04: And then through that, hopefully, we can set some better creatives free to thrive, you know, or show them the way to thrive because um we have always approached it from the business point because we are entrepreneurs, yeah.
1:17:28
SPEAKER_04: We are not the talent, the creative talent.
1:17:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but we are the same.
1:17:32
SPEAKER_04: We are the power behind the performance.
1:17:34
SPEAKER_04: Yes, we're the power behind the performance, so we are not in front of camera, we are behind camera, plugging things in, testing things, and making things work, and then we need the talent to now take the spotlight in front, you know.
1:17:50
SPEAKER_04: But for what we do happen, what happens here most of the time is the focuses on the talent.
1:17:56
SPEAKER_04: Everybody just only focuses on that.
1:17:57
SPEAKER_04: And anybody who knows Hollywood knows that Hollywood is built by the industry.
1:18:03
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the talent is the last person.
1:18:05
SPEAKER_04: You find the talent is looking for the industry to make them talent.
1:18:09
SPEAKER_00: There's supposed to be an engine that is running and running you.
1:18:12
SPEAKER_03: So here we have the talent, and the engine is weak.
1:18:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the engine is weak, and that's why you see the talents never get as far as they are supposed to.
1:18:20
SPEAKER_04: You can because it can only go as far as your talents will take you.
1:18:23
SPEAKER_04: No, that's after that, do you know one thing?
1:18:26
SPEAKER_04: You need the whole machinery.
1:18:28
SPEAKER_04: One artist has it's like this, and it's a tree, yeah, behind you.
1:18:33
SPEAKER_04: Or you know the image we have of this iceberg that is the tip is showing, and then when you come in pieces, and then you look and that you see it huge, or a tree that's shooting up, and then you look under you see the roots tapping everywhere.
1:18:46
SPEAKER_04: That is what the industry is.
1:18:48
SPEAKER_04: The person that you see at the top has so many things.
1:18:52
SPEAKER_04: Look at one movie, one movie, when you see the credits.
1:18:55
SPEAKER_04: I love watching when you watch a Marvel movie, you know, and then they are listing the companies, long lists of people, yeah.
1:19:02
SPEAKER_04: Even one event, Ghana Music Awards.
1:19:05
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I handle protocol.
1:19:07
SPEAKER_04: Do you know how many invitations, how many apart from immunitation?
1:19:11
SPEAKER_04: Let's talk about crew tax.
1:19:13
SPEAKER_04: Even the suppliers, the number of suppliers, the crew tax, yeah, the vendor accreditations we give up to about 1500.
1:19:20
SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
1:19:25
SPEAKER_04: To work on that one night, one event, 1500.
1:19:31
SPEAKER_04: And those are those working on the night.
1:19:33
SPEAKER_00: There are people who worked before who won't come on the night.
1:19:36
SPEAKER_04: Yes, who will not come on the night.
1:19:37
SPEAKER_04: But this is people working on the night as dancers, as props men, as caterers, as um makeup artists, as costume stylists, as security, as um, I mean, just name it.
1:19:52
SPEAKER_04: And each artist has like 20 people, the performer has 20 people.
1:20:01
SPEAKER_04: Each, I mean, uh, but we we don't we don't see the people are getting paid, yeah, for that one night.
1:20:09
SPEAKER_04: So, can you imagine if we have every month a big event like that happen?
1:20:13
SPEAKER_04: If we had 12 big events happening in the year, that's like so many people getting deployed, yeah, all the time.
1:20:20
SPEAKER_00: You know, we have to build the industry.
1:20:21
SPEAKER_00: See, I've tried so hard to break certain bounds internationally, and one thing I've always come to see is you can't be bigger than your industry.
1:20:30
SPEAKER_04: You cannot.
1:20:31
SPEAKER_04: You need to move as an industry, be bigger than your industry because you see, when you are a talent and you are your time, a talent whose time has come, there must be an industry to receive you.
1:20:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, where is that industry?
1:20:46
SPEAKER_04: In fact, for us where we sit at 25 years in this industry, it's gotten worse.
1:20:52
SPEAKER_00: It's true, a lot of things have gotten worse.
1:20:54
SPEAKER_04: Where we started, at least there were record labels, you could mention them, and they were investing in the artists, and they were full businesses running.
1:21:04
SPEAKER_04: They had the full AR, the publicity promotion, they had like real, you know, machinery.
1:21:13
SPEAKER_04: Last man standing, you know, last man standing, yeah.
1:21:16
SPEAKER_04: You've done really well even to be standing.
1:21:19
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm withholding the woman that is blowing me down, you know, because it is necessary, yeah.
1:21:27
SPEAKER_04: You know, without, I mean, an artist here.
1:21:31
SPEAKER_04: We have artists who are running their own show, you know, they are the ones working on their promotion, they are the ones creating the song, they're the ones going to the studio producing, they're the ones doing all the um promotion, the press media relations, they're the ones doing international business development.
1:21:47
SPEAKER_04: And they can never succeed like that.
1:21:49
SPEAKER_04: I mean, how?
1:21:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, as I have you here, let me only go so far.
1:21:52
SPEAKER_04: Let me let me use this to tell people something about you should be sitting in the studio creating.
1:21:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's the job of the artist, create, and then everybody else around you is running around doing the work to push you.
1:22:06
SPEAKER_04: And so if you see artists who are breaking through, who are really going far, they have a huge team behind them.
1:22:14
SPEAKER_04: And that's why they don't come cheap.
1:22:15
SPEAKER_00: I realized this about international artists recently, like when I had the chance of being exposed to the industry abroad, not just the front end, the real industry.
1:22:26
SPEAKER_00: I realized if you take any big artists, like mentioned Beyonce, Drake, whoever you want to think of, they have the record label, yeah, which is what we all know of.
1:22:33
SPEAKER_00: We all know every artist has a record label.
1:22:35
SPEAKER_00: Aside the record label, they have a management company that is just for them.
1:22:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, then they have a booking agency that handles all their bookings, then they have a PR company that is doing all their publicity, and then they have separately a publishing company, yeah, which is making sure all their publishing royalties and everything are collected.
1:22:57
SPEAKER_00: So when you look at that one artist and you think, oh, their team is doing a good job, it's not a team of three people, it's different.
1:23:05
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and each of these companies I just mentioned are powerhouses, like from Beyonce to Jay-Z to all these people are handled by CAA.
1:23:15
SPEAKER_00: And CAA handled the Beatles.
1:23:18
SPEAKER_00: They've been doing this for over 60 years consistently.
1:23:23
SPEAKER_00: Then maybe this artist has their music, their record label is Universal, then their publishing company is Sony Music.
1:23:30
SPEAKER_00: So that's two powerhouses monetizing different parts of them, and then you have a very powerful PR that is running global marketing campaigns for them.
1:23:40
SPEAKER_00: So we try and compete with these people, we don't get that.
1:23:44
SPEAKER_00: No, there are powerhouses behind them.
1:23:47
SPEAKER_04: And the artists who have broken through in uh international um markets, yeah, all these artists, um, temps and all those artists, they are running those kinds of setups.
1:24:00
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:24:00
SPEAKER_04: They are their their model, their business model is built like the international artists, yeah.
1:24:06
SPEAKER_04: And that's why they are breaking through.
1:24:08
SPEAKER_04: They are not doing it as one-man shows, trying to do everything yourself.
1:24:12
SPEAKER_04: You can only become a local champion.
1:24:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you can't break through.
1:24:17
SPEAKER_04: Because the amount the amount of networking that is required.
1:24:22
SPEAKER_04: It's not possible to do that.
1:24:23
SPEAKER_04: As an artist, yeah, no, you can't as an artist, and this is where again, if you've studied business management, you can work in the creative industry, you can manage the business of an artist.
1:24:34
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
1:24:35
SPEAKER_04: So you can be a business manager for the artist.
1:24:38
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you studied any profession you studied, if you studied project management, you can be on the team making sure every project they do is.
1:25:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because they're just helping their friend or their family.
1:25:22
SPEAKER_00: It's a favor.
1:25:23
SPEAKER_04: So, so, so, and some of them even have other jobs they are doing.
1:25:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so this is this on the part-time.
1:25:29
SPEAKER_04: So, how do you now find people who some of them they're not even doing the job?
1:25:33
SPEAKER_00: Maybe an artist hits, then charterhouse calls them for the meeting, and they call some their uncle B who is working at a bank and says, Oh, go with me to the meeting so that I look professional, and and that's it.
1:25:46
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so there's a lot of work to be done.
1:25:48
SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of work to be done.
1:25:50
SPEAKER_04: But we're up to the task, but yeah, you are doing well, and you are doing even better, keep going.
1:25:54
SPEAKER_04: And we are here to support, we're here to support, to show the way.
1:25:58
SPEAKER_04: And um, one thing that people need to creatives need to understand, like you said, they need to respect we need I don't know how do I put it um we need to respect our industry.
1:26:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, if we creatives do not respect our industry, other people will not respect.
1:26:17
SPEAKER_04: Well, not respect their industry.
1:26:18
SPEAKER_04: So for me, that is my uh pain point that uh we don't respect our own industry, yeah.
1:26:24
SPEAKER_04: And you show respect your industry by the way you comment about things, by the way you you promote things and all of that.
1:26:33
SPEAKER_04: Sometimes I listen to some of these pandits on the media.
1:26:37
SPEAKER_04: It's very painful, and it's very painful as a creative industry entrepreneur, as somebody who is investing in this space.
1:26:44
SPEAKER_04: I see it's I take my work very seriously.
1:26:48
SPEAKER_04: I've spent 25 years in this sector.
1:26:50
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I I I spend my days and hours thinking and strategizing and coming up with creative ideas for the sector.
1:26:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so why can somebody sit on radio and belittle the industry in sometimes the way they do?
1:27:05
SPEAKER_04: And so for me, those things put me off.
1:27:07
SPEAKER_04: And I feel that they put a lot of people off the industry and continue to make people not see not look at the industry seriously.
1:27:14
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, a lot of people think it's not an industry to be joked with.
1:27:17
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, people think I don't want to be part of this.
1:27:19
SPEAKER_04: Look at Nollywood, huge industries built out of the creative sector.
1:27:24
SPEAKER_04: Recently, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs gave out diplomatic passports.
1:27:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, all the people are creatives.
1:27:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, who else but creatives?
1:27:34
SPEAKER_04: They will take your name everywhere.
1:27:36
SPEAKER_04: They are the ones who carry the name of the company out elsewhere.
1:27:40
SPEAKER_00: And I think every country who has understood that has actually marketed their culture.
1:27:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's marketed.
1:27:46
SPEAKER_04: Those of us who have, I mean, before we all traveled, we knew everything about America.
1:27:49
SPEAKER_00: Like, look at us.
1:27:50
SPEAKER_00: We are here and you have Ghanaian girls speaking Korean because they've been watching South Korean shows.
1:27:55
SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
1:27:56
SPEAKER_00: Look at the Indian movies that we used to watch all the time.
1:28:00
SPEAKER_04: What do you call them?
1:28:01
SPEAKER_04: The telenovellus.
1:28:03
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:28:04
SPEAKER_00: They sold their culture to us so much.
1:28:07
SPEAKER_04: Through the arts.
1:28:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:28:08
SPEAKER_04: So why can't we sell our culture to the world?
1:28:10
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm really thinking about it.
1:28:12
SPEAKER_00: As let's say before I traveled, the only thing I knew about the rest of the world was through the arts.
1:28:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:28:18
SPEAKER_04: That's it.
1:28:20
SPEAKER_04: Through the arts and through the books you read.
1:28:22
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:28:22
SPEAKER_04: That was it.
1:28:23
SPEAKER_04: Your mind went before your body.
1:28:24
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
1:28:26
SPEAKER_00: So we have to understand if we want to take Ghana to the world, it's through the arts.
1:28:31
SPEAKER_04: And the arts needs to be empowered.
1:28:33
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:28:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, and someone can write a beautiful book, but he needs a publisher.
1:28:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:28:39
SPEAKER_00: Someone can publish, but you need the printers.
1:28:41
SPEAKER_00: Like there's a whole industry.
1:28:45
SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget that thing you said to me that day in the office where you said we have a fashion industry, but nobody's making buttons.
1:28:59
SPEAKER_04: Stuck with me.
1:29:00
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, oh my god, that's so true.
1:29:02
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
1:29:03
SPEAKER_04: All the clothes we are busily sewing.
1:29:05
SPEAKER_00: We're importing buttons.
1:29:06
SPEAKER_04: Are we not making zips?
1:29:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:29:08
SPEAKER_04: Why are we not making thread?
1:29:10
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:29:10
SPEAKER_04: Why are we not making all the inputs that are needed?
1:29:13
SPEAKER_04: And they're only doing the sewing.
1:29:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:29:15
SPEAKER_04: They say, whoa, value chain.
1:29:17
SPEAKER_04: We always only want to be on the front end themselves into the value chain.
1:29:21
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:29:21
SPEAKER_04: That's job creation.
1:29:24
SPEAKER_04: We need somebody.
1:29:24
SPEAKER_04: When you go to China, there are places that produce only buttons.
1:29:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:29:27
SPEAKER_04: These that produce only socks.
1:29:30
SPEAKER_04: They've portioned the country to specialize in creating different elements of things that will eventually be put together to create a beautiful outfit.
1:29:39
SPEAKER_00: And we we claim there's no employment, but maybe it's just that we are not innovating in certain areas enough to create the employment.
1:29:49
SPEAKER_04: And employment creation is not doing national youth employment.
1:29:53
SPEAKER_04: No.
1:29:53
SPEAKER_04: There's nothing about national youth employment.
1:29:56
SPEAKER_04: It's about looking at industries and creating the value chains in the industries and empowering employ entrepreneurs to step into that space to set up those businesses so that they can employ people.
1:30:13
SPEAKER_04: It's not about giving people pay, like come and sweep and collect money.
1:30:18
SPEAKER_04: How is that nation building?
1:30:20
SPEAKER_00: When there's a need for the employment, it will move there naturally.
1:30:24
SPEAKER_04: If someone says I'm setting up a button making or sewing accessories, plants, manufacturing plants, I'm going to manufacture buttons.
1:30:33
SPEAKER_04: Maybe someone can say, Oh, you see those beads?
1:30:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:30:36
SPEAKER_04: Those glass beads that we've been for years we've been doing glass beads.
1:30:40
SPEAKER_04: Can those beads be used to make buttons?
1:30:42
SPEAKER_04: True.
1:30:42
SPEAKER_04: Can instead of doing it as beads to wear around the waist and ankle.
1:30:48
SPEAKER_04: How can they use it to make buttons?
1:30:49
SPEAKER_00: I wish I could remember the name of the company.
1:30:51
SPEAKER_00: I'd have just given them free promo.
1:30:52
SPEAKER_00: There's a company right now that is making t-shirts in Ghana, like making um the polo neck and everything directly here in Ghana.
1:31:00
SPEAKER_00: And I was so glad to see that.
1:31:02
SPEAKER_00: Because previously, you always have to import the t-shirts and print on them.
1:31:08
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, anytime a company wants to make like a particular design where maybe with my t-shirt, I want the left side to be yellow and this side to be black and all, you need to import it from China because we couldn't make it over here.
1:31:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:31:22
SPEAKER_00: So I recently saw a company that is making it from scratch.
1:31:25
SPEAKER_04: They are making the t-shirts now.
1:31:27
SPEAKER_04: How about we go further down the value chain and make the how do we make the fabric?
1:31:31
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:31:31
SPEAKER_04: How do we make the fabric?
1:31:33
SPEAKER_04: We are drinking tea.
1:31:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:31:35
SPEAKER_04: Is there anything we can do to make the fabrics?
1:31:37
SPEAKER_04: Can we discover other fabric or textiles or whatever materials that can be used to create new fabrics?
1:31:46
SPEAKER_04: See, do you know what's happening to all our science and research institutions?
1:31:50
SPEAKER_04: Do you know where the gap is?
1:31:53
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what the gap is?
1:31:54
SPEAKER_00: People have not realized that entrepreneurship is equal to creativity.
1:31:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:31:58
SPEAKER_00: Because it doesn't matter what field you are in.
1:32:01
SPEAKER_00: Once you are starting a business, you are creating something into existence.
1:32:05
SPEAKER_00: So once we start to marry creativity with professionalism, you will have more of these things happening.
1:32:23
SPEAKER_00: So while he was in his workplace, he was always coming up with ideas and he will be shut down.
1:32:27
SPEAKER_00: Eventually he had to quit his job because he wasn't, you know.
1:32:30
SPEAKER_00: But that same creativity is what led him to say, why is nobody making watches in Ghana?
1:32:36
SPEAKER_00: And he started making watches in Ghana.
1:32:39
SPEAKER_00: We need more of that kind of thinking.
1:32:41
SPEAKER_00: And we need to empower people to think and execute like that.
1:32:44
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:32:45
SPEAKER_04: So one of the ways in which we can just build jobs, especially in the creative sector, is really to begin to look at value chain.
1:32:52
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:32:52
SPEAKER_04: Look at it from a value chain ecosystem point of view.
1:32:56
SPEAKER_04: And that's when you see the gaps, huge gaps.
1:33:00
SPEAKER_04: And then you see the opportunities.
1:33:02
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
1:33:03
SPEAKER_04: In these gaps and challenges of huge opportunities, huge opportunities for employment.
1:33:09
SPEAKER_04: Huge, huge, huge.
1:33:10
SPEAKER_04: But like you're saying, we always start at the end.
1:33:12
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:33:12
SPEAKER_04: The finished product.
1:33:13
SPEAKER_04: That's what we want.
1:33:14
SPEAKER_04: Everybody wants the fine parts.
1:33:15
SPEAKER_04: And one person is making a dress.
1:33:16
SPEAKER_04: Everybody now wants to make dresses.
1:33:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:33:18
SPEAKER_04: You know, so they are all making dresses.
1:33:20
SPEAKER_04: And then that means we come choked.
1:33:22
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
1:33:22
SPEAKER_04: Choked.
1:33:22
SPEAKER_04: Classic.
1:33:23
SPEAKER_04: Oh, that's committed.
1:33:25
SPEAKER_04: Because one person starts doing this stuff, you know, those boobs that have come now.
1:33:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:33:29
SPEAKER_04: Everybody.
1:33:32
SPEAKER_04: Everybody is doing booboos.
1:33:35
SPEAKER_04: You know, can't you now take it?
1:33:37
SPEAKER_04: Go back and start.
1:33:38
SPEAKER_04: What else can I do?
1:33:40
SPEAKER_04: What else can I do?
1:33:41
SPEAKER_04: You know, but it's like everybody just ah there's the value chains.
1:33:45
SPEAKER_04: I'm telling you, the opportunities along the value chains.
1:33:48
SPEAKER_04: Um, recently we we we I was very I got very interested in the agribusiness sector.
1:33:53
SPEAKER_04: We launched um a new project called the Gastro Festival.
1:33:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the Gastro Festival.
1:33:57
SPEAKER_04: It's a farm-to-table um experience where we try to look at the food industry from beginning to end and see how we can bring the whole industry together.
1:34:06
SPEAKER_04: And I did a mixer with women in agribusiness, and they came and I saw what they were doing.
1:34:13
SPEAKER_04: Great stuff, but why is every person who is doing processing of food responsible for buying their own machine?
1:34:23
SPEAKER_03: So they can never expand.
1:34:26
SPEAKER_04: True, like you have to buy your own machine to do your Tom Brown and to do your processing and all of that, and the S doesn't have money to expand, so you're going to operate at that smaller level.
1:34:38
SPEAKER_04: But there are 20 people doing Tom Brown.
1:34:41
SPEAKER_04: Why can't we have a Tom Brown producing factory?
1:34:43
SPEAKER_00: Factory, yes.
1:34:44
SPEAKER_04: Somebody should set it up.
1:34:45
SPEAKER_00: So you make the raw materials.
1:34:47
SPEAKER_03: No, I'll start at the factory.
1:34:49
SPEAKER_04: Big.
1:34:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:34:50
SPEAKER_04: Now you bring your formula, we put it in the factory, in the machine, and produce for you.
1:34:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:34:56
SPEAKER_04: And that person too brings their formula, their contract manufacturing.
1:34:59
SPEAKER_04: Bring it, come and do it and go.
1:35:01
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:35:01
SPEAKER_04: That way you don't have to put money into a machine.
1:35:04
SPEAKER_00: The cost of buying all those machines.
1:35:06
SPEAKER_04: You go and source.
1:35:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:35:07
SPEAKER_04: For your products, focus on your formulation, work on your packaging and your branding.
1:35:11
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:35:11
SPEAKER_04: And let manufacturing be done by somebody.
1:35:13
SPEAKER_04: Because you can't scale.
1:35:15
SPEAKER_00: You see, that's what people don't understand that you can't scale when one person is doing everything.
1:35:20
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
1:35:20
SPEAKER_00: Like when you go into a factory, somebody's job is to put the label on.
1:35:25
SPEAKER_00: And that's it.
1:35:26
SPEAKER_00: That's that's that's all.
1:35:28
SPEAKER_03: And they're scaling, don't do it.
1:35:29
SPEAKER_04: So what so ideally when you finish your product, take it somewhere, the adopt, they will just label it for you.
1:35:33
SPEAKER_04: Pay for cost of labeling becomes uh a cost.
1:35:36
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
1:35:37
SPEAKER_04: Something that you have to do.
1:35:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:35:38
SPEAKER_04: So when you took you, do you go there, you your job, create the product.
1:35:43
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, formulate it.
1:35:44
SPEAKER_04: That formulation that will make people want to buy that product over and over again.
1:35:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the taste.
1:35:50
SPEAKER_04: Spend time on that.
1:35:52
SPEAKER_04: Building that.
1:35:53
SPEAKER_04: When you build that, it becomes your formula.
1:35:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:35:55
SPEAKER_04: Look at Coca-Cola.
1:35:56
SPEAKER_04: The formula is what has sold the whole world for centuries.
1:36:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:36:01
SPEAKER_04: That formula.
1:36:02
SPEAKER_04: It can be produced anywhere in the world.
1:36:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:36:04
SPEAKER_04: So that formula.
1:36:05
SPEAKER_00: And that is why it's scalable.
1:36:07
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
1:36:07
SPEAKER_03: So that is what you own.
1:36:10
SPEAKER_03: Then as for the production process, it can be taken over by somebody and you know, scaled up.
1:36:16
SPEAKER_03: And everybody can go and buy into it.
1:36:19
SPEAKER_03: You know?
1:36:20
SPEAKER_03: So I don't understand.
1:36:21
SPEAKER_03: So I looked at all of them and I said, This is difficult.
1:36:25
SPEAKER_03: How can each person build a factory, a big factory?
1:36:28
SPEAKER_04: They can't.
1:36:29
SPEAKER_04: So they'll just have the small production in units in their house or their small factory they are doing.
1:36:34
SPEAKER_04: And then they are doing that's what everybody is doing.
1:36:37
SPEAKER_04: So I was wondering that this is an opportunity for some investor.
1:36:40
SPEAKER_04: Like these investors, if you are watching, set up a factory to produce these cereals, you know, and someone and someone should help them to do branding.
1:36:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:36:52
SPEAKER_04: So do just formulate, do your mix.
1:36:54
SPEAKER_04: Don't tell me how you you got there.
1:36:56
SPEAKER_04: Formulate it and bring it and tell me this is my whatever grains.
1:37:03
SPEAKER_04: Process it for me.
1:37:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:37:04
SPEAKER_04: When they process it's powder, I put it in bags.
1:37:07
SPEAKER_04: I take it somewhere else.
1:37:08
SPEAKER_04: Okay, package it for me.
1:37:09
SPEAKER_00: And then somebody else is distributed.
1:37:10
SPEAKER_04: Then somebody else is taking it.
1:37:12
SPEAKER_04: Okay, take it here.
1:37:13
SPEAKER_04: I'll distribute it in all the supermarkets for you in Ghana.
1:37:15
SPEAKER_04: I can take it to Melcom nationwide.
1:37:17
SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
1:37:17
SPEAKER_04: Don't worry about it.
1:37:18
SPEAKER_04: But you see, this same person doing the grains, the cereal, has to get her own machines, do it, has to package it, has to go to try to talk to them.
1:37:27
SPEAKER_04: Go to the colour.
1:37:29
SPEAKER_03: She has to do everything.
1:37:30
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:37:30
SPEAKER_03: How will she grow?
1:37:32
SPEAKER_04: So I look at them and I was like, nah, this pie we are not growing.
1:37:38
SPEAKER_04: You know.
1:37:39
SPEAKER_04: So in the same way in our industry, one artist is trying to do everything.
1:37:43
SPEAKER_04: It's happening in other industries as well.
1:37:45
SPEAKER_04: It's happening in other industries.
1:37:46
SPEAKER_04: And that's why we are not growing.
1:37:49
SPEAKER_04: That's why we are not growing, we are not scaling.
1:37:51
SPEAKER_04: But we need entrepreneurs to identify these opportunities and come in and spend money.
1:37:57
SPEAKER_04: People have got money to spend, though.
1:37:58
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:37:59
SPEAKER_04: But you know what they do?
1:38:00
SPEAKER_04: They just follow one, the easiest thing to do.
1:38:03
SPEAKER_04: Right now, people are putting money in apartments.
1:38:05
SPEAKER_04: I mean how many apartments are plenty.
1:38:07
SPEAKER_04: I split up everyone.
1:38:08
SPEAKER_00: You know, because all the videos are saying I'm going to real estate.
1:38:11
SPEAKER_00: That's a new Comcenter.
1:38:12
SPEAKER_04: Remember how Ghana Comcenter.
1:38:14
SPEAKER_00: Comcenter.
1:38:14
SPEAKER_00: Comcenter, Comcenter, Comcent, then it gets forest builders.
1:38:17
SPEAKER_00: Then space to space.
1:38:18
SPEAKER_00: Do you remember space to space?
1:38:20
SPEAKER_00: On one road, there's 10 space to space.
1:38:21
SPEAKER_00: Now it's mobile money.
1:38:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:38:23
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere you turn.
1:38:24
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's like we go, we find it, we go for the easy, yeah.
1:38:28
SPEAKER_03: Easy, easy, easy pickings.
1:38:29
SPEAKER_00: Copy and paste.
1:38:31
SPEAKER_04: But the the engine is the is the value chains, just going backwards to see how you can integrate and also aggregate in the value chain.
1:38:42
SPEAKER_04: You know, so there's so many opportunities.
1:38:44
SPEAKER_04: I look around me in Ghana, Africa, and all I see is opportunities, but you can't do everything.
1:38:49
SPEAKER_00: You can do everything.
1:38:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you've done your bit.
1:38:51
SPEAKER_00: You can't do everything.
1:38:53
SPEAKER_04: So for me, this is where I but at least advocating, talking about it.
1:38:56
SPEAKER_00: Like maybe just by watching this, somebody will now start making buttons, making zips, you know, bringing machines for the Tom Brown.
1:39:04
SPEAKER_04: The value chain, I mean, the dice.
1:39:06
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, where are we getting the dice from?
1:39:08
SPEAKER_04: Who is inventing dice?
1:39:09
SPEAKER_04: Who is innovating in dice for printing?
1:39:12
SPEAKER_04: I mean, thread making.
1:39:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, if we can do, I mean, the yarns for the kinte, we've been weaving kinte since time immemorial.
1:39:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, where were the yarns coming from?
1:39:22
SPEAKER_04: Can't why can't we provide sewing threads for the sewing industry through those yarns?
1:39:27
SPEAKER_04: Why are we important?
1:39:28
SPEAKER_04: We say we made it made clothing, addresses made in Ghana.
1:39:32
SPEAKER_04: Everything about address was important.
1:39:34
SPEAKER_04: It was only the sewing that was made in Ghana.
1:39:36
SPEAKER_00: We should change it to sewn in Ghana.
1:39:38
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so why?
1:39:39
SPEAKER_04: Yes, sewed in Ghana.
1:39:40
SPEAKER_04: Why can't everything on the value chain be made?
1:39:44
SPEAKER_04: That's how you grow industries, that's how you create employment, you know.
1:39:48
SPEAKER_04: Same for the creative sector.
1:39:49
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, why are we having one man uh artist machinery?
1:39:55
SPEAKER_04: Why can't we have people offering this service?
1:39:59
SPEAKER_04: Like you talk about publishing.
1:40:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it should be a PR company.
1:40:02
SPEAKER_00: PR company.
1:40:03
SPEAKER_00: We only handle artists, PR.
1:40:05
SPEAKER_04: So I can sign on 10 artists, yeah, and I'm handling their PR for them.
1:40:10
SPEAKER_04: People have gone to GIG or is it Ucoms now?
1:40:13
SPEAKER_04: University of what you what's the name of the university?
1:40:15
SPEAKER_04: I don't even know the name of the combined one with the Unimac.
1:40:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Unimac, yes.
1:40:19
SPEAKER_00: Unimac.
1:40:20
SPEAKER_04: Why can't a group of young people who have come out of Unimac set up a PR agency for artists?
1:40:26
SPEAKER_04: Nowadays, they are also social media savvy, you know.
1:40:29
SPEAKER_04: So come together, form like three or four people, partners, you know, so swearing partners, and they know the way they do they do it in the law firms.
1:40:36
SPEAKER_04: Oh, yes, you know, Richie Teresa.
1:40:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, three people come together, form a PR company.
1:40:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, look for artists and say, Listen, we ought to handle your PR for you, and that will solve problems in real time.
1:40:50
SPEAKER_04: But you I assign up, assign you all up.
1:40:52
SPEAKER_00: Do you know one problem we're having in PR in the music industry right now?
1:40:56
SPEAKER_00: Um, things have gotten so dynamic that every two months there's a complete shift in how PR works.
1:41:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so now the problem is that you see an artist, you release music in January.
1:41:07
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you did this strategy and it worked.
1:41:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're releasing your next song in May, everything is different.
1:41:12
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you're trying what you tried in January, and it's not changing.
1:41:16
SPEAKER_00: So, what you need is you need a company that is doing PR January, February, March.
1:41:21
SPEAKER_00: So they are seeing the change adapting.
1:41:23
SPEAKER_00: So when you come back in May, they'll now advise you that no, this is how to go.
1:41:27
SPEAKER_04: You just plug in, you just plug in, you don't have to overthink it because somebody's there 24 hours a day thinking through it for you.
1:41:33
SPEAKER_04: Thank you, you know.
1:41:34
SPEAKER_04: So that's it.
1:41:35
SPEAKER_00: We need more specialists and not so many generalists, yes, yeah.
1:41:39
SPEAKER_04: More specialists in the in the industry, and people, young people should come into their creative space and look along the value chain and create businesses, find the problems we have, fix them, find the problems that we have and fix them, yeah, and create business from them because you get paid if you are solving a problem.
1:41:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you make money from solving a problem, you know, because people don't, and most of the time, when people set out to set up businesses, actually, making money is the last thing on their mind.
1:42:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, true.
1:42:06
SPEAKER_04: They see a challenge, they see a problem, and they want to solve it.
1:42:09
SPEAKER_04: And in solving it, people pay them, people pay them because you are in solving it, you are providing value, and people will always pay for value.
1:42:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so look at all this um Uber.
1:42:19
SPEAKER_04: Uber was started by people who went for a conference and transportation and decided to um why can't we create why can't I book a car for my phone?
1:42:30
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, why do I have to be stranded looking for whatever, you know?
1:42:34
SPEAKER_04: So they they came up with the idea and they set it up.
1:42:36
SPEAKER_04: And then boom, it Airbnb.
1:42:39
SPEAKER_04: Also, I mean there was a big convention um in a conference, a design conference somewhere in California also, and all the hotels were booked.
1:42:47
SPEAKER_04: And these young people were like, ah, the way people are here, they can't get rooms.
1:42:51
SPEAKER_04: Maybe we should just um rent this room in our apartment, air beds.
1:42:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's why it's called Airbnb.
1:42:57
SPEAKER_04: So they're with air mattresses.
1:42:58
SPEAKER_04: Okay, air mattresses.
1:43:00
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
1:43:00
SPEAKER_04: So they just got air mattresses and put it out there and promoted it.
1:43:03
SPEAKER_04: That you want to rent an air mattress for like one-fifth of the hotel price.
1:43:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and so people signed up for it and they came and sat in their rooms with air mattresses to solve the problems.
1:43:14
SPEAKER_04: Like, oh, so what now people and you know?
1:43:16
SPEAKER_04: So then the but from that they started scaling it up, scaling that scaling that.
1:43:20
SPEAKER_04: So you see a problem around you and you solve it.
1:43:22
SPEAKER_04: You know, so there's hope.
1:43:24
SPEAKER_04: There's a lot of hope for the young people out there.
1:43:27
SPEAKER_04: Just look into an industry, find out how they are operating, see where the gaps are.
1:43:32
SPEAKER_04: You can step in and fill that.
1:43:34
SPEAKER_04: I mean, fill that gap by providing a service, you know, to solve that problem.
1:43:40
SPEAKER_04: And you are in it, yeah.
1:43:41
SPEAKER_00: Anthony, the CEO of Cavand said something right now.
1:43:44
SPEAKER_00: I live by that mantra.
1:43:45
SPEAKER_00: He said, find a gap in the market and build a market in that gap.
1:43:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:43:53
SPEAKER_04: There are so many gaps.
1:43:55
SPEAKER_04: You've done analyze the industry and find that, find that gap.
1:44:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you find it because there are problems where you find challenge where you hear somebody say, Ah, it's good though, but the only challenge is as far as you hear challenges.
1:44:11
SPEAKER_04: That's something you can solve.
1:44:12
SPEAKER_04: That's opportunity.
1:44:14
SPEAKER_04: Challenge equals opportunity.
1:44:16
SPEAKER_04: And if there's anything I want to live here with, that's it.
1:44:20
SPEAKER_04: Challenge equals opportunity.
1:44:21
SPEAKER_04: Opportunity.
1:44:22
SPEAKER_04: Whenever you see a challenge, see an opportunity to step in to solve it.
1:44:26
SPEAKER_04: That's it.
1:44:27
SPEAKER_04: And there's some so many in a creative field, there's industries.
1:44:32
SPEAKER_04: I'm sure all you need to do is just have one conversation with Richard.
1:44:36
SPEAKER_04: Ah, you walk away with 30 problems to solve.
1:44:39
SPEAKER_04: And in all these challenges, problems, um, solutions, solutions, solutions, solutions.
1:44:44
SPEAKER_04: In fact, when you hear, you know what comes to mind when I when I imagine the challenges and the problem, solutions.
1:44:51
SPEAKER_04: You know those um cartoons when you see what Tom and Jerry cartoons, and then they see money, you know, the dollar sign comes into their eye, you know, that's the eyes, dollar.
1:45:01
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so when I see challenges, I've just seen dollar signs, or just city signs, you know.
1:45:06
SPEAKER_04: So for me, challenges you call city signs, you know.
1:45:09
SPEAKER_04: When I see the challenge, I'm like, ah, opportunity, opportunity.
1:45:11
SPEAKER_00: I think that's because of your entrepreneurial mindset.
1:45:13
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because opportunities are endless, yeah.
1:45:16
SPEAKER_04: You know, so our sector is full of opportunities, full of opportunities, and so it really hurts me when I see things like slowing down, grinding to a standstill.
1:45:27
SPEAKER_04: It's like just there's no energy in the space, you know, and you wonder that okay, what's happening?
1:45:35
SPEAKER_04: What's happening?
1:45:36
SPEAKER_04: What's happening?
1:45:37
SPEAKER_04: You know, so uh we just need more business people to enter into the creative space.
1:45:43
SPEAKER_00: You've done a lot in the industry over your period.
1:45:47
SPEAKER_00: What's that one thing you say you're the most proud of?
1:45:57
SPEAKER_04: What I'm most proud of is being able to build and sustain a creative enterprise and um being able to empower creatives to thrive.
1:46:13
SPEAKER_04: So that's one thing I would say I'm most proud of because I believe in I'm a person of impact.
1:46:20
SPEAKER_04: I believe in impact in my world and um whatever I do, my daily work, my daily actions should really make a change.
1:46:29
SPEAKER_04: And I think we've been able to achieve that in the sector we found ourselves.
1:46:34
SPEAKER_04: We've made a change in the creative sector.
1:46:36
SPEAKER_04: We are industry catalysts.
1:46:38
SPEAKER_04: We've shown the way of how to really create value out of your creative talent, out of your creative skills, and I think we've shown a lot of creatives how they can thrive as creatives.
1:46:52
SPEAKER_04: We've provided employment for creatives, we've provided a safe space for creatives for creatives to come in, feel comfortable, work here and still make money as a creative.
1:47:04
SPEAKER_04: You know, there's nothing as painful as a creative who can't make money from their talent and has to work in another sector.
1:47:11
SPEAKER_04: That's the most painful thing.
1:47:13
SPEAKER_00: They take the creative as a part-time.
1:47:15
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's the most painful thing.
1:47:16
SPEAKER_04: And it's also very painful when the creative can't find the room for creative expression in a way that can make them thrive.
1:47:27
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I have people who um who have family members who were creatives, very creative people, but somehow because the environment they found themselves in didn't nurture that creative skill and talent or didn't invest in them or support their growth in that space, they were forced to do other things.
1:47:48
SPEAKER_04: They never thrived in those other fields.
1:47:51
SPEAKER_04: They never thrived.
1:47:53
SPEAKER_04: They never thrived.
1:47:54
SPEAKER_04: In fact, I have people who like who would go to work and stop and sit at home and say, I won't go again.
1:48:01
SPEAKER_04: Not because they had any option, because they just could not fit.
1:48:06
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I get sad stories of parents who have given up on their children because and feeling bad because they felt that they could have supported their creative journey and they didn't, and now they forced the children to do something else, and now the children are not able to deliver.
1:48:24
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I have one woman who has two sons who are sitting at home.
1:48:28
SPEAKER_04: Oh, sorry.
1:48:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because they were creatives and they at the time they wanted to pursue their creative talents.
1:48:33
SPEAKER_04: The parents um didn't support them, so they pushed they pushed them down their own path that they wanted, and the children went, studied, and did everything, but came back and at home.
1:48:44
SPEAKER_04: They're not practicing what they studied, and they feel that they have they are too old to start the creative journey, so they're sitting at home, yeah.
1:48:59
SPEAKER_00: So, my goal with this entire podcast is to help people build their minds and become masterminds.
1:49:06
SPEAKER_00: I believe mindset is everything, that's the key to success.
1:49:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I want you to imagine you had the power to stretch your hand through the camera into the person watching his brain.
1:49:17
SPEAKER_00: What mindsets would you drop in there to change their lives?
1:49:23
SPEAKER_04: What's coming to mind is impossible is nothing.
1:49:27
SPEAKER_04: Impossible is nothing that is impossible.
1:49:30
SPEAKER_04: Whatever it is that you upset your mind to do, you can do it if you are prepared to uh put in the work.
1:49:41
SPEAKER_04: It doesn't happen by magic.
1:49:43
SPEAKER_04: But if you uh plan it, you think it you dream it, you put in the work, you can do it.
1:49:50
SPEAKER_04: Yes, and for me that is uh my mindset, it's a possibility mindset.
1:49:55
SPEAKER_04: Everything is possible.
1:49:56
SPEAKER_04: I I I I don't uh believe.
1:50:00
SPEAKER_04: Tell me something is impossible, you've challenged me.
1:50:03
SPEAKER_00: That's when you will even do it more.
1:50:05
SPEAKER_04: It can be possible.
1:50:07
SPEAKER_04: You know, it may not be exactly how you envisaged envisaged it, but you will get as close to it as possible.
1:50:14
SPEAKER_04: So everything is possible if you believe, if you put your mind to it, if you're focused, you want it bad enough.
1:50:21
SPEAKER_04: It is possible.
1:50:22
SPEAKER_04: And so um but first of all, what is your uh personal vision?
1:50:31
SPEAKER_04: For me, that's where it starts.
1:50:33
SPEAKER_04: What is your personal vision?
1:50:34
SPEAKER_04: What is it that you're looking for?
1:50:35
SPEAKER_04: What are you looking for?
1:50:36
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, what is it that you want?
1:50:38
SPEAKER_00: Set a goal in front of you.
1:50:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, what is it that you want?
1:50:40
SPEAKER_04: What are you looking for?
1:50:41
SPEAKER_04: What is your your mission?
1:50:44
SPEAKER_04: What are you here to do?
1:50:45
SPEAKER_04: What do you want to do?
1:50:46
SPEAKER_04: What's how do you want the world to remember remember you?
1:50:52
SPEAKER_04: What is it that you want to achieve?
1:50:53
SPEAKER_04: What is it?
1:50:55
SPEAKER_04: And so when that question is answered, then you went towards that.
1:51:00
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, but a lot of a lot of the time that question is not clear to a lot of people.
1:51:05
SPEAKER_00: Set the destination before the start before you walk out of it.
1:51:09
SPEAKER_04: So having that personal vision is very clear.
1:51:12
SPEAKER_04: I can tell you that a lot of the things I envisioned for myself innocently, just sitting down and just desiring what I desire, what I would want it to be.
1:51:24
SPEAKER_04: A lot of those images I painted in my head have come to pass.
1:51:28
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
1:51:29
SPEAKER_04: A lot of that because I thought it, I dreamt it, I wanted it, and I worked towards it.
1:51:37
SPEAKER_04: It was like, it's there, I can see it.
1:51:39
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you can see it.
1:51:40
SPEAKER_04: I want to get there.
1:51:42
SPEAKER_04: I want to get there, so I need to put in the work.
1:51:44
SPEAKER_04: So if anybody is talking, saying something to me, I'm thinking about how does this align towards getting there?
1:51:51
SPEAKER_04: How does this fit towards getting there?
1:51:54
SPEAKER_04: If I see it's not making sense, oh, I will drop you.
1:52:00
SPEAKER_04: You know, everything I all my interactions must have a connection to how it will lead me to where I want to go.
1:52:09
SPEAKER_04: And that's how I'm able to make the choices I have to make.
1:52:12
SPEAKER_04: How will this get me there?
1:52:15
SPEAKER_04: How will this get me there?
1:52:16
SPEAKER_04: So that vision guides me.
1:52:19
SPEAKER_04: That's for me personally.
1:52:21
SPEAKER_04: So that personal vision has to be established, and that vision is carried out in various ways.
1:52:29
SPEAKER_04: What's the standard of life I want to live?
1:52:31
SPEAKER_04: What's the quality of life I want to live?
1:52:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:52:33
SPEAKER_04: What's it?
1:52:34
SPEAKER_04: So I'm looking at all of that.
1:52:35
SPEAKER_04: So even if you're a man and you're approaching me, I'm looking at you and trying to calculate how this person gets me there.
1:52:41
SPEAKER_00: To my destination.
1:52:43
SPEAKER_04: How will this person be able to give me the kind of lifestyle?
1:52:47
SPEAKER_04: Um, I want to.
1:52:48
SPEAKER_04: And it doesn't mean that you must have money or anything.
1:52:50
SPEAKER_04: Your mindset, yeah.
1:52:51
SPEAKER_04: Does the person think like me?
1:52:53
SPEAKER_04: Does the person see where I'm going?
1:52:56
SPEAKER_04: Can we see the same future together?
1:52:58
SPEAKER_04: So those are the things, you know.
1:53:00
SPEAKER_04: The same way, if you're hiring somebody, this is where we want to get to.
1:53:04
SPEAKER_04: This person, that's what's the person's outlook, yeah.
1:53:07
SPEAKER_04: What's the person's mindset?
1:53:08
SPEAKER_04: Can the person see the vision?
1:53:10
SPEAKER_04: Can they get what we need there?
1:53:12
SPEAKER_04: That's what will advise me whether I can hire you or not.
1:53:15
SPEAKER_04: You know, so everything needs to make sense towards the vision that I want to achieve.
1:53:22
SPEAKER_04: You know, so that's it.
1:53:25
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
1:53:25
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
1:53:26
SPEAKER_00: This has been so insightful.
1:53:28
SPEAKER_00: I hope as you're watching this right now, you have learned from this.
1:53:31
SPEAKER_00: You are ready to turn challenges into city signs, opportunities, and set your destination and then start working and walking towards it.
1:53:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I admire your journey.
1:53:43
SPEAKER_00: I admire your journey even more now that I've heard it in full, you know.
1:53:48
SPEAKER_00: And I I want to thank you for everyone watching and for the entire industry for what you've done.
1:53:53
SPEAKER_00: If people have not told you enough, you Charterhouse, what you've done for the creative industry is immense.
1:54:00
SPEAKER_00: And if we had even two more companies like Charterhouse, I can say this industry would be 10 times better.
1:54:08
SPEAKER_00: So we really, really appreciate you.
1:54:10
SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
1:54:11
SPEAKER_04: I really appreciate the nice words.
1:54:13
SPEAKER_04: Um, it's nice to feel appreciated.
1:54:17
SPEAKER_04: Um, by waking up every day and coming to work and doing our work, doing what we love.
1:54:21
SPEAKER_04: Uh, it's nice to see that we've impacted and um uh also inspiring people.
1:54:27
SPEAKER_04: And um, I must also commend you, you're also really doing a good job.
1:54:31
SPEAKER_07: Thank you.
1:54:31
SPEAKER_04: I I see the various things that you you do, trying your hands at different things, stretching yourself beyond easy.
1:54:42
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I see that.
1:54:43
SPEAKER_04: I I really see you.
1:54:45
SPEAKER_04: And I think it's also very commendable.
1:54:47
SPEAKER_04: I mean, all the we need we need people like you in the industry to keep pushing the industry and showing us hope.
1:54:57
SPEAKER_04: That there's hope, there's possibilities, and the endless possibilities are in the industry.
1:55:02
SPEAKER_00: Always hope.
1:55:03
SPEAKER_00: It's possible, it is possible, no more impossible.
1:55:05
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I am possible.
1:55:10
SPEAKER_04: Impossible is nothing, you know.
1:55:12
SPEAKER_04: Whatever you I will look at this studio, I'm sure you you you dream you dreamt it, yeah.
1:55:16
SPEAKER_04: You imagined it, and then you put it into action.
1:55:18
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and you are here, yeah.
1:55:20
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's it.
1:55:21
SPEAKER_04: It's real now.
1:55:22
SPEAKER_04: If you had not imagined it, you are not put in the work, yeah, you will not be here, you know.
1:55:27
SPEAKER_04: So dreams do come to pass.
1:55:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like I said to you, I'm living my dreams, and and any dream I live, I any dream I have for the future, from now to the future, you know you will live.
1:55:39
SPEAKER_04: I have to put in the work now to make it happen.
1:55:42
SPEAKER_04: You know, so that's it.
1:55:45
SPEAKER_04: We have the power to shape our own lives.
1:55:47
SPEAKER_04: Can't wait for anybody.
1:55:49
SPEAKER_00: We are the power behind the performance.
1:55:50
SPEAKER_04: We are the power behind the performance.
1:55:53
SPEAKER_04: Of course, I mean we can't do all of this without um God's grace, it's not easy.
1:55:57
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, every morning you wake up, you go on your knees, tell God and then you commit the rest of the unknown into his hands, but then you see we go with faith, yeah.
1:56:08
SPEAKER_04: We go with faith knowing that he will make things work out for our good.
1:56:13
SPEAKER_00: Once again, thank you so much.
1:56:14
SPEAKER_00: And this episode has been powered by Master Marks.
1:56:17
SPEAKER_04: Thank you for having me.
1:56:19
SPEAKER_00: And tell me about this book.
1:56:21
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's your fault.
1:56:22
SPEAKER_00: Please, this book is all about personal responsibility.
1:56:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know, I have gone through different phases in your life, okay.
1:56:29
SPEAKER_00: I've gone through phases in life where at point I blame the industry, I blame the government, it's my parents' fault, is this person then I I realize at a point, no, I'm here, it's my life.
1:56:39
SPEAKER_00: Anything I need to make happen is up to me.
1:56:43
SPEAKER_00: Every win is my fault, every loss is my fault.
1:56:46
SPEAKER_00: So if I'm the problem, then I'm also the solution.
1:56:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:56:50
SPEAKER_00: And it's such a powerful place to start from because you realize you can do anything because you are the key factor in everything.
1:56:59
SPEAKER_04: The Bible says that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
1:57:03
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:57:04
SPEAKER_04: So for me, that's one of my mantras.
1:57:06
SPEAKER_04: Like when things look so doubting and challenging, I just say I can do all things.
1:57:11
SPEAKER_04: I can do all things, I can do all things, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
1:57:16
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:57:17
SPEAKER_04: So with that in mind, you just step out in faith.
1:57:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:57:20
SPEAKER_04: And do.
1:57:21
SPEAKER_04: You know, the doing is the most important part, the most difficult part.
1:57:25
SPEAKER_04: You know, you can think, you can dream, you can fantasize, but the doing.
1:57:30
SPEAKER_04: And sometimes we all get caught in that trap of um procrastination.
1:57:36
SPEAKER_04: Overanalyzing.
1:57:37
SPEAKER_04: Overanalyzing.
1:57:39
SPEAKER_00: Am I doing it?
1:57:40
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, negative thinking.
1:57:42
SPEAKER_04: You've even defeated yourself before you started.
1:57:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:57:45
SPEAKER_04: You know, so we go through all of those, and that's where the the mastermind, the mind mastery has to come in.
1:57:51
SPEAKER_00: So that's what the book is about.
1:57:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm basically trying to bring people's mind to the fact that they can take charge of their life, they can take action, yeah, and they will get there.
1:58:02
SPEAKER_04: You know, I I I always tell people that self-discovery is the most important thing, eh?
1:58:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:58:09
SPEAKER_04: Because I went through my I came, I grew up in a middle-income family.
1:58:13
SPEAKER_04: My father was a company bank director, etc.
1:58:17
SPEAKER_04: Pushy life.
1:58:19
SPEAKER_04: Um by the time I finished my A levels, things had changed at home financially.
1:58:24
SPEAKER_04: My father got caught up in those um political couples of the time.
1:58:30
SPEAKER_04: Assets got frozen, etc.
1:58:32
SPEAKER_04: So we found ourselves from a pushy life to nothing, basically.
1:58:37
SPEAKER_04: So um it's like the rug was pulled from under my feet.
1:58:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:58:43
SPEAKER_04: And I find myself, I told you I find myself at the age of 18 on my own, basically.
1:58:48
SPEAKER_04: And I that's when I woke up and I was like, whoa.
1:58:52
SPEAKER_04: So what happens from here?
1:58:54
SPEAKER_04: And I realized I said, okay, there's no one, I don't I can't rely on my family anymore because there's they're going through a crisis, and they are younger children after me.
1:59:03
SPEAKER_04: At least they've given me an education.
1:59:07
SPEAKER_04: What can I do with it?
1:59:09
SPEAKER_04: So then I began to imagine, okay, so what do I want to do?
1:59:12
SPEAKER_04: What do I want to do?
1:59:13
SPEAKER_04: What do I want to do?
1:59:13
SPEAKER_04: What kind of life do I want to live?
1:59:15
SPEAKER_04: And I looked at how I had grown up and I said, ah, this is the standard my parents have given me.
1:59:20
SPEAKER_04: I can't fall below this.
1:59:22
SPEAKER_04: If anything, you need to rise up, rise up, you know.
1:59:25
SPEAKER_04: So I immediately started building my non-negotiables, you know, my must-haves.
1:59:33
SPEAKER_04: And once I built that list of things in my mind of the kind of life I want to live.
1:59:38
SPEAKER_04: In fact, I told myself by the age of 30, I'll be self-employed.
1:59:41
SPEAKER_04: Nice.
1:59:42
SPEAKER_04: I told myself that at the by the age of 30.
1:59:44
SPEAKER_04: So then it wasn't a surprise.
1:59:46
SPEAKER_04: I even I was self-employed by the age of 27.
1:59:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I even achieved it before I got to 30.
1:59:51
SPEAKER_04: But I told myself that this was at the age of 18, 19.
1:59:54
SPEAKER_04: I just I started giving myself goals.
1:59:56
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that by the age of 30, I want to be self-employed.
1:59:58
SPEAKER_04: I want to be able to live the kind of life that I can travel, I can do this, I can do that.
2:00:03
SPEAKER_04: I I just gave myself things I wanted to be able to do.
2:00:06
SPEAKER_04: Then once I had laid it all up there, I was like, okay, so how do I get there?
2:00:12
SPEAKER_04: What are the things I need to do?
2:00:13
SPEAKER_04: So I was very focused.
2:00:15
SPEAKER_04: So whenever I went to work and I found myself, I was just about the work.
2:00:22
SPEAKER_04: I come, I do my work.
2:00:23
SPEAKER_04: I'm so passionate about what I'm doing where you because I'm like, I didn't come, I'm not here to play.
2:00:30
SPEAKER_04: I'm on a journey.
2:00:32
SPEAKER_04: I'm on a journey.
2:00:33
SPEAKER_04: So every day I get up and say, you won't catch me chatting, spanning around, chatting, playing.
2:00:42
SPEAKER_04: Uh uh.
2:00:43
SPEAKER_04: I came to do the work, their work has to be done, and then afterwards, if I want to laugh and would you okay, let's play after the job is done.
2:00:50
SPEAKER_04: But the work has to get done.
2:00:51
SPEAKER_04: So people didn't understand me because I didn't know that I was a girl on the mission.
2:00:58
SPEAKER_04: I was a girl on the mission.
2:01:00
SPEAKER_04: But my bosses saw that's why any opportunity that came, they would come to me and say, Teresa, we want you to do this.
2:01:07
SPEAKER_04: Because you know, I'll approach it with that kind of that tenacity, that's petition, tenacity, you know.
2:01:13
SPEAKER_04: So I was the one who was being asked to do this, break new ground, do this, do that.
2:01:17
SPEAKER_04: Because I'll go at it like this.
2:01:19
SPEAKER_04: I'm on a girl on a mission.
2:01:21
SPEAKER_04: Girl on a mission.
2:01:22
SPEAKER_04: On a mission, seriously.
2:01:26
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.
2:01:28
SPEAKER_00: It's been an entertaining conversation.
2:01:34
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for watching this episode.
2:01:36
SPEAKER_00: 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.
2:01:45
SPEAKER_00: Now, let's build a community of thinkers who are ready to become the best version of themselves.
2:01:51
SPEAKER_00: So, subscribe to the channel and the mindset that you will develop and grow every day to become a true mastermind.