Damn the Consequences. You Must Try: Nana Aba Anamoah || Masterminds Podcast EP54

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Most people are waiting for the right moment, the right opportunity, the right permission. Nana Aba Anamoah never waited for any of it.

In this episode of the Masterminds Podcast, Richie Mensah sits down with one of Ghana's most respected and fearless media personalities — journalist, broadcaster, and champion of women, Nana Aba Anamoah. From being told she was ugly on her first day on TV, to building her own morning show team, to assembling an all-female election coverage unit that silenced every doubter, Nana Aba's story is a masterclass in audacity, preparation, and power. She breaks down the difference between being confident and being powerful, why relevance is a daily discipline, what Women of Valor is really about, and why the greatest mistake anyone can make is simply not trying.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why confidence without power only opens doors — but power lets you build the house
• The difference between being an influencer and being influential
• How Nana Aba prepared for the 2010 World Cup when nobody asked her to
• Why relevance is a deliberate, daily practice — not an accident
• What Women of Valor is really fighting for beyond the surface of feminism
• Why the ego is the greatest downfall of men in leadership
• How to build a circle of friends who make you better, not comfortable
• Why you must damn the consequences and try anyway

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:00

When you are in a system that's not designed for you, you have to outdraw that system and redesign it to fit what you are interested in. I was introduced to TV and books at a very early age. But I also like current affairs. So when I was growing up, I was introduced to Larry King Live at a very early age. Metro TV. I went on TV for the first time on Metro TV. And my goodness, it was usidal because I think my makeup was shambolic, and then he pointed at me because I went on TV that day. And he said, You are so ugly. If you are confident and you have influence, you are able to open the door.

SPEAKER_07 0:43

The greatest downfall of every man is our ego.

SPEAKER_06 0:46

Exactly. What we strive to do with women of valor is to just give women confidence.

SPEAKER_07 0:51

So the concept of women of valor is not just because you are a woman, but it's the value that you are bringing. It's what you are adding. You know, me personally, I always say because I'm so close to my mom, I'm the biggest feminist of the world. So before we continue with the episode, something interesting has happened in the studio right now. After shooting one of my usual solo episodes, somebody asked me questions, which made me realize that sometimes your questions actually allow me to give better feedback and better information. So let's do this. If you've ever felt like you wanted to ask me questions or further clarification on anything I've said, you can drop it in the comments and I'll use those questions to do special episodes just to answer you. I may even cut out your name so that you understand that I'm answering you. And also, do me a favor. I see so many people who are watching my episodes who have forgotten to hit the subscribe button. You know, we're trying to grow this community, build masterminds like you and I, who can acquire wealth, who can build their mindset and become more wealthy financially, physically, spiritually, and especially when it comes to health. So please do me the favor and subscribe. Welcome back to the Masterminds Podcast. As always, I'm your excellent tour guide on this journey of mastering your most powerful tool, your mind. This is going to be a very, very exciting episode because I am seated with the ultimate guest. You know, she shot to prominence with her eloquence and her excellent control of the English language, like never seen before in this country. And then she started to show her confidence, her intelligence, her power. She's grown, she's mature, she's done things that we didn't even imagine when we saw her starting out. And my favorite thing is right now, she's the biggest spokesperson for the women, the women of valor. I am so honored to be seated with Nanata.

SPEAKER_06 3:03

Oh, Richie. Flattery will take you places, it will take me everywhere. Flattery will indeed take you everywhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 3:11

Thank you so much for honoring my show.

SPEAKER_06 3:13

Thank you for having me on the show. It's been a while.

SPEAKER_07 3:17

Yes. You should have been my first guest, you see.

SPEAKER_06 3:19

Well, as faith will have it. Faith and fate. But here we are. He's been ignoring my request to be interviewed.

SPEAKER_07 3:30

Now, now I'm ready. I was very shy.

SPEAKER_06 3:33

You were not shy. You were not shy. You were too busy. And I see why you were busy. I've seen a very lovely lady prancing the length and breadth of the studio. I guess she must be part of the busy schedule you had.

SPEAKER_07 3:47

Yes, please, a very big part.

SPEAKER_06 3:49

Ah, lovely. Bless her. Bless her kind soul.

SPEAKER_07 3:54

So, Nanaba, let's let's get to know you. The funny thing is, you know, you've spent your career letting us know other people. I want to enter into your mind. I want to understand what the young Nanaba was like that helped you build the mindset that made you you.

SPEAKER_06 4:12

Well, I think I'm pretty much an open book. Okay. Pretty much an open book. Um, and I'm using book advisedly because it's just books that have shaped me. I'm a very big consumer of books. I like to read, and it doesn't matter what it is. I read children's books, I we I read, I read everything. Um, I read almost everything I come across. Sometimes I come across the most foolish thing. I read it, and at the end of the day, I've acquired some knowledge that I never thought I would acquire. The last time in the middle of the night, I couldn't read and I started reading about earworks. Can you watch earworks? You won't believe it. Earworks, but can you believe that we have different types of earworks?

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 5:00

The Asians have a different type compared to us.

SPEAKER_05 5:04

Really?

SPEAKER_06 5:04

And what we have, what blacks and Pocasians have, naturally give us a body odor.

SPEAKER_07 5:11

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 5:11

And that of the Asians don't.

SPEAKER_07 5:14

Interesting.

SPEAKER_06 5:14

Yes, and I was I was surprised to find out you see what insomnia can do in the middle of the night. I couldn't, I couldn't sleep and I was just reading nonsense. And then I found that piece of information. I was like, whoa, it took me this long to know this. I had never thought of earworks being anything special.

SPEAKER_07 5:30

Ever, ever.

SPEAKER_06 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 5:31

But that that explains a lot because I've always found it very knowledgeable. You know, it's it's one thing to watch a journalist who's asking questions, but it's another thing when you can tell the journalist knows what they are talking about. Sometimes, even the way you ask a question, yeah. I can see you've answered the question before.

SPEAKER_06 5:50

Well, it's good to always do research. You need to know what you're talking about. And then in your in your inquisition, you also get to know different things from different perspectives, you know, because your perspective cannot be the only perspective as a journalist. And so you don't walk into um a studio or onto a set thinking you are the know it all, be it all. You must leave a good amount of space to be educated, to unlearn things that you hadn't even read about, but now you're hearing it from a different perspective that initially you did not want to take or didn't even bring your mind to. So it's always a learning experience every day. But of course, you come across guests who are also full of rubbish.

SPEAKER_07 6:35

And what do you do in those cases?

SPEAKER_06 6:37

Well, you find a way to let them know that they are spewing absolute rubbish without telling them it is rubbish. But if you have to tell them it is rubbish, then you have to tell them it's rubbish because as a journalist, you are a gatekeeper. And so you don't allow people to mislead the audience, especially when it borders on national security, on health. Uh, when the person is telling a tale that is Baldur Dash, you should be able to stop them immediately in their tracks.

SPEAKER_05 7:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:09

You know, so that's where the confidence to say, masa, what you're saying is doesn't make sense. Yeah, you know, but sometimes you have to find a nice way of doing it. But if that guest is very stubborn, stubborn, then you you have to go the extra mile. Yeah, but also find a way to make it polite because you don't bring the guest in there to embarrass them.

SPEAKER_07 7:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 7:30

That's not the goal.

SPEAKER_07 7:31

But I like that. I like that you've actually taken on the responsibility of journalism. I always say um the media is the most powerful tool in the world. Absolutely, especially now that even social media is destroying everything. Responsibility of the media is something I'm I take to heart. Sometimes I'm watching people on TV and they are given facts that aren't factual.

SPEAKER_06 7:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 7:56

And I'm thinking, oh guys, yes, Google, Google it, you know.

SPEAKER_06 7:59

Yes, yes, it's it's a shame. Because what people tend to say these days, and I hear that a lot, that it is my opinion. And I I hear this consistently. It is my opinion, it is my opinion. Yes, every one of us, every single one of us, is entitled to their opinion. Yeah, but you are not entitled to your fact, a fact is a fact. We can say this is blue, you will see it as green, but there is a fact. The fact that is that it is neither green nor blue. It's clear, it is clear, and so a fact is a fact, despite your opinion, and we must come to a stage where we realize that sometimes our opinions are unacceptable, our opinions are life-threatening, our opinions cannot shape society the way we want it to shape. So, yes, be entitled to your opinion, but you should also be you should be reasonable enough to accept the fact that this is the fact, this is the established fact, this is a scientific fact, this is a historical fact, and I'm accepting it despite the opinion that I have. And so these facts shape our opinions. You can't be right all the time. Life is not a one road. And so the fact that I woke up this morning thinking that Achimota is too far because of where I was coming from doesn't mean somebody living at Apenka would also say it is too far. So we don't get into an argument because it's perspectives, it's orientation, it's backgrounds, it's where we are all coming from. You know, so at some point, yes, stick with your opinion, but let it let it down sometimes.

SPEAKER_07 9:37

Or worst case scenario, if you have to air your opinion, air it as an opinion. Exactly. It starts with I believe, I think, yeah, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_06 9:46

But even that, even that, when you are finally confronted with the truth, you must check that opinion because the opinion does not make you knowledgeable. Yeah, you knew it at some point, but now you have new information, yeah, and the new information rubbishes the opinion you had. So let it go. You know, let it go.

SPEAKER_07 10:08

People hold on.

SPEAKER_06 10:09

Because it is my opinion. No, but when you do when you do that, you are you are if if you do that, then you are not a confident person. Because a confident person is reasonable enough to accept their mistakes. Yeah, you cannot hold on to one particular view when you know that this is the truth and still hold on to you're not a confident person, you're not knowledgeable, you're not reasonable. In fact, one of the things you are something else.

SPEAKER_07 10:36

A word you will not mention.

SPEAKER_06 10:37

A word I will not use.

SPEAKER_07 10:39

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SPEAKER_01 11:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 11:32

So I'm always so ready to take in new information.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 11:35

Because I would be so certain of this thing for 10 years in my life, then I realized, wait, I was completely wrong.

SPEAKER_01 11:40

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 11:41

Like now I'm just an open book. Like a friend of mine always says, let the superior argument win.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 11:49

Never be so strong on your points that you won't allow the superior argument to win.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah, I totally agree.

SPEAKER_06 11:55

Totally agree.

SPEAKER_07 11:56

Let's talk about how you entered into the industry.

SPEAKER_06 11:58

The media. Oh, um, you know, sometimes when I'm asked this question, I like to say that it was an accident, but no, it was never an accident. It was never an accident. I knew from get-go that I wanted to do this. It's it's it it was a childhood dream. A childhood dream because I was introduced to TV and books at a very early age. Nice. Um, I I I've been reading all my life. I've been reading all my life, and I've also consumed TV a lot. Now the things I watch on TV are not your everyday stuff. And so, for instance, I would watch Cartoon Network. Okay. I'm a big fan of cartoons. I I watch cartoons a lot. Uh, but I also like current affairs. So when I was growing up, I was introduced to Larry King Live at a very early age because that's what my father was on. Oh, that explains a lot. Yes. And so I fell in love with current affairs. Unknowingly to my dad, and also unknowingly, uh unbeknownst to me, I just realized that I knew the everyday stuff. I knew what was happening in the Soviet Union, I knew what was happening in the US, I knew what was happening in Africa. I just knew because I was set with my dad to watch TV. And so, unbeknownst to me, I developed I developed an interesting current affairs. And so um through that, I would read more. For instance, I I remember one time there was a news item on TV and I was very young about Mauritania. And I found the name so interesting. Mauritania, it sounded like a brand of flowers, something, something in a gift box, you know. I found the name really interesting, and so I decided to read more about Mauritania. Okay, and that's how I when I read about Mauritania, it was completely different from what I had in mind about Mauritania.

SPEAKER_07 13:57

It wasn't a flower at all.

SPEAKER_06 13:58

It wasn't flowers at all. It wasn't at all, but I've always been a very curious um person, a curious reader. Um and so uh, and then I also love to watch GTV. Well, it was the only channel at the time. Yeah, and I fell in love with one of the anchors, and I thought this is something I could do because they speak well, and I like I like to speak Barbara Sam, Barbara Gaza. I don't know if you were probably too young to know her.

SPEAKER_07 14:26

Hey, look at my gray hair.

SPEAKER_06 14:28

Oh, well, it means nothing. It means nothing, you know. But but I I I just fell in love with TV, and so for me, I knew that I wanted to be a TV person from class three, and so I would get up and talk, even when I knew absolutely nothing about what was happening. But I just wanted to be heard, I wanted to be seen. And I remember some of my teachers who say you love attention, and I liked it. It was like a compliment for me that I love attention because you do that. That was the attention I was looking for. I wanted national attention, you know. So I just prepared myself for it. Every step of the way, I was reading, and I went to a school that is very big on reading, Alcid Academy. Oh, I mean, at Al Cid, if you were not reading, then we just assumed that your parents didn't like you because you didn't have a book. It was so strange to see anybody without a storybook. Yeah, it was very, very strange. I know for some schools, for instance, when you go on vacation, you come back, people are looking at your new pair of shoes, your bag. No, but I'll said it was the book. What book did you read? What book did you read? What are you currently reading? Do we exchange, do we discuss it? So reading was such a big deal at Al Said Academy. And parents were involved as well. Because if your your parents did not show up for PTA meeting, then they didn't like you, they didn't love you. So it was a community of good and pressure. Because as a parent, you had to show up for your children. You have to be there. And so reading shaped me. When I went to secondary school at Ghana National College, um, that wasn't my first choice of school.

SPEAKER_05 16:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 16:08

Uh, but I ended up at Ghana National College, and my first few weeks, I was very unhappy because I didn't have any mate from my school at Alstad Academy. It felt really lonely, and things were very different from what I was used to because I barely saw anybody reading. And so when I picked up a book in the dormitory and I scanned around, it was just me. And it felt very awkward. And they would look at me, hey, which didn't feel very good for me. And also the the people that I interacted with, at the time I wouldn't call them friends, uh, but I just didn't want to be friends with them because we really had nothing in common. For instance, they were not interested in what was going on around them. What was going on in Cape Coast, for instance, the things in Cape Coast that make Cape Coast exciting. So I would even ask somebody who had come to school from Cape Coast, and they know very little about Cape Coast. I'm from Cape Coast, my father's from Cape Coast, but I didn't live in Cape Coast. But I came there to school.

SPEAKER_07 17:14

So it was an opportunity to learn.

SPEAKER_06 17:16

To learn. And I didn't have that. We were not discussing issues because from where I was coming from, we would discuss the daily graphic, the stories in the newspapers, and that wasn't happening. So it was very sad for me. But one day it was like an epiphany that maybe I'm the old one, I'm awkward. But when you're in a system that you feel isn't designed for you, and this is a lesson I picked up from a book I read when I was very young by one of the Kennedys. That when you are in a system that's not designed for you, you have to outgrow that system and redesign it to fit what you are interested in.

SPEAKER_03 17:57

I love that.

SPEAKER_06 17:58

Yes, so that's what I did. I approached one of my teachers who was really a big fan of mine, a chemistry teacher, Mr. Incum. I I I adore that man, and I sold the idea of a campus news agency to him, CNA, that I want to read news, you know, in school. And he thought, let's see. Because I noticed that he was always reading um newspapers. He had a stack of newspapers.

SPEAKER_07 18:24

He could understand you. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 18:25

So I spoke to him and he thought, okay, let's go to the headmistress and broach this idea to her. And surprisingly, she she she said, okay, let's see how it goes. And so the campus news agency was set up by Mr. Inkum and I. And I started reading the news at Assembly every Monday morning. I will listen to Radio Ghana and then summarize every news item I had, pick up daily graphics the Ghanaian Times, put the stories together, and then I'll read it at Assembly. Then I realized that the students were interested. Now people were showing interest. You know, they want to join the club, they want to. And for me, that was breathtaking for me. I felt, yes, this is it. I I had I had found a way to get people to be interested in current affairs. So getting into the media was not an accident, it was a plan from the beginning. And so when I got the opportunity to do radio that I didn't really like because I wanted to be seen, um I felt this is it for me, you know. So I didn't have to struggle at all to get there because it was it was in it's what it was inside me.

SPEAKER_07 19:33

I've gotten so much from this story and this topic. So the first thing is one thing I tell people all the time. I think you've explained it perfectly, that what you consume is what makes you absolutely. So when you're consuming something that is not meant to build you, you are wasting your time.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

Absolutely, I agree.

SPEAKER_07 19:50

And then the most important part is the audacity. You know, the audacity to walk to a teacher and remake your environment for something that suits you. I think a lot of us have dreams, goals, things that we should be doing, but we are scared. I I watched this video. Um, this guy was on a ship, and you know the horn that they blow on the ship. Nobody's allowed to blow it. So you went to ask somebody, can I blow the horn? First person said no. You went to ask the next person, then he said, Let me call my superior. Right. Call the superior, said, Okay, if you show up here tomorrow at 4:50, you can the audacity to try, but also intentionality. Yeah, because most people would think you chanced upon this career. Yeah, you know, you know how most people think, oh, yeah, she's good looking, she can talk. Somebody said she doesn't talk.

SPEAKER_06 20:42

You know what? I remember after school, I went to Metro TV. I worked on Metro TV for one day. I don't think I've ever told the story.

SPEAKER_07 20:53

Please tell it.

SPEAKER_06 20:54

I worked on Metro TV for just one day. Well, I went on the screen for one day.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 21:00

The initial days were not really part of the job because you had to go in, look at the studio, uh, familiarize yourself with the people. That wasn't really work. Yeah, the work for me was going to do what I really wanted to do. I remember uh a lady that I was with, Rebecca, I think, I think she relocated to Canada. We were both interested in TV, and this was before I even went for my audition at GBC. I had already tried Metro TV. I don't know why this keeps escaping me. And I went on TV for the first time at Metro TV. And my goodness, it was suicidal. It was a disaster. It was a disaster because I think my makeup was shambolic. Okay, my hair was disheveled. I had no idea what I was doing because it was live. It was my first time.

SPEAKER_08 21:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 21:54

And there was no guide really. And I remember after that, we were asked, Rebecca and I were called to go to the MD's office. We entered his office, and it was a Lebanese man. And he was angry. Oh my god. That we had desecrated his channel. We desecrated his channel. And he said, Don't come back again. This is your first and last. And then he pointed at me because I went on TV that day. And he said, You are so ugly. You are ugly. That's what he said to me. Yeah, yeah. He said, I'm ugly.

SPEAKER_04 22:30

You were ugly.

SPEAKER_06 22:31

Yeah, yeah. That's what he said to me. That I am so ugly that he doesn't want me on his channel again. This was Metro TV.

SPEAKER_07 22:38

Oh, Metro.

SPEAKER_06 22:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 22:40

Islaco.

SPEAKER_06 22:41

Yes. Yes. If the Lebanese owners, well, previous owners are watching, they would know what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_07 22:49

But they did you a favor though. But yeah, but I couldn't be bothered because the thing is that I have a mirror at home.

SPEAKER_06 22:56

I have parents. I have siblings. Yeah. I had gone through senior high school, primary school, junior high school. I had never been described as ugly before. I had been called a chatterbox. I had been called flippant. I had been called all sorts of things. And I totally agree. It wasn't even a compliment. They were all true. Because I'm very, I like to gesture a lot. And when you gesture a lot, people seem to say that, oh yeah, Petri Pitri. And for me, that that doesn't bring me, it doesn't do anything to me because I know that I gesture a lot. I given the chance, when the subject is interesting, I can really talk about it. There are times, if the subject is not interesting, I go quiet because it's of no interest to me, it doesn't develop meaning anyway. But he was saying that I was ugly and I was hearing it for the first time. And I told him that you are lying. I'm not ugly. Oh, nice. Nobody has said that to me before because I'm just a very confident person and I'm not afraid of authority. I will disagree with you because I have to disagree with you. But if you push me, then you will see another side of me. I can be really, really rude. I can be very arrogant. So I meet fire with fire. Sometimes I meet fire and I feel okay, let's meet it with water. Depending on the circumstance. In this man's circumstance, it wasn't fire meeting fire. It was just telling him that you are wrong. You are lying.

SPEAKER_07 24:26

I like the confidence in that.

SPEAKER_06 24:28

Yeah, but I will still get on another channel. And one day, one day, you will look for me.

SPEAKER_07 24:36

Posterity.

unknown 24:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:38

And guess what? When I met him at the stadium. Okay. Accra House of Oak was playing.

SPEAKER_07 24:44

Did he remember it was you?

SPEAKER_06 24:45

Huh. House of Oak and the greatest team in Ghana, Accra Great Olympics. That's my team. And he was there. He was there. And he said hello to me. He had no idea that we had had an encounter before. He had no idea.

SPEAKER_07 25:02

Did you remind him?

SPEAKER_06 25:04

Oh. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? He was going on and on. Oh, you are so good. I my children admire you. You are so good, my family. And he was going on and on. I was looking at him with a smile on my face. I said, you don't remember me, do you? He said, no. I said, that's Nanaba. He said, yeah, I've seen you on TV. I'm I work at Metro TV for one day. You said I was ugly. And he turned he turned pink.

SPEAKER_05 25:33

Oh my God. I can imagine that.

SPEAKER_06 25:35

Yeah, he turned pink. He turned pink. So sometimes you hear all sorts of things. All sorts of things are thrown at you. But then again, people are just too scared to tell others their peace of mind. Politely. You know, politely. When you reach a certain stage, you don't do it politely. You just tell them your peace of mind, you walk off and keep moving. Sometimes you take it on the chin and you soldier on. You soldier on because you're now starting, you're not sure who you'd meet. For this particular Lebanese, and I'm sure when people watch, they will know which Lebanese are.

SPEAKER_07 26:11

We know who you're talking about.

SPEAKER_06 26:13

He said I was ugly, but you know, it was so inconsequential that I don't even remember. It's just now that it's coming back to me. Yeah, but people are just too scared. You're right. It's also the way we are conditioned because we are not allowed to, we're not allowed to say no, we are not allowed to disagree.

SPEAKER_07 26:37

We're taught to be meek.

SPEAKER_06 26:39

Yeah. But I didn't have that when I was growing up. You know, you you could you could just tell, well, not my mom. If you told my mom that you're not going to eat that food, she was saying because she's not preparing anything else.

SPEAKER_07 26:54

I like that.

SPEAKER_06 26:55

Yeah. But if it's my dad, and my dad, my dad was such a great cook. If it's my dad, and you say, I don't want to eat this, my dad will happily prepare something else for you.

SPEAKER_07 27:06

So that's where the audacity comes from. Yeah. Because you learned that when you take action despite the consequences.

SPEAKER_01 27:12

Fearlessly.

SPEAKER_07 27:12

Yeah, you can actually go with the results you want.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Fearlessly.

SPEAKER_07 27:16

Okay, so that explains something because I wanted to ask you about the difference between confidence and power. I know a lot of confident people who don't know how to take the power that they deserve. And that's that's what I mean by watching your journey. When I was saying the intro, I saw you in the beginning, and you were just this good-looking person who could speak good English and was confident. Little girl. Little girl. Exactly. But then the way you started to rise, the moves you started to make, the power that you wielded showed that you knew something and exhibited things that others don't. So please give me a lesson here. How do you wield that power?

SPEAKER_06 27:54

Well, it comes from lessons.

SPEAKER_07 27:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 27:58

Not lessons from people close to me, but people really distant. And for me, it was just from books.

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 28:06

It was just from books. And when I tell people that a book is a very good escape area, they don't understand. Every single time that I have been confronted by something that should destroy me, I remember people who faced worse.

SPEAKER_03 28:26

I like that.

SPEAKER_06 28:27

And still persevered. They braved the odds and they still stood tall. I remember, and I ask myself, if they did it, why not me? Because mine is really very little. It's a drop in the ocean compared to what they have faced. And so for me, that's where the confidence comes from. I've seen a lot of confident people. I've seen people, yeah, they're confident, they can talk, they can speak, but they lack power because they they do not really sit down to understand that I am confident, I have influence, but how do I merge the two to be powerful? Because if you are if you are confident and you have influence, you're able to open doors. You know, your influence will just open a door for you. You go here, oh, this is Richie from Lynx, it opens the door. This is Baba from Lynx, it opens the door. But when you have power, and again, when you when it opens the door for you and you get in, what do you do in that space?

SPEAKER_07 29:35

Or the door may not be open next time.

SPEAKER_06 29:37

Absolutely, depending on how you fed on that particular day.

SPEAKER_07 29:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:41

But when you have power, right, you're able to build the house and decide who comes in.

SPEAKER_07 29:48

Thank you. Now you control opening the door.

SPEAKER_06 29:50

Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 29:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:52

Exactly. And so I keep telling people that the fact that you have a hundred thousand followers now doesn't mean that your voice goes that far. It doesn't mean you have power. You are probably saying a lot of things on your on your on your uh platform that's not going anywhere. Yeah. But you have the numbers. When you speak, how many people shake? When you speak about an issue, about an ill, how often is it taken up? That's when you know that I have power.

SPEAKER_07 30:23

I call it the difference between being an influencer and being influential.

unknown 30:28

That's a good one.

SPEAKER_06 30:29

I haven't heard that one, but that's good. That's good. That should be a difference, huh? Being an influencer and being influential. True. Because you could be influential even without the numbers.

SPEAKER_07 30:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:40

Without it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 30:42

I I see a lot of brands actually get that wrong. Don't take my ideas and go and make plenty of money. But I see brands chase influences for numbers, right? Because this person has a million followers. So they'll get me the eyeballs. But there could be someone, maybe you're trying to sell a thousand pieces of a product. There could be someone with 5,000 followers, and all those 5,000 people listen to them. Absolutely. Whereas the one with the million followers, they are just there to watch, laugh, and swipe.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 31:10

So they may be an influencer, but they're not influential in the way.

SPEAKER_06 31:15

Absolutely. I totally agree. I totally agree. And that is why our influencers, the young influencers, especially the Gen Z, must not make the kind of mistakes some of us made. You should, at this particular moment, think about your trajectory.

SPEAKER_05 31:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:33

Because somebody else will come in tomorrow and would make an impact better than you would, or you are doing now. And so where do you move from? From here to that point. They should be thinking every day that I can't be this person all the time. Yeah. Always dancing for brands. At some point, what do you do? Because I mean, if a brand came to me today and said you should dance. No, no. Oh, hell no. Oh, hell no. Hell no. That I would because it is a headphone. It's a yeah, that's different. But if it's a bottle of water and you want me to dance, right? That would be difficult for me to do. But I've had bronzo have approached me to do things like that. And I said, no, it doesn't align with what I stand for. I've had bronzo have come to me and I completely don't believe in what they are doing. And even though the money is good, I say to hell with it. I won't do it because it just doesn't align with my principles and my goals. We are on the opposite ends of things, yeah. So, but I want our influencers to start doing that, you know, because that would be the next phase of being influential in society.

SPEAKER_07 32:54

It's it cuts across, um, it's not even just the influences from musicians, actors. I see like actors who play roles that don't fit their principle, yeah, and then they get unhappy about what they are seeing. Yeah, I see musicians who chase a hit, yeah, so they go to a trend that doesn't match them, then now they don't want to perform their own song on stage because it doesn't make them happy. There's a lot of depression and stuff going on in this industry because people are forcing themselves to be people that they shouldn't be just to get the numbers.

SPEAKER_06 33:28

Hmm, that's interesting. I haven't thought of it that way.

SPEAKER_07 33:31

So let's talk about the obvious problem, especially in your era, right? Industry was male-dominated.

SPEAKER_05 33:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 33:38

You know, um, one sad thing that happened for a long time before my time, and even continued for a while, was anytime a woman is put in a place of power, she's put there as a face, a beautiful face to draw some attention and not for the value that she brings. How were you able to overcome that? Because there's nobody in Ghana who would think about you and think, oh, it's just Nanaba. It always came with some value.

SPEAKER_06 34:07

Yeah, because I I like to, my favorite word in the world is relevant. I like to be relevant all the time, unless I don't want to. But at every point in time, I want to be relevant. And so, for instance, uh, when I was at TB3 during the 2010 World Cup, and I like I hate to be left out of things that matter. When it matters, I want to be part of it. Yeah, whether I'm considered or not, I must be part of it, and I will do whatever it takes legally to be part of it.

SPEAKER_07 34:47

Thank you for the for adding the legal.

SPEAKER_06 34:51

In in in the year when South Africa was announced as the as a host for the 2010 World Cup, yeah, I didn't really think it was much of a big deal. Because I wasn't a football fan like that.

SPEAKER_07 35:06

You hadn't started your money you days yet.

SPEAKER_06 35:08

Oh, I always liked Manchester United, but I wasn't such a fanatic.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 35:14

You know, I was a huge fan of Ryan Giggs. I love Ryan Giggs to bits. I know people will say, oh, Ryan Giggs did A, B, C, D, off the pitch. I love Ryan Giggs. Um yeah, but Ryan Giggs didn't try on some level. You know, he didn't try to get it.

SPEAKER_05 35:30

Forgive him, forgive him, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:33

But and so getting close to 2010, in 2009, there were so many meetings being held every day. Suddenly, the World Cup had become so important to everybody.

SPEAKER_04 35:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:47

And then we had a general meeting that things were going to change because of the World Cup. It was the first time on African soil, and so it cannot be business as usual. It meant that normal programming was going to give way for the World Cup. Everything was going to change. What it also meant was that if you were a political news anchor, if you were doing current affairs shows, if you were doing business and entertainment, it means step aside for the sports people. This is not your time. And it went on and on, and I thought, okay. I don't know what is going to happen in 2010 because we hadn't even entered 2010 yet. But at that particular moment, I started reading. I bought books authored by footballers, ex-footballers. I went on the FIFA website, understood the FIFA rules, what FIFA was about, what the World Cup was about. I read about the World Cup, you know, when it started, who had won it, what happens to the trophies. I read all of that, and it was an information overload for me. But I didn't stop. I kept reading. Sometimes I didn't understand certain things, and I will call a sports journalist randomly. And OTAJ was my go-to person. I'll call Oti. Oti. So explain this and that to me. And Oti is such a big, big brain on football. I mean, he's your go-to person for football and this kind of. Of course, there are other journalists who are equaling like Gary, Al Smith, Sicho, Fentuo, all of these people, Kawawa, you're all very good. But for me, Oti was the closest. And I'll call Uti. And unbeknownst to Oti, he didn't know what I was doing. He just thought that I was curious. Yeah. And Oti knows that I like to read because when he travels, he knows I won't ask for a perfume, I'll ask for a book. And so when I called to get you for a baby. Please, I'll give you a list of books. That's some books that I already have. You know, so I will ask Oti, and Oti will break things down for me. And then came 2010. And then they did the programming. And I went to Miss Mo, Emma Morrison. She was in charge of news at the time, and she was on the World Cup committee for programming. And I said to her, and I think I can do football.

SPEAKER_05 38:15

She looked at me and what's wrong with you?

SPEAKER_06 38:19

Again, for Emma, she was shocked, but she wasn't entirely shocked because I was probably the most versatile presenter she had on the team. Because if the business reporter or anchor doesn't show up, Nanamba will do business. Entertainment, I will do it. Everything you put me in, I will, I will handle it. But I'd never forayed into sports. And so when I said to her, she was like, okay, I'll come back to you. And so she went for a meeting, she came back and she said, Oh, um, I think there is a chance for you to do something football. Initially, it was to do sports news. So the news bulletin will go, and then it will probably be at midnight after the world when nobody's watching. Oh, hell no, I don't want that sport. And so when she mentioned, I said, nah, I'm not going to do two minutes of sports news. I want to be part of it. I want to be part of the stew. I want to be meet in the stew. Put me in that sauce. And she said, okay, let's think about something. And I had never seen any woman host a sports show on TV. They were always reading sports items on radio or TV for two or five minutes. And I thought, Miss Mo, come on. You know, women, we can do something. She said, okay, give me a couple of nights to think about it. And then she came back and she said, Oh, maybe we can get ladies to discuss sports. And I said, That's interesting. So the diva show. And that's how the diva show came about. Oh, okay. So by the time I started doing the diva show, I knew so much about football. Anybody watching was awed. They thought this girl knew her stuff, but no. It was just the previous year that I just thought, okay, let me start. So that's being relevant. Knowing what is ahead of you and telling yourself that I want to be part of this. And you have to be prepared when the opportunity comes. Because you don't wait for the opportunity to come and then you start asking questions. Because for me, the moment they put me there and I sat down and I started talking, even the guests on the show were looking at me like, ah, where did this come from? And after the D, I mean, the DVS show went on for a while, then I was AFCON. And it made me a main host for AFCON. You know? But this was and my father was shocked. My father was so shocked.

SPEAKER_07 40:47

When did my daughter learn all this about football?

SPEAKER_06 40:51

Relevance. You know, you you've got to be relevant all the time. And it's been like that for me. Because when I realized that I'm pulling back, because sometimes life just draws you back, you know, the exigencies of life just draw you back.

SPEAKER_02 41:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:06

And then when I realize that I'm I'm falling short and I know myself very well, I know when I'm falling short, I know when I've made a mistake, and I know when I am right. And so when I fall short and I realize Nanaba is losing it here. You know, nobody is focusing on my work. Then I have to come out and do something bigger than I had done in the past. And so I'm always deliberate about what I do. I sit down, I think, I watch, I observe, I listen as well. Sometimes people are having conversations, they think it's an innocent conversation. The next minute they know I've made it a big deal on TV, and everyone is talking about it. And so for me, being relevant is important because when you're relevant, you wield so much power, so much power that even your enemies, your enemies but to pay attention. They will pay attention. They can't just push you around. They will pay attention to you. So people have to be people have to be relevant. You have to try to be relevant all the time. You need to sit down and think. Do introspection. That's what I realize people don't do. They don't do introspection. You know, they wake up in the morning, and the first thing they're doing is checking what's on social media. The first thing I do in the morning after my, you know, Hail Mary and my rosary moment, my Catholic moments in the morning.

SPEAKER_07 42:34

Oh, you're a Catholic?

SPEAKER_06 42:34

Yes, I'm Catholic. The first thing I do after all of that is to sit down and analyze what I did yesterday. And then I realized that I did so many foolish things yesterday. And so when anybody asks me how good was my day, why did I say I had a good day? Because I really didn't have a good day. I did a lot of useless things. Yeah. Things, conversations that didn't matter. You know, phone calls that shouldn't have been answered, messages that I shouldn't have read, um, social media posts that I shouldn't have paid attention to. And so I tell myself today I'm going to do better because I want to be impactful today, even if it's not on somebody else, on myself. So I don't like it. Yeah, so I can be proud of myself because what I like to do is to criticize. I'm very hard on myself. You know, I'm really, really hard on myself. And it helps me a lot. You know, it helps me, it makes me better. Sometimes it gives me anxiety, it's a bit of anxiety.

SPEAKER_05 43:32

Exactly is fine.

SPEAKER_06 43:34

Not always, not always, not always, but it helps me. And I think people should find what I mean. I'm not saying you should adopt my style because it works for me, but you should find something that works for you. Read articles, read features, read something, acquire extra knowledge, yeah, not just from your friends, but from people very far away from you. Well, because it helps to compare notes. Yeah, you know, it helps to compare notes.

SPEAKER_07 44:05

You know what I wish people would take from what you're saying? Because this is a beautiful story. What I want them to take is your winners' mindset. You know, so many people are walking around with a victim's mindset. Yeah, I can imagine a lot of people in your position. Okay, World Cup is coming. Okay, it's an all-boys club, nobody's going to care about me. They'll be thinking this is so unfair. You know, why don't they call women for this? Why don't they do this? And they'll keep thinking the other person, the other person, and never think, what can I do? You know, and I love how you're saying you wake up in the morning and do introspection and ask, what did I do wrong yesterday? Or what did I do right? How do I improve? Yeah. You know, most of us are spending so much of our time on external things.

SPEAKER_01 44:48

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 44:49

Trying to let the outside world control us. All we can control is what's inside. You have a beautiful mind, by the way.

SPEAKER_06 44:57

Oh, thank you. It's from books again. You know, books. You know, when I was growing up, my mom always said you have to lay your bed. And I thought, stop wasting my time. I mean, it's a bed I'm coming back to sleep on. Why should I bother? The bed sheet is clean. I read, I read a book by a US general who talked about laying your bed.

SPEAKER_04 45:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 45:19

You know, and you lay your bed in the morning, you go out and you come back. No matter how rubbish your day is, when you come back and you see your bed laid, it gives you some satisfaction that at least today I did something beautiful. It's a very simple lesson, but it is beyond laying your bed. You know, it's just about creating a fertile ground for yourself before you leave home and coming back to that fertile ground, no matter how bad your day went.

SPEAKER_04 45:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 45:49

It gives you so much excitement and joy and satisfaction. And it all goes back, it culminates into the introspection. Yeah. What are you doing in the morning? What are you doing during the day when you come back? What do you do? Now, all of that is important. It's very, very important. Again, your associations as well. What kind of friends do you have?

SPEAKER_07 46:11

True. Because there's a lot of information coming from them. What do you talk about every day? Are you do you have enough friends that are like you know that thing I learned when I was a kid where they said small minds talk about other people? Yeah, average minds talk about events. Over sex minds.

SPEAKER_06 46:26

Sometimes, sometimes you have to talk about people.

SPEAKER_07 46:28

Sometimes Koko said sometimes.

SPEAKER_06 46:33

But it does exactly. But you must have friends who really who really pour into you.

SPEAKER_04 46:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 46:40

Yeah. So, for instance, my immediate circle of friends, Sandra Nkobia, Sewa Mehe, Mami Jim Fua. I don't consider Sewa a friend. Sewa is more than a friend. Sewa is like my sister. Like, even not a sister. Sewa is like my a daughter that I should have had long ago. She's she's so dear to me. You know, Sewa is very dear to me. I love her. You know, and all three of them are so different.

SPEAKER_03 47:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 47:12

For instance, you take somebody like Sandra. Sandra is the quiet one in the room. We could all be talking, having a conversation, and Sandra is like this. She only comes into the conversation when she absolutely has to come into the conversation.

SPEAKER_05 47:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 47:29

You know, so she's quiet energy, you know, very quiet energy. And she listens. She's mostly the last person to talk. And whatever she says just hits a crescendo.

SPEAKER_03 47:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 47:41

You know, so that's what I've learned from Sandra, that you don't always have to talk. Sometimes shut up. And say something, non-profit. Yes. And that's what I've learned from Sandra and Kobia.

SPEAKER_04 47:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 47:53

Then there is Mommy Jinfoa. Mommy is your observant, no nonsense person. She knows when to activate the no-nonsense. And she knows when to hold back. She's human. But again, she won't tolerate rubbish from anybody. So for mommy, every time when I'm engaging people, I ask myself: is it absolutely necessary to rubbish what this person is saying? Is it necessary to tell this person that what you're saying is crap? Is it necessary to argue now? And that's what I learned from mommy. Because sometimes things happen in her shop and you expect her to go all guns blitz. And she doesn't. She's like that. And she listens and she says, Oh, we didn't do well. We are sorry. In her heart of hearts, she knows she's not sorry. She knows what happened was not her fault, but she accepts it because for her, the customer is number one. The customer is right. And it's not just her customers. When we go for lunch, it is the way she will treat a waiter when the waiter gets her order wrong, is the way she will treat the waiter. And for her, that's the impact mommy has on me. Then there is mommy, Sewa. Sewa is the most tolerant human being I've ever come across.

SPEAKER_02 49:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 49:13

Extremely tolerant. You know, you see rubbish being thrown at Sewa. And she's quiet and she takes it all in. And she goes, and you.

SPEAKER_07 49:25

Interesting.

SPEAKER_06 49:27

And eventually, but she's very tolerant. Extremely tolerant. Sometimes I say to myself, Sewa.

SPEAKER_07 49:34

You want to fight what?

SPEAKER_06 49:36

Exactly. But Sewa is just tolerant. And so from Sewa, I just learned to be because I'm a very intolerant person. The things I cannot stand in my life.

SPEAKER_07 49:46

Mika, you've blasted me before.

SPEAKER_06 49:47

Oh. I'm not sorry. I'm not rendering a single apology. But I'm not tolerant. Especially when I'm having a conversation with somebody and they're spewing so much bunkum. And I'm thinking, why did you pay school fees? Because your knowledge is so limited, your view of life is so narrow, your vocabulary is so limited.

SPEAKER_07 50:20

You can't do great things with a limited vocabulary.

SPEAKER_06 50:22

You can't. But then I pick up from say what calm down. You're not from the same background. You didn't attend the same schools. You don't come from the same family. So shut up and tolerate this person. And if you have to tell them that, oh, I think so. For some of these people, I just say, oh, let me have your number. There are certain things I like you to read without telling them that you're stupid.

SPEAKER_07 50:49

Buying somebody deodorant for their birthday.

SPEAKER_06 50:51

Oh, immediately they should know this body odor. Yeah, so you have you must have friends who have a positive impact on you.

SPEAKER_07 51:00

Yeah. A peer mentor.

SPEAKER_06 51:02

A peer mentor. Yes, we when we meet, sometimes we gossip.

SPEAKER_07 51:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 51:06

But the gossip stops at some point. And then we do peer review. You know, so they tell me, and they always say this to me they say I'm rude. My three friends say I am rude.

SPEAKER_07 51:16

Your three friends say you rude.

SPEAKER_06 51:17

Yeah, they say they I don't know why they say I'm rude.

SPEAKER_07 51:20

I'm sure you can think of a few reasons.

SPEAKER_06 51:23

I can't. I don't know why they say I'm rude. Because.

SPEAKER_07 51:29

No, I think you're frank.

SPEAKER_06 51:31

Maybe to a fault.

SPEAKER_07 51:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 51:33

I don't know why they say I'm rude. But the last time, Sewa and mommy blast and no, Sewa and Sandra, they blasted me in mommy's office because they said, you are so rude. And they went on and I said, but that's how I am. They said, shut up. You have to change. You have to change. But there I had to put on a bravado. That what do you mean? This is who I am. But when I went back home, I reflected and I thought, hmm, I think they are right. Even that will never tell them that they were right.

SPEAKER_07 52:02

But at least inside you.

SPEAKER_06 52:04

Well, now they're going to know that I said they were right. But yeah, I'm trying to change. I don't think I am I don't think I'm rude. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood. For needless conversations.

SPEAKER_04 52:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 52:19

You know, sometimes I'm not in the mood. And other times you see me holding a book. I am reading a storybook and you're trying to start a conversation with me. And my my book is my haven. You know, when I'm in there, it's like watching it. Like those who watch series and they don't want to be there.

SPEAKER_07 52:35

And then somebody's stopping to ask you a question.

SPEAKER_06 52:37

Exactly. Can you leave me alone? You know? And I don't say leave me alone. It's just the look I will give you, or the one word I will say to you. And my friends will say that I am rude. Or sometimes we are with friends, we are together and they see somebody approaching, and then they will start saying, Anaba, anaba, be nice. Anaba, smile. Anaba, when this person comes, don't do the don't do your thing. Don't do your thing.

SPEAKER_07 53:02

So what do you think brings about your thing?

SPEAKER_06 53:04

I you know, Richie, I am I am a hypocritical introvert.

SPEAKER_07 53:14

Okay. I understand you perfectly.

SPEAKER_06 53:17

Yes. I just love to be left alone.

SPEAKER_02 53:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:21

For instance, when you send me a message, I respond when I want to respond to it. I see the message all right, it doesn't scream emergency.

SPEAKER_02 53:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 53:32

It is not an emergency. So why should I bother? I will not respond now. Because at that particular point, I don't feel like engaging my fingers to respond. Sometimes I'm in a space there are a lot of people, and I am not there, I'm not present.

SPEAKER_07 53:51

Your mind is somewhere.

SPEAKER_06 53:52

My mind is somewhere else. You know, and then somebody approaches you and they want to have a conversation. And I'm thinking, why now? You know, can you do it another day? But again, I remind myself that these people may not see you again.

SPEAKER_02 54:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 54:11

And so, but sometimes I'm in a very excellent mood as well, because I'm going out and I know that I'm going to Tigon Studios, I'm going to meet people, I'm going to meet human beings, and so I'm in a jolly good mood.

SPEAKER_07 54:24

But I know even that one, it runs out before the day ends.

SPEAKER_06 54:27

Yes. Because I don't have energy. The energy, yeah, but I don't do it deliberately. You know, it's it's because again, I just didn't grow up playing with too many people.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:41

I just grew up with books. You know, so silently I'm reading a book, thinking about where to get that book.

SPEAKER_07 54:50

Thinking about the next time when you get home so you can put it on.

SPEAKER_06 54:53

Or I'm on my phone and I'm not reading messages. Yeah. I'm just on a reading app, reading storybooks, reading something. So leave me alone. Right?

SPEAKER_07 55:06

You said that with so much passion.

SPEAKER_06 55:07

Yeah, but because people don't get it. Yeah. You know, they don't get it.

SPEAKER_07 55:11

I think the biggest problem is a lot of people think once you are out there publicly, it means you're an extrovert. True. Yeah. True. Like they're watching you and oh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 55:22

No, no, but yeah, oh yeah. No, no, no. For instance, I don't even want people to visit me. When and my friends will tell you, when you visit me, 45 minutes tops. You should get ready to leave.

SPEAKER_07 55:41

What are you still doing here an hour after?

SPEAKER_06 55:44

I will leave you in the living room, go to the bedroom, and lock the door.

SPEAKER_07 55:51

Wow, you're like someone I know.

SPEAKER_06 55:53

I will just leave you there. I think it's a Thursday bone thing. If you are referring to Baba.

SPEAKER_07 56:00

Yes, please.

SPEAKER_06 56:01

Yes, I think it's a Thursday bone thing. I will just leave you there or I will kick you out. I will just, hey, you've outlived your welcome. Get out, you know, go. But if you're somebody I respect, then I will start yawning.

SPEAKER_07 56:17

Yeah, so that you get the message.

SPEAKER_06 56:18

Yeah, I'll start yawning. I look restless. I won't even point to the time. I will look very restless. And you you will get it.

SPEAKER_07 56:28

Just go. It's late. I think I'll go. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 56:31

Yeah. But why are you visiting somebody so late?

SPEAKER_07 56:35

And why are you spending so much time?

SPEAKER_06 56:37

I mean, what the fuck do you want to talk about? Why?

SPEAKER_07 56:39

Just go home. You know, unless, of course, like we're having a business meeting where there's a lot of people. Even that one.

SPEAKER_06 56:44

Even that one. It must be at a good time, you know. Long meetings are such a drop, really. Because if the ideas are fatal and great, you don't need to go beyond two hours.

SPEAKER_04 56:59

Definitely.

SPEAKER_06 57:00

Yeah, you have to feel it. But sometimes the business meeting is over and they start talking about some nonsense. Something that is completely irrelevant to me. Why? You know, why are you discussing cars with me? I don't even I don't even understand cars. All I know is that the car has to move. I don't even unless the dashboard says oil changed you, I don't even know. Why are you discussing cars with me? Why are you discussing things that are of no interest to me? Just leave me alone. You know.

SPEAKER_07 57:32

You really are an introvert.

SPEAKER_06 57:33

Yeah, so people must understand that sometimes people like to be alone. You know, they they just like to be alone because people get energy from others. You know, some people feed off the energy of other people because they're bubbly. I don't feed off the energy of bubbly people. Bubbly people confuse me. So, for instance, I've been invited to churches, and then it was time to pray, and people were praying so loudly, I couldn't pray. I just couldn't focus. Yeah, I looked around and I sat down and I felt that I don't belong here because they were praying all right, they were in the spirit, it looked very nice, but for me it was such a distress.

SPEAKER_07 58:19

I mean, you mentioned a Catholic, I was raised Catholic, so you know, Catholic Church, prayer is very calm. Calm.

SPEAKER_06 58:24

You know, so when I go to a church, that's so different. Yeah, yeah. No, at least it's not just me because I've been here so what you don't want to do. Oh, no, no. Let me feel so vegetable.

SPEAKER_07 58:33

The first time it happened, the first time it happened to me was an SS. Ah I've been to Catholic Church my whole life. Now I get to SS when the common room it's time to pray. Everybody shouts and like, hey, hey, what's going on here? I didn't need to hear that. It's for God. Why are you telling me?

SPEAKER_06 58:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I I can never, but I I I completely respect them, but I can't I can't pray in that group. I have a friend who said anyway for because at that point I can't connect, I can't connect with God. Yeah, I can't connect with God. So people should learn to leave others alone. If you realize that someone is quietly sitting down, why? Are you hungry? No, shut up.

SPEAKER_07 59:19

You know, I faced this problem for a long time when I came in the industry. Really? Because I am such an introvert. You you look it. So they started saying I was too null. Because I'll go somewhere, I'm sitting down quietly. And this was before social media where I had something to scroll. Like I could just be there playing snake on my phone, sitting there quietly. And it happened at the I was at a party, and this girl came to sit next to me. And I was sitting there on my phone for like 45 minutes.

SPEAKER_06 59:46

That was a very weird moment. That there's a pretty girl sitting next to you, and you're on the phone playing snake.

SPEAKER_07 59:52

It's not even some interactive game or snake. So after 45 minutes, she said hi. I said hi. And she started talking to me, and I was responding. And she was like, Wow. I was like, why? So she's shocked because she was told I'm so rude. Oh so the whole time she was sitting there, she was afraid I'll snub her. Oh bless her. I'm just a quiet guy.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:12

Oh, if she had said that to me, I would have said it's true.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:25

Okay, let's go to your favorite project of mine. I've seen you do so many things, right? And my favorite is woman of valor. And let me tell you why it's my favorite. Right. I've seen a lot of people do, you know, feminism things and women campaign and everything. But sorry to say, most of them feel very shallow to me. Okay. I'm sorry. Whoever's attacking me in the comments right now, feel afraid. Because a lot of people one thing I always say is I don't like institutions or setups that defend people just because of an association.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:01

Like I don't like people who choose sides of politics just because I'm of this party. Right. Or because it's this football club I support. Even when the manager is crap, I can't say it. The same way, if you say you're going to fight for a gender, don't let it just be because we are of the same gender. Absolutely. So the concept of women of valor is not just because you are a woman, but it's the value that you are bringing. It's what you are adding. You know, me personally, I always say because I'm so close to my mom, I'm the biggest feminist in the world.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:33

I want you to hammer that because there are people who think that only women are feminists.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:40

Oh no, no, no.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:40

But there are men who are feminists, you know, and I can list them. Barack Obama that everybody admires is such a huge feminist. Uh just Justin Trudeau, the former Canadian Prime Minister, big feminist. So many, even musicians. There are musicians, big artists who are feminists.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:57

But any man who is intelligent enough and intuitive enough knows that as men, we have such amazing positives and such amazing negatives. We have certain things that if you don't have the right woman or women in your life to complement, you won't be able to achieve. Like I was saying, being close to my mom taught me the power of a woman. Like the things that she would pick up on that I have no idea about, the advice that she would give me on, something that I thought I was an expert on, and that advice would change everything. And I started noticing this, and other great women that I meet made me realize that you can't achieve true greatness if you don't have that feminine energy. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:45

Oh, Richie, a man after my own heart. You have just nailed it.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:53

Because it it it destroys the whole feminism propaganda. And I say propaganda because there's a lot of propaganda.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:05

A lot.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:06

A lot of propaganda about feminism. Yeah. People, number one, and I've seen it happen a lot in Ghana, that oh we are waiting for the feminist and to say it with such condescension. It's almost as if being a feminist is derogatory. It's a bad thing. You know, and I tell people that I'm a proud feminist. I cannot be responsible for your lack of knowledge, your lack of understanding. I can't be be responsible for your decision to load up a barrel of rubbish that you carry around without pausing for a moment to say, oh, what exactly is feminism? Because if you really apply yourself to it, you realize that oh feminism is just about equal opportunities.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:57

You know, striving, fighting for equal opportunities. That's what feminism is like. Yes, you will find men who hate women, but they are misogynists, but they have wives, they have sisters, they have girlfriends, they have psychics, mistresses, a lot of concubines, but they still are misogynists. You will also find women who are misogynists. Nothing about a man would satisfy them, it would please them. They just can't stand it. It's just extreme. And in life, you find extremes. There are people who love it extremely, and there are people who stagger with their love. You find extremes everywhere, like the right wing, the left wing. You have extremes, but at the center of it is what we call common sense.

SPEAKER_07 1:04:51

Yes, you are rude.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:57

Thanks for the compliment. You get it. And the heart of it is common sense, it's applying common sense. Because, and the reason I I do this I've seen so many women put in the work, try so hard, yeah, but because of their gender, they stopped in their tracks. I know women who got married and hesitated in getting pregnant, in taking seed, because they are afraid that I just joined this company and I am growing. If I get pregnant now, it will mean that on certain days I cannot go to work because I don't know how the pregnancy will turn out. Yeah, morning, morning sickness, all of that. Then you deliver you have to go on maternity leave for three months or so. Is my job still guaranteed after the three month period elapses? Are not too sure. These are uncertainties. Unless you have an organization that understands inclusion, that understands diversity, that understands that it is not a woman's fault that she will get pregnant at some point. It is not her fault that she will menstruate three to five days every month. And you hear people in organizations, and I've heard it in organizations I work in. Men say that you should be used to the pain by now. You can't get used to the pain. The fact that you had a headache last week doesn't mean you get used to headaches.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:37

I've had headaches my whole life. Am I used to it by now?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:39

Exactly, because the pain is excruciating.

SPEAKER_07 1:06:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:43

And people don't understand. And so a woman menstruates three to five days, and there's a particular day that the crumbs are unbearingly painful, and she can't go to work. And my dear sir, when we employ you, this is why I said this job should have gone to a man. No. You know, so when we talk about feminism, this is what we talk about. We want equal opportunities. We also want our, and that's for us as women of valor, that's what we are striving for: equal opportunities and confident women. Because when the opportunity comes and you're not confident, it is even difficult to sail through.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:25

That's the biggest problem.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:26

Exactly. So you could be as creative as anything. But when you are not confident, it becomes a problem. What we want to tell these women is that in the absence of opportunities, confidence is still your argument. Confidence is your excellence. Because when you are confident and you add it to your talent, you go really far. But we want the men to understand that whatever they can do in an organization, a woman can do it as well. I have been in positions where men just because really and truly, I've done leadership courses. And if you have to remind people that you're a leader, then you're not a leader. But again, it was um was Condoleezza Rice, you know, former US Secretary of State, and she always said that yes, don't remind anybody that you're a leader. But when you're a woman and people want to ignore the position you occupy, for once, you must remind them that you are in charge. And I've been in situations where men will just not take instruction for me. And I don't go around barking instructions because I like to work in the collective.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:43

But there are men who just cannot bring themselves to having a woman at the table say, you do A, you do B. And I've had to deal with it so many times. One time, yeah, one time, I didn't stand up for myself. I stood up for the female kingdom.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:03

And I said, if you think the kitchen is too hot, jump out. I am the woman, I'm in charge, I have breasts, I have a vagina, I menstruates, I could get pregnant. If that is a problem for you, leave. Leave. Leave because you cannot work here with me. And I said, You are either going to change immediately or I'll fire you. And then they changed. And later we became best friends. We were eating kinka together. And you know, sometimes, jokingly, they'll say, hey, okay, time now back highest. Yeah, yeah, I had to remind you. I had to remind you because in that moment you were really stuckingly stupid. Because you just couldn't break, and you can't really blame the men who do that. It's also the way they've been brought up.

SPEAKER_07 1:09:53

Yes, I was going to say that it's society, you know, everything we know, everything we believe, everything we work with, it's what we've picked up as we were growing.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:01

But you unlearn.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:02

That's the problem. So many people get stuck in their ways, they don't want to unlearn. And you know the biggest problem with us men the the greatest downfall of every man is our ego. Exactly. And our ego is so big that when you've been taught your whole life that a man is supposed to lead, a man is the only one supposed to provide for a woman and everything. Now, when a woman is in charge, especially work, you know, men are actually perfectly fine with a woman being in charge at home.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:32

Like every man, no matter how you come and say, I'm the head of the family, he knows he doesn't own the house.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:37

They're not really that. But the head sits on the neck. The woman are the women are the neck.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:41

Thank you. So I think for generations, it's felt like, okay, men, we are not in charge at home. When we go and talk to our boys, boys who do guy guy, but we are not in charge at home. But at least when it comes to work, you have to show some uh matureism. When I'm over there to and the woman is taking over, but the ego starts to bubble up and it starts to feel I need to show just do your work, really. But it's the understanding. Like, if if so many people, you see how you keep talking about changing your patterns of the way you think, if so many people would understand, like let's say, um, how you're talking about menstruation or talking about pregnancy and stuff, if you would understand the other person and say that, oh yeah, she's going through this, this is not her fault. Yeah, it's not laziness, exactly. Exactly. Like her being in pain is not because she has a low pain threshold. Yeah, she's actually going through something. Exactly. That's the same way I have my negatives, I have things that I'm not able to do. And in those moments, I want someone to understand it. Yes, yeah. So I also need to understand. Absolutely. Absolutely. I think most of the fights in the world come from the fact that people don't want to understand.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:55

Understand. Lack of understanding. Yeah. Yeah, but we we we we we will we will get there. I mean, the women's movement has come a very long way. We are having more women in boardrooms now, more women in leadership positions. Of course, we want more women. And I I know that some people are against the quota system. Uh, for instance, when President Mohammed was campaigning, he said 40% for women. Ahead feminists who said, Oh, we are not looking for quota. No, until we get there, the quota is fine. Um without the quota, we are not there anyway. You know, if you look at parliament, for instance, our numbers have been dwindling. Um, but if there is a quota and the president said, he's doing 100% appointments, 40% for women, it is a start. It is a big deal. A big, big deal, and we should be happy about it. What we have to do is that when that 40% should carry the woman's flag for us. So next time, next time another person takes over, they know what the woman did.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:56

And then they do 50%. And then sometimes you hear there are issues of corruption, and there's a woman involved, and then people go, hey, no ban, or yes, uh corruption has no gender card. And really and truly, we've put up with so much mediocrity from men. So it's okay if one or two women also come up with mediocre behavior. But it's allowed.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:24

I should say though, uh, that scientifically men are more likely to be corrupt. Well, reason being.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:35

These are your words.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:36

Let me let me let me go into it scientifically.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:39

I agree.

SPEAKER_07 1:13:40

So scientifically, I totally agree. Because of testosterone, we are more driven by dopamine. Absolutely. And dopamine is a result-oriented drug. So every time when a man is doing something, we are result-oriented. We just think about getting to the end. But because women are driven by oxytocin, which is more process-oriented, a woman is always not just thinking about the end result, but also how it's done. Absolutely. That's why, unfortunately, you end up having more male criminals than female because a man is thinking, I need to get this money, and not thinking about how they get the money. Whereas a woman is more interested in how she gets it. I mean, they are the outliers.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:22

And and women, and women have empathy.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:26

We have empathy. Once again, something men must learn. I know a lot of men who are empathetic, but generally, in your dealing with people, and and people shouldn't think that feminists are blood sucking, hating creatures.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:43

Well, well, some are. Some men are evil. Now let me get to that.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:49

Some men are evil.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:50

Let me attack you some more. And it's not you directly that I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:53

No, feel free.

SPEAKER_07 1:14:54

So the reason I said I like women of valor because of what you stand for is the negative part of feminism, is it has started to create entitlement. You see, I like it when feminism is inspiring that hard-working woman that you can do more, you can be more, you deserve the opportunity. But it has also made some women feel like just because I'm a woman, I deserve more. You know, I always say the difference between a man and a woman when it comes to society is a woman is born with value. A man earns his value. You know, when you have a son and a daughter, it's the daughter. Everywhere you go in life, like just the fact that you are a woman, you are valuable. But as a man, you know from age five that you have to earn it. You have to earn it. So what happens is that some women add to their value of being a woman, whereas some just feel I'm a queen, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:55

She's a queen.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:56

No, no, no, that's it. That's a good thing. Some are princesses, okay. That's true. But also, I mean, I think the entitlement, the entitlement trait cuts across the board. It cuts across the board.

SPEAKER_07 1:16:10

Some men also feel they deserve opportunities just because they're not. Just because they are men. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:14

Now, here is here is a moment where I will side with a woman who feels entitled. Not all the time, because that there are women who just don't want to work, and they think that manna should drop from heaven for that. But I'm referring to the woman who's working, the woman who has educated herself, yeah, the woman who has a talent.

SPEAKER_08 1:16:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:39

And this is Baba, this is Richie. Equal qualifications, yeah, equal years of experience. The opportunity comes, right? And Baba is here, and Richie's given the job.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:58

Why? It is not explained to Baba. She must know why the job has been given to Richie. Because on that level, she feels I have worked. In fact, let's even put the qualifications aside, on the job, Baba has dexterity, she's efficient, she's age, she's she has all the positives, but it's been given to Richie. She has every right to feel that I'm entitled. I this is my position. It should be given to me. But a lot of the time, because Baba just got married, they'll say, oh.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:35

So I'm at home.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:40

Meanwhile, I've seen Baba's social media. She likes to travel. Right? And so marriage work will not stop her from traveling. Yeah. She will travel because she wants to travel. Yeah. And she probably has a husband at home who is so supportive. Okay. So who are you, mere mortal, in the office, calling shots for Baba?

SPEAKER_07 1:18:01

But do you remember the story you told about the World Cup? You know, once again, you are where you are because you've never been entitled. You know, most people, even when they haven't made it, feel like the world should show them some flowers. And that's many of you.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:19

That cuts a push. Yes, that cuts up.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:21

When I look at you on the fact that you had already made it, you deserved the attention. But when you saw it was going to go to other people.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:28

In in in not always, because at some point, for instance, I remember the morning, morning TV, cast your mind back. In the past, morning shows were just male-dominated.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:43

Because they thought that morning TV, morning radio, current affairs is the preserve of men. That because they're discussing hard issues, it should just be mentioned.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:56

Oh, so women don't care about the children.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:58

Yeah, so women, women should discuss entertainment, relationships.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:02

The first time I saw you, I thought you were going to grow and go into entertainment.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:05

Oh no.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:06

No. But but you see, so for instance, at some point they were assembling the team for the morning show. And it was just men. You know, at that point, I had to scream and say, What do you mean?

SPEAKER_03 1:19:20

That's what I like.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:21

These two men are in their presence. I mean, this is where people will say I'm rude. These two men, I am brighter than them. I am more knowledgeable than them. I speak better than them. I ask questions better than them. I've done better stories than these men. So why do you think they should go set on morning TV and not me? So they had to rope me in. And I don't even know where they are now. But I became the star of the morning show. You get it? I became the star of the morning show because initially they wanted me to do the soft sides. I said, no, I'll do the current affairs. I will do the current affairs. You know, and so I'm happy that now more women are going into the current affairs space. But even still, look across, you realize that especially on radio, especially on radio, most morning shows are hosted by men.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:15

Yeah. Not just morning shows, most serious talk.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:18

But it has to change.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:19

But you see.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:20

But I wonder who can do. You know what I did at GH1 in the last election, not 2024, the 2020 election. I decided to do something no channel had ever done because I wanted to prove a point. I assembled an all-female team. The only man in there was Francis Aban. Only Francis Aba sat on the channel as a male uncle. Everybody else, na, de, sewa, we all women. And it was beautiful to watch. Because it wasn't just how good they were looking. That is, that doesn't even matter to them.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:04

That's just the cherry on the end.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:05

It's it's the brilliance, the ooze. You know, the brilliance, the ooze. And then people realize that, oh, they can actually do it. And the first person, the first person who came out very excited about was Bolloré. And Bola, I'm not saying Bola is a feminist as well. You know, sometimes Bola's. Yes. Bola's biases are very serious. So Bola, one opportunity comes, Bola is thinking about a woman first and not a man. You know, and I love that about Bolloré, you know.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:36

But do you know why? Any man who's a true feminist, there's one thing that we don't tell women. Let me say it today. We believe women are more powerful than men. You know, the truth of the matter is.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:48

Again, those are his words.

SPEAKER_07 1:21:50

The truth of the matter is, um, when I hear women fighting for equality, we don't fight. I mean, when I hear women campaigning or talking for equality, I laugh. Do you know why? Why? I don't think a man is equal to a woman. I think a woman is born. I think a woman is born more powerful than a man.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:10

Well, it depends on the context. Because when it comes to opportunities, no, that's society.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:18

That's why I was specific with my words. A woman is born more powerful than a man. Okay. It's society that is making it seem powerful.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:26

Yeah, but that's what we want to change.

SPEAKER_07 1:22:28

But if you really look at something, right, even in the patriarchal system, the patriarchal system, okay. Even in that system, it started from men trying to favor women, and that ended up with some chauvinistic men harming women. What I mean by that is women weren't working not because men taught less of women. The men who created the system didn't allow women to work because you are too good to work. You are supposed to continue society. You are supposed to train the child, you are supposed to let them be well educated, know what they're doing. A woman is too gentle to suffer the suffering. One thing most people forget about is work wasn't always wearing suit and tie and going to do brain work. Work used to be, you know, plowing in the field, carrying of lumber. It was it was trainous. Building tracks. Thank you. And no man who loves his woman is going to look at her, have to stand in the sun because there was no AC. Stand in the sun all day and go through that. So the system was actually designed to protect women because women were more valuable than men. But the problem is along that line, certain men didn't understand the reason. You know, sometimes you come and inherit a system and you don't understand why it was created. And those men started to look down on women thinking you are not here because you are not capable. You get me? Because if you look in me, I'm a size freak. So if you look in every species, the female is always more important. That's why you have the queen bee and the drone bees that are all just there to serve the queen bee. Like it's in every system. But it's like men started to forget the value of women, and it made women feel the need to stand up for their rights.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:27

Basically, so we need to keep we need to keep pushing, right?

SPEAKER_07 1:24:31

But what I want you to push for, and you're already doing that.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:33

I'm doing that, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:34

What I like about women of valor is that the people who need to change the perception is not the men. Because, like I said, a lot of men are feminist. A lot of men want women to do very well. It's it's the it's the we need more women like you. We need more women to show what they are capable of. There's one funny thing I used to love about, you remember the Alex Ferguson days? He never used to sign um African.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:06

Yeah, because they'll go for AFCON.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:07

Thank you. So, as unfair as that was, I thought as a business owner, and I thought, well, that makes business sense because the Afcon is played at the time when the league is most dangerous. Yeah. So if my most valuable players are leaving.

SPEAKER_06 1:25:24

Like the way I was praying for Cameroon to be kicked out, so in Guomo will come back to work, and Guemo are mad to come and work.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:32

So even though it's an unfair preference that he had, it made business sense. So what I'm saying is if we're in a company and there's a manager who is thinking, if I promote this woman who's doing very well as an associate, if I promote her to a junior manager or something, because she's getting married, she's going to have kids, blah, blah, blah. She'll probably not do the job. It shouldn't stop.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:56

She will do the job.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:57

No, so I'm coming off. So he has a wrong perception. Right. But that perception comes from his experiences and other things. That woman or another woman can do what you did and show that I am beyond your perception. Like most people would have said a woman can do sports. We're doing World Cup 2010. World Cup is coming to South Africa. How dare you put a woman there? Yeah. But you demonstrated that it doesn't matter, gender doesn't matter. I am qualified for it. So what I mean by I don't like that it creates entitlement is I've seen it affect some women negatively where when they are passed up on an opportunity, instead of thinking, let me show them who I am, they go home and cry and get and become a victim and say this shouldn't have happened to me. But victims don't win.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:53

Victims don't win, but when when it happens and in the first couple of hours, you need to cry. The first thing that you should cry, you have to cry because after six hours. Well, you see, also we recover differently. You know, we recover differently.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:09

And also, we are all not as confident as Richie is. We all don't have that. Sometimes you're coming from a family where you are not even allowed to be seen.

SPEAKER_02 1:27:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:25

You're not allowed to be seen. You go to you go back home and you're telling the story, and the first thing you hear is, oh, now say we're normal. No, it is not normal, right? It's not normal. And that is why we want things to change. Yes, you are right when you say that there are men who are feminists. I recognize them, we respect them, we acknowledge them, we adore them. There are also women, there are women who do not believe in feminism.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:27:56

There are women who don't believe in it. They think that. Feminists are a bunch of witches, blood suckers. That's what they think about feminists. You know, people they didn't think that feminists, when I say I'm a feminist, people are like, oh, you are not a feminist. You don't look like a feminist.

SPEAKER_07 1:28:15

Yeah, they have a different picture of what a feminist is.

SPEAKER_06 1:28:18

Why? If a woman decides to keep her natural hair, and I adore and respect women who have natural hair because my hair, I hate it. I wish I could keep my hair like the way Lydia Fawcett has kept hers. And there are so many women like that who have natural hair and it is beautiful, right? But I don't have that confidence. And I wish I had their confidence to do it. But the fact that they have that look and they are pushing for women doesn't make mean that they are they are a certain class of human beings who are just on a hating mission. No, that's what we are trying to change. Also, what we strive to do with women of valor is to just give women confidence. Because if you're able to stand up for yourself, then you are really treated well. I've seen women who shrunk because things happened to them. There are women who did not shrink at all when things happened to them. So we are bringing those women to come and meet women who shrunk.

SPEAKER_08 1:29:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:21

To understand why they managed to overcome and how they can also overcome. We also want to give women the confidence to go to banks and apply for loans. Your business is suffering. Don't sit there and be thinking, hey, I have bills to pay you. But your books are good. Be confident enough to go to the bank, walk into the financial institution and have a discussion and get a loan if that is what will save your brand. Then there are women who are caught up in very difficult situations and they don't know what would happen to them next if they decide to leave. And it is toxic relationships, toxic marriages, very abusive. Look, one day that man will kill you.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:11

Yeah. Sometimes you can tell, and the person in the relationship can't tell.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:15

Exactly.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:16

But like I say always, it is not my job to tell you to leave because it has happened to me before. I had a young lady who was constantly abused by her husband. And one day she came up to me and she told me about it. And I made the mistake. The mistake of telling her what to do. It's the biggest, the worst advice I ever gave. Well, for me, I thought it was a good advice because I thought that look, this man will kill you one day if you're not careful.

SPEAKER_07 1:30:52

She went back, they made up, and Nana Bampose, you know, you became the enemy.

SPEAKER_06 1:30:59

And the guy called me, blasted. Oh, I also blasted him too. I'm I told him he's an animal.

SPEAKER_07 1:31:05

I can imagine.

SPEAKER_06 1:31:05

Yeah, you are an animal. But eventually, eventually, he maimed this girl.

SPEAKER_04 1:31:10

Oh.

SPEAKER_06 1:31:10

Yeah, he maimed her, right? He maimed her. And I didn't want to say I told you so. But at that particular moment, I was thinking, when she went back, did I have to go to dove soup? Should I have escalated this? I didn't. And there were so many bouts of regret for me. And this is why we do what we do. We set up women of valor. Because there are so many women who are just looking for one word. Look, the kind of DMs that I receive, right? And I always say that people just unload on me. They just unload. And sometimes I feel like talking to a therapist. And I've seen a therapist before because it's just too much for me sometimes. I don't understand why human beings are being treated the way they're being treated. I mean, how can a man sleep with his daughter? It makes no sense. How is a man sexually molesting his stepdaughter? I don't understand. It makes it absolutely makes no sense. And when these things happen to these girls, their confidence is crushed for life.

SPEAKER_07 1:32:17

And they they can't even find a way to talk to other people.

SPEAKER_06 1:32:20

Exactly. And so they are in an organization and you expect them, hey, speak for yourself. How do they speak for themselves when nobody has spoken for them?

SPEAKER_05 1:32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:32:30

You get it. So it is the it is very complicated. It's very complicated, you know. You can sit down and look at it from a very simplistic point of view. But until you start engaging these women, you realize that, oh, look, for I don't know how many times you've conducted interviews, but you see a CV from a man and it's so bold until you start engaging the man and you realize that that is a load of toss. But a woman with a very humble CV, she comes to sit in front of you and you realize that what? And then you start talking about salary, and the man will say, Oh, um, I think I want 20,000 CDs. And you're thinking he's gone beyond your budget. But yeah, maybe 12,000. The girl will go, the lady will go, oh, whatever you you want to give me, what is your budget? That's the first question they will, what is your budget? She's not confident enough to say the figure because she thinks when she states the figure, she won't get the job. She won't get the job. But this is what you want to change. We want our women to be confident because the moment they become confident and courageous, when they pursue fearlessness, yeah, everything will align.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:47

The audacity. They need the audacity.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:50

Audacity of courage. That was our uh theme last year in Paris.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:54

Audacity of courage, and this year's the pursuit of fearlessness.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:57

I like that.

SPEAKER_06 1:33:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 1:33:58

I want you to do something for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:00

Tell me.

SPEAKER_07 1:34:00

Look into that camera right there.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:02

Right.

SPEAKER_07 1:34:03

Imagine there's a young girl or a grown woman, whoever it is, that's what she knew, right? The goal is to make her a mastermind. What mindsets do you think you can place in her mind to make her courageous and become a mastermind?

SPEAKER_06 1:34:19

Listen, you need to damn the consequence all the time. Every action has a consequence. Everything you do would have a repercussion. But the biggest mistake you will ever make is to not try. You must try. Because you can try and fail, but you can also try and win. When you fail, it's just a lesson, right? You go back and you do things better. But what's the point? What's the point in not trying? What's the point in not making your dream materialize? What's the point in not taking the bull by the horn? What's the point in not hitting the bull's eye? That must be your goal every day. You must hit the bull's eye. You must go out and try and tell yourself that I'm damning the consequence today because I can do it. Period.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:18

I have enjoyed talking with you so much. In fact, we need a part two of this.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:23

Ah, this your wife is. She should be here.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:27

She should be here.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:28

Having said that and be interviewed by your husband.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:30

But we really need a part two of this.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:32

You do.

SPEAKER_07 1:35:32

Yes, you have an amazing mind. Thank you. I really hope you watching this have become have come closer to being the mastermind that I know you deserve to be.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:42

I like the name of your show, and I I watched uh some of your episodes on YouTube, and I just felt this is the kind of inspiration we need.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:53

Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 1:35:54

Because the negativity is just too much. Um, you wake up in the morning and it's NDCLMP huddling over who constructed another past. Can you imagine that in 2026, this is what we fight over? We need to stop when they use our resources to build it.

SPEAKER_07 1:36:16

Thank you.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:17

It is for Ghana. It is not for Nanadu Dankwe Kufwadu. It is not for John Dramani Muhammad and bless their souls. Because really, you need a leader who is wise enough to say, This is what I want to do. Because we have also seen leaders who did zilch. But these, I mean, you have Joe Mohammed in office and who decides that, okay, let's do Muhammad cares.

SPEAKER_04 1:36:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:36:40

Bless his excellency for that. But it cannot be that when he leaves office and people are benefiting from it, and there is some improvement, some addition to it, despite all the excellent work Obobia is doing now. And I give Obobia credit because I remember when Obobia was moved to Muhammad Kes, I heard people say, oh, Obobia has been demoted. And I said to people that you do not know Obobia.

SPEAKER_07 1:37:10

How is that a demotion?

SPEAKER_06 1:37:11

Yeah, you don't know Obobia very well because she'll make that office so admirable. People will jostle for that position very soon. You know. But we cannot also sit down after a few years, and then when people are accessing healthcare through Mohammed care, say that, oh, let's fight over it now. It was John Muhammad. No, it wasn't John Muhammad, it was this. Why?

SPEAKER_07 1:37:41

All those things show you that people are more concerned with ownership than actually developing us.

SPEAKER_06 1:37:47

No, you see, I think that it's true, but also it's also because our politicians like the status quo, yeah, they enjoy having an uneducated population. No, they do.

SPEAKER_07 1:38:04

So we have to educate them.

SPEAKER_06 1:38:06

They do because if foot soldiers are busily fighting over what A did and what B did and then we have a problem. Yeah because the foot soldiers should be doing what soldiers do, they should be safeguarding our democracy, they should be fighting for opportunities for all. They should be able to criticize their party.

SPEAKER_03 1:38:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:38:41

That look, you said you would do it, you are not doing it, come back to your books, right? That's the kind of foot soldierism we want. But it's not the foot soldiers who are waking up in the morning and they decide today we are insulting an Itamwa. And if it's an intama who will be insulted for three days, it's so counterproductive.

SPEAKER_07 1:39:00

I want discernment in everything. I always say I don't like anything where you make decisions based on I am on this person's side.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:08

Side, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:39:09

You need to discern every situation is sometimes loyalty comes. Loyalty is there, but loyalty is actually being honest with your person. Absolutely. You know, if you I like that addition. If your partner is doing something wrong, a loyal partner will pull them aside and let them know, look, you're wrong here, let's fix it.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:28

True. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_07 1:39:29

Thank you again so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:30

Thank you, Ricky, for having me.

SPEAKER_07 1:39:34

Thank you for watching this episode. Now, the Mastermind's dream is about building a community of people who have the right mindset and are ready to take their success into their own hands. So do me this wonderful favor, subscribe and share with anybody out there who you believe you want to see have the right mindset to succeed so that together we can all become the mastermind desert.