Passion was one of the keywords Chief Executive Officer of Citi TV/Citi FM, Samuel Attah-Mensah said contributed to his achievements within the media space in Ghana as he shared his experiences with a number of young people during the Social Media Week event in Accra on Wednesday.
Though he has degrees in Computer Science and Finance, Mr. Attah-Mensah has carved a name for himself within the Ghanaian media terrain after over two decades in the industry using marketing as a backbone.
And everything he learned about media and marketing, he learned on the job and reading books, the CEO told participants at the tail end of his session at the Social Media Week event where he shared nuggets from his career and life experiences.
“For what I do now, I have never studied any of them [marketing and journalism] in any school… what I know is that I have read all the marketing books that you can think about,” he said.
Mr. Attah-Mensah is credited for his involvement in the setting up of market-leading media organisations in Ghana since 1995; such as Multimedia (owners of Joy 99.7 FM and Joy News) and Omni Media Limited (Owners of Citi 97.3 FM, which is the biggest English language format radio station in Ghana) and Citi TV.
He started his career as an I.T. Systems Officer with the then ICL Computers and Digitronix Systems, combining systems work with Sales and Marketing.
He then veered into Media, first as a passion and eventually building a career out of it.
He became the Director of Programmes for Multimedia Broadcasting Ltd, helping with the setup of Luv FM and Adom FM.
A successful career starts with finding yourself so you are aligned with your passions, Mr. Attah-Mensah remarked.
“This awareness of your passion should complement the knowledge of the opportunities in your field of choice,” he said in response to a question posed to him by some of the participants.
He added that “it is okay to do what you want as a first degree but just take note of your passion and where the opportunities are.”
“I think you should go for where your energies can best be harnessed; the things that come naturally to you; the kind of work that doesn’t come to you as a chore. If you start your career on that note, you are in trouble so you have to better find yourself.”
“The passion is the driver. The passion to be something and to bring value is the driver. You can do law and be a lawyer. But you may end up being a better banker because it comes naturally to you,” he added.
On a lighter note, Mr. Attah-Mensah reminded the audience to make sure their passions do not take them to “where there is poverty because as for poverty, we don’t have medicine for it.”
