Young people have been urged to explore social media to start businesses, scale up, create jobs and wealth.
At a time youth unemployment in Ghana is projected to reach 4.08 percent by the end of 2022 according to Econometric models, with only 10% of the thousands of graduates churned out every year landing jobs according to the Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research ISSER, 4 successful young Ghanaian entrepreneurs have shared their stories inspiring the over 1000 virtual audience and more than 100 in-house audience to see social media as a critical platform for wealth creation.
The calls were made at the 5th edition of the MTN Pulse Just Be Series in collaboration with Ahaspora Professionals Network and MTN Ayoba. It was held at the Kofi Annan-India ICT Center.
The speakers were Dental Surgeon, content creator and influencer, Dr. Micheal Awua-Mensah, CEO & Founder, CEQA Foods and Beverages Ghana, Christian Boakye Yiadom, Content Creator and Influencer Zubaida Abdul-Rahman and Founder of Workspace Global Sydney Scott Sam.
The event was moderated by a broadcast journalist with CitiFM/TV Caleb Kudah who steered the session with his dynamism, intelligence and sense of humour
For young professionals who are already employed but looking for other streams of income, Dr. Michael Awua-Mensah says his passion for sharing his knowledge through social media platforms like TikTok has landed him, big time contracts with oral health care manufacturing companies – a lesson of how to create other streams of income from one’s profession through the use of social media. He shared insights of possibilities of conflict of interest and how he has managed to stay afloat.
In the case of Zubaida Abdul-Rahman, her sheer love for eating delicious food at different restaurants and food joints across the city and sharing menus on social landed her juicy contracts that has become a full-time business. In her words, she ‘used food to blow’ through the power of social media and the passion to share what she enjoys doing most.
Whereas passion led to jobs or extra streams of income for the ‘Tiktok’ Dr and the ‘food lover’, Christian Boakye Yiadom, simply says he has been driven by a love to be comfortable and well to do in life since childhood. A desire he attributes to western influences through music videos. He has since his school days sold anything legit from brassiers to pendrives and general merchandise.
Today he is the CEO and founder of CEQA Foods and Bevearages better known for PizzamanChickenman.
He tells his audience, 90% of his businesses marketing budget goes into social media a platform that has helped him target his audience and leverage its potential.
He therefore urged young people not to waste time on social media but take advantage of its potential and create wealth.
While it’s important for young people to plug into the trends and sell their businesses or products, Founder of Workspace Global, Sydney Scott Sam cautioned the youth to pursue value, as it is ‘the only currency’.
The audience also made insightful contributions even as they asked thought-provoking questions that brought out the best from the panel. A computer science student from Ashesi, who gave his name as Dickson encouraged young entreprenuers who are aggressively exploring digital platforms to create, promote and transact business not to forget cybersecurity as unethical hackers are looking for opportunities to ruin their hard work.
Click here for the video from the session.