Konnected Minds Podcast with Derrick Abaitey

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful businesses in Africa and those who spend their lives trapped in degrees they hate isn't how much money their parents have or which university they attended, but understanding that restlessness isn't rebellion but a signal that you're wired for entrepreneurship, that the young person who thinks they need perfect grades and a nine to five job to succeed has been programmed to ignore the brutal truth that the engineering student who sold his clothes at Yaba Railway to raise 10,000 naira bought a mini grill and created Jamwich selling sandwiches for 60 naira with room delivery for 20 naira discovered something universities will never teach you about channeling excess energy into making money instead of chasing positions 16th or 17th in a class of 20, and that the child who comes home two or three hours after curfew while their siblings never cross the line has stumbled onto something parents will never understand about the difference between discipline that breaks you and strong will that builds empires when you grow up watching your father work 20 hours a day as a marine engineer and entrepreneur? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with Chef Sheriff Sonny founder of Ili Neon restaurant with branches in Canada and Lagos who reveals why he was just always that restless kid the stubborn man of the house the guy that comes home two three hours after curfew, why if there are 20 kids in class he's probably going to be like 16th or 17th position, why disturbedness was somewhat like some kind of strong will that kind of converted to like positive side of life tunneling that excess energy into something, and why his parents especially his dad had an idea of what he wanted them to be like he wanted him to study engineering and really have like a very clear direct path. He breaks down why entrepreneurship is hard and for his dad as a business owner he probably didn't want them to go through like all that struggle building managing staff and systems and couple like the economy and what it means to run a business in Nigeria, why his dad just wanted like going to university study engineering come out with first class with good grades get a nine to five start a career and just take life from there, why as destiny will have it and as personality and everything will have it it was just never for him, and why the grades were not looking exciting but he knew like he was very smart like maybe not just not academically. But he also confronts the brutal reality of what restlessness really means. Why sometimes restlessness comes with just how you are and you're not aiming you're not looking for anything per se, why restless can push you to different spheres of life like you can be so restless that you get into a space where you now find opportunities, why it's just that sometimes you might be unfortunate to also go like to the other side, why he came from a home where his parents were so so super disciplined on them like they raised them well, and why his siblings know they will not cross that line but for him he was just a little bit extra. He reveals why just like every other child you see kids playing having their time being restless running up and down but you never can tell what exactly this child is yearning for looking for why this child is always, why maybe the resistance might have come from one of his parents maybe his dad maybe he was like that too when he was young, why he just channeled all of that into like the positive side of things like making like the paper plane or making like boots and stuff and trying to sell to like his friends as young as he was then, and why while everybody was focusing on trying to become an engineer doctor lawyer he was focused on trying to make money. But he also exposes what shaped his entrepreneurial mindset from childhood. Why it was greatly impacted by his dad who's such a strong man a still businessman who doesn't play, why he just grew up seeing him work like almost 20 hours a day, why they had good friends around them which was also like some of like the very solid impacts, why their parents also didn't want them to come out as children that other children or other parents know their kids to relate with, and why they were raised well and had very good people around them because their parents made sure that they had very good people around them. He breaks down why when he went to university he just wanted to start something, why he knew like one of his strongholds was just always around like food, why his mom as a full time housewife was literally like always in the kitchen always cooking for them and they always had like fresh meal at every point in time, why he just knew that one with the other like he's just going to do something around food, and why when he was in high school he was like the food prefects coordinating thousands of students for breakfast lunch and dinner..

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful businesses in Africa and those who spend their lives chasing degrees and job applications isn't how much education they have or which university they attended, but understanding that you can sell your own clothes to raise capital and start with 10,000 naira that equals $7 today, that the engineering student at University of Lagos who went from selling sandwiches for 60 naira with room delivery for 20 naira to running the first student owned restaurant on campus discovered something universities will never teach you about the brutal truth that your grades might suffer when you prioritize business but if you don't have passion for what you're studying the classroom will never give you the fulfillment that building something of your own will, and that the young person who thinks they need massive capital or perfect conditions to start has been programmed to see obstacles instead of opportunities when you can literally take a mini grill from your father's house create a concept called Jamwich and build a business that supports you without asking your parents for pocket money? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with someone who reveals why he remembers there was a time when he was going to university and needed to raise some cash to start his business so he took some of his clothes and stuff to Yaba Railway and sold them, why he packed a jacket and pants and some shirts and raised about 10,000 naira which if you take into dollars today is $7 and into cedis is 80 cedis, why this was like 2009 2010 about 17 years ago, and why he knew his dad had this toast machine like a mini grill very small electric grill for breakfast in the house and he went home and asked for it saying he just wanted to take it to school. He breaks down why he was just thinking what can I start and he started to sell sandwiches in his hostel at University of Lagos Jajal B312, why he created a concept called Jamwich which was his own recipe because he wanted something different from what every other person could get in the hostel, why people usually just had bread and eggs and toast but he wanted something that would have tuna or sardine or jam or eggs something really flavorful and tasty and delicious, why he was selling 60 naira and room delivery for 20 naira, and why it was really exciting because he got to make money and it felt so good that he didn't even need to ask his parents for pocket money. But he also confronts the brutal reality of balancing business and academics. Why he rather sold his sandwiches than go to class until his semester GP went to 1.9 something and this is engineering, why his course adviser called him and said if he didn't perform better and better his grades they might kick him out of the College of Engineering or even out of the school with what they call easy advice to withdraw, why he just needed to choose either slow down or stop the business and just focus on academics, and why he had to look for the most brilliant guys in his class and roll with them and go for extra classes and tutorials which helped build his grades even though he honestly knew he'd already found what he had passion for and it wasn't engineering it was food. He reveals why when he had his grades stable he went for training at a catering school to learn the art of cooking and maybe just starting up a business, why he registered his first business Sunny Case in 2011 as an event catering outfit, why after his training he started to do small events here and there like birthday parties and small weddings catering to 50 people 20 people 30 people, why some students who wanted to have their ready parties in their hostel would hire him to provide small chops like finger foods mocktails chapman, and why he got a lot of support from students at the University of Lagos which is why till tomorrow they do scholarship programs every year to impact the lives of students there. But he also exposes what happened to his friends who took the traditional path. Why a lot of his friends who finished university and went to look for jobs found it was tough, why some were fortunate to get jobs and some had to go back to do masters to upgrade their degrees so they could get better opportunities, why people that had businesses running like him and maybe just a few people already had their thing going and after school were just facing it head on, and why before he even graduated he already had his restaurant running which was the first student owned restaurant on campus that was hiring students. He breaks down why skill development is as important as your academic pursuits, why if you want to go into IT you need to start learning things outside of the classroom like AI, why his friend learned how to build websites back in 2010 2011 using basic programming languages and if he had not gone out of the classroom to acquire these skills he would not have...

What if the biggest difference between people who break out of poverty in Africa and those who stay trapped in small rooms with six or seven people isn't how much money their parents have or which family they were born into, but understanding that you must want something different with personal conviction so strong that you're willing to sell your own clothes to raise capital, that the young person who thinks golden spoon children don't know what they have because life is hard has been programmed to see obstacles instead of opportunities when the internet and social media have created a level playing field where people go viral and get flown to the US UK and Netherlands based on talent alone, and that the engineering student at University of Lagos who sold his clothes at Yaba Railway to raise 10,000 naira bought a mini grill and created Jamwich selling sandwiches for 60 naira with room delivery for 20 naira discovered something universities will never teach you about the brutal truth that you need 101 times more motivation in Africa than your counterparts overseas but environment and company determine whether you tap inspiration from your community or get demoralized by drugs and crime? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with Derrick Abaitey who reveals why when you make a tough decision that this is what I want to do this is what I want to aspire to be this is what I want to achieve in life company is very important because the kind of inspiration you get in your community or your space that's what sustains you that's your gas, why when you're tired when you're depressed when you're less motivated if you don't have the company friends community that keeps reminding you that hey Derrick you need to keep moving this podcast has to be on a global stage if you don't have that support it would just be a personal conviction, why it might just die there because if you're not inspired by your immediate community your space the friends that you have and family if you don't have all inspiration and motivation from the community you might not really get that necessary gas to keep the motion, and why as humans as the continent is as Nigeria is there are reasons to get demotivated a lot of times because the struggle existing as a person in the country and in the continent generally it can be demoralizing sometimes. He breaks down why you need that community where either someone inspires you or you are inspiring someone and if that energy just keeps revolving it will just keep moving, why if you want to go fast go alone but if you want to go further go with people who are holding hands together and while one person is tired we're pushing and striving and moving for greater strides, why for young people there's a lot of distraction in today's world and it's very easy now to go into any type of crime that you want maybe now than ever, and why there's drugs and a lot of things that can keep you distracted and make you feel good at the state of life that you are. But he also confronts the brutal reality of what poverty looks like in Nigeria today. Why he met a young guy who said oga life is really hard and the people who are born into a family that have financial stability they don't know what they have in this Nigeria, why the young boy said the children who are born into an environment like this who have golden spoon they don't know what they have because we are struggling, why the place he stays there are six or seven people in the same room a very small room, and why for someone coming from that kind of environment is going to be extremely tough on such person or such people. He reveals why you must want something different and you must be willing to make a change and you must be willing to change the narrative and this starts from your personal conviction, why that kind of space is definitely not sustainable so he might need to go out there to find opportunities get skills acquire skills and leverage, why there are people from the ghetto who are still making arts learning how to weave and they do these things package it so good and now they even sell to arts galleries and some go for trade fairs, why some bring those items out and one very rich guy will see you find interest in you and invest in you and you're set for life, and why you must be willing to say you know what I don't want my kids I don't want to raise a family that will go through this. But he also exposes why environment is a major factor that people don't understand. Why if you stay in a community where you see people are very hardworking people are going you can see progress there's a chance that you also tend towards you become successful there's already like 80% chance, why you are literally seeing you are tapping inspiration and motivation from your immediate community, why but we're in a place where everything is demoralizing people are doing drugs and it's just unfortunate and sad that we're still...

What if the biggest difference between African startups that succeed and those that fail isn't how fast they can build with AI or how passionate the founder is about their idea, but understanding that the most likely outcome of every startup is failure, that the young developer who spends months building a fintech app in his room without talking to a single customer has been programmed to worship technical skills while missing the brutal truth that you cannot build for a market you have not engaged, and that the founder who thinks they can compete with the top five fintech companies in Nigeria without understanding what those companies are not offering has stumbled onto something universities and startup accelerators will never teach you about the mathematics of market research and competitive advantage? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with Glory Olami Ngoke who reveals why there are a lot of startups in Africa and there's somebody in his room right now trying to do something but the issue we have is that very few succeed, why the most likely outcome of every startup is failure, why even the most successful startups today globally like Google Microsoft and Apple failed at some point and were able to learn from failure to pivot into things they are doing now that are successful, and why a good number of these guys did not start out in the beginning doing what they're doing now so failure taught them lessons and they pivoted. He breaks down why the quality of the kind of product you're building is critical and as a founder you need to ask have you done enough research, why if you get the product wrong and you are building something that doesn't solve a clear problem you will fail, why if you're building something for which there is not sufficient market meaning enough potential customers you will fail because what keeps the startup light on is money and revenue, and why to make money you have to have enough customers out there not just enough customers but enough customers willing to pay you money for what you're offering. But he also confronts the brutal reality of competition and market research. Why there are many startups that have had the right product but did not do enough investigation on their competitor, why if you're building and launching a fintech product today in Nigeria you know that in that industry there are the top five guys big ones and these guys have owned the markets in terms of market share, why if you're trying to launch something to that same market without understanding what they are offering and using that to figure out what they are not offering that the market wants which will be your unique competitive advantage it means you'll be offering something that already exists and it means failure, and why you need to do research on what industry you're building in and research your potential market sufficiently and research your competitors sufficiently. He reveals why with the advent of AI there's somebody in his room right now trying to do something and he's built something that for him is going to change the world and you know how a lot of these tech guys are just indoors constantly always indoors focused on just making sure that they get the product right, why the same AI which is a tool that has made building technically of a product a lot faster and easier is also a very critical tool that aids in research, why once a person has a technical skill and now with AI you can build that Facebook app that took months to build years back in a week but that doesn't guarantee success, and why it's really a knowledge gap. But he also exposes the critical mistake of building without validation. Why a lot of people build out of passion and he's seen persons even himself build things that he wanted to use alone but if you're building for the public you can't build for the public without talking to the public, why in the startup world it's called making assumptions and research helps you validate those assumptions, why when you're building something for a problem you believe it exists but it's an assumption until you can talk to people to validate it is correct, and why you're assuming people have a problem and without talking to them to validate that the chances of failure are in there. He breaks down why they had a recent program where a few startups that originated from his tech talent platform Tech Nexus as well as Tech Revolution Africa which he co-founded were sent out on the streets to talk to users, why one of them an ed tech platform building something for kids wanted kids to be able to learn local African languages and they said for the category of kids you're building for the people you should talk to are the parents, why they told them go out there and find parents go to schools on ground and use online medium to find parents and talk to them, and why you cannot build for a market you have not engaged and you cannot build for a market...

What does it really take to survive as a music producer in an industry that doesn't exist? Can talent alone sustain you when there's no governing body, no royalty system, and no guarantee you'll see money for seven years? On this episode of Konnected Minds Podcast, Derrick Abaitey sits down with Edward Nana Poku Osei, better known as Hammer of The Last Two, the legendary Ghanaian music producer behind some of the biggest names in Ghanaian hip hop and hiplife. In this raw and unfiltered conversation, Hammer reveals: • Why his banker father warned him that musicians in Ghana have no industry to protect them • How he turned down Full Sail University in Florida because Obrafo's hit dropped • Why musicians are not supposed to be businessmen but the absence of an industry forces them to be • How producers survive on publishing royalties that can take seven years before the first return • Why he never charged for beats and only got paid $2,000 once in his entire career • How selling 60,000 loaves of bread a day at 10 pesewas commission gave him financial freedom • Why Sarkodie is the only artist he ever called first and how their relationship remains solid • What happened to Agyekum, the cleaner he discovered who recorded one song and died before it was released He breaks down why the Ghanaian music industry has no centralized governing body, why GHAMRO is ineffective without a proper login system, why Nigerian artists like Davido don't need brand deals to live large because their industry protects them, and why Ghanaian producers and artists survive on barter and relationships instead of upfront payments. He confronts the brutal reality of why 85.4% of Ghanaian musicians have no pension scheme, why successful musicians in Ghana are only a handful, and why being a teller at a bank offers more financial stability than being a musician without an industry. But he also exposes why his father's wisdom was correct, why dishonesty from both artists and businessmen prevents the industry from growing, why AI will not replace human creativity but will reward those who master the right prompts, and why he's coming back to music full time now that bread money gave him the freedom to create without competing. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction: The Reality of Music Economics in Ghana 00:01:18 Growing Up: A Banker's Son with a Rebellious Streak 00:06:02 Father's Wisdom: Why Music Didn't Have an Industry 00:08:15 The Missing Industry: Why Ghanaian Music Lacks Structure 00:11:05 The Turning Point: Obrafo Hits and Missing Full Sail University 00:13:44 Musicians Aren't Supposed to Be Businessmen 00:28:05 The Publishing Game: How Producers Actually Make Money 00:34:06 Seven Years Before the First Return: The Adam Album Story 00:38:36 Discovering Sarkodie: The Only Artist Hammer Called First 00:41:54 The Bread Business: Finding Financial Freedom Outside Music 00:48:39 AI, The Future, and Coming Back to Music Full-Time 00:52:29 The Agyekum Story: Music, Hope, and Loss 00:57:04 Legacy and Lessons: What Really Matters Subscribe to Konnected Minds Podcast for conversations about entrepreneurship, wealth creation, business strategy and personal growth from an African perspective. Guest: Edward Nana Poku Osei (Hammer of The Last Two) Join our FREE Community https://konnectedminds.com/communities ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🎙️ ABOUT THE HOST Derrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate. IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey Web: https://www.abaitey.com/ #MusicIndustry #GhanaMusic #KonnectedMinds

What if the biggest difference between African tech ecosystems that build world-class AI infrastructure and those that remain perpetually dependent on Western technology isn't how many talented developers they have or how many fintech startups get funded, but understanding that self-sufficiency in AI requires billions of dollars in data centers and energy infrastructure that no individual founder can afford alone, that the young entrepreneur who thinks they can compete with Google and Microsoft by building another fintech app has been programmed to copy what works instead of solving the massive unsolved problems in health tech ed tech and logistics where African innovation could actually lead the world, and that the founder who discovers that raising 110 million dollars in Africa is considered exceptional while Western AI companies casually deploy billions has stumbled onto something universities and startup accelerators will never teach you about the brutal mathematics of competing at the frontier of technology without government support or critical infrastructure? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with someone who reveals why we are really going really fast in even the whole AI systems but we are still not building our own systems, why if he has anything to say to talents out there we should really focus on building our own but it's a systemic problem, why for a guy like him who's passionate about the African tech ecosystem there's only so much that an individual can do, and why when we break things up into the private sector and the public sector there's only so much the private sector can do or positions where we can have conversations on the public sector side with the government. He breaks down why when we talk about LLMs and Agentic AI we're encouraging founders to build but these things are insanely expensive, why in the West it wasn't just the government that supported them to build it but the companies at the forefront have incredible funding, why when you talk about AI and being self-sufficient and not relying on the Western world you need to have critical infrastructure, and why you need to have data centers that Google Microsoft and OpenAI are building costing billions of dollars. But he also confronts the brutal reality of Africa's fintech saturation. Why we can build data centers in Africa but funding is required, why sometimes we can focus on the same thing that everybody's doing rather than do something different, why when you ask how many fintech companies we have in Nigeria there's plenty but we shouldn't all be building fintech companies, why that piece is saturated so some of them should give up and then build something else, and why there's a scripture that talks about counting the cost and he's laying out the cost of true self-sufficiency for Africa in AI which is billions of dollars. He reveals why it's so much energy required that the biggest companies in the world are buying thousands of acres of land in the US to set up energy centers, why they have like 50% coverage but what they've done so far is so big so huge that it's already impacting the environment ecologically, why when we talk about energy we need to ask how much power do we have in Nigeria and African countries, and why on the funding side billions of dollars are required and on the energy side billions of dollars are required but on the talent side we're not doing too bad. But he also exposes the practical roadblocks facing African founders. Why when a founder has an idea and wants to use AI compute the roadmap is clear and he needs to create a business plan and when he's done he needs to raise money, why the maximum amount we've raised in Africa as a continent recently was Money Point raising 110 million, why without the right contacts and connections it's going to be difficult for that guy to raise as much money, and why he's laying out the parts required for African AI self-sufficiency. He breaks down why it would take the funding the energy and in his opinion the energy is something he believes the government has a huge part to play, why he knows private individuals can do it but he thinks the government has a key role to play in that, why from an African context it's not great yet based on connectivity and internet spread across Nigeria, and why to bring all of this together he's not saying it can't be done because he spent the last five six years through conferences mentorship and advocacy saying this has to happen. But he also confronts what's really holding Africa back from AI leadership. Why the conference he co-founded Tech Revolution Africa is an annual conference where they pull together global technical STEM leaders and last edition in January in Lagos they had federal government Lagos state government and investors from the US in attendance, why these conversations are happening but it looks like there are bigger factors at play that need to be solved on...

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful tech careers in Africa and those who spend their lives stuck in degrees they hate isn't how many certificates they collect or which university they attended, but understanding that investors no longer fund ideas but demand traction, that the young person who thinks they need to code to succeed in tech has been programmed to miss the massive opportunities in product management project management UI UX design and marketing where the real talent shortage exists, and that the medical student who discovered his future wasn't in human anatomy but in teaching himself WordPress at 17 learned something universities will never teach you about the world rewarding those who build skills not those who simply collect degrees? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with a product manager and tech entrepreneur who reveals why he wanted to be a doctor because in his time the main thing was to either be a doctor or an engineer, why his mom wanted him to be a doctor but his dad said this is my son it looks like he likes computers I see something around computer engineering for him, why he applied for medicine but got human anatomy instead, and why while he was doing his human anatomy course he already knew that this was not it for him but he had to try and finish. He breaks down why his tech journey started during his national service year when he was posted to Cross River State and got connected with a Christian broadcasting studio that needed a website, why that was his first foray and he had to go learn how to build websites teaching himself starting with WordPress and web design, why he went from freelancing to learning HTML CSS JavaScript React.js front end development, and why he's really grateful for how everything was aligned during his NYC year that transferred him into tech. But he also confronts the brutal reality of building startups in today's investment climate. Why it's not just about using the right channels but also about the narrative you're creating and using the language your audience understands, why everything about building products and startups rests on data and insights from the people you're building for, why beyond technical skills business skills are critical and you need to learn operations structure legal bits and compliance, and why if you are deficient in one area like compliance you can do all the exciting things but still fail. He reveals the massive shift in how African startups get funded. Why then versus now is very interesting because there have been recent concerns around the transitions that the African tech ecosystem has faced when it comes to investment VC funding angel investors equity funding and debt funding, why back then because of increased attention on the African tech ecosystem startups could get funded at the idea stage without even having a product, why you could have an incredible idea do your research and come to an investor saying give me a million dollars based on potential, but why there have been changes and shifts in global trends which have impacted Africa. But he also exposes what investors actually look for today. Why right now for the average investor to take you seriously you have to have built a product and not just that you have to have launched to the market and be able to show some good traction, why traction means you have launched your product and there is clear demand clear adoption customers love what they see and customers are coming on board, why it doesn't mean you have to have profit already or millions in revenue but it means the data shows great demand and excitement, and why based on that you can say give me money so I can double down on marketing and scale. He breaks down why investors want to see traction and will fund based on traction and trust, why for a B2B startup one top investor looks at the quality of customers you have, why if big reputable brands are using your product your value in an investor's mind goes up because it means you're solid, why traction cannot be faked it's either it works or it doesn't work, and why when you are able to showcase sufficient demand then your grounds to get funding are significantly improved. But he also confronts the truth about being stuck in the wrong degree. Why there are many young people today at university who are not exactly happy with what they are studying especially because sometimes you don't get a course you want and the university picks a course for you to fill up their space, why he would encourage anyone listening right now who feels stuck in school doing something they don't like or aren't passionate about or don't feel has potential to do two things, why the first thing is you have to learn a skill because the world has changed or rather people are just now coming to realize what has always been true that you finish university apply for a job and they ask you for experience. He rev.

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful careers in Africa and those who spend their lives trapped in unemployment isn't how many degrees they collect or which university they attended, but understanding that there are millions of beginner level talents competing for the same jobs while expert level positions sit empty because most people never push beyond starting, that the young person who learns graphic design or web development but stays stuck at beginner level will face 5,000 applicants for one position while companies desperately search outside Africa to hire experts they cannot find locally, and that the graduate who thinks technology only means coding has been programmed to miss the massive opportunities in product management project management IT support marketing sales and UI UX design where the real talent shortage exists at intermediate and expert levels? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with someone who reveals why when people hear technology today the mind first goes to engineering and coding but there's a lot you can do outside of coding including design like graphic design product design UI UX design brand design and management like product management where you own a product and build it and are responsible for its failure or success and project management where you manage the successful execution of projects, why there are tech skills you can learn which are non technical like IT support and marketing and sales because there's no tech startup that doesn't have a marketing team and without marketing there will be no growth, why the biggest issue usually is figuring out what to learn, and why you should look inwards at what you are naturally good at like being good with color combinations aesthetics and botting colors which helps in web design track. He breaks down why you should leverage online platforms like Udemy Coursera and YouTube which have thousands of free courses, why the channels he's had the most value from on YouTube are not popular channels but two hour three hour four hour courses from people with a thousand subscribers teaching marketing better than the big channels that do it as a funnel, why if you're looking to build skill today the avenue is there you can do it, and why people struggle to learn for themselves even though if you tell them to go to school and go through the system they'll do it but go home sit in front of the PC and learn a skill can be a problem for people. But he also confronts the brutal reality of why people fail to learn skills on their own. Why it happens because a lot of persons have not yet understood how best they learn, why there are people that learn better primarily through audio by listening to someone saying something, why there are other persons that learn by watching videos but some fare better with short video clips and not long clips, why if you give a two hour three hour YouTube video to some persons their brain will overload in the first five minutes but they can sit in an exam for three hours because they do not have any other choice, and why people should approach skill building as if they have no other choice because the truth is you don't have any choice. He reveals why if you are trying to learn in a way you are not suited with you will struggle, why if you have come to understand that you feel better with shorter clips and you have the option of a three hour product design course or that same course broken down into smaller modules three to five minutes each giving them what works for them increases the chances of successfully learning, why forcing them is like people raising kids and trying to force your kid down a specific line or path that's not how what they're used to, why that is the reason why some people struggle in school because it's a forced system and everybody's following, and why everyone has the ability to learn themselves but not everyone is disciplined enough to do so. But he also exposes the truth about the talent pyramid that most people miss. Why at the bottom beginner level in terms of skill there are millions of persons and at this level there are more talents than jobs available so it's highly competitive, why a company puts out an advert for web design role or product design or software engineer role and in the first one hour or 30 minutes you already have 5,000 applicants but they need just one or two, why when you go up to intermediate skill level a lot of persons stuck at beginner don't transition in terms of skill knowledge and experience and problem solving ability to the intermediate level, why at intermediate level there's a balance between the jobs available and talent so this place is less competitive because it requires more knowledge of the skill more experience a track record, and why it's not about starting but you need the same energy you need to start to push with drive with discipline consistency become experienced become...

What if the biggest difference between people who build successful careers in Africa and those who spend their lives trapped in degrees they hate isn't how much education they have or which university they attended, but understanding that the entire education system was designed to produce employees not entrepreneurs, that the 17-year-old who taught himself WordPress while studying human anatomy discovered something universities will never teach you about skills over certificates, and that the young person stuck in a course the university picked for them because they needed to fill spaces has been programmed to finish what they started while missing the brutal truth that the world has changed and it's never been easier to learn the skills that actually pay but most people struggle because they don't understand how their own brain learns best? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with someone who reveals why his tech journey started during his national service year when he saw needs that required a website and had to teach himself how to build one, why he started with WordPress and web design and smiled when it was mentioned because he's used it for quite a bit and did a lot of development with it, why he went from freelancing to learning HTML CSS JavaScript React.js front-end development, and why he's really grateful for how everything was aligned during his NYC year that transferred him into tech. He breaks down why it was stages of development where he learned the skill started using it to solve local problems then started freelancing offering it to the public and when more demand grew he started a company called Clunify to do it at scale, why he launched Clunify with a small team and began building websites web applications and mobile apps for clients in almost every continent including the US UK Canada Australia and Asia, why while he was developing hands-on writing code using WordPress he looked at it and said he doesn't see himself doing this for the next 10 15 20 years, and why in one of his projects he discovered something called product management which empowers a person to build products but you're not the one writing code you're coordinating teams coordinating design coordinating engineering coordinating quality assurance testing and collaborating with other teams. But he also confronts the brutal reality of being stuck in the wrong degree. Why while he was doing his human anatomy course he already knew that this was not it for him but he had to try and finish, why there are many young people today at university who are not exactly happy with what they are studying especially because you go to university and sometimes you don't get a course you want and the university picks a course for you because they want to fill up their space, why he would encourage anyone listening right now who feels stuck in school doing something they don't like or aren't passionate about or don't feel has potential in the future to do two things, and why the first thing is you have to learn a skill because the world has changed or rather people are just now coming to realize what has always been true that you finish university apply for a job and they ask you for experience. He reveals why the change he's referring to is that it's never been easier globally right now to learn, why if you're in school and you're stuck you will have to learn and you don't have a choice and you don't have any excuse, why a mistake he made or almost made was that while you look and get trendy skills to learn or relevant skills to learn in tech you should not sacrifice your current degree but put effort to finish it and finish it well, and why when people hear technology today the mind first goes to engineering and coding but there's a lot you can do outside of coding including design like graphic design product design UI UX design brand design and management like product management where you own a product and build it and are responsible for its failure or success and project management where you manage the successful execution of projects. But he also exposes what most people miss about tech skills. Why there are tech skills you can learn which are non-technical like IT support and marketing and sales because there's no tech startup that doesn't have a marketing team and without marketing there will be no growth, why the biggest issue usually is figuring out what to learn, why what he usually says is look inwards at what you are naturally good at like how he was good with color combinations aesthetics and botting colors which helped him in his web design track, why you should leverage online platforms like Udemy Coursera and YouTube which have thousands of free courses, and why the channels he's had the most value from on YouTube are not popular channels but two hour three hour four hour courses from people with a thousand subscribers teaching marketing better than the big channels that do it as a...

What if the biggest difference between people who build wealth in Africa and those who spend their lives searching for jobs after graduation isn't how many degrees they collect or how well they speak English, but understanding that the entire education system was designed to produce employees not entrepreneurs, that the young lady on a flight to China holding $200,000 without a professor's credentials discovered something universities will never teach you, and that the graduate who spends 20 years in school only to chase monthly salaries while mechanics contractors and shoemakers who never sat in a classroom create value and control money has been programmed to worship certificates while missing the brutal truth that there is a shortage of employment in Africa but no shortage of products and services to build businesses around? In this raw and unfiltered conversation on Konnected Minds, we sit down with Coach Eckwashon and Engineer Kwabena Obeng Darkwa who reveal why it's necessary for Africans to develop business mindsets because there is shortage of employment in Africa and that's not bad there are no shortages of products and services, why when you go to secondary schools we don't have something like entrepreneurship they don't teach it but we have general science visual arts general arts, why it's better that the younger ones those who are coming should have that kind of mindset to see if I complete university and I don't get somebody to employ me I can start my own thing, and why wearing suit and tie doesn't work anymore in Africa it doesn't work. They break down why people are not comfortable with that lifestyle when you cannot pay your children's school fees when you've taken bank loans three or four and you can't buy a plot of land unless you take a bank loan, why you can't build a house buy a car unless you take a loan and how many teachers with all due respect or police officers can buy a plane ticket and take their family to Paris or Dubai, why if you go to some countries one company can employ a thousand people at a time but how many companies in our country can employ even 200 people at a time, why we are grooming people from our secondary schools from our universities to come and somebody should pay them and of course that's the design of the school, and why the whole concept of this modern education came because some people came here to colonize us and before they came we had our own way of educating our people and it was not sit down be trained write CV after school and then somebody will pay you monthly salary. But they also confront the brutal reality of what education actually produces. Why our leaders should keep on giving us these statistics on unemployment rate when we only have to tell our people there are problems that you solve and once you solve them and you can monetize them you can live your life without somebody giving you a monthly salary, why when we were children 30 years ago we had graduate unemployment and at this stage in life we're still hearing the same thing which means not much has changed, why if every year you are bringing out 250,000 to 300,000 tertiary graduates and you look at the number of jobs that you are creating you are not creating jobs you are creating frustration, and why if you continue to tell them that when they come out somebody should give them a job and you are not creating jobs that's why our minds are on traveling. They reveal why the design of education was to produce employees because somebody had to be a business person open a factory and you would need so called experts or professionals to work with them, why they didn't design school so that you go through it and become successful because if that were true look at the people who control the world's economy and where do their children go to school and what do they teach them, why there's this wholesale information they give us to make you feel that you've been given an education to face life when really it's just like somebody going to learn trade, why if you go to the websites of a lot of universities and see who they are training and where they are training them to it's to go and look for a job, and why when schools are having anniversaries the people they hail are those who have been employed in multinational positions and government positions more than somebody who has a provision shop somewhere. But they also expose the truth about what education really means. Why education doesn't mean you need to sit in the classroom because that mechanic who has been fixing your car is not a graduate but when you have a problem you go to the mechanic for him to fix your car and he's educated, why the contractor is educated even though he may not have a degree, why we need to let people who are going through that system understand that they are not necessarily going to get a job after and that they should look at business as an alternative or maybe even the main thing, why this system has been...