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Antoinette Gyan …Mapping career path for young people
Bold, beautiful and elegant Ms Gyan
Graduate unemployment is a major headache for governments globally with Ghana not singled out of the equation.
Career decisions usually lead to a state of uncertainty, considering the fact that the so-called white-collar jobs (the most reason young people attain certain qualifications) are either not available or being contested by hundreds.
In a bid to assist young people in finding the right career path and not join the long queue of anxiously waiting unemployed graduates, Ms Antoinette Gyan, with her outfit Araba Africa, is gradually carving a niche as the pathway to employment.
Antoinette Gyan is an epitome of beauty and brains. The Career Coach and Communications Consultant has for the past years mapped the career path for young people, ensuring that they choose the right courses and essentially gain employment after school.
Ms Gyan,holds a Master’s degree in Communication Studies and a Bachelor’s Degree in English and Psychology both from the University of Ghana, Legon. She is also an accredited Public Relations Professional and a Certified Coach from Transformation Academy, an online training institution that specialises in providing personal development and life coaching training.
‘Araba Africa’ is a brand name she got from her paternal grandmother, Araba, whom she was named after. Granny was a thriving woman, ambitious and joyful; virtues which remains Ms Gyan’s wishes for every woman.
With her tag line ‘Live Beautifully,’ she provides coaching for mid-career African female professionals stuck in their careers. She also provides tools that help them to build mental acumen, with relevant skills such as leadership, communication and networking as well as a career plan that would help them to advance and take up leadership roles.
Ms Gyan started her coaching career in 2020 with a blog for young people called ‘Young Smart Africa’ in a bid to share insight with young people to have self- leadership and a mindset of success.
What she does, has provided many individuals with clarity in their careers, improved their confidence in communication, built empowering mindset, landed them their dream jobs and built their career vision.
She is currently working as a Communications Consultant (on a writing assignment) with the United Nations Volunteer office in Amman, Jordan.
In previous roles, she worked as Communications Officer (adolescent and youth engagement) for UNICEF Ghana, then Communications Manager for Plan International Sierra Leone and Communications Specialist for Plan International Ghana. She also took up other jobs in marketing, arts and crafts as well as teaching in the past.
With her experience on the job market, she believes that young people require guidance in choosing a career.
In her view, many young people have found themselves in careers that they don’t enjoy; perhaps they might have gone in for the wrong reasons and with little guidance.
Essentially, she believes that perfect career selection requires several elements including career vision, values, skills, education and goals.
“People think your career starts when you start working, however, it starts when you choose your course of study. Another important thing to know is that your career is ever-evolving. A career path should not feel like a death sentence that you cannot make a change once you start on a certain path. If I have to give one advice, I would say look at your best skills to determine your career path. Your skills and talents are your cues,” she advised.
“Information is key. Any opportunity to provide information that transforms lives and careers is what I do. My hope is that young people are able to make informed decisions along their career path,” she said.
She shared her insight on entrepreneurship, describing it as an interesting path that is not for everyone, hence, the need to guide people who feels entrepreneurship is the solution to their personal transformation.
Despite making a huge mark with her profession, it has not been without challenges with her concern being the lack of urgency from young people.
Ms Gyan is usually surprised by people’s conviction to take a certain path, achieve a particular goal yet not willing to do what is required to get to the top of it. People’s lack of willingness to get what they truly want is a major challenge.
To help provide more perspective about choosing a career path, she launched her book ‘Odd Numbers: Building a Meaningful Career’ in June this year.
In the three-part book, she shares intimately with readers her internal monologues on career development, dealing with fear and getting stuck among others.
Part one and two focuses on career planning course, with part three on blogs she wrote since the Covid-19 outbreak in 2019.
This book has been described as a healing book, which allows readers for the first time to come to terms with the everyday challenges of career development.
She advised young people to grab copies of the book to gain information on career development to make well-informed decisions and prepare a career plan that would help them grow.
Her hobbies include reading, dancing, yoga and interior design and she is focused on holding the hands of the upcoming generation to choose the right careers to gain employment after graduating from school.
By Michael D. Abayateye
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
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Intercity STC Coaches Limited has interdicted a driver captured in a viral video allegedly hitting a Sprinter bus during an overtaking manoeuvre at Pokuase before driving away from the scene.
In a public notice, the company described the driver’s conduct as unacceptable, stressing that it did not reflect the safety standards and professionalism it upholds.
Management said it had commenced an immediate investigation into the incident and identified the driver, who has been interdicted pending the outcome of the disciplinary process.
The company added that it was awaiting an official report from the Pokuase Police Command to help establish the facts surrounding the incident.
STC reaffirmed its commitment to passenger safety and responsible road use, while thanking members of the public for bringing the incident to its attention.
Management assured the public that appropriate action would be taken following the investigation.
By: Jacob Aggrey
