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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
Massive celebrations were recorded countrywide as the Black Stars opened their 2026 World Cup campaign with a 1-0 victory over Panama in Toronto on Wednesday.
Midfielder Caleb Yirenkyi scored the only goal of the match late in the game as he shot in a decent cross from substitute Brandon Asante.
The win gave Ghana a positive start in the competition, placing them in second position behind England, also with three points but with a superior goal aggregate.
After the final whistle, the streets and other viewing centres were turned into partying grounds as fans, mostly clad in the team’s paraphernalia, danced to several World Cup-themed music.
Others blew the vuvuzelas in joyous mood with others putting up a spirited ‘jama’ session.
Former New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for the Adentan Constituency, Akosua Manu, has urged party members to move away from what she describes as an “entitlement mentality” and focus on unity, sacrifice and hard work as the party prepares for the 2028 general election.
In a statement titled “Is Loyalty a Queue?”, and posted on facebook, Ms. Manu argued that loyalty to the NPP should not be judged by how long a person has been in the party but by their contributions and commitment to its growth.
According to her, the NPP’s history shows that many of its leaders faced significant opposition from within the party before eventually leading it to electoral success.
She cited former President John Agyekum Kufuor as an example, saying he had to overcome resistance from influential figures within the party before winning power for the NPP in 2000.
Ms. Manu noted that after the party lost power in 2008, former President Kufuor faced criticism and accusations from some party members.
However, she said supporters eventually put their differences aside and worked together to rebuild the party.
She pointed to the experience of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, who, according to her, faced opposition from some factions within the NPP despite his long service to the party.
“His trials were ten times what Kufuor endured,” she stated, adding that Akufo-Addo eventually overcame the challenges and became President of Ghana.
Turning to the NPP’s current flagbearer, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Ms. Manu said he also faced resistance from different groups within the party while seeking leadership.
She praised Dr. Bawumia for contributing to policy-based political discussions in Ghana and for remaining composed following the NPP’s defeat in the 2024 elections.
According to her, party members must now rally behind him in the same way they supported former Presidents Kufuor and Akufo-Addo.
Ms. Manu, however, warned that internal divisions and a sense of entitlement remain major threats to the party’s future.
She argued that some party members place too much emphasis on how long individuals have belonged to the NPP rather than on their contributions and capabilities.
“This entitlement does not question impact. It does not ask what you sacrificed or what you built. It asks only how long have you been here,” she said.
The former parliamentary candidate cautioned that such attitudes could discourage committed members and prevent the party from selecting the best people for leadership positions.
She further called on the party’s incoming national executives to strengthen the NPP’s core values of sacrifice, honesty, integrity and dedication to national development.
Ms. Manu addressed the concerns of young party supporters, many of whom she said became discouraged following the NPP’s electoral defeat in 2024.
According to her, many young people remain eager to see the party return to power but are unwilling to support internal conflicts driven by personal ambitions.
She urged party elders to place the interests of the NPP above their individual goals and to demonstrate leadership that attracts rather than alienates members.
“The NPP is bigger than any one of us. It always has been. Our collective responsibility is to act like it,” she stated.
By: Jacob Aggrey
