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Beyond the runway …Anita Ofori inspiring youth with her modeling journey
For many young people in Ghana, chasing their dreams can feel overwhelming, especially when challenges pile up. But supermodel, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Anita Ofori has a message of hope: “Be serious about your life, stay focused, and trust the process. Nothing good comes easy, but with God and determination, you can achieve greatness.”
Anita Ofori is not only one of Ghana’s most celebrated models with awards spanning fashion, entrepreneurship, and advocacy, but also a woman who has turned her personal struggles into lessons for others.
She is passionate about mentoring the youth, encouraging them to avoid shortcuts, and teaching them to see every challenge as an opportunity to grow.
Building strength through struggles
Anita’s own story is one of persistence. After completing her first degree at the University of Ghana, she decided to start an event and model management company.
At the time, she was at the height of her modeling career, representing Ghana at international competitions like Miss Model of the World in China and Miss Supermodel Worldwide in India.
But success came at a cost. Managing school, business, and modeling all at once was exhausting. Financial challenges nearly forced her to defer her studies during her final year at university. Still, Anita refused to quit.
She relied on savings, picked up extra skills such as wig-making and hairdressing to earn money, and pressed forward. “I never underestimated any job or skill. Every step was preparing me for the next stage of life,” she recalls.
Her determination paid off. Not only did she graduate, but she also went on to pursue a Master’s degree in Development Communication, solidifying her passion for blending creativity with advocacy.
Giving back through mentorship
Today, Anita has expanded her career far beyond the runway. She runs an international fashion brand, an event and model management company, and a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting children and women in need. Through these platforms, she organises mentorship programmes, fashion events, and training sessions that help young people discover their potential.
Her NGO, in particular, offers self-esteem classes and skills training to equip the youth with practical knowledge. For Anita, this is about more than teaching. It is about shaping mindsets.
“Young people must learn to focus, work hard, and avoid dubious shortcuts. Whatever comes quickly goes quickly,” she cautions.
Her work in youth development earned her the Outstanding Commitment to Youth Mentorship Award (2024) from Ms Virtuous Ghana
A trail of awards and recognition
Over the years, Anita Ofori’s excellence has been widely recognised. Her honours include Editorial and Commercial Model of the Year (2020) – Ghana Models Awards, Overall Model of the Year (2021) – Ghana Models Awards, Top Model of the Year (2021) – BPL Fashion, Model/Entrepreneur of the Year (2022) – Global Women Leadership Award, Outstanding Model Award (2023) – Ghana Modeling and Fashion Award, Top 50 Ghanaian Fashion Icons (2024), Model/Entrepreneur/Advocate of the Year (2025) – Global Women Leadership Award
Yet, despite these accolades, Anita insists she is not done. “I cannot say I am where I want to be in life. I see myself breaking barriers and being counted among young entrepreneurs and mentors around the world. With God’s help, I will soar higher, and I want the youth to do the same.”
Advice for the next generation
Anita’s guidance to the youth is rooted in both faith and discipline. She encourages them to put God first in all things, set clear principles and stick to them, stay humble, honest, and bold, save money mighty, respect others and maintain a strong sense of identity and purpose.
She also calls on parents to be vigilant in raising children and instilling values early.
To leaders, she appeals for systems that protect the nation’s youth from illegal activities and create accountability for a better future.
Inspiring a generation
What sets Anita apart is not only her success, but her willingness to share the realities behind it, the sacrifices, the moments of doubt, and the faith that kept her going.
For the young people who listen to her story, she represents proof that determination, humility, and God’s guidance can turn obstacles into stepping stones.
“Life is full of ups and downs,” she says. “But every stage is just preparing us for the next. The choices you make today will determine your success tomorrow.”
For Ghana’s youth, Anita Ofori is more than a supermodel. She is a mentor, a guide, and a living reminder that no dream is too far out of reach when pursued with integrity and perseverance.
- By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
For Ms Fafa Gozo, being alive is a blessing she no longer takes for granted. Having faced breast cancer and endured the challenges of treatment, she has learnt to appreciate life differently, embrace change and find strength in an experience she once feared would end her life.
“If you ask me how to describe my life today, I would say well, because I am alive,” she said.
Although her life is no longer the same as it was before her diagnosis, she is grateful for the opportunity to live and make the most of each day.
Before breast cancer, Ms Gozo described herself as a happy woman who balanced her responsibilities as a mother, wife and career woman. However, her life changed when she discovered a lump in her breast while breastfeeding her youngest child.
She sought medical attention, and further examinations led to a diagnosis of invasive breast cancer. The news was difficult to accept, particularly as she had a young child and family responsibilities to consider.
Chemotherapy began almost immediately. The treatment weakened her body, and she had to return to the hospital for further care.
Beyond medication, she needed emotional strength to cope with the physical and psychological demands of the experience. Nevertheless, she continued with treatment, drawing strength from her faith and determination to live.
May 2022 marked the end of her chemotherapy, bringing relief after months of treatment. In June, she began another phase of her journey, focusing on recovery and rebuilding her life.
Healing was gradual, requiring physical and emotional adjustments. Just when she thought the worst was over, another health concern arose; bringing renewed anxiety and the need for further medical attention.
The experience taught her that recovery does not always follow a straight path. It requires patience, courage and the willingness to face uncertainty.
Despite the difficulties, Ms Gozo has chosen to embrace the woman she has become rather than dwell on what she has lost.
“The old Fafa is gone, but I am loving the new Fafa. I appreciate the new Fafa more and take life easy because now I know life is very short and very vulnerable. Everyone is at risk,” she said. Read More.
By Esinam Jemima Kuatsinu
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From Doryumu to two Bars: The remarkable journey of Lawyer Nyarkotey Obu
From the quiet communities of Doryumu and Dodowa in the Shai-Osudoku area of Greater Accra to courtrooms in two West African countries, Lawyer Raphael Nyarkotey Obu’s story is one of unusual professional reinvention. 
On Friday, October 9, 2026, the naturopathic scholar was called to the Ghana Bar, following his earlier admission to the Bar in The Gambia in November 2024.
The milestone places him in a pioneering position. He has been reported as the first African naturopath to qualify as a lawyer in two West African countries—an achievement that combines natural medicine, academic leadership and legal training in a way rarely seen on the continent.
Beyond the ceremonial wig and gown, however, lies a larger question: how will he use the law to improve the regulation of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) in Africa?
The early journey
Nyarkotey traces his roots to Doryumu in the Shai-Osudoku district. Part of his childhood was spent with his grandmother in the Suhum-Amrahia area, before his family journey took him to Teshie Lascala, where he began his basic education.
He later attended Ghanata Secondary School, Dodowa. These formative experiences preceded a career that would take him from classrooms in Ghana to professional legal training in Banjul and clinical and academic engagements in Asia.
Those beginnings matter because his achievements did not emerge from a single, straightforward professional path. He first built a name in Ghana’s developing natural medicine sector as an educator, researcher, author and advocate for stronger standards.
Education and difficult questions
That conviction informed the establishment and development of Nyarkotey College of Holistic Medicine in Ashaiman. The institution pursued structured professional education and competency-based training, including work connected to national occupational standards for naturopathy and holistic medicine.
Yet its growth brought the challenge familiar to emerging health professions: educational ambitions can advance faster than the laws governing those who complete the training.
The College faced questions within Ghana’s tertiary education regulatory environment, while Nyarkotey also became involved in a public dispute with the Traditional Medicine Practice Council (TMPC).
At the centre was disagreement over the reach of the Traditional Medicine Practice Act, 2000 (Act 575), and its application to naturopathy and other complementary and alternative medicine disciplines. The dispute entered the courts, where the interpretation of statutory authority remains a matter for legal determination.
Why he studied law
It was against this backdrop that law became increasingly central to his work. After obtaining his law degree, Nyarkotey proceeded to the Gambia Law School and was called to the Gambian Bar in November 2024. He subsequently completed the route to admission in Ghana, culminating in the October 2026 ceremony. The second Bar call gives his professional story an especially Ghanaian significance: the legal questions that shaped his ambitions can now be addressed with the benefit of Ghanaian legal qualification.
The distinction is noteworthy, but he regards it as a means rather than an end. His interest is not simply in representing individual practitioners. He wants to contribute to laws that separate legitimate professional training from unsupported claims, define safe scopes of practice, provide fair disciplinary processes and protect patients. The objective, he argues, should be regulation that is firm, clear and suitable for Africa’s diverse healthcare landscape.
India and a wider horizon
In August 2026, Nyarkotey led 16 Ghanaian naturopaths to India for clinical immersion at Arujiva Ayurveda and Naturopathy Hospital in Karnataka. Their exposure included Ayurveda, yoga, naturopathy, nutrition and lifestyle-based care.
Subsequent interactions with Indian universities and professional institutions widened the educational exchange. For him, the visit offered a practical view of how training, research, hospitals and public policy can interact within established traditional medicine systems.
India also supplied a lesson in patience. Nyarkotey recalls being told by an Indian colleague that gaining recognition for an educational institution can involve years of persistence. He drew from that conversation a renewed commitment to documentation, programme quality, clinical preparation and continued regulatory engagement. 
QAI partnership and standards
A recent development is the College’s Memorandum of Understanding with India’s Quality and Accreditation Institute (QAI). The partnership is intended to support quality assurance, curriculum improvement and professional development across naturopathy and related complementary medicine disciplines. It marks a shift from pursuing recognition principally through advocacy towards building systems that can be independently assessed.
For Nyarkotey, the agreement offers a platform for developing that quality culture while respecting the jurisdiction of Ghana’s own educational and professional regulators.
An African professional agenda
His thinking has also become continental. In March 2026, representatives associated with naturopathy from 11 African countries established the African Naturopathic Federation, with Nyarkotey as founding president.
The Federation seeks to advance professional education, research, ethics and cooperation. Its potential lies in helping African countries discuss common training benchmarks while allowing each country’s laws, institutions and healthcare needs to shape implementation.
Nyarkotey is additionally promoting an India–Africa AYUSH Centre for Education, Research and Regulatory Cooperation. The proposed platform would connect African institutions and policymakers with Indian expertise, not only in training and clinical exposure but also in standards, research and responsible investment.
He believes African traditional knowledge and India’s institutional experience can form a productive partnership without either being treated as a substitute for scientific scrutiny or patient safety.
A law firm with a specialised mission
Perhaps his most distinctive future plan is a law firm devoted substantially to TCAM and healthcare regulation. He envisages advising governments, professional bodies, colleges, hospitals, clinics and businesses on legislation, registration, licensing, contracts, institutional compliance, patient rights and professional accountability.
He also hopes to assist African countries seeking to draft or modernise legal frameworks for traditional, complementary and alternative medicine.
That ambition follows naturally from his own encounters with overlapping institutions and contested regulatory mandates. More coherent frameworks could clarify which authority regulates practitioners, which oversees academic qualifications and which controls medicinal products.
Such separation would help protect the public while creating lawful pathways for properly trained professionals. Any reform, however, will require consultation with health authorities, patients, conventional medical professionals and complementary medicine stakeholders.
An achievement and a responsibility
Nyarkotey’s story is not free of controversy. His positions on regulation have attracted criticism, and his institution has faced scrutiny. A balanced assessment must recognise those disputes without allowing them to erase the work he has undertaken.
Nor should international partnerships, professorial titles or two Bar calls be mistaken for proof that every proposal is sound. His legacy will depend on the standards he helps establish and the results they produce.
From Doryumu, Dodowa, Suhum-Amrahia and Teshie Lascala to Ghanata Secondary School, Banjul, India and the Ghana Bar, the arc of his journey is striking.
Yet its next chapter may matter more than its earlier honours. If his legal training helps African countries adopt workable TCAM legislation, if his educational partnerships deliver measurable quality, and if his proposed specialist practice contributes to patient protection, the impact will extend far beyond one individual.
The first African naturopath to have qualified as a lawyer in two West African countries now faces a larger professional assignment: turning a remarkable personal achievement into durable legal and educational progress for natural medicine across Africa.
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