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FortyUnder40 Awards: Meet some of the nominees ‘battling it out’
This year’s FortyUnder40 Awards has been scheduled for Saturday October, 1, 2022 in Accra. Ahead of the main event, here is a summary profile of some of the nominees ‘battling’ for the ultimate in some of the categories, as announced by the organisers.
MS SELINA ASHIAGBOR
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Designer of ‘Steplineklodin’ is one of the nominees in the Fashion Category. Originally a trained Nursing Assistant , she was motivated to hone her skills in sewing while waiting to secure a permanent nursing position.
After enrolling in a fashion school for a year, she registered her company and began working in the commercial fashion industry. Currently, she has clients in America and Europe and has created three distinctive ladies’ outfits, each with a name that suddenly became popular.
After only five years in the industry, she relocated to her own fashion plaza, where she has now employed many people and hosts interns from some Technical Universities in this country.
She donated about 1,200 pieces of cloth nose masks during the lockdown to residents, churches, and mosques within and beyond her catchment area. She has about 11 apprentices some of whom she provides free training and accommodation.
MR AMINU IDDRISU
Mr Iddrisu Aminu, CEO and founder of the Abuya Group of Companies, is in the Family Business Category. He has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years and has employed about 200 people.
The Abuya Group provides services to corporate and private clients in the fields of road construction, architectural design and building contracts, cleaning services, facility management, and real estate development.
Mr Aminu began his entrepreneurial career with Abuya Corporate Wardrobe in the Northern Region. Since then, the business had expanded to include several branches in Tamale and two branches at East Legon and Kokomlemle in Accra.
Due to his passion and dedication to his businesses, he has received different honours such as the Most Promising Entrepreneur of the Year at the 4th Edition of the Most Prestigious Northern Excellence Awards.
MR CATHERINE SAKYI
Ms Cathering Sakyi is the Event Management and Planning Category. Her company was started by her passion for “bringing light to people’s hearts through events or other aspects of decorations.”
With the combination of its in-house event specialist, the company has been able to exceed clients’ expectations. Right from conceptualising, coordination, design, she and her team are able to take charge of events and deliver the best experience for clients.
The company has over the years grown to become one of the most-promising outlets in the event planning and decoration industry. Catherine is married with two children. The company offers full services event planning, coordination, consultancies, indoor and outdoor stylings for weddings and any other social and corporate events.
DR. LOUISE CAROL SERWAA DONKOR
Dr. Louise Carol Serwaa Donkor holds a BA in Political Science and Psychology and a Ph.D in Communications and Media with specialisation in Politics and Gender. She is one of the candidates in the Environmental & Climate Sustainability Category.
She has been affiliated with a number of Universities such as Howard University, Washington DC and McGill University, Montreal (Canada). As a Visiting Junior Scholar, she has Certificate in United Nations (UN) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) at the University of Toronto. She has taught and conducted research at the University of Liverpool, UK, Birmingham City University International College, (BCUIC, UK) and Ghana Institute of Journalism.
Dr. Carol Serwaa Donkor has always worked to advance the cause of the environment and people’s potential. While serving as a Policy and Communications Analyst at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advisory Unit at the Office of the President, she spearheaded advocacy initiatives on the SDGs in communities, particularly on energy preservation in households.
She also gave technical support to the President in his roles as co-Chair of the UN Eminent Group of Advocates on the SDGs and as a member of the High-Level Panel on Sustainable Ocean Economy.
DR. NAOMI ADJEPONG
Dr. Naomi Adjepong, nominated in the Education Category, is the School Director at Alpha Beta Education Centres, a 35-year-old family-owned school based in Accra.
She has 15 years of managerial experience and prior to becoming School Director, she served as Director of Operations and Head of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Department at Alpha Beta.
With the support of a dedicated team, she designed and implemented an entrepreneurial leadership track called the ‘Adinkrahene’ Leadership Programme which has been running successfully at Alpha Beta for eight years.
The programme for young people aged six to 18 years runs parallel to the academic British National Curriculum. It provides an enriched educational experience ensuring that students gain exposure and develop Christian values, attitude and skills they need to succeed in the 21st Century.
Based on the success of the programme, Alpha Beta was recognised in 2016 as an ‘Ashoka Changemaker’ School.
She is the co-founder and a Board Member of Emerge Leadership Ltd, which designs and runs leadership development programmes for teenagers in Ghana and the United Kingdom.
She serves as a Board Member in a number of organisations including, Arkfund – Databank Group and Alpha Beta Charitable Trust, a charitable organisation that works to improve the quality of life for people in disadvantaged communities in Ghana.
MR FELIX ATSRIM
He is a Certified Project Manager with almost two decades of expertise in Project Financing and Civil Engineering. He is a member of several professional organisations, including the Ghana Institution of Engineers, the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Association of Project Management.
He is the Director of Projects and Chief Executive Officer of the ‘FeDems Group.’ Between 2008 and 2011, he worked as a Geodetic Engineer with Associated Consultants on the construction of the Achimota Transport Terminal Extension for the World Bank’s Urban Environmental & Sanitation Project.
He is one of the candidates in the Consultancy and Professional Services Category.
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned four career diplomats as ambassador-designates to represent Ghana in four countries.
The commissioning ceremony took place on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The new envoys are Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo, Ambassador-Designate to Angola; His Excellency Louis Kwame Obeng, Ambassador-Designate to Qatar; Her Excellency Evelyn Korantemaa Ofosu-Amable, Ambassador-Designate to Israel; and His Excellency Jedidiah Reuben Adogla, Permanent Representative-Designate to Switzerland.
President Mahama charged them to advance Ghana’s national interests through strategic partnerships, economic diplomacy, investment mobilization, and expanded access to international markets.
He said Ghana’s diplomatic engagements must deliver tangible economic benefits, create jobs, and strengthen the country’s standing on the international stage.
The four envoys are career diplomats with over 27 years of experience.
On behalf of her colleagues, Her Excellency Nana Antwiwaa Dodoo thanked the President for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their commitment to emulate his leadership and deliver on the mandate given to them.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
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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