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From a room to a global enterprise: The Michael L. Bartlett-Vanderpuye story
From humble beginnings to building an enterprise with global ambitions, Michael L. Bartlett-Vanderpuye’s journey is a story of discipline, independence, resilience and the belief that businesses should be built to outlive their founders.
Long before he became the Group Chairman of M&C Group, Michael L. Bartlett-Vanderpuye was building from modest beginnings.
His entrepreneurial journey did not start in a sophisticated corporate office or with a large team behind him.
At one stage, he was working from his room with limited resources, focused on turning an idea into a viable business.
That beginning became an important part of his philosophy: build the business first, then let the infrastructure grow with it.
Michael’s early experiences shaped his determination to become an entrepreneur. After university and periods of professional employment, including banking, accounting, marketing, packaging and logistics, he developed a deeper understanding of how businesses operate and how different industries connect.
His exposure to mining advisory work, property and other commercial opportunities broadened his perspective and helped him identify opportunities beyond a single sector.
But the journey was far from easy.
He recalls the uncertainty of sending proposal after proposal without knowing which one would eventually open a door.
Even after establishing an office in East Legon, some people assumed he was working for someone else because they could not imagine that the business belonged to him.
The confidence and corporate presence associated with success today were built through years of uncertainty, rejection, experimentation and persistence.
His evolution from working out of a room to leading M&C Group reflects a broader philosophy that has guided his business life: do not build an image before you build the substance.
For Michael, entrepreneurship is not simply about owning a company. It is about learning how to turn knowledge, relationships, opportunities and resources into sustainable value.
He believes professionals in every field can develop an entrepreneurial mindset by creating assets, building networks, investing in opportunities and developing additional sources of value alongside their careers.
That philosophy has influenced the way he approaches business expansion. Rather than viewing companies as isolated entities, Michael sees opportunities to create connections between industries, people and services.
Strategic partnerships, in his view, can create greater value than treating every other business as a competitor.
His approach has also been shaped by research and international exposure. He argues that entrepreneurs must understand the markets they enter rather than simply copy businesses they see succeeding elsewhere.
Behind every successful enterprise, he believes, are structures, regulations, relationships, research and decisions that may not be immediately visible from the outside.
As his business interests have grown, so has his ambition. M&C Group represents a significant chapter in that evolution, reflecting his drive to build an enterprise that extends beyond a single venture.
His vision is rooted not merely in personal wealth, but in creating businesses capable of generating employment, developing people, building partnerships and contributing to the wider economy.
Michael is particularly concerned about the role of the private sector in addressing unemployment and creating sustainable opportunities. For him, a successful business should ultimately do more than enrich its owner. It should employ people, develop skills, support suppliers and create opportunities that extend beyond the founder.
That long-term perspective is central to his understanding of success.
He is cautious about equating visibility with achievement. In an age where social media can make a business appear larger than it is, Michael believes the real measure of an enterprise lies in its systems, customers, assets, operations and results. The brand should be supported by substance.
His personal journey has therefore become a lesson in patience and discipline. The man who once had to convince people that the business was actually his now speaks about building systems, protecting capital, understanding markets and thinking beyond the immediate reward.
And his ambitions do not stop with the present generation.
Michael describes legacy as something that should extend beyond his children to future generations. His objective is to build something sustainable-something that can continue creating value after he is no longer at the centre of it.
From a modest room and limited resources to the boardroom and the development of a growing business group, Michael L. Bartlett-Vanderpuye’s story is ultimately about building before displaying, learning before expanding and creating something designed to last.
His journey is a reminder that global ambition does not necessarily begin with global resources. Sometimes, it begins with little more than an idea, discipline, persistence and the willingness to start where you are. – MyStoryMagazine
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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