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Honouring young business leaders …some Ghanaians decorated at ‘Forty under 40 Africa’ awards
The Forty under 40 Africa awards were held recently to honour the continent’s most influential and accomplished business leaders, under the age of 40, from a wider range of sectors.
Young people from 16 African countries were nominated with the most outstanding personalities taking home the ultimate prizes in their respective categories.
Here is a summary profile of four Ghanaians who were decorated for excellence in their chosen professions. They are Rosebird Ama Dadzie (Theatre and Arts female category), Ronald Tagoe,(Science & Technology) Nelson Amo (Investment) and Dr. Kofi Amoa-Abban (Oil & Gas).
Rosebird Ama Dadzie
The realistic pencil artist started drawing at an early age and developed her talent further as her drawings were being complimented by teachers and classmates in school.
Later in life, she studied Painting and Decorating at Takoradi Technical University, and started building a portfolio as her passion for ‘hype-realistic figurative art’ grew and participated in many art and craft exhibition.
She began drawing African celebrities and sometimes spent weeks and months to produce art pieces with strong emotions to connect with her audience. She captures details of her artwork using charcoal, graphite, colour pencil and paint.
Describing her craft as rewarding, she says her artworks are made from “determination and love purposely to groom and educate people,” as she encourages young ladies especially to be self-reliant, have positive self-esteem, as well as gain confidence to face and overcome life’s challenges.
Ronald Tagoe
Ronald attended Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC) and continued at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where he studied Computer Science and graduated in 2013.
In 2021, he completed his Master’s programme in Advanced Computer Science from the University of Leicester (UK) and passed with distinction. While at KNUST, he co-founded mNotify, a telecommunications company (SMS and Voice Technologies) with the objective of improving information dissemination within corporate organisations and religious bodies.
The company, under his leadership over the past nine years, became one of the giants in the Communications cloud service space with its products spanning across SMS, Voice Technologies, and the USSD infrastructure. mNotify currently has over 20,000 clients across many industries and makes an average annual revenue of USD 350,000.
He is passionate about Artificial Intelligence and considers social commerce as the future of commerce in Africa. This passion led him to start Chatbots Africa to empower African Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to increase their revenue and enhance their customer engagement using Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots (Conversational Commerce).
Chatbots Africa is currently registered in Ghana and in Kenya. Another application he developed is the Sario App, a music-oriented crowdfunding platform in Ghana which won the Lifestyle App Category at the 2018 MTN Apps Challenge.
Nelson Amo
Nelson is experienced in Business Development, Grant Management, Business Model Innovation, Growth Planning, and Project Management in the profit and non-profit sectors.
He is an alumnus of the Oxford Social Finance Programme from the Oxford University of Business School. He has a Master of Science (MSc) in Development Studies from London School of Economic (LSE) with special interest in Business Model Innovation.
In addition to other certificate courses in Finance, he is the Grant Manager/Programme Lead for ‘mLab Ghana’ a project under the Ministry of Communications with funding from the World Bank. The programme aims to promote the development of digital start-ups, and support them to develop and launch their prototypes on the market.
Mr. Amo had previously designed and led enterprise support programmes such as the Innohub Accelerator Programme, Solidaridad West Africa’s Accelerator for Responsible Gold, fLab Incubator for females in tech, the British Council’s ReadyToWork incubator programme, among others.
He has led consulting projects across several industries including health, renewable energy, agribusiness, green housing. He is a Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance Fellow and a Coach of the Africa Entrepreneurship Awards, hosted by the BMCE Bank of Africa in Morocco.
Dr. Kofi Amoa-Abban
Best known as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rigworld Group, he is an indigenous upstream Oil and Gas entrepreneur and a philanthropist.
The company has operations across West Africa and beyond, and has, over the years, proven its international acceptance as a top-quality service provider.
Dr. Amoa-Abban’s exemplary professional competencies have been pivotal in making local content and participation regulations feasible in the upstream oil and gas industry.
Some of his accomplishments as the CEO of Rigworld Group include securing long-term working relationships with global oil and gas giants like Maersk Drilling, Tullow oil, Modec, Eni, Score (Europe) Ltd.
He holds a degree in Psychology from the University of Ghana and a master’s degree from Oslo University, where his interest in the oil industry was piqued following the discovery of oil in Ghana in 2007.
Prior to establishing Rigworld, he had served as a drill crew member with Atwood Hunter and Banda Wells. His contribution and dedication to the oil and gas sector has earned him several awards, apart from the recent recognition at the Africa 40under40 awards.
By Spectator Reporter
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Speaker of Parliament inaugurates open Parliament Steering Committee, launches action plan
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, has launched the Open Parliament Steering Committee and the Open Parliament Action Plan.
The ceremony was under the theme “Achieving Gender Equality: Action by Action.”
The Speaker highlighted the critical role Parliament plays in translating the will of the people into inclusive legislation, responsive policies, and accountable governance.
“The International Day of Parliamentarianism is worth celebrating, as it offers an opportunity not only to recognise and promote achievements in strengthening democratic governance, but also to pause and reflect on the remaining gaps in institutionalising parliamentary democracy,” he said.
He noted that the event was scheduled to coincide with the International Day of Parliamentarianism to reinforce the importance of open and inclusive governance.
The Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga, stated that the International Day of Parliamentarianism is intended to recognise the vital role Parliaments play globally as pillars of democratic governance.
He noted that this marks the first time Ghana is formally observing the day.
“The gravity of our observance is further accentuated as we convene to witness the launch of the Open Parliament Action Plan by the Open Government Partnership Caucus,” he said.
Delivering a statement on behalf of the Minority Leader, Alexander Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, the Deputy Minority Leader, Patricia Appiagyei, described the Open Parliament Action Plan as a transformative initiative aimed at strengthening the relationship between Parliament and the public.
She said the plan represents a bold commitment to making Parliament more transparent, accessible, and responsive to the needs of Ghanaians.
The Clerk to Parliament, Mr. Ebenezer Ahumah Djietror, described the launch as a key milestone in the effort to build a citizen-focused and accountable Parliament.
He added that the International Day of Parliamentarianism is a call to action to recommit to the highest standards of public service and democratic accountability.
The inauguration was attended by a wide range of stakeholders, including the Majority and Minority Members of Parliament, members of the Open Parliament Steering Committee, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Caucus, Parliamentary Network Africa, representatives from civil society organisations, members of the diplomatic corps, traditional and religious leaders, student bodies, the Parliamentary Press Corps, and other media partners.
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NACOC declares drug menace a national emergency
The Parliamentary Committee on Defence and Interior has paid a working visit to the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) to engage with its leadership and assess operational challenges hampering the fight against illicit drugs.
In a detailed presentation, Dr. Basha Ligbi, Head of the Commission’s Research Bureau, highlighted critical setbacks including broken body scanners at airport terminals, inadequate office infrastructure, overcrowded detention facilities, and deteriorating vehicles.
He also called for the Commission’s headquarters to be reclassified as a security zone, citing growing security risks due to private encroachment and nearby high-rise developments.
Director General of NACOC, Brigadier General Maxwell Obiba Mantey, described the escalating drug trade as a national emergency, warning that drug barons now rival armed robbers in threat level and are gaining influence at the highest levels.
He appealed for stronger institutional support and morale-boosting interventions to preserve the integrity of NACOC officers.
Chairman of the Committee and MP for Builsa North, James Agalga, assured the Commission of the Committee’s commitment to escalate the concerns to Parliament and engage key justice sector stakeholders to fast-track reforms in support of NACOC’s mandate.
