Konnected Minds Podcast

From accidentally building an influencer brand on Snapchat to creating a hair care business that started with just 50 cedis and bottles, and why the brutal truth about being an influencer is that you can't be popular forever because your time will pass and younger people will be more vibrant and more in tune with the culture than you are which is why you have to find something that works for you when you're sleeping and when people don't see your face, the young woman who didn't even know what content creation was in 2019 when she had followers and got paid 800 cedis to post bags for a brand thinking it was the biggest deal of her life, the photoshoot with a big company that opened her eyes to the fact that people actually get paid for this and she could step up her pricing and start talking to brands properly, the COVID lockdown that kept everyone home watching her YouTube channel where she changed from just doing hair tutorials to showing her personality making people find her funny and creating clips and memes that made her sort of blow up, the hair oil she was making and using herself that people kept asking for until she finally gave in and started pouring her personal oil into bottles to sell even though she was a student who didn't mean to do business, the pre orders that came in because the oil takes time to make and the realization that just oil wasn't enough so she went to school to learn formulations and expanded into shampoos and deep conditioners and a full product line, the Okada bike her brother trusted her with that she sold after realizing transport service business wasn't her field and put the money back into the business, the Sunlight Shero competition where she won 5000 cedis by writing about her business proving that opportunities come when you're building something real, the wisdom that you can't be an influencer for the rest of your life because people like Nana Ama McBrown who are still relevant are rare cases and most people will eventually be replaced by someone younger, the meeting where brands were looking for artists who appeal to younger people instead of the top three musicians everyone already knows proving that relevance is temporary and you have to build something that works when people aren't looking at your face, the advice that if you're an influencer you should start an agency or find a nine to five or create something that infuses your influence into a business that keeps running even when you're on vacation for a month because influencing can be very dicey and you can lose it at any moment, the honest reflection that she doesn't even know how she's been relevant from 2019 till now because usually people are just there for some months and then they're gone, the reality that you can't be popular forever and it's not possible to have that hold on people forever just like footballers can't play for the rest of their lives they will retire, the blessing of being an influencer for 10 years which is a long time to have people's attention and should be used to build something real so when you're telling your children that you were popping you can also tell them what you did with that 10 years, the biggest challenge being that she's an on the spot thinker who never asks what questions will be asked in interviews and doesn't like to write scripts because she works better in the moment looking at products and deciding what will work better but sometimes that doesn't work with some brands who need structure and preparation.

Host: Derrick Abaitey

From making over 20,000 cedis in the first 24 hours on Snapchat to losing an Amazon account because demand was too high to fulfill, and why the brutal truth about explosive business growth is that it can destroy you faster than slow growth ever could because when 100 orders flood in on day one and your supplier quits after 24 hours saying it's too stressful and you're scrambling to find packaging bottles and labeling and responding to customers who trusted you with their money while overselling products you don't have in stock because you didn't have a website to track inventory, the young woman who never started as the average business person selling one or two orders a day but instead jumped straight into chaos with hundreds of orders before she even understood how to apologize to customers or handle delivery delays or navigate the pressure of 20 people being disappointed because the delivery service failed, the early skincare business that shut down completely after one customer left African black soap on her face for 15 minutes instead of one minute and said the product burned her skin sending the business owner into panic mode because at that point she knew nothing about business and couldn't live with the thought that somebody used her product and damaged their face, the wisdom that being popular too fast means you don't know what to do with yourself just like when a business booms too quickly you haven't built the structure or understood your flaws or learned how to delegate which is why she spent two years not making any money because she was too busy learning how to survive the explosion, the decision to hire somebody to reply to Instagram messages just one year into the business because the pressure of responding to everyone and worrying if the way she spoke would make them come back again was eating her alive, the realization that she doesn't work well under pressure and would rather delegate the pressure to someone else so she can focus on production and school while getting a report at the end of the week instead of seeing every customer complaint in real time, the Amazon experiment where she listed products at the lowest price without even calculating profit margins and came back on Monday to over 200 dollars in sales but lost the account because she couldn't meet demand and stock wasn't coming in and she didn't have enough money to buy more inventory, the philosophy that no opportunity is too small to make something out of and people make the most out of the smallest opportunities so no matter what you get try your best to put value to it because that's what keeps you going, the critical lesson that you have to kiss your customers and lay down for them as a business person even when delivery services embarrass you in front of 20 people and you're begging and apologizing and finding solutions because one thing about her is she'll be sad but she will find a solution, the blessing that nobody called her out during those chaotic early days which she credits to God's favor and the consideration from customers who knew she wasn't a scammer because she showed her face and built trust with her followers before the chaos started, the decision to stop taking pre orders completely and only sell products that are physically in stock because she learned the hard way that you can't rely on suppliers who might embarrass you especially when products are coming from abroad.

Guest: Charity Boateng (Femlas Founder)

Host: Derrick Abaitey

From building Ghana Party in the Park for 20 years without corporate support to losing deals worth millions when artists failed to show up, and why the brutal truth about building a legacy in UK entertainment is that you compete against your own people wasting money you don't have when you could have worked smarter together, the man who ran events that became institutions but never got the corporate backing that Ghanaian promoters in Ghana receive from telcos and banks because the Ghanaian community in the UK is a very small percentage, the 100 percent openness to partnership that brought smiles when Western Union and MoneyGram sponsored events wishing they had done even more because that support validated the work being done, the conversation with his friend David that hit hard about how a lot of us don't like systems thinking we just like to do things and sometimes it looks like ego, the church example where the usher says sit here and you start looking funny because you spotted somewhere you want to sit but for the church and the usher she's thinking this will align with the camera position proving we don't like systems thinking, the fear of change that held him and others back when change is good and change is necessary for growth, the Bissakele show at the Forum in London that sold tickets at incredible speed but could have been twice as big if the venue choice was better, the 696 form system that forced black event promoters to assess every DJ and attendee because of knife culture and fighting at clubs putting everyone in one bracket and making it harder to book certain venues, the Scala venue in King's Cross that said no they don't want to do a black event forcing him to find the next alternative when over 200 people were left outside while inside was jam packed proving they could have filled a space twice that size, the mistakes made that he's learned from because you've got to be able to make mistakes to correct them and life you could always do better, the recounting of what he would have done better including getting more people involved in the work and having better understanding with artists he worked with because some of them were personal friends who don't need to speak to you anymore because things didn't go their way, the money wasted by competing against promotional partners like Aloudia, West Coast, DJ Abramship, and Stuk DJs when there were times they had about three events on the same night and could have done one big event instead, the ego and pride that stopped them from working smarter alongside the reality that competition is healthy but if he thinks about it now they could have done better which they are correcting by working closely together now, the discussion about Ghana Party in the Park becoming like Wireless Festival which he 100 percent agrees with but the business decision of whether to take Ghana out of the title when 80 percent of the niche market was the Ghanaian community, the offer that came in 2020 where he was happy to take away the Ghana from the title and had COVID not come in it would still not be Ghana Party in the Park it would have been a different title, the reality that everything he does is Ghana related and maybe that's wrong of him but that's the foundation he built, the wisdom that Ghana starts a lot of things but doesn't own it and somebody else takes it better and he's part of the system that got it wrong, the experience working with legend Daddy Lumba who was very difficult to work with doing three shows successfully in the UK before the fourth show where Daddy Lumba called just days before to say he's not coming just like that with no fault of the promoter, the heavy loss already made at that time with tickets sold and people ready to attend Guest: Dennis Tawiah (Aqualva UK Founder)

Host: Derrick Abaitey

From being dismissed at radio stations and turned away from nightclubs to paving the way for African music on mainstream UK platforms and creating the Diaspora Ghana movement that now defines an entire generation's connection to the motherland, and why the brutal truth about building something revolutionary is that the people who come after you and benefit from your groundwork will often refuse to give you credit while calling you lazy when they weren't there getting rejected, getting told African music doesn't belong, getting sent away from venues that now welcome African artists with open arms because of the foundation you laid brick by brick, the man who genuinely believes his contributions to Diaspora Ghana gave birth to what it is today because he was doing this when Ghana had no nightlife scene and year after year since 1999 he brought the confidence and belief that made it fashionable to return home during the holidays, the opportunities given to DJs in Ghana when nobody wanted to be associated with UK Diaspora events but suddenly when Aquavis became cool everyone wanted to be on the bill and follow the movement, the nightlife scene that kept growing with nightclubs like Faisal and Boomerang coming through creating an infrastructure that didn't exist before, the contribution to getting African music played on mainstream radio that broke the camel's back when 80 percent of lyrics had to be in English before songs could be played forcing him to do research and find tracks like Wale's Sweet Dreams that had enough English to slip through the gatekeepers, the Francophone music from Awilo Longomba, Magic System, and Koffi Olomide that wasn't being played on mainstream radio at the time proving the barriers were real and intentional, the cheap shot from a Nigerian promoter who called Ghanaian promoters lazy when he wasn't there during the struggle getting told your African music doesn't belong here, getting turned away from nightclubs, going to record labels and venues and getting rejected over and over until it finally became fashionable, the credit given to Nigerian promoters like Solomon Savage who put on incredible R&B shows with Mary J. Blige and Jodeci and Keith Sweat, DJ Abbas, KC, and Kokobar who played a major role in the scene but doesn't get enough recognition either, the Nigerian corner venues like Black Knight and Club 419 that created space for the culture when nobody else would, the disappointment in a fellow promoter who has been gifted with numbers and brilliant artists and connections but instead of encouraging the next generation chooses to punch down and dismiss the Ghanaian promoters who invested their own private money to build the foundation he's now standing on, the reality that this promoter wasn't there when they were being sent away from radio stations, wasn't there struggling to get African music played from 4am to 2am to midnight and sticking through the rejection until the doors finally opened, the acknowledgment that yes this promoter works with Ghanaian artists and helps them break boundaries which is good for the culture and should be celebrated, the wisdom that taking it to the next level is beautiful but dismissing what's been done before is where the problem lies, the name that's never been in the story even though flights were being booked to Ghana and movements were being created and foundations were being laid, the reality that a lot of people don't want to give credit where it's due and a lot of promoters and DJs came through what he established and contributed towards but refuse to acknowledge the paving of the way.

Host: Derrick Abaitey

From being 19 years old with no job, no university plans, and no vision beyond renting out sound equipment to becoming a household name in UK entertainment, and why the brutal truth about youth and ambition is that sometimes you're just going with the flow making money as a DJ and loving the popularity without thinking about buying houses or saving for the future when you should have been putting money away instead of spending everything on more records and more equipment, the four young Ghanaian boys who pooled their sound equipment together and created what would become 90% Hair Squad starting with just turntables, mixers, microphones, and producer setups, the transition from renting equipment to Acid House promoters at warehouses in King's Cross to becoming DJs themselves putting on their own events, the 19 year old living at his parents' house with no job while his friends Mr. Trips and Mr. Schuchs worked at John Lewis and Moscom produced music, the parents who never turned against him even though his football dream was shattered at 14 and he chose not to pursue university because it just wasn't meant for him, the four Ghanaians who grew to six when Ash and DJ Branch joined creating a collective that played R&B, Ragga, Jungle, Swing Beat, Miami Bass, and went up against legendary household names like Rampage, Boogie Bunch, Tim Westwood, David Rodigan, and David Pearce, the African community and specifically the Ghanaian community that was super proud of these young boys and embraced them when the Caribbean entertainment scene shut them out at every establishment they tried to enter, the African Caribbean Societies at universities like Brunel, Coventry, and Kingston that played a key role in booking 90% for events, the decision to do their first event together called Ghana Independence in 1992 at Shinola's Night Club where Westfield Stratford now stands, the collaboration with Sambike, DJ Francis, and Big Joe from Nakasi Records who was shipping records from Ghana and distributing them to various shops, the first Ghana Independence event that drew 4,000 Ghanaians filling three massive areas proving these young DJs had tapped into something powerful, the 19 to 20 year old who was so happy just playing music and renting out equipment that he didn't see the future or think about change, the mini celebrity status that came with popularity in the community where they all wore matching 90% jackets and t-shirts and people were calling them everywhere, the money he was making as a DJ that should have been saved or invested in property like other young people his age who were moving out of London to buy homes in Essex and Stevenage, the many mistakes made spending everything on buying more records and more equipment instead of putting money away, the young man whose dream was shot down when he wanted to be a footballer and never recovered another dream after that, the parents who would back him to the grave and never turned against him because he didn't do well in school proving unconditional support even when the path wasn't traditional, the reality that to be a footballer in the UK you had to go through the system young and once you got dropped there was no way back in unless you played non-league football and got spotted like Ian Wright who was discovered by Crystal Palace, the house parties and events that built the foundation for what would become a movement in UK African entertainment, the four young Ghanaian boys who became a household name in UK entertainment by just playing music to Ghanaians and then expanding to the entire African community who gripped onto what they were building.

Host: Derrick Abaitey