Konnected Minds Podcast

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

From getting a license to play African music on mainstream UK radio in 1997 to creating the December in Ghana movement that transformed the diaspora's relationship with the motherland, and why the brutal truth about building cultural movements is that you don't just wake up and decide to change how an entire generation sees coming home because it takes years of getting rejected at 4am graveyard shifts on radio stations, years of proving African music belongs on mainstream platforms, years of convincing nightclubs to welcome the culture you're fighting to legitimize, years of chartering planes and teaming up with radio stations like VibeFM and nightclub owners like Tiki Bonsing and Duke Bonsing to create a nightlife infrastructure that didn't exist before you arrived, the six young Ghanaian boys from 90% who kept on knocking on doors until they got hold of a license for North London on Choice FM proving persistence breaks down barriers that seem impossible, the demo tape from 90% his core Choice affair that he still has today as proof of the journey from being told African music doesn't belong to becoming the representation of African music on mainstream radio, the call from Wayne Tanning within 24 hours saying you've got the job come start playing music on Choice which meant selecting three members Moscom, Mr Shooks, and DJ Branch to be the face of Choice while the other three supported from behind, the introduction of DJ Branch to Choice FM through 90% which gave birth to the platform he would eventually take to the next level with the Afro Beat Show, the graveyard shift from 4am to 6am when everybody's asleep that slowly moved to 2am to 4am then midnight to 4am then midnight to 2am proving they were gaining attraction and regular time slots, the credit given to DJ Branch for sticking to it and taking the show from where they started to where he elevated it because you have to give people their flowers when they execute and push through, the birth of Aqualva in 2001 after 90% decided to go separate ways with Mr Trips still producing music, Moscom doing legendary work, Mr Shooks being one of the best MCs in the jungle scene, Blackhash on Choice during the Afro Beat Show, and DJ Branch doing his thing, the conversation with close friend and partner Cliff and the Puku deciding to do an event together without even knowing what to call it until two or three days before when they landed on Aqualva because everything about him has always been Ghana and the first sign you see getting off the plane at the old airport is Aqualva, the six Ghanaian guys who set up Aqualva including Emilio from West Coast, right hand man Eben designed to take him to Jump Promotions, DJ Fire, and Eben's brother creating another collective that would shape UK African entertainment, the realization during the Aqualva era that there was a sense of belonging and it became so cool to be African with massive turnouts at any Ghana event proving the Gen Zs of that time were ready for community and representation, the decision to change the narrative and bring it back home after experiencing being flown out to places like Tenerife, Ibiza, and Greece to DJ at events and seeing the nightlife scene over there realizing he could introduce that to Ghana, the punishment narrative in the diaspora where being sent back to Ghana was used as a threat when you did something wrong creating fear in young people who would rather run away from home than face going back.

Guest: Dennis Tawiah (Aqualva UK Founder)

Host: Derrick Abaitey

From 600 cedis & an MTN loan to running TWO bakeries - Samuel’s story will change how you think about opportunity.

Samuel Agyapong (Banana Bread GH) joins Derrick on Konnected Minds to break down why Ghana's youth are losing to social media, how he built an entire business off Instagram without traveling abroad, and the hard truth about hiring staff that most business owners ignore.

🍌 He started selling lunch in primary school. Got banned. Kept going. 💡 Turned diabetic customers into his biggest market - through education, not ads. 📲 Grew a TikTok page to 50K in 6 months by spotting a gap nobody else saw.

Key topics covered:

Financial management & the social media trap

Why discipline over motivation (every time)

How to attract & keep the right staff

Starting a business with little to nothing

Why Ghana's broken system is full of opportunity

"Solve a problem and the problem attracts wealth."

🎟️ Konnected MInds Live Kumasi, Sept 9th. https://www.konnectedmindslive.com/

Guest: Samuel

Web: https://bananabreadgh.com/

Host: Derrick Abaitey

IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey

YT: https://www.youtube.com/@DerrickAbaitey

Join Konnected Academy: https://www.triibe.io/konnected-academy

🎟️ Konnected MInds Live Kumasi, Sept 9th. https://www.konnectedmindslive.com/

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From being a 12 year old boy crying in London who just wanted to go home to becoming the man who made December in Ghana a cultural phenomenon for the diaspora, and why the brutal truth about building a legacy is that your name gets erased from the story even though you were there getting rejected by radio stations when 80 percent of lyrics had to be in English before African music could touch mainstream airwaves, getting turned away from venues that now welcome the culture you fought to legitimize, investing your own money into events that became institutions while watching others take credit for the movement you helped birth, the young boy from Osu whose father was a barrister lawyer and former chairman of Accra Hearts of Oak who moved all 14 siblings to the United Kingdom for political reasons without even telling him he was leaving, the 12 year old playing for youth football teams Habo City and Karakim Faisa who thought he had a real chance to become a professional footballer in Ghana until his sister told him to take a bath because they were going out and the next thing he knew he was landing at Heathrow Airport scared and confused riding the underground for the first time in his life, the child who cried most of the time in those early days because he left his friends behind and didn't know what he was going into when all he wanted was to play football and be back home where life made sense, the father who was calm and supportive even when school reports came back showing his son wasn't attending because he was spending his time elsewhere chasing a dream that didn't fit the traditional path, the man who created Aqualva UK and Miss Ghana UK and helped shift the entire mindset of Ghanaians in the diaspora to see coming home in December not as punishment but as something cool and fashionable, the pioneer who was in rooms with record labels and radio stations and pluggers breaking down barriers so African music could finally get played when the gatekeepers said it didn't belong, the promoter who ran Ghana Party in the Park for 20 years without fail building a brand so big that generations of people who came through his events are now at Sony Music and major positions across the industry, the devastating loss of 40,000 pounds in 2023 when an artist failed to show up even after interventions and phone calls and people who bought tickets were left disappointed, the contributions to Diaspora Ghana that gave birth to what it is today because he was doing this when Ghana had no nightlife scene and year after year since the late 90s he brought the confidence and belief that made it fashionable to return home during the holidays, the name that's never been in the story even though he was there in the struggle getting rejected and told African music doesn't belong here, the 14 siblings who all made it to the United Kingdom not just to survive but to get education and opportunities because their father fought for each and every one of them, the relationship he has with his own children today that reflects wanting to be a better version of the father he looked up to so much, the young boy who never wanted anything but to be a footballer living near the stadium in Osu watching matches daily and playing coos football with local teams chasing him before everything changed with one bath and one trip that took him away from the only life he knew.

Guest: Dennis Tawiah (Aqualva UK Founder

Host: Derrick Abaitey