Ghana's Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu has made a revelation about a crucial decision she took in the early stages of her life.
In an open letter to her 25-year-old self, the minister who now doubles as the Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West Constituency in a video captured by GhanaWeb mentioned that she abandoned an opportunity to further her education at the prestigious Yale University to marry the man of her dreams.
Yale University founded in 1701 is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, considered one of the best institutions in the world.
Although she never regretted her actions, Ursula, speaking at the 2023 International Women's Day organized by eTranzact Ghana Ltd, noted that there comes a time in one's life when one ought to take crucial decisions.
The MP also highlighted the pressures single women face in Ghanaian society and how bachelor girls are termed as unwhole. This she believes influences a lot of them to settle down in marriages just to please family and friends.
"Letter to my 25-year-old self is to tell her that, five years from now, will it really matter? Will what you're stressing about, agitating over really matter... at that stage I was torn between getting married and going to Yale. We do give in to a lot of pressure from family, friends, and the church that if you are not married, you're not whole and that is the ultimate you can have in life.
"I had the opportunity to go to Yale and there was a young man who was wooing her at the time and she decided that okay, let me go and get married," she said.
In her advice to women, she urged them to weigh every opportunity that comes their way and most importantly, make the right choice.
"...those are crossroads moments in our lives, whatever decision you take in your life will influence your future and we have to take it carefully. Maybe if I had gone to Yale I wouldn't be sitting here as a Member of Parliament and your Minister today and so the Lord knew but that was a decision I had to take," the politician said.
Ursula Owusu Ekuful is married to Dr. Sam Owusu Ekuful, a senior consultant and the owner of Ekuful Eye Care.
eTranzact Ghana Ltd Profile
eTranzact Ghana Ltd has emerged as a proven leader in electronic payments and aggregation solutions. Since the commencement of operations in 2006, the company has been tailoring electronic payment solutions for banks and private businesses of all types and sizes throughout Ghana.
eTranzact Ghana Ltd is a fully integrated multi-application and multi-channel payment processing and transaction switching platform. eTranzact Ghana Ltd provides access to its platform to banks, mobile network operators, and money transfer operators to facilitate fund transfers, airtime purchases, bill payments, and payment processing services.
As one of the few fully integrated payments processing platforms in Africa, eTranzact Ghana Ltd’s switching platform agility is a key competitive advantage due which allows it to provide tailor-made products and services easily and efficiently for its clients by adapting the switching platform to specific requests.
Capitalizing on the pervasiveness of mobile phones in its core markets, eTranzact Ghana Ltd has developed differentiated expertise in providing phone-agnostic mobile transaction solutions such as mobile banking, mobile money, remittances, web payment and card services.