Chris Gardner to invest in Ghana soon.

Story: George Sydney Abugri

In 2005, the international youth and development-oriented organization Amicus Onlus, established its presence in Ghana with its hosting of the first ever youth entrepreneurial forum in the country.

That first youth forum featured renowned resource persons and speakers like Uncle Ebo –Whyte, Mr. Martin Esson-Benjamin who then worked with the Empretec Foundation and Stephen Pficther from the United States. These resource persons shared great insights and perspectives on youth entrepreneurship with about 350 youth.

Since then, the number of participants in the annual Amicus Youth Empowerment Summit has reached an annual average of over 1000, making the forum, the unofficial flagship forum for the youth of Ghana.

The key objective of the annual summit is to provide a platform for creating awareness of the fundamental principles of entrepreneurship. Amicus considers this necessary in helping the youth to obtain the information they need to be able to take up the challenge of creating their own jobs in the face of the growing youth unemployment.

Amicus also provides participants with access to the start-up capital, counseling and mentoring services needed for to launching their own entrepreneurial initiatives.

The Amicus Youth Empowerment Summit has also entered into a partnership with the London Business School, under which Amicus is drawing on the school’s academic resources to build the entrepreneurial capacity of Ghanaian youth to meet international business standards.

The brain behind the Amicus Youth Empowerment Summit is a young man called Akumba Ben Asamoaning. Asamoaning, who is the Regional Director of Amicus Onlus, has since the first successful summit, driven each successive one with a singular passion.

When word got around last September, that he planned to bring the great Chris Gardner too many thought the young man had bitten more than he could chew this time round.

Cynicism regarding his ability to get the legendary Chris Gardener to come to Ghana for this year’s summit was understandable in a country where even

highly reputable event organizers have copiously promoted but eventually failed to get international celebrities to come to Ghana for scheduled events.

To the pleasant surprise of skeptics who doubted the ability of the young man to bring Gardner to Ghana, the scheduled date of Gardner’s visit came and true to Asamoaning’s word, Gardner arrived at the kotoka International Airport on the 5th of October 2010, to a spectacular welcome:

The Hon. Elvis Afriyie Ankrah and other dignitaries who represented government welcomed Chris Gardner as his foot touched the soils of Ghana, the land of his African predecessors for the first time.

Chris appeared captivated by the drumming and dancing at the airport after he stepped onto the tarmac.

Gardner was rewarded with a very warm reception and the enthusiastic public response to his profound comments on entrepreneurship and the opportunities available to the youth and corporate Ghana when he spoke on television and radio.

Gardner’s exclusive interviews with Paul Adom Otchere on Metro TV’s “Good Evening Ghana” and with Kojo Nkrumah on Joy FM were particularly insightful.

Prime time television news showed Grander paying a courtesy call on Vice President John Mahama. Vice-President Mahatma reportedly held a closed door meeting with Gardner and it is believed the two discussed potential investment deals with the potential to bring considerable benefits to Ghana’s economy.

How did this very unassuming young Ghanaian manage to get someone of the stature and high flying international clout of Mr. Chris Gardner to come to Ghana and why Gardner?

Asamoaning explains that he went to great lengths to bring Gardner to Ghana because the famous American stock-broker millionaire, best- selling author, motivational speaker, movie star and international philanthropist and entrepreneur was an excellent role model in industry and perseverance.

“The morals of perseverance, commitment to personal goals, hard work, discipline, quality of character and the ”can do spirit’ that underline the remarkable life story of Gardner, are virtues and morals that the Amicus Youth Empowerment Summit is seeking to inculcate in the youth of Ghana”, Asamaong has explained.

He notes how Columbia Pictures was so enthralled by Gardner’s life story, that it spent a whooping $70,000,000 to make a movie based on the story.

Gardner’s story is captured in his autobiography, “The pursuit of Happyness” which has been translated into 30 and which netted Gardner a profit of $9,000,000 in 2009 alone.

“I also wanted to break the myth surrounding the inability of many business and entrepreneurship-oriented organizations to attract iconic international celebrities in world trade and business to Ghana. I also wanted to encourage Chris and his huge network of international business connections to start seeing Ghana as a viable investment destination”, Asamoaning added.

The benefits of Chris Gardner’s October visit will most likely be seen sooner than later. Gardner left Accra with a firm affirmation to Amicus, the youth and corporate Ghana, that he will be investing in Ghana “in sectors of the economy that would benefit not only the youth of the country but the national economy as a whole.”

Asomaning is firm in his expectation that Gardner’s visit to Ghana will open the floodgates for international entrepreneurs of his stature to begin turning their attention to Ghana as a destination of choice in Africa for investments.

Asamoaning admits that getting Gardner to come to Ghana was far from easy and that as with every successful programme of such magnitude, organizing Gardner’s trip and the sixth summit was “eighty percent perspiration.’

The total cost of bringing Gardner to Ghana and the organization of the summit itself has been described by officials of Amicus as huge.

I was taken aback to learn that the cost of Gardner and his daughter’s travel to Ghana on first class, was borne by Amicus. Amicus also provided accommodation, food and transport for Gardner and his daughter.

The fact notwithstanding, Asamoaning remains resolute in his determination to make the annual summit a life-changing experience for the youth of the country.

“Our contract with the youth of Ghana must change. They deserve only the best and Amicus will continue to bring them the best”. No cost is too high and no amount of perspiration is too much in ensuring that our youth have access to the resources they needed for self-employment and a decent life.

If there is one event deserving of support from Corporate Ghana today, then it is certainly the Amicus Summit, not the least because of its potential to

contribute to the promotion not only of investments but also tourism, trade, youth development and social consciousness.

Asamoaning mentions IPMC as one corporate organization which has maintained a sustained interest and support for the youth platform since its inception in 2005. He says Zakhem International is another organization which has taken an interest in the programme because of its interest in youth development programmes.

Many participants at the Sixth Amicus Summit wondered if Amicus can sustain the annual event without support from corporate Ghana and the government.

Email: georgeabu@hotmail.com

Website: www.sydneyabugri.com