Prepare now, opportunity is coming faster than ever – Dr Dogbey tells youth

Managing Director of the Cocoa Marketing Company (Ghana) Limited, Dr Wisdom Kofi Dogbey, has urged young people to prepare themselves with the skills, character and experience needed to take advantage of opportunities before they arise, stressing that the youth must stop waiting for their turn and recognise that their time is now.

He said the widely held belief that “the youth are the leaders of tomorrow” was no longer relevant and could discourage young people from taking action in the present.

Dogbey made the call during the 2026 Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship Day, held as part of the Asogli Te Zã celebrations at the Ho Technical University.

“The future does not belong to the youth. Today does,” he told participants, challenging them to focus on becoming ready for opportunities rather than waiting for someone to create opportunities specifically for them.

According to him, the country is already creating space for younger people to assume leadership responsibilities, citing the 70% of people below 50 appointed by President Mahama’s government to positions and proposals from the Constitution Review Committee concerning the eligibility of persons below 40 to contest the presidency.

He said the changing landscape meant young people must ask themselves whether they would be prepared when opportunities came.

He further mentioned Project Elevate, an initiative by the CMC, under the new cocoa bill to process 50% of cocoa produced in Ghana, saying such initiatives could create factories, jobs and opportunities for the younger generation, earn more money for the country and bring greater value to cocoa farmers for their labour.

Dogbey emphasised that, four key principles could determine whether young people were ready to succeed.

First, he urged them to develop excellence in at least one area of expertise, stressing that youthfulness alone was not a qualification for success.

“Age can open the door; but competence is what keeps you in the room,” he said, encouraging young people to master a particular skill so thoroughly that their names would become associated with it.

He also urged the youth to protect their reputation and character, describing integrity as an important asset in both business and public life.

According to him, young people would eventually be entrusted with money, contracts, information and responsibilities, sometimes before they felt fully prepared for them.

He cautioned that once trust and reputation were lost, they could be difficult to rebuild.

“Your name arrives before you do,” he said, particularly urging young people in Ho to recognise that their reputation could travel quickly within the relatively close-knit Ghanaian society.

Dogbey further challenged young entrepreneurs to identify and solve problems within their immediate communities rather than simply copying business ideas from abroad.

He said the most successful businesses in the Volta Region could emerge from local challenges involving agriculture, waste, imports, transportation and other everyday needs.

“Every inconvenience is a business waiting for an owner,” he said.

The Managing Director also encouraged young people to make themselves useful before seeking positions of importance. He advised them to volunteer, accept difficult assignments and undertake tasks others might overlook, saying many of the opportunities he had received came from work he performed before people were paying attention.

Drawing from his personal experience, Dogbey said his childhood in Ho’s Mortar Barracks, Tsi Yi Kpota and New Housing Estates shaped his determination to succeed despite his humble beginnings.

He said his journey from Ho to becoming Managing Director of the Cocoa Marketing Company demonstrated that a person’s background should not determine the height of their ambitions.

He cited the company’s recently introduced 24-Hour Operational Framework, dubbed “Offload 24, Load 24, Export 24”, as an example of how young professionals were contributing to major national initiatives.

Dogbey encouraged young people from Asogli and the Volta Region who had travelled abroad or to other parts of Ghana to acquire skills, experience, capital and networks, but urged them to consider returning home to contribute to local development.

“Build wherever you must, learn whatever you can, earn whatever you deserve. But come home,” he said.

He stressed that the Volta Region needed the knowledge, skills and networks of its young people to accelerate development, adding that their contribution to their communities could have a greater long-term impact than financial remittances alone.

Dogbey therefore called on the youth to reject complacency, prepare themselves for emerging opportunities and take responsibility for shaping the present, rather than waiting for an undefined future.