Preparing a Global Leader in Kofi Yeboah

When Kofi Yeboah approached me about getting accepted into the Preparing Global Leaders Academy and needing money to fund his way there, I thought we could do a lot to help him reach this goal. Mac-Jordan Degadjor (arguably the top blogger in Ghana) and Alloysius Attah (of Farmerline fame) had used crowd-funding to  help sponsor trips abroad around their work and passions, so Kofi should be able to use the same methods to raise the $1200 he needed to fund his way to the April events in Jordan. He had been selected as one of 50 finalists, and as far I know the only one from Ghana and one a few from Africa.So via GhanaThink Foundation, we set up a crowdfunding project for him and the collective network pushed it. Last week, Kofi Yeboah reached his $1200 target. With one week to spare too. It all went down here. I must say GoGetFunding is a good crowdfunding tool and I will recommend it even though it charges small small fees. Kofi recapped the story of how he got the funding in a great blog post. It's especially nice how a couple of people he didn't really know came through with huge amounts to support him.

I had seen Kofi attend all 8 BarCamp Ghana events in 2012, from Tamale to Tema. He was especially part of the Barcamp Cape Coast team (see blog entry). He did a lot of hard work in making sure the events were being run well and posting a lot on social media to keep tabs of what was happening while bringing people into the Barcamp conversations virtually. One thing he never forgot to champion was the need to get many more women to attend Barcamp events. When we seemed to have achieved a 50-50 split at Barcamp Tema, he was one of the first people to point it out.

His passion for telling our stories rings true. On his blog, he talks about Providing interviews with African Entrepreneurs as the focus. He's interviewed entrepreneurs in Ghana and elsewhere while building his African and global network. He's been motivating and inspiring Ghanaian youth, and impacting many lives. I remember clearly his involvement in local events like the Champions Conference. See his annual report. 

It was great how Kofi Yeboah pursued and persevered for funds instead of watching to see how the crowdfunding would go. The effort he put in was admirable. He first said "Let's make this happen" and then he went out and got it. Kudos to him on achieving this. Ayekoo, Kofi! Enjoy Jordan. Take a picture of River Jordan if you get a chance hehe.

We can do more of these things, Kofi's case is just the beginning. It's also a success story to follow. We made it happen. This is more vim for crowdfunding forward thinking projects. To those of you who funded, God bless you and replenish your pockets. Your appreciation is on the way, literally.