The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

From a very reliable source, I hear the Black Stars haven't left Brazil yet. They are back to their base in Maceió in the north east of Brazil where they are based. However, I have some sound advice for each of our Black Stars as well as Kwasi Appiah. Since we're not a serious people & we like joking, I am joining just for today. Hashtag is #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil. If you have more, join in the fun. #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil Sulley Ali Muntari @MuntariOfficial is staying to give money out to the poor in #Brazil . Alms giving. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 27, 2014 #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil Jordan Ayew is posing for TV commercials in #Brazil about his 'balls', since Ghanaians are endowed. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 27, 2014 #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil André Ayew Pelé @AyewAndre is doing a pilgrimage to the original Pele's home with his father in #Brazil — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) Ju...

I'd never heard of Armed Forces Senior High School (SHS) in Kumasi until  +Christian Junior Worgbah  announced that they had accepted to host a  +Junior Camp Ghana  event. It's not the school we expected to debut  +GhanaThink Foundation 's career guidance series for senior high schools at. But that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. As I blogged earlier, June is Junior Camp Ghana month. Armesco, as the school, is affectionately called, hosted the first Junior Camp event at an SHS in Ghana this year. Dumasua JHS had the first #jcghana event this year, albeit at a junior high school, following on from what happened at  +Barcamp Sunyani  last year. Junior Camp Armesco happened last Saturday, June 7. The first Junior Camp was held on January 30, 2013 at  +Keta Senior High Technical School  with the support of the  +Barcamp Ho  team. The second happened on July 13, 2013 at Kalpohin Senior High School with the involvemen...

There were some submissions from that +Barcamp Kumasi  breakout session on September 28, 2013 that lend itself to a culture conversation. Kumasi, as many will tell you, is the cultural capital of Ghana. Before you come argue tribes with me, Twi is the most widely spoken language in Ghana. Go to a place in Ghana which has a non-Akan tribe settled there and the residents are more likely to speak Twi than English. But back to the cultural conversation as I got side tracked for a minute. I'd recount some of the submissions from that #bcksi (Barcamp Kumasi) session in this blog post. One participant,  +Kwabena agyare yeboah  suggested we create a Wordpress website on Akan mythology. This is important in documenting the history of Kumasi. Kumasi may be losing its ' Garden city ' moniker but its spirit and culture remains authentic. It's the cultural capital of Ghana. As it develops, this authenticity must be maintained to give Kumasi an edge and keep it in the spotli...

I was looking through some papers hiding in different places in my house the other day and came across one with some scribbles I could clearly remember. It was from September 28, 2013 at a  +Barcamp Kumasi  breakout session on ... yeah, you guessed it, Kumasi . Today, I saw a news story announcing that the Asantehene (15 years on the throne and going strong) had cut the sod for work to commence on West Africa's biggest mall, to be built in Kumasi. We've heard this before. But we hope this one will come through. I'd recount some of the submissions from that #bcksi ( Barcamp Kumasi ) session in this blog post. We discussed the Kumasi Children's Park. Lady Julia, Asantehene's queen , had tried to revive it. She's rather forward-thinking, she partnered with a Google led initiative to work on an IT academy. Kumasi needs playground for its children. Those greens have to be maintained. Interestingly, +Kuukuwa Manful , fresh from leading a group of people to build ...

Today wasn't a regular Monday. I was extra pumped as the work week started. Maybe it was because the  +Junior Camp Ghana  team had just another event and though I wasn't present, it was successful. I was telling a few respected and famous people in Ghana, how proud I was of the team that executed Junior Camp Armesco. After my conversation with these respected persons at the +Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel Accra , I waited around the hotel to charge my phone. I thought about a number of things, some of which I tell people a lot. There, I reflected on the conversation we'd had and I took to Twitter to post We should be people who are patriotic, passionate, proactive, positive, progressive and productive. #Ghana needs it. #Morevim — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 9, 2014 How do I find all the time to do all the things I do? Two answers- Technology. Teamwork. #mightyafrican — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 9, 2014 It's something inside so strong that drives...

Last month, I flew to Abuja for the first time. I'd always wanted to visit Abuja to see what a 'planned city' in Africa looked like. When I knew that the +World Economic Forum  event in Africa for 2014 would be held in Abuja, Nigeria, I knew this was my chance to visit the Nigerian capital. As the time for SHAPE Africa drew closer, I was wary that I might not attend because of the attendant flight costs.  +Arik Air  came to save the day, pretty much. Details about that would come in a later post. Arik Air things :-) Guess which pc I'm posting this from? The #Arik AIr desktop computer @ Kotoka airport. The employees are so nice. Go, #Arik , go! #flyarikair — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) May 3, 2014 We all have bad customer service days. The same can't be said of May 3, 2014 with the  +Arik Air  employees at the Kotoka airport. First, I got to use their PC to share my excitement at finally flying to Abuja. I was flying with fellow +Global Shapers Accra ...

While doing some inventory checking for Shoprite items, I imagined that I'd be recording many less Made-in-Ghana goods that were not edible. We're an agri-based economy and though we produce a relatively small number of value added foods, we produce even less products that don't contribute to our daily diets. Read the following tweets capturing the non-edible things :-) #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Butsoft toilet tissue. Otherwise known as toilet roll. Saved face. Made in #Accra somewhere. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : #Worldcup dey come. The Ghana branded ball is not made in #Ghana . I 4 talk. It's made in the #UK . — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Geisha soap. By unilever. Aloe vera and things. #Shoprite should stock cool #Ghana made #sheabutter soaps. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : the world cup has come....

This is another one. Just like the other one. :-) Earlier today, I was in  Osu  on  Oxford Street  after running a number of errands. I had some time to burn and my phone was off. So I decided to go to the Oxford Street mall. I'd never entered it before. When I got to the Shoprite , I had an idea. I'm going to check for as many times that are made in Ghana and sold here. Revelations. Read the following tweets  capturing the some of the edible things  :-) #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Ideal. Carnation. Why, u don't use these @ home in #Ghana anymore? Them dey o. Staying power thx 2 Nestle. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Evaporated Ideal milk is on sale! #Shoprite - proudly supporting Ghanaian products. pic.twitter.com/1jYoNb3T7E — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Two thousand finest sugar. By Two thousand Ltd, hall avenue st. 2000 house. #Adabraka . Lonely ...

Earlier today, I was in  Osu  on  Oxford Street  after running a number of errands. I had some time to burn and my phone was off. So I decided to go to the Oxford Street mall. I'd never entered it before. When I got to the  Shoprite , I had an idea. I'm going to check for as many times that are made in Ghana and sold here. Revelations. Read the following tweets  capturing the some of the edible things  :-) #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : The music they are playing in the #Shoprite supermarket. Amakye Dede type stuff. DJ must be from #Sunyani . — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : #Voltic . V for vim. Seriously, it's really good that Voltic is produced in #Ghana . #CocaCola dey force. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Tom tom & Hacks. Oh wait, these ones sold at #Shoprite at #Osu are produced in #Nigeria . But why? — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7,...

The Global Shapers  Accra  Hub  of which I am part of has been organizing the Accra  Discourse   since January 2014. For the June edition, the theme was  " Adding value for dramatic results ." Esi Cleland-Yankson  &  I   shared insights and experiences on adding value to work for dramatic results. The discussion was ably moderated by fellow  +Global Shapers Accra  member  +Yawa Hansen-Quao . For posterity sake and for those who missed it, below are a few tweets attendees captured as I was speaking etc.  @abocco on the hot seat. Talking to us about himself. #PRESEC and #MIT days. #AccraDiscourse pic.twitter.com/eYTHjllxj3 — Francis Addai (@faddai) June 2, 2014 I shared some stories that I have already blogged about. Leading into Leadership - The Presec Years .  Leading into Leadership - The MIT Years @Abocco our excellent speaker starts his story. He talks abt how he wanted to go to MIT & got th...

I went to drop off a friend at   Legon   just before   #WaakyeWednesday   came to a close. When I was leaving for the house, and got to the   Okponglo   traffic light, something caught my attention. It made me and the   vim ride   stop. A taxi driver had stopped right at the junction and obviously needed help. Like many   good Samaritans , I   volunteered   to help him and asked what the issue was. He couldn't spark the car to get out. I've had this issue many times and knew exactly what to do to help him.  I parked the car right in front of his, both rides making up a 90 degree angle. I got my jumper cables out of the trunk, err boot. I opened up the car bonnet and proceeded to ensure that I was identifying the positive and negative terminals for the car battery for the   umpteenth time . I connected the positive terminal from mine to his but we couldn't get the other cable to the respective negative terminals. I got...