Human Capital Development in Ghana, via Western Higher Education

I always say: I am from Elmina, I grew up in Kumasi, I live in Accra, I care a lot about Ghana and I love Africa. But for a decade, I was living in the USA. Even then, I always say, I had one foot in Ghana all throughout. What took me there? What brought me back? What grazing in colder pastures? Where is your American accent? Let’s dig in, thanks to a conversation I had with Frank Bentum, on Ghanaian students choosing Western higher education and how this impacts human capital development in Ghana, with findings informing policy recommendations.

Motivations for Studying Abroad (Push Factors)

My decision to study at MIT was primarily influenced by a role model, Arthur Musah. Arthur finished Presec in 1998, just before I entered the green grounds of Presec-Legon. He had emerged as the second best (WA)SSCE candidate in this year and he was being duly celebrated. I learnt that he had also played a major part of the Presec Drama Club. I looked up to him. In 2000, when I was in the land of #BlueMagic, we heard Arthur Musah had gotten into MIT, and what we heard was the best engineering school in the whole wide world. This sparked my ambition to attend the "best engineering school in the world," leading me to choose MIT over the local KNUST. Growing up on the Tech campus (the Kumasi one, not the Cambridge one) where my parents were senior lecturers, “I was always going to KNUST, following my cousins. I was not even considering other countries or universities, driven solely by the goal of attending MIT. In 2001, after my (WA)SSCE, my father brought over to the USA, living with him in Syracuse provided some exposure. I followed Arthur Musah to the hallowed halls of MIT.

Motivations for Returning to Ghana

I always intended to return to Ghana after completing my education. I viewed my time abroad as a period for schooling and earning money before coming back. My decision was strongly influenced by my family ties: my parents and siblings lived in Kumasi, along with many aunts and uncles #alloverGhana. My parents (Francis & Esther) had also pursued Master's degrees abroad in Upstate New York and returned to Ghana. My love for Ghana and Africa grew significantly during his time in the U.S., particularly while living with my dad before MIT and during my studies in Massachusetts. While at MIT, I wore Africa on my sleeve. I was always wearing African print shirts, that my mum kept feeding me, giving me and eventually made me fall in love with. I was exhibiting patriotism at all opportunities. I became quite Pan-African as well. I attended every African event I could access. I loved networking with people from my cultural neighborhood and beyond. People started to say I would be the president of Ghana one day. Many of my ilk experience the above. This other point was what differentiated me from many. I maintained strong connections by visiting Ghana annually, keeping up with local affairs, and actively participating in groups like "GhanaConscious" (which later became "GhanaThink"), which was composed of Diasporean Ghanaians discussing and working on Ghanaian issues. This consistent engagement meant I also experienced no "culture shock" upon my full return to Ghana on August 17, 2011.

Abroad Experiences & Practices Causing Positive Change in Ghana

One of the biggest differences between Ghana & the USA is part of what drove the whole Family Values Bill conversations. No, I am not gay, I still believe in God and I am a Christian. I just don’t go to church as much like I should. Thank Yankee for that. I became a lot more interested in morals, ethics and integrity thanks to my American stay. This helped me to be nominated as an #IntegrityHero for the Ghana Integrity Awards in 2019. Deeds, above faith, and the faith to drive #PositivityRules. It also stems from my parents.

I have been a latecomer a lot, I am working on it. We all should. Because #GhanaManTime should really be a thing of the past. Which is why we start Barcamps in Ghana, on time - simply to prove that it can be done. I realised that Ghanaians are too shy, I am not sure it stems from Ghanaian hospitality. We need more aggression, okay, sorry, energy and enthusiasm. Actually, we have a word for it: it is called vim. A major reason for networking at Barcamps in Ghana is to also cure this, and help people build real ethical moral social capital.

While I was in the US, I hung out with a lot of Africans and even taught them Pidgin. This is exhibit A why I didn’t return with an American accent. Networking is tres important, I should have done more of that with non-coloured people in Yankee. Which is why I believe more Africans abroad should do that, as well as those on the continent, leveraging that network to build individual net worth and casting that net to fish more great things for Africa.

When young people tell me their academics or jobs in Ghana stress them out, I always say it is a good thing. We claim Africans in the USA work hard because the system makes them do so. Being worked hard in Africa normally follows similar principles, ensuring best practices and bang for buck. Yes, hard work in Africa should be rewarded more handsomely. It must be preceded with the right attitudes, mindsets and behaviours which would drive the right practices, institutions, and systems.

Current Work and Contributions in Ghana

Since returning to Ghana in 2011 to work for Google, I have worked at the intersection of youth, digital/tech, innovation, entrepreneurship, and agriculture. I have continued to work on the GhanaThink Foundation., as it transitioned from being mostly virtual & online and based in the US, to an NGO, and now a social enterprise. GhanaThink is focused on youth empowerment, running programs in networking, mentoring, volunteering, and training. It aims to address Ghana's challenges through proactive efforts. I believe my return has contributed significantly to Ghana's economic development by channeling passion for national development into impactful, sustainable ventures that create jobs and foster entrepreneurship. I currently work with Kosmos Innovation Center (KIC), where we invest in and support young entrepreneurs building businesses in the agricultural value chain.

My work is towards better human capital development in Ghana. These days, people say workforce development. While applying for MIT, my goal was to contribute massively to infrastructural development in Ghana - ala civil engineering, construction, etc. Since about 2010, it has been about social engineering, and contributing massively to socio-economic development. All of this feeds into GhanaThink’s vision at large: building a critical mass of young Ghanaian people who are patriotic, passionate, positive, proactive, progressive and most importantly, productive. If we are able to get there, the country would change for the better, forever.

Barriers to Maximizing Impact in Ghana

We (returnees, netizens, natives, etc) can maximize impact in Ghana in our (small) corners, and communities. However, there are several barriers.

Internet Connectivity: High cost of data and inconsistent internet speed limit access and engagement, despite the focus on digital solutions.
Access to Good Information: Many young people lack access to quality information for empowerment and effective decision-making. He believes mentorship can help address this.
Funding: This is a significant challenge, as local funding sources are limited, and culturally, wealthy individuals may be less inclined to openly provide large investments compared to Western contexts. Many impactful initiatives rely on support from abroad due to insufficient local government or business backing.
Corruption: This is a major impediment, making it difficult for ethical individuals and businesses to succeed on the continent, although examples of success despite these challenges exist.

#FixTheCountry: Fixing the Barriers

We should never leave problems, barriers and challenges hanging. We must proffer solutions. This kind of thinking within GhanaConscious made us say “Tsooboi” and then GhanaThink was born. This left the thinktank footprints, running ahead with solutions. Less Talk, More Action. More vim to that.

Internet Connectivity: We need to make the most of the data we have. We must create content as much as we consume it. We need to innovate around to make the most of our internet speed limit access and engagement.
Access to Good Information: #GoodInformationMustSpread. #GoodInformationMustSpread. #GoodInformationMustSpread.
Funding: Mentorship can unlock how to prepare for, access and also do without funding. It is great to see those who have succeeded with startups starting to become angel investors. If we are not going to get the funding from public and private sector Ghanaians, we must continue to look abroad, till those at home come to the party and write checks after cocktails.
Corruption: This is a numbers game. The less influential corrupt actors are, the better for us all. As more ethical individuals and businesses succeed on the continent, the numbers would show up for the betterment of us all.

Policy and Opportunity Comparisons

Another big barrier is our series of underperforming democratic governments. I mentioned that already? Okay. I don’t recall any specific Ghanaian government policies that influenced my decision to return to Ghana. The USA government generally strives to retain talented immigrants. Would you not? Barack Obama is not an immigrant. He was very inspirational when he emerged on the American political scene and rode his positives to the White House. The recession helped? Bueno. During the 2008 U.S. recession, some African businesses capitalized on job losses to recruit skilled Africans back to the continent. This was not a government initiative.

Many people (#inGhana, elsewhere) ask me why I chose to return to Ghana. They compare Opportunities Abroad vs. Ghana/Africa. Yes, being in the USA offers many opportunities for high earnings, but less scope for individuals to "move the needle" or create significant impact. Being in Africa presents greater opportunities to make a substantial impact and be a "big fish in a smaller pond," even if the financial rewards aren't as high initially. In 2009, some GhanaThink members and myself were organizing a free networking forum for young Ghanaians in the USA - Barcamp Diaspora. The most inspiring Ghanaian speakers we were looking at were mostly based in Ghana or on the African continent. I wondered, if the people we are looking up to are in Africa, what am I doing here? This reinforced my belief in impact opportunities at home.

Recommendations for Attracting Ghanaian Graduates Abroad

I am very passionate about getting Ghanaians who were born or grew up abroad to play for the Black Stars. “We must get our people anywhere to contribute somewhere to build us to be great everywhere”. Quote me. #MightyAfrican. To make Ghana more attractive for graduates to return or contribute remotely, I recommend focusing on business growth and profitability:

Address Market Size: Policies should aim to create larger addressable markets for Ghanaian businesses, enabling them to capture a bigger market share and become more profitable.
Increase Patronage of Local Products: Promote policies that encourage citizens to intentionally buy Ghanaian or African products.
Support Business Growth: Implement policies that help local businesses grow and scale, allowing them to hire more people and offer better salaries. This would, in turn, attract more Diasporean Ghanaians to return and invest their skills and capital.
Infrastructure Development: Improvements in roads and other essential infrastructure are crucial for business growth and overall development.

We have to have more conversations about how Africa can get the best out of its people, no matter where they live. With GhanaThink's DiasporaCamp initiative, we are focusing on "Connecting Africans Everywhere". Before I returned to Ghana, I attended multiple African Business Conferences at Harvard, Barcamp Africa at the Googleplex, TAN, and others in the US. I was part of the team that started the Stanford Africa Forum while in California. Since I returned to Ghana, I have had the privilege, I have been a panelist at the Harvard ABC, the World Bank Diaspora Forum, the MIT Africa Innovate Conference, etc. The message rings true across the oceans - we need to put our pedal to the metal. We need to leverage the resources - human, capital, financial, social - available to us everywhere to make the continent better. Like Barack Obama said to Ghanaians when he visited in 2009 (in my absence), “Africa’s future is up to Africans”. His Obama Foundation has helped improve a lot of Africans, the kinds of Africans who are keen to contribute massively to this continent. I like to add: “We are the ones we are waiting for”. So the plenty complaining in obimanso or efie or anywhere else would not solve our issues and problems, we need to see ourselves and be a major part of the solution. We must influence our corners, communities, towards countries and the continent.

This blog was written while listening to #MusicWeDeyFeel like Nkwanta Basaa by Kojo Antwi, Behind The Scenes, by Kofi Kinaata, Coming Home by Nameless, etc.

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