The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Before I returned to Ghana on August 17, 2011 , I had never been to any other African country. By 2014, I had been to Nigeria several times but never to Abuja. SHAPE Africa 2014 took me to Nigeria’s capital for the first time. I knew Abuja was a planned and built capital for Africa’s most populous nation, and I was really curious to experience what that looked like, and meant. I didn’t descend on this Federal Capital Territory just for this conference, but also discover it, chill, network, build great memories, etc. The small, chaotic, beautiful moments that still make me smile years later, now. Like I do for most trips to places I have never been, I hit up my friends who are based there or from there. In my email I added, “I am coming to Abuja o! …. We for meet and yarn plenty o!” I stayed with my friend in Wuse 2 Central . Crazily, some bombings had happened in Abuja which had us “at attention!”. But we were put “at ease!”. We marched on to Nigeria’s capital through an Arik Air f...

As a proud member of the Global Shapers Community (Alumni) and co-founder of GhanaThink Foundation , I’ve participated in many high-level gatherings across Africa. 1 of such memorable events were those that I experienced in Abuja in May 2014 . That trip wasn’t just another conference; it was also my first time in Abuja, the capital of Africa’s most populous country - Nigeria - & Ghana’s younger brother. Being at the WEF Africa & SHAPE Africa events added to how I saw my role in Africa’s future. I flew into Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport on Arik Air – a direct flight linking Accra and Abuja back then. Earlier that year, I had also flown to New York using Arik Air. I leveraged that relationship I built with them to help get a more affordable ticket for the Nigeria trip. Seven of us from the Accra Hub made the journey: including Yawa Hansen-Quao , Emmanuel Gamor, Esi Cleland, Deborah Ahenkorah, John Roberts, etc . We jokingly called ourselves #ArikAir ambassadors because that ...