As we have gathered here
today under the theme ‘Supporting
the foundation that shapes future generations’ I need not remind you that our great
school has shaped our fathers before us and will do the same for our aspiring young
ones seated amidst us today.
It is a tremendous honour
to stand before you all today, at this yearly gathering that has come to mean
so much to me. My time at St Augustine’s is one I remember with warmth and
pride, and coming back here reminds me of why this place looms so large in my
mind, as I look out at my fellow alumni in this audience, distinguished men and
women who have brought pride and honour to this institution.
On my desk, I keep a few
mementos, personal items that inspire me in my work. Among photos of my family
and artifacts from my father, there is a St Augustine’s plaque, in pride of
place, as a reminder of where I hail from and what proud legacy I have to live
up to.
As happy an occasion this
is, we come together at a difficult time in our nation’s history. We are in the
midst of an economic crisis, social unrest, and a fundamental lack of faith in
the future from the very generation we depend on to build it. It may seem like
an odd time to speak about success, but I firmly believe it is not just the
right but a crucial time to do so.
It is often said that our
leaders must serve as examples for our behaviour, that nothing can truly change
until they do, but I beg to differ. We must be the change we want to see in our
country and each one of us must assume the leadership we seek because if we
don’t, success and sustainable development will remain just out of our reach.
Ghana has long suffered
with revenue mobilization, despite its abundance of God’s bounty, and though
efforts have been made on both political sides, we’ve found ourselves
repeatedly seeking relief for the same problems. Our nation needs a new deal, a
new path forward, and as an entrepreneur, in learning, I firmly believe that the
path to prosperity is spelled entrepreneurship, as it is what has shaped our
world and continues to do so.
Entrepreneurship is
something we often pay lip service to, claiming to want our youth to engage in,
but we don’t necessarily realize its value until disaster hits. The pandemic
not only showed us the true importance of national ingenuity and self-reliance
but also democratized the use of technology for the very basic things of
life, such as bill payments, food delivery, and online education. Suddenly,
there was no time for long-winded committee meetings and political debate – we
needed new solutions, brave ideas, and out-of-the-box thinking.
Fellow apsunians, it is
high time for us to invest in shaping these young minds that are on the cusp of
adulthood. We need to embrace design thinking in our knowledge dispensing
protocols, we need to encourage opinion thinking and individualism, we
desperately need to develop tomorrow's Zeepay's, Glico, Vanguard, Star Assurance, and the many local companies that employ young people and contribute to GDP.
Such change requires
commitment from all sides, be they political, civil society, or the general
public, all bonding together to provide the youth of today with the tools to
become the leaders of tomorrow. Many things need to go into that
toolbox - from startup hubs to mentorship programs, tax incentives for aspiring
businesses, and easy and safe access to necessary government services – but I would
like us today to focus on the less obvious necessities.
I stand before you all
today as the founder and CEO of ZeePay, but I didn’t just find myself in that
position. My road to success was paved with trial and error, disappointment, and
downright failure, and that is the story of any entrepreneur worth his or her
salt.
Fostering a nation of
entrepreneurs does not merely require us to build the aforementioned
infrastructure to enable financial growth but it also requires us to change the
way we measure success in ourselves and how we model it to others.
In this country, we put a
high value on social validation, which is a fancy way of saying that we like to
show off. The cars, the clothes, the parties, the lifestyle, it is all
broadcast throughout our communities and the message is that the destination –
not the journey - is what matters and that things equal accomplishment.
That kind of societal
culture is poison to the entrepreneurial mind, as it tells him or her that it I
better to have US$500
today than US$5000
tomorrow and that success is immediate and lavish, which I can tell you from
personal experience is simply not true. Success grows, it doesn’t explode, it
is birthed through pain and patience, as anything else which is truly
worthwhile.
So how do we change the
mindset of our youth, and thereby the fate of our nation? We do so by not just
telling our ssuccess stories, but also actively sharing the tales of our
failures, to normalize the journey of growth and encourage young entrepreneurs
to stick it out, to keep going, to try and fail so they may learn and succeed.
My fellow students, I used to sell pineapple juice out
of a cart on the street. It was my first business venture and I spent all my
waking hours in the sun and dust, many days living off nothing but my own
merchandise. I started a diaper business that went bust, a local fabric line
that didn’t take off, I fell down and got up again and again until I found my
footing. I’m not successful now despite these experiences, I am successful now
because of these experiences, and the stories of the journey is just as
important for the future graduates of this room to hear as the stories of my
destination.
As I look across this
room today, I see many successful men and women, fellow alumni who have distinguished
careers and flourishing businesses. I will ask of you today to join me in
mentorship of those around us who are just starting out, those still roaming
these halls and mapping their futures between classes. I ask of you, my peers,
to tell them about your journey, about the non starters, the bumps in the road
and the failures on the way to success. Let us teach the younger generation
what success really is, how it is achieved and the role of perseverance in
greatness.
By mentoring our young
the right way we will build this country, right our wrongs, and instill a
Ghanaian dream in our young that is no longer to leave this country but to lead
this country, each individual taking responsibility for the future of mother
Ghana.
In that vein of responsibility,
I would like to use this platform to commit to the establishment of an
innovation center on campus and a contribution of GH¢1million to an endowment fund purposely
targeted at innovation as part of curricula to develop the beautiful minds that
will shape tomorrow. Along with that commitment also comes a promise of an open
door to any of you who seek council and mentorship, a humble offer to pay
forward the lessons I have learned along the way.
I thank you all for the
sincere honor bestowed upon me today, and I extend a special thank you to the
98-year group - congratulations for your tenacity and drive to make this day a
success, you are a credit to our great alma mater. Let’s all continue to enjoy
this weekend and to take the precious opportunities given here to learn from
and with each other. Until we meet again - Ayeeko!
By: Andrew Takyi-Appiah
This is a speech
delivered by Andrew
Takyi-Appiah, Founder and Chief
Executive Officer of Zeepay at the 93rd-anniversary celebration and Speech and
Prize Giving Day of St. Augustine’s College in Cape Coast.
