• Who Moved My Heels?

    This book gives provides a diverse backdrop of females in business from eleven countries. It shares deep insights on how to ignite your purpose and passion.

    The “Who Moved My Heels” classic brings 18 businesswomen into the consultation room to share their real, raw struggle of entrepreneurship. This book also collates impactful, heartfelt, valuable lessons that encourage, motivate and strengthen females starting out in business. It is a courageous collection of honest, down-to-earth experiences aimed at warding off doubts that may swerve existing entrepreneurs off-track.

    Dr. Abena Asomaning-Antwi partners with prolific authors and rising women such as Kiran Shah, Dr Aloysis Ogle, Arpita Kaul, Cardela Coulson, Dr. Nongnush Ammoury, Georgina Kelly, Arundhati Seigell, Farzana Muhammad, Dr. Venessa Moussa, Lady Charul Jaitly, Priyaa Televvane, Atiyya Dudhat, Dr. Genevieve Duncan, Vyara Tosheva, Dr. Fatima Beena, Lynette Lobo, and Fauza Belts.

  • The Unconventional Mother: How I Nurtured My Daughter with Disability into a Global Leader

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    If you think you have seen it all, this is the book that makes you stop. No, you haven’t. The extent that a super hero of a mother goes to keep her daughter alive and functional would fire you up and revise your notes about this thing called life.

    Struck at birth by an unexpected combination of strange conditions, the life of a young girl was hanging in the balance from day one. The reader cannot help but be thrilled by how a mother – in the name of God – went to battle with and against science, eventually gifting to us a world-class professional.

    Sometimes a medical journal, sometimes a family drama, sometimes a life-and-death page-turner, the episodes in this book involve diverse experts, hospitals across several countries, unusual insights on health as well as a redeeming grace of the highest order. This roller coaster lifesaving journey fortifies your resolve in your own particular struggle. When you finish The Unconventional Mother, the phrase ‘it is possible’ will taste different in your mouth.

  • My Footprints in Ghana’s Black Gold

    This memoir — part historical and part autobiographical — traces the author’s involvement with the final phase of petroleum exploration in Ghana, a journey that took over a century, beginning with the first onshore well in 1896. It has been a most interesting journey, with many twists and turns.

    In the early days of the existence of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, there were various myths and half-truths about the presence or absence of commercial quantities of oil and gas in the basins of the Ghana.

    • Nigeria was draining Ghana’s oil and that all that was required was for Ghana to buy powerful machines and begin to pump and drain her own
    • Ghana would never find oil until the gods of Nzemaland and the Volta Region had been pacified
    • The GNPC Model Production Sharing Agreement was too stringent on contractors

    A major seismic interpretation of the Cape Three Points sub-basin of the Western Region, in 1992, would turn out to be the watershed of this new brave phase of exploration in Ghana.

    The book was finally launched in Ghana in April 2022.

    Hopefully, going to the heart of the matter should help future generations of ordinary Ghanaians, politicians and explorationists understand what it took to make Ghana a petroleum producing country, just in case the country was afflicted by the “Dutch disease.”

  • Sand, Sun & Surprises: A Nigerian Expatriate in the Middle East – A Memoir

    Sand, Sun & Surprises is a personal story told by a Nigerian Professor about his experiences and observations working in, and visiting countries in the Middle East over 23 years. 

    The 316-page memoir includes descriptions of the social life, leisure and religious practices in the region. It captures a snapshot of the socio-economic landscape of Nigeria reeling from the economic depression of the late 1980s and the surprising contrasts with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, societies adjusting to dramatically improved standards of living as a result of their massive oil wealth.

    This book is a compelling read for those who intend to visit or work in the Middle East, or indeed pursue careers outside their countries.

  • The Path of an Eagle – Despair, Hope and Glory: Autobiography of Daniel McKorley (McDan)

    Daniel McKorley’s autobiography offers a powerful yet gripping insight into the life of the author and, for the first time, enables a window into his total life experiences, the summation of which the public knows.

    Having taken his time to detail his life story, the book offers a step-by-step account of his life and how the various experiences of his upbringing have shaped his current station and situation in life. His is a life of contrasts in which his successes in business and professional life sharply contrast with his life of poverty growing up.

    The overall structure of the book and the sequencing of the chapters makes for easy and enjoyable reading, and the everyday realities recounted in his words should both evoke empathy and identity in the reader. If the title of the book insinuates comparisons with the eagle and its ways, it is because the author mimics the bird in its tendencies and has charted his life to reflect the fortunes of an eagle – a fitting simile given that the author’s name means “an eagle” in his native Ga tribe of Ghana.

    This book is an enchanting piece worth every reader’s time.

  • Failing To Win: Hard-Earned Lessons from a Purpose-Driven Startup

    In 2009, Canadian entrepreneur Mike Quinn packed his backpack and moved to Lusaka, Zambia on a mission to find African entrepreneurs building scalable, high-impact businesses. There he stumbled across two South African brothers who had founded a business to help unbanked smallholder farmers receive mobile payments in a market where cash was king. After convincing his retired parents to mortgage their house and lend him $100,000, Mike joined as a co-founder of Zoona and became CEO for nine of the next ten years.

    With his partners, Mike built a network of more than 3,000 entrepreneur agents across Zambia and Malawi that enabled millions of unbanked consumers to send and receive $2.5-billion in money transfers and remittances. Headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa, Zoona raised over $35-million of venture investment and operated on the leading edge of Africa’s emerging fintech ecosystem.

    Mike’s remarkable story gives a rare and honest glimpse into the workings of a pioneering African startup through the lens of a purpose-driven entrepreneur who went “all in”. Zoona faced tremendous adversity along the way: currency crises, investment round collapses, ruthless pushback from the major mobile network operators, and a continuous internal struggle to discover and execute a growth strategy that matched the company’s billion-dollar ambition. It was by failing to win that Mike learned what entrepreneurship is all about, and it was what motivated him to double down and try again.

    “This raw, honest account is a must-read for anyone thinking about starting a company and for every entrepreneur who feels alone in the journey.” — Elizabeth Yin, Co-Founder & General Partner of Hustle Fund

    “Startups are hard. Most people understand this. However, most people don’t understand why. Mike’s story is a rare glimpse into how challenges present themselves — and ultimately how to overcome.” — Matt Flannery, Co-Founder of Kiva & Branch

    “In a rare look behind the scenes, Mike shares a vivid picture of the other side of leadership we don’t talk about enough. As he aptly describes ‘founding, failing and winning’, this book highlights the risk of taking that all-important first step, embracing failure and ensuring you learn the transformative lessons critical to success as an entrepreneurial leader.” — Fred Swaniker, Founder of African Leadership Group

    “This story is a gift for entrepreneurs and indeed anyone wanting to learn about the first generation of African fintechs that paved the way for future companies to thrive.” — Katlego Maphai, Co-Founder & CEO of Yoco

    “Mike’s humility, resilience and depth of knowledge of how to build a pan-African business are unique, and his testimony of experience is an important short history of the fintech boom on the continent.” — Elizabeth Rossiello, Founder & CEO of AZA

    “Failing To Win is a captivating account of an incredibly talented and unusually forthright entrepreneur who built an ambitious purpose-led company that started in Zambia. At Oxford I have taught the Zoona case study to countless MBA students to show how fundamental principles of entrepreneurship can be meaningfully applied in a novel context. It just takes courageous and smart individuals who are not afraid of failing (in order) to win.” — Thomas Hellmann, DP World Professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Oxford’s Saïd Business School

    “Innovation has gone global, and is transforming people’s lives around the world. But startups are risky. Sometimes they scale and sometimes they fail. In Failing To Win, Mike shares insightful lessons from his journey at Zoona about what it takes to operate with integrity, impact and inspiration in the new Frontier of Innovation.” — Alex Lazarow, Author of Out-Innovate: How global entrepreneurs – from Delhi to Detroit – are rewriting the rules of Silicon Valley

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  • Inside Out: Autobiographical Memoirs

    The author recounts a journey that starts in a small town in Ghana, through an academic and professional career in finance in Canada and the United States, culminating at the Ministry of Finance in Ghana where he served as Technical Advisor to three different Ministers of Finance from different political parties.

    The memoirs depict the complexities of decision-making that combine technical know-how with political reality using several instances of policymaking and financial transactions that he led at the Ministry. For the technical reader, the author recounts a 25-year history of his involvement in many key initiatives of financial market development in Ghana.

    The sweetener in Inside Out is an interesting case study of how to navigate political transitions and maintain relevance as a senior advisor to Ministers in a “winner-takes-all” political environment.

  • A Rose Among Thorns

    Born on 17th September 1952 in Sakyikrom near Nsawam in Ghana’s Eastern Region, Dr. (Mrs.) Felicia Boateng Danquah (nee Akotua) is the third of five children born to her parents, Mr. Jonas Akotua and Mrs. Clara Akotua.

    Due to her father’s regular transfers arising out of his employment with the Ghana Health Service, she was educated in different parts of the country, including Walewale and Bolgatanga, before entering the Komenda Teacher Training College (as it was then), where she trained as a teacher. She worked for some time with the Ghana Education Service as a teacher before going into business full-time.

    A devoted Christian and Vice President of Jofel Catering Services in Kumasi, Dr. (Mrs) Danquah is married to Lt. Gen. J B Danquah, Ghana’s Chief of Defence Staff from 2005 to 2009 and President of Jofel. The couple have six children.

    The year 2022 serves as a confluence of an important trilogy in Dr (Mrs.) Danquah’s life − her 70th birthday anniversary, the 50th anniversary of her marriage and the 40th anniversary of Jofel, one of the most iconic institutional names in Kumasi and an undoubted leader in the catering and hospitality business in the city and beyond.

    In this fascinating, yet simple, easy-to-read publication to mark these important landmarks in her life, the author recalls her early childhood experiences and family, particularly her mother Clara, who she adores, and shares the story of Jofel and its evolution to what it is today.

    She also shares her perspectives on the values she treasures that she believes have helped her enormously in her Christian faith, her marriage and family, and in building an award-winning business with the support of her family, among others.

    A Rose Among Thorns speaks to the challenges of life that most of us can identify with and seek inspiration from in the knowledge that our lives can flourish like the rose even among the thorns of life with God as our helper and beacon.

  • Igba-Boi: Repositioning the Igbo Apprenticeship System (Hardcover)

    Igba-boi: Repositioning the Igbo Apprenticeship System highlights the entrepreneurial exploits of the Igbos of south-eastern Nigeria. Despite the globalisation-accentuated influence of western business culture, the Igbos have sustained their indigenous business system undergirded by an ingenious apprenticeship system, Igba-boi.

    This apprenticeship system has existed in the Igboland for decades as an important heritage, embedded in cultural norms and values passed down for generations. The authors argue that the unique framework and rules of operation of this viable socioeconomic empowerment model will, if well-positioned, make significant contributions to the advancement of the boi/Nwa-boi  (apprentice), the Oga (Master), the community (Ndi-Igbo) and the achievement of the country’s overall developmental goals.

    Case studies of prominent and successful Igbo people in business feature in the book to illuminate our understanding of the system:

    • President and Chairman, Coscharis Group – Application of Design Thinking to Igba-boi Business Model leading to extraordinary business success

    • Chairman, E. Sunny Vespa International – Disruption of Motorcycle Engine Technologykey lessons and success story

    • Chairman and Chief Executive, Chisco Group – Building an Empire on Integrity & Authenticity

    • Chairman, Legacy Motors – Apprenticeship, Ndi-Igbos and ASPAMDA Market, Lagos

    A timely, easy-to-read, valuable resource and reference text for scholars, practitioners and regulators interested in institutionalising a sustainable business model in Africa based on a tested indigenous apprenticeship system.

  • Swimming Upstream: The Story of Southern Cross

    Kwame Donkoh Fordwor’s dream was realized due to the precision planning which was utilized to develop Southern Cross Mining Limited (SCML), as the company established itself as the first active gold mining operation to be brought to Ghana Since 1937. This came to pass by way of chance associations and the joint efforts of collaborators who possessed different backgrounds and motivations.
    Even with the assistance of numerous people along the way, the inception of Southern Cross was not easy. It required aggressive action and time to fend or larger corporations and fight government officials for the rights and freedoms they felt they deserved.
    Fordwor titles this book Swimming Upstream: The Story of Southern Cross because of the comparisons he draws between himself and the struggles of salmon attempting to reach their spawning grounds. Much like a salmon battling currents, fishermen, and other predators to reach its final destination, Fordwor had to struggle to make his own path and place in history, using keen instincts and good fortune to maintain the competitiveness and success of SCML.
    Swimming Upstream vividly details the rich history of Southern Cross and other gold mining venturers who strived to achieve historical recognition. It is an illuminating work-powerfully written and inspirational to all who are still seeking to make a lifetime dream come true.

  • The Boy from Boadua: One African’s Journey of Hunger and Sacrifice in Pursuit of a Dream

    *Available from 7 February 2023

    Patrick Asare was born and raised by illiterate parents in the remote Ghanaian village of Boadua. His family was so large and impoverished that not even the earnings from crushing hard work could buy enough food to fill their bellies. No one in the village aspired to be educated beyond middle school.

    Until Patrick.

    Numerous obstacles stood in the way of Patrick’s yearning for higher knowledge, including gnawing hunger, lack of sleep, and backbreaking daily chores. During school vacations, he toiled in a jungle farm teeming with poisonous snakes and insects.

    Dedicating every stolen moment to study, Patrick passed the common entrance exam with flying colors. Despite major setbacks, he kept his eye on the prize. He graduated from an elite secondary school and earned his engineering degree in the Soviet Union during the perestroika era. Finding his way to the United States, he taught Russian and math and eventually obtained a superb education from top American universities.

    Patrick’s travels and adventures taught him that, regardless of his hardscrabble childhood, he was a lucky man. He was raised by loving and supportive parents and lived in a society where race was not an issue. Teaching in inner-city high schools alerted him to the particular challenges faced by America’s urban Black youth.

    Patrick’s amazing story offers insights, hope, and inspiration to others who face astronomical odds.

  • General Acheampong: The Life and Times of Ghana’s Head of State (Hardcover)

    A magnificent book…brilliant in shedding light on some of the most important but little known dark passages in our national history…worth reading by anybody who truly seeks knowledge about our recent past.

  • The UT Story: Humble Beginnings – Vol 1 (Hardcover)

    How does an Army Captain who failed to obtain a ₵20 million (about $20,000) loan from the banks, set up a successful finance house and cause such a monumental paradigm shift to the lending culture of a country?

    Capt. Prince Kofi Amoabeng(Rtd) defied the odds to found Unique Trust Financial Services Limited, which was later rebranded to UT Financial Services Limited and metamorphosed into a Bank (UT Bank) under the UT Holdings Umbrella together with subsidiaries in Germany, South Africa and Nigeria.

    In this first instalment of a series of memoirs, PK, as he was affectionately called by his fiercely loyal and dedicated team, shares an inspiring, in-depth, no-holds-barred, behind the scenes, unabashed account of how and what made UT a household name and impacted so many lives.

    Written with George Bentum Essiaw, a tenacious, talented writer and filmmaker, The UT Story: Humble Beginnings is replete with profound lessons in entrepreneurship and leadership, employing an effective mixture of orthodox and unorthodox methods grounded firmly in time-tested military principles.

    Whatever your background or occupation, this book will fascinate and inspire you to dare.

  • Corporate Governance: The Boardroom, The Bottom Line & Beyond (Hardcover)

    Foreword by Sam Esson Jonah KBE, OSG

    “This book…provides key explanations …to enlighten practising directors and corporate lawyers on modern and international trends in their…work. I personally admire how the author skillfully and seamlessly combines three broad subject areas: law, finance and history to make a strong case for modern corporate lawyers to be specialists in finance; for boards of directors to be knowledgeable in finance and law; and for students to be futuristic in their career planning…[T]his publication has all the necessary ingredients to support the central bank’s agenda to strengthen corporate governance structures and practices across all segments of the banking industry in Ghana.” — Dr. Ernest Addison, Governor of the Bank of Ghana; in-coming 2020 Chair of the Board of Governors of the Bretton Woods Institutions

    “A superb, masterful and much-needed contribution to a critically important subject. Robert Nii Arday Clegg’s meticulously researched and expertly delivered work is groundbreaking in the Ghanaian context. It is a must-read for any professional who is serious about truly understanding the nuances inherent in the concept of corporate governance and the principal elements of a director’s fiduciary duties. Corporate Governance: The Boardroom, The Bottom Line & Beyond could not have been written at a more propitious time. It inspires an enlightened perspective that will produce corporate governance cognoscenti in the classrooms and boardrooms of Ghana for a very long time.” — Kwabena Osei-Boateng, Chairman, IC Asset Managers (Ghana) Limited; Member, Oxford University Alumni Board

    “An absolute masterpiece…well-researched and provides deep insights into an area where many who believe they understand barely scratch the surface. Corporate governance is particularly relevant in many facets of developing economies like ours and I daresay this book will educate many beyond the borders of this country. I have read many books on the subject and this ranks right up there with the best of them. Much as I expected a great job, I must say that Clegg managed to exceed that expectation. Well done for providing living water to our thirsty land.” — Antoinette Kwofie, Executive Director, Finance, Barclays Bank Ghana (Part of the Absa Family)

    “This book will give its readers a strong intellectual basis to appreciate the concepts currently shaping corporate governance practices. It is a brilliant toolkit on how to become an effective supervisor. A required reading for a person making rules on corporate policy, currently operating in a boardroom or aspiring to operate from one soon.” —  Winston Nelson Jr., Member, Governing Council, Ghana Fixed Income Market; Former Director, Ghana Stock Exchange

    “A very powerful and thought-provoking read on one of the biggest topics of our time. Corporate governance shapes our society to a greater extent than many of us might think and Clegg does an excellent job of introducing the topic with its attendant objectives and underpinning philosophies.” — Fridrik Arsælsson, Partner, Rettur-Adalsteinsson & Partners; Alternate Board Member, Financial Supervisory Authority of Iceland; Adjunct Professor, The Faculty of Law, University of Iceland

  • A Roof Over One’s Head: A Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Wealth Creation

    If you’ve ever been interested in Real Estate investing, it is difficult not to notice the lack of practical information around the subject, especially in our part of the world.

    Of course, there are real estate books worldwide, but most of these are not location-specific and some of the advice is simply inapplicable to relative to our reality.

    I wrote this book so that Ghanaians and Africans, for that matter, will have information that speaks to our experiences with building and acquiring property to make a profit and in our collective quest towards bridging the housing gap on our continent.

    This book teaches how to:

    • Invest in Real Estate
    • Identify Profitable Property
    • Finance your Investments
    • Add value to your property
    • Create wealth through Smart Property Management

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