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My father was in the diplomatic
service, so this enabled me to travel and live in several
countries including Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, and
former Yugoslavia. I completed my secondary education in
Ghana and continued with my undergraduate studies at AUP,
followed by a graduate program at Howard University in
Washington, D.C. where I studied Political Science, majoring
in International Relations with a minor in Comparative
Politics (Africa). I returned to Ghana in 1992 where I
established my own business called D.G. Ice Cubes. As the
name suggests, we produced and marketed ice cubes to
hoteliers, restaurants, and the general public. The business
continued until 2005 where I had to shut down operations due
to irregular and inadequate supplies of utility services
including water and electricity.
Since D.G. Ice Cubes was more
of a part-time job, at the same time I also took on
full-time employment with the Institute of Science and
Technology Information in 1995 as their head of
administration. I later moved to Sightsavers International
in 1998 where I held various positions including
communications manager for West Africa. In 2004, I was
recognized as part of 36 exemplary leaders in a book
entitled Leading Coherently: Reflections from Leaders
Around the World. In 2008 I moved to Guinness Ghana
Breweries Ltd., a subsidiary of Diageo, the world’s largest
producer of spirits, as their corporate communications
manager. In April 2011, I moved to Airtel Ghana as their
head of corporate communications and external affairs. In
between this period (1996-1998), I hosted and produced a
current affairs program called Bridging the Gap on Ghana
Television.
Ghana is an English-speaking
country surrounded by French-speaking ones. Naturally, to
make one’s mark in the international community one has to
learn French. When the opportunity came for me to study
abroad, I chose the American College in Paris, now The
American University in Paris, because I believed it gave me
the opportunity to continue to study in English, study and
live in a French environment, and at the same time benefit
from AUP’s International Affairs program and its diverse and
multicultural environment.
Paris is a cosmopolitan city of
international repute. For a student of international
affairs, living in Paris is a dream come true. A relatively
smaller city compared to London, Paris afforded me the ease
of moving around. The bus and metro system is second to
none, and the short distances between stations made it easy
to walk on days whenever the transport authority decided to
go on strike. Famous monuments such as the Eiffel Tower,
l’Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the miniature Statue of
Liberty, Place de Bastille, etc., and the history that
surrounds it all make great talking points at social
gatherings. Living and studying in Paris also gave me a
better understanding of the inner workings of the French
system of government, administration, and culture and
thereby, a better appreciation of the politics, economy, and
culture of Francophone Africa.
I greatly benefited from the
melting pot of cultures that living and studying in Paris –
a cosmopolitan city of international repute – afforded me,
and I must say that my success and level of sophistication
can be traced to the experience I had at The American
University of Paris. I valued AUP’s quality of education and
the sense of caring that it gave its students. Its
multicultural environment broadened my outlook on life,
exposed me to different cultures, and added a notch of
sophistication to my appreciation of the finer things of
life. I am proud to be an alumnus and will always look back
with nostalgia on my time at AUP.
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