This week, Adrian speaks to Ivy Prosper. She is a YouTuber, Presenter Reporter, Producer, Public Speaker and Writer. She is also the founder of Prosper Creative Group, which produces content, consults with clients and supports projects in the creative industries.
As an advocate for empowering women and girls, Ivy has been outspoken on issues regarding self-esteem, positive body image and gender equality.
As the former reporter on the television series, Maternal Health Channel, she gained a strong desire in supporting initiatives that educate the public about the issues related to maternal mortality.
In this episode we discuss:
- Tips for content creators and the importance of patience and consistency
- Ivy Prosper's early content creation efforts and involvement in promoting Ghana and Africa through digital media
- Ivy Prosper's advice for people moving to Ghana
-The Year of Return in 2019, marking the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans in the U.S
-Factors contributing to Ghana's appeal to the diaspora, including stability, safety, language, and the warmth of the people
-Highlighting impactful interviews with individuals making positive contributions to the Ghanaian community
- The importance of Africans sharing their stories and creating opportunities through digital platforms
- Women empowerment and challenges in Africa
Show Notes: https://thesoundofaccra.com/ivyprosper
Connect with Ivy and the Prosper Creative Group
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ivyprosper
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ivyprosper/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ivyprosper
Website: https://www.ivyprosper.com/
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Our Website: https://thesoundofaccra.com
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
4:30 Beyond the Return in 2020
7:26 Afrochella to Afrofuture
11:05 Chance The Rapper and Vic Mensa
14:58 Ivy’s favourite Interviews
18:11 Solving Africa’s Problems
18:55 Ghana’s X Factor
25:54 Ghana’s attraction to the diaspora
27:40 Ghana’s customer service
30:08 Getting to know Ivy
31:47 Ivy empowering young women
35:38 TEDx Talk
37:34 Content creation success isn’t overnight
39:12 Essential Guide to moving to Ghana and tips for content creators 42:30 Outro
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00:00:00
When we went to Jubilee House, and met with
00:00:03
the president, that was a very strategic conversation that Vik
00:00:07
and Chance had with him. It wasn't just for a
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photo opportunity. Vik opened up the dialogue
00:00:15
about the, idea of this festival, and
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how they were hoping to do something that would bring together the
00:00:22
global diaspora as well as, local gunians and,
00:00:26
you know, their friends in America coming and experiencing the culture,
00:00:29
the music, festivals here. Mhmm. And they wanted to create something that would
00:00:33
be,
00:00:39
meaningful.
00:00:49
1, I got by the name of Adrian Daniels, and welcome to the Sound
00:00:53
of Accra Podcast, if this is your 1st time listening, this is the show where
00:00:56
we speak of top value founders, entrepreneurs, and creatives worldwide
00:01:01
The aim of leaving you behind with meaningful takeaways that you can apply in life,
00:01:04
business, and career. For today's show notes, you can head
00:01:08
over to the sun .comforward/ib prosper.
00:01:12
That's the sun of the cloud.comforward/ib prosper for all of
00:01:16
the wisdom, Tips, nuggets, and gems that you're gonna get from this
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episode. Ivy spelled I v y p
00:01:23
r o s p e r. That's Ivy Prosper. Okay. We'll have
00:01:26
all of the links in the podcast description and in the YouTube description below.
00:01:30
If you're listening on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, a 5 star review is very
00:01:34
much appreciated. So I'm joined here with Ivy Prosper,
00:01:38
the wonderful multi talented Ivy Prosper. She's a
00:01:41
content creator, TEDx speaker. She's also a journalist,
00:01:46
so he's done so much more. For what I know him mostly for is telling
00:01:49
fantastic stories about the African diaspora. Did I get that
00:01:53
right? Yes. You did. Thank you. Thank you for coming on the show. It's a
00:01:56
pleasure to have you on. Thanks. Yeah. So we've we've been on
00:02:00
I mean, I know you from, I mean, I've I've watched your YouTube channel.
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I've I've been following it for quite some time. I think you've brought some amazing,
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amazing content, and I've seen you in some of
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the Some of the WhatsApp communities that we've been in for quite some time, but
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I've I've seen you in multiple places. And I I think we've
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had quite a few mutual, friends. But I think it just
00:02:22
made sense to kind of get this interview done when the opportunity arise.
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So we'd like to thank Johannes if you're watching for this introduction. It was really
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kind of you to to do it, and, it's great to get Ivy on the
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show. So, Ivy, for those that don't know,
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A lot about you. Could you mind just showing a quick elevator pitch about
00:02:41
yourself and and what what you see yourself as and what you do? Oh, I'm
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a creator. I see myself as a creator, a storyteller, a
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woman who's passionate about changing the narrative of Africa. And I do
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that through content creation. I, create content on
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YouTube as well as I manage the social media handles for
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Ghana's year of return and beyond the return campaigns. And,
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and I I'm a speaker, and I wrote a book on moving to
00:03:08
Ghana. Oh, you did? Yes. Miss Ashley, you did. Yeah. This what what
00:03:11
was the book called, Vikka? Your essential guide on moving to Ghana Your essential guide
00:03:14
on moving to Ghana. On Amazon. Don't worry. We'll make sure that's in the in
00:03:18
the, show notes for those who wanna go grab that book, the essential guide
00:03:22
for moving to Yeah. I think let's let's start at
00:03:25
the year of return because that was a good, place to start. Mhmm.
00:03:29
But before we get to the year of return, I think we've just gone past.
00:03:32
So today, we're in January 2023, and we've just gone past another
00:03:36
wave of December activities beyond the return. That's
00:03:40
it. What's your view on the December that's just
00:03:43
gone past? Like, how how do you see it compared to the the year of
00:03:47
return that, And that will took place in 2019 because I
00:03:51
think after the overturned, we noticed COVID came in, the pandemic came in.
00:03:54
So I think Christmas in Ghana, it was still rocking,
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but it wasn't quite the same in terms of, like, freedom and what
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people could do because of restrictions that Were you here? I was here. Mhmm.
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I was here. Yeah. I was here. Actually, the 2020 Christmas, I
00:04:09
wasn't here. Like, 2021 Christmas, I was here. In 2022 Christmas, I was here.
00:04:13
Mhmm. So I was here for both Decembers, 2020, I wasn't
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here. But the stories I heard and people I interviewed, I know things
00:04:20
weren't exactly the same as it was in the in the year of return 2019.
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So I truly hear from your perspective Mhmm. December 2023. I know you
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I know you were out and about during that season. How was it for you
00:04:32
during during that during that during that time? Well, December
00:04:36
2020, yes, the numbers dropped significantly from,
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2019. 2019 was a phenomenal year for tourism
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in Ghana. Yeah. They recorded over 1 people coming
00:04:47
to the country that year. That's crazy. And and yeah. And so in
00:04:51
2020, with the pandemic. And
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there were a lot of restrictions around the world. So a lot of people, even
00:04:58
within their own countries, maybe they weren't able to to travel as freely
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and didn't feel comfortable or confident, even though people were
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watching Ghana from afar and seeing that the restrictions in Ghana weren't
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as, tight as they were in other places,
00:05:13
although there were a lot of COVID protocols in place. So 2020,
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Yes. There were people still coming. There was a lot of things still happening, but
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it wasn't to the same level. The number of events wasn't the same as it
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was in in 2019, obviously. But then when
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2021 came, it went back to a lot
00:05:32
of people coming back into the country. I don't remember the numbers off the top
00:05:36
of my head. I I well, I think it was more than 600 for the
00:05:40
whole year, which is a drop from In this in 2019.
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Something medium, wasn't it? But you saw
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it coming back up. There was like a resurgence of people coming.
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And because Ghana wasn't as heavily
00:05:55
restrictive as other places, because COVID
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wasn't as, as as dire here as it was
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in other places, people felt confident to come to Ghana. So I met a
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lot of people who said They're working remotely from home, so they
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figured why not be in Ghana? So people came and they were in Ghana for,
00:06:12
like, 6 months, a year. Some people even 2 whole years were in Ghana
00:06:16
until their company said, you have to come back in the office, and then they
00:06:20
went back. Yeah. But, as far as
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December, the December NGH campaign was launched in 2019 as
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a climax for year of return. And then, so every year
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subsequently, There's the December NGH promoting things
00:06:35
happening in December. This past December 2022,
00:06:39
the Preliminary numbers, as I don't know the final numbers, but the preliminary
00:06:42
numbers show that about 98 people came to Ghana
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in December. So that's the December statistic, not the whole
00:06:50
year. Okay. And so there were over a 100
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events that the Beyond the Return government tourism authority It was about
00:06:57
a 122 exactly. A few of them got canceled for
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logistical reasons, but the majority of the events happened. And
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so December was a success. 2022 was a huge success. A lot
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of people came. A lot of people had a great time. Yeah. And so we
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anticipate it's just gonna keep getting more and more. Yeah. I think it was fantastic.
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I mean, from different from different perspectives. I mean, you had, of
00:07:18
course, Afrocella, which is gonna be called Afrofuture Afrofuture. Yeah. Which
00:07:22
he documents in the YouTube channel? I knew it was gonna be changing because
00:07:26
at Afrochela this year, Everywhere, you saw signs that
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said, Afrocella is Afrofuture. Afrocella is Afrofuture. And we saw
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Afrofuture all over the place, you know, whereas a lot of people thought, oh, the
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theme this year is Afrofuture. They're thinking Afrofuturism because some of
00:07:41
the installations that were there. I was like, with the whole issue with
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the legalities happening with Coachella, the the lawsuit and stuff, I
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just thought it just seems like they're gonna change the name to
00:07:52
Afrofuture. And even I did a reel, on the beyond
00:07:56
the return page. And in the reel, I actually wrote Afroachella's Afrofuture.
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And, and then, like, on my YouTube channel, like you said, I mentioned what I
00:08:04
thought. Yeah. Because Abdul, at the end, made the announcement,
00:08:07
this is the last Afroachella. And people were
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people were kinda, like, just leaving because people were tired, were ready to go home.
00:08:14
Yeah. And people didn't clue into it, a lot of I think, BBC
00:08:18
did because they did a whole story on it. So you think that was a
00:08:20
strategic stunt to drop that right at the end? So people people are maybe more
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kind of more or less ready to go home to. So I wouldn't really Hear
00:08:27
that? No. I don't think it was strategic. I think it was just it's the
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end of the event. The last artist has performed. Let's say our thank
00:08:35
you to everybody who has supported us over the years because we're starting a new
00:08:38
chapter. I think that's all it was. Yeah. Okay. That's interesting.
00:08:42
And, I think The term Afrofuturism, that's an
00:08:46
actual term, isn't it? Afrofuturism? Yeah. I do see that term around. Yeah.
00:08:50
About, you know, the future of Africa. Yeah. Yeah. What what do you see the
00:08:53
future of Africa being from from your perspective? You know, telling all these
00:08:57
stories and, you know, doing the things, amazing things that you've done over the years.
00:09:01
I think Africa's future is bright as long as the African people
00:09:05
are willing to be a part of the story and willing to tell their
00:09:08
story and willing to fight for change. Because I think if
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you're complacent, it'll never happen.
00:09:16
And I think a lot of young people today who are on social media are
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seeing that what they can do with the power of their
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phones can make a difference and make an impact. So I I
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see I do see the future being bright for the continent. There are still challenges
00:09:31
logistically. Absolutely. And I also think,
00:09:36
Africans don't have much control over the fact that the
00:09:39
global economy, the system is designed against
00:09:43
Africa. And so it makes it hard for Africans to kind
00:09:47
of work against that and try to move past that and and and build a
00:09:51
strong future. It makes it difficult. It does. Yeah. I mean, I guess,
00:09:54
especially people that are kind of, like, used to how the western world's,
00:09:58
operate. Sometimes it's hard to kind of come to Africa and just
00:10:02
Do go about things as you normally know how to. You have to adjust and
00:10:05
adapt to how things are run over here. So some some people, it's it's a
00:10:08
culture shock, but some people, you know, they get used to it, and they find
00:10:12
ways to overcome and, you know, persevere. So I'm
00:10:15
sure some interviews are you have documented that really, really well.
00:10:20
You mentioned, working working with Beyond the Return and
00:10:23
getting involved in social media and, you know, maybe telling us
00:10:27
attending some of these events. So I think over this Christmas, we've just
00:10:30
seen, you know, like, Dave Chappelle at, you know, Chance the Rapper and people
00:10:34
like that come into Ghana, You know, launched the Black Star Line event
00:10:38
alongside Vic Vic Mensa. What's your thoughts in some
00:10:42
of these new people, you know, launching new events and getting involved in,
00:10:46
You know, the future of Ghana? What do when do I think about it?
00:10:49
Yeah. I mean, I think it's great. I think it's I think it's always great
00:10:53
that people are willing and interested in coming to Ghana. The interesting
00:10:56
thing about, you the story with with Chance the Rapper is,
00:11:00
I, they came he came, you know,
00:11:04
January 2020 too. And then within a year,
00:11:08
January 2023 Yeah. You know, they're doing this event.
00:11:11
And, the whole process of it, It was it's a vision that he
00:11:15
and Vik had together that has come to fruition. And I think it
00:11:18
shows that if you're willing to put in the work, if you're willing
00:11:22
to collaborate with people on the ground if you're willing to
00:11:25
be open to things and sharing the
00:11:29
message with your friends. I think that is really, really important.
00:11:33
Because myself, I, I was there with the whole process
00:11:37
of when he first came, when when, Chance first came to
00:11:40
Ghana. I was there at the airport and stuff, and then he
00:11:44
went to Jubilee House. And and so he threw it out there right from
00:11:48
the beginning, you know. So it's not something that just All of a sudden, they
00:11:51
they wanna do a festival, and they came a few times throughout the year
00:11:55
working towards it actually happening. So I think what What they did is an
00:11:58
example of how some of the diaspora are coming and they're doing things.
00:12:02
And it's not always publicly known what people are doing. People assume
00:12:07
that, there's a lot of people not coming and making an impact. One
00:12:10
of the things with Beyond the Return is Give Back Ghana, which is all about
00:12:13
giving back to the community. And there's a lot of people who come and
00:12:17
they have organizations. They have nonprofits. They
00:12:21
do activities where they're giving back to the community, and it may not be
00:12:24
highly publicized because they're not celebrities. So a
00:12:28
lot of times even even sometimes I post stuff on social
00:12:32
media Yeah. That is meaningful content. Yeah. And it's not a high
00:12:36
profile person, and people don't share it. People don't like. They
00:12:40
don't share. They don't comment. But as soon as it's a celebrity, all of a
00:12:43
sudden, everybody cares to care about it more. Yeah. And I don't
00:12:47
like the accusations that I sometimes get. People sometimes say, oh, you guys only care
00:12:50
about celebrities. But it's like, no. That's not the case because we do share stuff
00:12:54
about non celebrities, but people don't go and share. Yeah. Like,
00:12:58
for you to share it to someone else and Yeah. Send it to someone
00:13:01
else's DM, Share it on your WhatsApp platforms. A lot of times when it's attached
00:13:05
to a celebrity, that's when people suddenly wanna share it I know right. Versus
00:13:09
an average person. There's lot of average people out there who are
00:13:12
making an impact. And and saying average people doesn't mean that they're not,
00:13:17
You know? And I'm not saying that it's a one person's better than the other
00:13:19
Yeah. But they're the the citizens that are not, highly publicized
00:13:23
or not high profile. I think it's really great. You know? It's really excellent.
00:13:28
I'm privileged that, I was hired to be producer on
00:13:32
the, documentary on the ground for Black Star Line Festival that they
00:13:35
did leading up to the festival itself. So,
00:13:39
so that was a really great experience too for me. Oh, fantastic. You
00:13:43
know? Also, as someone behind the cameras as well, you know, that's that's a
00:13:47
great That's that's not a great in your resume, isn't it? I can't believe that.
00:13:51
Just wanted to go back a little bit, Ivy. So you mentioned, you know,
00:13:54
How doing how you've been getting involved or maybe showing things that
00:13:58
amazing things that people are doing that aren't as well known. Mhmm.
00:14:03
What what what do you what I know that normally it's human nature that when
00:14:07
we see celebrities It is human nature. Yeah. You see celebrity do something and
00:14:11
We wanna kinda, like, share that. We wanna share it with friends. We wanna get
00:14:14
involved. But when someone that isn't as famous, that's something remarkable we
00:14:18
don't really wanna share that. This is
00:14:21
I think it's a good segue to some of the interviews that you've been doing.
00:14:24
I'm not saying some interviews you can do with our people that aren't amazing, but
00:14:28
what I'm gonna say is that, you've you've also documented some amazing
00:14:32
people who maybe not be celebrity status, but they're doing some fantastic
00:14:35
things in the diaspora of the Ghanaian community. You know,
00:14:39
let's you you interview people in fashion. You interview people in real
00:14:43
estate, Kofianku, my recent guest. You've interviewed people
00:14:46
who have relocated, you know, so many different stories. I
00:14:50
mean, I wanna hear from you. And what are some of the the the stories
00:14:54
that you've really enjoyed and be inspired by that that that that you've
00:14:57
interviewed? You
00:15:00
know, Sai Wine Cafe, is owned by,
00:15:05
Nadia Tachwamensa. Just funny. We talked about it, didn't we? Just that.
00:15:08
Yeah. Yes. And so I really enjoyed the
00:15:12
interview I did with her. She she's my friend. But I really
00:15:16
enjoyed the interview I did with her because I learned things that I didn't know,
00:15:20
about her. And I thought that it was really, really, like,
00:15:23
wow, Inspiring because she shared about ups and downs in
00:15:27
Ghana because she's somebody who's had a long journey, being here. She didn't
00:15:31
just pop up here in the last couple of years. And so,
00:15:34
she's somebody that I found to be, pretty inspiring. And
00:15:38
then, the couple from,
00:15:42
Jamaica, who run the,
00:15:46
Marcus Garvey Foundation.
00:15:50
Naomi and, her husband, Neville, that interview, they
00:15:53
moved from Jamaica to Ghana. And I found that one to be really
00:15:57
inspiring too because they've been here for a long time. I think it's been 20
00:16:00
years or something in Ghana. And so
00:16:04
forgive me if I'm wrong because I'm trying to remember off the top of my
00:16:06
head. Don't worry. We'll find it and we'll put it in the in the show
00:16:09
notes for Yes. I wanna go see it. Okay. And so, so yeah. So
00:16:12
people like that who've come who don't have a direct
00:16:16
connection. There there's, yes, the historical lineage of Caribbeans and
00:16:19
Africa, but they didn't have the direct connection. And they've moved
00:16:23
here, and they've built a life in this country Yeah. Which I found
00:16:27
fascinating. And then, the other person that
00:16:31
I really enjoyed was, I'm trying to think back, was,
00:16:35
And this video didn't trend the way I thought it would because sometimes you do
00:16:38
interviews, you're like, you're like, what? People don't like this video. Yeah. It was a
00:16:41
woman. Her name is Queen Imina. She's from California.
00:16:45
Okay. And she was in Ghana for a few
00:16:48
months and just, You know, her talking about the
00:16:52
spiritual journey, and she became a queen
00:16:55
a a queen a king? King. Yeah. In,
00:16:59
Nigeria. And so it's like, how does a woman become a king in
00:17:03
Nigeria who's from California? And I found it so interesting, but the video
00:17:06
didn't get as much Traction as I thought it would, but I thought her story
00:17:09
was really quite fascinating. There's so many
00:17:13
people that I find interesting. And there was, oh, there was,
00:17:17
Maurice, who, he's he's from,
00:17:21
from, where is he from? Detroit. And he has the
00:17:25
dolls. He was inspired by the black dolls. Seeing girls
00:17:29
in in town with white dolls in Ghana. Like, why do they have white dolls?
00:17:32
We should have black dolls here and just pushing and trying to get it out
00:17:35
there. So Yeah. He was he's also somebody that's very interesting too. So there's a
00:17:39
lot of different people that that I found inspiring that I've interviewed over
00:17:43
the years. Yeah. Thank you for highlighting. That's really helpful. And it's
00:17:46
just amazing now. Well, then some of these stories that you've shared,
00:17:50
it's that they're picking like, they're coming over here. Maybe they're
00:17:54
seeing maybe problems or maybe things that could be improved or
00:17:57
better, and then they're taking ownership to try and fix it. Or there's a
00:18:01
gap in the market, and then they're coming over and then they're trying to fill
00:18:04
that gap in the market and contribute to the community. I spoke to,
00:18:08
captain Yao, the fish and chip restaurant in Osu. Yeah. And then they they told
00:18:12
me their story about how just like what you said, people They're calm. They get
00:18:16
locked down. They get stuck during the pandemic, and then they end up creating an
00:18:19
amazing business that adds value to the community. So Just the common
00:18:23
theme that I find, there's problems or people come here, but, you know, they
00:18:27
come here, then they end up staying by accident, and then they end up finding
00:18:30
purpose through that. So I think it's a really fascinating theme that we're seeing.
00:18:34
And then going back to, what you said about Chance the Rapper, he
00:18:38
came the previous year. And then he came the following year and did a
00:18:41
whole com did a whole concert. I think for to
00:18:45
do that in such a Sure, man. Space time is absolutely amazing.
00:18:49
Mhmm. They came multiple times through the year. Times through the year. Wow.
00:18:52
Wow. That's Yeah. They came multiple times through the year because
00:18:56
there's planning involved with leading up to that final
00:19:00
Yeah. Performance. K. This is my question to you. What
00:19:03
what is it about Ghana or maybe even Africa, I think, necessarily
00:19:07
that makes people I I know there's probably a few reasons, but I wanna hear
00:19:10
if What is it about Ghana or maybe West Africa or Africa per se that
00:19:14
makes people want to come back and just
00:19:18
live here or establish something? So,
00:19:22
Ghana has been historically known as a Pan
00:19:25
African nation. And as a Pan African country,
00:19:29
it has historically been a place that has invited the diaspora
00:19:34
to come. So ever since 1957,
00:19:38
beginning of the country's, you know, official existence,
00:19:44
Kwame Nkrumah inviting Martin Luther King to come to
00:19:47
Ghana. And then subsequently, so many other high profile people
00:19:51
coming to Ghana over the years. You know? It's like a real effect, isn't
00:19:55
it? Yeah. People like, like Malcolm X, who came to Ghana as
00:19:58
well, and, what's his
00:20:02
name? The boxer. Muhammad Ali. And there's, like, so many different people who've
00:20:06
come to Ghana over the years that there's, like,
00:20:10
waves. So you had that early wave during the
00:20:13
inception of the country. Then you have the period of time,
00:20:17
when Black people are finding themselves, you know, in America
00:20:21
through the black you know, the civil rights movement and stuff, and people are coming.
00:20:25
And In Ghana, I think it was in the early
00:20:28
nineties, Panafest was launched. Yeah. So Panafest
00:20:32
is a Pan African festival through
00:20:36
arts and through theater promoting Pan Africanism. And
00:20:39
so since the early nineties, this festival has been happening in Ghana, and it
00:20:43
has been something that attracts the diaspora to come to Ghana.
00:20:47
Wow. And then in 2007,
00:20:50
the, the government had this program that they called,
00:20:54
the Joseph project, which is sort of like the story of
00:20:58
the bible, Joseph being banished and then coming back to the
00:21:02
brothers. What is it?
00:21:07
The brother he's been he's been banished from his family, and then he's, like, the
00:21:10
brother who's been welcomes to come back. Yeah. So the Joseph project's sort of like
00:21:14
symbolic of that. And so that was a project
00:21:18
in the Ministry of Tourism that was inviting the diaspora to come to
00:21:21
Ghana in 2007. Now it didn't take off,
00:21:26
the way they expected, but it was part of the whole Pan
00:21:29
Africanist succession in Ghana, and people seeing Ghana as a
00:21:33
place that's welcoming them to come. Mhmm. Then we
00:21:36
fast forward and we come to 2019.
00:21:40
And so with the year of return, what happened was,
00:21:45
I wasn't there from very beginning because I didn't I wasn't working with Ghana
00:21:48
Tourism Authority in 2017, 2018 Okay. When plans were
00:21:52
happening. So the US government signed a bill, the HR
00:21:55
1242 bill, which was acknowledging the
00:21:59
four hundred year anniversary of the 1st documented ship of its late
00:22:03
Africans to arrive in the United States, Virginia. And
00:22:07
so when that was signed,
00:22:10
It was acknowledging this history and acknowledging
00:22:14
the pain and things that the African American community have gone through.
00:22:18
Ghana seeing that as, an opportunity to also acknowledge
00:22:22
Ghana's role because Ghana had the most slave forts during the
00:22:25
transatlantic slave trade.
00:22:29
And inviting the diaspora to say come home, come to
00:22:33
Africa and choose Ghana and have this sort of, this sort
00:22:37
of, coming together and seeing the history and
00:22:40
the
00:24:38
that aspect and the, his fraternity brothers
00:24:42
came and took hands and all that stuff. That was my video. I shot that
00:24:46
video. Yeah. I shot that video. You heard that, guys? Give out the I shot
00:24:49
that video. And, it went viral. And
00:24:53
And then from their year of return, social media just boom, boom, boom, boom,
00:24:57
boom. People were people were looking out for stuff. Pivotal
00:25:01
year for sure. Yeah. And I and I really strongly believe that if it
00:25:04
wasn't for those for that page, A lot of other pages
00:25:08
that exist in Ghana right now, a lot of other social media pages wouldn't
00:25:12
exist because I think people saw the value in social media.
00:25:15
Because when I came on board, there was still hesitancy in the
00:25:19
relevance of my role, the relevance of social media.
00:25:23
Okay. You know? Someone someone once said, you know, what
00:25:26
else do you do besides just post a picture on Instagram? Because people didn't
00:25:30
understand the work that goes into actually putting
00:25:34
together, a plan Yeah. And and writing the captions.
00:25:37
Absolutely. You know? They just see the content, but they don't see what hobble at
00:25:41
the moment behind the scenes. Yeah. And and responding to messages and DMs and
00:25:44
all that kind of stuff and you know? So it's, it's a
00:25:48
labor of love. It's a liver of love. Good. So, so, yeah, so
00:25:52
that's the long story. Yeah. You know, why Ghana I mean, the
00:25:56
long answer as to why Ghana is a Pan Africanist, why it's attractive
00:25:59
to the diaspora. So now with people coming
00:26:04
sorry. I I leaned away from the mic. Okay. Audio. I keep thinking about audio.
00:26:07
That's okay. No worries. We we got you over there too, so that's fine. With
00:26:11
people coming, it intrigues
00:26:14
others. So, like, if you come and someone sees, oh, he's in Ghana. What's
00:26:18
he doing? Oh, wow. I'm in that industry too. Maybe I should come and check
00:26:21
it out. So it's like people see what others are doing, and it encourages
00:26:25
them to say, oh, let me go and give it a try as well.
00:26:28
So I think that Ghana has continued to be a place that
00:26:32
people wanna come. Firstly, it's a welcoming country.
00:26:36
Stability of government successions, over the last, I
00:26:40
think they said, 4 or 5 successional,
00:26:44
governments. The fact that it is a
00:26:47
safe country. Mhmm. It's listed as the 2nd safest country in
00:26:51
Africa, Alcohopease Index, in 2022, and
00:26:56
that makes people feel comfortable. And then English, because a lot of people coming
00:26:59
from the west speak English or coming from the
00:27:03
Caribbean, you know, coming from the UK. They come and
00:27:06
they feel like Ghana is easier to transition to with English.
00:27:12
Other African there's there's French speaking African countries well, but they feel like
00:27:15
the English but I feel like the the stability and the
00:27:19
safety are major reasons to And I think the friendliness as well
00:27:23
from what I got from, you're telling me about Chad's rep. I think
00:27:26
the friendliness and the the warmness is Yeah. Yeah. People are friendly and warm.
00:27:30
Ghanaians are friendly and warm. Yeah. But customer service is
00:27:35
That's a whole conversation. Another conversation. I saw that clip of. Oh my gosh.
00:27:38
She's a whole that's a whole. I won't get into that right now. That's what
00:27:41
I'll get to. Hold on. I'm sure there are interviews about that as well. And
00:27:44
I did the interview with a startup, Consum Shop. Right? I think they have a
00:27:47
60:60 minute delivery service in the car. I don't know how they do because
00:27:51
Consumshop. They're like a startup. They they're like a smaller version of
00:27:55
Kenya. Okay. They lost they launched about 2 years ago. So I interviewed them I
00:27:59
I don't know them. Explain. You know them? No. No. I don't. People what they're
00:28:02
up and coming anyway. But I interviewed them, and they told me a customer service
00:28:06
story where They wanted to to buy £24 worth
00:28:09
of fried yam chips. Right? And then they end up getting 24
00:28:13
pieces of yam brought to the table. Strictly
00:28:17
ridiculous. It's a joke. So this is some of the common misconceptions,
00:28:21
and these are some of the mistakes that you see customer So this is absolute
00:28:24
joke. Alright. So I wanna I wanna take the the spotlight from
00:28:28
Ghana. I wanna pull up on you back on you, Ivy.
00:28:32
Okay. Hey, guys. This is Adrian from the podcast. I hope you're enjoying
00:28:36
this episode. It's just a quick announcement. Now have you guys been
00:28:39
thinking about starting a podcast? I know Everyone is starting a
00:28:43
a new podcast these days, but there's a very, very good reason why everyone is
00:28:47
starting their podcast. Now if you're thinking of starting, launching, growing,
00:28:51
And monetizing your podcast. I'm here to let you know that I'm now
00:28:55
helping hundreds of podcasters
00:30:08
quickly. Now it's so common that people will get
00:30:12
married in their thirties, and then now they're trying to have
00:30:15
kids. So there's a lot of women who are facing challenges after
00:30:19
35 having children. Mhmm. So she created this
00:30:22
podcast because there's a different experience as a woman in
00:30:26
your thirties and above Yeah. Having children than someone
00:30:29
who's, you know, 20, 21, 22 having a
00:30:33
child is a different experience. So she created the podcast To with Anish. And she's
00:30:37
it's getting some traction. A lot of people are are interested in it. That's
00:30:41
that's amazing. That's amazing. Yeah. And then my other sister was acting.
00:30:44
Okay. But she also does counseling. My brother's in medical industry. Okay.
00:30:48
Okay. So your brother sounds like maybe your brother's the odd one now. Everyone else
00:30:51
is more or less around me. Creative. Creative media. I love it. I
00:30:55
love it. Yeah. I mean, I guess with, with
00:30:59
that podcast, I think we're in a society where, people are having
00:31:03
People are given birth maybe a bit later than than than than than usual.
00:31:07
And, or not from not from usual. I mean, later than Than
00:31:11
what used to happen. Generations. Exactly. Yeah. So
00:31:14
everyone's a bit more career driven or entrepreneur or
00:31:18
Entrepreneur centric and, you know, more into pursuing things rather than
00:31:22
just having kids. And, of course, the moment that we're in is a bit tougher,
00:31:25
so people are like, to have a kid, I have a kid. So, yeah, that's
00:31:29
a whole conversation, I suppose. Alright. Okay. So
00:31:33
speaking of women. Right? Yes. So I know you do a bit of women empowerment
00:31:36
speaking. Could you talk talk me through some of the
00:31:39
women that some interesting ladies that you've interviewed,
00:31:43
that that stand out to you in terms of, like, your Your YouTube
00:31:47
channel or any of your your journalistic past that you've spoken to?
00:31:51
Mhmm. On my YouTube well, there's somebody I
00:31:55
interviewed that the video hasn't even
00:31:58
been published Yeah. That I found interesting. So I won't talk about that because that's
00:32:02
what's been published. But as far as, like,
00:32:06
the women empowerment goes, I
00:32:10
have been passionate about empowering young women in particular,
00:32:15
largely because sometimes they don't have a voice,
00:32:19
and sometimes there's women seem to suffer more self steam issues than
00:32:22
men do, at least from the surface. True. Because a lot of men
00:32:26
don't talk about it. So if there is more in men, I don't know. I
00:32:29
just know that women talk about it more. So I'm more aware of that.
00:32:33
And I think because of my things more. Yeah. And I think my experience in
00:32:37
the modeling industry also exposed
00:32:42
how women because of what we see in media, we
00:32:46
end up getting these self esteem issues about our bodies, about who we are
00:32:49
and and confidence and that kind of thing. So it made me want to pursue
00:32:54
that aspect of empowering
00:32:57
young women. Because it there was one day I heard I heard some women
00:33:01
having conversation Mhmm. And they were, like, talking about how they don't Look
00:33:05
good, and they look fat and all this kind of stuff. And I was like,
00:33:07
you know what? I should start, you know, doing this speaking and and
00:33:11
sharing my message about improving your self esteem and and
00:33:15
your body image. So That's fine on this then.
00:33:19
Yeah. So, I mean, so many interesting people that I've spoken
00:33:23
to aren't people that I've necessarily interviewed and published on
00:33:26
YouTube. Okay. It's sometimes it's just through conversation.
00:33:30
So there was 1 particular young girl. She was 14.
00:33:35
Mhmm. And we I spoke because I used to tour around school
00:33:38
speaking. And so I had gone to speak at a school that was in,
00:33:42
a a smaller community, so there was not many black people there. Mhmm. She was
00:33:46
the only black girl in her class in her school, actually. Wow. And she
00:33:50
waited for me after I finished my speech, my
00:33:53
speaking. Yeah. And she said, I'm
00:33:57
so happy that our speaker, was you.
00:34:00
She said, when I saw the flyer that our guest speaker was gonna be a
00:34:04
black woman, I was so happy because I've been she
00:34:08
said, I've been going through so much being the only black person, people
00:34:12
teasing me. I felt like I wasn't worth anything. And
00:34:15
then to see that our speaker is a black woman, she was like, this means
00:34:19
so much to me. And so the conversation I had with her, there was
00:34:23
so much more she said that I'm not gonna say. That's okay. But that
00:34:26
conversation to me was inspiring because it made
00:34:30
me feel like, you know what? I'm doing something right. Yeah. Yeah. I
00:34:34
love that. I love that. I mean, it's it's a
00:34:38
shame that we still live in a day and age where that kind of stuff
00:34:41
is still happening. I remember speaking to one of my guests in season
00:34:44
1. And when they landed in Ghana, it was like they were
00:34:48
like, oh my gosh. I've never seen so many bad people in my life kind
00:34:50
of thing. And she's from America. Right? Just the 1st 1st trip as an African
00:34:54
American Right. To visit Ghana. Right. And when I heard her, I was like, really?
00:34:57
She's like, yeah. And I'm like, okay. Because for me, like, where I'm from,
00:35:01
like, in the UK, I'm surrounded by loads of black people. So for her, it's
00:35:04
like, I've never seen so much black people in my life. And that's True. When
00:35:07
you come to Ghana or Africa, you're gonna see way more black people than you
00:35:09
are in the west. But for her to say that is like, wow. Like, you
00:35:13
don't know what she's been kind of going through over there. So I think that's
00:35:16
really, like, powerful thing that you did going to
00:35:20
speak into that young lady's woman into that young lady's life
00:35:24
and just Just share words of wisdom and empowerment that's just gonna uplift it
00:35:27
because sometimes you know how hard people have it on such a stone. Mhmm.
00:35:31
And that brings me to my next point. You did that TEDx
00:35:35
TEDx talk. Right? Yeah. Could you tell us a bit about that? The TEDx
00:35:39
talk came during pandemic time.
00:35:42
No. Even though Ghana wasn't like didn't have, like, high
00:35:46
restrictions and stuff, there were still protocols and stuff.
00:35:50
So, you couldn't go into, like,
00:35:53
theaters. Like, the theater movie theater was closed for a long time. And so,
00:35:57
anyway, TED Talk. I'm like, I finally get a TEDx,
00:36:01
and it's during a time when we can't have a, crowd.
00:36:04
Yeah. So it was recorded in a studio.
00:36:08
Yeah. By yourself? Yeah. So they have the camera team, and
00:36:12
then we're in studio. And so the there were other speakers. It was like, One
00:36:16
finishes, then the next one records, and the next one records. So,
00:36:20
but it was it was an honor to be asked to share
00:36:23
my, My message about my ideas
00:36:27
and message about the power of digital media with bridging the gap, the
00:36:31
diaspora, and and the African continent because that's exactly what I've been
00:36:34
doing with my work. And I was really
00:36:38
excited. It was really great to share, you know, because I
00:36:41
really believe that the power is in our hands, to tell our
00:36:45
stories. And we can see that right now from, know, so many African
00:36:49
content creators are popping up and are doing things, whether it's a podcast or
00:36:53
Mhmm. It's on, YouTube or whether they're using Instagram,
00:36:57
TikTok, whatever platforms they're using, they're sharing their message
00:37:00
and they're creating. And it's opening up opportunities
00:37:04
for Africans to get in spaces that they may not have been before Mhmm.
00:37:08
Which I think is fantastic. It is. It is. Because this is what you're talking
00:37:11
about earlier on. Right? You know, you were, Like, you were pioneering
00:37:15
some of the content that was being, you know, showing the show on social media.
00:37:18
And then that inspired some other agencies or content creators to start
00:37:22
doing what they're doing. And because of what you've done, other people have started some
00:37:26
things, and it's just led to this whole new explosive wave of content
00:37:30
creators of media companies, etcetera, So it's definitely and it takes time because
00:37:33
people think a lot of people think I just started doing stuff with Year of
00:37:37
Return in 2019, and it's like, no. I've been posting content about
00:37:41
Ghana, about Africa for a long time. The
00:37:45
1st video I posted on YouTube was a video of me walking through
00:37:49
La Palme. I was like, Oh my god. Look at this
00:37:52
place. This is Africa. This is Africa. That
00:37:56
was 2011. Wow. And it was, I was going to
00:37:59
a conference. It was like a women's conference that was happening, and
00:38:03
I was just so like, wow. Yeah. People need to see this. And when I
00:38:07
was doing it at the time, I wasn't doing it because I felt like I'm
00:38:10
a content creator because that term didn't really exist. Yeah. I was just
00:38:14
posting a video because my friends back home wanted to see my
00:38:18
friends in Canada and the US and stuff wanted to see what is it like
00:38:21
where you are. So once in a while, I would post videos. I wasn't even
00:38:24
posting consistently. It was just I'll post once in a while and share with
00:38:28
them. And a lot of times, they weren't even public videos. I made them private
00:38:31
links That's cool. That I would send to them so they can See? Thank you.
00:38:34
Unlisted links, not private. Unlisted links that I would send to them so they can
00:38:38
see what I'm doing, here in Ghana. So,
00:38:43
and I had a blog. Oh, I forgot about that blog. I had a blog.
00:38:47
It was, called made in Ghana Africa dotblogspot.
00:38:51
Blogspot. Who does that anymore? That was a long time ago. That was a long
00:38:55
time ago. Yeah. Yeah. But you could see what you were doing Even
00:38:59
back then Yeah. And how it's evolved into now. Like,
00:39:02
now, you know, IP Prosper. I mean, now I'm you know, a lot of people
00:39:06
come in to know Who you are and what you're doing, it's fantastic.
00:39:11
I'm really enjoying this conversation, Ivy. Yes. Me too. Back to You
00:39:14
mentioned your book, your your book, Essential Essential Guide Essential
00:39:18
Guide on Moving to Ghana. Mhmm. As a closer, I want you to
00:39:22
kind of, like, Share some tips from people who want to kind of
00:39:26
relocate to Ghana or maybe Africa per se. What what are
00:39:29
some essential tips you would you would give to them? I know even just even
00:39:33
you know, you know, Kaye and, moving to Ghana, Africa, but
00:39:37
maybe even being a content creator, start up as a creative,
00:39:41
Wanted to be a speaker or any of these other pursuits, like, that you've
00:39:44
taken on to to do?
00:39:48
So advice on moving to Ghana? Yeah. Just yes. My advice to move
00:39:52
to Ghana. If you're looking to move to Ghana, I would say that you
00:39:55
should plan. Mhmm. Firstly,
00:39:59
why do you wanna move? Ask yourself the why. Because
00:40:03
if you don't have a strong why, you won't last because it's not
00:40:07
easy. So easy. And with planning,
00:40:11
try to have, like, a year's worth of living expenses because
00:40:15
Ghana is more expensive than people think. And this
00:40:18
way, you have a a backup of funds while you're working
00:40:22
towards whatever it is that you're doing, whether it's starting a business, whether it's
00:40:25
working with a company, consulting, whatever it is you're doing,
00:40:29
Make sure you have that. A lot of people who live abroad don't know that
00:40:33
these places ask for, like, a year rent upfront, 2
00:40:37
years upfront. So it's a good idea for you to
00:40:41
be prepared for that because people don't know. They'll come be like, what? What do
00:40:44
you mean? Like, you're rent? What? So prepare for that.
00:40:48
Okay. And know that people
00:40:52
are always late, so you have to exercise patience. Yeah.
00:40:55
Yep. And that it takes time. It it can take you 2
00:40:59
to 5 years to really get your bearings in Ghana.
00:41:03
If you're trying to be an entrepreneur or even if you're trying to work with
00:41:06
somebody, it can take 2 to 5 years for you to really get your bearings.
00:41:10
So you have to be patient. Okay. That's fantastic. No chance. And then
00:41:13
you said, the last one was the other one either. There was that one in
00:41:17
pursuing any any creative pursuits, whether it's content creator, And
00:41:21
speaker, buy a book, buy a book, sell you're doing. As far as being
00:41:24
a creator, when, you we live in a time when the power's
00:41:28
in your hands. You like, people will say they wanna do
00:41:32
stuff, and they think that it's gonna happen instantly. You have to understand that it
00:41:35
takes time. Like, I just said that 2011 was when I shared a video,
00:41:39
on YouTube about Ghana. It takes time and consistency.
00:41:43
You can't expect that you post today and you're gonna get a 1 views or
00:41:47
something. You post today, nobody knows who you are. You you don't have an
00:41:51
audience yet. You're not gonna get a lot of views, a lot of likes, a
00:41:54
lot of shares because you're building. So what I say is
00:41:58
keep doing it. Keep posting. Keep
00:42:01
writing. Keep doing what it ever it is that you're doing because you're creating
00:42:05
your catalog. You're creating your catalog that people will look back on
00:42:09
and see, oh, wow. You did this and you did this. Because right now, there's
00:42:12
there's creators in Ghana who are really successful, and now people are going and
00:42:16
looking at their old stuff and, like, oh, wow. They've been doing this since then?
00:42:19
Then they're consuming their old content and realizing this person is serious.
00:42:23
It didn't just come from nowhere. Yeah. So it's important that you know that you
00:42:27
have to just keep on pushing, keep putting your message out
00:42:30
there. It's like, there's no such
00:42:34
thing as an overnight success. People think there's overnight success. Media plays this
00:42:37
story as if people just come out of nowhere, but those people have been practicing.
00:42:41
They've been doing whatever they've been doing for at least 5 to 10 years
00:42:45
before you even found out who they were most of the time. There's a
00:42:49
very few out there that suddenly get fame
00:42:53
and because of viral videos or whatever it may be. But sometimes if you have
00:42:56
a viral video and you don't have the content to back it up, then you
00:42:59
just fall. Like, you'll have a video that gets popular. Everybody knows it. They see
00:43:03
it, and then they look. Where else? What else do you have? Nothing. Then that's
00:43:06
it. You fall by the wayside. So if you have things that you're doing all
00:43:10
the time and suddenly something goes viral and people see that you have
00:43:13
other stuff that is out there, then it's like, oh, okay. They've been
00:43:17
doing this for a while. Absolutely. Sustainability and consistency
00:43:21
is the key. That's my big takeaway from what you've just shared as
00:43:25
well. I'm being patient and, you know, just testing
00:43:29
testing things and seeing what what works for you, I suppose. Ivy, this
00:43:32
has been a fantastic conversation. Do you have any announcements that you wanna make? Do
00:43:36
I have any announcements? I don't have any announcements right now. Okay.
00:43:40
I just say that You can follow me on all my social
00:43:43
platforms, Ivy Prosper. That's Ivy Prosper everywhere, on
00:43:47
Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram,
00:43:50
and on YouTube, it's also Ivy Prosper. My website is ivyprosper.com.
00:43:55
And if you're looking, if you're looking for a producer,
00:44:00
Ivy at, ivyprosper.com. You can go to my website and you can click
00:44:04
click to get my email there. It's info at ivyprosper .com The move.
00:44:07
Is the email. Info@ivyprosper.com Mhmm. For
00:44:11
for production stuff. And if you're looking for a speaker,
00:44:15
I'm also available. Yes. Those are my that's it. Yeah. I'm
00:44:18
available. Ivy Prosper, the one of the most influential
00:44:22
people in Ghana that you probably didn't know.
00:44:25
Oof. That was good. I like that. We're gonna have everything in the show
00:44:29
notes, all of the links, references, tips, nuggets that Ivy has shared.
00:44:33
So Anything that you just shared a bit more. Head over to the sunblockroad.comforward/iviprospo.
00:44:39
That's the sunblockroad.com Forward slash Ivy Prosper, I
00:44:42
v y p r o s p e r of everything
00:44:46
in in those show notes. Well, that's it. That's it for today's episode,
00:44:50
guys. Thank you for watching. Please, give us a like on your way out. Leave
00:44:53
us a comment. Let us know what you think of the episodes, and please do
00:44:56
give us a review. Thank you so much. Before you end, I wanna say
00:45:00
thank you. Thank you for having me. You're doing a great job. That's right. And
00:45:03
people like you are continuing to tell stories and showcasing
00:45:07
people who are making an impact in Ghana. So thank you. Thank you, Adi. It's
00:45:11
really kind of you to say. Appreciate it. Thank you. Alright. Wow.
00:45:14
Take care, guys. Bruce. Hey, guys. This is
00:45:18
Ace from the Sanukwara podcast. I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. It's just a
00:45:22
quick announcement. Now those of you may have been watching or following the podcast
00:45:26
for quite some time now, I would like to hear from you. What do you
00:45:29
think of our podcast? What topics do you wanna hear from us more? What
00:45:33
guests do you wanna see? What kind of, episodes would you like to see
00:45:37
or hear? Please let us know. Drop an email to info at
00:45:40
the son of crowd.com or fill out a short form in the description below,
00:45:44
and me and the team will get in touch with you. Also, If you would
00:45:48
like to sponsor future seasons, please do get in touch.
00:45:55
Below. And we'll be able to share some information and our
00:45:59
decks in terms of how you can get involved in sponsoring a season. And
00:46:02
finally, we're working on a paid private Unity where like
00:46:06
minded, Ghanaian creators, entrepreneurs, and even others
00:46:10
from the greater African diaspora can come together and up level
00:46:14
themselves As an entrepreneur, as a creative as a creator, or as
00:46:17
authority in the industry, learning how they can, you know, do better in their
00:46:21
fields. Drop us a email in front of us. We'll fill out the
00:46:25
short form below, and you'll get more information about that coming soon in
00:46:29
2023. Thank you for watching. See
00:46:46
Thank you so much, Ivy. Thanks. It's all done and dusted.
00:46:50
I realized I should have had my chair closer to the mic because then I
00:46:54
was leaning. So I