How Young Ghanaian Professionals UK Is Connecting Diaspora Talent and Opportunity | S1 Ep.3

Hello, everyone. I go by the name of Adrian

Daniels. You're now tuned to the Sound of Accra

and this is a show where we chat with colorful creatives and

entrepreneurs with a Ghanaian background or a special

interest to this city, bringing you one step

closer to Accra. Now, before I

introduce the guests I have on today, I'd just like to remind you

that you can get the show notes for today's episode

by visiting the mini site, the

soundofaqua.com. that's the

soundofaqua.com I won't be

introducing myself in this episode. You can listen to the previous

episode where you hear a little bit more about myself.

On this note, I would like to introduce

Lucy, who is the founder of YGP

UK and that stands for Young Ghanaian Professionals uk.

And we also have one of the elders from YGP too,

who goes by the name of Isaac. What up, Isaac?

And he just says hi. He's not shy, but he just says hi, that's all.

So YGP Young Ghanaian Professionals is a meetup

aimed at Ghanaians in their 20s and 30s

who tend to be professionals in the community.

But I'm not going to get too much into that as Lucy and Isaac will

dive into that deeper. So. Yep. So

Lucy is the founder of ygp. I hear she's a bit of a global

matchmaker too. African. Loves

your African weddings. Is that true? I'm trying.

We're working on the first YGP marriage, aren't we?

We've got people covering women areas. Right. Photographers,

you've got the whole package. I can't

believe that one. Stop. Yeah, I think, I mean, I'm. I think we're going to

get to all of that stuff. I mean, this is like, I think we're starting

to peak. I think in terms of what young Ghanaian professions from where it came

from, it's starting to peak. But you know what they say, before you can learn

the future, you need to know the past. So, Lucy, how about you share

with the. The listeners. How did it all

start? I mean, was it like two more than it's been more than two years

ago? Yeah, so. Well, we're in our second year this year

and it started off

just meeting people like myself and I thought, what would

Lucy like to do if she was to

gather some friends around? What would that look like? So,

yeah, just in the simplest of terms, it was just

finding people who share the same interest

in the culture and also in like working

profession settings, and am I saying that correctly,

but working professionalism. Yeah. Within

London, it was Just to be like not to be but it was to just

have a chit chat conversation just to see people's perspective

on the Ghanaian culture, to share experiences, have a laugh, feel free.

Like after your work is done, you just come and just chill and it was

nothing serious. It wasn't your. Your typical. In my head it wasn't a typical

networking like really kind of trying to get the cards

and you're trying to. No, it's just really just like

you're here to just meet people that feel like brothers and sisters and that was

the feel of trying to just disseminate, disseminate and

kind of just that ripple in the water where it's just a really

freeing environment. Kind of like back home like after work

and you go to like the Chop Bar and you're just chilling that kind of

vibe. So yeah, that was it really. Just trying to just

create that kind of vibe. And then what else? And then from there it's

just. I initially always wanted 10 people.

I heard you just wanted to make friends, keep life moving. And now

you have more than 10 friends. Way more than 10 friends. I have friends.

You have 10 times. 10 times 10. Yeah. And

it's just, it's. It's. I think it's by the grace

of God. I have to say that because attracting people that

was like myself and, and there's so much talent.

So much talent. Absolutely. So absolutely, you know,

for that. So that's the basic of history really, you know.

Absolutely. A lot of talent. You got Isaac here and co and so many

talented people that I believe that you've met and I've met

as well being part of your, your group along the way. And

that first meetup, I'm sure you remember, I. I think that kind

of showed it kind of indicated significance that was to

come because that first meetup that I was there up in the. I think it

was in pic. Was it Picadilly Circus? Yeah, the very first one. Who in particular

came that shocked you? Someone came like you just didn't expect.

Charlotte. Charlotte came and she was the one that said because I

had put an eventbrite to just reach out

to others not just on meetup.com but like another

platform. And like I said, obviously on eventbrite

there were people. All those people didn't come

through apart from Charlotte. And I was like, oh my goodness. And then

not just that, but Charlotte asked me 101 questions about this one

meetup. I was like, oh my gosh, do I carry on? So Charlotte was my

surprise in terms of her coming. And then I would say

Alex as well. Alex A. Because we

have quite a few Alexes in our group. Yeah, that's the original. Yeah.

Alex A. And then there's like Alex I. And then there's another Alex A.

There's quite a few Alexes that I can think of. So, yeah, Alex I.

Have we first reunited on

meetup as well. Beautiful, Beautiful. And that's after. Because I met him

10 years ago and then it was like YGP was. I

was. Oh, you're going, you want to come along? Let's talk about what, like, what

we've missed that, that 10 years gap. So, yeah, yeah, it was

just shocking in terms of like the people. I, I wasn't expecting

for them to come. They came so brilliant. I remember there

was an even. There was even non Ghanaians that turned up that first meeting.

Park was. He was Chai. Was it Chinese?

Japanese? I don't know. That shocked me. He had a few. Yeah, he

contacted me. He was like, I want to just attend because he wanted to do

work in government in Ghana. So, yeah, so he,

he came. Park was Korean with Japanese

Chinese heritage. He

couldn't really speak English strong enough, but he was, yeah, he

tried his best and he tried to mingle and I remember it was so

loud and everybody was trying to just scream on top of their voices. It was

such a noisy place and I was like, never again will I ever host a

meetup on a Friday in so much noise.

So, yeah, that was, he was, he was amazing. So was you, though,

Adrian. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I remember he was really. You came.

I remember he was just like, just super friendly,

wanting to meet everyone and just being just. Yeah,

just like a friend, you know. So I thought that was

really nice and everybody would just. Everyone gelled quite well. It didn't feel like brothers

and sisters had met or long or long lost friends even.

Nobody wanted to leave, you know, me and my time. I was like, I. I

need to catch my train to Kent. Guys will be just. I actually left them

there, if you remember. I left you. Yeah. And you, you went back to Kent.

And you know, now I understand why. Because we

are, we. Because we have, we are recording this somewhere

so far. Somewhere in Kent. Yeah. Okay. And then I believe,

I know later on down the line, you know, I think this is the beauty

of your, your, your networking event, your

meetup story. Because you, what you have done is you've.

Then you've given privileges to other people

who have been in the meetup for a while. To then bring in other

Ghanaians or maybe non guardians who have a special interest in Accra

or Ghana, to be part of the meetup likes of Isaac.

So, Isaac, I believe I met you in what you call, I think it was

TLA Africa a couple years ago maybe. Yeah, yeah. Cecil was

there. Yeah, yeah. And remember, added you to the group and now

you guys have. I didn't expect this, but you guys are now, you know, fundamental

part of YGP, which is great. JD's been real and I think it's

beautiful. I love what you've done, Lucy, with the whole young Ghanaian

professionals movement. You've given other people the authority to

then bring in other people. And by that, by doing that, we scale faster

and we can, you know, develop Ghana Accra, develop the. The UK

Ghanaian community and beyond. Yeah. Because let's face it, it's not just

Ghanaians that come. Yeah. We have different groups coming

in. Yeah. Okay. Like what? Jamaicans,

Caribbeans. So we have a few Nigerians. So. So

YGP is predominantly. I did my calculation it was

97.5 and a 0.5 because we have

mixes where we have. I was gonna say apprentices.

Sorry. We have, we have

members who are like half Ghanaian, half

Jamaican, half Ghanaian, half Nigerian

and we have like those hyper mixes and perhaps even. I think

there's one that is like half Ghanaian and. And the half is

from European. We have some that are

half Ghanaian and half from the nether. From the

Netherlands as well. So those are my like

0.5s in that sense. So it's a mix of

that. Is that the result? I remember you sent out a survey to the YGP

community and you, I think. Did you kind. Did you ask

where the person, where the person was from? Well, not, I don't. I think.

Because it sounds like survey stats to me. Yeah, no, I. I think I have.

Yeah. In the past, at the beginning of the development,

I had asked for like nationality and not just that also, I think

during meetups they both also told me and someone just

basically volunteer that information. So I. So with that I've put all

the stats together and I'm thinking, oh, okay, so this is what this, these are

the people and members I'm working with and hence why there are some videos

that I have to try and translate it or ask people

to bring in an English version. And now people are aware that it's

not everyone that speaks tree. People also can't hear tree, but can hear

ga. Some people hear fantic clearer than

they can tree as well. Yeah. The different dialects. So, yeah,

that's been interesting. Okay. And these non

Ghanaians that do come to your meetup, do they necessarily have an interest

in Ghana or Accra to an extent, or they just purely want to network?

No. An interest. I don't know anyone that's in the group that hasn't got an

interest in Ghana. Everyone that comes in to this

networking community has an interest

of either giving back to Ghana or

wanting to network with someone that can connect them to Ghana. So

it's always that that relationship

is happening. Beautiful, beautiful. And that's. That's one

great thing about your meetup. I think it's been a vehicle or a

bridge between the UK and Africa. I mean, Ghana's business in particular, which

is great. Okay. And you started, I think, more than two years

ago with maybe like 10 members. 10, 15 members, maybe you started off. I remember

using my first ones. Adrian. Yeah,

yeah. Came to

words. Who actually registered interest to join. So. And

how many do we have now today, in 20th, January 2020,

how many do you have? The Isaac Gina on top of your head?

From. From my last count, I think we're looking at around

128, 127. Is that the WhatsApp group? That's just.

WhatsApp group. That's purely basic. That's the

WhatsApp group. The meetup group itself. I think the meetup is even

more. More. Is it more? It's definitely more. I think we're looking at.

If you look at the numbers. Do you got the numbers? So. So

as of today, the one just joined just the second from

Ghana. So. 149. Yeah. 159. Meetup.

149. Oh, in the WhatsApp group. Yeah. Okay. And

the meetup group, I think we're on 200 and something. Wow.

250 from when I last checked. Huge. So it averages,

I mean, 100 a year on average, isn't it? So that's impressive.

It's. Yeah, I. I think. But for me, I think. Oh, I see other meetups

and I think they're huge. They're bigger. These guys like to Talk.

Actually, there's 149 participants who actively

will go onto this WhatsApp group and want to actually

either talk or just read.

Yeah. So they're really active on this one. So that's

shocking. Yeah, I'm aware. You set up. You

had to start doing sub WhatsApp groups. Yeah. And you

start. Had to. I mean, he got to. I mean, this is just shows how

big your group, your meetup, your Movement club, whatever you want to call it, has

grown. You had to establish subgroups and you then had to delegate

some power to different team members. Talk us through

some of the, the delegates. I mean, we have, we have some interesting

managers. Isaac. Isaac. Seems

like Isaac's been handed over the mic. I think he's going to help out in

this situation. Yeah. I mean, even like.

So I, I wasn't there from the beginning, the very, very beginning. I kind of

joined maybe. I don't know if it was less than a year in or so

I can't remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I, I joined fairly early. Early ish. And in

the space of time that I've been there, the growth, the growth I've witnessed

personally has been insane. Like,

and yeah, like with, with the amount of people that

have joined and the amount and discussion we have

in our WhatsApp groups, the kind of opportunities and

services and things that we can do. Yeah. And offer

to our members have just grown. Like, there's the demand for all sorts. Like for

example, we had a SUU club, if you remember.

And yeah, you know, we had, we had to set up a separate group for

that. And we, we went through the, we did it. How long was it? A

year. We stuck here. We stuck in for one year. So one

year we had about 10, 10 core members who were

less than a year in YGP. So they all kind of knew

each other. Yeah. And it was just a,

just like a trial to see just how we can support each other. It was

a small amount of money, very small seed of money, but we wanted to just

kind of just bring that culture of like, okay, this month

you will, like, you will get £100. Yeah. To use to wherever you

want and then you put in for somebody. And I must say, our group was

really good. Like, we was very consistent. Yeah, yeah. Like, I don't,

I don't recall there being any issue with people paying when they needed to pay

or anything like that. And just little

kind of initiatives like that are just,

you know, testament to the growth and the

responsibility because like, if we want to, we can really

push that concept and push that idea. And there's been

discussions about maybe creating an app and

digitalizing it, making everything a bit more automated so there's less manual

input and like chasing people to, to make payment

and like having something like a. You know, we've got loads of these fintech apps

nowadays, so I'm sure there's a way in which we could, you know,

you know, digitalize it and make it make it work. Yeah,

so, yeah, so that I'm sure that that's going to be a project that somebody

will have to kind of pick up and run with because Lucy's just got so

much on her plate. Yeah, yeah, no, she's got huge,

huge amounts of responsibility. Yeah. So we've got that, we,

we had the SU initiative and also we've also got

the, the YGP podcast, which is something that I'm, I'm quite

quite closely linked with or some. It's a responsibility

that's been delegated to me, should I say. So I, I,

I feel like, you know, we have a lot of conversation and a lot of

debate and what have you on WhatsApp.

And you know, we, we need to have, I feel

it'll be good to have a platform where we can sit down,

have a round table discussion. You know, Fireside, I think they call it

Fireside chats or whatever now. Yeah. Where you just kind of chew the

fat and, and talk about some of the things that people are

discussing on, on the YGP WhatsApp group.

So yeah, so we, you know, we're in the process of like putting together some

episodes that we'll be releasing sometime in the future. We're not sure yet,

but yeah, that's coming out, you know, even on, from a

WhatsApp perspective. So we've got quite a few WhatsApp channels. So specifically

we have our WhatsApp social. Yeah. So that's just like

a group for everybody to just discuss anything like,

relevant for that time. Yeah. And then we have another chat,

another group chat called the WhatsApp Promotional Promotions and

Advertising. Yeah, group. I mean, yeah,

yeah, so, so yeah, so that's Alex. Shout out

to Alex, AKA

yeah, Head of Events. So, so he's so

ATO is one of, yeah, one of the, one of

the, one of the kind of more vocal members and he's really,

he's really active in the Ghanaian community. Like he, he knows of lots of

events and yeah, a lot of the, a lot of the activities

and stuff that are taking place he's aware of and he posts

so people are kept up to speed with what's going on. Like your social,

your social calendar will definitely be kept stocked, well

stocked when, when ATO is around. So

yeah, we've got, you know, the promotions and advertising group,

Group chat, where also people can, if you, if you work in a particular field

or if you've got like a side hustle or something that you do in a,

in, in the background, it's an opportunity for you to showcase it,

share it with, with people. And also like, if

you, if you have a need for a particular service, it's great that you can

reach out and say, look guys, I'm looking for xyz.

Can you, can you, can you put me in touch with somebody? Is there someone

you could recommend? And you know, there's bound, like just looking at some of the

recent posts like you, you, you name it, somebody knows

someone that can help you. So you, you, you definitely can

benefit from the fact that we have such a kind of a wide stretch,

far reaching network. So yeah, so it's growing,

it's huge. And I'm excited because I feel like this is just the

beginning and we're scratching the surface. It is the beginning. I mean, now I'm hearing

talks about potential events in Accra, possibly

just to reach out to maybe the diasporas out

there or even the local nationals and try and do something

that's bigger than ygp, isn't it? Definitely. Yeah,

absolutely. And okay, now we're going

to kind of make maybe more segue more into the, the actual

meetup networking business side of things.

Why did you focus on professionals? So young Ghanaian

professionals. Why did you focus on the professionals? Because, you know, there's a lot of

meetups. You just meet up, you chat your chat, but you chat and

chat about certain things, but your focus was

professionals. Yeah, I know there are

probably a few meetups out there. They just maybe gone. Even

Ghanaian ones. I think they more tend to just be having fun. Let's go and

party, let's go and do this. Is that why maybe perhaps you focus more on

the professionals or is that just something that just came to mind? Maybe you want

to answer this, does that make

sense? Yeah. And I get it. So the reason why the emphasis was on professionals,

just like a young, like young Ghanaians meet up

professionals, because I thought it'll bring a level of maturity, a

level of intellect. Okay. I read a lot and I feel

like for me, you see, when I was doing this, it was for me I

was being quite selfish with this. I get really easy, I get

bored when someone isn't kind of speaking in a way

that I'm learning as well. Like there's only so much we can

talk about with pop culture. I wanted to actually

open my mind up to hear other, other

viewpoints of a subject. So it was more on the

intellectual side of the conversation. I thought it would be good to hear

other intellectual conversations being had. Okay.

Makes a lot more sense. Yeah. Because I've Been to quite a few meet ups

and I'm like, I, the conversation is quite like, okay, I do

this and then it just, it doesn't really. There

is the discussion points isn't taking me to where I want to

be. Not much substance in the conversation. Yeah, it's just quite, it's just like

I've met a friend but what am I doing, my friend,

you know. So I wanted, I, I wanted people that would bring value

to my, to my life and to, well, to my life

and if they can do that for me and they can do that for anyone

else coming into this. So yeah, yeah, that was. And like, for

me, like as a member that joined

later on, I think, you know, as you mentioned there are like

101 other meetup groups where it's kind of

more of a social gathering and party.

You know, you're by the bar, you're getting drinks, you're just talking about whatever.

Yeah. And what appealed to me about YGP was the

fact that it was focused at professionals. So, you know, you know, when you're

coming to this, this meetup, it's going to be

constructive. It's going to be, you're going to be around people who

are. I'm a professional so I work, you know, professionally. So I

was, I hoped that I'd come and be around like minded people, people who have

careers, people who are educated, who have, you

know, informed opinions about things, especially when it

comes to Ghana. And that was the main appeal for me. And when I

came I was happy to find that my expectations

were if not exceeded. So, you know, I met a lot of people

working on interesting projects and you know,

you can go to networking events or you can go to professional

meetups and what have you. But what was unique about this is, you

know, I'm of Ghanaian heritage and now I'm meeting people who

are experts in their various fields and they're, you know,

doing great things and they have one thing in common, they're all

Ghanaian and have a love for Ghana. Yeah. And to meet up with people

like that for me was, was like icing on the cake. So.

Brilliant. Yeah, that's, that's, that's what I felt was

the kind of unique selling point about ygp. That's absolutely amazing.

And what was I going to say?

I just went blank there. It's true. Would you. Okay. Were you going

to say something? No, I was going to just say no. Yeah, it's, you basically

go into the networking events and you just don't know what

you expect will it be what they say on the, on the, on the,

on the advertisement. You just don't know who you're going to meet. So.

Yeah, it's brilliant. Yeah, you just need to

meet that expectation as well. So. Yeah. And

what have you learned over the past two years of doing running

meetups and stuff? Because, I mean, I did Diaspora

Connect, my event in Ghana. Diaspora Connect. I would, I won't lie to you, I

think you inspired me to start that and I felt like when I do that

event, I always feel like it's an extension of ygp because I, I

refer people to YGP anyway. But

I've learned the more I do events, the better I get at it. You know,

just in terms of attendance, people not coming, or people say they'll be

there and not turn up. And maybe if it's paid events.

I know you think you got your first paid event coming up, which is great.

You know what, let me just interject there. I didn't want to

do any paid events. I was told to charge. I think you

should. Why not? People told me and I last meet up that.

Charge us. Yeah, charge us. I was like, yeah,

you've given us enough value for the past two years or so. It's time to.

It's time to. It's time for payday. And that's. That's how it, that's how it

should be, Lucy. Okay. That's how it should be. I think you deserve it.

Well, thank you, guys. Yeah, you deserve it. You deserve. You put this hard work

into it. Why not get paid for it? You know, it may not be much,

but it's. You know, he's just gonna get you home. Right? But get me back

to Kent.

Go back to Old Kent Road. Hold tight. Monopoly.

Yeah, yeah. But also, but honestly, how do you, I mean, do you.

How do you manage the highs and the lows of people turning up or not

turning up and, and managing the meetups and stuff? Because

I've kind of experienced that when I've planned the events in Accra.

People management, I mean, I,

I always think even if there's three of us, I will definitely

have a good time. Like, you know, I. With numbers, you

tend to have to just get it out of your head because otherwise it will

drive you crazy. And when you expect numbers to come, they don't come. You're like,

okay, but for me, because I'm naturally like, quite. I'm

quite happy. And for everything I do, I also pray about it as well. So

that's one thing that calms Me down. I think without praise, I think I would

have been very stressed out. But, you know,

I don't. If I, if, if I do meet up and let's say

20 people say they're coming and I get three people that turn

up. Yeah. Believe you me, us three are gonna, we're gonna have such a

good time. I remember we actually, there was one, There was one meal

for Bournemouth and it was like, X amount of people said they're coming. So many

people are coming. Even I dropped out on that one. It was less because. And

this was time where I think football was playing and other activities was happening in

that time period. So. But it was the most. It was. I think it was

like five, five of us in the end that went to Bournemouth and it was

so fun. We used to go, oh, my goodness. Just.

These are four. Well, these girls. Four girls that didn't know each other.

And it was just really fun. Like, I absolutely was like, actually, this is actually

better with this amount of people. I can relate to you. When I

did Diaspora Connect in January 2020,

Isaac, you were there, right? Yeah. I had over 100

people for the event and signed up overall, but only

25 turned up. So that's like a 25 conversion rate. But

I was still happy in the numbers because we were still having. Was still able

to have some kind of round table, kind of nice discussion.

Yeah. I mean, from my perspective, I, I see things as.

When it comes to, like, looking, you know, when you're

arranging meetups and stuff like this, it's more of a

quality over quantity. So you could have a whole bunch of people

turn up and there's not really good conversations taking

place. There's not an exchange of ideas. There's not. It's.

Is not benefiting anybody. You've got the numbers, but there's not much

happening, like, in terms of helping each other. But then you

can have something more intimate where it's maybe five to 10 people or what have

you, but the quality of conversation and,

and what people are getting out of it and how people leave,

how people feel when they leave that, that, that, that's. That that event

is far higher or far more positive than if it was like

hundreds of people. So, yeah, I see it

as like, I can understand why Lucy doesn't really get phased by the numbers and

what have you, because the quality over the quantity is the main thing. And when

you have that mindset, you'll always be content. No matter how many people turn

up each week or each meet up. I guess it does take two to

tango. And I just want to go back to when you guys were talking about,

you know, in terms of the future of YGP or what's happening right now in

terms of maybe building apps, websites, directories,

you know, just maybe a hub for Ghanaians or YGP

where they can get services or products, etc. It really

does take a village, you know, it really does to

put things like this together. And the community at

ygp, as an attendant myself, from that

perspective is it's always welcoming, which I do love. And

I have to thank you for always being good in terms of

organizing, making happen. Okay, so just a couple more questions.

So what do you think? So just on the. While we're

talking about just networking and meetups as a. In general, what would

you guys say in terms of networking? What are your

tips in terms of just, just going to network an event and just

maybe making the most of it. From what you, Lucy and Isaac, you

yourself, perhaps you've learned so far, what would you think has been,

you know, usual keys for you to have a good time

networking or get to know people? What have you kind of picked up?

What works for you? Or you just go in and you just,

you just go with the flow? You just go the flow.

Do you tend to go in with a plan or you just go with the

flow? I have a structure

in place. Everyone can see that on meetup. Go

in and I just follow that structure. And

if anything, I try and

let people relax. Yeah, I think I want to bring

that, like relax. I try. I even try and

speak tree in between. I try and put like

things that are familiar to when you are at home with

family members. And I literally try and just say, right,

we'll take off the tie and the suit. Let's just chill. So I

come in with a structure and I come with a chill approach because it's not

that deep. After five or after six, we finish work. Yeah. And

I don't, I don't, I don't think I've seen, I don't think I've seen anybody

say, actively hand out cards. No, no,

not really. Not really. Not really. Yeah,

Details and whatnot. But it's not like, you know, these power. Yeah,

it's like hard speed dating, like, you know, corporate

speed dating where everyone's like, has to speak to everybody and, you know,

you know, pitch their idea. It's not really a kind of salesy

network. I think that's what draws people to it. It's not really that kind

of networking environment. It's more kind of relaxed, which is what you said before. What

kind of professions would you say typically is one that people would find at

ygp? What's like the most typical profession? Because Bry's like

we have, we have people in every field you can think

of. Like we've got scientists, we've got

accountants, lawyers, bankers.

This guy who does aero

aeronautics. Wow. The other thing even I think it's something to do with

planes I guess. Okay. Or space.

It could be. So this is why when I see these professions come,

I'm like, have you ever. Yeah, you're right. Scientists, doctors. We have doctors in, in

the building now. Not one, not two, but I think you have three or four.

And these are actually within medical field and also in

fields of I think law as well. But we have well

seasoned from all industry, even going into

agriculture as well. We have architects in the building. We

have yeah. Bankers. But the most popular ones is

finance and tech. Yeah, I would agree.

I fall into that one of those categories. So yeah, I'm

testament to that being. And like we also have like

a student community that we've got a couple of people doing their PhDs. So

like we've got people, we have some intel. Yeah.

We've got news. We've got really intelligent people doing like

huge, huge things in their fields. It's. It's

inspiring. You like you come to a meetup and you speak to some of these

people and you hear what they're doing. You're like, oh man, I need to up

my game. Like these guys are doing big things. Yeah. And I think that's what

you hit the net. That's what you did really well Lucy with

giving it the younger name professionals meetup name. What

you've actually done without realizing is you probably filtered out all the people that

just want to have fun and party and just do the usual stuff.

Yeah. So you've just brought, you've just attracted just serious people with. I do

screen people. Believe it or not guys, I am actually the massive

gatekeeper when it comes to things like this. You guys don't see behind the work.

I don't sleep, I don't sleep on meet up. Meet up. I get so

many requests and I look at people's profiles like what are similar

interests and yeah, I am a gatekeeper. I will remove you.

Wow. Like does that happen? Yeah, actually I've removed

and I've also banned people from meetup group as well. Is that

they don't turn up or what's the criteria? It's Just it's, it's,

it's, I guess is maybe the youngness,

the professionalism. Yeah. And the Garnier. So

if, if you, if you come up and you're just here

to just say you're just networking. The thing is I don't want

any, I don't want anyone to confuse or to

disturb the order that's happening. So I do, I

do do filters behind the scenes. I do have people that will ask me,

Lucy, is it okay if I do this? Because you can see there's a calmness

in the group. Yeah. I don't want anyone to feel out of place.

I'm quick to interject if I feel someone's being bullied or the

conversation is going left, I'll quickly be like, no. So I do a lot of

screening and just. Yeah. Making sure that the order of

conversation is pg.

Light hearted. Yeah. And no bullying at all. It's

not nice. That's important. Surely we haven't. Surely

that's important. We're lucky in the sense that most of the people that are in

the group chat, everyone's people have

their different opinions and believe you me, we have heated debates like

you bring things like religion, politics, you name it. It can get

like. People can really get passionate about their,

their points of view, which is fine. Like we, we, we're different

people. Everyone's going to have a different idea and perspective of things. So

we, we welcome that. But yeah, from what

I've seen and from, from, from what I know, everyone remains respectful

and that's the, your, your difference of opinion.

But so long as you respect one another then you know you're welcome to have

those debates and differences of opinion. Brilliant.

Imagine pulling all of these professionals, doctors,

aeronautics, we've got bankers, finance,

fintech people. Education's here please. Business people,

education, education professionals. Shout out to Lucy.

Imagine putting all these people and putting them on the plane. A BA one way,

a 2000 pound BA flight to Accra and

making a change. What do you think we could do with all of that? We

could do a whole lot. Right. That's correct. Amazing. And

finally, what do you think has been the success to the growth of

YGP both? You could answer that. One of you could answer

that. I'm happy. So I

see it from a different perspective from Lucy because she started

it but as like a member or. No. Yeah. Or one of the.

Not found him but one of the veterans. Should I say you're a veteran now,

Isaac? Yeah, I mean for me,

for me it's, I think one of the successes is just

that the genuineness of the group. Like it's, it's not here.

We're not, we've not, it's not been started or. We're

not here to make money from people. We're not trying to, you

know, take advantage of people or jump on a bandwagon or

you know, there's a craze. Oh yeah, let's. People are getting interested in Ghana. How

can we capitalize on it? Yeah, that's not the intention of ygp.

Yeah, we just want to connect people who are of like

mind who have number one, a love for Ghana, an

interest in Ghana, you know, who want to help

uplift the continent and bring their

skills and what they have, what they can contribute and, and,

and, and find, you know, a network of people that they can reach out

to when they need things like, you know, if you need

different services. We want to be able to have a community where we can invest

in our own so the money can remain within like you look at

some of the communities like the Jewish communities, Asian communities, like

the money circulates within those communities several times before it

leaves. Yeah, we want to be able to replicate that within, you know,

ygp, you know, within Ghana. Like we want that kind of culture of

we buy from ourselves, we support one another, we uplift one another. When

people have their business ventures, we support, we promote, we

invest. You know, we just want to be able to enable people

to, you know, achieve their goals and their ambitions

and have them do the same for us. So I think that's one of the

key, the key achievements

of ygp from my perspective, pretty powerful. Yeah. I

think and I would only say these things we do, we do do

it. Absolutely. In December, Christmas we had, we went

to a YGP's members restaurant

and there was a high turnout. There's like over 20 plus

members and I would say the majority, like 90

was YGP members wanting to support this girl's

restaurant. Yeah. And we traveled to

where was, when was it held again? I think. Is it Wolfenstein,

Stephanie's restaurant? Yeah. So from Kent to Wolvenstone,

guys. Oh Kent. Okay. From

Kent to Wolvenstone, that was a journey. But I do this and

I wanted to be part of this, this meetup because

we are supporting our own. So now we have a place to go and eat

now you see and I think that's amazing. And then now there

are other things coming that we want to support. We are

putting together a wedding now I hear a one stop

wedding. I hear looking for the bride and groom now,

everything else but the groom. We have everything you would

need within the group to get ready for your wedding. It's a little bubble,

isn't it? Yeah, it's like. And it's amazing because before, I don't

think our parents could have, like,

have a network maybe in Seven sisters,

loads of Ghanaians. Yeah. But Edmonton as well, you see,

but in literally in communities, in, on

a platform, usually it's not that idea, like what

might be saying, circulating these talents and just

investing whilst getting married. I hope I'm able to invest in all of

these, all these talents and all of these

outlets as well. Yeah. But it's just reassuring that we have this.

If I go to NHS right now, I have a doctor there that's,

That's Ghanaian and she's on this network, you

know. And if I was to go to a university, there's students there

that are not just doing their masters, but they're doing

their doctorate, they're doing their PhD. So, yeah, no matter

where I am going, I feel like, well,

there is somebody. There's a YGP member either

there or will be there now. That's powerful and

that just shows where we're going with this. Exactly. I think you've just

answered that one, which I have no problem.

That'd be so cool. But, yeah, yeah. See what the future has. Lucy,

what does Accra. When someone says accra to you, what. What comes to

mind? Oh, wow. I just see colors. I see

colors, I see brightness. I see. I see food

that I, I want to eat.

I see happiness, I see joy. I see. I'm, I'm

back home. I lived in Ghana for five years, guys, when I was younger, so

the smell, obviously, as a young kid, memories will

fade at times, but what doesn't fade is feelings

and smell of food. You know, you always remember that.

So for me, I was a massive foodie when I was in Ghana, still am

now, and, and Accra is

Touchdown. Actually cried when I went back to Ghana for the,

for the first time after leaving there, I

cried. I was like, I felt,

wow, this is what home feels like. I felt

like I'm home. People here, we all look the

same. No one even cares, to be honest. But it's

just your home. You're free. People wearing slippers,

like tops, you know, everyone's just smiling. It's busy,

is, ah, it's home. I heard even one person

that came to Ghana since I think maybe 15

years or something said that. Yeah, she doesn't remember seeing this many black

People. Which is. Which is remarkable.

That just shows how long you haven't been to an African country. And

Isaac, what about you? What is. When someone says accra, what does it mean to

you? What comes to mind but this

vibrancy, life energy. I just like

people. I see people busy hustling, you know, moving,

doing things. And traffic.

Traffic, that's a big one. I cry. That's a big one. You can't miss that

one. Yeah, yeah, I see. I see.

Whenever, you know, whenever you touch down and then you just get off the plane

and you get that heat that hits you. Yeah, it's just,

wow, I'm back. You know, I'm back and I just. Just say,

yeah. As Lucy said, it feels like home. It feels. Yeah. Feels natural.

You feel like a. Just a person, not a black

person. Yeah, exactly. You do feel safe, you know, you feel like you just

a person. You're not a black person. You're not, you know,

a minority. You're just one of. Of many other

beautiful black men, women and children, you

know, roaming on the continent. That's it. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. I do agree with you. The safe. The safe thing.

I do feel that a lot of people say that it's quite uncommon.

Yeah. Okay. I'd like to thank

YGP Lucy founder

Isaac Elder for coming on the show. For coming

the show. I really appreciate your time. Time now just to wrap

up the show. Where can people find out

more about ygp? How can they get in touch? You knew this was coming.

What's the best way? What's the best way? Oh, you have to give them all

the ways. I would say I'll put in the show notes anyway.

All the ways they can hunt you down. I would say the quickest

way is Google and just type in young Ghanaian professionals on.

Just on Google. We would be the first Meetup link

there and then just join from there. You can join our

WhatsApp link there. And I am working on

the website. I promise

you, 2020. I wasn't expecting this much growth in a short

space of time. Even though you guys like, it's two years, Lucy, come on. Website

lose usually in the first month or so. But I was just chilling. I

was like, oh, it's only. Oh, it's only 10 of us here.

Here's our numbers. We don't need no website for this.

Everyone's like, where's the website, Lucy? I'm like,

so, yeah, I think just Google young Ghanaian professionals and you'll see on

Meetup link, you, you know, it's us because you, you

know, it's us. There's a picture,

there's a picture there. So, you know, it's us. But yeah, start from there and

then join the, on, on the discussion board, there

is a YGP link and then, yeah, come on,

come over and join the discussion. Awesome. Amazing.

And before I let this show end, is there anything,

any announcements, any messages you wanted to put out there to the,

to t he community out there, the listeners?

Let's support Ghana and Africa.

Yeah, we have a lot of skill sets between us

and we start this by having discussions. I make notes, we all

make notes actually. Unless I think let's unite,

we can do it as a group, not as individuals.

Yeah, that's a big point to echo that, I think.

Yeah, you know, there's Africa and Ghana

has a lot to offer us, so let's not. I think we should,

we should understand the value and the gift. I think for

me personally, it's a privilege to be a Ghanaian. You know, it's like

I find, I find being a Ghanaian one of the greatest

gifts because the country is so beautiful,

our people are so peaceful, so beautiful.

I feel like, yeah, if we, if we, you know, here in the

diaspora can combine and bring together our

skills, the things that we can, we can bring of value that

can help progress the country, progress the continent,

then, yeah, we should do so. So, yeah, just

understand everybody has a part to play and

be committed. Excellent.

Well, there you have it. Thank you, Lucy Natic, once again, Young Ghanaian

Professionals UK 2020 for doing this. Once

again. Guys, you can get all the show notes by going onto

the website, the sound of accra.com I

go by the name Adrian Daniels and I'll speak to you in the

next one. Bye

bye,

Sam.