Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Bayport Savings and Loans, Akwasi Aboagye, makes a stunning appearance on the Y Leaderboard Series, the biggest motivational show on urban radio.
YFM’s Leaderboard series, dedicated to develop the Ghanaian youth and provide inspiration, saw Akwasi Aboagye talk of his early life as a mathematical whiz, his navigation through academic disciplines to becoming a fulfilled CEO of a financial service provider company, Bayport Savings and Loans.
Born and raised in Accra to the late Kwame Aboagye, a banker and Rebecca Aboagye, a retired civil servant, the Bayport boss indicated that his family had to move from one town to another occasionally due to the desire of his late father to make life better for the family. He moved from Dansoman to North Kaneshie, Mataheko and eventually settled in Labone until he married.
Recounting his early educational life, Mr. Aboagye disclosed he was privileged to get the best of tuition as he ended up in what he described as the best second cycle school in Ghana, the Presbyterian Senior High School. He later pursued a degree in Computer Science at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Mr. Aboagye revealed that it was his hope of becoming a pilot due to his exceptional ability with calculus. However, going through different phases in life, he had to divert into other career spheres like becoming a professor in mathematics and developing a profession in the field of I.T.
“At that young age, I wanted to be a pilot since I knew it required lot of calculations. Along the way my thoughts began to change and I grew an interest in academia, wanting to become a professor in mathematics. As the world evolved and I saw what was happening with I.T, I decided to venture into that space. I decided to study Computer Science at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) just because of the opportunities IT provided at the time,” he said.
The Bayport boss unfolding the pivotal point in his life when his interest changed from IT to finance, talked about his experience chasing a course in both the Kofi Annan ICT centre and IPMC.
“I had wanted to do SISCO – a networking – to sort of help me improve on the career I was working at the time. I went to two institutions: Kofi Annan ICT centre and IPMC, and during the time, both of them had their classes full. As I left, walking from the Kofi Annan ICT centre toward the CID headquarters, I saw a poster on a tree that read ‘Study ACCA here’. I knew about ACCA; I had heard about Chartered Accountants and I knew within the workspaces there were quite a number of prominent Chartered Accounts.
The distance from where I was wasn’t too far, so I walked from the Kofi Annan Centre all the way to GBC. I pleaded with Sele, who run the school to allow me to sit in for a day in class. I sat and found it to be very interesting and that was when my life changed from IT to Finance. That was when I gravitated to being the IT person to now focusing on a career in finance,” he said.
Reacting to whether he regrets switching from one career path to another, Mr. Aboagye said, “Well I’m not someone who cries over spilt milk. Once you make a decision you must live the consequences of those decisions, just follow through. Start-stop, rethink, reposition and decide on what works for me overtime”.
The CEO advised the young generation on the need for them to always know for themselves reasons why they find themselves in places at a point in their lives. “I think for me if there’s one thing I always say to people – it is, you must know why you’re where you are. So regardless of where you find yourself, you must have a certain focus. We did what boys did. You go out, have fun and party but there was a purpose for why I went to KNUST and it was to study, so I needed to make time to study and that was exactly what I did,” he said.
Mr. Aboagye further described stewardship as a significant virtue every youth needs to embrace as he believes it unlocks opportunities. “The one important thing that I believe in is a virtue called stewardship, so wherever I find myself, I need to make sure that I leave it in a better state than I came to meet it. Whatever role I find myself in, I definitely would have to do an assessment on what the issues are, what we can do differently and how we can find solutions to these things.”
Eddy Blay, Programmes Manager for YFM also had a piece to share after the interview with Akwasi Aboagye. “I sat here, and just listening to Mr. Aboagye narrate his story made me feel fulfilled that YFM had this show for the youth to always inspire and motivate them to come out of their comfort zones. These stories are no fluke, and today Mr. Aboagye honoured us with an insightful life journey”.
