Renowned businessman, Kofi Amoah graced the seat of Y 107.9 FM’s Y Leaderboard Series to advise and encourage young Ghanaians on perseverance and excellence. He had an interesting conversation with YFM’s Rev Erskine that encompassed his childhood, education, career and mantra in life.
Recounting his days from Tikrom in the Ashanti Region, Dr. Amoah shared that he learnt the qualities of discipline and hard work from the way the elders in that town took interest in the youth’s development. He furthered that the lesson of discipline continued well into his Senior High School days at Opoku Ware Secondary School where a disciplined routine was instilled.
Speaking on his education at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), he reminisced how well the leaders of the institution treated them as students and he further revealed that this experience has impassioned him to help the youth of today.
Dr. Amoah also shared his fascinating story of how he became successful in the real estate business in the United States of America thereby earning him the accolade ‘Donald Trump of Los Angeles’.
“I was watching television one evening and some German came on and said ‘if you want to learn how to buy real estate with no money down, I can show you. Come to the Los Angeles convention Centre tomorrow and take a peak’. So I thought about it. I had nothing to do so I had to go down there.
I showed up and paid my US$40 admission fee. About a thousand people showed up and I took the front seat and there were seven speakers who were well vexed in real estates. It was a two-day conference and I listened attentively. And at the end of the day, about 40 percent made sense to me. I had a lot of money but I believed in knowledge. I bought a US$1000 dollars’ worth of books.
For about two weeks I read all the books and made my notes. And I walked out a different person; an expert at least conceptually in the real estate industry in the United States and then I put it into practice.”
Recounting the results of this step he took, he said: “within 60 days, I was able to own the apartment I was renting. I improved the building and took double the rent.”
He thus admonished: “the bottom-line here is this, young people try to acquire knowledge. Be sincere with yourself in what you want to do and how you want to move from A to B, nobody’s going to do it for you and it has to be you doing it. From Tikrom all the way to Los Angeles, now owning vast amount of properties just by being focused, ambitious, and acquiring knowledge.”
Programmes Manager of YFM, Eddy Blay expressed his satisfaction with Dr. Amoah’s interview when he said: “It was a refreshing time with Dr. Amoah. The words of wisdom he delivered will undoubtedly change someone’s life. The Y Leaderboard Series is always on point with the great leaders of our country.”
