“You are welcome,” is how you are greeted almost anywhere you go in Ghana, spoken in a warm soft voice. And I must say I have felt very welcome here among possibly the friendliest people on earth. I love walking around Accra, though never when the sun is high, and chatting with the people I meet. Various people have invited me to join their pick up football game, offered to share their lunch or proposed a bible reading. It’s become a real favorite place, a recommendation.
The professional people in financial services I’ve worked with have been great too. No one lets their ego intrude on the fundamentals of a good deal, everyone is open to creative ideas, things get done though admittedly in a roundabout way and good sense prevails. The tone of most meetings I’ve been in was serious but not dry. The upshot is I think we’ve identified a way to get a commodity and futures market going based on sound business principles and a proper scaling to the opportunity. This could have real benefits for the agricultural sector and move Ghana’s trade balance in the right direction.
No surprise, my time here hasn’t been without fun. I’ve spent most weekends scouring the galleries, conquering the restaurants and looking for local products and color. I’m pleased to have acquired an original Kwame Osa painting of a dancer, called “Grace,” as well as carvings of hippos and ostriches. And then there are the clothes.
You are probably familiar with Kente cloth, the beautifully dyed, hand woven, bold colors are famous. It is common to see women and men in carefully draped statements of pride, particularly for special occasions and on Fridays. Well, Atokwame and I decided to have four outfits made with Kente cloth highlights and trim. He rightly decided that all pattern and no contrasting white cloth would have been too much and would probably have broken my camera. Below you see us modelling these wonderful clothes. You can count, so you know that I can’t call my shirts “one-of-a-kind” (57th song reference – you probably didn’t know I’m an Aer fan), therefore I will call them two-of-a-kind. As you can imagine we made quite a sight at breakfast.
The professional people in financial services I’ve worked with have been great too. No one lets their ego intrude on the fundamentals of a good deal, everyone is open to creative ideas, things get done though admittedly in a roundabout way and good sense prevails. The tone of most meetings I’ve been in was serious but not dry. The upshot is I think we’ve identified a way to get a commodity and futures market going based on sound business principles and a proper scaling to the opportunity. This could have real benefits for the agricultural sector and move Ghana’s trade balance in the right direction.
No surprise, my time here hasn’t been without fun. I’ve spent most weekends scouring the galleries, conquering the restaurants and looking for local products and color. I’m pleased to have acquired an original Kwame Osa painting of a dancer, called “Grace,” as well as carvings of hippos and ostriches. And then there are the clothes.
You are probably familiar with Kente cloth, the beautifully dyed, hand woven, bold colors are famous. It is common to see women and men in carefully draped statements of pride, particularly for special occasions and on Fridays. Well, Atokwame and I decided to have four outfits made with Kente cloth highlights and trim. He rightly decided that all pattern and no contrasting white cloth would have been too much and would probably have broken my camera. Below you see us modelling these wonderful clothes. You can count, so you know that I can’t call my shirts “one-of-a-kind” (57th song reference – you probably didn’t know I’m an Aer fan), therefore I will call them two-of-a-kind. As you can imagine we made quite a sight at breakfast.
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