Senior high school students and graduates from Zongo communities in Accra participated in a career guidance and scholarship seminar organised by the Zongo Inspiration Team on Saturday, October 3, 2020, at the Kanda Community Library.

The event, which was graced by participants from Nima, Accra New Town, Maamobi, Kanda, Alajo and Kotobabi, was held under the theme: Your Educational Success and Pathway, Impact 2021 and Beyond.

Speakers included the Director of Success Book Club, Inusah Mohammed; President and Executive Director of Young Achievers Foundation Ghana, Ferdinand Quayson; Training Consultant at Sixth Skills Consult, Ikechukwu Godson Nwosu; and Mastercard Scholar at the University of Pretoria, Hajara Musah.

They took the young adults through the fundamentals of choosing the right career and the many scholarship opportunities that are available to students in Ghana and beyond.

Inusah Mohammed, popularly known as Maazi Okoro, bemoaned the poor reading habits of students which leads to poor performance in school and out of school. “Ignorance is not a lack but looking away from knowledge. The richest people in the world are reading and encouraging people to read because it nourishes the mind and feeds the soul.

“If ZIT had been in existence six years ago to give me this opportunity you are getting, I wouldn’t have wasted many years of my life. You can make it by reading about successful people and how they made it; and then you break their timelines of success,” he advised.

For Ferdinand Quayson who just completed a degree programme at the Wesleyan University on scholarship, there are opportunities for both the poor and the privileged to gain higher education.

“I came from the village and left my BECE results to sell water in the streets of Accra because I had no support. However, I ended up at a university in the U.S. with over USD$70,000 in scholarship. It didn’t just happen; it took studying and passing the WASSCE to have one foot in the door,” he said.

“An old woman found me selling in the street and asked me to go get my BECE results. That was the beginning of my story and I documented it so well with my good grades that got me multiple scholarships. You have to document your story to appeal to universities,” he advised and shared portals where scholarship opportunities could be found.

Ikechukwu Godson Nwosu raised the hopes of the participants and encouraged them to look within themselves for their innermost interests and nurture them for their success. Hajara Musah also took the participants through her journey with the Mastercard Scholarship Programme as an employee and later a beneficiary.

Speaker Inusah Mohammed speaking with participants

Other speakers including youth activist Mubarak Salifu and members of the Zongo Inspiration Team also interacted with the participants during breaks and offered guidance on their career choices.

“This is one of many events the Zongo Inspiration Team has been organising to give hope and enlighten students in the Zongo communities on the many opportunities out there,” said the president of ZIT, Rabiu Maude, who also advised parents to seek help from organisations like ZIT to mentor their children.

ZIT is a career guidance and mentoring organization aimed at counseling, inspiring and building the capacities of young students in Zongo communities across the country. Its flagship programme, the Zongo Dream Mentorship Clinic, is held annually to identify brilliant students from the underserved communities for guidance and to mentorship.

Members of ZIT