Convener Dedo Kofi addressing the audience
TrueLife Experience returned with its second edition, bringing major stakeholders together to share their journeys and life experiences with young people across Ghana.
The two-day conversation, themed “The Audacity To Dare,” opened with a powerful address from Convener Dedo Kofi, who redefined audacity for the audience.
“Audacity is not about amassing wealth or possessions. It’s not about proving that you have made it at a certain age, or that you have reached a particular status,” she said.
“Audacity for me is simply the courage to follow what you believe God has placed in you, even when your circumstances say otherwise.”
Dedo Kofi said every person has an assignment from God, and that purpose is often felt deeply in the heart and spirit, even when resources look insufficient, the timing seems wrong, and people do not understand.
“You do not need everyone’s approval before you begin. People will talk, whatever you do. If you’re going to let people’s opinion redirect you, you may never run your own course,” she said.
Sharing her own story, she recalled starting her business in a small corner store in Osu. People questioned how she could succeed. Some assumed a Nigerian, a Lebanese, or a man had set it up for her.
“But I had a vision, and as delusional as it was at the time, I was willing to work at it, to stay focused and see it grow,” she stated. She stressed that audacity is not about how loud you speak or how boldly you walk into a room, but the work you do and the results you produce.
“Your capacity to become is not decided by where you come from. It’s not determined by who your father is, where you were born, or which school you attended,” she pointed out.
Renowned businessman and Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Mr. Samuel Esson Jonah, who was a guest speaker, said during one of the most difficult periods in his corporate life, he kept returning to one thought: focus on the prize. “Every criticism did not require a response. Every provocation did not deserve a meeting. My feelings about what was being said could not become more important than the work we had to do.”
Other speakers who graced the occasion included entrepreneur, speaker, and media personality, Dzigbordi Kwaku-Dosoo, and founder of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Edward Effah, among others.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke