Her Excellency Harriet Thompson, British High Commissioner to Ghana, and Jasmine Griffiths, Head of Strategic Partnerships and Diaspora, spent the first six months of 2022 visiting notable British-Ghanaian movers and shakers working throughout the country's business community.
Harriet and Jasmine began their trips by meeting with the staff at the Shell Foundation, a UK charity that supports Freezelink, a Ghanaian temperature-controlled transportation and warehousing firm created by Owusu Akoto. Owusu and Kwaku Owusu-Achaw, the Shell Foundation's West Africa Regional Manager, met with the British High Commission Team to discuss the company's success.
Harriet and Jasmine have visited and met with the following people since their initial visit to Freezelink at the beginning of the year:
Sylvia Arthur, the founder of LOATAD (Library of Africa and the African Diaspora), which has works by African, African-American, Caribbean, Black European, Afro-Latin, and Indigenous authors;
Foundervine's Izzy Obeng, a worldwide training consultancy that reached Forbes' 30 list of Social Impact 2022;
Andrew Takyi-Appiah, co-founder and director of Zeepay, one of Ghana's fastest growing Fintechs; Valerie Labi, a sustainability activist and co-founder of Cargo Bikes, a company that provides a solution to the problem of rising carbon emissions from cars.
Finally, Eben Awuah, at Dr. Mensa Otabil's newly constructed International Central Gospel Church-Christ Temple East, where Eben's audio-visual business, Amason, has recently installed a state-of-the-art sound system.
The work of British-Ghanaians has long been championed by the British High Commission in Ghana, and this expanded after HRH Prince Charles and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall visited Ghana in 2018. Today, the High Commission continues to cultivate opportunities and collaborations with our diaspora friends, partners, and colleagues.
During the Year of Return and Beyond the Return program, the Mission collaborated closely with the President's Diaspora Affairs Office and the Ministry of Tourism, and it continues to support Diaspora-led events such as Tech in Ghana, Afronation, and Afrochella.
To ensure the High Commission's work and engagement with the Diaspora continues to be mutually successful, the Mission is expanding by developing and recruiting two new leadership roles: Head of Diaspora Relations & Strategic Partnerships and Diaspora Engagement Manager.
Harriet Thompson, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, remarked of the Diaspora team's work: "The human relationships between the United Kingdom and Ghana should be preserved." Ghanaian-British, Ghanaian-British, and diaspora members have a lot to offer both nations. I've enjoyed my trips to these trailblazers, and we still have a long list of places to see. We want to do more with these groups, therefore we're adding two new positions to our Strategic Partnerships & Diaspora team.
"We're searching for somebody who can 'own' the High Commission's connection with the diaspora and diaspora institutions, as well as assist manage the UK's cultural power's key tools."
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