June 27, 2025 • 69 mins
From seven students in a living room to educating over 2,400 students across multiple campuses, Dr. Charles Yeboah's journey building International Community School (ICS) is a masterclass in entrepreneurial patience and purpose. When he and his wife returned to Ghana after studying in America, they faced a common challenge: finding suitable education for their daughter. Their solution? Create it themselves; starting right in their living room.
What sets this story apart is Dr. Yeboah's counterintuitive approach to success. "Black people in general have the habit of acting successful before they are actually successful," he observes, explaining how he deliberately avoided this trap. His family lived in four different rented homes over ten years while investing over $4 million in developing their school before building their own house. This disciplined reinvestment strategy, coupled with what he calls the "three H's", humility, honesty, and hard work, created the foundation for sustainable growth.
The most audacious chapter came when ICS expanded from Kumasi to Accra in 2015, challenging established international schools in Ghana's capital. Dr. Yeboah's strategy of differentiation through campus design, teacher development, and educational quality paid off; the Accra campus now serves more students than the original Kumasi location. With total investments exceeding $30 million from an initial capital of just $20,000-$30,000, ICS demonstrates the power of patient capital and principle-centered leadership.
Today, as ICS celebrates its 25th anniversary, Dr. Yeboah is focused on extending his impact through the Education Foundation, committed to improving teacher development in public schools. His philosophy, "I don't want to die rich," reflects a profound understanding that true success comes from giving back to the society that enabled your rise. Want to build something that truly lasts? Start by remembering where you came from and who helped you along the way.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Black people in general have the habit of acting
successful before they areactually successful.
If you really want to havesustainable success, you have to
be honest in all your deals.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
How do you run a business before?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We started a school in our living room, Half of the
house that we lived in.
Seven kids came.
Total value of investment sofar We've done over $30 million.
Total value of investment sofar We've done over $30 million.
You need to give yourself timeand not be quick to show success
.
We invested over $4 million inthe school before we ever built
(00:35):
our house.
What you say you will do, youdo it.
And what you say you are goingto use the money for, you use
the money for.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
It's important for business success.
It's come to the point whereyou are celebrating your 25th
anniversary.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
What's one big mistake that you've learned from
?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
well, I think you're welcome to connected minds
podcast.
My name is derek abayte.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
If it's your first timechancing on any of our video or
any of our podcasts, pleasesubscribe and become part of the
family.
Seated here today, I've got drcharles yabua, who is the
(01:18):
co-founder of ics internationalcommunity school.
Before I even got to know aboutthe school in Accra, it was
really big in Kumasi andsomebody told me about that
school and I said, wow, thethings they've done for the kids
of those parents that told meabout it.
Today I'm seated here with thisman because he has so much
knowledge, experience that hehas built over the years.
(01:40):
And you see, I was speaking tosomeone who said said that One
of the most lucrative businessesyou can do In parts of Africa
Is setting up a school.
So I have someone here and I'mgoing to ask a lot of questions.
Ics is also celebrating their25th anniversary it's also right
that we speak about that andthis man has championed a new
foundation that he started.
(02:01):
What legacy is he trying toleave?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
stick with me and if you're ever thinking of changing
the screen.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Please don't, because I've got some nuggets for you.
You're welcome, dr charlesyabua.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Thank you how are you doing?
I'm well.
Thank you very much great.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Um, I don't want it.
I don't want this to beone-sided, because, especially
because my kids go to yourschool, right?
So I don't want it to beone-sided.
I need to stay in the middlesit on the fence.
But you know, you're verywelcome.
I think it's incredible whatyou've done.
(02:39):
When I heard about the schooland what you do in Kumasi, at
the time you had only a smallplace somewhere in East Ligon
and my kids were pretty young,you know, and I was looking for
a place to take them, but Icouldn't see how they could
graduate from a small place inEast Ligon and then go to Kumasi
.
So I just thought to myselflet's wait and see what's going
(03:01):
to happen of.
Let's wait and see what's goingto happen.
A few years after that, I saw abig building come up and I said
, aha, it's beginning to happen.
What has?
How has the journey been so far?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Well, thank you very much, Derek, and for this
opportunity to speak to youraudience and many young people
that you've been trying tonurture through this podcast.
What an honor, you know, tohave the opportunity to speak to
them.
Well, let me give you a briefhistory about how it all started
.
So my wife and I lived andstudied in the US for a period
(03:39):
of eight years.
We moved back to Ghana becausewe had made a decision that we
will not stay.
So after my PhD in LoyolaUniversity, chicago, I decided I
was going to stay.
I moved back to Ghana and whenI got back, we decided to settle
in Kumasi.
Finding a school that oureight-year-old daughter then
(04:01):
would fit in Kumasi was achallenge.
She had attended some greatsuburban schools in Chicago.
So finding a school there weresome good schools and there were
still some other good schoolsin Kumasi, but the transitioning
from the US to Kumasi made usthink again.
We were committed to staying inKumasi, so we decided maybe, if
(04:25):
we can find the kind of schoolthat we want, why not start one?
Basically, that is how it allstarted and because we had not
stayed in the US after school,we decided that how would we do
(04:46):
this?
We would do it in our livingroom.
Wow, now our daughter, who waseight then, couldn't go to our
school because she needed to bein the proper school.
But we did that.
Now, luckily enough, my wifewas trained as a school teacher
before we went to the States.
So school thing was a welcomenews, you know, for her because
(05:08):
she had been thinking all alongwhat would I do when I came back
?
So a few months into our youknow resettlement back in Ghana,
we started school in our livingroom, half of the house that we
lived in, and seven kids came,four or five year olds, and the
(05:32):
seventh child was actually oursecond child who was student.
So Michelle, who was twocertain, as the four, three,
four, five year olds came in andthe rest, we call it history
right.
Now.
So the school that started inour living room just grew.
(05:54):
A year later we had to move out.
This is a school that startedin Patase, kumasi, and then
found a place to live, live andthe school blossomed.
And then this was late 1999 and2000 school is up and running
(06:16):
2001, we find a 20 acre land onthe Obwasi Road in a place
called Pechi, and we didn't haveso much money but we decided,
let's give it a shot.
You know started developing thecampus, you know, phase by
phase.
So we started modestly andsmall.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Doc, I want to take you back.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
If I take you back to when you were doing the school
in your living room, were younot worried about your security,
Having just moved to Ghana,people coming to know where you
stay?
Every single day people arecoming to your house Were you
not concerned about yoursecurity?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Not really, Because I mean, initially, people that
came to the school were peoplethat were within our
neighborhood.
They had heard a couple hadjust come from the US and they
had set up a small school andpeople came and looked at it and
(07:14):
they just trickled in andschool is pretty safe enterprise
to run, and especially when itis that beginning, you know, at
the beginning level, you knowyounger families and we had just
, you know, five kids to start,with five, six kids to start,
(07:37):
with our daughter being theseventh.
So it wasn't busy, it wasn'ttoo many people coming in, and
at that point it wasn't even itwasn't too many people coming in
and at that point it wasn'teven like so-called rich people
driving with their cars.
It's a mixture, you know, ofpeople you know that took
advantage of what we're doingand brought their kids there.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
You have six to seven kids from your living room.
Did you start off with charging, or was it just free services
to start with?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
No, it was modest fee .
It was a modest fee butinitially the thinking was to
run after school program forschool children as a way of
providing some enrichment tochildren that went to other
schools Because we really didn'tthink we had the resources to
start a school schools becausewe really didn't think we had
(08:27):
the resources to start a school.
But on second thing we saidwell, school, not finding the
right school was the reason whywe decided to really do this.
So why not just do it at normalschool and just start small and
then grow it?
So that's basically how westarted did you have a mentor?
um, at that point?
For school?
Probably not, but we had tobasically remember and learn
(08:53):
from the experiences that we hadseen our daughter go through.
You know, we went to the school, we attended parents' meeting,
we saw the setup and so wedecided if you're going to do
something good here in Ghana,why don't you at least mimic
what you've seen that you liked?
(09:13):
And so, from day one, our setupwas quite different, even
though it was in a house, yeah,Now the process from moving from
the house to finding that hugeland.
Yeah.
So as the school was spread andwe had some contacts in the US,
(09:39):
some American teachers thatwere excited about what we were
doing.
So for three summers in a rowthey would come to Ghana and
train the teachers that we hadrecruited to teach, and so we
started some good practices, youknow, that were quite unique
(10:03):
and new in Kumasi.
So my wife herself was a verypassionate educator.
So the kids that came to ourschool from day one really got
strong foundations.
So, as has been the traditionwith ICS, or the history of ICS,
parents just spread the wordabout the school.
That's true.
(10:23):
So as the school grew, parentsthemselves, you know, started,
you know, looking around and say, hey, how can we, you know,
help you find a place?
So it's actually a parent, oneof the parents in the school,
that said hey, I have heard thatthe chief at Pechi, number one,
is selling some land.
They had just finished this newroad to Oboase and some land up
(10:47):
for sale.
So I introduced it to him, wentand saw the chief Chief, took
us to this vast land and saidhow much do you want?
All that you see can be yours.
Wow, and we could have bought50 acres if we had money then,
so we settled for 20 acres andbegan developing it in phases.
(11:10):
You know, the first phase wasfrom 2002 to 2003.
And then on and on and on untilthe whole campus now in Kumasi
is an amazing, amazing campus.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yes, Before that time had you run a business before?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Not really.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So I want to know, when you saw the land and then
you saw the progress that theschool had made and now what you
are coming to get into what wasthe thinking in terms of the
plans you had for the entirebrand of ics?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I'll be very honest with you, derek.
So there was no major blueprinton paper about.
This is where we want theschool to go.
There's a business businessplan.
You know that's on paper.
We'll go.
You know this way and this andthat, and that the only thing
(12:09):
that we had was that we had somegood friends in the states that
were architects and engineerswho came and helped, you know,
mapped out, you know the land,and then designed a campus for
us in so kind of structures here, structures here, structures
there that we could develop inphases, and we're going to do it
(12:32):
as we had funds.
But what was important, eventhough we didn't have business
ideas or business experience, isthat we were committed to
making sure that whatever we didmust be a good experience for
(12:55):
the children that came.
In fact, because the school wasway out of town, about 18
kilometers away from the citycenter, we had to tell ourselves
what would it take parents todrive or to allow their kids to
(13:16):
come all the way 18 kilometersfrom city center to your school,
if there are other schools inKumasi?
So that meant that you had tocreate something that was unique
, that stood out, and thatreally is what propelled ISA.
So if there was anything to sayabout thinking business,
(13:41):
thinking about success, it wasmore about how can you
differentiate what you deliverfrom what is out there, because
you're already in adisadvantaged position.
You are way out of town and youwould have to have a product, a
service and a campus that isdifferent from what people are
(14:03):
used to To allow people to wantto come to you.
That's right and that is what wetry to deliver.
So the campus design by thisAmerican renowned architect was
great right.
And then the training andinvestment in teachers was also
on point.
Investment in teachers was alsoon point.
(14:26):
So when you have a nice campusand the content in the classroom
in terms of teacher delivery isgood, then people are willing
to go all out.
It doesn't matter how far theplace is.
You know to be able to get it.
Of course we had to use busservices so that parents are not
too inconvenienced.
(14:47):
But that was really the thinkingfrom day one, that why would
people travel that far to Pechiif what they have, or what you
have, is the same as what is intown, just the differentiation.
There has to be adifferentiation and that has
been the way we have operatedand that in a lot of ways, was
(15:13):
what made us also want to cometo Accra.
Because coming to Accra andI'll get into that, I'm sure
we'll get into that we knew allalong, everybody knew Kumasi
School and Accra had great andwell respected international
schools.
Talk about the Lincolns, theSOS's, the GIS, the Seoul
clinics, the Ruman Ridge and allof that.
(15:36):
So how dare you, a Kumasischool, to want to come.
I mean, no school in modernhistory in Ghana had dared to
move from one major city to theother.
Now you want to do that Great.
But do you understand what youare in for?
(15:56):
You're going to compete withthe best in Accra.
Well, good luck.
But once again, the plan wasit's a differentiation.
If you have done your best todifferentiate your system
(16:17):
delivery from what was known andcommon in Kumasi, then you
probably could do the same inAccra and not only survive but
succeed, and so that is what Ithink also undergirds how we
have failed in Accra since wecame here.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
10 years ago.
I kind of have a feeling thatyou attribute the success of
this, your business, purely to adivine being and chance.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
No, god is definitely a factor.
I am a Christian, a pastor, butGod works with us Right.
God works with us right.
God doesn't leave all thesuccess to himself.
(17:15):
It doesn't just have to do withonly his blessings.
It is God and peoplepartnership that create success.
So God gives us the strength,the wisdom, the understanding
that we applied right and increating us in his image, he
(17:36):
gives us the power to think andto reason and to create, just
like he does right.
So we need to put our mentalfaculty at work and if we can do
that and can create, then wecan, you know, be successful and
(18:00):
you can give the credit to himbecause we are his creation
right and you can give thecredit to him because we are his
creation right.
But a human being, christian ornon-Christian, has a huge role
to play in his own success.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
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(18:38):
You know I've spoken to a lotof entrepreneurs, including
myself.
My first business failed.
Many of them, their firstbusinesses, will fail.
Yours has been a tremendoussuccess.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Let me tell you what I attribute our success to,
three things that I always talkabout Humility, hard work,
honesty.
I call them the three H'sHumility, hard work and honesty.
(19:20):
Why humility?
Now?
I see it started very humbly.
Why humility?
Now I see it started veryhumbly.
But humility tells me all thetime that I can do better.
I am not there yet.
I should recognize thecontribution of people that I'm
(19:43):
working with.
The success is not just mycreation.
I may be the one doing all thethinking and dreaming, but I can
do all of that.
If the people around me are notsupporting forget you will not
get to where you want to be.
So humility helps you to sit upand recognize that your success
(20:05):
has come about because of thecontribution of others.
So take people seriously,people that work with you
seriously, and I think when youdo that and people see that you
respect them and respect theircontribution, they do their best
.
They do their best.
(20:26):
So over the years, people thathave come to ICS, they have
worked very hard.
They have contributed to thesuccess of the school because
they know they are respected.
When you are humble and youthink it doesn't all revolve
around you, it helps yourbusiness to get some mileage.
That is helpful.
(20:49):
Humanity also tells you that youhaven't arrived yet.
Sometimes we start somethingsmall and it's gaining momentum.
Everybody is talking about itand it gets into our head and
women.
We get to that point Sometimespeople are beginning to invest
in too many things in cars, inhouses, in lifestyle.
That really seems to suggest oh, we've arrived.
(21:12):
Look at me, dr Ebora, I've justarrived at this school and then
, as you, bam, you are down.
Humility also says success canbe patient.
Humility says you know you canwait to show success.
You know, derek, one of thethings that I talked about often
(21:35):
is that Guineans and Africansin general, maybe black people
in general, have the habit ofacting successful before they
are actually successful, andthat we see success as a
destination instead of seeingsuccess as a journey.
(21:58):
You need to give yourself timeand not be quick to show success
, and that usually contributesin many ways to the downfall of
many businesses.
So that's about humility.
There's so much I can talk aboutthat I don't claim to be humble
(22:21):
, but I try to make sure that Iact in a way that shows that I
take people seriously, that Iknow I'm not the center of
everything that I do and thatpeople are important and that
(22:43):
let me illustrate.
You know.
So, for example, in Kumasi weinvested over $4 million in the
school before we ever built ourhouse.
Wow, we lived in four differenthomes in 10 years and people
would come to the campus and say, hey, you've sunk so much money
here and you don't have a house.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
I said that can't wait.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Because we're not prepared and ready to just show
here's a beautiful house that wehave created out of whatever
capital that we're using for thebusiness.
We could wait.
Showing success could wait,even though the school borrowed
(23:28):
and raised quite a bit ofcapital.
We didn't even buy ourselves abrand new car for the school.
We could have done that, but wedidn't want to be comfortable
too early.
We needed to wait, because themoment you are comfortable early
, it can affect.
(23:48):
So it's all about.
You can be humble, you can wait.
You can wait to show successand I think a lot of African
entrepreneurs and businesses arenot ready to do that.
The next thing is about honesty.
I think we have a tendency andthis is not just in Ghana or
(24:14):
Africa people always think theycan cut corners and be
successful quickly.
Now, dishonesty can pay andpays sometimes, but usually it
is short-lived.
If you really want to havesustainable success, you have to
(24:37):
be honest in all your dealings.
If you borrow money from thebank, pay it back.
If you invite investors orpartners into your business,
don't take advantage of them.
You know, don't act in a way.
You know that you're trying todeceive people so that you can
(25:00):
get ahead.
It will catch up on you.
You know the banks will notgive you money any longer.
The partners will telleverybody about you.
You know people do all sorts ofdeals and then they start this
and tomorrow they go and startthat and everything now just
(25:22):
catch up on them.
Today, every bank that we dealwith ICS will be willing to do
business with ICS because theyhave seen that after ICS you
give them loan, they will pay itback, inconsistently, whether
the dollar is up here or downthere.
It is our commitment to fiscaldiscipline to ensure what you
(25:48):
say you will do, you do it andwhat you say you are going to
use the money for.
You use the money for it.
You know, and that is important.
Building a reputation ofintegrity is important for
business success and I think,sometimes because people see
success in short terms, that iswhy people, I think, want to
(26:10):
compromise and cut down corners.
But if you think long term, yourealize that those short-term
tactics to get ahead of peoplewill not work, you know.
So humility, honesty, just behonest.
Just when you say, yes, I woulddo this, just mean it.
Now, we are human beings.
(26:31):
Things could stand in your wayand you may not be able to do.
You know, if I said I'll callyou Derek, unless for some
reason I didn't write it downand forgot or didn't put it in
my calendar and then didn't callyou, then that is it right.
(26:53):
But if I said I will call you,I will do this, I have to keep
my word.
My word must be my bond.
I can't just say it and sayingit really mean I can't just say
it and saying it really mean Idon't really mean it?
So I think when people begin toknow, as for Charles, as for
(27:14):
Derek, you can trust him, thatis bankable, that is business in
itself, business success initself, when people believe that
, as for Derek, as for Charles,I can trust him with this.
I remember I was trying toraise some funds from the states
and from a US government entityand I needed to raise money
(27:39):
from some American partnersbecause the US government entity
required that some Americaninvested in the school.
And I was wondering who am Igoing to ask?
And I needed to raise almost$400,000.
That's 2006.
Who is going to give me$400,000?
I just approached a few people,some American friends, and some
(28:04):
of them had not even been toGhana before.
But because of what they knewand who they knew I was and my
wife and I were, they trusted usand gave us the money.
And when this US governmententity people came, they
couldn't believe it.
People give you the money eventhough they have not been here.
(28:26):
It is trust, it is integrity.
So I think it is important forall of us to understand that.
Again, if you want quick, youknow, like some of what some
other young people are doing,you will get it, but it won't
last.
Then you have to be running,you know, hiding what, what,
(28:49):
what.
Why would you want to do that?
You want to be able to walkfree, free conscience.
You are not afraid of the banks.
You don't have to stop, youknow, put your phones off.
You know, I mean, it's not evengood for your heart and health.
I mean it's not even good foryour heart and health.
Live free by being such a manand woman of integrity, and that
(29:12):
will take you very, very far.
It gives you mileage.
And then, of course, the third His hard work.
It is important to work hard.
Now, I know Ghanaians work hard.
I mean, as for that, you cangrant it to most Ghanaian
(29:32):
business people.
But hard work is not just beingbusy, it's also thinking smart.
It's also being aware of trendsin whatever industry that you
find yourself in, and especiallyas a business leader, it's also
not just folding your arms andchecking to see whether
everybody else is doing the work, but you are just collecting
(29:55):
the money, right?
I think if the people that youwork with find out that you are
equally hardworking, it servesas an inspiration for the people
.
So my staff know and sometimesthey don't know you know where I
get my energy from.
You know and they know.
(30:16):
Whatever I tell them to do, Iwill go the same extra length
with them, if not more.
So you have to set an exampleof hard work.
You know with the people thatyou work with.
I think if we do that, if wepractice integrity, if we work
(30:37):
hard, if we think smart, and sofor ICS, for example, one of the
things I'm always thinkingabout what else can we do for
young people?
You know, I'm traveling aroundthe world, I'm looking for
opportunities?
Is it design for change that weshould join?
Is it round square?
Is it this?
Is it that Always thinkingabout what else we can do for
(30:58):
our young children, you know, sothey can stand out, so that
they can you know, can have afuture that is really great for
them.
So humility, honesty, hard work, all three are important.
You can't just do and leave theother one.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
You have to go with all three.
That was loaded.
Yeah, that was loaded.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
The time has come where you've become essentially
the best school in Kumasi.
And then you are thinking toyourself wait, I want to expand
and then take this school toAccra.
Talk me through that decisionand actually the scare you had
as well.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yes, so before we made that decision, I had taken
a course, and so I give a lot ofcredit to Stanford SEED.
It's a program that StanfordUniversity started running in
2013.
And I enrolled in 2014 and oneof the cohort two and in that
(32:06):
program you were told to writeyour transformation plan and you
were told to believe or to sayto yourself that I can scale, I
can grow, I can expand.
So I wrote all those thingsdown and then you assign a coach
(32:27):
, you know, to help you reallywork, I mean, walk the journey
that you have, you know, put onpaper.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
So this was 2014.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
And so I wrote my transformational plan that, next
year being 2015, we will be inAccra.
Now, that was an audacious move.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Did you just think about it when you were on the
program, or it was already?
Speaker 1 (32:54):
preconceived.
No, this actually came aboutbecause of the program.
While you were there, yeah, sothe program is more like an MBA
program.
So after you've gone through it, you have to talk about what
next of ics?
What are you going to do?
You know, after you've gonethrough this program and now you
know that you have thepotential you can grow, your
(33:15):
mind has been psyched.
You believe that it is possiblefor icrs to grow.
We said we'll go now.
I didn't say I'll go to thenearby town in Kumasi.
We said we'll go to Accra, andAccra because we know in terms
of disposable income, in termsof people that can really accept
what we are trying to do,because even in Kumasi, early on
(33:38):
, people said, oh, what you aretrying to do, dr Ebua, dr Misesi
Ebua, I think Accra, peopleappreciate this better.
And people were saying whydon't you take it to Accra
instead of Okumasi?
We said, no, okumasi, peopleneed this too, right.
But then, in 2014, the time hadcome for us to now start
thinking about maybe Accra isready for us now.
(33:59):
So we did it.
But it was an audacious movebecause when we came to Accra to
survey the place, the bestplace we also wanted to start
was expensive East Lagoon andfound a place on Lagos Avenue,
the former Men's Vic, you knowbuilding.
It was an expensive, you know,lease.
(34:21):
But we had made a decision, wewere going to do it.
And my wife said come on, canwe afford this?
And I said, well, if we thinkabout it, we wouldn't do it.
I mean, business successrequires some tactical moves and
it does require, you know,sometimes facing your fears, you
(34:45):
know.
So what are we going to do now?
I mean, we had Kumasi to backus up, but we started in Kumasi.
The rent was so outrageous.
We knew the first two years wewere going to run at a loss in
Accra.
But we had made a decisionwe're going to be in Accra and
we stuck to it.
We started with the summerschool.
(35:07):
26 people came for the summerfrom different schools around
East Ligon.
By the end of the summer 23 outof the 26 decided they would
stay with us.
Wow, and that was incredible.
And how did we do it?
Incredible?
(35:31):
And how did we do it?
Well, prior to coming to Accra,the strategy was that we're
going to bring to Accra thenursery, kg, year one and two
classes that we're starting atthe best of our teachers in
Kumasi.
So we recruited some teachersand put them to follow these
best teachers in Kumasi, so theywould then be supported by the
(35:56):
rest of the teachers if weremoved, you know, those best
teachers or moved them, you know, to Accra, and that's what we
did.
So already from day one,parents that brought their kids
to the Accra campus on LagosAvenue saw good practices.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
At this point did you have mentorship, so through the
SEED program.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
I had a coach A business coach so I had Hansen.
I had a coach a business coachso I had Hanson.
I had Terry, both from thestate Hanson was actually from
UK and Terry Duye fromCalifornia in the US and they
were a great guy.
These are people that have runsuccessful businesses in the
(36:47):
States and the key thing islistening and wanting to apply,
because they were not Africansand they didn't understand the
contest.
It was kind of having aconversation with you about how
we're going to do this and allof that and you making the move,
but those mentoring andmentorship was very helpful.
(37:07):
So that was how ICS Accra cameabout.
It was an audacious move, butit was one that we did and did
right.
The whole ICS group, if I maycall it that way, is today
(37:29):
better because of that audaciousmove.
Accra has changed the ICS story.
Right now we have more childrenin Accra than we do in Kumasi.
Accra gives us far more revenue, not because of numbers,
because the numbers is justabout maybe five or ten more,
(37:51):
but it's also because of the youknow fees and all of that.
And as I speak, we get moredemand.
We become in recent times thefastest growing school in Accra
and we've again applied the samemodel of differentiation trying
to make sure that you know youset yourself apart, and we do
(38:17):
that in ICS through strongprofessional development, you
know of our teachers and throughlistening, empathy and humility
.
Don't think that, even when youare growing and everybody is
looking after you.
Recently I had a retreat withmy staff and I said my managers,
(38:40):
and I said when everybody iswanting to come to ICS, what
should happen to us?
Should we stand up and jubilateand let the whole world know we
have arrived becauseeverybody's coming to us?
No, we should actually bescared that everybody is coming
(39:02):
to us.
How about if we fail to meetpeople's expectations?
Wow, so when your business isgrowing, when your business is
getting all the attention, thatis not when you put up attitudes
, you know, towards peoplecoming there because you think
(39:24):
you've arrived.
You know, take it or leave it.
If you won't come, you'realready full anyway.
No, that is not the attitudeyou have.
And so I called my leadershiptogether and I said now let's
open our eyes wide and see whatare all the gaps that we see in
our school.
And we just had a retreat two,you know, two weeks ago, and we
(39:47):
could see quite a bit of gapsourselves.
And I know, when people comevery close, I see us, as you
know, celebrated, but they'llsee gaps too.
So let's see them first andaddress them, so that we are
doing our best to not just evenmeet people's expectations but
actually exceed them.
So that should be the way youthink and I think that is what
(40:10):
is helping us.
Remember, I have said, successis a journey, not a destination.
So if you know you're on ajourney, it means there are
always more you can do toimprove on what you do.
But if you think you've arrived, there's nothing more to do.
(40:34):
Guys, I see what it is.
We've already done what wecould do and that's why you're
coming here anyway.
If it wasn't good, why wouldyou have come?
No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
It's a journey look, I want to test your knowledge
very quickly.
How much you know your school?
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Wow but not that.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Well, if I ask you how many students do you have in
total?
I have that.
I have.
I have to know.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
So I have about 2,400 .
Speaker 2 (41:10):
So that, Both Kumasi and Accra.
Both Kumasi and Accra yes, okay, and total value of investment
so far.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Well, we have done over in terms of funds that I've
raised and invested andreinvested from the school.
We've done over $30 million.
You've done incredible.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Yeah, Now you've decided that.
Well, not, you've decided.
It's come to the point whereyou are celebrating your 25th
anniversary.
What's one big mistake thatyou've learned from?
Speaker 1 (41:45):
From.
Well, I think.
Let me see, I will say that mymistake.
I'm sure there are several ofthem, not just one.
So I'm trying to think.
I think one of the things thatI could have institution is
(42:27):
people help build you up, andyou have to think about how do
you make sure people feel theycan grow in this business with
you.
Now, there are a lot of peoplethat have stayed in the school
with us for 20, more than 20years, 15, more than 15 years,
(42:51):
10, more than 10 years, fivemore than five years, and on and
on.
And it's just recently that webegan to put in vice principals,
you know, assistant head, andall of that drawing from within,
because we used to recruit fromoutside, and when we did that
(43:15):
and people saw that they havebeen here, and they have helped
create, you know, the success.
But others are coming in andwhen others in there you know
could have risen, that did, youknow, create a bit of uneasiness
(43:36):
on the part of some.
Not a lot Now.
That didn't mean we didn't takecare of, you know, of our staff
very well.
So we realized quickly that weneed to do a lot of in-house
recruitment.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Yeah, training as well.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
We do a lot of training, but the create
opportunity for people to feelthat career.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Basically yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
I can grow, I can go all the way up, I can become the
director of the school and thenI don't have to wait and see
somebody comes from outside.
But that can be a motivationbecause we have some very strong
talents in the school and I cansee some people that can easily
walk into my role in the future, others that can become
principals, assistant principals.
(44:22):
So we are beginning to do that.
We could have done that a bitearlier, but we're also a
relatively young school, so Ithink there's kind of a walk in
the fine line.
But I think that's one areathat I think we could have done
a good work on.
But I think we are on the rightpath now, yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
It's interesting you spoke about succession because I
don't see this happen a lot inthe school.
You know sector as much.
You see that in a lot ofafrican businesses where the
first generation that'sfantastic you and your wife, you
know two founders doing amazingwith the school.
What's what's really thesuccession plan?
(45:04):
Family wise to say that, okay,these were my values, these were
my ethos to myself and my wifepushing the business to this
level.
What's the carrying on plan?
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Well, we I've already just mentioned about within the
school, you should be able toidentify somebody that can walk
into your position in the future, and people must feel that I am
hardworking, I have theintegrity, I can do this.
So that is one.
The other thing we have adaughter, in fact, a daughter
(45:40):
who was the main reason why westarted a school now Dr Debbie
Yeboah, because she justfinished her PhD at the
University of Cambridge.
Debbie, if you hear the podcast, I salute you.
She did an education, so we arehoping that one day she will
come and help continue with thelegacy.
(46:03):
But we are trying to build aninstitution that is more than a
family business Wow and one thatin the future, even if you're a
family member, you get to thetop by earning it, not only
through lineage.
And that is important for thosethat work for the institution
(46:28):
and even for the person thatcomes to run it, because
otherwise sometimes you putwrong people into wrong
positions.
They have no institutionalknowledge or memory and that
might not go very well, you know, for the institution.
So we are trying to do that.
So our daughter knows that andother kids that we have know
that if they're interested in anopportunity.
(46:50):
They would have to come throughand through the mill,
understand the business and endthe right into leadership.
So that's one path.
The other part is that I mean wehave, over the years, brought
in institutional partners, uh,with the idea that, you know, we
don't want to carry the fullburden of running the school
(47:14):
today and in the future on ourshoulders.
We have to get to that point inthe future where, if we are not
there, somebody else, throughinstitutional arrangement, can
take over.
So even though on our minds,one of our children may take
over, he or she will still haveto go through an institutional
(47:36):
process to get to that point.
So that's what we are trying todo, to make sure that we don't
have the situation that a lot ofAfrican businesses go through,
that when the owners are notthere, the business disappear.
So it is an important thingthat we are doing and we are
(47:56):
confident that the protocols youknow are in place and will be
in place when we are no longerthere.
Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
So just to remind you guys, on the 29th of August, at
the British Council, we arehosting our first Connected
Minds Live event.
I'm going to put a link in thedescription here, if you're
listening to the audio, youshould be able to see that on
spotify or apple as well, and ifyou want to come to that event,
show up and learn somethingfrom a lot of business people.
(48:27):
Your mindset is not going to bethe same, doc.
Where is the next audaciousmove going towards?
Which region are we looking at?
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Where is the?
Speaker 2 (48:39):
next big move.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Well, initially, our plan when I did my
transformational thing atStanford SEED was to come to
Accra 2015.
The plan was going to Takaradein 2017 and then see where it
nest, but I did a bit of surveyin 2016 in Takarade.
(49:02):
It wasn't really ready.
Yeah, there's an internationalschool there that has been
struggling.
So we realized that, no,takarade is not the next place
to go and, to be honest with you, the markets beyond Kumasi and
Accra for all kinds of schoolsor businesses is very, very
(49:24):
tight.
Okay, so the campus at Obojo inAccra here is full.
Ato Bojo in Accra here is full,and we have to see to where
some people leave before we canadmit.
So we have an admission processgoing on and we're hoping that
some people will not return, soothers can come in.
(49:51):
You know, but the plan is in thenext year or two to build
another campus in Accra.
So we are, you know, feverishly, you know, looking for a new
land to build a new campus nottoo far from where we are, and
it's likely to be in the highschool, so we can move the high
school.
You know students there, butthe parents will drive to the
current campus, will bus themthere and return them, so that
(50:14):
there's not so muchinconvenience you know created,
you know for parents, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
I kind of know that, the amount invested in the early
startup right in Kumasi throughfunding and, you know, support
here and there.
But what I don't really know isyour initial capital from your
pocket, you and your wife.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
It was very small, I don't even remember what it was.
We know we had to invest insome computers.
The house rent the payingteachers from our pocket because
the school didn't have enoughmoney.
You know, from our pocket, youknow because the school didn't
(50:58):
have enough money.
You know probably some $20,000,$30,000, you know, for the first
you know, two or so years towhat it is today.
You know, and the value ismulti-million.
You know, dollars now, wow,small things can grow If we are
(51:20):
consistent, if we do thingsright, if we are humble if we
are honest if we work hard.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
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But if you haven't become partof the family, connect with us,
hit the subscribe button andlet's carry on the conversation.
(51:51):
Doc, what do?
Speaker 1 (51:56):
you want your legacy to be Well.
I don't want my legacy to berestricted to the school that my
wife and I founded, even though, you know, having educated
hundreds of students that havegone to the world's best schools
(52:16):
.
I see students have gone to MIT, they've gone to Brown, they've
gone to Columbia, they are atJohns Hopkins, they are at
Cornell, they are at UPenn, rice, all over the place, cambridge,
ucl, stalin, all over, ashesi,knusd, legon, and they are
working at Microsoft, goldmanSachs, bloomberg, you know, you
(52:41):
know doctors, you knowConfanoche, all over the place,
big engineering firms around theworld.
So I can sit back and say, ohboy, I have done so well.
The school has created, youknow so many, you know has
(53:04):
developed so many people.
But, derek, if you live in Ghanaand you run even a school like
ICS, you cannot live in a bubble.
And you run even a school likeICS, you cannot live in a bubble
.
The country is vast and thereare so many children that don't
have the opportunity thatchildren in ICS have, and that
(53:26):
is why, at my 60th birthdayrecently, I decided I would set
up a foundation that I calledChild Civil Education Foundation
, and the purpose really behindthis whole thing is to extend my
legacy beyond the walls of ICSand to extend the kind of
(53:53):
quality, good education thatchildren from ICS I mean
children at ICS are getting toas many children in Ghana as
possible.
So the focus of the foundationis going to be on developing
teachers in public schools andlow-fee private schools,
(54:15):
training teachers in bestpractices so that the children
that they educate can also havebest experience, succeed and
thrive.
The foundation will invest insome scholarships.
You know, for some students thefoundation will invest in some
(54:37):
light infrastructure improvement, like if there was a ceiling or
roofing issue or floor issuetables and chairs, uniforms,
learning materials, but more thefocus will be on teacher
development, because that iswhere we think we can impact
more children.
I am committed, you know, todevote a substantial portion of
(55:03):
my personal net worth towardsthe foundation and I just
started recently, with over 1.5million cities, with a goal of
adding and growing it in thenext five to seven years to
close to a million dollarsmyself and a number of people
that have expressed interestthat, when you get going, please
(55:26):
call on us.
We want to partner with youbecause I believe, derek,
recently, if you heard, billGates announced that in the next
20 years, he will give away 90%of his net worth 200 billion
away and I think those of us inAfrica that have been recipients
(55:53):
of such goodwill from peoplelike Gates and other foundations
from around the world, if wehave been blessed, if we are
resourceful, we should considergiving back in a meaningful way,
because, you know, none of usare successful by our own
(56:14):
intelligence and hard work.
We are successful because ofwhat society has given to us and
it's imperative that we giveback, and I like what Bill Gates
said I don't want to die rich,and that was a powerful thing to
me and I have resolved I don'twant to die rich, whatever
(56:34):
little that I have't want to dierich whatever letter that I
have.
I want to die.
Given that, what I have, yes, Iwill give to my family, I will
give to my church, I will giveto you know other people that
are needy, but I was going to bevery deliberate and intentional
in giving to society as a wayof enriching those that are
(56:57):
currently not within my reach asfar as the school is concerned.
So I want to be remembered assomebody who came from the
States, built great schools,impacted so many children within
the walls of ICS, extended hisreach to many children in Ghana
through the foundation that hecreated, and because of that,
(57:19):
many children in Ghana have hadquality education and a great
future.
Speaker 2 (57:26):
I think you've done fantastic.
In a previous interview, whichI watched, you said that you
know there are potential issueswith the current you know
government education.
As a matter of fact, I thinkthe words were the education
(57:47):
system is almost broken.
Right, you're educating people.
You've done fantastic with knowwhat you're doing with your
school.
What do you think needs fixingin our government education
system to align with what a lotof private schools are doing and
what actually makes people pushtheir kids into private schools
(58:08):
rather than, you know,government schools?
Speaker 1 (58:11):
Well, you know, I think we know, the problems are
many, but one area that I thinkgovernment over the years have
neglected is the basic level.
I mean if you've driven, youknow, around town and seen basic
(58:31):
public schools and seeing basicpublic schools, the buildings
some are falling apart thepaintings, the classrooms,
potholes in the classrooms.
Teachers' motivation is way low.
I have discovered in myinteraction with public school
(58:52):
teachers most of them don'ttrust the system enough to put
their own children there.
So how do you expect?
And so the public schools endsup being patronized by the very,
very poor who can't afford totake their kids even to the
low-fee private schools.
(59:13):
And Derek, the sad part is thisPeople from poor homes are the
ones that need the best ofeducation, because education is
the best equalizer.
If we want to create a countrywhere everybody has a chance to
(59:37):
succeed and not just a few of us, then those that are, I call it
, trapped in the public schoolsystem, really need more
opportunities than those thatare from middle class families.
From middle-class familiesBecause for a lot of us, to be
honest with you, even if youwent to the public school, you
still figure a way to get towhere you want to be, where you
(01:00:01):
have some backing.
The people in the publicschools, they have no backing.
And so if you have a governmentthat really cares and I know
the government over the yearshave done their best the high
school system and all of thatand training teachers, but they
need to pay attention to thebasic schools and teacher
(01:00:25):
development.
But I think it's also not justgovernment, it's also people in
the public school system, theteachers.
They need to understand that weare all in this together and
that every Ghanaian teacher oreducator must endeavor to
(01:00:47):
contribute his or her quota tohelping these poor children come
along.
We should not give up on them,we should not believe in them,
and you know a lot of teachersgo to school, they put their
bags and then they're out.
We are contributing to a systemthat is broken.
And you know what?
(01:01:07):
Because private schools havestepped in, you go elsewhere in
the world.
When there's a new community,the government will go and build
a public school, but for somany years in Ghana, private
people have just stepped in, soin middle class neighborhoods
they will start a school.
The government has not had todo that for so many, many years,
(01:01:31):
and the ones that were createdmany years ago?
They're also not taken care of.
So I think that this currentgovernment and governments that
will come in the future reallyneed to pay attention to a
business school but you've hadrelations with previous.
Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
You know minister of education and you've had
relations with previous.
You know ministers of educationand you've had conversations.
You've sat on panels wherethese conversations have been
going on.
You know what are they tryingto do about it.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
I think the system is .
I mean, the problem is muchdeeper than that.
I think that leadership, fromwhat I know in Ghana, is really
what the president decides.
Really, the minister may haveall his ideas about what he can
do the previous, the current butit is what the government the
(01:02:29):
president and his governmentwants to do With all your ideas.
If the president says that'snot part of my vision, it won't
happen.
But yeah, we've tried, I'vesupported in so many ways and
I'm still trying to support, butthe government has to see that
we need to touch the foundationlevel.
You can't have even a greathigh school when the basic is
(01:02:54):
weak.
You can't have even a greathigh school when the basic is
weak.
You can't build asuperstructure on a foundation
that is shaky, and that issomething I think that we don't
see and the government needs tosee that.
Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
Doug, what's one thing you like about working
with your wife in one business?
Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
The one thing that I would say is that she is the
only person that usually has theboldness to tell you what you
are doing.
That is not right.
So that's a positive right.
So because even your topleadership may see sometimes,
(01:03:34):
you know, usually at meetings,they will share things that are
not going well and in ICS wereally respect the views of
everybody.
Things that you said, thingsthat you did that people are
afraid to talk about, it takesyour spouse to say this.
(01:04:00):
You didn't say it well, andthat I value from working with
my wife.
Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
Thank you.
Is there anything we could havespoken about that we haven't?
That you still think we canhave a quick chat about?
Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
No, I think we've covered quite a lot.
We've covered quite a lot, yes,yes, we've covered quite a lot.
But I really commend you, derek, for what you are doing to
really shape the minds of youngpeople and for the entire
Ghanaian entrepreneurialcommunity.
We need to be having these kindof conversations to build each
(01:04:35):
other up and to support eachother to grow in this laudable
journey of business, and so Icommend you for doing this and
doing it in a manner that iskind of selfless.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
Thank you so much.
Our question is motivation ordiscipline, Both Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
You need to be disciplined, and I've talked
about some of the things,whether it's fiscal discipline,
paying your debt, getting up anddoing what you have to do, and
discipline is I like the Nikeslogan just do it.
Just do it.
(01:05:23):
Don't wait Tomorrow, don't push, but you have the discipline to
do what you have to do.
So it's important.
But we can be motivated also.
Things like what you're doinghelps people because life can be
motivated also.
So things like what you'redoing helps people because life
can be tough.
Sometimes you may want to doall that you want to do.
(01:05:43):
You may have all the discipline, but some urging can be helping
.
So I wouldn't say discipline ormotivation.
I think both are important forour growth and success.
Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
One advice, which should be the best advice you've
ever received.
What would it be?
Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
That would be remember where you came from and
your beginning.
I think many times we forget.
And when I came back to beforeI came to Ghana, I had a chat
(01:06:36):
with a gentleman, an AfricanAmerican minister, pastor, and I
asked him what one thing wouldyou want me to know or take away
?
And he said that remember thatyou didn't get here all by
(01:07:00):
yourself, wow, and that peoplecame to your aid and to your
support.
So I remember where I came fromand that I am who I am and that
I am who I am because of whatpeople did for me.
Wow, and that is also thereason why I am so much for this
(01:07:21):
foundation.
I cannot, I couldn't have beenwhere I am without people, you
know, giving me support, and Ithink so.
No matter where I rise to, Ialways remember I was a little
boy in the Buyaqua, strugglingto find my way, even through
(01:07:44):
high school.
I mean, today, if I run thisbig international community
schools, you have to understandthat finding money to go to high
school many, many years ago wastough.
I came from not a good, youknow background.
Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
So I remember that.
Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
And I think remembering that it's not just
remembering how poor you wereRight, it's remembering how
people held your hand and helpedyou to where you were, and that
hand-holding support stickswith me all the time.
(01:08:24):
So it's not just where I was,it is.
Speaker 2 (01:08:27):
The people involved, people involved.
Thank you, thank you so much.
Thank you, I really appreciateyour time.
Thank you, and if you made itto the end, as usual, leave a
comment and let me know thatyou're one of the champions that
did, and I'd like you guys tohelp me say thank you to Dr
Yebua for allowing thisconversation to happen and the
(01:08:48):
things he's spilled here today.
I wouldn't have ever gotten toknow this if he didn't come to
the studio.
So thank you so much and takecare of yourself.
My name is derek abayte.
Stay connected.
Black people in general have the habit of acting
successful before they areactually successful.
If you really want to havesustainable success, you have to
be honest in all your deals.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
How do you run a business before?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We started a school in our living room, Half of the
house that we lived in.
Seven kids came.
Total value of investment sofar We've done over $30 million.
Total value of investment sofar We've done over $30 million.
You need to give yourself timeand not be quick to show success
.
We invested over $4 million inthe school before we ever built
(00:35):
our house.
What you say you will do, youdo it.
And what you say you are goingto use the money for, you use
the money for.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
It's important for business success.
It's come to the point whereyou are celebrating your 25th
anniversary.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
What's one big mistake that you've learned from
?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
well, I think you're welcome to connected minds
podcast.
My name is derek abayte.
Thank you so much for beinghere.
If it's your first timechancing on any of our video or
any of our podcasts, pleasesubscribe and become part of the
family.
Seated here today, I've got drcharles yabua, who is the
(01:18):
co-founder of ics internationalcommunity school.
Before I even got to know aboutthe school in Accra, it was
really big in Kumasi andsomebody told me about that
school and I said, wow, thethings they've done for the kids
of those parents that told meabout it.
Today I'm seated here with thisman because he has so much
knowledge, experience that hehas built over the years.
(01:40):
And you see, I was speaking tosomeone who said said that One
of the most lucrative businessesyou can do In parts of Africa
Is setting up a school.
So I have someone here and I'mgoing to ask a lot of questions.
Ics is also celebrating their25th anniversary it's also right
that we speak about that andthis man has championed a new
foundation that he started.
(02:01):
What legacy is he trying toleave?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
stick with me and if you're ever thinking of changing
the screen.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Please don't, because I've got some nuggets for you.
You're welcome, dr charlesyabua.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Thank you how are you doing?
I'm well.
Thank you very much great.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Um, I don't want it.
I don't want this to beone-sided, because, especially
because my kids go to yourschool, right?
So I don't want it to beone-sided.
I need to stay in the middlesit on the fence.
But you know, you're verywelcome.
I think it's incredible whatyou've done.
(02:39):
When I heard about the schooland what you do in Kumasi, at
the time you had only a smallplace somewhere in East Ligon
and my kids were pretty young,you know, and I was looking for
a place to take them, but Icouldn't see how they could
graduate from a small place inEast Ligon and then go to Kumasi
.
So I just thought to myselflet's wait and see what's going
(03:01):
to happen of.
Let's wait and see what's goingto happen.
A few years after that, I saw abig building come up and I said
, aha, it's beginning to happen.
What has?
How has the journey been so far?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Well, thank you very much, Derek, and for this
opportunity to speak to youraudience and many young people
that you've been trying tonurture through this podcast.
What an honor, you know, tohave the opportunity to speak to
them.
Well, let me give you a briefhistory about how it all started
.
So my wife and I lived andstudied in the US for a period
(03:39):
of eight years.
We moved back to Ghana becausewe had made a decision that we
will not stay.
So after my PhD in LoyolaUniversity, chicago, I decided I
was going to stay.
I moved back to Ghana and whenI got back, we decided to settle
in Kumasi.
Finding a school that oureight-year-old daughter then
(04:01):
would fit in Kumasi was achallenge.
She had attended some greatsuburban schools in Chicago.
So finding a school there weresome good schools and there were
still some other good schoolsin Kumasi, but the transitioning
from the US to Kumasi made usthink again.
We were committed to staying inKumasi, so we decided maybe, if
(04:25):
we can find the kind of schoolthat we want, why not start one?
Basically, that is how it allstarted and because we had not
stayed in the US after school,we decided that how would we do
(04:46):
this?
We would do it in our livingroom.
Wow, now our daughter, who waseight then, couldn't go to our
school because she needed to bein the proper school.
But we did that.
Now, luckily enough, my wifewas trained as a school teacher
before we went to the States.
So school thing was a welcomenews, you know, for her because
(05:08):
she had been thinking all alongwhat would I do when I came back
?
So a few months into our youknow resettlement back in Ghana,
we started school in our livingroom, half of the house that we
lived in, and seven kids came,four or five year olds, and the
(05:32):
seventh child was actually oursecond child who was student.
So Michelle, who was twocertain, as the four, three,
four, five year olds came in andthe rest, we call it history
right.
Now.
So the school that started inour living room just grew.
(05:54):
A year later we had to move out.
This is a school that startedin Patase, kumasi, and then
found a place to live, live andthe school blossomed.
And then this was late 1999 and2000 school is up and running
(06:16):
2001, we find a 20 acre land onthe Obwasi Road in a place
called Pechi, and we didn't haveso much money but we decided,
let's give it a shot.
You know started developing thecampus, you know, phase by
phase.
So we started modestly andsmall.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Doc, I want to take you back.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
If I take you back to when you were doing the school
in your living room, were younot worried about your security,
Having just moved to Ghana,people coming to know where you
stay?
Every single day people arecoming to your house Were you
not concerned about yoursecurity?
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Not really, Because I mean, initially, people that
came to the school were peoplethat were within our
neighborhood.
They had heard a couple hadjust come from the US and they
had set up a small school andpeople came and looked at it and
(07:14):
they just trickled in andschool is pretty safe enterprise
to run, and especially when itis that beginning, you know, at
the beginning level, you knowyounger families and we had just
, you know, five kids to start,with five, six kids to start,
(07:37):
with our daughter being theseventh.
So it wasn't busy, it wasn'ttoo many people coming in, and
at that point it wasn't even itwasn't too many people coming in
and at that point it wasn'teven like so-called rich people
driving with their cars.
It's a mixture, you know, ofpeople you know that took
advantage of what we're doingand brought their kids there.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
You have six to seven kids from your living room.
Did you start off with charging, or was it just free services
to start with?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
No, it was modest fee .
It was a modest fee butinitially the thinking was to
run after school program forschool children as a way of
providing some enrichment tochildren that went to other
schools Because we really didn'tthink we had the resources to
start a school schools becausewe really didn't think we had
(08:27):
the resources to start a school.
But on second thing we saidwell, school, not finding the
right school was the reason whywe decided to really do this.
So why not just do it at normalschool and just start small and
then grow it?
So that's basically how westarted did you have a mentor?
um, at that point?
For school?
Probably not, but we had tobasically remember and learn
(08:53):
from the experiences that we hadseen our daughter go through.
You know, we went to the school, we attended parents' meeting,
we saw the setup and so wedecided if you're going to do
something good here in Ghana,why don't you at least mimic
what you've seen that you liked?
(09:13):
And so, from day one, our setupwas quite different, even
though it was in a house, yeah,Now the process from moving from
the house to finding that hugeland.
Yeah.
So as the school was spread andwe had some contacts in the US,
(09:39):
some American teachers thatwere excited about what we were
doing.
So for three summers in a rowthey would come to Ghana and
train the teachers that we hadrecruited to teach, and so we
started some good practices, youknow, that were quite unique
(10:03):
and new in Kumasi.
So my wife herself was a verypassionate educator.
So the kids that came to ourschool from day one really got
strong foundations.
So, as has been the traditionwith ICS, or the history of ICS,
parents just spread the wordabout the school.
That's true.
(10:23):
So as the school grew, parentsthemselves, you know, started,
you know, looking around and say, hey, how can we, you know,
help you find a place?
So it's actually a parent, oneof the parents in the school,
that said hey, I have heard thatthe chief at Pechi, number one,
is selling some land.
They had just finished this newroad to Oboase and some land up
(10:47):
for sale.
So I introduced it to him, wentand saw the chief Chief, took
us to this vast land and saidhow much do you want?
All that you see can be yours.
Wow, and we could have bought50 acres if we had money then,
so we settled for 20 acres andbegan developing it in phases.
(11:10):
You know, the first phase wasfrom 2002 to 2003.
And then on and on and on untilthe whole campus now in Kumasi
is an amazing, amazing campus.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Yes, Before that time had you run a business before?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Not really.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
So I want to know, when you saw the land and then
you saw the progress that theschool had made and now what you
are coming to get into what wasthe thinking in terms of the
plans you had for the entirebrand of ics?
Speaker 1 (11:49):
I'll be very honest with you, derek.
So there was no major blueprinton paper about.
This is where we want theschool to go.
There's a business businessplan.
You know that's on paper.
We'll go.
You know this way and this andthat, and that the only thing
(12:09):
that we had was that we had somegood friends in the states that
were architects and engineerswho came and helped, you know,
mapped out, you know the land,and then designed a campus for
us in so kind of structures here, structures here, structures
there that we could develop inphases, and we're going to do it
(12:32):
as we had funds.
But what was important, eventhough we didn't have business
ideas or business experience, isthat we were committed to
making sure that whatever we didmust be a good experience for
(12:55):
the children that came.
In fact, because the school wasway out of town, about 18
kilometers away from the citycenter, we had to tell ourselves
what would it take parents todrive or to allow their kids to
(13:16):
come all the way 18 kilometersfrom city center to your school,
if there are other schools inKumasi?
So that meant that you had tocreate something that was unique
, that stood out, and thatreally is what propelled ISA.
So if there was anything to sayabout thinking business,
(13:41):
thinking about success, it wasmore about how can you
differentiate what you deliverfrom what is out there, because
you're already in adisadvantaged position.
You are way out of town and youwould have to have a product, a
service and a campus that isdifferent from what people are
(14:03):
used to To allow people to wantto come to you.
That's right and that is what wetry to deliver.
So the campus design by thisAmerican renowned architect was
great right.
And then the training andinvestment in teachers was also
on point.
Investment in teachers was alsoon point.
(14:26):
So when you have a nice campusand the content in the classroom
in terms of teacher delivery isgood, then people are willing
to go all out.
It doesn't matter how far theplace is.
You know to be able to get it.
Of course we had to use busservices so that parents are not
too inconvenienced.
(14:47):
But that was really the thinkingfrom day one, that why would
people travel that far to Pechiif what they have, or what you
have, is the same as what is intown, just the differentiation.
There has to be adifferentiation and that has
been the way we have operatedand that in a lot of ways, was
(15:13):
what made us also want to cometo Accra.
Because coming to Accra andI'll get into that, I'm sure
we'll get into that we knew allalong, everybody knew Kumasi
School and Accra had great andwell respected international
schools.
Talk about the Lincolns, theSOS's, the GIS, the Seoul
clinics, the Ruman Ridge and allof that.
(15:36):
So how dare you, a Kumasischool, to want to come.
I mean, no school in modernhistory in Ghana had dared to
move from one major city to theother.
Now you want to do that Great.
But do you understand what youare in for?
(15:56):
You're going to compete withthe best in Accra.
Well, good luck.
But once again, the plan wasit's a differentiation.
If you have done your best todifferentiate your system
(16:17):
delivery from what was known andcommon in Kumasi, then you
probably could do the same inAccra and not only survive but
succeed, and so that is what Ithink also undergirds how we
have failed in Accra since wecame here.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
10 years ago.
I kind of have a feeling thatyou attribute the success of
this, your business, purely to adivine being and chance.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
No, god is definitely a factor.
I am a Christian, a pastor, butGod works with us Right.
God works with us right.
God doesn't leave all thesuccess to himself.
(17:15):
It doesn't just have to do withonly his blessings.
It is God and peoplepartnership that create success.
So God gives us the strength,the wisdom, the understanding
that we applied right and increating us in his image, he
(17:36):
gives us the power to think andto reason and to create, just
like he does right.
So we need to put our mentalfaculty at work and if we can do
that and can create, then wecan, you know, be successful and
(18:00):
you can give the credit to himbecause we are his creation
right and you can give thecredit to him because we are his
creation right.
But a human being, christian ornon-Christian, has a huge role
to play in his own success.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
channel and we appreciate youfor being here.
But if you haven't become partof the family, connect with us,
hit the subscribe button andlet's carry on the conversation.
(18:38):
You know I've spoken to a lotof entrepreneurs, including
myself.
My first business failed.
Many of them, their firstbusinesses, will fail.
Yours has been a tremendoussuccess.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
Let me tell you what I attribute our success to,
three things that I always talkabout Humility, hard work,
honesty.
I call them the three H'sHumility, hard work and honesty.
(19:20):
Why humility?
Now?
I see it started very humbly.
Why humility?
Now I see it started veryhumbly.
But humility tells me all thetime that I can do better.
I am not there yet.
I should recognize thecontribution of people that I'm
(19:43):
working with.
The success is not just mycreation.
I may be the one doing all thethinking and dreaming, but I can
do all of that.
If the people around me are notsupporting forget you will not
get to where you want to be.
So humility helps you to sit upand recognize that your success
(20:05):
has come about because of thecontribution of others.
So take people seriously,people that work with you
seriously, and I think when youdo that and people see that you
respect them and respect theircontribution, they do their best
.
They do their best.
(20:26):
So over the years, people thathave come to ICS, they have
worked very hard.
They have contributed to thesuccess of the school because
they know they are respected.
When you are humble and youthink it doesn't all revolve
around you, it helps yourbusiness to get some mileage.
That is helpful.
(20:49):
Humanity also tells you that youhaven't arrived yet.
Sometimes we start somethingsmall and it's gaining momentum.
Everybody is talking about itand it gets into our head and
women.
We get to that point Sometimespeople are beginning to invest
in too many things in cars, inhouses, in lifestyle.
That really seems to suggest oh, we've arrived.
(21:12):
Look at me, dr Ebora, I've justarrived at this school and then
, as you, bam, you are down.
Humility also says success canbe patient.
Humility says you know you canwait to show success.
You know, derek, one of thethings that I talked about often
(21:35):
is that Guineans and Africansin general, maybe black people
in general, have the habit ofacting successful before they
are actually successful, andthat we see success as a
destination instead of seeingsuccess as a journey.
(21:58):
You need to give yourself timeand not be quick to show success
, and that usually contributesin many ways to the downfall of
many businesses.
So that's about humility.
There's so much I can talk aboutthat I don't claim to be humble
(22:21):
, but I try to make sure that Iact in a way that shows that I
take people seriously, that Iknow I'm not the center of
everything that I do and thatpeople are important and that
(22:43):
let me illustrate.
You know.
So, for example, in Kumasi weinvested over $4 million in the
school before we ever built ourhouse.
Wow, we lived in four differenthomes in 10 years and people
would come to the campus and say, hey, you've sunk so much money
here and you don't have a house.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
I said that can't wait.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Because we're not prepared and ready to just show
here's a beautiful house that wehave created out of whatever
capital that we're using for thebusiness.
We could wait.
Showing success could wait,even though the school borrowed
(23:28):
and raised quite a bit ofcapital.
We didn't even buy ourselves abrand new car for the school.
We could have done that, but wedidn't want to be comfortable
too early.
We needed to wait, because themoment you are comfortable early
, it can affect.
(23:48):
So it's all about.
You can be humble, you can wait.
You can wait to show successand I think a lot of African
entrepreneurs and businesses arenot ready to do that.
The next thing is about honesty.
I think we have a tendency andthis is not just in Ghana or
(24:14):
Africa people always think theycan cut corners and be
successful quickly.
Now, dishonesty can pay andpays sometimes, but usually it
is short-lived.
If you really want to havesustainable success, you have to
(24:37):
be honest in all your dealings.
If you borrow money from thebank, pay it back.
If you invite investors orpartners into your business,
don't take advantage of them.
You know, don't act in a way.
You know that you're trying todeceive people so that you can
(25:00):
get ahead.
It will catch up on you.
You know the banks will notgive you money any longer.
The partners will telleverybody about you.
You know people do all sorts ofdeals and then they start this
and tomorrow they go and startthat and everything now just
(25:22):
catch up on them.
Today, every bank that we dealwith ICS will be willing to do
business with ICS because theyhave seen that after ICS you
give them loan, they will pay itback, inconsistently, whether
the dollar is up here or downthere.
It is our commitment to fiscaldiscipline to ensure what you
(25:48):
say you will do, you do it andwhat you say you are going to
use the money for.
You use the money for it.
You know, and that is important.
Building a reputation ofintegrity is important for
business success and I think,sometimes because people see
success in short terms, that iswhy people, I think, want to
(26:10):
compromise and cut down corners.
But if you think long term, yourealize that those short-term
tactics to get ahead of peoplewill not work, you know.
So humility, honesty, just behonest.
Just when you say, yes, I woulddo this, just mean it.
Now, we are human beings.
(26:31):
Things could stand in your wayand you may not be able to do.
You know, if I said I'll callyou Derek, unless for some
reason I didn't write it downand forgot or didn't put it in
my calendar and then didn't callyou, then that is it right.
(26:53):
But if I said I will call you,I will do this, I have to keep
my word.
My word must be my bond.
I can't just say it and sayingit really mean I can't just say
it and saying it really mean Idon't really mean it?
So I think when people begin toknow, as for Charles, as for
(27:14):
Derek, you can trust him, thatis bankable, that is business in
itself, business success initself, when people believe that
, as for Derek, as for Charles,I can trust him with this.
I remember I was trying toraise some funds from the states
and from a US government entityand I needed to raise money
(27:39):
from some American partnersbecause the US government entity
required that some Americaninvested in the school.
And I was wondering who am Igoing to ask?
And I needed to raise almost$400,000.
That's 2006.
Who is going to give me$400,000?
I just approached a few people,some American friends, and some
(28:04):
of them had not even been toGhana before.
But because of what they knewand who they knew I was and my
wife and I were, they trusted usand gave us the money.
And when this US governmententity people came, they
couldn't believe it.
People give you the money eventhough they have not been here.
(28:26):
It is trust, it is integrity.
So I think it is important forall of us to understand that.
Again, if you want quick, youknow, like some of what some
other young people are doing,you will get it, but it won't
last.
Then you have to be running,you know, hiding what, what,
(28:49):
what.
Why would you want to do that?
You want to be able to walkfree, free conscience.
You are not afraid of the banks.
You don't have to stop, youknow, put your phones off.
You know, I mean, it's not evengood for your heart and health.
I mean it's not even good foryour heart and health.
Live free by being such a manand woman of integrity, and that
(29:12):
will take you very, very far.
It gives you mileage.
And then, of course, the third His hard work.
It is important to work hard.
Now, I know Ghanaians work hard.
I mean, as for that, you cangrant it to most Ghanaian
(29:32):
business people.
But hard work is not just beingbusy, it's also thinking smart.
It's also being aware of trendsin whatever industry that you
find yourself in, and especiallyas a business leader, it's also
not just folding your arms andchecking to see whether
everybody else is doing the work, but you are just collecting
(29:55):
the money, right?
I think if the people that youwork with find out that you are
equally hardworking, it servesas an inspiration for the people
.
So my staff know and sometimesthey don't know you know where I
get my energy from.
You know and they know.
(30:16):
Whatever I tell them to do, Iwill go the same extra length
with them, if not more.
So you have to set an exampleof hard work.
You know with the people thatyou work with.
I think if we do that, if wepractice integrity, if we work
(30:37):
hard, if we think smart, and sofor ICS, for example, one of the
things I'm always thinkingabout what else can we do for
young people?
You know, I'm traveling aroundthe world, I'm looking for
opportunities?
Is it design for change that weshould join?
Is it round square?
Is it this?
Is it that Always thinkingabout what else we can do for
(30:58):
our young children, you know, sothey can stand out, so that
they can you know, can have afuture that is really great for
them.
So humility, honesty, hard work, all three are important.
You can't just do and leave theother one.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
You have to go with all three.
That was loaded.
Yeah, that was loaded.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
The time has come where you've become essentially
the best school in Kumasi.
And then you are thinking toyourself wait, I want to expand
and then take this school toAccra.
Talk me through that decisionand actually the scare you had
as well.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yes, so before we made that decision, I had taken
a course, and so I give a lot ofcredit to Stanford SEED.
It's a program that StanfordUniversity started running in
2013.
And I enrolled in 2014 and oneof the cohort two and in that
(32:06):
program you were told to writeyour transformation plan and you
were told to believe or to sayto yourself that I can scale, I
can grow, I can expand.
So I wrote all those thingsdown and then you assign a coach
(32:27):
, you know, to help you reallywork, I mean, walk the journey
that you have, you know, put onpaper.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
So this was 2014.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
And so I wrote my transformational plan that, next
year being 2015, we will be inAccra.
Now, that was an audacious move.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
Did you just think about it when you were on the
program, or it was already?
Speaker 1 (32:54):
preconceived.
No, this actually came aboutbecause of the program.
While you were there, yeah, sothe program is more like an MBA
program.
So after you've gone through it, you have to talk about what
next of ics?
What are you going to do?
You know, after you've gonethrough this program and now you
know that you have thepotential you can grow, your
(33:15):
mind has been psyched.
You believe that it is possiblefor icrs to grow.
We said we'll go now.
I didn't say I'll go to thenearby town in Kumasi.
We said we'll go to Accra, andAccra because we know in terms
of disposable income, in termsof people that can really accept
what we are trying to do,because even in Kumasi, early on
(33:38):
, people said, oh, what you aretrying to do, dr Ebua, dr Misesi
Ebua, I think Accra, peopleappreciate this better.
And people were saying whydon't you take it to Accra
instead of Okumasi?
We said, no, okumasi, peopleneed this too, right.
But then, in 2014, the time hadcome for us to now start
thinking about maybe Accra isready for us now.
(33:59):
So we did it.
But it was an audacious movebecause when we came to Accra to
survey the place, the bestplace we also wanted to start
was expensive East Lagoon andfound a place on Lagos Avenue,
the former Men's Vic, you knowbuilding.
It was an expensive, you know,lease.
(34:21):
But we had made a decision, wewere going to do it.
And my wife said come on, canwe afford this?
And I said, well, if we thinkabout it, we wouldn't do it.
I mean, business successrequires some tactical moves and
it does require, you know,sometimes facing your fears, you
(34:45):
know.
So what are we going to do now?
I mean, we had Kumasi to backus up, but we started in Kumasi.
The rent was so outrageous.
We knew the first two years wewere going to run at a loss in
Accra.
But we had made a decisionwe're going to be in Accra and
we stuck to it.
We started with the summerschool.
(35:07):
26 people came for the summerfrom different schools around
East Ligon.
By the end of the summer 23 outof the 26 decided they would
stay with us.
Wow, and that was incredible.
And how did we do it?
Incredible?
(35:31):
And how did we do it?
Well, prior to coming to Accra,the strategy was that we're
going to bring to Accra thenursery, kg, year one and two
classes that we're starting atthe best of our teachers in
Kumasi.
So we recruited some teachersand put them to follow these
best teachers in Kumasi, so theywould then be supported by the
(35:56):
rest of the teachers if weremoved, you know, those best
teachers or moved them, you know, to Accra, and that's what we
did.
So already from day one,parents that brought their kids
to the Accra campus on LagosAvenue saw good practices.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
At this point did you have mentorship, so through the
SEED program.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
I had a coach A business coach so I had Hansen.
I had a coach a business coachso I had Hanson.
I had Terry, both from thestate Hanson was actually from
UK and Terry Duye fromCalifornia in the US and they
were a great guy.
These are people that have runsuccessful businesses in the
(36:47):
States and the key thing islistening and wanting to apply,
because they were not Africansand they didn't understand the
contest.
It was kind of having aconversation with you about how
we're going to do this and allof that and you making the move,
but those mentoring andmentorship was very helpful.
(37:07):
So that was how ICS Accra cameabout.
It was an audacious move, butit was one that we did and did
right.
The whole ICS group, if I maycall it that way, is today
(37:29):
better because of that audaciousmove.
Accra has changed the ICS story.
Right now we have more childrenin Accra than we do in Kumasi.
Accra gives us far more revenue, not because of numbers,
because the numbers is justabout maybe five or ten more,
(37:51):
but it's also because of the youknow fees and all of that.
And as I speak, we get moredemand.
We become in recent times thefastest growing school in Accra
and we've again applied the samemodel of differentiation trying
to make sure that you know youset yourself apart, and we do
(38:17):
that in ICS through strongprofessional development, you
know of our teachers and throughlistening, empathy and humility
.
Don't think that, even when youare growing and everybody is
looking after you.
Recently I had a retreat withmy staff and I said my managers,
(38:40):
and I said when everybody iswanting to come to ICS, what
should happen to us?
Should we stand up and jubilateand let the whole world know we
have arrived becauseeverybody's coming to us?
No, we should actually bescared that everybody is coming
(39:02):
to us.
How about if we fail to meetpeople's expectations?
Wow, so when your business isgrowing, when your business is
getting all the attention, thatis not when you put up attitudes
, you know, towards peoplecoming there because you think
(39:24):
you've arrived.
You know, take it or leave it.
If you won't come, you'realready full anyway.
No, that is not the attitudeyou have.
And so I called my leadershiptogether and I said now let's
open our eyes wide and see whatare all the gaps that we see in
our school.
And we just had a retreat two,you know, two weeks ago, and we
(39:47):
could see quite a bit of gapsourselves.
And I know, when people comevery close, I see us, as you
know, celebrated, but they'llsee gaps too.
So let's see them first andaddress them, so that we are
doing our best to not just evenmeet people's expectations but
actually exceed them.
So that should be the way youthink and I think that is what
(40:10):
is helping us.
Remember, I have said, successis a journey, not a destination.
So if you know you're on ajourney, it means there are
always more you can do toimprove on what you do.
But if you think you've arrived, there's nothing more to do.
(40:34):
Guys, I see what it is.
We've already done what wecould do and that's why you're
coming here anyway.
If it wasn't good, why wouldyou have come?
No, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
It's a journey look, I want to test your knowledge
very quickly.
How much you know your school?
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Wow but not that.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
Well, if I ask you how many students do you have in
total?
I have that.
I have.
I have to know.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
So I have about 2,400 .
Speaker 2 (41:10):
So that, Both Kumasi and Accra.
Both Kumasi and Accra yes, okay, and total value of investment
so far.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
Well, we have done over in terms of funds that I've
raised and invested andreinvested from the school.
We've done over $30 million.
You've done incredible.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
Yeah, Now you've decided that.
Well, not, you've decided.
It's come to the point whereyou are celebrating your 25th
anniversary.
What's one big mistake thatyou've learned from?
Speaker 1 (41:45):
From.
Well, I think.
Let me see, I will say that mymistake.
I'm sure there are several ofthem, not just one.
So I'm trying to think.
I think one of the things thatI could have institution is
(42:27):
people help build you up, andyou have to think about how do
you make sure people feel theycan grow in this business with
you.
Now, there are a lot of peoplethat have stayed in the school
with us for 20, more than 20years, 15, more than 15 years,
(42:51):
10, more than 10 years, fivemore than five years, and on and
on.
And it's just recently that webegan to put in vice principals,
you know, assistant head, andall of that drawing from within,
because we used to recruit fromoutside, and when we did that
(43:15):
and people saw that they havebeen here, and they have helped
create, you know, the success.
But others are coming in andwhen others in there you know
could have risen, that did, youknow, create a bit of uneasiness
(43:36):
on the part of some.
Not a lot Now.
That didn't mean we didn't takecare of, you know, of our staff
very well.
So we realized quickly that weneed to do a lot of in-house
recruitment.
Speaker 2 (43:52):
Yeah, training as well.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
We do a lot of training, but the create
opportunity for people to feelthat career.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Basically yes, yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
I can grow, I can go all the way up, I can become the
director of the school and thenI don't have to wait and see
somebody comes from outside.
But that can be a motivationbecause we have some very strong
talents in the school and I cansee some people that can easily
walk into my role in the future, others that can become
principals, assistant principals.
(44:22):
So we are beginning to do that.
We could have done that a bitearlier, but we're also a
relatively young school, so Ithink there's kind of a walk in
the fine line.
But I think that's one areathat I think we could have done
a good work on.
But I think we are on the rightpath now, yeah.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
It's interesting you spoke about succession because I
don't see this happen a lot inthe school.
You know sector as much.
You see that in a lot ofafrican businesses where the
first generation that'sfantastic you and your wife, you
know two founders doing amazingwith the school.
What's what's really thesuccession plan?
(45:04):
Family wise to say that, okay,these were my values, these were
my ethos to myself and my wifepushing the business to this
level.
What's the carrying on plan?
Speaker 1 (45:17):
Well, we I've already just mentioned about within the
school, you should be able toidentify somebody that can walk
into your position in the future, and people must feel that I am
hardworking, I have theintegrity, I can do this.
So that is one.
The other thing we have adaughter, in fact, a daughter
(45:40):
who was the main reason why westarted a school now Dr Debbie
Yeboah, because she justfinished her PhD at the
University of Cambridge.
Debbie, if you hear the podcast, I salute you.
She did an education, so we arehoping that one day she will
come and help continue with thelegacy.
(46:03):
But we are trying to build aninstitution that is more than a
family business Wow and one thatin the future, even if you're a
family member, you get to thetop by earning it, not only
through lineage.
And that is important for thosethat work for the institution
(46:28):
and even for the person thatcomes to run it, because
otherwise sometimes you putwrong people into wrong
positions.
They have no institutionalknowledge or memory and that
might not go very well, you know, for the institution.
So we are trying to do that.
So our daughter knows that andother kids that we have know
that if they're interested in anopportunity.
(46:50):
They would have to come throughand through the mill,
understand the business and endthe right into leadership.
So that's one path.
The other part is that I mean wehave, over the years, brought
in institutional partners, uh,with the idea that, you know, we
don't want to carry the fullburden of running the school
(47:14):
today and in the future on ourshoulders.
We have to get to that point inthe future where, if we are not
there, somebody else, throughinstitutional arrangement, can
take over.
So even though on our minds,one of our children may take
over, he or she will still haveto go through an institutional
(47:36):
process to get to that point.
So that's what we are trying todo, to make sure that we don't
have the situation that a lot ofAfrican businesses go through,
that when the owners are notthere, the business disappear.
So it is an important thingthat we are doing and we are
(47:56):
confident that the protocols youknow are in place and will be
in place when we are no longerthere.
Fantastic.
Speaker 2 (48:05):
So just to remind you guys, on the 29th of August, at
the British Council, we arehosting our first Connected
Minds Live event.
I'm going to put a link in thedescription here, if you're
listening to the audio, youshould be able to see that on
spotify or apple as well, and ifyou want to come to that event,
show up and learn somethingfrom a lot of business people.
(48:27):
Your mindset is not going to bethe same, doc.
Where is the next audaciousmove going towards?
Which region are we looking at?
Speaker 1 (48:38):
Where is the?
Speaker 2 (48:39):
next big move.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Well, initially, our plan when I did my
transformational thing atStanford SEED was to come to
Accra 2015.
The plan was going to Takaradein 2017 and then see where it
nest, but I did a bit of surveyin 2016 in Takarade.
(49:02):
It wasn't really ready.
Yeah, there's an internationalschool there that has been
struggling.
So we realized that, no,takarade is not the next place
to go and, to be honest with you, the markets beyond Kumasi and
Accra for all kinds of schoolsor businesses is very, very
(49:24):
tight.
Okay, so the campus at Obojo inAccra here is full.
Ato Bojo in Accra here is full,and we have to see to where
some people leave before we canadmit.
So we have an admission processgoing on and we're hoping that
some people will not return, soothers can come in.
(49:51):
You know, but the plan is in thenext year or two to build
another campus in Accra.
So we are, you know, feverishly, you know, looking for a new
land to build a new campus nottoo far from where we are, and
it's likely to be in the highschool, so we can move the high
school.
You know students there, butthe parents will drive to the
current campus, will bus themthere and return them, so that
(50:14):
there's not so muchinconvenience you know created,
you know for parents, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:22):
I kind of know that, the amount invested in the early
startup right in Kumasi throughfunding and, you know, support
here and there.
But what I don't really know isyour initial capital from your
pocket, you and your wife.
Speaker 1 (50:38):
It was very small, I don't even remember what it was.
We know we had to invest insome computers.
The house rent the payingteachers from our pocket because
the school didn't have enoughmoney.
You know, from our pocket, youknow because the school didn't
(50:58):
have enough money.
You know probably some $20,000,$30,000, you know, for the first
you know, two or so years towhat it is today.
You know, and the value ismulti-million.
You know, dollars now, wow,small things can grow If we are
(51:20):
consistent, if we do thingsright, if we are humble if we
are honest if we work hard.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
Let me stop you here for a minute.
If you've been watching thisshow, I want you to subscribe
and become part of the family.
We are on a journey of changingthe lives of people on this
channel and we appreciate youfor being here.
But if you haven't become partof the family, connect with us,
hit the subscribe button andlet's carry on the conversation.
(51:51):
Doc, what do?
Speaker 1 (51:56):
you want your legacy to be Well.
I don't want my legacy to berestricted to the school that my
wife and I founded, even though, you know, having educated
hundreds of students that havegone to the world's best schools
(52:16):
.
I see students have gone to MIT, they've gone to Brown, they've
gone to Columbia, they are atJohns Hopkins, they are at
Cornell, they are at UPenn, rice, all over the place, cambridge,
ucl, stalin, all over, ashesi,knusd, legon, and they are
working at Microsoft, goldmanSachs, bloomberg, you know, you
(52:41):
know doctors, you knowConfanoche, all over the place,
big engineering firms around theworld.
So I can sit back and say, ohboy, I have done so well.
The school has created, youknow so many, you know has
(53:04):
developed so many people.
But, derek, if you live in Ghanaand you run even a school like
ICS, you cannot live in a bubble.
And you run even a school likeICS, you cannot live in a bubble
.
The country is vast and thereare so many children that don't
have the opportunity thatchildren in ICS have, and that
(53:26):
is why, at my 60th birthdayrecently, I decided I would set
up a foundation that I calledChild Civil Education Foundation
, and the purpose really behindthis whole thing is to extend my
legacy beyond the walls of ICSand to extend the kind of
(53:53):
quality, good education thatchildren from ICS I mean
children at ICS are getting toas many children in Ghana as
possible.
So the focus of the foundationis going to be on developing
teachers in public schools andlow-fee private schools,
(54:15):
training teachers in bestpractices so that the children
that they educate can also havebest experience, succeed and
thrive.
The foundation will invest insome scholarships.
You know, for some students thefoundation will invest in some
(54:37):
light infrastructure improvement, like if there was a ceiling or
roofing issue or floor issuetables and chairs, uniforms,
learning materials, but more thefocus will be on teacher
development, because that iswhere we think we can impact
more children.
I am committed, you know, todevote a substantial portion of
(55:03):
my personal net worth towardsthe foundation and I just
started recently, with over 1.5million cities, with a goal of
adding and growing it in thenext five to seven years to
close to a million dollarsmyself and a number of people
that have expressed interestthat, when you get going, please
(55:26):
call on us.
We want to partner with youbecause I believe, derek,
recently, if you heard, billGates announced that in the next
20 years, he will give away 90%of his net worth 200 billion
away and I think those of us inAfrica that have been recipients
(55:53):
of such goodwill from peoplelike Gates and other foundations
from around the world, if wehave been blessed, if we are
resourceful, we should considergiving back in a meaningful way,
because, you know, none of usare successful by our own
(56:14):
intelligence and hard work.
We are successful because ofwhat society has given to us and
it's imperative that we giveback, and I like what Bill Gates
said I don't want to die rich,and that was a powerful thing to
me and I have resolved I don'twant to die rich, whatever
(56:34):
little that I have't want to dierich whatever letter that I
have.
I want to die.
Given that, what I have, yes, Iwill give to my family, I will
give to my church, I will giveto you know other people that
are needy, but I was going to bevery deliberate and intentional
in giving to society as a wayof enriching those that are
(56:57):
currently not within my reach asfar as the school is concerned.
So I want to be remembered assomebody who came from the
States, built great schools,impacted so many children within
the walls of ICS, extended hisreach to many children in Ghana
through the foundation that hecreated, and because of that,
(57:19):
many children in Ghana have hadquality education and a great
future.
Speaker 2 (57:26):
I think you've done fantastic.
In a previous interview, whichI watched, you said that you
know there are potential issueswith the current you know
government education.
As a matter of fact, I thinkthe words were the education
(57:47):
system is almost broken.
Right, you're educating people.
You've done fantastic with knowwhat you're doing with your
school.
What do you think needs fixingin our government education
system to align with what a lotof private schools are doing and
what actually makes people pushtheir kids into private schools
(58:08):
rather than, you know,government schools?
Speaker 1 (58:11):
Well, you know, I think we know, the problems are
many, but one area that I thinkgovernment over the years have
neglected is the basic level.
I mean if you've driven, youknow, around town and seen basic
(58:31):
public schools and seeing basicpublic schools, the buildings
some are falling apart thepaintings, the classrooms,
potholes in the classrooms.
Teachers' motivation is way low.
I have discovered in myinteraction with public school
(58:52):
teachers most of them don'ttrust the system enough to put
their own children there.
So how do you expect?
And so the public schools endsup being patronized by the very,
very poor who can't afford totake their kids even to the
low-fee private schools.
(59:13):
And Derek, the sad part is thisPeople from poor homes are the
ones that need the best ofeducation, because education is
the best equalizer.
If we want to create a countrywhere everybody has a chance to
(59:37):
succeed and not just a few of us, then those that are, I call it
, trapped in the public schoolsystem, really need more
opportunities than those thatare from middle class families.
From middle-class familiesBecause for a lot of us, to be
honest with you, even if youwent to the public school, you
still figure a way to get towhere you want to be, where you
(01:00:01):
have some backing.
The people in the publicschools, they have no backing.
And so if you have a governmentthat really cares and I know
the government over the yearshave done their best the high
school system and all of thatand training teachers, but they
need to pay attention to thebasic schools and teacher
(01:00:25):
development.
But I think it's also not justgovernment, it's also people in
the public school system, theteachers.
They need to understand that weare all in this together and
that every Ghanaian teacher oreducator must endeavor to
(01:00:47):
contribute his or her quota tohelping these poor children come
along.
We should not give up on them,we should not believe in them,
and you know a lot of teachersgo to school, they put their
bags and then they're out.
We are contributing to a systemthat is broken.
And you know what?
(01:01:07):
Because private schools havestepped in, you go elsewhere in
the world.
When there's a new community,the government will go and build
a public school, but for somany years in Ghana, private
people have just stepped in, soin middle class neighborhoods
they will start a school.
The government has not had todo that for so many, many years,
(01:01:31):
and the ones that were createdmany years ago?
They're also not taken care of.
So I think that this currentgovernment and governments that
will come in the future reallyneed to pay attention to a
business school but you've hadrelations with previous.
Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
You know minister of education and you've had
relations with previous.
You know ministers of educationand you've had conversations.
You've sat on panels wherethese conversations have been
going on.
You know what are they tryingto do about it.
Speaker 1 (01:02:04):
I think the system is .
I mean, the problem is muchdeeper than that.
I think that leadership, fromwhat I know in Ghana, is really
what the president decides.
Really, the minister may haveall his ideas about what he can
do the previous, the current butit is what the government the
(01:02:29):
president and his governmentwants to do With all your ideas.
If the president says that'snot part of my vision, it won't
happen.
But yeah, we've tried, I'vesupported in so many ways and
I'm still trying to support, butthe government has to see that
we need to touch the foundationlevel.
You can't have even a greathigh school when the basic is
(01:02:54):
weak.
You can't have even a greathigh school when the basic is
weak.
You can't build asuperstructure on a foundation
that is shaky, and that issomething I think that we don't
see and the government needs tosee that.
Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
Doug, what's one thing you like about working
with your wife in one business?
Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
The one thing that I would say is that she is the
only person that usually has theboldness to tell you what you
are doing.
That is not right.
So that's a positive right.
So because even your topleadership may see sometimes,
(01:03:34):
you know, usually at meetings,they will share things that are
not going well and in ICS wereally respect the views of
everybody.
Things that you said, thingsthat you did that people are
afraid to talk about, it takesyour spouse to say this.
(01:04:00):
You didn't say it well, andthat I value from working with
my wife.
Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
Thank you.
Is there anything we could havespoken about that we haven't?
That you still think we canhave a quick chat about?
Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
No, I think we've covered quite a lot.
We've covered quite a lot, yes,yes, we've covered quite a lot.
But I really commend you, derek, for what you are doing to
really shape the minds of youngpeople and for the entire
Ghanaian entrepreneurialcommunity.
We need to be having these kindof conversations to build each
(01:04:35):
other up and to support eachother to grow in this laudable
journey of business, and so Icommend you for doing this and
doing it in a manner that iskind of selfless.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:04:53):
Thank you so much.
Our question is motivation ordiscipline, Both Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:05:03):
You need to be disciplined, and I've talked
about some of the things,whether it's fiscal discipline,
paying your debt, getting up anddoing what you have to do, and
discipline is I like the Nikeslogan just do it.
Just do it.
(01:05:23):
Don't wait Tomorrow, don't push, but you have the discipline to
do what you have to do.
So it's important.
But we can be motivated also.
Things like what you're doinghelps people because life can be
motivated also.
So things like what you'redoing helps people because life
can be tough.
Sometimes you may want to doall that you want to do.
(01:05:43):
You may have all the discipline, but some urging can be helping
.
So I wouldn't say discipline ormotivation.
I think both are important forour growth and success.
Speaker 2 (01:05:59):
One advice, which should be the best advice you've
ever received.
What would it be?
Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
That would be remember where you came from and
your beginning.
I think many times we forget.
And when I came back to beforeI came to Ghana, I had a chat
(01:06:36):
with a gentleman, an AfricanAmerican minister, pastor, and I
asked him what one thing wouldyou want me to know or take away
?
And he said that remember thatyou didn't get here all by
(01:07:00):
yourself, wow, and that peoplecame to your aid and to your
support.
So I remember where I came fromand that I am who I am and that
I am who I am because of whatpeople did for me.
Wow, and that is also thereason why I am so much for this
(01:07:21):
foundation.
I cannot, I couldn't have beenwhere I am without people, you
know, giving me support, and Ithink so.
No matter where I rise to, Ialways remember I was a little
boy in the Buyaqua, strugglingto find my way, even through
(01:07:44):
high school.
I mean, today, if I run thisbig international community
schools, you have to understandthat finding money to go to high
school many, many years ago wastough.
I came from not a good, youknow background.
Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
So I remember that.
Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
And I think remembering that it's not just
remembering how poor you wereRight, it's remembering how
people held your hand and helpedyou to where you were, and that
hand-holding support stickswith me all the time.
(01:08:24):
So it's not just where I was,it is.
Speaker 2 (01:08:27):
The people involved, people involved.
Thank you, thank you so much.
Thank you, I really appreciateyour time.
Thank you, and if you made itto the end, as usual, leave a
comment and let me know thatyou're one of the champions that
did, and I'd like you guys tohelp me say thank you to Dr
Yebua for allowing thisconversation to happen and the
(01:08:48):
things he's spilled here today.
I wouldn't have ever gotten toknow this if he didn't come to
the studio.
So thank you so much and takecare of yourself.
My name is derek abayte.
Stay connected.
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