People & Lifestyle
Kwaku Bonsam featured in the New York Times
Check out this feature on Ghana’s most popular ‘fetish priest’, Kwaku Bonsam, published by the New York Times.
When the radio D.J. Prince Adomako received a call in April from a man identifying himself as Nana Kwaku Bonsam, he hung up immediately, terrified. The man kept calling back, first from the same line, then from a series of new numbers.“I got really scared,” Mr. Adomako, 21, recalled recently. “Nana is a famous fetish priest in Ghana. I thought he might want to put a curse on me.”
His fear was understandable. Mr. Kwaku Bonsam is a major figure in his home country, a traditional priest loved and despised for his spiritual powers. And he revels in his notoriety. “Bonsam,” a name he gave himself, means “devil” in the Twi language.
But in New York this spring, the devil just wanted to buy an advertisement. And so after listening to his voice mail, Mr. Adomako, who immigrated from Ghana six years ago, invited him by the offices of ZenoRadio, the online start-up where he works.
In place of the Ghanaian smock and kufi hat worn by most traditional priests, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam, 39, arrived in a shiny black Dolce & Gabbana tracksuit and a knit cap with “New York” woven in graffiti-style letters. His face was a mask of scar tissue from a near-fatal accident in his youth.
He had come to the city last year to visit a friend from Guinea, he said. But he extended his stay after his facial injuries became infected, requiring a number of operations at Harlem Hospital Center. “I love New York,” Mr. Kwaku Bonsam said in his newly improved English. “But it is too cold here.” He was planning to leave in August, a year after he arrived.
Back in Ghana, he has 14 children (9 of them adopted) and a religious empire: a network of shrines, a free elementary school, houses, cars and a cattle farm. He regularly appeared on television talk shows and could rally crowds of thousands.
Renowned as a healer, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam claims to treat everything from curses to impotence. But he is best known for his ambitious efforts to modernize the indigenous West African religion dominant before Christian missionaries began arriving in great numbers in the mid-19th century.
So why was Ghana’s most feared fetish priest living inconspicuously in a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx?
In West Africa, traditional priests — often called fetish priests — have historically preferred secrecy and seclusion, carrying out their ancient rituals inside mud huts in remote areas. And since 1992, when a democratic constitution was approved in Ghana, traditional religion has come under increasing attack from a new generation of Pentecostal pastors, who use television, radio and the Internet to deride its rituals as devil worship.
In a clever reversal, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam has adopted these same platforms to promote traditional religion. His outsize public persona and his cosmopolitan credentials make the case that the old spiritual practices are compatible with being a modern African.
“In Africa, traditional religion has always been considered extremely local, while Christianity was seen as a way of joining the larger world,” said Birgit Meyer, a professor of religious studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands who conducted research in Ghana for 25 years and has written about Mr. Kwaku Bonsam. “But by using Facebook and YouTube and finally residing in New York City, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam shows that traditional religion can also go global. He’s making it fashionable, in other words.”
New York was a natural destination for Mr. Kwaku Bonsam. Ghanaians make up the largest African immigrant group in the city, with a population of around 24,000, according to the Census Bureau. The majority of these hail from the Ashanti region in southern Ghana, where Mr. Kwaku Bonsam was born and is still based.
“He’s everywhere in the Bronx right now,” said Daniella Asantewaa, 25, a Ghanaian who lives in the borough and works in advertising. “You go to a funeral, you see him; a birthday party, he’s there.”
And yet many Ghanaians in New York view Mr. Kwaku Bonsam with distrust, if not outright contempt.
“According to my understanding, he’s an advocate of the devil,” said Ms. Asantewaa, who belongs to a Pentecostal church. “He’s someone I try to avoid.”
Hundreds of her countrymen, along with immigrants from West African countries like Ivory Coast and Senegal, have nevertheless sought out Mr. Kwaku Bonsam. On a recent Sunday morning, a dozen visitors were packed in his living room.
In one corner, a glass coffee table was obscured beneath the elements of a makeshift shrine: a chalice filled with Johnson’s Baby Powder, a bottle of J. H. Henkes’ Aromatic Schiedam Schnapps, a horsetail whip, a Master Lock wrapped in red twine. In another, an Ikea desk supported two Dell computer monitors and a broadcast microphone. In the middle sat Mr. Kwaku Bonsam, dressed in a rainbow-colored smock and stirring a brown liquid in a plastic kitchen bowl.
“This is Africa medicine,” he said, describing the concoction — prescribed to male clients experiencing “sexual weakness” — as a mixture of honey, vodka, tree bark and herbs he had requested from his assistants in Ghana. “Western medicine has a lot of side effects. But with this, there are no side effects.”
Daniel Nyarko and Kito Aikins, cabdrivers in their early 50s who had moved to the Bronx around 30 years ago, were sitting nearby.
“We came to America for Martin Luther King’s dream,” Mr. Nyarko said, eliciting knowing laughter from the others in the room. “But New York is very, very expensive. There is so much stress here.”
Mr. Aikins added: “Nana helps people spiritually in ways that pastors cannot.”
Now and then, a Skype call came through on Mr. Kwaku Bonsam’s MacBook Pro. One caller — Lewis Lidfeldt, a 20-year-old Ghanaian living in Sweden — was seeking advice on how to become a successful recording artist. “I heard Nana has a lot of experience with the spirit,” Mr. Lidfeldt said. Mr. Kwaku Bonsam asked him to call back later.
Among the visitors that morning was Nana Acheampong-Tieku, the regional chief of the Ashanti people in New York. An accountant by day, he explained that Mr. Kwaku Bonsam’s local popularity had frustrated Christian pastors here.
“They think he’s stealing their members and their revenue,” Mr. Acheampong-Tieku said. He named a controversial Pentecostal pastor in Virginia who had openly criticized Mr. Kwaku Bonsam during his popular conference-call prayer service.
Mr. Kwaku Bonsam, who had been listening quietly, suddenly pounded his fist on the coffee table, raising a small cloud of baby powder.
“He should preach according to the Gospel and stop insulting me!” he shouted in Twi. “Tell him to read Jeremiah 23:16.” The biblical passage admonishes: “Do not listen to what prophets are prophesying to you; they will fill you with false hopes.”
The Ghanaian news media treat Mr. Kwaku Bonsam as a celebrity and have chronicled his sometimes rocky relationship with his third wife, Gertrude, a law school student in London.
“Kweku Bonsam Suffering From Broken Heart,” the Web site Peace FM Online reported in 2012, after learning of a disagreement between the couple. A year later, after she visited her husband in the Bronx, the Web site Ghana Nation ran the headline: “Ghanaian Fetish Priest Kweku Bonsam Chills With Lover in New York.”
Before he was Nana Kwaku Bonsam, though, he was Stephen Osei Mensah, a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the small village of Afrancho.
The transformation began one night in 1992, when he was 19. While carrying a lantern near his home, he accidentally walked into the path of an open gas line. The flame triggered an explosion. Mr. Kwaku Bonsam barely survived. He was released from the hospital with extensive burn scars on his face and torso. Ostracized for his appearance, he dropped out of school and found work as a mechanic in the Suame Magazine, a bustling industrial district outside Kumasi, the regional capital.
In his mythic origin story, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam claims to have received his supernatural powers after he saved a sick man’s life on his way home from work one day. In return, the man gave him a “mysterious gift,” a kind of braided horsetail, that enabled him to help other people.
Soon after, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam opened a small shrine room in his mother’s house in Afrancho. Before long he had generated enough revenue through consultation fees to build a large shrine complex nearby. It was around this time that he took the last name Bonsam as a taunting response to the Pentecostal movement’s continuing demonization of traditional religion.
In Ghana, 71.2 percent of the country’s 25 million people identify as Christian, while only 5.2 percent say they believe in traditional religion, according to a 2010 census report. But Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, a professor of African Christianity at Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra, Ghana’s capital, said that those numbers should be read loosely.
“In African culture, when people experience a crisis, they often put their Christian beliefs aside and consult traditional priests,” he said. “They won’t usually admit it, of course, because that destroys their Christian credibility.”
It was a similar situation that made Mr. Kwaku Bonsam famous, said Frederik Lamote, a professor at University College Brussels who wrote part of his doctoral thesis on him.
On April 2, 2008, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam stormed into the church of Collins Agyei Yeboah, a popular Pentecostal pastor in Kato, another southern town. Accompanied by a crew of policemen and reporters, he accused Pastor Yeboah of secretly soliciting the help of his traditional gods and then failing to properly compensate him and the gods for their services. Mr. Kwaku Bonsam claimed the gods had given him two choices: to retrieve the idol he had given the pastor, or to die at 6 p.m. that day. “Do you want the gods to kill me?” he asked Pastor Yeboah.
In YouTube videos of the episode, viewed hundreds of thousands of times, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam went on to say that 1,600 pastors from around the country had visited him requesting juju spirits to help build their churches. The idol is eventually retrieved from behind Pastor Yeboah’s church and after a lengthy interrogation, the pastor is led away by the police. In the video, he angrily defended himself by saying that he had indeed consulted Mr. Kwaku Bonsam, but that the powers he had given him didn’t work.
The success of Pentecostalism in West Africa, with its exorcisms and speaking in tongues, depends heavily on its resonance with traditional religion. But by showing that a well-known pastor had explicitly relied on juju spirits, said Professor Meyer, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam “affirmed widespread rumors that pastors had secret spiritual resources.” His popularity soared in response.
Today, his sprawling shrine complex in Afrancho, with 18 guest rooms, attracts people from all over the world, who pay a fairly hefty price — 10 Ghanaian cedis, or around $5 — to see him. But the bulk of his earnings, Professor Asamoah-Gyadu said, come from wealthy businessmen and politicians in the form of donations and “gratitude money.” It is this, he added, that allows Mr. Kwaku Bonsam to provide free tuition for over 1,000 schoolchildren in Afrancho, for instance, as well as to afford skin graft operations at Harlem Hospital.
Pentecostal pastors in Ghana, perhaps envious of his success, regularly challenge him to spiritual battles to prove who possesses greater powers.
In one memorable showdown, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam, exhibiting his trademark flair, rode into Jubilee Park in Kumasi on a horse, adorned in traditional battle dress. The event was broadcast on the radio. Thousands came out to watch.
The pastor never showed up. In celebration, the newspaper Daily Guide reported, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam conjured live birds and money in different denominations, prompting a small riot. The police fired tear gas into the crowd to disperse it.
Life in New York has, by comparison, been fairly uneventful. With little space and no work permit, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam has been unable to perform the highly elaborate rituals he is known for in Ghana, in which he claims to become possessed by spirits, conducts animal sacrifices and throws gunpowder onto open flames.
To Mr. Acheampong-Tieku’s knowledge, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam has become possessed only once in the Bronx. “He started speaking in a spirit language,” recalled the Ashanti chief, who was in Mr. Kwaku Bonsam’s apartment with several others. “He showed what things are going to happen, and told a few people what they could do for themselves, like what not to eat.”
“It was pretty calm,” he added.
Still, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam has made his way into all aspects of Ghanaian life here. He has improved his English and become fluent in the rhythms of life in a global capital.
Appearing in traditional robes, he takes part in monthly meetings of the Asanteman Association of the U.S.A., the Ashanti cultural group over which Mr. Acheampong-Tieku presides. He has also participated in ceremonies held by the local Akan community, an ethnic group native to Ghana and Ivory Coast.
He is equally at ease at secular functions. Dressed rakishly in a dark suit, he turned up in the front row of the Miss Ghana USA Pageant at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in Manhat tan on June 28.
David Quansah, a suave TV and radio presenter in Ghana known as Papa Sly, was a host of the event, which drew around 250 people, most of them Ghanaians. Seeing Mr. Kwaku Bonsam in the crowd, he asked everyone to acknowledge “the presence of a very special guest,” leading him to stand and wave. Several people gasped before applause drowned them out.
A few days earlier, the pageant contestants were relaxing in a Harlem town house. Primarily Christians, they questioned the motives of Mr. Kwaku Bonsam’s presence in New York.
“Fetish priests prey on the directionless and the vulnerable, those seeking any kind of answer,” said Adwoa Adofo, 28, a communications director in Washington.
“I read that he sat on an egg and it didn’t break,” said Nadia Asiedu-Baah, 19, a student at Concordia University Wisconsin. “But is there a video of this? Where’s the proof?”
During the pageant, however, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam quickly became part of the proceedings. Mr. Quansah asked him to present the awards for Miss Congeniality, People’s Choice and Most Photogenic, the last of which went to Lisa Aidoo, 19, a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan who was representing the Ashanti region.
“She is good,” Mr. Kwaku Bonsam whispered after sitting back down. “She will win, I think.”
When she placed second, Mr. Kwaku Bonsam clapped his hands to his forehead. “No, no, no!” he said.
The traditional priest has enjoyed his year in New York, but with his surgeries completed, he is also ready to leave. “People ask me on Facebook, ‘Nana, when do you come back to Ghana?’ ” he said in an earlier interview. “There are rumors back home that I am dead.” He said his departure was imminent: he had bought a ticket to Accra leaving on Aug. 15.
After the event, an exhausted Mr. Quansah, who had interviewed Mr. Kwaku Bonsam on several occasions in Ghana, confirmed the death rumors. “When he returns, we need to have another TV interview,” he said. “The public has to know he is very much alive.”
A version of this article appeared in print on July 21, 2013, on page MB1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Visit From the Devil.
People & Lifestyle
Understanding Fri Data Abonnement
These days, it’s practically impossible to escape mobile phones. Throughout the world, a lot of us simply need these devices to get basic tasks done – not to mention to work at our most efficient! This is certainly true here in Norway, which is likely not a huge surprise.
Once we accept that these mobile devices are simply a part of our lives these days, the next thing to think about is how they work. Specifically, how we have access to cell service and internet services when using our phones – it’s a question that everyone has to wonder about at some point.
Today, we’re here to cover how cell phone services work, what options there are, and how you can access a free data subscription. The tricky part of this can be deciding which one we want for ourselves, seeing as there are a ton of factors at play.
If you’re someone who wants to switch service providers, or you’re a first-time cell phone user, you’ve come to the right place! We’re here to explain all of the intricacies that you may run into, as well as provide some advice on what types of plans to prioritize. Stay tuned!
What Are Cell Phone Plans, Anyway?
Cell phone plans are service agreements offered by mobile carriers that allow customers to access voice, text, and data services on their mobile devices for a monthly fee. Chances are, you’ve heard of them before – they’re pretty popular all across the world.
Now, these plans typically include a set number of minutes, texts, and data. They may also include various features such as international calling, mobile hotspot capabilities, and unlimited streaming. Naturally, customers are able to choose from a variety of plan options based on their needs and usage habits.
Types of Mobile Plans
There are several different types of these plans – you can read more about them on this page: https://www.nist.gov/publications/cell-phone-forensic-tools-overview-and-analysis-update?pub_id=51100, if you’d like some sort of reference. With that said, let’s take a closer look at some of the broad options that you may encounter.
Prepaid Plans
These sorts of plans were popularized by the “Tracfone” brand, but there are plenty of other companies that offer this as an option. Simply put, these plans require customers to pay for service in advance – usually on a monthly basis, though it can be for longer periods of time as well. One of the plus sides is that prepaid plans do not require a credit check and often offer flexibility in terms of contract length and payment options.
Of course, they’re not always going to be ideal. They’ve dwindled in popularity over the past decade, since there are better choices these days for folks who use their phones consistently.
Postpaid Plans
As you may have already guessed, these are essentially the opposite of the above option. You see, these require customers to pay for service after they have used it. More often than not, this will be on a monthly basis. Postpaid plans often involve signing a contract with the carrier and may include additional fees or charges.
Overall, they’re probably the most popular option. The contracts tend to last for a few years (two, in most cases), so they’re relatively flexible – it’s not as if you’re signed on for life. Just be sure to read over the clauses to ensure you’re getting what you want.
Family Plans
Not everyone who is getting a mobile phone plan will be doing so on their own. That’s where family options come into play – these can be a great deal for families large and small alike, depending on the circumstances. Allow us to explain.
Family plans allow for multiple different devices to share a single plan. The real perk here is that it will usually be offered at a discounted rate when compared to individual plans. Just keep in mind that these plans tend to include shared data, minutes, and texts, as well as the ability to add additional lines as needed.
While they can be quite useful, the sharing of data, minutes, and texts will mean that larger families may need to go for an unlimited, or free data, option to ensure that everyone has the access they need. You can go to website to get a better idea of how this works in practice.
Unlimited Plans
This is an option that can be combined with a few of the others (family and postpaid). They offer users on the line to have unlimited access to services like data, texts, and voice minutes. That said, there are usually still stipulations on things like international calling and texting.
Pay-As-You-Go Plans
For the final type that we’re highlighting in this section, we have pay-as-you-go plans. They allow customers to pay only for the minutes, texts, and data they use – and they come without a monthly contract or commitment. Overall, these plans are ideal for light users or those who want more control over their spending.
At the end of the day, some users will find it easier to blend a few of these plan options together. Most of the time, service providers will be willing to work with you to find a plan that suits you (and your family, when applicable), but isn’t overly expensive.
Choosing a Plan
The trickiest part of this whole thing is narrowing down what will actually be the best fit. Something you’ll want to bear in mind right off of the bat is that there are a ton of service providers across Norway, so that will likely play a role in your eventually choice. After all, before you decide on anything like that, you’ll need to research which companies offer service in your area.
Once you’ve gotten that out of the way, though, the fun can begin. There are a ton of factors that will play a role here, so make sure to follow along!
Analyze Your Usage
The first step you’ll want to take is to think about how much you use your mobile phone right now (or how much you plan to use it). Additionally, there’s the matter of what you actually use it for. Both of these aspects will play a role here.
Voice minutes are an easy one to think about. How often do you call people? Do you spend a long time on the phone, or do you tend to keep things short and sweet? Many people don’t find the need for unlimited voice minutes these days, but they do tend to be bundled in with other free use plans, so that may in fact be a non-issue.
What about texting? Admittedly, this does seem to be how most people communicate nowadays. However, if you’re chatting with friends or coworkers internationally, you may use a third-party messaging service that uses data (or Wi-Fi) rather than text minutes. This could easily influence the number of monthly texts you need access to.
Data is probably the most important factor in this category, as it’s how we browse the internet at all when we aren’t connected to Wi-Fi networks. Now, some people work from home or simply don’t get out much, so they may not necessarily need a free data subscription. However, most folks do tend to travel about and want to access the internet on the go.
Without data, you can’t send emails, browse social media, or stream videos unless you’re connected to a Wi-Fi outlet. It’s not hard to see why this is useful – or why most people tend to go with a free data subscription (also known as an unlimited data plan).
The last factor to consider here is contingent on whether or not you are going for a family plan. If a lot of people are utilizing phones on the same line, then unlimited data, texts, and voice minutes can be invaluable. This way, everyone who’s included on the plan will be able to access these services as much as they need, without having an impact on anyone else’s service.
Cost, Contract Terms, and Other Services
At the end of the day, it’s pretty hard to make a decision on this sort of thing without first analyzing the cost that you’re comfortable with. Often, with family plans, everyone will chip in to help cover the bill each month – so, that could help save some cash in the long run, if that’s what you’re considering.
However, if you’re just purchasing one line, you may have further restrictions to consider in terms of budget. Thankfully, most phone companies offer several tiers, bundles, and packages to make their services as accessible as possible. Don’t be afraid to shop around and compare offers with the companies that service your area, either.
Contract terms are also something you’ll want to take into account. Essentially, you’ll want to decide if you prefer a prepaid plan with no long-term commitment or a postpaid plan with a contract. Consider factors such as contract length, early termination fees, and any perks or benefits that come with a specific plan. All of this will have an impact on final costs as well.
Finally, it can also be worth it to see what additional features or perks are included with a certain plan. For instance, consider any additional features or perks that are important to you, such as international calling, mobile hotspot capabilities, or streaming services. Some plans may include extras that can enhance your overall experience, though they come at an upcharge.
Selecting mobile phone services isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it to take the time to really browse the options available. That way, you can be confident knowing you got a good deal.
People & Lifestyle
Implementing Performance Management Systems: From Evaluation to Excellence II
This April, we commence a 5-part series on one of our highly recommended strategies for driving a culture of peak performance – The Evolution of Performance and Impact Measurement. Last week, we discussed 6 steps to implementing an excellent performance management system. Today, we bring the concluding 4 the effective implementation of performance management systems.
- Integrating Employee Feedback
Just as it is with corporate goal setting, collaboration for effective performance involves integrating a system that gives employees the opportunity to engage or provide feedback. This is critical because most of the operations in the workplace and more direct interactions with customers are made by employees on the lower rungs of the corporate ladder. Some of the famous tweaks in the production model of successful organizations were made by mid-level and low-level employees who see opportunities that top management might be tone-deaf or oblivious to. These insights are invaluable because they offer perspectives that can increase the form utility of what is being produced. This is because the business cycle is not complete until the goods or service is delivered to the customer and feedback received. This also enhances job satisfaction for the employees because they see themselves as part of the big picture.
- Instituting An Improvement System
This largely speaks to trainings but improvement is holistic. Training here applies to both managers and subordinates because it takes two to tango; the lack of training can sabotage productivity because one ignorant fellow with power can lead an organization down to ruins. Leaders and team members must constantly upskill because competence on one level can quickly become incompetence on a higher level. These could be owing to changes in within the organization or outside the organization. For example, after an organization secures new funding from investors or become quoted on a stock exchange, it has effectively become a different organization because its scope of operation has widened and the scale of production has to be increased owing to the new demands imposed on it by new stakeholders. Training interventions should be data-driven and vision-inspired; in response to the current needs of an organization and a preparation for its future.
- Recalibrating The Performance Management System Itself
For organizations that are actively learning and growing; they know that it is never what they started with that they continue with – changes are a part of their success story. Tweaking a performance management system doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not productive or yielding the desired results, it’s because little changes can have huge consequences. Sometimes, managers need to relax certain timelines because the strategic priority of an organization might have changes from speed to accuracy, thus the focus might be more on qualitative outcomes than just quantitative outcomes. This happens mostly when organizations are expanding and have gained significant notoriety, it means that they come under more scrutiny for compliance from regulatory authorities, investors and the business community.
For example, 1Tesla is not necessarily focused on mass producing electric cars so that the markets are flooded with them; owing to the highly technical nature of the car which includes self-driving features. This year alone, Tesla has recalled about 200,000 cars owing to a software error that could have prevented the rear-view cameras from displaying. This came barely two months after more than two million of its vehicles were also pulled from the market for autopilot issues. It had to double down on quality control so that it doesn’t lose its reputation as the world’s leading manufacturer of electric vehicles.
- Automating The Process
The performance management system is not a one-off tool; it’s a continuous process that never really ends – it’s an end-to-end play. If allowed to be operated manually, the performance management system would fail because it would be tiring and monotonous to start the same process all over again. Leaders should learn a thing or two on how the universe works – everything is designed in cycles, loops that are intentionally co-ordinated to such that there is really no difference between a start-point and a stop-point.
In a performance management system where the five core components are specifying expectations, monitoring, meeting employees’ developmental needs, the use of appraisal and rewards – the last component (rewards) should seamlessly introduce the first component (specifying expectations).
Implementing performance management systems requires a lot of critical thinking and emotional intelligence because execution can be the difference between successful organizations and failing organizations. Productivity is so important that it cannot be happenstance; therefore managers should become aware of the moving parts that make increased productivity possible.
1https://www.forbes.com/sites/caileygleeson/2024/01/26/tesla-recalls-nearly-200000-vehicles-over-rearview-camera-software-issue/
Growth Opportunities
To further position your leaders for peak performance, you can download a free copy of the latest edition of The Peak Performer Magazine at www.thepeakperformer.africa You can also enroll your Mid-level Leadership Team for the Made4More Accelerator Program https://abiolachamp.com/m4m-accelerator and your Senior Leadership Team for the Dr. Abiola Salami International Leadership Bootcamp MOMBASA 2024 https://abiolachamp.com/international-bootcamp/ We also have an upcoming training for leaders in public service www.abiolachamp.com/depips/
About Dr. Abiola Salami
Dr. Abiola Salami is the Convener of Dr Abiola Salami International Leadership Bootcamp and The Peak PerformerTM. He is the Principal Performance Strategist at CHAMP – a full scale professional services firm trusted by high performing business leaders for providing Executive Coaching, Workforce Development & Advisory Services to improve performance. You can reach his team on hello@abiolachamp.com and connect with him @abiolachamp on all social media.
People & Lifestyle
Delta to serve Ghana with new Airbus A330-900neo
Delta Air Lines will fly its state-of-the-art Airbus A330-900neo on nonstop service from Accra to New York-JFK effective 27 October 2024. The new aircraft will add approximately 30% more capacity between Ghana and the United States.
Speaking to journalists at a media roundtable in Accra, Matteo Curcio, Delta’s Senior Vice President for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and India, said, “Delta has worked to deliver an enhanced travel experience in Ghana. We look forward to welcoming customers onboard our A330-900neo aircraft come October, offering exciting new products and services as they travel to and from the United States.”
Matteo used the opportunity to express his gratitude to Delta’s customers, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, and the government of Ghana for their continued partnership.
The brand-new A330-900neo aircraft will add nearly 1,000 more seats each week between Ghana and the U.S. It offers four distinctive experiences – Delta One Suites, Delta Premium Select, Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin – and more cargo capacity to cater for growing demand.
Customers can expect Delta’s best-in-class service and a uniquely premium onboard experience as they travel to and from the U.S. Each Delta One Suite features a sliding door for enhanced privacy, the luxury of a fully reclining seat, accompanied by plush bedding crafted from recycled materials. Delta One customers can also enjoy more beverage options and a seasonal chef-curated four-course meal.
Meanwhile, customers flying in Delta Premium Select will have more space to relax and stretch out, with a wider seat, deeper recline, an adjustable footrest and leg rest. Delta Comfort+ and Main Cabin passengers benefit from comfortable, memory-foam seats.
All travelers will enjoy ambient lighting for a restful flight, Wi-Fi for purchase, and seat-back screens featuring 1,000+ hours of Delta Studio entertainment. Delta collaborates with diverse suppliers worldwide for in-flight products such as artisan-crafted amenity kits and beverages like Thrive Farmers Tea.
Delta continues to maintain its reputation for operational excellence. The airline has consistently been recognized for excellence in passenger experience, customer service, operational performance, and workplace culture. Recent achievements include winning Cirium’s Platinum Award for operational excellence for the third consecutive year, OAG’s most on-time airline, Air Transport World’s Airline of the Year 2024, and the Wall Street Journal’s top U.S. airline.
People & Lifestyle
A Powerful and Emotional Experience – “In the Pants of a Woman” – By Beatrice Shine Ayroe
People & Lifestyle
Short films and La Cinef Jury and selections of the 77th Festival de Cannes
Flanked by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, Paolo Moretti, Claudine Nougaret and Vladimir Perišić, the Belgian actress Lubna Azabal will award the Short Film Palme d’or and the 3 La Cinef prizes, the Festival de Cannes’ selection dedicated to student films.
The Jury will discover the 11 films in the Short Film Competition and the 18 films in La Cinef selection unveiled today.
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People & Lifestyle
Atarah Praise: Prophet Joseph Atarah set to rock Adenta on May 19
Ghana’s singing Prophet, Joseph Atarah is set to rock the people of Adenta on May 19 with Atarah Praise. (more…)
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