The lessons and experiences of Springboard Roadshow

Graphic Business Business News Feb - 09 - 2016 , 11:17

The world, they say, is full of opportunities but sometimes, indecisiveness coupled with the lack of good counselling, gets in the way and ruins one’s dreams.

Changing your life for the better is about picking the right destination and taking one step at a time to get there.

Getting serious about making your journey is a great start, and taking action is the next important step.

For some people such as Mr Thomas Abugri, Mr Evans Brako Ntiamoah and Mr Terry Mante, what triggered them to start their journey was their exposure to the Springboard roadshow, which offered them the opportunity to listen to great minds that inspired them to start their respective journeys.

The Springboard roadshow, an annual nationwide career development tour, has greatly impacted the lives of 120, 000 youth across the length and breadth of the country.

The programme, which is spearheaded by Rev. Albert Ocran and Mrs Comfort Ocran, has over the past 10 years, educated

This year marks its 10th anniversary, which has the theme: “A Decade of Transforming Lives,” showcasing the success stories of some of the alumni of the roadshow.

To mark the fifth edition of the new series, ‘Dare to Dream,’ on the weekly motivational talk show on Joy FM, three alumni, Mr Thomas Abugri, an Educationist in Zorkor, a community in the Upper East Region, Mr Evans Brako Ntiamoah, a PhD student in Management Science at Sichuan Agricultural University in China, and Mr Terry Mante, an author and speaker, shared their experiences on how the springboard show had transformed their lives.

The ‘Dare to Dream’ series seeks to expose the lessons and the experiences of people who have come through the springboard roadshow over the years, and also explore the story of people who took a little and made it big through the programme.

Making a change

Recounting his experience, Mr Abugri said his Springboard experience started in 2009 at Bolgatanga.

He said he used to listen to motivational speeches on radio but none of them had been able to touch his life like the Springboard Roadshow did.

“At my first attendance, I heard a message from Rev. Albert Ocran, which said wherever one finds himself should never be a limitation and that one can make a difference regardless of where he/she is,” he stated.

He said he was motivated and started to think of how to transform his generation.

“I, therefore, decided that despite being in a village near Bolga, I can still make a change. So, I set my eyes on my journey to make a change,” he said.

Unfortunately for him, he said he could not start anything that year, but went back to the Springboard Roadshow again the following year, where he heard another message from Rev. Ocran, which was urging the youth to make a change in their societies.

This message, he said, pushed him to establish a school that year.

“I did not have money at that moment, so I met with one senior high school graduate and discussed with him that it was time we did something for the community so he bought into the idea and we started the school with four students," he recounted.

He said the school currently has 225 students, ten teachers and one kitchen staff, and this was all because he ‘dared to dream.’

“Coming from a community where the children lacked access to private schools, I am very satisfied by the impact and difference I have been able to make by giving them access to a private school,” he mentioned.

Going forward, he said he was hopeful of establishing a senior high school in the community soon.

Never too late to start all over

Mr Ntiamoah also stated that his experience with the Springboard roadshow started in 2011, when he was a final year marketing student at the Koforidua Polytechnic.

He said that night was the defining moment of his life as the messages he heard triggered him to do something.

“There was a message from Rev. Albert Ocran, which said it was never too late to start all over. It said if something was not going too well in your life, you can always start over again and that message was the turning point in my life,” he said.

“There were a lot of higher national diploma (HND) holders who were still unemployed and I did not want to add up to that number. Because of that I resorted to something different, which was researching to come out with new findings all the time,” he added.

He said he had so far done 29 researches that had been published in journals across the world.

Touching on some of the findings in his research, he said he realised in one of his research works that most companies did not understand what corporate social responsibility was about.

When asked what he wanted to do in the future, he pointed out that he wanted to establish an academic journal where people could publish their research findings.

Mr Ntiamoah also wants to establish a pure market research team that will conduct research for small and medium enterprises.

‘Anything you have in mind, with commitment, you can achieve it,” he advised.

Making everything count

For his part, Mr Mante said his Springboard journey started in 2008 in Accra.

He said he was inspired by a message which urged the youth to make everything count in life.

“We were told to make everything count by keeping it sweet and simple and this message made a huge impact on my life,” he noted.

He said he had a dream of publishing two books before graduating from university but unfortunately for him, he was able to publish just one.

“However, after hearing that message, I decided to make everything count, so I started putting something down anytime I closed from work and by the time I finished national service, I had published my second book,” he mentioned.

He said the messages were like seeds that were sown in him and he had no excuse not to succeed.

Mr Mante urged the youth to believe in themselves, stating that “if we decide to take our destinies into our own hands and decide to be responsible for what we want to be, we will get there.”