Fireside Chat with Lady Dentaa Amoateng | 23rd August 2022 Recording


Speaker

Lady Dentaa Amoateng MBE; President and Founder of the Grow Unite, Build, Africa (GUBA) Enterprise

21 African countries represent the Commonwealth in Africa, comprising 39% of the continent’s total number of states. The significance of Commonwealth Africa to the Commonwealth can never be overstated, and such a fact is manifested in the fact that 25% of all Commonwealth Chairs-in-Office have been from African nations, including the current Chairperson, Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda who officially undertook the title during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on 24 June 2022. African nations have been expanding and developing at consistent and impressive rates signaling their central position as the economic hub for the global economy in the near future.

Lady Dentaa’s life project, called the Grow, Unite and Build Africa (GUBA) Enterprise, comprises several branches of not-for-profit and pan-African initiatives including but not limited to the GUBA Awards, GUBA Foundation and the GUBA Trade Expo. Her mission is to contribute to the development of her country as well as the African continent by acknowledging and highlighting the contributions of Ghanaian talent worldwide, supporting and uniting African communities and, as a British Ghanaian herself, empowering the African Diasporan community. This year, the GUBA Awards are being held in Kigali, Rwanda under the theme “Ndabaga- Drumbeat of Dreamers and Legends” to commemorate the historical heroes of the Rwandan and African communities and to convey the power of determination and focus.

In this candid and heartfelt conversation, Dentaa shares with the Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong about the importance of her Ghanaian identity growing up in the United Kingdom and how her journey in the realm of media, during which she appeared in shows like EastEnders and then had her own live TV show called the Dentaa Show, lead her to create GUBA: Grow, Unite, Build Africa, in 2009. Since then, Lady Dentaa has been unstoppable in her endeavours to create an esteemed platform to celebrate vibrant and dynamic African diaspora individuals and steadily her platform has grown to include the GUBA Awards and GUBA Foundation amongst other initiatives to also support aspiring and promising African citizens in achieving their dreams.

During the Fireside chat, Lady Dentaa reflects on her experience of CHOGM’22 and how the intra-Commonwealth trade advantage and multifaceted forums are crucially important in interlinking not just the nations of Africa to each other but linking the African nations to the whole world and putting the iconic personalities and mind blowing developmental initiatives of the continent on the international radar.

Moderator

Andrew Wells; Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong