MTN Ghana CEO, Selorm Adadevoh has admonished Ghanaian youth break away from limitations to their dreams and dare to take risks on their journey to success.
Speaking at the virtual convocation of the Springboard Roadshow, he told the youth that on his journey to become MTN Ghana CEO, “I took several risky decisions because I strongly believed in my dreams and vision.”
He noted that people often don’t achieve enough because they don’t believe hard enough so they do not take the necessary risks to achieve success.
“Many at times we just don’t believe enough [but] if you believe strongly in something then there would be no limit,” he said.
Narrating his journey to becoming the CEO of MTN Ghana as an example, Selorm recounted how he took the risk of leaving Hewlett-Packard (HP) Consulting, at a point when he was earning so much, and came to Ghana to pursue his dream of becoming a CEO in the tech industry.
In the process, he dedicated time and resources to acquire more knowledge to place him in a better position to achieve that dream.
Selorm went through the mill by working with Tigo Ghana for less pay than he used to earn at HP Consulting – before leaving for Haiti to also work in the telecom industry, and then the MTN call came.
“The risk we take and the choices we make in life determines our success ultimately. Even if you have bumps on the road, you need to persevere if you truly believe in your cause and journey,” he said.
Selorm Adadevoh urged the youth to be positive-minded and believe in their abilities to bring about change, saying that when people believe in themselves, there will be no limits to the successes they could achieve.
He also used the occasion to share several attributes and traits of a leader, including resilience, boldness, determination, focus and trust building.
He explained that “building trust is a fundamental value in leadership shaped by consistency and not intensity. The ability to stay focused and not give up is a key trait of leadership as well.”
Selorm noted that while challenges would come along the way in the leader’s journey, the youth needed to be bold and determined, while remaining focused on their ultimate objectives.
The Executive Director of the Springboard Roadshow Foundation, Comfort Ocran, addressed participants and explained that after years of inspiring and mentoring many young people to go into entrepreneurship, the organization decided to take a new initiative this year.
The initiative dubbed, the ‘Springboard Youth Dialogue’ is meant to connect young people to opportunities and policy interventions meant to accelerate their progress, especially in the area of business.
Other speakers on the day were Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, Minister of Finance who was the Special Guest Mentor; and Nathalie Gabala of the Mastercard Foundation.
