From a Cassette Seller to a Media Mogul: The Success Story of Kwame Despite
October 30, 2020
Osei Kwame, popularly known as “Kwame Despite” is a Ghanaian Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Chief Executive Officer of Despite Group of Companies.
“Kwame Despite” was born on February 2, 1962, at Wiamoase in the Ashanti region. Moreover, he is one of the most successful African businessmen who started from very humble beginnings. Even though, he owns a conglomerate of media houses in the country, the soft-spoken media mogul is rarely seen or heard on radio.
Kwame Despite – Early Life and Trip to Nigeria
When Kwame Despite started his business life as a petty trader in padlocks, cassettes, and feeding bottles at Dunkwa Offinso, knowing his poor family background, he was determined to make a difference through hard work. Nevertheless, due to the hardship and famine, which occurred in the country in the 80’s, he moved to Nigeria to seek greener pastures. However, sadly, he was part of numerous Ghanaian Immigrants in Nigeria, who were deported in 1983 because of political tension.
Kwame Despite – Back Home
His return home was not a triumphant one due to the haste and run for life. He had with him just a chainsaw and a trident cassette player, so he decided to go into lumbering. Consequently, he didn’t have a lot of experience in that field, as a result, he performed abysmally and incurred some losses. Be that as it may, all young entrepreneurs must learn, failure doesn’t mean the end of life, but it has a lot of lessons to learn to achieve the ultimate success.
Furthermore, Kwame Despite was not discouraged about the turn of events and made the decision to return to his usual cassette business. The rest is history, once he came back to what was familiar to him.
Kwame Despite – Success Story and Aspirations
Whether, if it was by magic or probably destiny, with hard work and commitments, Despite found success in the sale of the cassettes and established his first FM station, “Peace FM” in Accra in 1999.
The most compelling story about the cassette seller, who once lived in poverty, now, he is the CEO of Despite Group, which includes three commercial FM stations, UTV, Best Point Savings & Loans, Salt Production Company, and so many others.
The point often overlooked is that sometimes you need to switch business or change your business strategy to be able to achieve greatness. Despite’s success story is a prime example of this type of achievement. He still aspires to venture into other businesses to be able to provide employment to the teeming unemployed youth in Ghana.
For Despite, with the right planning, investments, persistence, dedication and the belief in a Higher Power above, everything is possible under the sun. To all the ones, who can relate to this success story, know that no matter your birthplace or the family in which you were born, you can achieve whatever you want to achieve through hard work and dedication.
