Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe constituency and former Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has recounted how a chance encounter with former President Nana Akufo-Addo in the United States ultimately led to his return to Ghana to serve in public office.
During an appearance on The Career Trail Season 4 on Joy Learning TV and JoyNews, he explained that at the time he was deeply involved in both education and Ghanaian community leadership in the US while also building schools.
“I was still involved in the Ghanaian political space in the USA,” he noted, pointing out that he served as president of the Ghana Association of Southern California while also holding a leadership position in the New Patriotic Party’s California chapter.
He recalled also playing a role in hosting Ghanaian leaders who visited the United States during that period, including former Presidents Jerry John Rawlings and John Agyekum Kufuor.
“We got to host President Rawlings when he came, and President Kufuor also visited,” he recounted.
Dr Adutwum further shared a defining moment when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo visited his school while he was completing his third school in the United States.
“I was in the process of building my third school when Nana Addo visited my school and asked whether I would consider returning to Ghana to help transform the education system,” he revealed.
“I was looking at him thinking, this man doesn’t really know me. I was enjoying the American dream, and now he is asking me to come back to Ghana,” he continued.
After reflection, however, he decided to return, driven by his belief in Ghana’s education reform agenda.
“I came back because I believed in what was being proposed. I felt that if free secondary education was going to be introduced in Ghana, then it was something worth supporting. Education had made me who I am, so I wanted to be part of that transformation,” he explained.
Upon his return, Dr Adutwum entered Parliament and later served as Deputy Minister and Minister of Education, bringing with him his experience as an education entrepreneur.
He revealed that in Parliament, he personally sponsored about 150 students to pursue engineering and medical programmes, with many already graduating and serving in various fields.
“One of them, Emmanuel Agyeman, is now a medical doctor. That, to me, is the essence of service,” he echoed.
He also established a senior high school, which he later handed over to the government and which now bears his name, Osei-Adutwum Senior High School.
Despite no longer serving as an education minister, Dr Adutwum pointed out that he continues to think beyond national borders with a strong focus on expanding educational entrepreneurship across Africa.
“I want to expand the entrepreneurship aspect even more. Now I dream of building gifted and talented education schools across Africa, creating a network that spans countries and ensuring the schools are functioning and delivering results,” he shared.
He noted that his long term ambition includes supporting education systems beyond Ghana through structured partnerships and innovation driven models.
“That is why after being a minister I founded the YOA Global Education Partners to support other countries in transforming their education systems,” he indicated.
Dr Adutwum stressed that his drive has always been anchored in using entrepreneurship to go beyond conventional limits.
“Wherever I find myself, I see myself relying more on my entrepreneurship skills to do more than the ordinary, to go beyond what average people would do. It is all geared towards making the world a better place and transforming nations,” he stated.
He further observed that history often remembers nations that were changed by bold leadership and decisive action.
“I have seen that around the world countries that have transformed their fortunes often point to one leader who came and did the impossible,” he reflected.
For him, the greatest fulfilment lies in impact.
“The real joy is when you take someone who is underprivileged and help them become what they never thought they could be,” he remarked.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com