My global Ghanaian citizens, how are you all doing? I hope you guys are
Speaker:all enjoying the festive period. I would just like to say thank you
Speaker:very much to each and every one of you who've supported, featured on the
Speaker:podcast, or even tuned into the podcast via the podcasting
Speaker:platforms. Really grateful for all of your support and
Speaker:all of your contributions and the time that you've put into
Speaker:spending time on the podcast. I'm really truly am grateful.
Speaker:Now first and foremost, I'd like to say it's almost 5
Speaker:years since, the podcast has been running. That will
Speaker:be in January 2025. It's been a rollercoaster of a
Speaker:journey since this podcast started. Even this year,
Speaker:2024, as this is the focus to recap this podcast,
Speaker:it's been a rollercoaster of a journey. There's been a lot of ups and downs,
Speaker:and there's been a lot of a lot of things that's taken place, this
Speaker:year. So so what
Speaker:we're gonna do in this episode is we're gonna recap everything
Speaker:that's happened in terms of the key milestones, key highlights that's
Speaker:taken place, in this year for the Sound of Accra
Speaker:podcast. So I'm gonna touch on key highlights of
Speaker:this year. I'm also gonna touch upon my thoughts and feelings
Speaker:about everything that's happened around the podcast this year. And
Speaker:I'm also gonna touch upon where I'm looking for the podcast
Speaker:to go forward in the year 2025.
Speaker:So this is what I'm gonna cover. Please stick with me for the next 5
Speaker:to 10 minutes. Don't go away. This is gonna be a great breakdown.
Speaker:Alright? So, I
Speaker:wanna recap how the year has gone. So the year has
Speaker:been quite interesting. Lots of different segments.
Speaker:We've had the a conversation series, which has continued
Speaker:on this year, which launched, I believe, last year. And,
Speaker:we've had some very good guests on the on the a conversations with series.
Speaker:Probably not as many episodes as I would have liked to have done, but
Speaker:the episodes that we have done, they have been fantastic episodes,
Speaker:and they have been very good content to tune into
Speaker:or to listen to. We had the episode of Carlita
Speaker:Cash where which is probably one of my first episodes where I
Speaker:did an interview based around the blockchain and cryptocurrency.
Speaker:On the back of that, that led to, you know,
Speaker:doing a 12 part series with Binance featuring,
Speaker:blockchain and cryptocurrency episodes based around Africa and Ghana.
Speaker:So for those of you who've been listening to the Fintech Friday series,
Speaker:with Binance Africa, you know, this is our first huge partnership that we
Speaker:secured this year. So this is definitely a key milestone that goes into this year's
Speaker:diary. So those of you who have listened to that episode
Speaker:or or supported it, thank you very much. In terms of what
Speaker:else we've, in terms of key highlights or key milestones that we
Speaker:can, that's worth bringing up in terms of, episodes.
Speaker:We had the conversation with, Patrick Adom At the
Speaker:beginning of the year, we spoke about, his business empire
Speaker:regarding Very Very Puzzled, which is his puzzle business
Speaker:where, you know, he's been able to build puzzles based around Africa
Speaker:and based around other countries and other industries and,
Speaker:other types of businesses, and it's been working out pretty well for him.
Speaker:I remember when he talked about building a legacy with his daughter
Speaker:and his daughter now being one of the cofounder of a puzzle business. And I
Speaker:just really remember that being, something that I took away
Speaker:where I could think about, okay, what legacy do I wanna
Speaker:lead to my future children? Do I wanna hand them over to a business that's
Speaker:ready made for them to then hand over to their future children? So that
Speaker:episode kind of, you know, was very thought provoking, not just for me, but I'm
Speaker:sure for you listeners as well, where we
Speaker:spoke on a lot of things regarding generational wealth
Speaker:and, you know, building a business from the ground up. And
Speaker:bootstrapping a business, not having a lot of funds and making the most of
Speaker:what you have and also going out for grants and, you know, fighting for
Speaker:every opportunity and fights for everything that you can actually,
Speaker:gain that you are actually entitled to for your business.
Speaker:Had a great conversation with Kute Blackson, motivational,
Speaker:teacher, transformational, coach. Fantastic, fantastic episode.
Speaker:He has a father who set up
Speaker:over 300 churches in Ghana. And, you know, he was born in
Speaker:Ghana and then raised in London and LA. And he's had a very
Speaker:interesting life. And that episode really, really was amazing
Speaker:because, it really spoke to those who
Speaker:are maybe in a crossroads if they're not sure where to go in their lives.
Speaker:And Kuntay just really speaks to everyone who's listened to the episode.
Speaker:And he really just told it as it is and just said, look.
Speaker:If you want change, you need to go out and get it. So that was
Speaker:a really powerful episode, the Kute Blackson episode.
Speaker:We also had a chat with Samuel
Speaker:Leeds. Great great episodes. Great conversation I had with Samuel
Speaker:Leeds. Although the episode was recorded over the summer, you know,
Speaker:this episode only recently just came out. But it was a
Speaker:fantastic conversation, honestly. Just to hear that people like
Speaker:Samuel Leeds are investing in Ghana and across Africa just
Speaker:shows you where the the, where the world is going. Just
Speaker:shows you that the world has their eyes on Africa. And, you know,
Speaker:people beyond Ghanaians, you know, people in the West have their eyes in
Speaker:Ghana in terms of a place where they can invest and a country where they
Speaker:can do business with. So, you know, with this new,
Speaker:administration that we have in in Ghana following the general elections. I just
Speaker:hope that Ghana will be, you know, a place where more and more people can
Speaker:come and invest and, you know, pay attention to in terms of
Speaker:business, investing, proper property and real estate. Hopefully, the
Speaker:industry is gonna improve, you know, moving forward in 2025.
Speaker:We also had another season out this year, season 6.
Speaker:Season 6 was a fantastic, season. I think it's probably
Speaker:well, I'm probably not gonna say this is probably my best season yet, but I
Speaker:think it's definitely up there. Season 6, great guests. I'm
Speaker:not gonna go into season 6. You guys have already, you know, probably listened
Speaker:or watched the review that I've done. You guys can go and check that out.
Speaker:I have it in the link link below. But, yeah, we had another season,
Speaker:you know, out this year, season 6, which
Speaker:which I believe was a was a success. Completely filmed and recorded in
Speaker:Accra. And, yeah, this was a this was a great
Speaker:moment for us as we had, you know, some key guests featured
Speaker:on the show. And, I think that the show just went up another
Speaker:notch a little bit, having the guests that we had on season 6.
Speaker:And, yeah, I think it's a proud moment that we can all look back on
Speaker:in terms of, season 6. I really hope you guys enjoyed it. If you have
Speaker:any feedback, please do let me know.
Speaker:Info@thesoundofaccra.com. Okay? What else
Speaker:happens? So in terms of the APVA Awards, we were nominated
Speaker:for free awards. So this is the first time that the sound of a crowd
Speaker:podcast has ever been nominated for awards. We're nominated for podcast of the
Speaker:year. Best entrepreneurship podcast and best society
Speaker:and culture podcast. So this is free nominations in the same year.
Speaker:Thank you for everyone who voted for us. Thank you for everyone who has
Speaker:supported us to get to this point where we've actually been recognized for such awards.
Speaker:The APVA Awards, which is the biggest,
Speaker:awards for podcasting across Africa. So it's really amazing to
Speaker:be featured in that. What else happened in
Speaker:what else has happened in, yeah,
Speaker:what else has happened in what
Speaker:else has happened in, 2024?
Speaker:Let's have a look.
Speaker:Oh, so so this year was also the
Speaker:first time that we've, so this
Speaker:year is the first time that we've actually pioneered some new type of content.
Speaker:So this year released a vlog on the day of a life of a
Speaker:podcaster. So this is where you you you can find me
Speaker:just you know going about my day. You know whether it's recording a
Speaker:number of episodes or engaging in a number of meetings across
Speaker:Accra or wherever country I'm at. In this particular
Speaker:first episode, you saw me running around and doing some
Speaker:recording and speaking to people in Ghana. So I hope you guys, you
Speaker:know, found that type of content insightful, useful. Please
Speaker:engage. Engage about leave comments, leave feedback. Drop us an email
Speaker:if you think that was quite useful. I I wanted to basically
Speaker:give more behind the scenes footage because I felt like
Speaker:you guys see me behind the camera.
Speaker:Sorry. Yeah. You guys see you guys see me in front of the camera in
Speaker:so many times where I feel like it's important once in a while for you
Speaker:guys to see what happens behind the camera. For those of you who are interested
Speaker:or for those of you who are curious. I know maybe there might not be
Speaker:a huge amount of you that have the interest but I think it's at least
Speaker:worth worth doing to see you know what the interest is like. So if you
Speaker:enjoy content like that please do let us know. And I will do more
Speaker:vlogs like this where you get to see what happens behind the Sound
Speaker:of Accra podcast. Okay? In terms of behind the scenes.
Speaker:Moving on. What else has has taken place? It's been a
Speaker:fantastic year. Yeah. So we
Speaker:didn't do that many lives. We did some live we did a we did a
Speaker:couple of live streams. So shout out to Sydney Sam, who was
Speaker:who was who was, who's the who's the fan of the Sea of Workspace Global.
Speaker:So Workspace Global was season 6, sponsors. And,
Speaker:you know, I jumped in a live q and a with him. And, yeah, it
Speaker:was it was pretty good. Did it on a Friday night, so it
Speaker:wasn't the best engagement wise. But, it was
Speaker:great to see that some of you interacted and asked him questions, asked us
Speaker:questions, and, doing live events is something that I do
Speaker:enjoy doing the live streams. And I will give some information
Speaker:soon in regards to how I wanna move forward with lives.
Speaker:Yeah. So so I think other than that, I think that's pretty much
Speaker:the highlights from, this year, 2024.
Speaker:PodBytes has been continuing on as well. So there's been a few
Speaker:PodBytes this year. Not too many. But,
Speaker:also, I believe that, you know,
Speaker:you you believed yeah. So,
Speaker:also, we've done PodBytes this year. We've done a number of PodBites this year, but
Speaker:not too many. But that's something I I hope to to be able to change
Speaker:soon. And, of course, 1st doc documentary.
Speaker:So, I hope you guys enjoyed the documentary, that
Speaker:we have worked on. The documentary featuring
Speaker:a school in Accra where we're trying to
Speaker:get some support for the school, financially and also
Speaker:physically as well, in Accra. So this was a different
Speaker:type of content that we've done, but I hope you
Speaker:guys enjoy. I hope you guys can be moved or be inspired by
Speaker:it. And yeah. I think it's been a great year.
Speaker:It's been a great year. So having said that, let's talk about next year.
Speaker:So moving forward, I think in terms of the Sound of Accra podcast,
Speaker:I'm looking to really improve the production level of many
Speaker:of our existing shows. So the seasons wanna improve
Speaker:the production even more. So season 7, look out for season 7. It's
Speaker:already filmed and recorded. Should be coming out soon. I'm
Speaker:also looking to make the PodBytes segment video.
Speaker:So look out for that. I'm also looking to improve the quality of the
Speaker:PodBytes series. So rather than just you guys hearing me
Speaker:talk, I wanna make it exciting. I want it I want it to be like
Speaker:a cinematic experience, like an audio experience. So look out
Speaker:for some of the improvements that's gonna happen around the Podbite series.
Speaker:Fintech Fridays, I think it's been successful. Look out for that. That's
Speaker:gonna continue more. What else is gonna happen in
Speaker:2024? I believe we're looking to transition
Speaker:from seasons to weekly podcasts, so look out for that. Hopefully, that's
Speaker:something that we can manage to achieve next year, God willing.
Speaker:Also, I want you guys to look out for events. So I mentioned events. So
Speaker:next year, god willing, we're looking to release we're looking to do our
Speaker:1st official live event. Okay?
Speaker:That may that might take different forms or it
Speaker:could be in a specific format. But just just, stay tuned.
Speaker:Say subscribe to us so you can get more information about that.
Speaker:Make sure you check us out on social media. Follow us on all the the
Speaker:the socials. Links are in the description below. So that when we do announce
Speaker:this event or this, yeah, when we do announce this event, you
Speaker:guys will be one of the first people to know. And then yeah.
Speaker:New website is is on the way. Look out for that. Maybe it might even
Speaker:be out by the time you guys are watching this. New newsletter
Speaker:as well because we wanna engage more with the gardening community.
Speaker:Want to launch some form of community, some form of,
Speaker:way where you guys can speak to us a lot more, and
Speaker:even myself. So, yeah, these are some of the changes that I'm looking at
Speaker:bringing for 2025. There probably are gonna be more
Speaker:changes apart from this. But if you guys have any ideas, any thoughts, or
Speaker:if there's anything that you want to see in 2025, for the
Speaker:Sound of Croc podcast. Whether that's a specific guest or whether that's a specific
Speaker:type of content or whether you want me to, do a
Speaker:specific type of live stream that I haven't
Speaker:done before or whether you want me to do more
Speaker:content on social media for specific platform, whatever
Speaker:it is, let me know. Let us know.
Speaker:You can fill us fill out the contact us page on the website. Check out
Speaker:the description below. Or drop an email info at the sanocrarpodcast,
Speaker:dot com. Sorry. Info@thesoundofaccra.com .
Speaker:Drop us a email and let us know your thoughts, opinions. I'll be looking forward
Speaker:to hearing from you. And other than that, hope you guys are enjoying the
Speaker:festive period, and wishing you a happy New Year in advance.
Speaker:God bless. Take care. This is Adrian. I'm signing out.