My Favourite Ghanaian

Times have changed and the world is a very different place today from what it used to be years ago but the ideals for which millions of Ghanaians have stood and died remain the same.
The dream of most Ghanaians is for our nation to stand on her feet and soar to the highest possible height. We do not desire to be called a dirt-poor third world country.
Ghanaians want to have access to good health care, excellent education and enough food on our tables. We want to live in decent houses in clean cities, towns and villages. We want clean drinking water in our homes 24/7. We want our families and communities to be safe. We want decent jobs. We want our built environment, our infrastructure, to be at par with the best of the world.
Alas for more than 52 years our dreams have just remain that. Dreams.
As a people, we have not been very successful at translating our collective aspirations into a set of tangible progress. It appears to me that we are barely coming into terms with what it takes to harness the forces of development.
One sure thing though.
Our finest hour will not come through the politicians; neither will it come through the sole effort of the government.
What will usher Ghanaians into the orbit of progress is a massive growth of a critical mass of well-trained enterprising individuals and innovative private businesses driven by science and technology.
Education, training and research are the essential ingredients of the menu of economic growth and development of any nation. Ghana is no different.
In this endeavour, the effort of one man stands tall.
Patrick Awuah is an ambitious young man with a noble dream.
Here is a man who has given up a lofty job at Microsoft and sacrificed a comfortable life in America to return to Ghana for the purpose of building a dream, planting a seed with the potential to set our nation on a winning path.
A man of visionary leadership.
An entrepreneur.
A dreamer.
A patriot.
An architect of continental renaissance.
An individual who is committed to carving a place for his people in the comity of nations.
Today Mr Awuah's dream, Ashesi, is already changing the face of Ghana and Africa.
Many of Ashesi's well-trained and enterprising graduates have entered the corporate world of Ghana and beyond. The fledgling well is already quenching the thirst of our emerging economy. With the construction of the new campus at Berekuso, the role of Ashesi in Ghana's future is about to be consolidated, and with it, the expectation is that more Ghanaians will have access to the quality education that Ashesi offers.
For the nation-transforming effort, Patrick Awuah is my favourite Ghanaian.