Month: May 2025

The Honourable Minister for Justice & Attorney General, The Honourable Minister for Communication, Digitalization and Innovation, The Honourable Minister of Youth Development & Empowerment, Director of Fintech at the Bank of Ghana, Chairman of the Audit Committee of Hubtel’s Board of Directors, CEOs, Distinguished Guests, Head of Departments, Partners of Hubtel, Staff of Hubtel, Our Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I’m sorry to disappoint all of you this evening. Unfortunately, I do not have a speech to give.

I have instead written a letter to God in the hopes that as you pray with us this evening, you will help me deliver this message to him.

My letter reads.

Dear God,

Tonight, I come before You not to ask, but to thank You.

20 years ago, none of us knew what lay ahead. Only You did.

When Ernest and I missed the chance to enter medical school at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology — a moment that felt like the death of our life’s plan and that of parents’ dreams. You were quiet, but not absent. The door closed gently, and even in our disappointment, You were there, building a better purpose for our future. If only we could learn how to wait, study, and get ready.

We didn’t know it then, but that rejection was the beginning of the redirection — a divine pivot. I asked You for guidance during those uncertain times. I prayed, “Lead me, oh Lord. Guide me to be useful. Use me as a vessel.” And You did — not in the lecture halls or the laboratory, but in the corridors of life, through failure and friendship, through events that seemed ordinary at the time, but were heaven-sent.

You gave us the greatest education outside the classroom. In one of the lessons, I ran for political office as President of the science faculty and lost — not just lost, but lost badly and pathetically. It was so painful, but You had better plans for me.

You placed me in a different kind of leadership — not through votes, but through favour. When Francis Kwantwi Barima handed me the role of Republic Hall Week Chairman, I didn’t know that I was about to learn the very lessons I would need one day to start and run a company.

That hall week — that event — it became our proving ground. Ernest and I, along with seven others, including our most tireless teammate, the now Honorable Minister of Communication, Digitalisation & Innovation, Hon. Sam George, we gave it everything.

And You rewarded our effort. The success of that event gave us hope. It gave us belief. It gave us a can-do spirit. It gave us self-confidence to start anything. It gave us direction. It gave us Hubtel.

Dear God, I still remember the morning of the 12th of May, 2005. The last day of school. I stood before my mirror and prayed to You. And when I opened my eyes, I felt ready. I walked out with courage, not knowing what would come, but knowing You were with me.

That same day, I went to Adum and printed our first business cards. No investors. No office. No fanfare. Just a name and a dream, and the promise of Your guidance. That was the day You allowed Hubtel to be born.

In the beginning, we didn’t know what we were doing. We only knew that as long as we stood for good and pursued love for our customers and mankind, You will be with us.

Dear God, we remember with gratitude the early years — the fragile, uncertain days between May 2005 and December 2008 — when faith was often our only capital.

When Ernest and I returned to Accra after our time at KNUST, You reunited us with our dear brother, Leslie Gyimah. Teaming up with him, You gave us more than just a laptop and a car. You gave us courage — the kind that comes from old bonds and shared dreams and a special friendship that can only be built at St. Augustine’s College. This bond became the foundation of something greater. This made us all give freely — of our time, our tools, our spirit — and in those fragile early days, Your quiet support carried more weight than anyone will probably ever, ever know.

Last April, You called Leslie home. And while our hearts still ache, we remain forever grateful that You placed him in the Hubtel story. His fingerprints are on the foundation of this company, and his memory will live in everything we continue to build.

Dear God, when You rewarded our labour with our first sale in October 2005, it was a cheque for GHS 500 from North American Airlines. It meant everything. We carried that cheque from bank to bank for over six weeks, trying to convince someone, anyone, that we were a real business. And in that waiting, You taught us our first real lesson in patience and persistence.

Then more cheques came — from travel agencies, old school associations, churches, even people sending SMS messages for parties and funerals. It wasn’t glamorous. But it was real. We ended that first year with gross revenues of GHS 6,000. We saw it not as profit, but as confirmation that You were working. Working for us, working through us, working for our good, working — as long as we did your good.

While we worked hard, we fumbled through letters and proposals and invoice and code. We stumbled through meetings and presentations and those moody live demos. We chased ideas that didn’t work, and some that barely survived. But somehow, You kept our drive alive — sometimes just enough for the next day, just enough for the next idea, just enough for the next good signal, or just enough for the next prayer.

Through all the early days we couldn’t pay ourselves, all the early days we sacrificed everything, days we wondered if we were just being foolish, You whispered to our hearts, “Keep going.” And we obeyed.

Dear God, today we remember with gratitude the year 2006, when we began receiving attention from the more formal sectors — banks, insurance companies and even the Bank of Ghana. Somehow, You helped us carry ourselves well enough to enter the boardrooms that once intimidated us. There, You placed several mentors in our path — IT managers like Mr. Romeo Bugyei, Mr. Joe Adjei, Mr. Alex Kissi, Mr. Tamakloe and many others. They didn’t just buy from us; they shaped us. We watched them run their offices, structure their meetings, manage their people. And we adapted their ways. They were quiet teachers. And we thank You for each of them.

By the end of 2008, when our gross revenues exceeded GHS 1.2 million, we came to You with a new prayer: Lord, give us a place to grow. A place to plant ourselves and build.

You answered that prayer through Mr. Gideon Anim — our landlord who became so much more to us. A man whose humility, guidance, patience, and fatherliness could only have been heaven-sent. Through him, You showed us that provision doesn’t always look like a miracle — sometimes it comes wrapped in wisdom and presence.

Those years laid the foundation for our first office building. Quiet, steady, and sacred.

Then came a new dimension. A season of favor we had not seen before. In 2009, You shifted something in our favour. The mobile networks that once overlooked us began to notice. And once again, Your timing was perfect. Because we were ready; sharpened by the quiet years and strengthened by discipline. Our preparedness met the opportunity You sent through the doors of the telcos, and a new era began: premium SMS billing.

Through the next few years, from 2010 onward, You allowed us to become a conduit for information and access. Through SMS content messages, millions of subscribers across Ghana began to experience something new — personalized services in banking, entertainment, education and premium notifications. We were helping build not just a new digital culture but also preparing Ghana for a new age of service digitization.

And then between 2011 and 2015, You allowed us to rise to a position we had never imagined. Out of 47 value-added service providers, Hubtel claimed nearly 40% of the market. We had matured. We had earned respect. And when MTN Ghana named us, their Top Revenue Earning Partner, we knew it wasn’t just an award — it was a quiet confirmation from You, that we had stayed the course.

But even in the height of success, You reminded us not to be complacent. In 2015, as internet access grew, the world began to change again. The very market we had helped pioneer began to disappear slowly. Customers began to prefer online experiences over SMS ones. But with all these going on, some of the early successes had gotten too much into our heads.

Even when the signs of decline became undeniable and the market was changing fast, we moved to ignore these signs, relied on our own knowledge, and responded. We expanded — new hires, new regions, new countries. At first, it felt like progress. There was energy again. But the lessons came quickly. The declining momentum of late 2015 rolled into 2016 and collided with reality. We learned the hard way — what not to do, how not to scale a tech company.

Finally, in 2016 our growth slowed. The momentum dipped. It was hard. Very hard. But it was NOT a punishment — it was a new prompting.

You were calling us again: calling us to reinvent, calling us to rediscover, calling us to build for what’s next, not just what was.

Dear God, as I have mentioned to You several times, we are very grateful for the growing pains You put us through from 2016 to 2018. When our momentum stalled, and the outlook became bleak, we felt it — not just in the numbers but in our spirits. The path ahead was no longer clear. But even in the fog, You sent us help.

You sent us Stanford SEED — a gift we never expected. Through the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the guiding presence of a man named Hans Daniel Nilsson, You gave us new eyes to see. We began learning, truly learning, how to build for scale — not just to grow, but to grow well.

By 2018, despite several changes, we were almost broken.

Too many product failures. Too many wrong turns. Too many hard situations. We were battered — not just as a company, but as people. We questioned ourselves. We doubted our decisions. We wondered if the best days were behind us.

But You, oh God, had prepared a remnant.

A few among us were ready to begin again — not the loudest, not the most decorated, not the most skilled, not most gifted, but the humblest. They were willing to lay down old knowledge, unlearn old ways, and trust You for something entirely new.

And from that brokenness, You brought forth a rebirth. In just one year, You led us to build an entirely new platform. A new company, really. New systems. New processes. A new vision. The ashes of failure became the soil of resurrection.

And through it all, You never left us. You generated new strength for the people You had prepared for our rebirth. You surrounded us with a new team spirit — and elevated our relationships from just coworkers to brothers and sisters in purpose. We have become family. Your people who have become the Strategy Committee of Hubtel.

Dear God, I am happy that the humble people You gifted us with from those days of difficulty have become the people who have believed in the new vision, even when we all struggled to explain what Hubtel was becoming. They stayed. They built. They trusted. And they too became vessels in Your plan.

Thank You oh God for the gift of Augustine Adjei, Bill Inkoom, Eric Gershon Akoto, Daniel Frimpong, Elsie Bram, Francis Wilson, Eben Boffour, Owusu Marfo, Michael Adom, Patrick Asare Frimpong, Jonathan Ansah, and their teams.

Even though we have seen our fair share of storms — competitors with more money, ideas that failed, unspoken intentions that became lawsuits, partners who walked away, and loved ones we lost too soon. Through it all, You were there in the quiet after every storm, rebuilding us with each small victory and reshaping us with each small defeat.

Dear God, from these loins of near despair the year 2020 came upon us with a world reeling from uncertainty and pandemic. We are most grateful that even in our fear of what was to come You began to lift our eyes again. Slowly, steadily, You restored our footing in the most surprising style.

In the midst of the pandemic, fear and uncertainty, You helped us listen more closely — to our customers, to one another, and most importantly, to You. And in that stillness, You gave us clarity: that our purpose was never just to build a platform, but to build systems for the progress of the people of Ghana. To create order, simplicity, elegance, and access in the simple transactions of everyday life that we all take for granted.

You helped us see that commerce — the simple act of buying and selling — could become a force for connection, inclusion, and even healing. You allowed the work of our hands to find favor — in communities, in government policy, in delivery systems and in national payment platforms. You gave us voice not to boast, but to serve.

And so tonight, as we did on day one, with hands open and heads bowed, we do not celebrate ourselves. We mark 20 years of this journey with a pause and not an applause, and we bow our heads in gratitude to say: Lead us, Lord. Lead us into the next chapter with the same grace that brought us this far. Make Hubtel a place of hope — for young graduates, for striving retailers, for uncertain start-ups, for business owners, and even for struggling large companies. Make us a bastion of innovation — not for fame, but for impact. Make us a company operated for good — deeply human, deeply honest, and deeply useful. Let Hubtel be a reminder to all Ghanaians that when You are in the story, no beginning is too small, no loss is final, and no dream is out of reach.

Thank You God for opening doors we never knocked on.

Thank You God for bringing us opportunities we didn’t even know how to pray for.

Thank You for making Hubtel one of the early successful Ghanaian enterprises and a testament to Your promise that more companies like Hubtel are coming from Ghana, built by Ghanaians, for the good of the people of the Republic of Ghana.

Thank You, God, for constantly stretching our faith and repeatedly teaching us that growth isn’t always in the numbers, and that sometimes, it is in the resilience to show up again and again and again.

Thank You God for teaching us not to chase success, but to seek usefulness. And that in our pursuit to be useful, You give us success — in Your own time.

Thank You God for being there with your ever-present guidance, when we had to pivot and change direction, when our numbers outgrew our management capacity, when we became an uncomfortable political topic, when the media negatively noticed, when the public misunderstood what we stood for, and when unfamiliar storms brewed. Thank You for writing it all for our good.

Thank You for every mistake that taught us humility.

Thank You for every small win that reminded us of Your favour.

Thank You for every single person who walked with us — from the beginning until now.

Thank You for how far You have brought all of us gathered here tonight.

Thank You for how far You have brought Hubtel.

Thank You for how far You have brought the people and the Republic of Ghana.

In Jesus’ name, I pray with thanksgiving. Amen.

Thank You all for your attention.