This post originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Alena Kuzub.
Ramzi Yamusah, an ambitious entrepreneur from Ghana, is on a mission to become “the king of African hospitality.”
His company, Lifestyle Experiences Holdings, owns three restaurants in Accra, the capital of Ghana, but Yamusah does not wish to limit himself to the restaurant business or to one continent.
The 2014 Northeastern University graduate wants to better connect the rest of the world to Africa and its more than 1.4 billion people by creating outstanding, memorable experiences both for visitors to the continent and outside of it.
“That sense of togetherness is what is needed [in the world] to really drive collective progress,” he says. “And there's no better way to share ideas, talk about collaborations, bring positive energy in conversations than over good food and drinks.”
African people find strong grounding in where they've built their culture, Yamusah says, in the meaning of their heritage and community.
“Rene Descartes, a French philosopher, said ‘I think therefore I am.' Africans are more about ‘I am because we are,' or ‘I am related therefore I am,'” Yamusah says. “That philosophy is something that we want to push and spread all around the world where people really see that hospitality is about community.”
Yamusah says he gets his drive and ambition from his father.
“He has really shown me that it's not where you start from, but it's really where you want to see yourself and how you make that happen,” he says.
He also has a close relationship with his mother, who helps him maintain strong values in business, he says.
“When it comes to who you are, how you do business, how you relate to people, maintaining a high level of integrity is very important. And how important your reputation is,” Yamusah says. “It's things that I really don't joke with.”