Nana Akua Mensah-Aborampah Reflects On Journey From Hawking Kenkey To Leading Corporate Communications

Media personality and corporate communications professional Nana Akua Mensah-Aborampah has opened up about her humble upbringing, revealing how selling kenkey and provisions alongside her mother helped shape her work ethic and career journey.

She disclosed this on Woman with Lerny Lomotey on 3Music TV, where she recounted growing up in Madina and Adenta in a family that worked hard to make ends meet.

“I came from a space where our parents tried their best to put food on the table. I’ve done quite some jobs to support my mum,” she said.

According to her, helping her mother trade became part of everyday life from an early age. She sold kenkey in the mornings and later joined another trader in her neighbourhood to sell provisions around the community.

Her experiences, she said, taught her valuable lessons about resilience, humility and relating with people.

“The rapport I got to build with people when I was trading did me some good because relating with people is not difficult for me at all,” she explained.

Despite financial challenges, she remained focused on education and personal development. She recalled watching her parents work tirelessly to provide for the family and deciding at a young age that she wanted to make them proud.

“I watched my mum and my dad and I saw what they had to go through, how they had to break their backs to cater for us. I had that conviction that I was not going to disappoint my parents,”she said.

After completing senior high school at Krobo Girls Senior High School, Nana Akua initially considered pursuing law. However, her interest shifted after she became inspired by television journalists she admired, including broadcaster Emma Morrison and fellow Krobo Girls alumna Portia Gabor.

She eventually enrolled at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, now the University of Media, Arts and Communication - GIJ, where she studied journalism before beginning her career at Net 2 Television.

What started as a sports reporting role soon evolved into business journalism after editors recognised her potential.

“I struggled,” she admitted while discussing her early days covering business news. “Business comes with a lot of terms, a lot of jargon. You have to read wide and learn.”

Her willingness to learn and accept feedback eventually helped her build a successful career in business journalism. She later spent 15 years at TV3, becoming one of the notable faces associated with business news reporting on Ghanaian television.

Today, Nana Akua works in corporate communications and public affairs, a transition she describes as a natural extension of her journalism background.

Reflecting on her journey, she credited faith, determination, and courage for helping her navigate challenges.

“It’s three things. God, goals and guts. Once you have God, you have everything. Once you have the goals, you need to get the guts,” she said.