Oscar Bimpong is not the most talented, skillful, intelligent or the smartest gentleman on the block. However there is one thing that has brought him this far and that is his attitude towards his dreams and aspirations. His consistent approach to life and selfless attitude to make a difference in people’s life is a step worth emulating. Attitude they say is everything. They say great attitude is more powerful to influence your world more than your degrees or your talents.
Ghana Talks Business recently caught up with Oscar at his office in London for him to discuss his recent award winning and to get to grips about his journey so far in pursuit of his dreams i.e. to get to know his background, how the journey started, challenges encountered, lessons learnt, achievements and obviously what the future holds for him. He is a multi- talented gentleman who is also an Inspirational Speaker, a Media Persona and an Entrepreneur. He is currently the general manager of Zipped Multimedia and the CEO of Train2inspire Consultancy. Oscar had this to say about the journey so far starting from his early days in relation to his family background.
Brief Background History of Oscar
To be honest, the entire journey of my life has been full of challenges. I have never discovered an easy route of doing things in my entire life. Every stage of my life has been a battle. However discovering my purpose recently though it’s not easy, I’m happy to say that, the mere fact of pursuing something that I love doing has made life so easy and simple for me. My journey so far is a very remarkable one and I can’t comprehend how far God has brought me with the support of my family and friends and the social media fraternity within a short space of time.
From an African perspective, it’s hard to define the working class category to put my parents as my father was an education officer and my mum a teacher. We cannot be classified as poor but I can sincerely say we were below the lower middle class. However my father was a very creative man who did not rely on his salary but at any point in time he had a small business to sustain the family. My father is a man that can efficiently utilize any scarce resources at his disposal. He maximizes every small resource he has to make a difference in so many people’s lives. Upon all the small businesses my father started, he later settled as an author and today he is a proud author of 13 books that helps children to read using sounds and phonetics.
There is one thing that my father taught me and that is self belief. He says if you don’t believe in yourself, then you cannot influence other people to believe in your beliefs. However there is one thing that he said to me one day that still resonates with me today and it’s a fundamental principle that has stayed with me all these years.
He said, Oscar, never wait for what you don’t have but always learn to start with what you have. This is the only way to have control over your situation. Waiting for a third party to succeed can be a waiting period that can last forever.
He is very creative and innovative and it’s obvious that my creativity stems from my father’s genes. We are a family of seven with my parents, me, a brother and three beautiful sisters. The early days of our lives weren’t an easy journey considering my parents having to look after four of us at secondary school and all of us transiting to tertiary at the same period. My parents seeing all five children through tertiary education is an accolade that we hold esteem for their sacrifice.
Currently I’m married to Maame Praba Borsah and have three beautiful children in appearance and at heart, namely Rhys, Ryan and Rosa.
Ambitions and Plans after University
I had the favor to be in one of the best colleges in Ghana, St. Augustine’s College and then to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). These two schools shaped my mentality and gave me the greatest opportunity to acquire knowledge that has been an integral part of my life. I recently finished an MBA program in London in International Marketing at the prestigious Cardiff Metropolitan University.
I am a big dreamer. I am an enthusiastic person, positive thinker and a person that refuses to be too far behind the race of life. After University I had so many plans. However I settled for the option to travel abroad and my aim was to use it as a springboard to meet my goals in life. But upon arrival, I realized that life is not all that greener on the other side of the world called Europe that most of us yearn to be part. But with determination, I am gradually creating my own greener pasture. The fact is, I have gained a lot of experience living abroad and I cannot trade it for anything. That in its own is an asset.
Nevertheless, there is one thing that I have learnt during my stay abroad and that has really influence my world and the way I perceive certain things in life. I learnt that life is about holding certain principles irrespective of your regional location. These principles hold the key to success and not your location. That is why you can still be very poor in a first world country if you refuse to hold certain principles in high esteem.
Business Startup after School
As I continue to fight the battle of life; I had the opportunity to start some businesses from importing printing equipments and materials from abroad to Ghana to starting an internet café with printing services in one of the polytechnics. These businesses weren’t a bad idea but it never saw the light of success. The fact is I made so many mistakes along the line which affected my progress in achieving my goals. However I have learnt to be resilient in life irrespective of the challenges that I face. Giving up has been deleted from my dictionary and my eyes have been focused to see ahead and not behind me. My advise hear is that, don’t rush into any venture but sit down to make feasibility studies to ascertain the opportunities and the expected challenges associated with it.
Identifying My Calling
After living abroad for some time, I decided to come back to Ghana to establish a business. My father writing about 13 books which are used by children to help them read and improve their early learning skills using sounds and phonetics caused me to start a printing press. However my stay in Ghana uncovered another side of me that has set me on a path to pursuing what I love doing.
It all started when I started working with a network marketing company that I joined whilst in Ghana. They normally had business presentations and at the end of the presentation, a member of the team is always allowed to give a five minutes motivational talk. One day I was asked to give the talk and the response was awesome. Since then, I was nominated to take charge of that segment of the business presentations and the feedback, encouragement and the impact of my messages over time gave me no option than to pursue a dream in inspirational speaking. Through this exposure, I started a consultancy firm that worked with the Business Advisory Centre (BAC) in Ghana providing business training to the informal sector of the economy. Through this, I published my first book titled ‘A Practical Approach to Good Customers Service’. All these means I started a new trend of business in addition to my established printing house. However for family reasons, I had to relocate back to the UK. Coming to the UK was another new challenge all together. Where do you start from?
The UK Transition
My biggest challenge was how I could continue my inspirational speaking and my consultancy business in the UK. This was my passion and there was no way I was going to trade it for anything. Considering the numerous businesses that I have started in the past, none of them gave me real satisfaction than impacting my generation to make a difference in their lives. Hence I continued to keep my fingers crossed to look for opportunities that will cause me to exhibit what I love doing.
However one day, heaven smiled on me and there was a breakthrough for me. This happened when I bumped into a young guy in a Church that I visited who shared his testimony about how his career as a life coach and inspirational speaker has turned from total failure to a very successful venture. I approached this guy after Church and I asked him blatantly that I want to be like him. I told this guy my story and he decided to give me five free coaching lessons. During the coaching process, he discovered that I wasn’t that confident and I was always complaining whether people will accept my background coming from Africa and my accent. So he suggested I join a public speaking company called Toastmasters to build my confidence. At Toastmasters you are giving the opportunity to speak in front of live audience and after you are given a feedback after your performance. Your first speech is called the ‘ice breaker’. Speaking the first time in front of an audience you barely know, I was nervous and to think about the room packed makes the situation worse. There were a lot of thoughts going through my mind as I was thinking if my speech will be acceptable, will it make the necessary impact or they will boo me off stage. To my surprise I had a standing ovation and the feedback was unbelievable.
From that day, I realized it’s not about your accent or background but it is about your great content that has the capacity to inspire and change the mindsets of people.
Since then, I have never looked back and had pursued my dream with diligence irrespective of the challenges encountered. They say doors open to those that keep knocking. As I continue to pursue my dream and nurture my public speaking skills, I met a friend, and through our conversations linked me to an FM station that was looking for presenters. With no experience, I was giving an opportunity to host my program because of its great concept. The concept emphasized on practical inspirational messages, personal, career and talent development and entrepreneurship to create a paradigm shift of a ‘can do spirit’ in the minds of people. Also I invited consultants across the globe who spoke on topics that shapes and inspire change in people’s lives. At a time, my radio show had listenership in over 70 countries.
The success story of the radio program means another opportunity opened for it to be on TV. Through the radio and the TV programs, Train2inspire Consultancy was born to reflect on the topics discussed. Hence Train2inspire Consultancy was established to inspire and educate individuals and to provide business training to small and medium enterprises and corporate entities. Today, Train2inspire Consultancy which has a motto of ‘inspiring our generation through training and development’, with a focus on the African Market has offices in Botswana, Gambia and Ghana and we are working towards opening one in Nigeria and Uganda. We will officially open in Ghana very soon. We hope to expand to other African countries as well. The African continent is becoming competitive and we believe training and development is the key to becoming distinct in the market you operate. Hence Train2inspire Consultancy is the way forward for African businesses to grow and to continually create competitive advantage in a very emerging market with so much potential for growth.
As an inspirational speaker, I have had the opportunities to speak at Churches, conferences and seminars. However the passion in me demands that, I need to unleash the power within me to impact lives and restore hope. It’s so solemn to sometimes here people call me the new Myles Munroe of our time. It’s an accolade I always try to run away from as I believe Myles Munroe was a very exceptional talent and to be linked to him is an honor.
However, to be able to impact lives on a daily basis, I started sending inspirational messages on social media over a year ago and the feedback is phenomenal. It is dubbed ‘Inspirational Wisdom for Today’ (IWFT) and today it’s very popular touching the lives of thousands across the globe and the testimonies of how it’s shaping minds is overwhelming. You can join the Inspirational Wisdom for Today group on facebook to get inspired everyday.
What the Future Holds
What does the future holds for Oscar Bimpong? The future looks so bright and I can say I have reached a stage in my life where the page in my dictionary which defines the phrase, giving up is deleted. I have learnt to pursue my dreams irrespective of whether I make progress or not. It’s just a forward movement of fulfilling my destiny in life.
However on a more positive note, there has been a transformation of my life the last three years and it all boils down to hard work, persistence, perseverance and a strong passion to succeed. The best thing that can happen to anyone in life is to see your job as a hobby rather than work. This eliminates a lot of stress and it makes life easier to have the peace of mind to continue to push boundaries and help raise the bar of your goals at all times.
Moreover, there are certain things that I have learnt in pursuit of my dreams that are worth sharing. It makes me feel too positive about the future and it activates my faith to do exploit with boldness and humility. They say challenges are what you see if you take your eyes off your goals. Hence, many of us concentrate on the challenges rather than the solutions to the challenges. Therefore you need to acknowledge that challenges and distractions have the capacity to derail you from the route of success. But always remember they are part of the success journey, hence you need to treat it not as a means to give up but a springboard to get to the next level of your dreams.
Remember, all of us would have been successful if challenges wasn’t part of the journey
I’m living my dream of an inspirational speaker, a consultant, a radio and TV talk show host on Zipped Radio and TV respectively and fast forwarding to becoming the General Manager of Zipped Multimedia. This is a feat that I can’t comprehend till date. This is amidst the winning of two awards in the category of Inspirational Speaker and Business Man of the year recently held on a yacht at Chelsea, London organized by the Regional Entrepreneurs Empowerment Business Awards (R.E.E.B.A Awards). This to me is a dream come true. That is to get the opportunity to do what you love doing and to be recognized for your efforts is the greatest of all opportunities in life.
My main objective in life is to touch as many lives with practical inspirational messages and hence I’m ready to speak in a seminar, conferences, public speaking events, Churches and anywhere my services will be needed across the globe. Also we want to make Train2inspire Consultancy a global hub for business training and consultancy with a strategic focus on the African Market.
To me the journey has begun and it looks so exciting and promising. I’m full of expectation as I look forward to what the future holds for me. The Bible says he that has started a good thing in us will bring it to an expected end. In this journey of life, I have put God as the CEO of my life and I believe his great intentions is what has brought me this far and I know there is more to come as he sits in the drivers seat.
I wish everyone all the best in Life and always remember it is possible if only you believe.
Connect to Oscar Bimpong on;
• Facebook as Oscar Bimpong
• Twitter as ostikay123
• Instagram as ostikay123
• LinkedIn as Oscar Bimpong
• YouTube as Oscar Bimpong
• Whatsapp – Message me on facebook to get my number
• Company Website: www.train2inspireconsultancy.com
• Personal Website: www.oscarbimpong.com
• Email: Oscar@train2inspireconsultancy.com
