Myself among many others lived through different phases of lockdowns in countries away from family and loved ones. Students who had travelled miles away to foreign land for education ended up stuck indoors and learning remotely. I remember speaking to a student who had just come to France from Morocco to start the academic year in the peak of the pandemic. She said “how I wish I stayed home. I am learning online anyway, from my tiny studio when I could have been with my family.” 

Each one of us has a story living through this global pandemic that hit the world in December 2019. How ironic, a microscopic virus, invisible to the naked eye, caused a stir so great, grinding many huge engines of the economic and social world to a halt. I learned many things by going through many things in these last year both on a personal and business level.

There is an African proverb that says, “when you see your neighbour’s beard on fire, get a cup of water next to yours.” I believe instead of waiting for the fire to spread to yours, quench your neighbour’s fire. What started as an outbreak in Wuhan China became the problem of the entire world. And how we wish today, we could all have put our efforts together to help that city. There is a difference between minding one’s business and being conscious of the impact of everyone’s actions. Many times we see problems next door, a remote community, a minority group, neighbouring countries and we think we can just sit aloof. Too bad! We cannot!

I have learned that your problem is my problem. Your unemployment situation is my problem. Your business struggle is my problem because it ripples to me whether through the six degrees of separation between us or some other way. So when you are thinking of taking responsibility for your lot, don’t slack because many more people will thank you later.

On the 3rd of June 2015, about 200 people lost their lives in Accra the capital city of Ghana in a flood and fire tragedy Our city had been plagued with filth all over in a major business district, waterways choked, unattended developmental issues by the government were some of the causes. I sat in my room and watched the tragic news on TV as though it was far from me and not my business. Sadly, I lost a friend in that incident. One person’s indiscipline of throwing litter indiscriminately, is my problem. I cannot pretend it is not because in the long run, it will bite us all. 

Throughout this Covid-19 Pandemic, We had to rely on each other to do the right thing to beat this virus. If one person failed, we all failed. And now we are all not safe until everyone is safe. In building the #newAfrica, let’s not shy away from calling people out to do the right thing and let’s be mindful of the role we play as individuals because no matter how small it is, it touches the whole world. Whatever your contribution is, positive or negative, eventually impacts our world.

Joy Bonsu Schmutz, CEO Abeyie Innovation Studios