Wisdom Ofori: Business owner and first-class graphic designer

Growing up as a young boy he was always curious about things and from an early age exhibited signs of creativity and a fertile imagination while playing with his toys. He liked to pick them apart and then put them together again which further fuelled his curiosity and creativity. The stage was set for him to be a creative person and go from the conventional to the unconventional when it came to setting up a business and building his future career.

That said, had it been up to his dad, Wisdom would have built a career in science. He says, “At secondary school I studied science, but I wanted to do visual arts. My dad though was having none of it. He put his foot down and made me do science. However, I’m glad I did science because my future career will definitely be in that arena. Right now, because I am specializing my Nexford BBA in artificial intelligence, I honestly believe that soon I will be able to jump ship from the creative to scientific industry.”

An online degree was always on the cards

Wisdom knew that he required a degree to get ahead and stay ahead of his colleagues in the workplace. So, after he finished school and started work as a graphic designer, the hunt was soon on for a next-generation university that would allow him to build a career without having to put his on hold to get his BBA. It wasn’t long before he discovered Nexford and set the ball rolling to earn a word-class degree that was flexible enough to allow him to fit his learning around his busy work schedule.

He says, “I needed a degree, but soon discovered that a traditional university would not cut the mustard, as I would have battled to fit the learning timetable around my busy schedule. That’s why I decided to think of going online, but I wasn’t sure of the university. I had heard that there were scammers out there where you could waste your money and get nothing in return. I was about to give up when a friend of mine started posting on his social that Nexford offered BBA and MBA programs and that they were a legitimate university. So, last year I began enquiring by going to both the investor and main website.”

Much to Wisdom’s delight, not only did Nexford offer the program that he wanted to do, but he could also pay for his tuition monthly. That was incredibly important as he did not have the funds to pay up front annually.

He applied and very soon a Nexford Advisor was in touch. They explained everything and soon Wisdom was sold on the idea. Once he started his BBA, he was soon in need of help as at first, he was confused about the learning process and sadly failed his first course. A Nexford Success Advisor got in touch and helped Wisdom by showing him how the Canvas system worked and provided tips on how he could manage his time better and decipher the course materials. Result!

The Nexford Success Advisor also introduced Wisdom to a WhatsApp group where he could network with other learners who were in the same boat.

Time to learn!

As we discovered, Wisdom is a very busy man and so having someone to help him manage his time better was very welcome. What is also helping him is having access to LinkedIn Learning, something that is available to all Nexford learners whilst learning there.

Wisdom tells us, “At the moment, LinkedIn has been immensely helpful because you have the opportunity to get a lot of certifications in short courses, which, traditionally, you might be paying a great deal of money for. That is going to really expand my CV by adding lots of business skills to it, which has also been helpful to me. I think I’ll have about three or four certifications at some stage soon.

Nexford helps you to do business better

Even though Nexford is teaching Wisdom hard skills, he is also learning a raft of soft skills that are proving valuable in his design business. He says that the way assignments have been structured at Nexford and with him having to meet tight deadlines and communicate with his professors on a regular basis has helped him with both his organizational and communication skills. With regards to the latter, he is now able to communicate far better with his clients.

That is the now, but in the future Wisdom believes that once he has graduated, he will really see the rewards of his Nexford education accelerate. He says this is because he wants to return to do an MBA at Nexford, specializing in advanced artificial intelligence. The reason that he wants to do that is because he wishes to take the next step up in his career and move into the dynamic and very lucrative technology sector.

“I actually wanted to do a full computer science course with Nexford University” Wisdom says, “but that wasn’t available at the time, so I had to do a business course and specialize in artificial intelligence and automation. I’m hoping that Nexford will introduce a computer science program soon and then I can look to do that MBA specialization. I very much want to get that degree as the IT industry is booming right now in Ghana.”

From humble beginnings to greater things

Although he is too young to start a family right now, Wisdom is quick to tell us what a positive influence his family has had on him. He is the fourth of a family of boys that really kept his mom busy.

He says, “My mom is a trader with her own store and my dad a hand drawn artist who draws people and digitizes work mostly for the advertising industry. Even though their jobs are not very technical, they have worked hard to pay the bills and constantly encouraged us to further our education. I guess they, like most parents, want their kids to do well and achieve more than they did.”

It would appear then that creativity runs in the family and Wisdom smiles when he tells us that his eldest brother is also a graphic designer and CEO of his own business. But as we said before, Wisdom is going to one day soon jump ship and take his creativity into a career in computer science.

Itchy feet

Although Wisdom is a proud resident of Ghana, that does not mean that his feet are cast in stone. As someone who is always looking for other options and greater opportunities elsewhere, he has not ruled out plying his trade in other countries of the world.

Once done with his BBA, Wisdom wants to emigrate to the US and do an internship with Google whilst learning for his MBA with Nexford. Busy, but exciting times ahead. If he gets a job there, he will continue the trend of past Nexford graduates who’ve taken up jobs at the search engine giant.

When asked who or what has been his inspiration to get him to this place in his life where he is not far away from graduating with a degree from Nexford and booking his airline ticket overseas in the not-too-distant future, Wisdom pauses for thought. Not because he has not had any inspiration, but mainly because there’s been quite a few.

He says, “I don’t just stick to one person to inspire me, but always look further afield than that. I like to listen to inspirational people on podcasts and audiobooks. Les Brown is one, Jim Rohn is one, and Steve Harvey is another. If I must mention a single person, I would say my father inspired me when it comes to the creative side of my life. He has given me a good grounding and helped pave the way to my current success.”

Having spent about an hour in his company it is not too hard to see that with his level of drive, ambition, and commitment, it won’t be long before Wisdom will have his name up in lights and we will be celebrating yet another successful Nexford graduate. We look forward to seeing that come to fruition.

Seeing is believing, so check out Wisdom’s video.

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