Ghanaian businessman and Rector/CEO of GH Schools, Leslie Addo Listowell, has shared his aspiration to introduce Ghana’s first-ever private Technical University in 2024.

Speaking on Joy Learning TV’s entrepreneurship-centered and career development program titled The Career Trail, he recounted the story of how he established one of the best media schools in Ghana.

The Rector/CEO of GH Schools, Mr Listowell, revealed that although he did not pursue media-related courses in school, he developed a deep passion for media work at a very young age.

“After secondary school, I went to Accra Polytechnic to study Marketing. After that, I studied Marketing again at Central University, so I’m a trained marketer. I had an interest in media, so after school, I did my national service at Net2 TV as a marketer.

During my service, I started a TV program on Net 2 TV called Documentary Channel. When I saw that it was gaining traction, I brought this same concept to Crystal TV. Thus, my career aligned with my passion, and when your career becomes your passion, it leads to perfection,” he affirmed.

Mr Addo Listowell disclosed that, during the production of his own shows, one member of the production crew decided to quit, which dealt a heavy blow to the production. This experience inspired him to bring in new people to train so that he would not face such a situation again.

According to him, it was then that the idea of training people for media work became clear. He wrote letters to churches to invite people to be trained as photographers, journalists, graphic designers, and other media professionals.

“We did our first advertisement and had just about three people. So, we wrote letters to churches, which provided us with additional recruits. We then began to grow gradually. We faced our own challenges, but with God’s help, it’s been very successful,” he said.

In due course, he realised the need to diversify in order to train individuals with equally important skills in the media space.

“From the makeup work we do for media, I developed the Cosmetology School. I was looking for complementary areas to enrich what I had already been doing. I also considered the costuming we do and developed the GH Fashion School. Additionally, I realized that after production, we need to eat and drink, so I also established the GH Catering School to handle welfare,” he explained.

Mr Addo Listowell cited another inspiration for expansion as his regular visits to media houses to discover new ways to enhance the curriculum at his school.

So far, GH Schools encompasses GH Cosmetology School, GH Catering School, GH Fashion School, and GH Technology School, in addition to the well-regarded GH Media School.

“In fact, I don’t have space; otherwise, I would also consider establishing GH Nursing School,” he said.

The Rector/CEO of GH Schools explained that the primary teaching approach was focused on imparting skills to create more skill-oriented graduates, similar to what a technical university aims to achieve.

Furthermore, the emphasis on skill-oriented teaching methods provides opportunities for gifted students who may not have achieved high grades and thus might not have had the chance to further their education at a university. He mentioned one such student who, despite not having impressive high school grades, enrolled in his school and is now capable of producing incredibly impressive animations.

Although the school had only three students at its inception, GH Schools now boasts 2,022 students.

He expressed his aspiration to unify all the different schools under one umbrella to form Ghana’s first-ever private technical university this year.