Ghana’s telecom giant, MTN Ghana, on Saturday sponsored the 2025 edition of the Bold New Normal Conference at Enclave Garden in Accra.

 The youth programme was to champion cultural transformation.

MTN Ghana’s partnership with the event demonstrates its commitment to driving social transformation and national development.

The event was held under the theme “The Transformative Power of Culture and Language: Rethinking Socialisation for Prosperity.”

It brought together hundreds of changemakers, entrepreneurs, and thought leaders to explore how culture and language can be harnessed as catalysts for personal and societal transformation.

The founder and convenor of the Bold New Normal movement, Lucy Quist, noted that transformation begins with individual mindset shifts and collective reorientation.

Sharing her personal journey, she reflected on how her lifelong mission to make life better for others has evolved from social media mentorship and her 2016 TED Talk to the 2019 publication of The Bold New Normal book.

She urged participants to see culture and language as central to shaping a renewed African identity.

“Language is powerful; it’s the reason we continue doing the things passed down for generations. If we want a new normal, we must reshape our story, rethink our culture, and rethink our language,” she noted.

She stressed that transformation is both a marathon and a daily practice that requires consistency, collaboration, and courage.

Jewel Thompson, an Entrepreneurship Lecturer at Ashesi University, shared some insights on culture and language.

She argued that transformation begins with understanding the role culture plays in shaping thought, behaviour, and survival.

“Language is important. What we continually say, we eventually do, and what we do, we become,” she said.

She cautioned against the habit of describing African societies as having a “poor culture”, emphasising instead that culture is multidimensional, spanning ethnic, political, and individual identities.