Osei Kwame Despite (born 2 February 1962) is a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

entrepreneur and a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

with a foundation in music creation and knowledge of the broadcasting sector. Osei-Kwame is the

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the Despite Firm Ltd, a trade company with subsidiaries in the media industry, including UTV, PEACE FM,

OKAY FM Okay FM (Ghana) Okay FM is a private radio station in the Greater Accra Region that ultimately is run by the Despite Group of Companies. The station is both active on 101.7fm and online. The station is one of few stations owned and run by the me ...

NEAT FM Neat FM (Ghana) Neat FM is a private radio station in the Greater Accra Region that ultimately is run by the Despite Group of Companies. The station is both active on 100.9fm and online. The station is one of few stations owned and run by the me ...

and

HELLO FM Hello FM (106.4,92.7,91.5 MHz) is one of the private radio stations operating from different locations in Tamil Nadu. It is owned by Malar publications, Chennai. It is licensed to use the FM band frequency 106.4 MHz. It started in 2006 ...

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...

. He was named Africa Entrepreneur of the Year at the

African Achievers Awards The African Achievers Awards is an annual awards event."List ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

in 2021. He was also honored with GH CAPTAIN's Award in 2019 for his contributions to the

socio-economic Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...

development of the country.

Early life

In the Ghanaian town of Agona Wiamoase, he was born, in the

Ashanti region The Ashanti Region is located in southern part of Ghana and it is the third largest of 16 administrative regions, occupying a total land surface of or 10.2 percent of the total land area of Ghana. In terms of population, however, it is the mo ...

. He began his career as a

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

in Dunkwa-Offinso, Ghana's Central Region, selling music cassettes, feeding bottles,

padlock Padlocks are portable locks with a shackle that may be passed through an opening (such as a chain link, or hasp staple) to prevent use, theft, vandalism or harm. Naming and etymology The term ''padlock'' is from the late fifteenth century. T ...

s, and other items. After years of struggling to make ends meet in the countryside, he and his colleagues relocated to

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. In 1983, he returned to Ghana with other Ghanaians who had fled Nigeria due to the country's political unrest. Back to his country, he only had a trident cassette player and a chain-saw machine. He started a timber contracting business with the chain-saw machine, but it was smashed by a falling tree on his first business trip. He eventually moved on to selling cassette tapes before diversifying his business.

Career

To show his support for the local music industry and to prioritize Ghanaian culture, he moved into radio and founded the PeaceFM at

Achimota Achimota ( ), is a town in the Accra Metropolitan District, a district of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Achimota means "speak no name" in the Ga language Ga is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana, in and around the capital Accra. There ar ...

Mile 7 Junction in 1999. The station's experiments with the Akan language paid off, as radio listeners looking for local programming abandoned stations broadcasting primarily in the Queen's language on the 104.3 frequency. The radio industry flourished, culminating in the establishment of Hello FM in Kumasi and OkayFM in Accra, as well as peacefmonline.com.

List of Companies

Now, the Despite Group of Companies (DGC) has the following companies; * U2 Company Limited (Iodated Salt Production) * Okay FM * Peace FM * Neat FM * Hello FM * Despite Stores * Best Point Savings and Loans (Finance) * Farming and Building Construction businesses * Neat Foods Company Limited (which produces and markets NEAT Fufu, NEAT Banku, NEAT Abenkwan, NEAT Hausa Koko, NEAT Dairy Products) *

United Television BHC Communications, Inc. was the holding company for the broadcast property of Chris-Craft Industries. BHC stands for "broadcasting holding company". History The firm was originally incorporated in 1977 as BHC, Incorporated by Chris-Craft I ...

Company Limited * Atona Foods LTD ( which produces THIS WAY chocolate drink which comes in different flavors, and the THIS WAY Motherlac children's cereal )

Personal life

Despite has a wife and nine children. Kennedy Osei Asante, his first son, is the

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of Despite Media. In 2019, he married Tracy in an expensive ceremony that drew the attention of many people both inside and outside the country. He is noted for collecting luxurious vehicles and has a great love for exotic cars. He purchased a 3'000'000$ Bugatti Chiron in February 2022 to mark his 60th birthday, making him one of just 5 individuals in Africa who own a Bugatti.

References

{{reflist 1962 births Living people Ghanaian businesspeople 21st-century Ghanaian businesspeople 21st-century philanthropists