Ama Duncan
Corporate Trainer | Business Coach | Author | Speaker
Welcome to my blog! Here, I share valuable content on BUSINESS & MONEY to help new women in business to plan, execute and achieve their business goals.
A CONVERSATION WITH GIFTY AKUA SARPONG
Gifty is an amazing woman in many ways. She describes herself as God’s perfect gift to this world, who loves to serve and give her best everywhere she goes. She’s an entrepreneur, teacher, wife and a devoted mom. She loves music, nature, adventure travel and food. She has been homeschooling her kids in Ghana for
CAN I WORK FULL TIME AND BE A BUSINESS OWNER AS WELL?
Hiya, today’s the last episode of the Start Your Own Fabulous Business on Mind Your Business. For the past 8 weeks, I’ve been answering frequently asked questions by many of the women I’ve encountered who have recently started their businesses or are considering it. Today’s question is one I wish I’d asked myself 10 years
WHAT KIND OF RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE TO HELP STARTUPS?
Did you know that there are several resources available to help startups succeed? This week as part of the Start Your Own Fabulous Business series on Mind Your Business, I share some of the resources that have blessed me greatly as an entrepreneur. I hope it blesses you too. The following are some of the
HOW DO I KEEP RECORDS OF MY EXPENDITURE AND INCOME?
Hello there! Have you started your own fabulous new business yet? Today on Mind Your Business, we look at the 6th Frequently Asked Question I get from new women in business: How do I keep records of my expenditure and income? If you have only recently started your business or are now considering, then I
HOW DO I CREATE A CUSTOMER DATABASE?
Happy July my friend! We continue with the 5th episode of Start Your Own Fabulous Business series on Mind Your Business. I decided to do this series after receiving so many questions from women and youth who are looking to start their own businesses. So far we’ve answered: How do I start my business? Who
WHICH SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS CAN I USE TO ADVERTISE?
Hello my friend! As I reflect on 2022, I can’t help but feel grateful at how this year has gone so far. I’ve had very intensive yet useful lessons. Speaking of lessons, I hope you’ve been following our podcast – Mind Your Business – over the last few weeks. For people who are considering joining
My Story
Dealing with low self-esteem
I was born in Sekondi to a nurse and a farmer. When I was about 5 years, we moved to Komenda, a small town in the Central Region of Ghana. Even though I was one of the best students in primary school, I always felt ‘little’ when we travelled to cities like Cape Coast, Accra and Takoradi.
I felt everyone there was more beautiful, more intelligent, spoke better English and was generally better than me. I had a similar experience in secondary school, always looking down on myself and feeling I was not good enough. Oh, how I wished I were an ‘Accra girl’ because I thought they were so cool! Yet, when my family finally moved to Accra, I still didn’t feel cool. On top of this, I didn’t even have a boyfriend! If only I could get a boyfriend, then I will be cool like the other girls… I thought.
In University, I met some really wonderful friends, some of whom were from ‘rich’ families and I thought being friends with them will make me feel cool. I didn’t. I had the opportunity to start travelling abroad, and I was certain that when I returned, I most definitely will feel cool and belong in a ‘cool girls click’. Well, I did have cool friends before and after travelling; still, I didn’t feel like I was cool and ‘there’ yet. Oh, by the way, in my third year, I finally had a real boyfriend (now my husband). Not only that, but he also lived abroad, and hence, I occasionally went to visit him, which should have made me feel cool, or? Well, guess what, I still didn’t!
Even as a career woman working in an international four-star hotel as a manager, I looked down on myself. Once my General Manager called me into his office and asked why I never came asking for a pay raise and promotion when other managers always came to him with such requests. My response was ‘I want to earn it, not ask for it’. That was a half-truth. The real reason was that I felt I was not good enough to deserve more. I convinced myself that ‘I was not there yet’. I used to look at my friends who were lawyers, doctors or pursuing something big and wished I could do that too. I also wanted to be ‘somebody’.
To make matters worse, I was just getting pregnant and fat! After having my two kids, I thought getting an MBA will make me finally feel cool and ‘important’, yet I felt no different after completion. Even with a handsome husband and two adorable kids who doted on me, I thought I had very little value. Interestingly, at various stages in my life, I would meet people who were so impressed by and thought highly of me, yet I never saw what they saw. Mostly when people even complimented me, I doubted them and thought they were just trying to be nice.
How I found my ‘cool.’
Read the rest of my story in Yarns of inspiration II