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.
FOLAKE SANU | 2022 iFAB SPEAKER
‘When you tell God you want something, there is a way things work out. But you must be ready for the opportunity.’ Lady Folake’s words couldn’t be more true! Watching her presentation from iFAB 2022 has brought so many memories of the beginning of the iFAB dream and how scared I was. How I begged
ABIGAIL ARUNA | 2022 iFAB SPEAKER
‘Do you realize what you are doing is like selling your Pathfinder 4X4 SUV to buy a Tico – a small car?’ This is what Abigail’s then boss told her when she was resigning from her position as a District Operations Supervisor with a giant organisation to join Clean Team Ghana (a project that was
DR. DAVID KELVIN AMOO OSAE JR | 2022 iFAB FACILITATOR
Riddle Riddle! You have only 3 options of rooms to sleep in. The first has over 5000 different kinds of poisonous snakes. The second has some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists. And the third room has ferocious lions who haven’t been fed for 5 years! Which one will you choose to sleep in? The
INTRODUCING FabCEO MASTERMIND
I have a testimony! 2nd May, 2023 after my monthly retreat, I wrote the following in my prayer book: This is my month of CONGRATULATIONS! Amen. On 5th June, while reviewing my previous month’s prayer and activities, I wondered “hmm my ‘congratulations’ hasn’t come yet”. As soon as I was done with my retreat I
DR. EVANS DUAH | 2022 iFAB FACILITATOR
Today we’re talking about money! Grab a hot cuppa, notebook and pen for this one. Dr. Evans Duah (whom I’ve nicknamed Dr. Wealth) dropped some hot tips during the 2022 iFAB. I spent some time listening to it again and thought, we need to share this with everyone! Here are 2 things that hit me:
MAADWOA OFORI AMANFO | 2023 iFAB SPEAKER
Meet Maadwoa Ofori Amanfo, a Cleaniologist! Haha, I wonder if that’s even a real word. Anyway, Lady Maadwoa spoke on Environmental Wellness during iFAB 2023. Do you want a ‘stress-free’ home? Well, watch this episode as she shared some excellent gems and tips. Below are a few of the tips: I don’t want to spill
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