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Mrs Gifty Oware-Mensah, impacting lives of young people through football
Mrs Oware-Menssah and husband
Prior to becoming an Executive Committee (ExCo) member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) in 2023, Mrs Gifty Oware-Mensah had gained popularity for her exploits with one of Ghana’s established female football teams, Berry Ladies.
The 38-year-old took young orphan girls and some talented street children to build her team while providing them decent livelihoods as a way of giving back to society.
Mrs Oware-Mensah has since impacted the lives of hundreds of young people through football and many others through her work with the National Service Secretariat (NSS) as the Deputy Executive Director since 2017.
The astute politician, business mogul and administrator is passionate about the development of young people especially girls, ensuring that they had a decent living and contribute their quota to national development.
Mrs Oware-Mensah after engaging in business and politics most of her life decided to get into football administration in 2019. She, however, had interest in sports as she played football, hockey and badminton during her school days.
Prior to that, she had collaborated with the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) to organise the Sammy Kufuor Testimonial Cup in 2011 as a marketing person; that was the first time she got closer with ‘football people.’
Fast-forward, she became Co-owner of Halifax Ladies Football Club and bought shares in Berekum Chelsea to mark a major step into football administration.
In 2021, Mrs Oware-Mensah thought she could do more with women football by becoming an ExCo member and for the first time in the history of Ghana football, she went through unopposed with 20/20 endorsement in 2023.
During her tenure, the Black Queens qualified for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) for the first time in six years with the Black Maidens also qualifying for the 2024 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Costa Rica.
She is also looking forward to the Black Queen’s qualification to the Olympic Games for the first time.
BUSINESS AND GOVERNANCE
In 2009 she ventured into business and governance by setting up Berry Events Company and Multimedia Company to promote young people in entertainment.
She entered into politics from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) as a Tertiary Students Confederacy (TESCON) girl in 2004 since she always loved the ideology of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
In 2012, she started working within the NPP structure and in 2014 contested the National Youth Organiser as the first woman to contest the position and though she lost, she still worked with the party.
Mrs Oware-Mensah also worked at the Danquah Institute and rose from being a Researcher to Head of Research until the NPP came to power in 2016. In 2017 and at age 29, she was appointed the Deputy Director at the NSS a position she holds till date.
While at the NSS, Mrs Oware-Mensah ensured several innovations such as digitizing the system where people spent less time at the registration centres. She also brought up the inclusion desk that supports the welfare of women and vulnerable persons.
PHILANTHROPY
Mrs Oware-Mensah runs a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) called Berry Empowerment which among other things organises the Afia Oware Women Summit which empowers young people.
She is naturally a philanthropist and gives to people from across the country. Aside Berry Ladies, she has shares in Kumasi Sports Academy and other teams to serve as livelihoods to young ones in football.
Mrs Oware-Mensah supported Kurt Okraku to be elected as President of the GFA as well as assisting all the female national teams in various capacities.
HOBBIES
She loves writing and is also a poet. She is currently working on her memoir to be published when she clocks 40 (in two years).
EDUCATION AND BACKGROUND
Mrs Oware-Mensah is the first daughter of three siblings and comes from Koforidua in the Eastern Region. She started school at St. Mary’s(basic education) and went to Victory International School before attending the Ghana Secondary School in 2001 where she read General Arts.
She went to KNUST in 2010 for her first degree in History. She also has Masters (MA) in Defence and International Politics, MA in Public Administration also from KNUST, Post Graduate Diploma from the University of South Africa on Management of Democratic Elections and MA from the University of Birmingham in Policy and Development Planning. Currently, she is a Historical Studies PhD candidate at KNUST.
She is married to a Lawyer, Peter Mensah and has a child. She is a devoted Christian with the Assemblies of God (Cedar Mountain) church.
By Michael D. Abayateye