Ghanaian Luminaries Gather to Honor the Life of Leticia Amoa-Abban, Mother of Business Mogul Kofi Amoa-Abban

Business News

Leticia Amoa-Abban, mother of prominent Ghanaian businessman Kofi Amoa-Abban, was buried on Saturday. The funeral drew a remarkable and diverse gathering of influential figures, reflecting the inclusivity and respect shown to her legacy and profound impact on her family and community.Held in Tema, the service was attended by a wide array of dignitaries, close friends, and family members, who came together to honour the memory of a woman celebrated for her strength, warmth, and unwavering support for her loved ones.
The Amoa-Abban family’s influence extends beyond their business ventures. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Energy, was among the notable attendees, highlighting their connection with Ghana’s business and political sectors.
Celebrated broadcaster Gifty Anti was also present, further underscoring the broad reach of the Amoa-Abban family’s influence. Renowned pastor Dr. Lawrence Tetteh led portions of the service, offering words of comfort and remembrance that resonated with the gathered mourners.
Leticia Amoa-Abban was a mother and a pivotal figure in her son Kofi’s journey to success. Her sacrifices and business acumen inspired him and contributed to the foundation of his ventures, including Ringworld International Services Limited, which has grown into a multinational group of companies with a wide footprint across various sectors.
Family members and friends shared stories, recounting her entrepreneurial spirit and deep care for her community.
Leticia’s legacy was described as one rooted in resilience and compassion, leaving a lasting imprint on those she touched.
The ceremony also served as a powerful reunion for Ghana’s high society, with dignitaries and professionals across fields coming together in a unified expression of respect and remembrance, underscoring the deep sense of community and shared loss.
The Amoa-Abban family expressed heartfelt gratitude for the overwhelming support and tributes, emphasizing the warmth and appreciation they felt, and how Leticia’s spirit will continue to live on through the lives she shaped.

University of Ghana Business School Claims Victory in Inaugural Tertiary Business Sense Challenge

Business News

The University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), has won its first Tertiary Business Sense Challenge (TBSC), with a convincing score of 86 points in a keenly contested competition.In a display of business acumen, the participating schools competed on who had the best business brains to think faster and proffer solutions with the defending Champions, University of Education Business School, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Business School and UGBS School as finalists.
The contest, organised by the Graphic Business, saw the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology placed second with a point gap of 73.5, while the University of Education Business School placed third, also with a point gap of 72.7 points.
In a five-round contest held at the GNAT Hall in Accra, each business school was represented by four participants as they answered questions ranging from basic business concepts to a more advanced business ideas and solutions.
The participants pitched business idea on a potential business start-ups created from the current environmental challenge (illegal mining).
Mr. Ato Afful, Managing Director, Graphic Communications, said the contest was aimed at improving the financial literacy among tertiary students in Ghana.
He said the contest was designed to test the contestant’s problem-solving skills, which had been highly rated and needed in contemporary industries across the globe.
He urged the students to have a mindset of entrepreneurship even when they end up being employed in industries of their choice, adding hat they must draw lessons from the contest to enhance their entrepreneurial pursuits.
The Managing Director also called on the participants to leverage the contest and establish networks with contestants from other business schools for future business partnerships.
Mr. Osie Adjaye-Gyamfi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Institute of Chattered Accountants Ghana (ICAG), said the contest transcended academic excellence and was a platform that highlighted future business leaders.
He said the contest was a beacon of inspiration and encouraged students to pursue degree studies in various aspects of business such as accounting and financing.
Mr. Derrich Eyram, a representative from Compu Ghana, wished all the contestants well in their future endeavours.

Environmentalist Eleanor Tillinghast is offering to help the state buy land in Mount Washington to stop a logging project

Technology

Longtime Mount Washington resident Eleanor Tillinghast stands at the edge of state forest set to be logged as part of a plan to manage it. Tillinghast, who is co-founder of Green Berkshires, has told state officials they are willing to help the state buy other property it wants in town in exchange for leaving this forest alone. 

STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

MOUNT WASHINGTON — What’s the price to protect the forests near the Mount Washington “Cattle Barn Lot” property? A longtime resident and environmentalist might have the answer.Eleanor Tillinghast, co-founder of Green Berkshires, says she, her husband and a group of others would be “more than willing” to help the state or a nonprofit buy other land in town for preservation in exchange for the halting of the planned logging project on the parcel. Her proposal would eventually see the entire 362-acre lot placed into the Mount Washington Forest Reserve.She said she has been told two estimates of the project’s total timber price yield: $100,000, and $130,000.”It is a small price to pay to protect such an exceptional forest,” she said of a 175-acre area within the lot containing mature sugar maples that are rare to the town that are marked by state foresters for cutting. “If the governor is serious about protecting mature forests, then our offer is a win-win for everyone.”

The section of Mount Washington State Forest known as the “Cattle Barn Lot” after the cow shed seen in the field is the planned site for a controversial logging operation by the state. 

STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

She said she has been given two estimates of the project timber yield: $100,000, and $130,000.Tillinghast explained all of this in response to information about the plan in a July 23 email that was sent to The Eagle anonymously. She had sent the email to several state employees and someone who works for The Nature Conservancy. The revelation is the latest twist in a conservation saga that has seen a clash between foresters and environmentalists, climate scientists, state and local officials and residents in two neighboring towns.

The state is chopping inside 275 acres of forest and using herbicide near a drinking water source in Mount Washington. The town is pushing backWith the support of most town households, Tillinghast has spearheaded the effort to halt the DCR’s plans. The agency describes it as a forestry management project meant to create future “climate resiliency,” as well as to support the local timber harvesting industry.DCR does not yet have an estimated start date for the logging project. But project documents say the closeout date is December 2025. The project has come under fire from environmentalists like Tillinghast, town officials and residents. It also is criticized by climate scientists who say the trees, when possible, should be left alone to store carbon — a policy position maintained by the Healey administration.Another aspect of the plan has sparked an uproar: The use of glyphosate this summer to kill invasive species near where a network of intermittent streams form the headwaters of Egremont’s drinking water supply. Mount Washington officials are still asking for more details from the state about this herbicide treatment.

All of this prompted a visit to the site in August by multiple DCR forestry officials and top leaders from Gov. Maura Healey’s administration, including state Climate Chief Melissa Hoffer and Stephanie Cooper, undersecretary for the environment in the state Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.Hoffer said during an interview at the site that, after hearing concerns from Tillinghast and others in town, a “compromise” may be afoot. She did not elaborate.

The offerWhen asked about Tillinghast’s email, a DCR spokesperson who declined to be named said that the agency is “currently reviewing” the project “to address concerns raised by the local community while still aiming to achieve the project goals.”“We’re committed to conserving and enhancing our state forestlands and natural habitats,” the spokesperson said, “and to making investments across the state, including in this region.”In that July 23 email, Tillinghast discussed her offer: a possible donation of money by her, her husband and possibly another couple to help the state buy two separate parcels totaling 504 acres that it has wanted to acquire. The land, Tillinghast, learned this week, is not currently for sale, but she would be willing to help should that change.

Biologist Ben Nickley measures the circumference of an old sugar maple tree marked for logging area in Mount Washington State Forest in August. According to Nickley the tree could be a vital contributor to the balance of the forest ecosystem. Sugar maples are rare in Mount Washington, and activists do not want to see them cut.

STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE

Tillinghast explained that the land is owned by two separate people who might want to sell because a rattlesnake habitat makes it impossible for them to build. The state, however, can only pay the appraised value of the land. The owners want to sell for something closer to market value. Tillinghast’s donation would be the extra money — paid to those sellers directly — needed to augment the state’s money and reach what those two landowners think is a fair price. She said she and her husband “would receive no personal benefit from our contribution,” nor would they be eligible for a “tax break.”“And we do not live anywhere near either of the two properties that might be for sale,” she said, “or near the Cattle Barn Lot.” Tillinghast sees her offers as a “public service.”Meanwhile, Green Berkshires, Tillinghast noted, will continue its numerous scientific studies of the forest ecology that it will share with the state. This includes an $18,000 hydrology study using Lidar — or light detection and ranging — technology that will show the true extent of the watershed.

Lahontan cutthroat trout were once wiped from Tahoe. Scientists have them spawning again

Science and Health

For thousands of years, Lahontan cutthroat trout swam in the expansive waters of Lake Tahoe.

But by 1938, the fish — affected by European settlers’ actions in the Tahoe Basin by such as logging, overfishing, construction of dams and water diversions, and the introduction of non-native species — disappeared.

European settlers offset the lack of large fish by stocking Lake Tahoe with non-native species but for decades, the lake was devoid of Lahontan cutthroat trout.

A Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) project is changing that. 

Biologists studied non-native Rainbow trout — similar in many ways to Lahontan cutthroat trout — to understand their spawning patterns in Lake Tahoe. What they saw gave them hope that a self-sustaining population of Lahontan cutthroat trout could return to the lake in a limited capacity, and they began a multiyear reintroduction and monitoring effort. This year, Lahontan cutthroat were documented exhibiting spawning behavior in a tributary of the lake — the first unassisted attempt in Lake Tahoe in nearly 90 years, according to state biologists.

That effort by the Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT) — the state fish of Nevada known for its ability to grow as long as 4 feet — is exciting for biologists and sportsmen alike. It is also an important step in the “recovery” of the fish, which is listed as “threatened” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

“If we can get a few of these fish to spawn and reproduce … they can persist into the future without human intervention,” said Travis Hawks, fisheries division supervisor for the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s western region. “The ultimate goal of recovery is to get a species to the point where it can exist to be equipped to handle its environment and we don’t have to take care of it.”

The number of fish that exhibited spawning behavior in Tahoe’s Third Creek (in Incline Village) were few — 10 out of the roughly 200,000 that have been stocked during the last couple of years. But biologists expect to see those numbers increase.

“If we get 10 up there and three of them spawn … it will build upon itself,” Hawks said. “It really does have huge implications for LCT recovery.”

Nevada Department of Wildlife staff and volunteers count and measure fish in the Truckee River (left and center) and a brown trout during a Nevada Department of Wildlife fish count in the Truckee River in Mogul west of Reno on Oct. 3, 2024. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)

‘Proof of concept’

Since European settlement, more than 20 species of fish have been introduced to the Lake Tahoe Basin. As late as the 1990s, thousands of non-native fish were stocked in Lake Tahoe each year for sportsmen, but there was no real management of the lake as a thriving fishery, Hawks said.

“Tahoe was just a big dumping spot of fish,” he said. “The understanding of what was going on in Tahoe wasn’t there.”

As the understanding of Lake Tahoe as a thriving fishery evolved in the early 2000s, state wildlife officials started brainstorming how to restore Lahontan cutthroat trout (listed in 1970 as threatened) to Lake Tahoe — not by stocking the fish, but by carving out a space for the fish to carry out their natural life cycle, as they had before Western settlement.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had previously reintroduced Lahontan cutthroat trout to Fallen Leaf Lake — a small lake attached to Lake Tahoe via Taylor Creek — and reports that those fish have been spawning in Glen Alpine Creek since 2012. Lahontan cutthroat trout were also introduced to the Meiss Meadow area in 1990 by the service; Meiss Meadow is part of an interconnected stream complex within the upper Truckee River. 

But recovery in Lake Tahoe hadn’t been attempted. 

In 2014, state wildlife officials started studying spawning habits of rainbow trout to identify areas that could be suitable to reintroduce Lahontan cutthroat trout. Rainbow trout spawn at the same time of year and in similar habitat as Lahontan cutthroat trout, so wildlife officials captured rainbows spawning in Tahoe’s tributaries, tagged them, then removed their eggs to raise the young in a hatchery. The young raised in the hatchery were released back into the lake and their behavior was monitored. 

Supporters credit Hawks, the state fisheries leader.

“Travis knew full well this was a perfect surrogate project for LCT. He just kept pushing forward,” said Jason Barnes, a biologist with Trout Unlimited who focuses on Lahontan cutthroat trout.

The experiment showed two things — first, that the adult fish they tagged were returning year after year to the same tributaries. And second, of the young raised in the hatchery, about 10 percent were returning to the same tributary they were removed from as an egg.

“Nobody had that data in the Tahoe Basin,” Hawks said.

A Pilot Peak strain Lahontan Cutthroat Trout on March 13, 2024. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)

Within a couple of years, state and federal wildlife officials reached an agreement to stock 2,000 Lahontan cutthroat trout in the lake to see if the fish would make their way into Lake Tahoe’s tributaries to spawn. 

The number of Lahontan cutthroat trout stocked in Lake Tahoe has grown substantially during the past few years; this year, 100,000 were planted.

But hatchery-raised fish don’t thrive in the wild, Hawks said. They are planted for sportsmen and generally don’t survive year after year on their own.

Stocking fish is “pretty much a numbers game,” Hawks said, citing examples in the Truckee River. Each fall, Nevada Department of Wildlife staff does a fish survey to monitor the Truckee’s health. Held in late September or early October, the survey is just a few months after U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stocks as many as 70,000 Lahontan cutthroat trout in the river for recreational fishing.

“We haven’t found more than, say, three [surviving] LCT that are stocked every year,” he said.

“It’s the difference between a farm animal and a wild animal,” he added. “You take a fish born and raised at a hatchery — it’s fed processed food and it’s released into a wild environment and exists in that wild environment for a time, but the odds of it really thriving and reproducing is really slim … 90 percent of them don’t survive.”

But the 10 fish that exhibited spawning behavior in Third Creek could be the start to a self-sustaining population of Lahontan cutthroat trout in Lake Tahoe.

“They have restored a lost function of LCT returning to a stream to spawn,” Barnes said. “You’re not just pulling fish out of a truck anymore. You’ve restored a function that has not been present for 100 years … It’s a proof of concept.”

A permanent structure will be installed on Third Creek to assist the Lahontan cutthroat trout. Fish swimming up the creek will not be able to make it past the structure; state wildlife crews will sort the fish, allowing Lahontan cutthroat trout to continue upstream while other species will be returned to the lake to spawn elsewhere. If left unsorted, rainbow and Lahontan cutthroat trout can mix to create hybrids known as “cutbows.” 

“We understand we aren’t going to do this on every tributary,” Hawks said. “We aren’t going to get rid of all non-natives.”

But the agency can create what he calls “LCT refuge areas.”

“We have to shift our frame of reference and realize if we want LCT recovery, it’s going to be in the current environment and we have to consider what’s realistic and what we want to achieve,” Barnes said. “NDOW has proved this is one of the best outcomes we can get.”

Nevada Department of Wildlife staff and volunteers count and measure fish in the Truckee River in Mogul west of Reno on Oct. 3, 2024. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)

St. Paul small business owners are finding success, giving back at community-driven Mali Center

Business News

A hulking beige brick building near St. Paul’s North End houses a cluster of BIPOC and women-owned small businesses ranging from a clothing retailer and mental health professionals to an entertainment production company and a handful of personal trainers.Despite the obvious differences in their businesses, the entrepreneurs at the Mali Center, which opened in June, all share three important details: They are deeply devoted to their community, they wear a lot of hats and they go way back with Tyrone Minor.Minor, the founder and dreamer behind the Mali Center at 576 Front Ave., grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and attended St. Paul Central High School, Drake University and the University of Minnesota and now works as a physical education instructor in Osseo, Minn.A gifted track and field athlete, Minor is also the owner of personal training business Chizel Inc. and health and fitness company the F.I.T. Lab, both of which are now part of the Mali Center.“I am at that stage of my life where I am starting to think about the legacy that I leave,” said Minor, who recently celebrated his 54th birthday.When a longtime landlord decided not to renew Minor’s lease for the F.I.T. Lab in 2023 — “after seven years of never missing a rent payment,” Minor said — he knew it was time to make the leap.“When you own commercial real estate, you can provide opportunities for entrepreneurs,” Minor said. And that’s exactly what he’s doing at the Mali Center by offering business owners access to private offices, gym equipment, a conference room and an ecosystem of community-driven entrepreneurs.‘Dream bigger’“We met in the third grade,” said Erick Goodlow about Tyrone Minor.Goodlow is now the president of the Fairway Foundation, a nonprofit organization that exposes Black youth to the sport of golf.Golf teaches kids sportsmanship, integrity and ethics, Goodlow said, “because you have to call your own penalties.”When Minor was renovating the 5,400-square-foot facility that would become the Mali Center, he asked Goodlow what the Fairway Foundation needed.“A net,” said Goodlow, for the golfers to practice their swings. “He told me to ‘dream bigger.’ ”Havanna Smith, 9, of St. Paul, practices her swing on a golf simulator at the Mali Center. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)The Fairway Foundation now has its very own golf simulator at the Mali Center. Much to the delight of the kids, the simulator will allow the golfers to continue practicing in the winter months.Dr. Jermaine M. Davis, a motivational speaker, author and professor, was also approached by Minor to be part of the Mali Center.“What would make you want to be a part of this?” he asked Davis.Davis, who does a lot of traveling to give presentations and keynote speeches, said he wanted a place where he could teach and host workshops.Motivational speaker Dr. Jermaine M. Davis talks at the Mali Center in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)At the Mali Center, they call it the “ingenuity room,” and it is designed like a large conference room with desks, couches and the necessary tech.Aneesha Kelly, a mental health professional who runs her company Purpose Health and Wellness from the Mali Center as she works toward her clinical license, also has hopes for the ingenuity room.Kelly, who used to run track with Minor, said she hopes to use the ingenuity room to host group therapy sessions like grief group counseling and a group for first responders of color.Dr. Sheila Sweeney, a psychotherapist, author and speaker behind Peaces ‘n PuzSouls, who first met Minor through his fitness classes, said she had a number of reasons to move her practice to the Mali Center.Sweeney, who has a private office, said she can close her door when she needs privacy and also can collaborate with entrepreneurs like Kelly, Davis and Dr. Kasim Abdur Razzaq. “I’m in community when I’m here,” Sweeney said.Razzaq, who is a speaker, author and psychotherapist, said he is working to bring more Black men into the mental health field.Of all the tenants, Razzaq might have the shortest history with Minor; the two met just a few years ago.Come to find out, they both grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and Minor coached Razzaq’s sister in track. “It’s almost impossible that we didn’t meet earlier,” Razzaq said.Now Razzaq’s office is next door to Sweeney’s, and he said the two “talk shop” and “bounce ideas off each other” at the Mali Center.Other local entrepreneurs at the center who have ties to St. Paul include Chadwick “Niles” Phillips, who was once coached by Minor and is now the founder of entertainment production company The Avant Garde, and Robert “RL” Davis, a childhood friend of Minor’s who has his retail store RighteouSouls on the main floor of the Mali Center.Develop yourself and your businessMeg Katzman of Eagan works out under the supervision of her trainer, Michelle Dalluge, right, of Aspire Fitness at F.I.T. Lab in the Mali Center. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)The primary tenant of the Mali Center is the F.I.T. Lab, a state-of-the-art fitness facility, Minor said, which is rented out by some 10 different personal trainers to run their own businesses.Anne Schwalbe said her fitness business, Gentle Strength, might not have been possible without the resources of F.I.T. Lab.Looking to get into the fitness space, Schwalbe said she was struggling to find the right fit as she also works full-time in the public health sector.“I was looking for a place to go myself and felt like the perfect place didn’t exist,” she said.Schwalbe, who is a mother in her 40s, decided to fill the niche herself and launched Gentle Strength with the support of F.I.T. Lab.“I really try to make it an inclusive space and reach people who would otherwise feel intimidated or out of place at the gym,” Schwalbe said.“I set my own pricing, I bring my own clients, my own brand, do my own marketing,” she said. “As a small business owner, this isn’t something I could have done if I tried to open this on my own.”Whitney Cantrell, owner of Workout With Whitney and Jamie Minor, owner of StrengthIN Consulting and the wife of Tyrone Minor, are just a couple of the other trainers who use the F.I.T. Lab to offer classes.Nine-year-old Sephira Dragseth, center, of St. Paul, takes part in a workout during fitness trainer Whitney Cantrell’s Workout with Whitney (WoWW) program. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)The workout equipment is available for any members of the Mali Center, and its use is encouraged, Minor said, as one of his beliefs is, “You can’t develop your business if you aren’t working on yourself.”Michelle Dalluge, a personal trainer and owner of Aspire Fitness, was in a similar situation as Schwalbe and found support and resources through Minor and the F.I.T. Lab.Dalluge has roughly 15 clients that she works with in personal training sessions, but the Mali Center offers her more than just a training space.In August, Dalluge was part of a group from the Mali Center that worked together to host a back-to-school Family Fun Night. The event gave out school supplies and free haircut vouchers and brought the community together, Minor said.“Any business that is financially benefiting from a community should be giving back to that community,” he said.Don’t call it a coworking spaceTyrone Minor talks about the Mali Center’s members. Minor, the founder and dreamer behind the business center at 576 Front Ave., grew up in the Rondo neighborhood and attended St. Paul Central High School. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)At first glance, the Mali Center may look like a traditional coworking space with desks, private offices, a kitchenette and entrepreneurs from different industries working under the same roof, but Minor emphasizes that is not the case.Named for the Mali Empire in West Africa, the Mali Center empowers entrepreneurs to run their businesses how they like, Minor said, but the community he has assembled is more than a sounding board.Members of the Mali Center function like an ecosystem, Minor said, by offering each other support, resources and connections.Johnny Allen Jr., the executive director of youth mentorship nonprofit the JK Movement, said the Mali Center has an open-door policy with the organization and the two often work together.Although the mentorship program operates from the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center a couple of miles away, Allen said they still benefit from the resources and community that Minor has assembled by working with members like Razzaq and utilizing the gym space.“Tyrone works from the kindness of his heart and wants to see all people succeed and flourish. … The Mali Center is an example of what an equal system can be if run by the right people who have the right vision,” Allen said.“I believe we have created a model for how you can build generational health and wealth,” Minor said. “This is my dream come true.”

St. Thomas professor chosen for children’s book project at Montreal hospital

Arts & Culture, Books

When Léo-James Lévesque was asked if his book could be used in a new project at the CHU Sainte-Justine children’s hospital in Montreal, he immediately said yes.”I didn’t even hesitate,” the St. Thomas University education professor told Shift, in an interview. That call from his publisher came a year ago, and since then, he’s had the opportunity to visit the hospital and see the reaction of kids who got to enjoy the animated version of his book.Aux pinceaux, Domino was chosen as one of 10 books to be turned into a video as part of L’heure du conte, a storytime project at the hospital.The book, published in 2002, follows Domino, a young boy who doesn’t yet know how to read. When he sees a variety of paintings on a visit to the park, he’s inspired to paint his own inspired by friendship.