He never went to secondary school because he missed the opportunity as a result of the lack of financial support. This is despite his success in the Common Entrance Examination.
Consequently, after middle school, he had to undertake many menial jobs such as working as a farm labourer and later as a factory floor worker to raise money in his desire to get the education that he wanted.
The personality being discussed is the current Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Dr Adu Anane Antwi.
Dr Antwi was born at Anyinam-Kotoku near Akim Oda in the Eastern Region to the late Albert Yaw Broni Antwi, who was both a pupil teacher and farmer, and Madam Mercy Ntiamoah, a trader and farmer.
He started schooling at the Ntobroso Roman Catholic Primary School in the Ashanti Region. Later, Young Antwi continued schooling at the Anyinam-Kotoku Methodist Primary School after which he went to the Anyinam-Kotoku Local Authority Middle School.
While in school, his dream was to become a doctor. He sat for the Common Entrance Examination when he was in Form Three and passed and gained admission to the Tarkwa Secondary School but “my parents could not get me the necessary support to attend secondary school so I was forced to continue to Form Four” he said.
“After completing middle school, I tried to see whether I could get support to continue my education but it didn’t work. I, therefore, decided to do something for myself so I started undertaking menial jobs, especially working as a farm labourer in my hometown in order to save money for my education,” he said.
Desirous of continuing my education, and learning that nursing students were given financial support by the government, he decided to study nursing. He subsequently travelled to Accra to write the nursing training entrance examination. He passed but was unable to get his admission letter because a relative whose address he used was transferred from the Korle Bu branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank to the Kaneshie branch.
After missing the opportunity to study nursing, he tried to get financial support to attend commercial school, but he was not successful.
At age 18 and with a savings of ¢70 (GH¢ 7), Young Antwi settled in Tema to search for a job.
“At Tema, I registered at the labour office to seek for a job but after about a month I was advised that being a very small boy a youth employment centre in Accra was a more appropriate place for me to get a job, so I moved to Accra and registered at the then Youth Employment Centre,” he said.
Luck smiled on him and he got a job as a factory hand in a factory which manufactured lace cloth at the North Industrial Area in Accra.
At the time, he had to stay with a relative at Abossey Okai who was using a single room with his wife and three children, and, therefore, had to use a porch in the house, which was a cooking place, as his sleeping place.
While working as a factory hand Young Antwi realised that having observed his elder brother work as a tailor back in his hometown, he could do some tailoring with the little tailoring knowledge he had.
After making further savings, he bought a foot sewing machine to do some petty sewing after work. After a year of petty sewing, he decided to use his off-work periods to go through formal apprenticeship training in tailoring. “At some point in time, I was able to sew children’s knickers or shorts and I took them to Lome, Togo to sell, using the proceeds to by items for sale back in Accra,” he said.
Determined to further his education he started attending an evening class organised privately by some teachers at the Kings College, Kokomlemle. Within 10 months of studies, he wrote and passed Accounting and Arithmetic at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) Intermediate Level, obtaining distinction in Arithmetic. Having passed the accounting examination, he got a part-time job as an Accounts Clerk in a tiles and terrazzo trading enterprise at Kaneshie.
He later secured a job at the Ghana Publishing Corporation (GPC) as an Audit Clerk in 1980. Before going to GPC he had written and passed three papers at the London Chamber of Commerce (LCC) and also written and passed all five papers he registered at the GCE Ordinary Level Examination. With determination, he continued and wrote and passed various papers at the RSA, LCC and GCE Advanced Level examinations.
In 1982, he applied for admission to the University of Cape Coast (UCC) but was not successful. To improve upon his qualification to gain admission to the university, he studied and passed some papers in the Institute of Cost & Management Accountants (ICMA) and the Association of Certified Accountants (ACA) examinations.
In 1983 he again applied for admission to the UCC with his enhanced certificates, but admissions were not made that year due to the closure of universities in the country. His application was considered in 1984 and he was offered admission, “but unfortunately, I only got to know of my admission through a friend, a year after,” he said.
In 1985 he gained admission to study Business Administration at the University of Ghana. He again went back to the University of Ghana to do a Master of Business Administration programme. He went further to study privately to qualify as a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered
Accountants, Ghana in 1996. With the acquisition of a wide range of knowledge, he went to study Law and later qualified as a Lawyer from the Ghana School of Law.
Desirous of getting a doctorate degree, he studied for a Doctor of Business Administration degree at the Paris School of Business in Paris, France. He completed last year December.
Dr Antwi has assisted many others in their education, as he set up an educational fund in 2001 to assist needy brilliant students in his hometown.
Dr Antwi is married to Janet and together they have three children.
