Kezia Asiedua Sanie, (born June 22, 2000, Accra-Ghana.), is a Ghanaian budding Lawyer and philanthropist who with the help of a Team she put together founded “For the Future Ghana”, the charitable firm that nurtures underprivileged children in Africa, especially Ghana. Right from childhood, Kezia Asiedua Sanie had always wanted to start a charity to help others. She had always been involved in programmes and events that were related to charity. Her passion for charity work propelled her to start For The Future Ghana , while in her first year at High School. Interestingly, the idea to start For The Future Ghana however, was inspired by jokes that Kezia and her friends made about a hair cream mixture they made to boost the growth of their hair while in school.
.
Kezia, together with her friends took a step towards starting the charity by consulting their English Language teacher, who also had a charity of her own called “I Was Here”.Alongside her classmates and friends from other Senior High Schools, Kezia collaborated with Miss Elsie’s team to embark on a donation exercise at Ashaiman. Weeks after their first successful donations, Kezia and her new found team organized their own charity event and threw a mini funfair for the children at the Jay Nii Orphanage in James Town of which many of them (The Team) were only 16 years old at that time in 2016. After completing High School, she had an admission to University of Ghana Law School to study Law (2018) were she started structuring the team under the now registered charity firm she started, “For The Future Ghana”.
View this post on Instagram
Career
Kezia Asiedua Sanie’s other jobs were with Decor zone where she worked during every vacation from school and Innovate Edu-Consult where she joined as a Lead Generation Associate identifying, filtering and developing clients that match the company’s target market, drive up subscription numbers by scaling up traffic to their website. Since 2016, Kezia Asiedua Sanie has been active in the public eye, stating “If I should think about Gender Equality and how the Likes of Melinda Gates and others made history, I realized that they stepped out in some way and out of their comfort zone.” This has helped her work become recognized while also shaping and delivering goals of For The Future Ghana. By 2021, Kezia with her Team had donated and renovated the Mamprobi South Basic School building. FTF Ghana is currently running three initiatives – the Student Training and Education Project (STEP), the ShareAid Initiative and the FTF Village project that will cater for the accommodation, education and other support needs of underprivileged children in Ghana. The FTF Village Project, launched in October 2021 will be an enabling environment where underprivileged children will not only be able to dream, but achieve their dreams too.
.
The launch of that project was attended by a good number of dignitaries in Ghana at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly auditorium. Notable among them were Hon. Joe Ghartey, MP for Essikado/Ketan Constituency, as the Guest of Honour and Rev. Dr. Joyce Aryee, former minister of state as the Guest speaker. Kezia is also a Global Youth Ambassador at the Their World Organization, a global children’s charity committed to ending the global education crisis and unleashing the potential of the next generation. For The Future Ghana’s Village Project current goal is to raise GHC500,000 for phase one of the project, which will go into purchasing a 5-acre piece of land, walling it and constructing the ground floor of the education and training blocks of the facility. They have already raised some part of it which has been used to make part payment of the land where the project will be sited in Adukrom-Aprebi.
View this post on Instagram
.
“We have already started paying for a 5-acre piece of land in the plush green ridges of the Akuapem area since launching the FTF Village project. In the next five years, we hope to start with phase-one of construction for this holistic resource centre and home for underprivileged children from all over the country. We will start with the educational facility and accommodation block, such that some homeless, underprivileged children can start moving in,” Kezia said in an interview with B&FT.
.
“We have realized that making an impact shouldn’t be a one day show where we go and share items to children and leave them in the same state we found them,” Kezia stated in the interview. “We wish to give further help that goes beyond just a day. That was why we launched the STEP. However, in sponsoring the children and running this initiative, we have realized certain lapses, for example, the children’s environments. There are certain habits that we are trying to change but because the children go back to the same environment, which is hindering their growth, it makes it difficult. Some of them also lack parental control so it is difficult for us to really know what happens when they are home after school. There are other problems like a common place for having sessions with the children.
.
View this post on Instagram
.
So, we thought of a place where we could still be sponsoring these children but accommodating them and giving them all the necessities of life like how it should be ideally, while connecting them with resource persons who will help them develop themselves. That is what brought up the “For The Future Village” (FTF Village) idea. The FTF Village will be an eco-friendly gated community and a safe haven for underprivileged children. They will get to go home sometimes, their parents can visit, and then after a period of time, they can leave when they are old and mature enough to be on their own. By then, they would have learnt so much such that they can even start their own businesses and so on. “she added. The organization, through the “Networking For The Future” initiative will also help them to find jobs and give them capital to start their own businesses too. The FTF Village will only be a transit place. “Angela Bentum, Head of Publicity for For The Future Ghana explained.
.
“I believe that every single person on this earth was born with a gift given by God. However, no one gets to choose the parents they are born to. The absence of financial support, emotional support, familial support, guidance, and opportunity in the lives of many underprivileged children dashes their hopes and dreams. We at For The Future Ghana believe that our efforts can go a long way to bring hope to many underprivileged children and to help them reach their fullest potential irrespective of their social backgrounds. Our dream is to see every child who benefits from our initiatives make a difference in their various communities for the future of the children themselves, their families, communities, and the nation at large,” Samuel Kwame Boadu, part of the Publicity Team added. “We have also partnered with Youths MAP from the USA, who are helping us develop ourselves through a wide range of mentorship programs.”
View this post on Instagram
.
How government can support start-ups
Speaking on how government can support start-ups like hers, she said: “Government already has a Ministry of Social Protection and a Department of Social Welfare. Thus, they can partner organizations like FTF to reach and achieve their vision and develop the country through a joint effort. There should be partnerships between local governments (MMCDs) and NGOs to undertake projects in communities where government has been unsuccessful in reaching”.
She urged government to include NGOs in its initiatives, because doing so will encourage support from local and foreign donors; thus, facilitating the organization’s growth and sustainability.
“There should also be regulations for the NGO space to ensure there is a set of best practices. This may help in terms of preventing many NGOs from collapsing. We also need the help of many professionals who can help in construction of the FTF Village and the children’s development as well,” she said.
.
Economic empowerment for women
She said women’s empowerment is crucial today because they are expected to contribute more to the home financially, unlike in the past when they were not actively working to earn money.
“Equipping them with skills for ‘side-hustles’ and other economic activities is key. At FTF, all our beneficiaries have single mothers who struggle to make ends meet. Through our intervention, we have taken a lot of the burden off these mothers by paying their children’s fees, providing stationeries, school uniforms, provisions and toiletries, engaging private tutors for after school, and giving them pocket money.”
Advice for prospective entrepreneurs
Kezia’s advice to anyone aspiring to be an entrepreneur is that the person must first believe in himself or herself.
She added that the individual must have clear-cut goals, saying that doing anything in this world without this is like embarking on a journey with no predetermined destination.
“If you do not believe in yourself in the first place, it will be difficult to achieve anything. Be driven by your passion and purpose. Make your mission, vision and target group (beneficiaries) clear right from the start. Doing anything in this world without a clear-cut goal is like going on a journey with no set-out destination.
“What is the point of going on the journey then? Work with trusted friends and family before you add on strangers later. Use your social media very well, because it is a great tool for reaching people who can support your work. Be consistent in your work. Lastly, do not despise small beginnings. Start small with whatever resources are available to you, and as time goes on you can expand,” she said.
View this post on Instagram
.
PERSONAL LIFE
.
Kezia Asiedua Sanie was born to Hon. John Sanie, a Member of Parliament for Mpohor Constituency and Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) at Globnet Solution Limited, and Felicia Sanie (Mrs.), a fashion designer in Accra in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Kezia, founder and president of For the Future Ghana, grew up in and around Darkuman and North Kaneshie and had her early education in Accra. She had her basic education at God’s Grace International School before proceeding to Wesley Girls Senior High School where she studied General Arts. She has three siblings: Karen, Jemima, Prince and Princess Sanie. Kezia Asiedua Sanie has always dreamed of becoming a lawyer after which she gained admission to study Law at the University of Ghana. She graduated in September 2022, sharing the news of her graduation, she shared a few pictures on her various social media platforms. Prior to her Graduation, Kezia Asiedua Sanie was the Head of the Events Committee of the Law Students Union while in her final year and served on the Judicial Board in her second and third year.
View this post on Instagram
.
BOTTOM LINE
.
Kezia started For The Future Ghana as a small charity together with friends back in High School in her first year. FTF Ghana has now grown into a fully structured and registered organization with pioneers, members, associate members, an executive board, and an advisory board. Majority of the pioneers and members are students in various universities in Ghana. For The Future Ghana is currently running three initiatives: the ShareAid initiative, the Student Training and Education Project (STEP), and the For The Future (FTF)
Village project, which doubles as For The Future Ghana’s flagship project. Through this initiative, FTF also found great opportunities for their beneficiaries to help them learn outside the classroom in order to unearth and polish their strengths and talents, to give them holistic education.
.
View this post on Instagram
.
Read Also:
About For The Future Ghana (FTF Ghana), the fast growing Charity Firm
.
.
