Bonus Episode! Team Ghana Goes to Bali

We have five guests today: Kwesi Hayford President of the Esports Association, Ghana with the team he took to the IESF World Championship in Bali in December 2022: Emmanuel Manu-Gyamfi (NELLmvp), Edmond Addo Mensah (shyBOY), Daniel Sungna Iddi (SPAMA), Boris Osisiadan-Nimpong (Atunaye). Micdad Morgan Agbotui (MUFASA) also went to Bali but was not able to appear on this episode.

Hear the amazing stories that lead to this team’s life-changing adventure of going to Bali, how it was made possible, what it was like to meet players in person they have looked up to for years online, their take on food in Indonesia, and much, much more. One of our best episodes and definitely the liveliest.

Our discussion included:

How the entire adventure started out, from the qualifications to Kwesi’s determination to make it happen.

The training that allowed them to compete on the world stage, sometimes under challenging conditions that they were able to overcome.

Hear about the reaction from everyone on the journey. From disbelief that people actually traveled half-way around the world to play video games, to the official in Jakarta who gave the team the VIP treatment because he was PUBG gamer himself.

Each team member talks about the challenge of raising funds needed for visas with the majority of travel and accommodation covered by the IESF.

“Travel opens the players’ eyes. Gives them bigger horizons.”

The real highlight of the conversation is to hear from each player what it meant to be able to meet players – some from professional teams – that they have been learning from for years online. These pros were humble, and very willing to help the team in any way they could showing the camaraderie among all players that esports enjoys.

Kwesi asks the gang to talk about the food and the fun, and the team responds with some wonderful stories.

Kwesi sums it up by saying:

“Bali was life-transforming for us. First time we have sent out an entire team. Bali is a pivot point for Ghana Esports. It is a talking point to go out to brands. But it is also a talking point to go out to families that this is real work.  Everyone’s family now knows that esports is a big deal.”

And finally, hear about their future plans now that they have had the journey of a lifetime.

One great conversation. Check out their links below and go support them!

Episode Webpage: https://www.gamerschangelivespodcast.com/team-ghana-goes-to-bali

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FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE:

Kwesi Hayford

Kwesi Hayford is an Esports Evangelist, Creative Designer, and a Digital Media enthusiast with a passion for the youth culture, technology, and education.  He inspires and empowers young people to create opportunities for themselves via Esports. He is the President of Esports Association, Ghana, and Founder of PlayArena, KiddieEsports and Ruutz Esports.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thekwesihayford/

Email:  qkwecy@gmail.com

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/thekwesihayford

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLl9uEkVPuhtYOZcS5M2tHg

Boris Osisiadan-Nimpong

Boris Osisiadan-Nimpong known in the gaming space as Atunaye. An Efootball esports athlete and Ghana’s representative at International eSports Federation (IeSF) world championships in Bali.

Email: officialatunaye@gmail.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/atunayeGH

Instagram: https://instagram.com/atunayegh

YouTube: https://youtube.com/atunayegaming

Discord: https://discord.com/officialatunaye

Twitch: https://twitch.com/atunayegh

Daniel Iddi

Pubg Mobile player, Role: Fragger, Age: 22

Email: danieliddi11@gmail.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/pg.spama?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Emmanuel Manu-Gyamfi

I’m NELLmvp, in-game leader for Team Ghana at IESF World Championship.

Email: gyamfi_22@yahoo.com

Esports Athlete

Twitter: https://twitter.com/egmanv

Instagram: https://instagram.com/nell_pubg

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nell2584

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmanuel-manu-gyamfi-0b07a9155

Discord: https://discord.com/NELL#8487

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@nellmvp

Twitch: https://twitch.com/NELLmvpGaming

Wikipedia: https://liquipedia.net/pubgmobile/IESF/World_Esports_Championships/2022

Edmond Addo Mensah

28 years, PUBG mobile esports athlete/player, represented Ghana in the 14th World Esports Championship in Indonesia, Bali.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EShybwoy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eddieshybwoy.mensah

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edmond-mensah-9b0313229

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PRODUCTION:

Creator and host: Tom Leonard (USA) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomeleonard/

Producer: Reginald Nsowah (Ghana) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/reginald-nsowah-09352929/ 

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Play Games. Create Jobs. Change Lives.

This is a show about how to build an esports business from literally anywhere in the world where each week we showcase the journey of esports entrepreneurs and others to learn how they solved a particular problem that everyone will ultimately face.

In Season Two our theme is “Follow the Money”.

I am your host, Tom Leonard. I have a background in entertainment marketing. After working with many amazing esports entrepreneurs from emerging markets, they inspired me to create a show to tell their stories so that others can be motivated to create their own esports business. Gaming and esports can create jobs tackling the problem of global youth unemployment. Creating jobs from playing games. What could be better than that?

Thanks for listening to The Gamers Change Lives Podcast!