The streets of Saltpond burst into life long before the first ceremonial procession begins.

Drums echo through the coastal town, women wrapped in brilliant kente and traditional cloth move gracefully through cheering crowds, and chiefs adorned in gold ornaments are carried high in ornate palanquins.

The scent of local delicacies drifts through the air as songs celebrating ancestry mingle with the rhythmic beat of fontomfrom drums. For one unforgettable weekend every August, Saltpond becomes a living stage where history is not simply remembered—it is performed.

Celebrated on the last Saturday of August, the Odambea Festival is the most important cultural event of the Nkusukum Traditional Area in Ghana’s Central Region.

Its name, derived from the Fante expression meaning “crossing over” or “migration,” commemorates the remarkable journey of the Nkusukum people from their ancestral homeland to their present settlement in Saltpond.

More than a historical anniversary, the festival honours the courage, resilience, and unity that enabled an entire community to establish a new home.

The highlight of Odambea is the dramatic re-enactment of the migration itself. Participants recreate scenes from the ancestors’ journey, bringing centuries-old stories vividly to life.

Traditional warriors, elders and youth take part in colourful processions, while chiefs hold durbars where customary greetings, cultural performances and royal pageantry reinforce the authority of traditional leadership.

Throughout the celebrations, drumming, dancing, storytelling and the firing of ceremonial muskets create an atmosphere filled with excitement and pride.

Beyond the spectacle, Odambea remains deeply meaningful to the people of Saltpond. Families separated by distance return home for reunions, disputes are settled, friendships renewed, and younger generations learn the history that textbooks alone cannot fully capture.

The festival strengthens community bonds while preserving customs that continue to define Nkusukum identity in a rapidly changing world. Spiritually, it is also a time to honour ancestors whose sacrifices laid the foundation for today’s community.

For visitors, Odambea offers far more than colourful photographs or lively entertainment. It provides a rare opportunity to witness a community telling its own story through ceremony, music and shared memory.

Anyone hoping to understand Ghana beyond its landmarks will find that a journey to Saltpond during Odambea is an unforgettable encounter with the enduring power of heritage.

On a Saturday morning in Accra, conversations over breakfast will carry more than casual small talk. They will revolve around entrepreneurship, leadership, financing and the decisions that shape careers.

Winning in Your Corporate and Business World – 3.0, taking place on Saturday, July 25, at the Accra Marriott Hotel, offers a refreshing twist on the traditional business seminar by blending practical learning with meaningful networking in one of Ghana’s leading hospitality venues.

A Platform for Growth and Connection

Now in its third edition, the summit has become part of a growing culture of professional development events in Ghana, where entrepreneurs, executives and emerging business leaders regularly gather to exchange ideas and sharpen their skills.

This year’s theme, “Fearless Financing in Business,” reflects an issue that resonates across the country’s expanding business landscape. Access to capital, financial confidence and sustainable growth remain priorities for start-ups, small businesses and established companies alike.

Rather than focusing solely on theory, the event promises tested business strategies delivered by experienced professionals. Interactive sessions and opportunities for one-on-one engagement with resource persons are designed to leave participants with practical knowledge they can apply long after the event ends.

More Than a Business Seminar

Visitors can expect an atmosphere that balances professionalism with Ghanaian warmth. The breakfast networking session encourages conversations that often prove just as valuable as the formal presentations, creating opportunities to meet entrepreneurs, corporate executives and business owners from different industries.

For international visitors, the summit offers a window into Ghana’s dynamic business community. It showcases a country where innovation, entrepreneurship and collaboration are becoming defining features of economic life.

For locals, it provides a chance to expand professional networks while gaining insights that support career advancement and business growth.

The formal dress code adds to the occasion, creating an environment where participants arrive prepared to make lasting impressions while exchanging ideas over a carefully prepared breakfast.

An Experience Worth Adding to Your Accra Itinerary

Whether you are building your first business, climbing the corporate ladder or simply curious about Ghana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, Winning in Your Corporate and Business World – 3.0 offers more than a morning of speeches.

It creates a space where knowledge meets opportunity, and where a single conversation could become the beginning of your next professional breakthrough.

At KNUST, an everyday water filter became a powerful symbol of work, memory, and the marks that shape human lives.

A clean white filter is designed to disappear. Hidden inside a water system, its success is measured by what it captures and what it keeps out of sight.

Yet Ghanaian artist Gideon Kobbla Hanyame asks a disarming question: what if the stains we try hardest to avoid are the very things that give an object—and perhaps a person—its meaning?

That quiet challenge sat at the centre of I call upon these persons here present to witness that…, an exhibition presented at the Sculpture Auditorium of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. Rather than treating cleanliness as an untouched ideal, Hanyame explored purity as something earned through contact, labour and change.

His starting point was the humble string-wound water filter. Bright white when new, it gradually darkens as it removes impurities. Instead of viewing that transformation as deterioration, Hanyame turned it into a metaphor for the invisible work carried out every day—by people, communities and even cultures that absorb pressure while creating something life-giving for others.

Craft Traditions Meet Contemporary Thought

The exhibition drew deeply from Ghana’s material traditions. Dyed filter yarns, flour sacks, stitched textiles and handcrafted mirror frames merged into works that resisted simple labels. They shifted between sculpture, painting and woven installation, reflecting the artist’s belief that identity is never fixed.

Equally significant was the collaborative process. Local dyers and artisans became part of the creative journey, reinforcing the idea that contemporary art does not exist apart from community knowledge but grows through it.

Visitors were encouraged to wander freely rather than follow a prescribed route. Every path produced a different conversation with the works, mirroring the unpredictable ways people accumulate memories, experiences and scars throughout life.

A Different Definition of Purity

At a time when polished perfection dominates social media and consumer culture, Hanyame offers a striking alternative. His exhibition argues that transformation is rarely spotless. Growth leaves marks. Service demands sacrifice. Objects—and people—carry evidence of every encounter.

In Ghana, where handmade traditions continue to evolve alongside contemporary artistic practice, that message feels especially timely. The exhibition reminds audiences that heritage is not preserved by remaining untouched. It survives by adapting, absorbing and changing with each generation.

Perhaps that is the exhibition’s most enduring idea: the marks we often hide may be the clearest proof that we have lived, worked and become something new.