Mr President, my name is Oscar Bimpong, and I’m a proud son of this Nation called Ghana. I know you are a listening President, and that is why I have the confidence to write this letter.
The fact is, I have advocated for a mindset change for the last 18 years in schools, religious organisations, and public and private sector institutions in Ghana. Many call me the Mindset Revolutionist of the 21st century.
I was so proud when, during your campaign, you touched on RESETTING Ghana. That means you were going to drive change that will steer Ghana to where it belongs on the world map. The fact is, I’m so happy you kept to your promise.
Therefore, resetting in my definition means bringing something to its original state. A typical example is the factory settings feature on a phone. A factory setting is the original software state of a smartphone when it leaves the factory. When you hit the factory settings feature on your phone, all your personal files, contacts, messages, and customised settings are permanently deleted. Relating this to governing the people of Ghana, it means you want to bring Ghana to a fresh start, where we can build the country in the direction where we want it to be. This is where President John Dramani Mahama wants to take Ghana, for us to build a new Nation that will be hinged on experiencing not only the Ghana we want, but the Africa we desire.
This is a very great initiative, but the RESET lacks one critical ingredient that would
make it a complete initiative, and that is: MINDSET RESET.
Reset and mindset have the word ‘set’ in it. The word set has various meanings, but to contextualise it, the word set defines how you’ve programmed something to operate. If I position a car in gear 1, it means the car is programmed to move at a slower speed, but if the gear is positioned at gear 6, then it means you are firing all cylinders to cause the car to operate at its utmost maximum speed. This is the true definition of programming.
Meaning, if a car can be programmed, then in the same vein, the mind of a person can be programmed; likewise, the mind of a nation. The question is, do Ghanaians have a mindset such as resilience, a positive and consistent attitude towards work, a drive for higher productivity, attention to detail, problem-solving skills, critical thinking, etc.? We do have a level of mindsets listed, but it is not in a higher dimension that can drive growth and productivity, leading to the success of a nation. This is why we should have a mindset revolution as part of the reset agenda of the President.
Using the car as a case study, it means some of us are programmed to operate at the speed of gear 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. However, if you ask me, on a scale of gear 1 to 6, I will give the nation operating at the level of gear 2. This means our president wants us to operate at gear 6, but the question is, are we programmed at the level? Meaning, we are operating below our potential as a nation. That is my personal opinion. This is why mindset change is critical to any reset.
Where does Ghana sit in all that I have said culturally as people? Are the people wired for a reset that will drive a new mindset that will bring change? Are we ready as a nation to move from our comfort zone to the uncomfortable zone to experience different results?
Every successful nation has a mindset development agenda as an integral part of its policies that has driven its success. The mindset of a nation will determine the level of success it can achieve. No Nation can succeed beyond the mindset of its people. How the people have set their minds to operate will surely reflect in achieving the goals of the Nation.
One of the campaign promises of our President, John Dramani Mahama, was RESETING Ghana to where it belongs for growth and productivity. One of the projects that is significantly aligned with his mantra of RESET is the BIG PUSH. The big push simply means a heavy investment in infrastructure, from roads to overhead bypasses and developmental strategic construction projects.
This is very good as it serves as a strategic tool for job creation and a strong foundation for the growth of a nation.
I have followed the Minister of Roads and Highways keenly on monitoring the road projects assigned to contractors, and the feedback is not fully aligned with the RESET agenda of the President. Sometimes the Minister gets to the site, and the contractors are not on site; some are scheduled behind time, and for some, the community complains that the contractors are never on site.
This is my point: you cannot RESET a nation without a MINDSET RESET.
For President John Dramani Mahama to succeed with his RESET agenda, MINDSET CHANGE must be at the forefront of this big push and anything else he wants to achieve.
A country cannot achieve anything substantial if the mindset of its people is culturally wired to the status quo.
If you ask me, I will say Ghana must have a whole MINISTRY FOR MINDSET CHANGE.
The mindset of some of the contractors defines the mindset of many Ghanaians and our leaders.
Therefore, a reset without a mindset reset means a project like a big push has a high potential to fail, and even if it succeeds, the after-project servicing will surely be a challenge because of our cultural orientation when it comes to maintenance. The fact is, we are a country that doesn’t have any iota of maintenance culture in us. Therefore, imagine all the roads under the big push are completed, I can bet that within a few years, the roads will come to a deplorable state just because of the lack of a maintenance culture. This is why you cannot ignore mindset when you are talking about a reset. Mindset change should be a national agenda to drive a new wave of thinking that drives a high-impact attitude, leading to higher productivity that creates a results-oriented culture in the country.
It is about time the country invests in the mindset of its citizens. If our attitude towards work does not change, then you can invest so much, but the return on investment will be low relative to the initial cost.
Countries like the UAE, China, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Rwanda, etc., and a host of others, succeeded with a strong emphasis on mindset change. Let’s use Singapore as a s case study. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, from 1965, cultivated a survival mindset among its citizens to overcome a lack of natural resources. They adopted a first-world mindset based on honesty, meritocracy and pragmatism and today, Singapore is a highly advanced country. We have natural resources in abundance, unlike Singapore, but we are still hinged on exporting raw materials with no value addition. This is about to change as the President has emphasised that our natural resources will have value addition by 2030. Great initiative, but this must be backed by a strong mindset, not only from leadership but from the people.
In my book, Mindset Revolution – Re-engineering your Mind from Prison to Purpose,
I stated that Africa is the only continent that has proven that having enough resources is not a means to wealth creation. How can the richest continent in terms of natural resources be inhabited by the poorest people on earth? This means God has endowed us with all the things we need to succeed, but we are still poor. If this is not attributed to the mindset that we carry, then what else can this be?
The mindset of the people in a nation will determine the level of success they can achieve. A weak mindset
will yield mediocre results, and a strong mindset will yield higher productivity.
Recently, Burkina Faso decided not to provide us with tomatoes, and we went begging. How can a country have such blessed soil that if I throw tomato seeds in my backyard, in a few days, tomatoes are growing? How can such a Nation not have an abundance of this commodity?
Just imagine that Israel and the UAE have turned the desert into an arable land. Can you imagine the mindset these countries carry? The word impossible is not in their DNA. They only see the word possible in the word impossible. That is how the nation is wired to operate, and that is to find solutions to problems that seem impossible to weak minds.
Put a Ghanaian in the same scenario where they are supposed to turn a desert into fertile soil, and I can bet the first response will be, ” This is not possible”. Why, because we’ve been programmed with a mindset that we easily succumb to challenges. The moment we see a problem, we walk away instead of finding a solution.
This means that you cannot win as a leader if the people you are going to war with have weak minds.
Mr President, it is about time mindset becomes an integral part of our national discourse from primary school to the universities, from the public to the private sector organisations and the nation as a whole. I remember when we were young, we read books like ” Courtesy for Boys and Girls ” that shaped our attitude and character. In this generation, our young people must read books like Mindset Revolution for Boys and Girls. Helping this generation to develop the right mindset is the greatest inheritance we can give them. I was having a conversation with a top executive of this nation, and I suggested that every school must have a curriculum on mindset, and every public agency and private institution in this country must have a DEPARTMENT OF MINDSET.
For example, the UAE has a Minister of Happiness and Well-being. Her role is to make sure she aligns government policies to promote social good, positivity, and a high quality of life. This simply means the minister is tasked to make sure the citizens have the right mindset needed for policies to be adhered to by driving a positive mindset, leading to a high quality of life among its citizens. Also, Albania recently appointed an AI-generated “non-human” minister defined as the minister of mindset programmed to eliminate corruption. Mindset is everything, as it is the strong foundation upon which anything GREAT can be built.
I can assure everyone reading this letter, including our leaders, that Ghana cannot get
to the pinnacle of its success if the mindset is not part of the national agenda.
In conclusion, Mr President, my team and I stand ready to partner with your government in developing and implementing a transformative national Mindset Revolution Programme for Ghana. We believe that beyond policies, infrastructure, and economic reforms, the true strength of a nation lies in the mindset of its people.
This initiative has the potential to inspire a new generation of disciplined, innovative, responsible, and purpose-driven citizens who will contribute meaningfully to national development and global competitiveness. Through intentional mindset transformation, Ghana can unlock the full potential of its human capital and position itself as a model for sustainable growth and leadership in Africa.
Mr President, history remembers leaders not only for the offices they held but also for the lasting impact they had on the lives of their people. You have a unique opportunity to leave a defining legacy — one where Ghana’s transformation becomes a global case study of how visionary leadership and a renewed national mindset can drive extraordinary progress against all odds.
We are fully committed to supporting this vision and would be honoured to work with your administration to make this national transformation agenda a reality.
My mantra is that it is possible if you only believe. Never start anything you don’t believe in. I’m writing this letter to the President because I know the impact our coaching and training sessions dubbed Mindset Revolution for Personal and Corporate Success have had on our dear Nation. The positive impact on schools, public agencies and private sector organisations must be replicated nationwide.
Let’s believe in ourselves and let’s work to get Ghana to where it belongs. The transformation journey of Ghana has started through a Mindset Revolution.
I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST, MR PRESIDENT
Written by Oscar Bimpong
CEO & Founder of Train2inspire Consultancy.
Email – info@train2inspire.com
Tel – +233 (0) 555803924.
