The ovation began before Sir Sam Jonah reached the podium. At the 10th edition of the EMY Africa Awards on Saturday night, the corporate statesman — long considered one of Ghana’s most influential figures in business and governance — was named Ultimate Man of the Year, the ceremony’s highest honour. His win set the tone for an evening that unfolded as both a celebration of individual achievement and a quiet reflection on leadership in contemporary Africa.
Held at the Accra International Conference Centre, the event drew a cross-section of the continent’s public figures: entrepreneurs, musicians, athletes, civic leaders and media personalities. The organisers framed this year’s theme, Celebrating the Legacy, as a nod to the past decade of honourees and a reminder that the awards increasingly serve as an annual snapshot of African influence.
Sir Jonah, whose career spans the transformation of Ashanti Goldfields into a global mining force and whose voice continues to resonate in public policy debates, accepted the award with characteristic restraint. He thanked the miners with whom he began his professional life, the colleagues who shaped his path and the younger leaders he urged to “treat excellence as a daily discipline, not a destination.” The room rose for him twice.
Yet the night’s story was not his alone.
A parade of winners passed across the stage, each bringing a different slice of the continent’s aspirations. Businessman Dr Osei Kwame Despite received one of the evening’s most warmly applauded honours, reflecting his status as a figure who has built — and sustained — sprawling commercial ventures through unpredictable economic cycles. He spoke briefly about perseverance and the responsibility of wealth in a country where opportunity is unevenly distributed.
From the world of sports, former France and Ghana football star Marcel Desailly was recognised for his work in youth development and cross-cultural philanthropy. His appearance drew another surge of applause from an audience that remembered not only his accomplished career but his effort to root part of his legacy in Ghana.
The creative categories produced their own moments of excitement. Musician King Promise accepted an award that signalled the industry’s coming-of-age on the continental stage; he used his time onstage to highlight how Ghanaian pop music is now circulating through global streaming playlists with a consistency that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. In the media category, Richard Nii Armah Quaye’s honour underscored the widening reach and influence of homegrown broadcasters and digital storytellers.
The ceremony, now in its tenth year, has grown beyond its early reputation as a men’s achievement showpiece. While many of the categories still focus on male leadership, the organisers have added awards that recognise women, innovators and younger achievers whose influence reflects the changing texture of African public life. That expansion was visible throughout the evening in tributes that blended entrepreneurship with civic responsibility, entertainment with social impact.
By the time the final lights rose, the crowd — a mix of celebrities, business magnates and policymakers — lingered in the aisles comparing notes on the winners. If the EMY Africa Awards began as an attempt to shine a light on exceptional men, the 2025 edition felt more like a survey of the ambitions animating Ghana and parts of the continent today: the drive to build, to create, to influence and, as the theme kept insisting, to leave a legacy.
And in that sense, Sir Sam Jonah’s closing bow felt apt. His career has outlasted political cycles and economic swings, and his presence at the centre of the night gave shape to the ceremony’s underlying message — that achievement earns applause, but stewardship defines the story.
