Richard Abbey Jnr has built his career around an idea that appears simple but carries profound meaning: people deserve to be celebrated while they are alive, while they are building, struggling, taking risks and creating the impact that may eventually define their legacy. It is this philosophy that gave birth to 40 Under 40, a recognition platform that has grown from a Ghanaian initiative into an international network connecting ambitious young leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals across Africa and beyond. But behind the awards, ceremonies and global expansion is the story of a man whose own journey has been shaped by hardship, resilience, faith, entrepreneurship and an enduring determination to create opportunities for others.
Speaking on the Masterminds Podcast hosted by Richie Mensah, Abbey, the Chief Executive Officer of Exodus Communications Limited and founder of 40 Under 40, reflected on the experiences that shaped his worldview, his decision to build in business rather than politics, the leadership challenges confronting Africa and his vision for creating platforms that move beyond recognition into investment, collaboration and enterprise development. Abbey, now 40 himself and therefore humorously no longer eligible for his own 40 Under 40 platform, began his journey into awards and recognition long before the now widely known 40 Under 40 brand.
In 2014, he launched the Ghana Oil and Gas Awards, creating a platform that brought players from across the upstream and downstream sectors together to recognise excellence within the industry.
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Three years later, in 2017, another conversation planted the seed for what would become 40 Under 40. At a time when there were already various platforms recognising people under 30 or 35, Abbey began asking why society waited until people were older or more established before celebrating their achievements. The idea was not simply to create another awards ceremony. It was about changing the culture of recognition. Abbey believes society often celebrates people after they have become successful but fails to encourage them when they are still struggling to build. People are frequently applauded once the results become visible, he argues, while the difficult years of uncertainty, rejection, sacrifice and experimentation receive little attention. That philosophy became the foundation of 40 Under 40.
What started in Ghana has since expanded into the United Kingdom, South Africa, an Africa edition covering numerous countries and a global platform, while Abbey is also looking towards the United States, with plans for a major edition in Chicago by 2027. Yet his ambition is larger than ceremonies. He wants 40 Under 40 to become an ecosystem where recognition leads to relationships, relationships lead to collaboration and collaboration creates investment opportunities. Rather than simply gathering successful young people once a year to receive plaques, he sees the platform as a community of entrepreneurs and professionals who can support one another and collectively build larger businesses. One of the ideas he has considered is an Investor 40 Under 40 initiative, through which members could pool part of their disposable income to invest in promising businesses within the community. For Abbey, this is how recognition becomes meaningful. An award should not merely tell an entrepreneur that he or she is doing well; it should open doors to capital, mentorship, partnerships, markets and relationships that can accelerate growth.
His frustration is that Africa has many talented entrepreneurs but often lacks the institutional systems required to help them scale. He points to challenges such as access to finance, bureaucracy, regulatory delays and limited institutional support for young businesses. He believes governments should become more deliberate about identifying entrepreneurs with scalable businesses and supporting them with professional business analysis, mentorship and access to the right networks. Rather than simply distributing funds, he argues that governments should identify businesses with the potential to become global companies and deliberately nurture them. He also questions Africa’s tendency to judge the success of events and initiatives by the presence of political officeholders. In his view, an event should not be considered unsuccessful simply because a minister or senior government official was unable to attend. The larger question should be what value the platform creates for the people and sectors it serves.
His experience organising 40 Under 40 Africa reinforced this conviction. When the platform brought entrepreneurs and professionals from across the continent to Ghana, Abbey saw an opportunity not only to recognise young leaders but also to promote Ghana as a destination for business, tourism and investment. He believes such platforms can contribute to national development when governments and private-sector institutions understand their wider economic value. His international expansion has also tested the limits of his resilience. The United Kingdom presented a completely different operating environment. Abbey chose a prestigious Mayfair location for the event and had to negotiate aggressively around attendance commitments, venue arrangements and payment terms. Rather than allowing the scale of the financial demands to derail the project, he negotiated his way through the challenges.
South Africa was even more demanding. A franchise partner had promised to raise significant sponsorship for the event but eventually disappeared for weeks, leaving Abbey to confront the financial realities largely on his own. Yet he refused to cancel. With international nominees and guests already involved, he found ways to keep the event moving, using ticket revenue and available resources to settle immediate obligations. The pressure became so intense that it affected his health, but the event eventually went ahead. For Abbey, those experiences reinforced a lesson he had learnt much earlier in life: entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted.
His resilience did not begin with international events. It was forged during childhood. Abbey’s parents separated when he was very young, and his early years were marked by financial hardship, changes in living arrangements and interruptions to his education. He recalls periods when school fees were difficult to pay and moments when basic necessities were beyond reach. Yet he was determined to continue. He sold different items and took on manual jobs to survive, selling aluminium, rubber bags, kerosene and other products, while also engaging in various forms of labour and craftsmanship. At certain points, he slept on a veranda and studied under difficult conditions when electricity was unavailable. There were moments when the situation could easily have crushed his confidence. Instead, those experiences taught him adaptability. He learnt to find solutions, negotiate, work with whatever resources were available and keep moving.
Even during those difficult years, he possessed an unusual interest in leadership. Despite being financially disadvantaged and, by his own account, not regarded as one of the strongest students academically at certain stages, he decided to contest for a leadership position at school. His shoes and clothes were not what he wanted them to be, but his ambition was bigger than his circumstances. That desire to lead has remained with him. Interestingly, however, Abbey has chosen not to pursue political office. Although some of his contemporaries eventually moved into government, diplomacy and politics, he deliberately chose entrepreneurship. He believes business offers him a platform through which he can create jobs, build institutions and maintain relationships without being constrained by the temporary nature of political power.
For Abbey, political office comes with a limited tenure, while networks and relationships can endure for decades. He therefore encourages people not to destroy relationships because of political differences. His advice is simple: maintain your network. He believes political loyalty can sometimes prevent people from acknowledging good ideas or policies simply because they originate from the opposing side. For him, national development must rise above partisan interests. This perspective feeds directly into his concerns about leadership in Africa. Abbey believes the continent’s leadership challenge goes beyond political parties. It is fundamentally about competence, preparation, accountability and character.
He argues that people who assume political leadership should be exposed to meaningful training and professional development. Governments, he says, should not spend the entire tenure of elected leaders simply waiting for the next election. The larger issue, in his view, is that democracy can sometimes become a popularity contest rather than a contest of competence. He does not advocate abandoning democracy. Instead, he believes democratic systems must be strengthened by building leaders who understand governance and are equipped to make informed decisions. He also recognises that political systems require checks and balances. A government that remains in power indefinitely can become increasingly vulnerable to abuse, while opposition provides an avenue for accountability and eventual change. His concern is the excessive hunger for political power and the greed that can accompany it. Africa, he argues, must develop a culture in which leadership is viewed as a responsibility rather than an opportunity for personal enrichment.
That responsibility should also extend to ordinary citizens. Abbey believes African countries can learn significantly from systems that work elsewhere, particularly when it comes to technology, traffic management, business processes, public administration and enforcement. He questions why people travel abroad, observe efficient systems and then return home without implementing the lessons they have seen. Traffic management, for example, could become an opportunity to combine technology, discipline and government revenue generation. Automated cameras, vehicle identification, digital insurance verification and electronic payment systems could help reduce unnecessary interactions between motorists and enforcement officers while ensuring that traffic violations carry predictable consequences.
For Abbey, the objective should not simply be punishment. It should be the creation of systems that encourage discipline while generating legitimate revenue for development. He believes governments should become more intentional about finding ways to increase revenue beyond relying heavily on corporate taxation. His argument is ultimately about systems. When systems work, people adapt to them. When systems are weak, indiscipline becomes normal. Technology, therefore, should not be introduced simply because it is fashionable. It should be deployed to solve real problems, improve accountability and make public administration more efficient.
Abbey’s philosophy on personal success is equally direct. Addressing young people struggling to find their way, he rejects the idea that failure represents the opposite of success. Failure, he argues, is part of the journey. Every unsuccessful attempt provides information about what does not work. The mistake is not failing; the mistake is deciding that failure is final. His message is built around perseverance and ownership. He urges young people to develop what he describes as an ownership mentality. Whether an individual is an entrepreneur or an employee, he believes people should take responsibility for their work and their outcomes rather than constantly blaming circumstances, employers, colleagues or inadequate resources.
“Nobody owes you a dime,” is one of the principles he wants young people to understand. For Abbey, this does not mean people should refuse support or community. Rather, it means individuals should not build their entire future around the expectation that someone else will rescue them. Individuals must take responsibility for building the capacity and resilience required to create the future they want. That philosophy mirrors his own experience. From selling goods and performing manual jobs as a young person to negotiating major international events, Abbey’s life has been a continuous exercise in adapting to circumstances without surrendering his ambitions.
He credits faith as an important part of that journey. There were moments in his childhood when prayer was one of the few resources available to him. Yet faith, for Abbey, has never meant waiting passively for miracles. He believes God can bless the work, but the individual must first be willing to work. That combination of faith and action has become central to his philosophy. He also believes people must constantly challenge themselves. Comfort, in his view, can become dangerous when it eliminates the appetite for growth. Entrepreneurs must be willing to take calculated risks, negotiate difficult situations and pursue opportunities beyond familiar environments.
His international journey demonstrates that philosophy. The United Kingdom, South Africa and the planned United States expansion have all required him to operate outside his comfort zone. Each market has brought different rules, expectations and challenges, but each has also strengthened his belief that African entrepreneurs should think globally. He wants Africans to build businesses that can operate beyond their immediate communities and national borders. The ambition should not always be to own a small shop or survive in a local market. African entrepreneurs, he believes, should aspire to build companies capable of competing internationally.
That ambition is also reflected in his vision for 40 Under 40. The future of the platform, he says, should not be defined by the number of plaques distributed or the glamour of the awards ceremony. Its real success should be measured by what happens after the celebration. Did people meet investors? Did businesses form partnerships? Did entrepreneurs enter new markets? Did companies grow? Did the recognition create opportunities? Those are the outcomes that matter to Abbey.
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His insistence on credibility is therefore central to the platform. He has resisted attempts to compromise the integrity of the awards by accepting money or sponsorship from people seeking recognition. His position is that an award should never be something a person can simply purchase. He has also expressed interest in pursuing ISO certification for the platform, reflecting his desire to make the selection and recognition process more structured, transparent and procedural. For a man who has spent years building a brand around recognising excellence, credibility is the currency he cannot afford to lose.
Ultimately, Richard Abbey Jnr’s story is not simply about 40 Under 40. It is about a boy who grew up amid uncertainty and learnt early that survival requires creativity; a young man who dared to pursue leadership despite lacking the material advantages associated with it; an entrepreneur who chose business over politics; and a builder who has taken a Ghanaian idea into international markets. It is also a story about the kind of Africa he believes is possible: an Africa where entrepreneurs are supported before they become giants, where leadership is measured by competence and impact, where technology is used to improve systems, where political differences do not destroy relationships, and where excellence is recognised while people are still alive and building.
His final message to young people is perhaps the clearest expression of his philosophy: take responsibility, keep learning and do not allow failure to convince you that your journey is over. Time, he reminds them, is limited. Work as though there is no tomorrow, but live as though tomorrow will come. For Richard Abbey Jnr, the greatest recognition is therefore not the plaque, the red carpet or the applause. It is the evidence that a person’s courage, ideas and persistence have created something that continues to open doors for others. And that may ultimately be the most enduring legacy of 40 Under 40: not simply celebrating those who are succeeding, but helping more people become the success stories that Africa will one day need to celebrate.
