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Winner of EU prize in Togo, is Mensah Agbenou Ghanaian?

By Lydia Abra Adzati
People & Places Winner of EU prize in Togo, is Mensah Agbenou Ghanaian?
MAY 22, 2023 LISTEN

The young media personality Yaou Mensah Agbenou has been making headlines since last week after winning a European Union (EU) award on May 9th in Togo. Having evolved in Ghana and especially with his first name which is Mensah, many say he is Ghanaian. Find below the journey of the young journalist.

Yaou Mensah Agbenou is a renowned Togolese journalist specializing in discussing current geopolitical, sports, economic, climate and social issues that affect the daily lives of Africans.

Asked why he has a Ghanaian name, Mensah says he believes his ancestors are of Ghanaian descent, but since the story is too difficult to understand, he accepts his current nationality and is also proud to be called Ghanaian by others.

"Actually, I don't care about my nationality. I'm grateful to any country that helps me grow in society. I'm just not ready to deny a country yet before I get another citizenship" Would you believe you if I told you that I am not Ewe, despite this surname? I am IFE, from Atakpame, we speak a similar language to Nigeria's Yoruba. And yet my father's name is Folly (a Ga name) from Ghana. it's interesting ! I am African," he added while smiling.

Mensah's Career
Mensah Agbenou, 28, is known for his commitment to performing his profession as a journalist in several languages. Among others, the young man is fluent in English, German, French, Ewe and Ashanti Twi. He also speaks moderately Russian and Turkish.

Mensah's love for journalism was inspired by one of his uncles called Edem, a radio broadcaster, who had returned from Germany in 2011 to create an association dedicated to helping young learners of German through courses, cultural activities, language competitions and above all a radio program, on Radio Excelsior in Togo, (a radio station partner of state-owned media of Germany, Deutsche Welle and France, RFI.

The uncle passed down his skills to him when Mensah was in high school. Having a vigorous passion for the language of Goethe and journalism, he was already at the age of 17 hosting the radio show in German and French on the radio Excelsior based in Togo. Mensah also made trips with his uncle for all the activities of the German-Togolese association.

After completing secondary school in Philosophy and Arts in 2014, he decided to pursue his dream to become an international journalist and moved to Ghana where he started the training at Express Media College in Accra, New Town.

After obtaining a diploma in Communication and Media Studies, Agbenou worked, with several Ghanaian media houses including Homebase TV in Accra as an intern before joining in 2017 the Islamic television at Adenta, Guidance TV (now Huda TV) where he worked as a reporter and video editor.

From Ghana to Europe
In April 2019, Yaou Mensah Agbenou arrived in Turkey following a contract signed with the famous Turkish company, Pegas which hired him as a host of sports and entertainment events at Swandor Hotels & Resorts based in Antalya, the most touristic city of the country located partially in Europe and Asia. Here, Mr Agbenou took the opportunity to learn new languages, especially Turkish and Russian.

At the same time, he was working remotely with African media and the renowned Togolese news portal Icilome.com as a reporter in English and French, while covering sports news in Turkey related to African nations, and other football tournaments across the world.

While in Turkey, Yaou Mensah founded his first company AfrikPage LTD ( afrikpage.com ) in 2021, a Pan-African newspaper headquartered in Accra, the capital city of Ghana.

Awards
The achievements of this young journalist known for his talents in different fields including literature, poetry and journalism will earn him several distinctions at his young ages.

Mensah also known by his stage name Poet Ishmael Agbenou, was a finalist of the 2018 edition of the EHALAKASA poetry competition co-organized by Germany's Goethe Institut Accra, before winning "Male Poet of the Year " from Wordplay Awards in Ghana in 2022.

He was honored during the celebration of Europe Day on May 9, 2023 in Lomé the capital of Togo.

The prize was given to the young journalist by the EU Ambassador in Togo, Mr Joaquín Tossa Vilallonga who said during the event the youngster was not only smart but also very fast.

Mensah had received this award after winning a series of competitions during which questions were asked on the partnership between the European organization and his country.

“I think I was really fast since the competition was like a Quiz, we should quickly give the right answer. I believe I won this prize thanks to my profession as a journalist, which leads me to be curious about topics such as the partnership between Europe and my country,” Mensah said.

"So I was one of the people who are curious about the impacts of this relationship between Europe and African countries."

Other information about Mensah

Full name: Yaou Mensah Agbenou
Nickname: Poet Ishmael Agbenou
Date of birth: September 15, 1994
Place of birth: Atakpamé (Togo)
Nationality: Togolese
Occupation: Journalist
Education: Express Media College, Accra Ghana.

Social media: @Mensah_Agbenou (Twitter)

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