"I was only praying for the lockdown to be extended and extended and extended. I was happy anytime they called a state of the nation address. My heart would be beeping because I don't know what else is coming."In this deeply transformative episode of Konnected Minds, we sit down with a young entrepreneur who turned the chaos of COVID-19 into a multimillion cedi empire before turning 20, to unpack the raw, unfiltered truth about seizing opportunity in crisis, why hunger and the right people at the right time matter more than your circumstances, and why everything you've been taught about needing perfect conditions, capital, or connections to build wealth is keeping you stuck while others your age are building generational wealth from the exact same position you're in right now.We dive into the brutal reality of how he started selling nose masks during the COVID lockdown, why he borrowed money from friends to buy inventory when nobody knew what was coming, and why when the lockdown prevented him from exporting the masks he was terrified he would lose everything. We unpack the moment the nose mask price surged from single digits to 90 cedis per piece, why he was praying every day for the lockdown to be extended because he didn't have school fees, and why that one decision to sell at 90 cedis turned 80,000 cedis into almost 900,000 cedis when he pivoted to gun thermometers at exactly the right time. We break down why he bought 1,000 pieces of gun thermometers for 130 cedis each through a contact at the Ivorian border before prices exploded to 1,500 cedis per unit, why the margins were crazy, and why this became the breakthrough that changed everything.But we also confront the uncomfortable question of what separates him from the millions of young people who were hungrier but never made it. We discuss why hunger alone is not enough, why meeting the right people at the right time is one of the most pivotal reasons for his success, and why some people are not leaders but supporters who have the managerial acumen to help you achieve your dream even though they themselves cannot be the bridge. We unpack why these people saw his vision and decided to help him, why they knew later on he could become a bridge for them to cross to wherever they wanted to go, and why now a lot of them own things they perhaps wouldn't have been able to achieve without God using him as a vessel.We get into the strategy of how he scaled from selling on a bicycle to becoming a nationwide supplier of medical equipment, why he approached tutors and association leaders to get his products included in the school prospectus and sold at registration tables, and why parents no matter how poor they are will always buy essential items like thermometers and stethoscopes for their children in medical school because it makes them feel proud. We break down why Kintampo as the center of Ghana became the key location, why all the cars from Burkina, Togo, Wa, and the north stop there for rest, and why he negotiated with a breakfast seller to store his inventory because he didn't have a shop yet. We discuss why he plunged all his money into buying inventory stock to the point his room was full of goods, why he was still riding his bicycle doing deliveries even after making over a million cedis, and why his childhood taught him to live a very simple life.We also tackle the pivotal moment when he had to choose between buying a shop or buying a van for deliveries, why he surveyed four of his madams who gave him 11 reasons why the shop was better including the risk of travel and accidents, and why this decision set the foundation for everything that came next. We unpack why at 17 and 18 years old he was reading books like Made in America by Sam Walton of Walmart, why he was following mentors like Vusi, Dan Lok, and others from a distance, and why hunger was one of the most influential and pivotal reasons driving him. We discuss the painful truth that if his father were alive there are a lot of things he wouldn't have done and his life would have been very comfortable, but why that loss became the fuel that pushed him to build an empire.We close with the most important mindset shift every young person must make: stop waiting for perfect conditions, stop blaming your circumstances, and start recognizing that the right people and the right opportunities are already around you if you are hungry enough to see them. We discuss why he didn't go into health because he wanted to but because circumstances led him there, why he still has his UMAT admission letter because he wanted to be a telecom engineer, and why passion for healthcare came later after he saw the suffering and decided to expand. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━🎙️ ABOUT THE HOSTDerrick Abaitey is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, podcast host, and personal development advocate.IG: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey