The British Council Ghana supported two Ghanaian creatives for international fashion and literature opportunities in the United Kingdom in August 2026, while Ghana prepared to host the inaugural African Festival of Arts, Culture and Creatives from December 9 to 12, 2026. The arrangement put a foreign cultural institution and the UK Government at the center of who gets access, who gets visibility, and who gets to move through the gates of the global creative economy.
Who Gets Access
The beneficiaries were Awura Abena Agyeman, Co-founder and CEO of WEAR Ghana and Republic of Africa, and Emma Ofosua Donkor, writer, cultural curator and Founder of the All-African Women Poetry Festival. The British Council said the exchange opportunities reflected the strength, diversity and global potential of Ghana’s creative sector and its belief that international cultural exchange plays a vital role in supporting the growth and sustainability of Ghana’s creative economy. That’s the language of institutions that decide which artists get lifted onto international stages and which ones stay outside the frame.
The opportunities formed part of the British Council Ghana and the UK Government’s commitment to strengthening cultural relations between Ghana and the United Kingdom through investment in the creative economy, cultural exchange, market access and international collaboration. The delegates took part in programmes designed to create long-term partnerships, expand professional networks and showcase Ghana’s creative excellence on global platforms. The whole setup runs through official channels, with access packaged as opportunity and partnership, while the power to open doors remains concentrated at the top.
Before their departure, the delegates engaged in high-level meetings in Ghana, including courtesy visits to the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, and media engagements aimed at highlighting the significance of the opportunities and the growing influence of Ghana’s creative sector internationally. When they returned, they were expected to pay a courtesy call on the British High Commissioner to Ghana. The choreography is familiar: ministers, commissioners, and institutional handlers first; the artists move through the route laid out for them.
What the Institutions Call Growth
Through the British Council’s Creative Growth Programme, Awura Abena Agyeman took part in Africa Fashion Week London 2026, which ran from August 17 to 23, 2026. The event brought together selected fashion entrepreneurs from across Sub-Saharan Africa for industry networking, skills development, peer learning and market access opportunities. AFWL was described as the United Kingdom’s largest annual fashion event dedicated to African and African-inspired design. During the programme, Awura showcased her work to international buyers, media organisations, fashion influencers, investors and industry stakeholders. That’s the market speaking in its polished accent: buyers, investors, and stakeholders deciding what counts as value.
Awura Abena Agyeman is a fashion entrepreneur and creative industry leader whose brand, Republic of Africa, has become an influential platform for celebrating African identity, creating jobs and promoting home-grown talent. She is a Mandela Washington Fellow and multiple award nominee, has been recognised among Ghana’s Top 50 Young CEOs and has collaborated with institutions including Harvard Business School and New York University. Her path shows how creative labor gets routed through elite institutions, then returned as proof of success.
Emma Ofosua Donkor was selected for Momentum 2026, an international literature delegate programme that took place in Edinburgh during Scotland’s festival season. Anchored within the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Momentum brought together cultural leaders from around the world to develop lasting partnerships with Scotland’s literature sector and the wider international cultural community. The programme was designed to foster collaboration, strengthen professional networks and create opportunities for future partnerships between cultural institutions, festivals and creative practitioners across countries. Again, the structure is clear. Cultural exchange, yes. But on terms set by institutions with the power to select, convene, and certify.
Emma Ofosua Donkor is an acclaimed writer, cultural curator, performance poet and literacy advocate. She is the author of I Wish You Courage in the Night Season and Founder of the All-African Women Poetry Festival, a British Council and UNESCO-supported platform that amplifies the voices of women poets from across Africa and the diaspora. Through her work as Managing Editor of Hadithi Magazine and creative lead of Tuniq Africa, she has continued to champion cultural entrepreneurship, literary development and African storytelling.
The British Council said previous participants in similar programmes had secured international collaborations, funding opportunities, business partnerships, publishing relationships and expanded market access across the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond. It said the participation of Awura Abena Agyeman and Emma Ofosua Donkor reflected the strength, diversity and global potential of Ghana’s creative sector and created pathways for wider knowledge exchange, industry collaboration and institutional partnerships that benefited Ghana’s fashion, literature and cultural ecosystems. It also said this was the second time Ghanaian creatives had attended these events. The first, under the Momentum delegation in 2023, was represented by Dr Martin Egglewogbe, the creative director of Pa Gya Festival and president of the Writers Project of Ghana, while Edna Asherlina Darkwaa, the founder of Ometsey, a fashion brand in Ghana, attended the 2025 edition of Africa Fashion Week London.
Humanitarian Work, Personal Money
Nana Adwoa Tutuwaa, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Nhyiramma Foundation, was honoured as Global Humanitarian of the Year 2026 at the 5th Global Women Leadership Summit & Awards. The recognition was presented by broadcaster and women’s rights advocate Akumaa Mama Zimbi. Tutuwaa said, “What started as a passion project has grown into something I never imagined. I give God all the glory,” and later added, “It takes someone with a deep passion to continue doing this. I have always had a love for humanity, and when it comes to vulnerable people, I am selfless.”
Nhyiramma Foundation was established in 2014 and has carried out humanitarian work in deprived communities in Ghana’s Eastern Region. Its interventions include boreholes for communities with limited access to potable water, educational support for children, healthcare assistance and economic empowerment programmes for women. The foundation said it has paid school fees for children, provided microloans to 250 women engaged in petty trading, donated hospital items valued at approximately GH¢50,000 to Tetteh Quashie Memorial Hospital and supported less privileged mothers by paying hospital bills. It has also facilitated two major surgeries for children living with hydrocephalus.
Tutuwaa said approximately 85 per cent of the projects undertaken by Nhyiramma Foundation over the years have been funded from her personal resources, with proceeds from her businesses often channelled into charitable work. She said she has personally travelled to remote communities, sometimes renting vehicles to reach hard-to-access areas, to spend time with vulnerable families and understand their circumstances. That detail matters. The state and its institutions hand out recognition, but the actual work in deprived communities has been carried by personal money, rented transport, and direct contact with families left to navigate scarcity.
In 2025, the foundation launched the Widows and Single Mothers Association in Akuapem North to create a structured platform for vulnerable women to receive support, empowerment and opportunities to improve their livelihoods. The initiative has already provided seed capital to 20 women, with plans to expand across the Eastern Region and eventually to other parts of Ghana. The structure is small, local, and immediate. No grand speeches required.
Tutuwaa’s previous honours include Shero of the Year, 2019; Woman in Philanthropy Award, 2019; Best Humanitarian Award, 2020; Africa Peace Advocate Award, 2024; Triumph Change Maker Award, 2025; and Global Humanitarian of the Year, 2026. She said the latest honour was humbling because it reflected a journey that began without a grand institutional plan and started with a desire to help. She said the foundation now aims to build a more structured and sustainable organisation capable of reaching more vulnerable people and to move from interventions largely funded personally to partnerships with individuals, organisations, corporations and other stakeholders. The language of sustainability hangs there, but the facts stay blunt: the burden has fallen on one person’s resources while institutions circle around the work after the fact.