Teni Agana’s journey is one of grit, grace, and groundbreaking transformation. Once a head porter (popularly known as kayayoo) in Kumasi during her school vacations, today she stands as the Managing Director of the Lozeele Initiative, a growing force for change in the Upper East Region of Ghana.
Born and raised in the Upper East Region, Agana’s early years were marked by economic hardship. To support herself through senior high school at Bolga Girls SHS, she worked as a porter during vacations, enduring the harsh realities of street life to pay her fees.
After graduating in 2012, she planned to attend a teacher training college, hoping for a stipend to continue her education. But life had other plans.
“I worked for a year to save for college. But just a week before I was to buy provisions, my mother was knocked down by a car. Within 30 minutes, all the money I saved was gone,” she recalled.
It was in the hospital, while donating blood to a stranger’s child, that her life changed. The grateful mother introduced her to CAMFED, a pan-African organization supporting girls’ education. Through CAMFED, Agana learned about Ashesi University, a prestigious institution she had never heard of. She applied and was offered a full scholarship.
“Before Ashesi, the first time I touched a computer was when they gave me my own laptop. It opened my eyes. That’s when I knew I had to come back home and do something,” she said.
The Birth of the Loozeele Initiative
Agana’s final year thesis at Ashesi became the blueprint for the Loozeele Initiative, launched in 2018. The initiative was built on a simple but powerful idea: create opportunities in northern Ghana so that young people, especially girls, don’t have to migrate to the south for survival.
“I wanted to help girls like me — former kayayoo — return home and earn a living. We started with baking, fabric weaving, smoke weaving, and sewing simple, wearable designs. Then I realized some of them had children but no access to classrooms. So, we set out to change that too.”
Loozeele Excellence Academy
That realization led to the creation of the Lozeele Excellence Academy, initially designed for the children of the girls she worked with. But demand quickly grew beyond expectations. Today, the academy serves over 500 children and is currently not accepting new admissions due to capacity limits.
“Providing safe learning spaces for these children is a way of freeing their mothers to work, while also breaking the cycle of poverty,” Agana noted.
Tech and STEM for the Future
Driven by her own late introduction to technology, Agana launched the Lozeele Resource Center, which now houses over 40 computers, tablets, and a developing robotics lab. The center connects students and educators to critical STEM and EdTech resources, and it runs a mobile lab that reaches over 24 schools in and around Bolgatanga, including government institutions like Zalugu.
“For many local students, it’s their first time touching a computer. We make sure schools come here on scheduled days. We even take the technology to schools that can’t reach us.”
Agana also organizes teacher training in digital literacy, tools like AI, and basic ICT to enhance classroom delivery.
“If we keep using traditional teaching methods alone, our children will fall behind. We want teachers to be innovative and efficient.”
Creating Pathways for Youth
Beyond children, the initiative is expanding support for young people who have completed secondary school but lack opportunities for higher education or jobs.
“There are brilliant students here — some had aggregate 11 — but have been home for two years due to lack of funds. I didn’t even know Ashesi existed until someone told me. So now, I want to make sure others don’t miss out just because they don’t know where to look.”
The Lozeele Initiative helps these young people with applications, access to the internet, and even direct referrals to institutions like Ashesi, the University of Ghana, or scholarship bodies like CAMFED.
“We don’t just talk. I like action. These youth come in, spend two hours daily working on applications. If they need a connection, I make the call. We walk with them through the whole process.”
Global Support, Local Impact
Recently, the Lozeele Initiative benefited from the MasterCard EdTech Fellowship, receiving $60,000 in funding to support its EdTech program. It also hosted a reciprocal exchange program under the Mandela Washington Fellowship, training teachers in innovative methods and digital tools.
“We’ve had teachers from across the Upper East come for training. We’re building a pipeline — from children to teachers to youth — that equips the region for the future.”
A Full Circle of Empowerment
From the streets of Kumasi to Ashesi’s academic halls, from donating blood to receiving a life-changing scholarship, Teni Agana’s life is a living testament to resilience and purpose. What started as a survival story has evolved into a movement that is transforming communities, one girl, one child, and one computer at a time.
“I used to say, when I make it, I won’t help anyone because nobody helped me. Ashesi changed that. CAMFED changed that. Today, I help because someone once helped me.”
And through the Loozeele Initiative, Teni Agana is helping many — not just to survive, but to rise.
Source: A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
