Accra, Dec. 2, GNA - The 2010 edition of the Springboard Road show, was launched on Wednesday with a call on Ghanaians not to leave their destinies in the hands of politicians.

Dr Joyce Aryee, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Chamber of Mines, who made the call said, "even though political leadership is necessary for national development, we as a people cannot leave our destinies in the hands of less than 5,000 politicians to make life better for all of us."

The Springboard Road Show, organised by Legacy and Legacy, a Ghanaian human capital development firm, is a personal development conference aimed at equipping participants in areas like planning, investment, entrepreneurship, career enhancement and relationships.

It begun in January, 2007 with 600 participants in Accra alone; it then moved to six cities in

2008 and 10 cities in 2009. The 40-day road show, slated for January 5 to February 13, 2010, is on the theme:

"Empowering Ghana: one person at a time" and would travel 15 cities across the country,

beginning from Wa in the Upper West Region. Dr Joyce Aryee noted that Ghana was at a cross road, ready to cross over from the days of

over dependence on political leadership to self dependence for the necessary change in the living

standards of people. "While we respect the politicians, we must understand that it is the people who can bring the

change for the better through our individual and collective efforts outside of politics," she said. She said the greatest asset of Ghana was its people, adding that Ghanaians overseas had

proven that they had what it takes to make better lives by themselves but the tendency to depend

on politicians at home had denied the masses of better lives.

Dr Aryee said leadership was key to change for the better, but leadership, in this context,

went beyond political leadership to individual Ghanaians. "Our politicians are too few to succeed in bringing the needed change - we must take the

mantle up of leadership and take advantage of the vast opportunities in our generation to make

the change we desire for ourselves," she said. She noted that the opportunities that existed for the current generation by way of the

abundance of easily accessible knowledge on the internet, made it easy for people to go on the

journey of self development outside of formal education. "Springboard, for instance, is one of the platforms on which people can learn how to develop

themselves and create networks that would help nurture their dreams into great achievement

without depending on politicians and on the state," she said. Mrs Comfort Ocran, Chief Executive Officer of Legacy and Legacy said Springboard 2010

was the fourth consecutive edition for all the 10 regional capitals and five specially selected cities

- Akosombo, Tarkwa, Tema, Aflao and Kyebi. "We are happy to announce that after neglecting Wa in the previous three editions, next year's

road show will begin from Wa on January 5, 2009," she said. She said so far Springboard had impacted the lives of over 15,000 young Ghanaians between

the ages of 25 and 40, adding that next year's road show was expected to benefit at least 12,000

more people. "We intend to travel with 20 speakers and 20 volunteers including career counsellors and

experts in human resources, financial planning, sexual reproductive health, industrial, social and

clinical psychology to help counsel participants about career choices and other peculiar needs,"

she said. Mrs Ocran said there would be scholarships available for needy but brilliant students in

deprived areas, particularly in the Volta, Western and the three northern regions. She said generous individuals and corporate organisations had adopted particular cities to

sponsor needy persons in those cities to attend the conference and appealed to others to do

same. She also expressed gratitude to the lead sponsors - MTN, Databank, Merchant Bank, DDP,

Zenith Bank and Joy FM. Representative of each of the sponsors took turns to encourage Ghanaians not to despise

small beginnings but to take their destinies in their own hands and effect the change they desired.