Meet The Former KNUST Student Who Quit Chemical Engineering To Become A Full-Time Writer

• Ebenezer Agbey Quist, is a Ghanaian author who successfully bagged 6As in WASSCE and gained admission to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
• He studied Chemical Engineering in school but realised that is not his dream field. He went on a quest to find what he loves doing and stumbled upon writing
• Quist has since written three books; Reformed Or Deformed, Cheers and Tears of After-School Life and his latest book, AGBƐWOE-3

Career pivots have become a very common phenomenon over the years. Many people are gradually getting inclined to venturing into careers that bring fulfillment and serve their purpose on earth rather than one that just pays the bills or meets family or societal expectations. The story of Ebenezer Agbey Quist is one of such.

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Ebenezer grew up having several career options thrown at him by family, well-wishers and even his teachers. It was, therefore, no surprise when he agreed to read Chemical Engineering at the university after excelling in WASSCE and bagging 6As. It was not a personal choice, but he was unsure of exactly what he wanted to be in future. Hence, he followed recommendations of those close to him that thought it was the best option for him.

He reported to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology very poised to take his programme of studies and make his family proud, but he soon came in touch with what he believed was the purpose of his life, and it was at that point that he realized engineering was not for him.

"I came to understand that Chemical Engineering wasn't for me in 2014 when I was in level 200. I have to give credit to Emmanuel Sekyi, my good friend, for that. He had a lot of transformational videos on his laptop. I'd take his device and watch over and over until I understood the concept of finding one's purpose in life and pursuing it with all of one's might. That's where the change happened. It was in that room I went on a spree to find my passion, and I found it. And I started pursuing it right then", Ebenezer told YEN.com.gh.

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The process of finding his passion was in two stages; finding what he was good at and knowing what to do with that ability. The transformational writer explained it as follows;

"You could be good at writing but decide to write novels about science fiction or do transformational writing. So it's an entire journey. After going through that, I found that I was good at writing, and I chose to do transformational writing and copywriting with that ability. That's what has brought me to the stage I am now as the Head of Human Interest Desk at YEN.com.gh."

Joining the writing committee in PENSA KNUST and becoming the author of 3 books

To grow as a writer, Ebenezer went on a journey to learn all there was to know about the industry. He first joined a campus news website team and became an editorial committee member in PENSA KNUST. He also got on some Magazine writing projects. Another major step he took up was starting a blog and website, eqayinspire.com.

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While in school, Ebenezer successfully published his first book, Reformed Or Deformed, and the years that followed saw him writing two more books, Cheers and Tears of After-School Life and AGBƐWOE-3. He shared with YEN.com.gh a summary of all his books:

"Reformed Or Deformed is a complete guide on living in tertiary school fruitfully and graduating without regrets. Cheers and Tears of After-School Life is a guide for young graduates on how to tackle life in the labour market after leaving school and, AGBƐWOE-3 is the latest, which is my real-life love story and a compilation of some interesting lessons from it."

For the driven young man, his hope for people who pick up any of his books to read is to be able to say they were not able to do something and his books helped them do it. That testimony is his greatest reward, according to him.

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Ebenezer also shared a few of the impacts he has been able to make through the books he has written. For example, he mentioned to YEN.com.gh that a young man was finally able to graduate from the university after reading one of his books. Another testimony was when a gentleman reached out to him two weeks after buying Cheers and Tears of After-School Life and informed him he successfully got admitted into a prestigious programme after applying what he had learnt from the book.

Aside from being a transformational writer, Ebenezer has an 8-5 job at YEN.com.gh. He admitted that building a personal brand as a full-time writer takes a lot of time, but he fully understands what he stands to gain from owning a brand; hence, he does his best to keep projecting it with the slightest opportunity he gets.

For Ebenezer, the journey has not been the smoothest, but he is still very committed to succeeding. One of his biggest challenges is ensuring he does not offend his family while building a successful brand.

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"I have a family that is quite conservative and it's hard when the people you love and the things you love are opposed to each other sometimes, so I'm always treading cautiously. That clash really kept me from continuing to push myself at some point but now they're beginning to understand my brand so it's much better.", he said.

For individuals who find themselves in fields, they feel are not for them, Ebenezer advises them to stop feeding energy to what they don't enjoy doing.

"I will advise them to leave. Listen to nobody. Nobody regrets doing what they love. Keep trying and trying until you're successful at switching to your desired path", Ebenezer said.

Ghanaian Lady Who Quit Her Teaching Job To Sell Pastries On The Street Shares Her Story

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh earlier reported that a hardworking Ghanaian lady named Evelyn Mensah was recently granted an interview where she opened up about resigning from her teaching job to become a street vendor.

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The video sighted by YEN.com.gh on the YouTube timeline of SVTV Africa had Evelyn recounting that she did not enjoy her job as a teacher and the salary was not the best; hence decided to start her own business.

Recounting her story, she shared that her performance in WASSCE was not the best, so she could not continue to the university. She, however, got advised to go to a vocational school, and she did. After graduating, she started selling pastries and other food items to support herself, but business was not booming. She then picked up a role as a pupil's teacher in a school.

Source: YEN.com.gh