Emmanuel Nyame was born and raised in Ghana, in a home of strict parental care and close supervision. It taught him early that the things he wanted would not come to him. He would have to go and build them.
Emmanuel’s story.
From a student loan program in Accra to the United Nations and Austin: a life spent getting people to act, together.
Chapter one · Accra
No one will achieve success for me. I have to figure it out some way.
He figured it out first at Accra Academy. Students around him were struggling with money, so through the Junior Achievement Company Program he started a soft loan program for students. There was no social media to spread the word. He reached more than 2,000 students one conversation at a time, and eased a financial crisis for all of them.
It was his first campaign, though he didn’t call it that yet. It showed him what he would spend the rest of his life doing: seeing a problem people had learned to live with, and getting a whole community to move on it together.
JA taught me how to be confident about speaking in public.
Chapter two · Building the room
Emmanuel was in his first year at the University of Ghana, studying Economics with Mathematics, when he saw how many young people around him had good business ideas and nowhere to take them. So in 2012, still a first-year student, he brought StartUp Cup, a competition and accelerator for early-stage businesses, to Ghana.
He led it for four years as Director, Ghana. In 2016 Ghana was chosen to host the very first Africa StartUp Cup, and as its Regional Director Emmanuel managed the competition across 13 African countries, bringing international experts to Accra to back founders from across the continent.
We are extremely proud to have been selected to host the first Africa StartUp Cup.
Chapter three · A seat at the table
In 2017 he joined +SocialGood, the United Nations Foundation’s global community of changemakers, as a Connector. Two years later he became a +SocialGood Advisor, in 2020 its Community Manager, and since 2024 he has been a global communications and engagement consultant at the United Nations Foundation. Along the way he found himself in rooms where the world’s biggest problems were being discussed, too often without the young people who would live with the answers.
He said so, plainly, and then did something about it. He co-founded Educom World and Social Good Ghana to put education and opportunity in young people’s hands. In July 2018 he was invited to host a panel at the UN High-Level Political Forum in New York, and that week he co-launched his book, Rise Above, at United Nations Headquarters, at an event where UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed spoke. Afterwards he interviewed the UN Youth Envoy, who encouraged young people to read it. Within the same week, Rise Above was a #1 Amazon bestseller.
Young people are always engaged just for the visuals and not to use our ideas in national planning and policies.
Recognition followed the work. In 2018 the Gates Foundation named him a Goalkeeper and brought him to Goalkeepers in Johannesburg, held in honour of Mandela 100, where he saw Tyler Perry, Jay-Z and Beyoncé for the first time. JA Europe and FERD put him on FERD’s List in 2019, and JA Worldwide nominated him for the Global Business Hall of Fame. He took the stage at the Social Good Summit in New York and Social Good Brazil in Rio, speaking in more than 20 countries. And as President of the JA Ghana Alumni Network from 2019 to 2024, he gave back to the program that gave him his start.
When the world shut down in 2020, Emmanuel teamed up with three others to launch a campaign for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, raising $7 million toward it. With his colleagues he made a video campaign that spread across social media, asking people everywhere to give. The fund went on to raise more than $200 million. He was also part of the team behind #EqualEverywhere.
I envision a world where solidarity is not seen as an option.
Chapter four · Austin
Then came a fresh start. In Austin, Texas, Emmanuel began again in 2024 with Twelvenets, a social impact company built on a simple promise: help good work get the attention it deserves.
Its first brand, Purple Jam, began with a simple concern. As conversations about the loneliness epidemic grew, Emmanuel asked how Austin could create spaces where people feel connected again. The answer was a small gathering built around music and conversation, hosted with Twelvenets’ longtime partner Cuba512, the Cuban café on West Gate Boulevard. The very first night sold out. It told him people were looking for places to meet, share experiences and belong.
Purple Jam kept going every month, adding live music, comedy and conversations that spark creativity and connection. Today it is a fully fledged media house: stories from across the city, original shows, Purple Jam TV, Purple Jam Radio, and a place at Cuba512 to work, meet and enjoy live performances.
Purple Jam is one of a growing family of Twelvenets brands. The Orbit Mag brings the day’s news in five minutes, checked across several outlets. Amber District is a market where Austin’s cultures come together to share food, fashion, art and music. Fly Jetloop lets travellers compare flights and see the carbon footprint of every fare. And Ads by Dawn helps businesses advertise across the whole family for one flat price.
He has served on the SXSW Advisory Board since 2016. The tools are new, but the work is the one he started at Accra Academy: find what a community needs, and bring people together to do it.
“I build campaigns that solve social issues and bring communities closer together.”
