CAREER CLASH: “You'll Come Back Begging For a Job” — Ameyaw Debrah recalls GhanaWeb Fallout

Ghanaian entertainment blogger and digital media entrepreneur, Ameyaw Debrah has revealed how tensions over his growing online platform led to his departure from GhanaWeb in 2012 and how a subsequent setback with Google AdSense left him frightened about his future.

In an interview with Kafui Dey, Mr. Debrah reflected on the period when his independent digital platform began attracting attention, creating what he described as a conflict of interest with GhanaWeb’s then-owner.

“Somewhere along the line, AmeyawDebrah.com came in, it was growing,” he recalled.

He explained that his growing platform eventually became a concern for his employer.

“And then it started becoming a problem for the owner of GhanaWeb because he saw it as conflict of interest,” Mr. Debrah said.

The situation eventually reached a point where he had to leave the organization and concentrate on his own venture.

Asked by Kafui Dey whether he was pushed out or chose to leave, the digital media entrepreneur replied: “Both. I mean, you have to jump.”

A warning he would not forget

The departure was accompanied by a message from GhanaWeb’s then-owner, whom Debrah identified as Robert Bellaart, a Dutch businessman.

Recalling the email during the interview, Mr. Debrah said the message contained a prediction about what would happen after he left the organization.

“When I leave GhanaWeb, I’ll come back a few months begging for a job. He won’t hire me. He wouldn’t even let me sweep the gutters in front of GhanaWeb,” he recalled.

The remark captured the uncertainty surrounding his decision to leave a salaried position and pursue his own platform.

But the warning was soon followed by a setback that made the transition even more difficult.

Google AdSense setback

Mr. Debrah revealed that just days after the email, Google contacted him to inform him that his account had violated its policies and that he was being removed from AdSense.

“I got scared,” he told Kafui Dey.

He explained that advertising through AdSense was, at the time, one of the most accessible ways he knew to earn revenue from an online platform.

“Here I am, I’ve left a salaried position to now doing on my own, and the easiest way I knew was now taken away from me,” he said.

The timing made the situation particularly difficult. Having left the security of regular employment, Mr. Debrah suddenly had to reconsider how he would sustain his independent media business.

The experience, however, forced him to rethink his approach to generating income online.

“That also now made me aware that I cannot rely on just AdSense,” he said.

Finding another way to make money

Rather than depend entirely on advertising revenue from Google, Mr. Debrah began developing other ways for businesses to support and engage with his platform.

He explained that he had to give potential advertisers reasons to invest in the platform and created different options through which they could work with him.

“And so I had to give reasons to people to advertise on the platform,” he said.

The strategy marked an important shift in how he approached digital publishing, moving beyond reliance on a single revenue source towards building direct relationships with advertisers.

He also reflected on how the digital media landscape has evolved since he started, with more publishers now competing for advertising revenue.

“Unfortunately, now there are so many, now I have to share the pie with everybody else,” he said.