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The GrowlersWorld Interviews are an ongoing quest, bringing you closer to successful and creative people in all walks of life.

Rawle Austin presents...

A conversation with Andrew Danquah - Blasting a Path to Success!

Andrew Danquah is a rising star of entrepreneurship who has steadily worked himself up to a position of great experience and is ready for new opportunities. I spoke to him to get the low down on his secret blend of achievement.

Rawle Austin: Can you introduce yourself to GrowlersWorld readers?

Andrew Danquah: I am a Civil Engineer by qualification and also a paint inspector for coatings applications. I am a friend of the Growler, we went to University together.

Well known for his growling tummy and huge appetite! All food went to his very large feet!

RA: You currently have a sand blasting business, how did this come about?

AD: Firstly, we like to call this abrasive blast cleaning since in some instances sand is a banned substance. However most people recognise the process as sand or shot blasting. When I qualified as an engineer it was in the middle of the recession and I could not get on a graduate program.

Keen to get on in the world of work I got a job with a blast cleaning company and learnt the tricks of the trade.

The company I worked for was a family run concern and had its own politics which after a while got difficult to work with so I left on good terms and started my own company, carrying out abrasive blast cleaning and specialist coatings (otherwise known as industrial painting).

RA: How would you describe the abrasive blast cleaning process and what does it involve?

AD: Abrasive blast cleaning involves firing particles of media by means of compressed air to a surface to prepare it for different applications.

For brick it would generally be to clean it up, for concrete it could be to provide a key prior to other materials being applied.

For timber it would be to expose the grain to show, for steel it would be to prepare the surface for painting.

The particles used are wide and varied depending on the application.

For example, aircraft are blast cleaned with plastic pellets, or a blast media called sponge jet which is abrasive material wrapped in a sponge material, steel work is blast cleaned with steel grit or copper slag abrasive.

Now I'm getting boring so I will stop here as I could go on for a while.

RA: What has been your most memorable and usual experience in the job to date and what made it stand out?

AD: Working on a ship in dry dock through the night. We were working in tanks and there were very heavy scaly deposits which we were struggling to remove by blasting.

However, banging these large deposits was having a good effect so we wheeled out sledge hammers and started whacking the scale.

Large sheets of it just fell and after about an hours pounding we were ready to commence blast cleaning again. Before starting we decided to go to the canteen for a drink and a little rest.

After about 10 mins in the canteen a man appeared and he said he was the captain of the ship and “I don’t care what else you do to the ship but your not knocking F*** Hell out of her anymore”!

Naturally we were not to know the captain and the ship's entire crew were all asleep on board!

Still don’t know to this day how they put up with the blast operation which can be as high as 120 decibels!

RA: What advice would you give to someone keen to enter this business?

AD: It's very dirty and dusty, be careful, looks easy but can be very dangerous - good luck!

RA: You’re also an aspiring entrepreneur, what is the appeal of business to you?

AD: Being in control of my own destiny, new challenges everyday, problem solving, sometimes I wonder why because it can be very stressful.

Overall, from where I have come from to where I am, I believe I could have done better but it is what it is and I am improving all the time. And I have time to spend with my wife and my boys which many people do not.

RA: You often travel for overseas business opportunities, can you talk about where you’ve been to date and where you’d like to go in the future?

AD: Yes, I do travel looking at opportunities generally in my field of work but also I look at all opportunities.

I have been to several places in USA, Australia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, France and several African countries notably Ghana, South Africa and Angola.

I would go where the opportunities are so long as it is safe to do so.

RA: Who are your top three favourite business people and why?

AD: That’s a difficult question to answer, there are so many people and I wouldn’t like to categorise a top three. Everyone that has helped and had input in my journey is a favourite.

Can't be specific, it wouldn’t be fair.

RA: Who inspires you most in life and why?

AD: Simple people inspire me, [the] people of South East Asia and [the] people of Africa were an education to me in the level of hospitality given their circumstances, puts us to shame.

The inspiration they give is the level of resillience they have.

RA: What is your ultimate ambition in business, where would you like to see it take you?

AD: I would like to create opportunities for the continent of Africa, promote trade and industrialisation between all the nations. So much I am looking to do there and I'm hoping the right opportunities present themselves so I can move forward with the plan!

Africa is where I would like to see it take me.

RA: How do you keep yourself motivated to complete your goals?

AD: Constantly reminding myself of the objective and applying fresh challenges.

RA: How do you like to spend your spare time?

AD: Watching sport and being with my family.

RA: And finally, what words of wisdom would you like to leave us with?

AD: Know where you are going in life, be yourself, know your capabilities, be prepared to learn of others, even if you don’t like them, work hard and you will succeed.

There is no such word as can't, and most importantly follow your dream and never, never give up.

Learn more of the world of Andrew Danquah at Meggablast!

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