There is a particular kind of ambition that does not announce itself — it simply shows up, repeatedly, in the most consequential rooms on the continent. Lakeshia Ford has been in those rooms for over fifteen years: working with CNN International and the U.S. Department of State, advising the African Union and UNCTAD, managing campaigns for Arsenal Football Club and MTN Ghana, and co-organizing Chance the Rapper’s Black Star Line Festival. Yet to hear her explain it, every move has been driven by a single frustration: African narratives are either neglected or misrepresented in Western media and institutions. Ford decided to fix that — not with commentary, but with infrastructure.
Her vehicle is Ford Communications, a 360-degree strategic communications agency she founded after relocating to Ghana from the United States. The firm provides public relations, brand management, and market entry services, with a particular specialty in connecting African businesses to the global market and helping international brands navigate African markets with cultural intelligence. It is the kind of firm that exists because someone was willing to do the unglamorous work of bridging two worlds that often talk past each other.
Ford’s credentials are formidable: Spelman College, American University, the University of Oxford’s Media Policy and Technology Programme. But her real education has been operational — over a decade of doing business in Ghana has given her the market intelligence that no degree can replicate. Her appointment as Vice President of the Ghana-Jamaica Chamber of Commerce and her founding of the Afro-Caribbean Festival WoodXWater™ reflect a vision that extends beyond any single market or continent.
The Business
Ford Communications is a full-service strategic communications agency based in Accra, offering public relations, brand management, market entry consulting, and public diplomacy services. The client roster reads like a directory of institutional power: the British Council, World Remit, Ghandour Cosmetics, and organizations spanning oil and gas, technology, and culture. The firm’s core strength is its ability to craft strategies that resonate across cultures — particularly between Africa, the Americas, and the Caribbean.
Beyond client services, Ford has built a portfolio of special projects that amplify Africa’s voice on the global stage. Her Afro-Caribbean Festival WoodXWater™ connects Africa and the Caribbean through trade, investment, and pop culture — a platform that earned her a BBC documentary feature in 2019 during Ghana’s Year of Return celebrations.
The Vision
Ford is building more than an agency — she is building connective tissue between Africa and the global diaspora. Her ambition is to make Ford Communications the definitive platform for cross-cultural market entry and public diplomacy on the continent, while scaling her festivals and special projects into permanent institutions that drive trade and cultural exchange between Africa and the Caribbean.
