Mark Okraku-Mantey (born 25 January 1974) is a

Ghanaian Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

music producer and politician. He is currently the Deputy

Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts of Ghana is the government ministry responsible for the development and promotion of tourism-related activities in the country. Functions of the Ministry The ministry functions to develop and ...

. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Slip Mark Entertainment. Mark Okraku-Mantey has worked with several Ghanaian musicians including

Lord Kenya Kainya (born 19 September 1978), known as Lord Kenya, is a former Ghanaian people, Ghanaian Hiplife artist who is currently an Evangelist (Latter Day Saints), Evangelist. He is best known for his hits such as "Enyom No" and "Medo." About Lord Ken ...

, Kumi Guitar, Oheneba Kissi, Daasebre Gyamenah, Akyeame, and Adane Best. Okraku-Mantey started out as a disc jockey in the 1990's at Joy FM till he rose to the position of Programs Director for Hitz FM both under the

Multimedia Group Limited The Multimedia Group is a media group in Ghana. It was established in 1995 and has six radio stations, six news websites and a satellite television network. The group has won several local and international awards for its leadership in informat ...

Early life and education

Okraku Mantey is a native of Ayensuano. He attended Datus Complex Schools (Bubuashie) for his basic school education and proceeded to St. Augustine's College in the Central region for his secondary school education. During his time at St. Augustine's, he was the first student to be allowed to play as official Disc Jockey for school. He holds a bachelor’s degree in

Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...

and an executive master’s degree in

Leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets v ...

and

Governance Governance is the process of interactions through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society over a social system ( family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories). It is done by the ...

, both from Central University.

Entertainment career

Okraku-Mantey started his career as a

Disc Jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

in 1996 on Joy FM. He subsequently became a producer whilst helping some Ghanaian artistes produce their music for airplay. In 1996, he started an entertainment and music company dubbed Slip Music and Entertainment (now Slip Mark Entertainment) to produce music and manage artistes. In 1998, Okraku-Mantey through Slip Music signed

, a then upcoming

Hiplife Hiplife is a Ghanaian musical style that fuses Ghanaian culture and hip hop. Recorded predominantly in the Ghanaian Akan language, hiplife is rapidly gaining popularity in the 2010s throughout West Africa and abroad, especially in the Unite ...

artiste. He managed Kenya and produced most of his songs and albums including his hit album Sika Baa. He also worked with

Highlife Highlife is a music genre that started in present-day Ghana in the 19th century, during its history as a colony of the British Empire and through its trade routes in coastal areas. It describes multiple local fusions of African metre and wester ...

artiste Oheneba Kissi on his ''ABC of Love'' song and Dassebre Gyamena on ''Kokoko'' which featured Lord Kenya. Both songs were big hits and sold over 400,000 copies. Okraku-Mantey has also worked with include Akyeame, Adane Best, Joe Frazier, Kumi Guitar, Felix Bell among others. Some albums that he produced include Nana Tuffour’s – ‘''Tontonte''’, Kojo Ashkan’s – ‘''Me Nse Ato Biso''’, Felix Bell’s – ‘''Butterfly''’, Oheneba Kissi’s – ‘''Kabiribiri Kyere Me''’, Akyeame’s ‘''Brebre Obaa Hemaa''’, Lord Kenya’s ‘''Sika''’ and Daasebre Dwamena’s ‘''Kokooko''’. At a point of his career, Okraku-Mantey ventured into the movie industry when he became the executive producer for Efeiwura, a popular Ghanaian comedy series which airs on TV3. He also served as a judge on TV3 mentor, a music reality show for several years since its launch in 2006. Okraku-Mantey is also a member of the

Vodafone Ghana Music Awards The Ghana Music Awards, currently known as the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards (VGMAs) for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music awards event in Ghana established in 1999 by a local event organizer and planner company known as CharterHouse to origi ...

board. He was the Programs Director at Hitz FM, a subsidiary of the Multimedia Group from February 2014 to March 2021. In May 2018, he was awarded with the Ghana DJ Awards Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 Ghana DJ Awards for his service and contribution to the DJ profession in Ghana.

Political career

Okraku-Mantey is a member of the New Patriotic Party and has been active in politics after publicly showing his support for the party prior to the 2016 Ghana Presidential Elections. He was a member of the team that drafted creative arts section of ''NPP manifesto for the 2016 and 2020 elections.'' He has since then been an active creative arts commentator, speaker and spokesperson for the party on several shows and events. After the NPP won the 2016 elections Okraku-Mantey was appointed as the President of the Creative Arts Council in 2017. In role as the president of the council, he was instrumental in getting the Creative Arts Bill passed. In April 2021, President Akufo-Addo nominated Okraku Mantey as the Deputy

. There were opposing views prior to and after his nomination from other creative arts members especially dance hall artiste Shatta Wale and reggae artiste Blakk Rasta. He was vetted in 15 June 2021. At the vetting there were notable creative arts individuals including musicians

Samini Emmanuel Andrews Sammini (born 22 December 1981 in Accra, Ghana), known by his stage name Samini (formerly as Batman Samini), is a Ghanaian Reggae and Dance hall recording artiste from Wa, Ghana. His genre of music is a melodious mixture of ...

, Wendy Shay,

Kuami Eugene Eugene Kwame Marfo (born 1 February 1997), who goes by the stage name Kuami Eugene is a Ghanaian High-life and Afrobeat singer-songwriter. He is signed to Lynx Entertainment, and is known for several songs, including "Angela", "Wish Me Well", " ...

, actress Akofa Edjeani and award-winning play writer Uncle Ebo Whyte, who were present to support him. He was subsequently approved on 22 June 2021 and later sworn into office on 25 June 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Okraku-Mantey, Mark Living people Ghanaian DJs Ghanaian record producers New Patriotic Party politicians Tourism ministers of Ghana 21st-century Ghanaian politicians People from Eastern Region (Ghana) St. Augustine's College (Cape Coast) alumni Central University (Ghana) alumni 1974 births