Meet Mrs. Ninette Danquah Ivo, a stalwart Ghanaian Diplomat

When some people say they are goal-getters, others have wondered what they meant until one encounters an actual goal-getter, Mrs. Ninette Danquah Ivo, head of Diaspora Affairs at the Embassy of Ghana in the Washington D.C Metro area of the United States. Mrs. Ivo has held this position and others as she’s firmly played her role for a decade serving as one of Ghana’s stalwart lady diplomats.

Since she entered the Protocol Department of Ghana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration (MFA&RI) in August 2006, she has performed her allotted tasks with utmost zeal and seen projects completed on time and within budget. Mrs. Ivo to date is positively selling the economic and tourism potential of Ghana wherever she has served, from Western Africa to Northern America.

Mrs. Ivo developed her project management skill from her two years of work experience as an Administrative Analyst with the Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy at the University of Ghana. She had the opportunity to work at the center after completing a bachelor’s of art degree in English and Theater Arts/Drama at the same university.

Before her University education, young Ninette studied General Arts and Humanistic Studies at the Ofori Panin Secondary School, a co-educational second cycle institution at Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region of Ghana. She had her GCE O’ level at Akosombo International School, located at Akosombo in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. Back then she didn’t know she was going to end up working at the MFA&RI in Ghana, she however always had this burning desire to serve her motherland — a desire which almost placed her in the army but for a dint of fate.

Some awards she’s received in her pursuit of academics include one for Distinctive Contribution to the Welfare of Mensah Sarbah Hall, University of Ghana, Legon, as a Floor Representative. Before that, she was awarded the Best Girl’s Prefect of Akosombo International School in 1993.

During her formative years as a student in the aforementioned academic institutions, the lady Ninette developed critical skills for Project Management, Research, International Relations, Public Speaking, Speechwriting, and Event Management. These skills among others will later be regularly employed in the successful execution of her works at the respective Ghana Embassies she’s served at, starting from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso where she served for 8yrs and among her many accomplishments there facilitated the participation of Ghanaian companies in International Handicrafts Fair of Ouagadougou (SIAO 2014 & 2016).

Recently, she was in a powerful delegation from the Ghana Embassy in the United States (Washington DC, U.S.) that joined executives of United Airlines for the inaugural ceremony of United’s relaunched route from Washington D.C. to Accra, Ghana. As an effective first secretary to the acting Ambassador at the time, Mrs. Ivo, also graced the occasion of the enstoolment of the Asantefuohene of the Washington, DC Metro Area to show solidarity with the Asante community in the U.S. on behalf of Ghana.

Concerned with international relations, Mrs. Ivo assured a delegation of media practitioners who interacted with Her Excellency (H.E.) Hajia Alima Mahama, that she would be the link between the embassy and potential investors to Ghana. H.E. Mahama is the first woman Ambassador of Ghana to the U.S., she took office in June 2021.

As an internationally certified diplomat, Mrs. Ivo is well versed in International Diplomatic Protocol and Performance Management from her Advanced Series studies at the European School of Protocol in Dubai. She’s also done some career enhancement training in London and is a certificate holder of the African Junior Diplomats Foreign Service Training Center of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Ankara.

Today Ninette continuously distinguishes herself in the discharge of her professional duties to the Embassy of Ghana at Washington, DC Metro Area, traveling across the U.S. to excellently represent Ghanaian values and interests with diplomatic panache. She has set such a high standard of professional competency for others around her to emulate, especially young women across the continent of Africa and her native township of Akyem from where she hails in Ghana.

English, Akan, and Ga are three Ghanaian languages fluently spoken by Mrs. Ivo who is married and has a preteen son. Follow her on LinkedIn here www.linkedin.com/in/ninette-ivo to trail her career which she in the long term hopes to leave as an enduring legacy to inspire young people to aspire to their biggest challenges.

(Written by: Asantewaa Nkrumah)