Remarkable TV producer and director Roberta Acquah-Imbeah discusses work experience with international media houses and notable figures

Roberta Acquah-Imbeah with Ex Prez JJ Rawlings

After collaborating with Roberta Bobbie Maame Araba Acquah-Imbeah to shoot a documentary with BBC for music icon Stephanie Benson, I had the opportunity to witness her specialty and talent. I was intrigued by the brand she has created for herself. Her technical know-how, and noesis to communicate what she wanted with clarity and exactitude. On top of that, she is very circumspect about how she operates. I felt the need to throw more highlights on what she does. For all you know, she has even worked with your favourite TV show or celebrity crush.

Roberta Acquah-Imbeah posed at MX24 TV

Roberta has managed to hold onto relevance as a TV producer and a director for more than a decade in a male-dominated creative industry like Ghana. And to appreciate the magnanimous weight her line of profession carries, you need to understand the breakdown of how she operates. Based on her satisfying human relations, she is truly gifted with a prerequisite strong leadership skills, supervising, secure right to book, ability to multitask and manage time well, strong communication skills, excellent interpersonal relationships, experience in handling TV equipment, etc.

Roberta Acquah-Imbeah at the beach side with crew

In her field of expertise, she is specialized in managing both the creative and administrative aspects of a TV show; from pre-production to post-production. As she always tells he crew “Staying behind the scenes for me seem like my calling, I take delight in seeing people I work with shine. Their success reflects positively on me, they win I win”. She holds a bachelor of arts in journalism. Currently, she works with TIC Advertising and PR Company as the production manager.

Roberta Acquah-Imbeah on set with Crew

She started from being an assistant to the crew planner at MAP then production assistant, researcher, assistant producer and finally a producer. Some of the popular shows she has worked on from the days of Viasat TV include; The One Show, It Runs In The Family, This Morning On Viasat, A Day In a Life, Tonight With Nii Kpakpo Thompson, Celebrity Fan Zone, and After Hours. She did radio production at 3FM where she produced Showbiz 927 and Case Study. She also produced shows like Amazing Grace, Inspire, Kids In Tune, Get Fit Africa, Do You Know Your Bible And Kingdom Street Karaoke. At MX24 she produced Early Jam, Mx Beats, MX chart, The Talkative Mom, Home fit, Roots, Moments, Mx Live. On top of that, she has also worked on events like Rapperholic 2020, maiden edition of The Ghana Football Awards, Guiness Black House in Kumasi, Takoradi and Accra.

As a TV producer and a director whose drive stems from a journalistic background, her ability to coordinate, and quickly improvise a plan or strategy when the need be, expert communication skills, high-quality human relations, high level of discipline, perfectionist, and most importantly how passionate she is about her career has attracted an enviable list of renowned people from all walks of life to work with her including Chantelle Asante, Joselyn Dumas, Ama K Abebrese, PY Addo Boateng, Roland Martin (formerly of CNN), Michelle Mckinney Hammond, Antoine Mensah, Jason El A, Mz Dru, Anita Erskine, Bianca Buckman, DKB, David Oscar, DJ Vyrusky, Oforiwaa, Eno Quagraine, Mikkie Osei Bekoe (Master Richard), Nii Kpakpo Thompson, Vim Lady, Nutifafa Attah, Andrew Tandoh Adote, Jessica Saforo, Lady Rosa Whitaker (Archbishop Duncan William’s wife) to mention but a few. Working with  BBC, Leopard International and Havard University has been her greatest achievement.

Roberta Acquah-Imbeah

She describes herself as an easy going no nonsense sweet little woman, but I describe her as a broad-minded, dazzling, enthusiastic, determined, humanitarian and intelligent go-getter. Talking of when you put your mind to something, you can achieve. She recalls writing in her notebooks in senior high school that she was going to be a “newscaster” at TV3 someday. Fast forward, she was motivated by Francisca  Ashitey of the then GTV to pursue her dream. She got into this profession after she heard of an internship opportunity at MAP (then Viasat) when she was about to complete her diploma in communication.

Roberta Acquah-Imbeah with Rolands Martin of CNN & Crew

Her enthusiasm and ambitious drive quickly caught the attention of Chantelle Asante who hired her to be a translator on a project called Being 17 in 2017. But her first international gig was Moment With Mo by Ebony Life. After that project, Chantelle became her boss and always recommended her to work with multinational media companies like BBC as either a fixer, a production assistant, assistant producer or producer. Usually, she is hard on people if the need is to work to achieve a greater goal because that was how she was trained. As paradoxical as it may sound, it has yielded good fruits for her.

Roberta Acquah-Imbeah hosting a show

Even though both the creative and media space lack the structures and financial support to efficiently drive the industry and less recognition for people behind the scenes is frustrating, it hasn’t deterred her from putting her all into her line of duty or profession. That alone speaks volumes about her. Where she comes from and her vision has always been her drive to keep moving with faith regardless of every hurdle race.

A project she was part of was featured on BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/61826077

Enjoy the beauty and weight capacity of her production:

Written by: John Claude Tamakloe.