Ghana Rising Blog is turning into Black Star Magazine -launching in November 2011.…

“Ghanaians in London represent one of the largest and oldest West African communities in the capital. The vibrancy of its culture means that for many Londoners their very conception of what is African derives from Ghanaian culture.” 

**Wow what a journey! I started this blog early 2009 to celebrate my community, the Ghanaian community, to share our successes with the world -and I truly believe that by God’s grace this has and continues to be realized. Anyway, Ghana Rising Blog has grown-up, matured and is turning into a Luxe glossy called Black Star Magazine, -a niche luxury publication aimed at the contemporary Ghanaian community and beyond.

Covering the latest in fashion, beauty, hair, celebrity interviews, travel, culture, business, society news and property as well as a comprehensive business directory -Black Star magazine will provide a superb platform for businesses and individuals wishing to reach this emerging community in Ghana, the Diaspora and beyond.
Black Star Magazine is a bi-annual fashion/lifestyle consumer magazine that will come out twice a year to cover the Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer trends. Black Star Magazine is primarily aimed at luxury consumers of Ghanaian descent and those who want to reach this emerging and successful community. Innovative, niche and a first for the Ghanaian community -this high-end beautifully bound glossy is both aspirational and relevant.

Facts about Ghana…
Named as the second fastest growing economy in the world, touted as the next big tourist hotspot by Forbes magazine (tourism is the fastest growing industry in Ghana, and likely to keep growing due to its stable domestic setting and is fast becoming a favourite destination for Africa travellers), -and with poverty reduction rates of 8.6 per cent in urban areas and by 10.4 per cent in rural ones (Ghana’s poverty reduction rates are the best throughout sub-Saharan Africa in the past 15 years), -Ghana was firmly put on the map by the Obamas’ in July 2009 and again in 2010 by its national football team, the Black Stars at the World Cup.

Facts about the Ghanaian community in the UK..
Did you know that: Freema Agyeman of Dr Who fame, politician Paul Boateng, UK's first black Cabinet Minister, Margaret Busby OBE, UK's first black female publisher, Adam Afriyie, the first black Conservative MP, TV presenter June Sarpong MBE, world renown architect David Adjaye, Film director Amma Asante, actor Idris Elba, uber fashion stylist Edward Enninful, fashion designers Ozwald Boateng OBE and Joe Casely-Hayford, Ekow Eshun, journalist, author, broadcaster and current Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, -footballer Michael Essien and musicians: Dizzee Rascal, Tinchy Stryder and Cockandbullkid are just a few of the illustrious people of Ghanaian descent based in the UK -leaving their mark on the world?

An increasingly prosperous and community conscious Diaspora -the Ghanaian community is one of the oldest communities in the UK. And even though the ONS estimates that there are approximately 93,000 Ghana-born people living in the UK (this figure doesn’t include first or second generation people born in the UK of Ghanaian decent) -Ghana High Commission believes this figure is nearer the 1.5 million mark -thus, the increase from $449 million in 1999 to $1.79 billion in 2009 with regards to remittances sent to Ghana from the UK , goes some way to prove this.

Why a luxury magazine aimed at this niche community?Why not? Why not have a sleek, contemporary, luxurious and relevant magazine that will not only showcase Ghana, its people and its culture -but can be use to promote tourism, businesses, talents/creativity, various organisations -plus bring some much needed attention to real issues effecting Ghana today. Also, Black Star Magazine offers the cachet needed by successful brands hoping to advertise their luxury goods or elegant services to this exciting community, giving established businesses and individuals -an unique platform to reach this aspirational, cultured and successful community.

For more information about Black Star magazine, sponsorship and advertising opportunities or to send us your latest press releases, kindly email me Paulina at: info@blackstarmagazine.co.uk or nanaaba69@hotmail.co.uk

Kind Regards

Paulina Opoku-Gyimah
Editor-in-Chief & Publisher
Black Star Magazine
info@blackstarmagazine.co.uk
http://www.blackstarmagazine.co.uk/
http://twitter.com/#!/BlackStarMag
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Star-Magazine-AccraLondon/221856697848010

***Thanks for your continued support folks. Don’t forget to keep me in the loop concerning all your yummy happenings -and an eye on Ghana Rising Blog for regular updates about Black Star Magazine. xx

Luxe: The 2.0 collection by Pratesi

After a childhood spent in poly-cotton bed sheets I’ve become a bit of a bed linen snob with a real phobia of any less than 100% Egyptian cotton or minus 300 thread count. Well my fellow bed linen connoisseurs -that’s all changed. Step forward Pratesi, a the 105 year old Italian company best known for producing the finest, most coveted home linens in the world, beloved by the international jet set, royal households and Hollywood A-listers. The Pratesi’s have had numerous famous clients over the years including Ernest Hemingway, Elizabeth Taylor and the Saudi Royal family to name but a few. Madonna, Stella McCartney and Jennifer Lopez are also fans. They have just launched their latest, the 2.0 collection which features a set of innovative wrinkle-free 100% Italian linen sheets that go directly from the dryer to the bed and get softer and softer as washed, with prices starting from £800 for a full set of bed linens –lovely! My birthday’s on the 29th of this month, -I’m guessing you all know what I want –right? For more information about Pratesi’s 2.0 collection visit: http://ue.pratesi.com/

Luxe: Moët & Chandon Ice Imperial Champagne

You know how you kind of always want to put ice in your champagne but know it looses it flavour, plus it’s a bit crass in certain circles? Well the days of warm champagne are over. Step forward Moët & Chandon latest baby, - Moët & Chandon Ice Imperial Champagne -champagne made to be drunk with precisely three ice cubes. It took five years to perfect this uber Champagne and it’s only available in ten bars nationwide, so let the party begin. For more information about Moët & Chandon Ice Imperial Champagne visit their Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/Moeticeimperial

Glitterboys and Ganglands

Lauren Beukes, winner of The Arthur C. Clarke Award for the year's best science fiction novel for Zoo City, makes her directorial debut with Glitterboys and Ganglands, the story of three contestants at Miss Gay Western Cape. The 60-minute documentary is a co-production between Clockwork Zoo and Okuhle Media. It's African premier will be at Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, which runs in Cape Town and Johannesburg from 9-26 June 2011.

Object Art: Couture Magazine ..50’s & 60’s Issues

$44.99     http://www.zgallerie.com/

**How relevant and on-trend are these covers? Can you believe that they were produced in the 50’ & 60’s? I’m inspired…

(Credit:http://www.zgallerie.com/Showviewall.aspx?catid=40&pagenum=0)

Be Inspired: Olaf Hajek’s Flowerhead illustrations

World renowned Illustrator Olaf Hajek’s illustrations from his Flowerhead tome, out last year -is soo beautiful and inspirational, I’m charmed. He’s represented by Bernstein & Andriulli, they have the best creatives on their books -and you can view the rest of his work via: http://www.ba-reps.com/blog/

More Info
Bio: Olaf Hajek was born in North Germany along the frontier to Denmark, and now resides in his homeland, London and New York. Whilst studying Graphic Design, Olaf quickly realized he did not want to be sitting in front of a computer all day and moved into Illustration. His formative professional years were spent in Amsterdam, where he threw himself into the social and freelance Illustration scene, and he has proven to be a strong asset in all senses to the Global Contemporary Art Community. He had taught illustration alongside the likes of Punk fashion legend: Vivienne Westwood, and his pioneering, altruistic tendencies have helped nurture much talent: young and old. His elegant, figurative, colorful, textural work holds a strong sense of character and fine art sensibility, he exhibits regularly in galleries all over the world, and appears ubiquitously in the awards: American Illustration, Images, Communication Arts, D&AD. Olaf's versatile and ever evolving work is well established in all areas: advertising, design, publishing and editorial, with the occasional foray into animation, and he looks set to be one of the superstars of the genre for many years to come.

Credit: http://www.ba-reps.com/artists/olaf-hajek#image_339317

Sakawa, 419

Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 18:46:47 +0100

From: iamgood@voila.fr
Subject: GREETINGS OF THE DAY.

Dear friend,

With due respect to your person and much sincerity of purpose I make this contact with you as I believe that you can be of great assistance to me.

My name is Mr.Eric Abdu. from Ouagadougou Republic of Burkina Faso. Presently I work in the Bank as manager.

Please see this massage as a confidential message and do not reveal it to another person because it is top secret.

I am about to retire from active Bank service to start a new life but I am skeptical to reveal this particular secret to a stranger. You must assure me that everything will be handled confidentially because we are not going to suffer again in life.

It has been more than ten years now that most of the greedy African Politicians used our bank to launder money overseas through the help of their Political advisers. Most of the funds which they transferred out of the shores of Africa was gold and oil money that was supposed to have been used to develop the continent.

Their Political advisers always inflated the amounts before transfer to foreign accounts so I also used the opportunity to divert part of the funds hence I am aware that there is no official trace of how much was transferred as all the accounts used for such transfers were being closed after transfer.

I acted as the Bank Officer to most of the politicians and when I discovered that they were using me to succeed in their greedy act, I also cleaned some of their banking records from the Bank files and no one cared to ask me because the money was too much for them to control.

They laundered over $5Billion United States Dollars during the process .

As I am sending this message to you, I was able to divert more than Nine Million Dollars ($9m) from the boom to an escrow account belonging to no one in the bank. The bank is anxious now to know the beneficiary to the funds, because they have made a lot of profits with the funds.

It is more than ten years now and most of the politicians are no longer using our bank to transfer funds overseas. The Nine Million Dollars ($9m) has been lying waste but I don't want to retire from the bank without transferring the funds to a foreign account to enable me share the proceeds with the receiver. The money will be shared in agreed terms between us.

There is no one coming to ask you about the funds because I secured everything. I only want you to assist me by providing a bank account where the funds can be transferred. You are not to face any difficulties or legal implications.

If you are capable of receiving the funds, do let me know immediately to enable me give you a detailed information on what to do.
For me, I have not stolen the money from anyone, it was an advantage from my office, but you must keep the details of the funds secret to avoid leakages as no one in the bank knows about the funds.

If you are honest and capable of handling the transaction, Please supply me the following:

Your current contact address and Telephone Numbers.

I shall intimate you on what to do when I get your confirmation and acceptance.

Waiting for your urgent response.

Yours Faithfully,

Mr.Eric Abdu.

Urgent Fraud Alert: In Ghana we call it SAKAWA, in Nigeria it’s called 419 –I’m sick of it…..

Status: Message successfully sent

To:
Cc:
Subject: Re: URGENT REPLY.

Me: I’m going public with this information. I’m soooo sick and tired of sick and greedy people like you emailing me. When will this sickness stop?



Black Star magazine is the long-awaited bi-annual fashion & lifestyle glossy aimed at ABC1 women and men of Ghanaian origin founded by Paulina Opoku-Gyimah, a blogger/stylist with over ten years experience in the fashion industry. Paulina has contributed to numerous publications including: Elle Magazine UK, TIME (Warner), The Sunday Times Style Magazine and Star Magazine, -worked on numerous films and music videos and is the go-to person for quotes/information concerning the Ghanaian: luxury market, emerging middle-class, fashion, celebrity and popular culture et al.

Covering the latest in fashion, beauty, hair, celebrity interviews, travel, culture, business, social news and property as well as a comprehensive business directory, Black Star will provide a platform for businesses and individuals wishing to reach this emerging community both in Ghana and in the Diaspora.

Sponsorship and advertising opportunities exist for both Black Star magazine and the Black Star website, offering discerning established or emerging brands a unique platform to reach this aspirational, cultured and successful community. For more details about Black Star magazine, sponsorship and advertising opportunities kindly email: info@blackstarmagazine.co.uk

This e-mail and its attachments are intended for the above named recipient only, are confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the named addressee, you are not authorised to retain, read, copy or disseminate this message or any part of it. If you receive this transmission in error, please notify info@blackstarmagazine.co.uk and then delete this e-mail. As Internet communications are not secure we do not accept neither legal responsibility for the contents of this message nor responsibility for any change made to this message after the original sender sent it. The contents or opinions contained within this e-mail are solely those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of Black Star magazine unless otherwise specifically stated. Whilst we use a professional email scanning service, we advise you to carry out your own virus check before opening any attachment as we cannot accept liability for any damage sustained as a result of any software viruses. E-mails sent to Black Star magazine may be monitored to ensure compliance with our internal policies and to protect our business.


Faker: On Tue 31/05/11 10:59 AM , Prince Williams Asakuma princewillamsasakuma@gmail.com sent:

Kind Attention,

I am Prince Willams Asakuma, From Benin i have 1000Kgs of gold that i have load for shipment to my client in Germany but final he was murdered by some of his partner, and this gold is gong to be on sea in next 5-10 days.

I will like to know if you can help and sell this gold in your country, and this gold cost 28.000 per Kg and i have 1000kgs load on a container now, if you can help get back to me with your company full details.

See more details of the gold.

Purity: 99.22%

Origin: Benin Du Republic

Price per Kg: Us$ 28.000

Total Kg loaded: 1000 kg

Total Invoice cost: US$ 28,000,000

Please kindly contact me immediately so that we can sign agreement that you will pay me once you sell this gold.

Thanks
Prince Williams Asakuma
Email: princewillamsasakuma@gmail.com
Tel: +229-99643087
Fax: +229 226 3168


ME: I'm sooooo sick of this *$%£@