The Back Route Conversations
Candid encounters with lecturers, teachers, students, pastors, policymakers and people whose progress took an unexpected path.
- Universities
- Communities
- Partner events
Resourcefulness · courage · possibility
Find a way where there seems to be none.
The Back Route carries one extraordinary journey—from poverty, limited opportunity and failing the secondary-school exam in rural Ghana to teaching at Oxford—into events and programmes that help young people see and create paths forward.
7public presentations across Ghana—and this is only the beginning.
The story behind the work
One memoir. A much bigger mission.
The project began with George Asiamah’s story: growing up poor in Chichibon, facing limited opportunity and academic setbacks, then making an unconventional path through work, study and the support of others to eventually teach at Oxford.
“I wrote it for anyone searching for a way where none seems to exist.”
The book is not simply a story of failure and recovery. It is an invitation to recognise possibility beyond circumstance—and to help create the routes that make it reachable.
Why this matters
Potential is not reserved for those given a clear road.
Poverty, disadvantage and setbacks can make a way forward hard to see. We create the encounters and support that say: another route can be found—and made.
RealityName the barriers in the way.
ResourcefulnessWork with what is at hand.
ConnectionFind people who open paths.
PossibilityMake a route where none was visible.
What we do
Stories that move people forward.
Built around Dr George Asiamah’s lived experience, every format is honest, participatory and adapted to its audience—never a generic motivational talk.
Route Makers
Talks and workshops helping students look beyond circumstance, navigate setbacks and map a path forward.
- Talk
- Workshop
- Resources
Next Turn Mentoring
A developing programme pairing young people at a crossroads with mentors.
- Cohorts
- Guidance
- Role models
The conversation has begun
From Accra to Kumasi
The launches brought the book’s central question into the room: how do we find and make a path when poverty, disadvantage or circumstance suggest there is no way forward?
- Lecturers
- Teachers
- Students
- Pastors
- Policymakers
What partnership enables
Make the next route visible.
Sponsorship takes locally relevant programming to young people and communities without cost being the barrier.
01
Reach
Bring events beyond the usual circuit.
02
Belief
Make alternative routes credible.
03
Connection
Meet mentors, educators and route makers.
04
Momentum
Turn inspiration into a practical next step.
Partner with the project
Put your name behind possibility.
We work with organisations that care about education, social mobility and the confidence of the next generation.
Programme partner
Fund a series of school visits, workshops or conversations.
Event partner
Host or underwrite a flagship gathering in a priority community.
Founding partner
Shape the project’s next chapter through sustained support.
“The road was never clear. The way was made one step at a time.”Dr George Asiamah · Founder
Meet the founder
George knows what it means to make a way from very little.
Dr George Asiamah grew up amid poverty and limited opportunity in Chichibon in Ghana’s Ashanti Region. When four Fs and three Es in the SSSCE closed the expected route, he spent six years piecing together another—through a shoeshine box in Accra, a re-sat exam, personal discipline and the help of people who chose to believe in him.
He went on to study at KNUST, Belfast and Sheffield and now teaches Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He founded The Back Route Project so more young people—whatever their starting point or setbacks—can find the people, perspective and opportunity to make a path forward.
Fellow & TutorUniversity of Oxford
Born in ChichibonAshanti Region, Ghana
The routes we take
Every detour carries a story.
Add yours to a growing public record of paths redrawn and possibilities found.
From the community
Let’s build the next route
Bring the project to your community.
Tell us where you see a fit. We’ll come back to you for a focused conversation.