President John Dramani Mahama says American influencer IShowSpeed provided Ghana with a level of international exposure that official campaigns would struggle to achieve, after the streamer’s Ghana tour sparked millions of online searches for Ghana and local products such as shea butter.
Mahama made the remarks at the Zambia–Business Dialogue in Lusaka, where he addressed Ghanaian and Zambian business leaders during his three-day state visit to Zambia.
Recalling the influencer’s stop in Ghana, Mahama said the visit drew unexpected attention to the country’s shea butter industry, which has become a major ingredient in global cosmetics and skincare products.
“And he did more advertising for us than we could do ourselves,” Mahama stated.
He said IShowSpeed visited a shea butter museum and took part in a massage session, which later went viral online, generating massive interest in the product and Ghana’s identity.
“There were millions of searches on the Internet for what Shea Butter is and what Shea Butter can be used for,” Mahama said, adding that online searches for Ghana also spiked sharply after the influencer left the country.
“After he left it was reported that there were 20 million searches for Ghana,” he said.
IShowSpeed’s Ghana stop formed part of a broader Africa tour, where he traveled through multiple countries and livestreamed his experiences to millions of followers, with his Ghana content trending widely across platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and X.
Mahama said while the influence of digital platforms can be used to promote tourism and exports, it also carries risks, including misinformation and manipulation—especially with the rise of artificial intelligence.
“And so we can use it to our advantage, but at the same time it has its downsides,” he cautioned.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
