Watching Over

Time is money for London-based luxury watchmaker William Adoasi, and he is now using it to support quality education in sub-Saharan Africa

- Peace Hyde

William Adoasi grew up in one of the roughest council estates in London and for as long as he could remember, wanted to get out. His parents emigrated from Ghana to the United Kingdom (UK) before Adoasi was born and, being the first of seven children, he saw first-hand the chaos that surrounded his estate in Peckham, South London.

A social housing project built by local authorities to provide shelter and other amenities like schools and shops, council estates in the UK have become notorious as breeding grounds for various social problems over the years.

This prompted two former prime ministers, David Cameron and Tony Blair, to advocate for the redevelopment of these estates citing their propensity to entrench poverty as well as create an environment for criminality to thrive, as the core reasons.

To shield Adoasi from the negative elements of the estate, his parents encouraged his education. Adoasi did well enough in school to secure a scholarship and move into a private boarding school in the midlands, and finally, out of the council estate.