Hello Connect! I became a Local Guide by chance. I happen to love the idea of helping a few businesses get on Google Maps and so help their clients find them easily. I helped add a school and then a friend’s business office as well as my cousin’s boutique.
My name is Ernest Owusu Fokuo, and I am a Local Guide in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. Being a Local Guide is an interesting opportunity for me to share my experiences on Google Maps with new visitors coming to a place. I love sharing detailed reviews on how I enjoyed a place and if it is a restaurant review, I love to share the meal I enjoyed the most on the menu. It gets even more fulfilling when I get updates in my email telling me how my reviews are helping people or how many people have liked my reviews.
For me as a local guide, reviews give me a chance to tell others about my experience at any place I visit. And not only that, I have learnt to read reviews of others about the places I wish to go to and through that I form opinions and decisions on whether to go or not. Answering questions are great for me because I get to help the next person find out if they would easily fit into a place - be it for accessibility on the entrance, whether kids are allowed, and if the place is casual enough for them to feel comfortable. To me, a person’s experience of a place should inform the next person coming there. And that’s one of the best ways we can help each other without even meeting the next person physically.
I meet other Local Guides and usually ask if they are on the Ghana Local Guide’s Group and if they have interacted with other Local Guides before. I quickly connect them to the team. Also, I really enjoyed my first meetup with the Ghana Team when we explored businesses in East Legon, Accra, Ghana.
I could go on and on about my experiences, but being a Local Guide is a wonderful experience for me.
The featured image below is that of my first ride on a go-kart and how I enjoyed the place - A1 Raceway Go Karting, Tema, Ghana.
