Wode Maya

Wode Maya is Ghana's most recognised digital content creator, a YouTuber and vlogger whose channel has amassed millions of subscribers and made him one of the most influential online personalities on the African continent. Born Berthold Kobby Winkler Ackon on 3 March 1994, he grew up in Ghana before embarking on travels across Africa, Asia and beyond, documenting his experiences with a camera and building an audience drawn to his honest, curious style of storytelling.

Rise to Fame

Wode Maya's breakthrough came in 2017 when a video he filmed on a bus in China — where other passengers avoided sitting next to him, leaving him isolated in an otherwise standing-room carriage — went viral across social media platforms. The clip sparked global conversation about race and daily life in China, and placed his channel in front of an audience far beyond his existing subscriber base. From that point, his subscriber count accelerated sharply.

His content evolved into a sustained exploration of life across African countries, presenting cities, industries and communities that rarely appear in international media coverage. He is trained as an aeronautical engineer, a background that informs the methodical, detail-oriented approach he brings to storytelling, even when the subject is as informal as a street food market or a cross-border bus journey.

Impact and Legacy

Beyond YouTube, Wode Maya is active across TikTok and Instagram, where shorter clips from his travels reach a younger and wider audience. He has been cited by commentators and pan-African media as a model for African content creation that does not depend on Western validation or platforms to find scale. His name, a Mandarin phrase meaning "Oh my God," is a reminder of the international context from which his fame first grew.