Wode Maya

Wode Maya is the richest Ghanaian influencer, with an estimated net worth of $500,000 (estimated).

Wode Maya trained as an aeronautical engineer in China and quit the profession to film himself travelling. Nearly two million YouTube subscribers later, Ghana's Foreign Minister handed him a diplomatic passport on 17 September 2025.

Early life

He was born Berthold Kobby Winkler Ackon on 3 March 1994 at Ahekofi in the Western Region. He went to China to study and began vlogging there as a student in 2013, while sources differ on whether he studied at Beijing Language and Culture University or Shenyang Aerospace University.

YouTube

His channel built its audience on travel films about African cities and businesses, presented as a counter to negative coverage of the continent. A 2017 video in which passengers on a Chinese bus avoided sitting beside him, which he attributed to his skin colour, went viral. By October 2025 the channel had about 1.95 million subscribers and 300 million views. In 2023 he was invited to cover the World Economic Forum in Davos and the Munich Security Conference, and he was Online Creator of the Year at the 2022 Entertainment Achievement Awards.

Business and charity

In December 2021 he announced CHARLIEMAG Estate, a property company in East Legon. He has funded the conversion of a dumpsite into a park in Kwahu and helped raise money for the schooling of 100 children in 2021. In September 2025 Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa gave him and four other creators diplomatic passports in recognition of their work promoting Ghana.

Family

He is married to the Kenyan YouTuber Miss Trudy.