Tie-dye and batiks are vibrantly colored fabrics that were popular some years ago. Although tie-and-dye and batik fabrics are not as common as they once were, the industry persists, and Emmanuel has been a tie-and-dye and batik producer for over thirty years.
Emmanuel applying wax to a fabric (Photo by Priscilla)
He dropped out of secondary school due to financial challenges and began working with his aunt, who was already established in the business. She trained him and put him in charge of marketing and purchasing the plain white fabric, which serves as the main raw material for their business, from GTP, Ghana’s premier local textile brand. After his aunt passed away, Emmanuel inherited the business.
A Plea for Support
Initially, the business thrived, but Emmanuel’s current challenges are not with demand; rather, he struggles with acquiring the plain white fabric as production has slowed at GTP. This difficulty hampers his ability to fulfill orders. He mentions having customers in Kumasi, Accra, and Nigeria, who sometimes request ten or twenty bales of batik or tie-dye fabric at a time. However, he is unable to meet the demand. Emmanuel appeals to the Ghanaian government for assistance in procuring the local white fabric.
Imported fabrics are available, but they are prohibitively expensive due to import duties. Purchasing these would render him unable to recoup his production costs. Additionally, while there are individuals eager to work with him, the scarcity of fabric means production is low, and he cannot hire them. Currently, only two people, including himself, are involved in production.
Dying the fabrics (Photo by Priscilla)
Initially, when it became challenging to source the plain white fabric, he briefly took up formal employment. Once the materials became available again, he resumed his production business. Despite the slowdown, Emmanuel prefers this work to formal employment. He asserts that his monthly earnings from the business surpass what he could obtain in a formal job.
Key Takeaways
This story highlights the need for community and institutional support for small businesses.
Successful entrepreneurs can consider expanding their businesses to create job opportunities for others in their communities.
Self-employment can create greater financial autonomy.
Sherif, known as Shazz to most of his clients, was inspired to venture into the dreadlocks business by a friend in South Africa, where he lived for over six years. He returned to Ghana eight years ago, eager to share the knowledge he had acquired. However, he waited for a year or two before starting his enterprise.
Starting with Limited Capital
Sherif making a client’s hair (Photo by Priscilla)
Starting out, Sherif had no capital. He found a shop he liked, spoke to the landlord, and explained his business idea. He told the landlord that he had no money to pay the rent upfront but requested a probationary period to see how the business would go. During this time, he proposed to pay the rent monthly, and the landlord agreed. In the early stages of the business, Sherif would go out and invite clients himself. He offered to do their hair for free, and if they were pleased, they would return. He lived frugally and saved every month until he had enough to purchase his own shop.
Trichology and Product Creation
Sherif displaying some of his hair products (Source: Sherif)
Sherif considers himself a trichologist; he also creates hair products. Trichology is the study of hair and scalp conditions and their treatments. Trichologists can offer advice and recommendations for individuals experiencing hair loss, hair breakage, oily scalp, and scalp psoriasis. Although he has no formal training in this field, Sherif believes that anyone can be whoever they want to be if they are willing to learn. He says, “This is a natural talent. I have not had any formal education to learn this skill.” His business is registered, and his products have been certified by the Food and Drugs Authority.
Challenges and Expansion
Sherif has one apprentice and no other employees because he doesn’t trust workers. He has two shops currently, having closed down two others due to workers’ unreliability. He notes that Ghanaians prefer foreign products to locally made ones. However, he exports his products to Germany, Guinea Bissau, and other countries, and also supplies to a few shops in Makola, otherwise, he sells his products directly.
Sherif is grateful for his health and life and says his passion keeps him motivated. He finds it satisfying when his clients appreciate his work. His advice to anyone looking to start a business is to learn how to save. He warns against taking loans with interest payments, leaving entrepreneurs with nothing, not even their capital.
Key Takeaways:
Prioritize customer satisfaction and build strong relationships – Sherif built his clientele by offering free hair services initially. Satisfied clients became loyal customers.
Creatively explore options even when faced with financial constraints – Sherif started with limited capital but didn’t let it deter him. He negotiated with the landlord, demonstrating resourcefulness and persistence.
Stay committed and resilient even in the face of obstacles – Sherif’s determination led to exporting products and expanding his business.
Kindly share your thoughts on Sherif’s business journey in the comment section below.
They say that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. For Selina, it feels more like life keeps delivering buckets of lemons; undeterred, she keeps making bottles of lemonade.
The Decision to Act
After completing senior secondary school, Selina faced a crossroad. Financial challenges loomed, and concentration issues threatened her ability to study, so she knew that, school-wise, she could go no further. But she couldn’t afford to sit idle. Her friends were off to school, their futures bright with promise, and she made a promise to herself: she would find her path.
While her peers buried themselves in books, Selina embarked on a different kind of learning journey. She decided to go into trade. But there was a hurdle—she had no capital. Undaunted, she set her sights on securing a shop. The Tema Community One Market held a potential spot. Selina sought out the shop owner—an elderly lady—and worked her negotiation magic. The deal? She would pay the rent as funds trickled in.
Starting Small
Selina decided not to look for loans due to hefty interest rates. With some small savings she had, she bought some wigs and hair creams to sell in her shop. With time, bags and other things found their way onto her shelves too. But for her, business wasn’t just about commerce; it was about service. She found joy in serving people. Believing that trust is the currency of success, she researched the products she sold. With the acquired knowledge, she advised her clients and built relationships, and her business thrived.
The Pause and the Return
She left the market after marriage. Then, in September 2022, she lost her husband. Consumed with grief, she decided to go back to the market because the market is vibrant, and there, she knew she could easily forget her problems. By then, expenses with her health, her parents’ health, and other family issues she could not ignore, had eaten away her resources.
She says, starting again from scratch hasn’t been easy. But she speaks with faith: “God, who started with me, will end with me, so we should always put God ahead of us. It is not about who wins, but about who reigns.” This is the belief behind the name she has given to her business—He is Ahead.
Remarkably, after nearly a decade away, when Selina returned to the market, she retained her clients because of the trust they had in her. Profit wasn’t Selina’s sole motive. She saw her business as a channel for service. How could she enhance people’s lives? How could she ensure they appreciated what they bought from her? These questions guided her choices, as Selina wanted her clients to find value beyond the transaction.
Her advice to anyone who wants to get into business is: You have to get tough skin. You don’t easily have to lose hope or throw in the towel. She likens the loss of her business to the loss of her husband when her world was crushed. But she says that doesn’t mean it is over, “You can pick up the pieces.”
She also advises, “Don’t look at the number of years it took someone to succeed.”
Key Takeaways:
Business isn’t a smooth ride. It’s a rollercoaster of highs and lows.
Time isn’t the measure of success. So, aspiring business owners, take heart. Your journey may zigzag, but it’s not about speed; it’s about resilience.
Share your thoughts on this business story in the comment section below.
I am always fascinated by the way tailors and seamstresses work their magic with fabric, transforming it into the beautiful clothes we wear. Some creations are elaborate, while others feature intricate designs.
Victoria is one such magic worker. She has loved sewing since childhood and couldn’t imagine doing any other job. Driven by her passion, she studied clothing and textiles in secondary school. In Ghana, many people learn skills like dressmaking, baking, or welding to establish their own businesses. However, these professions come with high risks due to irregular income. Victoria’s pragmatic mother suggested that she teach as her main job and sew on the side for extra income, but Victoria insisted that all she wanted to do was sew.
Challenges and Opportunities
After secondary school, Victoria pursued a correspondence course in sewing and further honed her skills through apprenticeships. During one such apprenticeship, she had the opportunity to participate in a project initiated by the Rawlings government. Her madam, a member of the Tailors and Dressmakers Association, facilitated this opportunity. The project aimed to elevate seamstresses’ skills to international standards, and the training took place at the Tema Technical Institute.
Interestingly, Victoria had previously applied to the Tailoring Department of the Tema Technical Institute, but her application was rejected due to poor performance in her SSSCE math exams. Undeterred, she attended remedial classes and retook the math exams, which she passed this time.
During her three-month training course at the Tema Technical Institute (TemaTech), Victoria forged strong relationships with her teachers. With renewed confidence, she applied for the Advanced Tailoring Course at the institute and was successfully admitted. This comprehensive course at TemaTech spanned about two years.
After completing her studies, Victoria began sewing at home. Initially, she had two machines: a treadle machine and a hand machine, both provided by her mother. Over time, she saved up enough to purchase a secondhand electric sewing machine. She took immense pride in this purchase—it was the very first electric machine she bought with her hard-earned money. Later, she managed to save up for a small neatening machine as well.
Victoria’s very first neatening machine (Photo credit: Victoria)
The Unpredictable Workforce
Victoria’s entrepreneurial spirit led her to rent a shop with a loan from a friend. Her vision was to form a partnership with two other friends from TemaTech. Together, they planned to secure contracts from companies to sew overalls and work gear. Victoria believed that their combined efforts would build a robust business. However, once the shop was rented, her potential partners seemed to lose interest, and Victoria reluctantly abandoned her dream of soliciting contracts from companies. She knew she couldn’t tackle it alone.
When the shop lease expired, Victoria returned home. Working from home posed its challenges, and she felt stuck. Encouraged by her sister, she found another rental space. This time, she decided to focus on sewing shirts for sale. Luckily, she had a friend whose husband supplied her with the necessary fabric. Unfortunately, sales were poor at the new location, prompting her to abandon this venture as well.
Navigating Load Shedding
Despite her unrealized project ideas, Victoria has a loyal clientele who marvel at the attention she pays to details. Their demands often exceeded her capacity, so she hired additional help. Just when things seemed stable, load shedding—a common occurrence—disrupted her sewing operations. The unreliable power supply posed yet another obstacle to her entrepreneurial journey.
While purchasing a generator was an option, considering the associated costs (including worker wages), she hesitated. Instead, Victoria and her workers devised a creative solution: they synchronized their work hours with the erratic electricity schedule. If power came on at night, they worked through the night until morning, ensuring they could all go home during periods of electricity unavailability. Remarkably, they managed without a generator.
The sewing business has proved unpredictable. Workers come and go, sometimes leaving over minor issues or due to inadequate pay. Victoria faced a time when all her workers departed, leaving her with an irregular workforce.
With her savings, she has managed to buy industrial sewing machines, which make work much easier.
Some of the industrial sewing machines (Source: Victoria)
Rising Rent and Creative Solutions
Another hurdle was rent. Each time the lease expired, the landlord raised the rent. After the COVID lockdown, he doubled it, making it increasingly challenging for Victoria to afford. Determined to find a solution, she explored various options and eventually decided to create her own sewing space using a container.
With all these challenges, sometimes she feels like giving up, but the joy of seeing her creations come to life outweighs the challenges, reminding her why she keeps going on.
Key Takeaways
Passion and persistence: Victoria’s unwavering love for sewing drove her to pursue her dream despite challenges and setbacks. Her determination serves as a reminder that passion and persistence can lead to remarkable achievements.
Adaptability: Victoria adapted to changing circumstances, whether it was navigating load shedding or adjusting her business model. Her ability to find creative solutions allowed her to keep sewing even without a generator.
Resilience in entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is filled with ups and downs. Victoria’s story highlights the importance of resilience—whether dealing with irregular workforces, rising rent, or difficult clients, she kept pushing forward.
Resourcefulness: From saving up for her first electric sewing machine to creating her own sewing space using a container, Victoria’s resourcefulness played a crucial role in her journey.
Community and support: Victoria’s relationships with teachers, friends, and family provided encouragement and guidance. Building a supportive network is essential for overcoming challenges.
Despite Victoria’s perseverance, the business still has a long way to go. Do you have any suggestions that she and others might find useful? Leave them in the comment section below.
A bowl of tom brown (not related to Tom Brown’s School Days… or maybe it is)—a protein-rich and delicious porridge (Source:myfamilypride.com)
The Birth of Abadea
The seed for Abadea was planted in the mind of a young lady, Barbara, after she tasted a disappointing bowl of tom brown that her aunt had purchased. Barbara just couldn’t fathom how such poor-tasting tom brown was being sold on the market. After all, she and her mother had been making their own delicious version at home for years.
Barbara pitched the idea of starting their own tom brown business to her mother, who readily agreed. However, with numerous tom brown brands saturating the market, they needed a way to stand out. Their solution? Innovate by removing some common ingredients and introducing new ones.
The name Abadea derives from the Twi language, meaning “Aba’s own.” Aba happens to be Barbara’s mother’s name, and the choice reflects a sense of ownership, responsibility, and pride.
Starting Small with Determination
In May 2023, Barbara and her mother launched their business with just 500 cedis. With this modest sum, they secured packaging, labeling, and other essentials. Their initial production yielded thirty packs of tom brown, which promptly sold out within a week. However, subsequent sales slowed down because their friends constituted the primary customer base. Until these friends finished their initial purchases, they weren’t ready for more.
Recognizing the need for expansion, Barbara and her mother decided to produce more and distribute them to shops. But there was a crucial requirement they lacked: a Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) certificate.
Abadea cereal mix (Source: Barbara)
Navigating FDA Certification Challenges
For Barbara, the journey to obtain the FDA certificate was a slow and arduous one, filled with countless rounds back-and-forth. The information provided always seemed to have gaps that needed filling before they could proceed. Unfortunately, this process proved costly for them. The FDA has stringent specifications for labels: manufacturing and expiry dates, batch numbers, ingredient lists, storage instructions, contact details, etc. Meeting all these requirements was essential before they could move forward. Yet, something always seemed to be missing, resulting in a seemingly endless cycle of label printing—labels that would ultimately go unused.
In the end, Barbara and her mother decided to enlist the help of an agent. The agent clarified exactly what was required and facilitated the certification process. Finally, on February 20th of this year, they received their FDA certificate.
Overcoming Production Hurdles
While Barbara and her mother were working toward certification, production had virtually ground to a halt. The place where they milled their grains had unexpectedly closed. However, Barbara and her mother had a preference for that particular location—it was neat and well-suited to their needs. With the help of a family friend, they negotiated a lease agreement with the owner. With the mill up and running again and their FDA certificate in hand, production resumed.
Milling grains (Source: Barbara)
Unfortunately, the shops that had initially promised to carry their cereals once they obtained FDA certification have now changed their tune. These shops are no longer willing to stock Abadea’s products. To mitigate losses, Barbara and her mother are actively seeking customers who can utilize their milling services. They hope to attract individuals who need grains ground at their mill.
The Future
Abadea is a young business, and its path is fraught with obstacles. However, Barbara and her mother remain optimistic; they plan to go to other shops with their product, and they believe that with determination and a commitment to quality, Abadea will not only survive but thrive.
Key Takeaways:
Purpose drives innovation. Entrepreneurs should identify a purpose behind their business idea—it’s the driving force for innovation.
Persistence pays off, despite challenges: Entrepreneurs should expect obstacles and setbacks but remain resilient. Each challenge is an opportunity to learn and grow.
Adaptability and flexibility are key. Entrepreneurs must be willing to pivot, adjust, and find creative solutions when faced with unexpected changes.
Community and support matter. Building a supportive network can significantly impact an entrepreneur’s success.
Quality and differentiation set you apart. Entrepreneurs should focus on quality, authenticity, and what makes their product or service distinct.
Believe in your vision and stay optimistic: Entrepreneurs should maintain a positive mindset, even during tough times. Belief in their vision can sustain them through adversity.
Do you have any suggestions that might be helpful to entrepreneurs or anyone thinking of going into such a business? Leave your comments below.
A cup of Kawa Moka coffee (Photo credit: Kofi Acquah)
For most people, when we think of coffee, Brazil comes to mind, but imagine sipping a cup of rich and chocolaty coffee that was grown and roasted in Ghana. That’s the vision of Kawa Moka, a company that is working to bring Ghana’s coffee to the world.
The meaning of the name
The name Kawa Moka is deliberate. Kawa means coffee in Arabic, the language of the first coffee traders. Moka is derived from Mocha, a Yemeni city that was famous for exporting coffee from the 15th to the 17th centuries.
The origin story
On a coffee farm (Photo credit: Matthew Adekponya)
Emi-Beth, the CEO of Kawa Moka, attended Ashesi University, where she learned about entrepreneurship and social innovation. In the early days, when Ashesi University had three campuses at Labone, she noticed that one of the campuses had a nice gazebo with surrounding green areas but no cafeteria. She proposed to open a café there, and the school administration agreed. However, a comment by a Kenyan friend stuck with her: she could not understand why Ghanaians only drank instant coffee.
After working for six years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)—four in Ghana and two in Kenya—Emi-Beth decided to pursue her passion for coffee. She moved back to Ghana and started Kawa Moka in 2015. She opened cafes in Accra and then pivoted into manufacturing and roasting in 2019. She sources her coffee from Leklebi, a village in the Volta region of Ghana, where she works with women farmers to produce high-quality beans.
Photo credit: Kofi Acquah
The challenges and opportunities
Emi-Beth faced many challenges in establishing Kawa Moka, such as changing the perception of Ghanaian coffee, creating a market presence, ensuring sustainable practices, and managing finances. She overcame these challenges by focusing on quality, sustainability, and local flavor infusions. She also found advocates who believed in her brand and supported her vision.
Emi-Beth sees many opportunities for Kawa Moka to grow and impact more lives. She wants to create more jobs and empower more farmers, especially women. She wants to promote Ghanaian culture and heritage through her coffee, and she wants to inspire future generations to pursue their dreams and passions.
The values and mission
Emi-Beth embraces resilience and innovation. She says, “The passion for creating something unique and impactful keeps me going”. She turns every challenge into an opportunity and every problem into a solution. She is not afraid to try new things and learn from her mistakes.
Emi-Beth’s mission is to make Kawa Moka more than just a coffee company. She wants it to be a social enterprise that empowers farmers, celebrates culture, and inspires change. The joy she gets from seeing how each Kawa Moka cup is enjoyed is priceless.
Key takeaways
In starting a business, think passion and impact.
Finding and nurturing strategic partnerships is a valuable strategy for scaling and sustaining a business.
Building a strong brand identity and reputation is a key challenge for any new venture, especially in a competitive and crowded market.
The first people to bring coffee to Ghana were the early missionaries in the mid-1700s.
Ghana’s tree crop policy (http://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/gha180168.pdf) has identified coffee as one of the tree crops to be supported to reduce the country’s over-reliance on cocoa.
The Robusta coffee type thrives in Ghana and is grown in the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Central, Western, and Volta Regions.
Business ideas can come from anywhere. Mary Magdalene’s business idea was sparked by curiosity about a new drink, then, called sobolo. She saw them—red drinks in bottles—and wondered what they were. She later learned that they were made from hibiscus flower petals, but she never tasted them.
One day, she decided to buy some of these petals and try to make the juice herself; she was pleased with the result, and so were the people who tried it. She researched different natural spices she could add to make the juice more delicious and healthy, and she got some of her family members to be her tasting officers.
Sobolo drink (Source: GlobalFoodBook.com)
From a Gift to a Business Idea
The juice was so tasty that her tasting officers suggested that she should make some for sale, but she didn’t feel motivated to do so. Then one day, it happened that a friend of hers was having a program, and she wanted to support it in some way; instead of giving the person money, she thought of making drinks. She bought some bottles, made the drinks, and bottled them. After bottling the drinks, she realized that they looked plain without labels, and she wanted them to look special and attractive.
To create labels, she needed a name for the drinks. She had previously tried producing a cereal mix (tom brown), branded Makarena Cereal Mix. This business was, however, on hold because she could not find reliable people to help her with the production and packaging.
She adopted the name Makarena from the cereal mix, created the name Makarena Chills for the drinks, and had labels made with her contact details.
Bottled drinks (Source: Mary Magdalene)
Getting Positive Feedback and Orders
Right at her friend’s program, she started receiving calls from people; they had really enjoyed the drink. That was when she decided to take it up as a business.
Mary Magdalene did not stop just at making juices and bottling them; she decided to explore and get more creative. She sampled the drinks served at the local bars when she went for programs and realized they were no different from what she was doing. She decided to lobby for orders and promote her drinks at the events she attended. She diversified by making a millet drink popularly called lamougine, using a different process.
She has a way of encouraging people to try her drinks, and because they are unique in taste, the people who try them are always impressed. She later experimented, adding coconut, watermelon, carrots, cucumber, and other fruits or vegetables to enhance the flavor of the drinks.
She was proactive, too. In church, whenever she heard the announcement that someone was having a program, she would quickly approach the person and offer her services. She admits that, in the beginning, she had to sacrifice a lot. Some prospective clients found her charges too high, but she wanted to promote her drinks and get clients who would pay well, so she was willing to make the sacrifice. Then she thought of getting dispensers to display her drinks at programs.
In the early days of her business, she once heard of an upcoming ground sales and hair products fair. She registered to join because she knew it would be a good opportunity for her to market her drinks.
Serving drinks at a function (Source: Mary Magdalene)
Being Proactive and Creative
At the fair, there were many local bars, but she knew that her drinks were the best, if only people would try them. Unfortunately, those who had already tried drinks from the other local bars did not want to try hers. She started encouraging people to come for a taste of her drinks; when they did, they liked them so much that they started calling others to come and try them as well. Within a short time, her drinks were finished, while others who had come before her still had some of their drinks left. This was a proud moment, because in the midst of so many similar drinks, she knew there were no others like hers.
Key Takeaways:
Business ideas can come from curiosity and experimentation.
Customer feedback and satisfaction are crucial for business success.
Being proactive and creative can help you stand out from the competition.
Diversifying and adding value can enhance your product and service.
It is interesting how many people will deny doing anything for money, even if it is obvious. Joyce is different; she openly admits that she started her business, Framey Frames, because she wanted more money.
Before Framey Frames, she had tried other businesses: she joined a network marketing model for a make-up brand when she was in university; she invested 800 cedis for the brand’s products, got people to sign up under her, sold the products, and made some profits. However, at the end of the day, she had nothing to show for it. She did not mind, because she only went into it for the money. Then she tried selling perfumes and other items to her friends. After graduation, she learned to make wigs for sale. This also did not last.
During her national service, she sold clothes, juices, and hampers to her colleagues and customers and made extra money from these ventures, but they were all short-lived.
Finding Her Niche in Glasses Frames
She realized that none of these businesses lasted because she did not care about them. Anyone who knows her can tell you that she is not a make-up person and that she hates going to the salon. She prefers to keep her hair natural, with a wig or two for backup.
In August 2018, with a month left of her national service and no job prospects, she got the idea to sell frames for glasses. Joyce says, “No one supported my vision of selling glasses, but I felt like the holy spirit inspired me to start selling glasses.” She started with no business plan, no business name, and 300 cedis. She did not think Framey Frames would survive more than five years.
She made her first order online and waited for two weeks for it to arrive. She created an account, and people pre-ordered, paid, and received their frames when they arrived. At that time, the prices of her frames ranged from 30 to 60 cedis, when other sellers charged more than 200 cedis.
After her national service, when she had started this business, she went back to school, hoping to meet people who could help her get a job. Three friends she made in school who were employed advised her to focus on Framey Frames. She followed their advice, registered the business, and applied some of the things she learned in school to the business.
Growing Her Business and Passion
In the early days, she used to carry the frames in a bag and count them by hand. She says she has seen her growth, and so has her family. She started with five frames, then moved to ten, then to more…
There was a time when the frames she ordered were delayed, and she had pre-orders to fulfill. She did not want to disappoint her customers, so she followed a friend’s advice and went to Accra to find a shop that sold similar frames. There, she met a man who became her angel and mentor in the business. He sold her the frames she needed and has been very supportive and helpful ever since. He taught her many things about the glasses business, such as how to choose the best frames, how to market them, and how to satisfy her customers. Sometimes, he even gave her some frames on credit, and she credits him for her expansion.
She does not know how it happened, but she is passionate about Framey Frames. She likes to see her customers satisfied and will go to any length to ensure customer satisfaction, and it fills her with joy to see her products recommended by others.
In 2020, she felt the need to import the frames herself, in larger quantities than she was doing before. She made her first order without any knowledge of importation; that, she considers a mistake she made. It was the largest order she had made herself in three years, and also her most expensive, because she had to pay more money at the customs office than she had expected. She did not have the money and had to call on friends to help. It even cost more than the frames she got and she made a big loss on that order.
Even though she started the business with 300 cedis, she is sure she would not have reached where she is today if she had not met the man in Accra who was willing to give her stock on credit.
Key Takeaways:
Start with a small investment and a clear vision, but be flexible and adaptable to the market and customer needs.
Find your niche and passion in the market, and offer affordable and quality products to your customers.
Seek mentorship and guidance from someone who has experience and expertise in your industry; the person can help you overcome challenges and grow your business.
Research and investigate before getting into any new venture.
It all started during the COVID lockdown, around March 2020, when everyone was told to stay at home. Driven by her passion for cooking and to ward off boredom, Alberta turned to YouTube to explore new recipes. She delved into various dishes, experimented in the kitchen, and delighted her family with her culinary creations.
One day, Alberta’s husband suggested she try her hand at baking cakes; again, she fell on YouTube to learn. The first cake she baked got burned black, but her supportive and encouraging husband took that cake, scraped off the burned parts, and ate it. Their children, seeing their father eating the burnt cake, laughed. When he finished eating the cake, he told her that it was the best cake he had ever eaten. Then he told her to bake again. She kept trying until, finally, she got it right. She says it wasn’t perfect like the cakes sold outside, but at least now it had some semblance of a cake.
Burnt cake (source: Fidalby cakes)
In February 2021, as a result of her husband’s encouragement, she enrolled at a cake-baking school. This marked the birth of Fidalby Cakes. She started by baking birthday cakes for the family, and for a family of six (including Alberta herself and her husband), there were lots of cakes to bake. She posted pictures of the cakes she had baked on her WhatsApp status, garnered the attention of her friends who placed orders, and told other people about Fidalby Cakes.
As the business gained momentum, Alberta decided to register the business and open a business account.
The Challenges of Meeting Deadlines
To ensure client satisfaction, Alberta bakes and stores cakes in advance by refrigerating them. This enables her to meet deadlines, even accommodating last-minute orders. In instances where meeting a deadline seems challenging, she relies on a friend who also bakes cakes to step in. When she does this, she bears the cost of the delivery.
She plans to expand, to get a bigger place for the baking, and to create platforms for her business on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. To her, it has been a good and fun journey, filled with supportive family and friends.
The Importance of Relationships
There was a time when she almost gave up because, for about three months, she got no orders. When she told her husband she wanted to stop the business, he encouraged her to bake cupcakes for friends and her children’s teachers at school, and these teachers referred her to other parents.
Sweet and ready cupcakes (source:Fidalby Cakes)
Whatever success Fidalby Cakes enjoys can be attributed to the invaluable relationships Alberta has cultivated over the years. She tells the story of a friend who asked her to make a birthday cake simply because the person found out that she bakes cakes—this was after the friend had already ordered a cake from somewhere else.
While Alberta cherishes her many friendships, she prioritizes reliability as a businesswoman, ensuring that she consistently delivers her cakes on time.
Key Takeaways
Social media platforms can help spread the word about a new product or service and attract customers and orders.
Meeting deadlines and satisfying customers can be challenging, but can be achieved by planning ahead, storing products in advance, and having a backup plan.
Building and maintaining relationships with family, friends, and other stakeholders can provide support, referrals, and feedback for a business.
Being reliable and delivering products on time can help establish a reputation and build trust among customers.
Delivery services are convenient and save a lot of time, but why would anyone want to get into the delivery service business when there are so many dispatch riders around running the same service? The answer is simple: to provide a better service.
Young Dr. Delivery Services is a prime example of a delivery service that goes above and beyond to meet the needs of its clients. Unlike other delivery services that only pick up and deliver items, Young Dr. Delivery Services also runs errands for clients and purchases items needed for delivery. This service is especially helpful to foreigners who are unfamiliar with the terrain and need assistance finding what they need.
From Idea to Action
Alexander Mensah, the founder of Young Dr. Delivery Services, was inspired to start his business after a friend with an ulcer experienced tummy pains late one night. With no drugs available and no hospital or pharmacy nearby, Alexander realized that if a delivery service had been available, they could easily have ordered for drugs to ease his friend’s pain.
After starting his business, Alexander distributed business cards in hotels in Accra and Tema, which led to his first client. He has since created a chart to serve as a charging guide, and while the profit margin is small, he enjoys the opportunity to help people through his business.
Goals and Aspirations
One of the main challenges is the business registration process. To register his business, he would have to dedicate an entire day to the process, which is difficult since he also works as a pharmacist. He has considered hiring a middleman to help with the process, but he does not have the funds to do so. Despite this challenge, he is optimistic that, by the end of this year, he will have completed his business registration.
Key Takeaway
Despite challenges, maintaining optimism and perseverance can lead to eventual success.
Biz Savvies 