Jovida makes strides in USA market

Being denied access to a visa to enable you travel to a country of choice can be down-heartening and frustrating to most people especially the business folks in the country. But when Vida Ayorkor Anang stumbled on such a ‘sudden normality’, it opened up her eyes instead. Maxwell Adombila Akalaare writes.

BUSINESS activities and trips to the USA for Vida Ayorkor Anang, the brain behind Jovida Exclusive Fashions at Nungua in Accra were brisk as usual until sometime in 2005 when the US embassy in the country suddenlly wrapped her up in an emotional trauma.
Before that trauma, which she said “was quite a set back for the business”, she was successfully sewing, packaging and exporting products from her Jovida’s Exclusive Fashions to the States for her numerous black Amerian fashion-freak customers.
The door to the international market for her products opened as far  back in 1998 following an opportunity afforded her through her membership with the GAWE to attend and exhibit at the first Global International Women's Conference held in Adisa Ababa, Ethiopia. "That conference really opened the international door for my business," Madam Anang recollected amidst smiles.
Her second international business gate opened two years after. "That was when I got another opportunity to participate in the second edition of the conference in Miami in USA. I networked at the conference, stayed for an extra two months and when I returned, I started taking orders and doing business with the people I met while at the conference."
“I also had the opportunity to show my products at the Drug Enforcement Agency during one of their black month’s celebrations. So, between 2000 and 2005, I kept traveling to the USA; sending crafts to my US based customers," Madam Anang recounted.
That international door which opened far Vida Anang’s Jovida Exclusive Fashions way back in Ethiopia in latter 1998, however, got shut right here in Ghana in 2005.

When the boat rocked
On the afternoon of May 5, 2005, Madam Anang drove to the US embassy here in Accra, walked in, and requested to renew her visa “so that I could travel to the US to do some business.”
But the visa officer at the embassy looked her in the face and said “no Madam. I’m sorry we can’t renew your visa any more.”
And since then, 05-05-05 has always remained in the history books of Madam Anang; the shocking day that opened her eyes to new realities right here in Ghana.
“That day, the 05  05 05, how can I forget it? I can never forget that day,” were her comments when the GRAPHIC BUSINESS asked her of the date.
“That was really a shock to me and a set back for the business because I had  built my footing along that line; manufacturing in Ghana and exporting them for sale in the States.”
According to her she has since not attempted any visa renewals "because I have realised that I don't have to travel outside before I do business with my foreign based customers. So, what next?
In this mobile telephony era coupled with the increasing proliferation of social networking sites courtesy the Internet, travelling for business transactions is in most cases relegated to a second option.
With all these assets at your finger tips of most people throughout the globe, doing business with people across international boundaries is actually made less hectic - once you have their contacts and a reliable delivery system.  But the issue relies heavily on trust. And that too must be cutivated by the supply, nurtured by both sides, and be consistently renewed.
So, when Madam Anang recovered from the US embassy's trauma, she quickly switched to deliverying on orders received via phone and other modern powered facilities to replace the physical delivery the embassy indirectly denied her of.
But that too was not easy. "I started making calls to people I had met asking them to place deposits for orders and get them delivered through shipment but people are not comfortable with that. So, I had to  develop that trust in them that once Jovida received their deposits and specified orders, Jovida would supply accordingly.
According to her, she had to use "the little money that we had to produce and ship to to some who have not even deposited but ordered" as she sought to develop and nurture the needed trust between her and the out of sight customers.
Six years now, Madam Anang said her Jovida’s Exclusive Fashions has been engaging in this produce and ship based on orders received to cater for her international customers while strategising to capture the local ones.
"We have actually shipped some products in  January to be used for the black history month's celebrations”,  Madam Anang said.

The birth of Jovida
"Jovida was actually borned in Nigeria," she recollected. Accrding to her after acquiring a three-year classroom skills and knowledge in dress making at Social Advance Institute, she travelled to Nigeria and while thee "I set up my fashion company after spending six years with Aisha Mohammed Fabrics in Kaduna State."

Vida Anang recounts the birth of Jovida fashions

But no place sweet like home as  a visit to Ghana  saw Madam Anang saw Jovida Exclusive Fashions packing bag and baggages back home. "I paid a visit to Ghana and saw that it was actually better to come back home and continue with my business," she memorised.
No business road in Ghana and Africa at large has ever been smooth. Almost every renowned business fellow that you see worldwide has a rough yesterday behind what one may perhaps  describe as his/her smooth today.
The case  of Madam Anang was not quite different. According to her she started working from "a porch in a house at Nungua  but things later improved and I subsequently acquired a kiosk at at Nungua along Bank Road. By then, I had only two apprentices who together, we sewed dresses as and when people brought their materials."

A cry so loud
The cry of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) in the country for financial institutions' assistance has been far so loud but is yet to receive any serious attention.
Madam Anang has added her voice to such a cry. "We SMEs form a large per cent of the economy. We employ a lot of people and pay a lot of taxes to the state. So, I'm appealing to the financial institutions in this country to open up their doors especially to women in business. Women are so unique that if you give us anything we multiple it; give us sperm, we give you children, give us foodstuffs, we give you food, give us money and we would give create more jobs for the economy. The banks and other financial institutions  should give us tailor made products rather than lumping us together," she pleaded.

Giving back to community
In the near future, Madam Vida Anang said she wants to come up with something in a nature of  an NGO that would train less priviledged girls in trade and subsequently get them employed. She also hopes to expand and strenghthen her present source of funding for Jovida, and venture into an estate property by construting more houses for rent and lease.

Vida Anang with one of her apprentices in the shop

On GAWE, she said "it is an eye opener. It taught me how to do bookkeeping" and thus called on her colleague business women to adopt the practice of keeping records on their daily transactions.
And for the weekend loving folks, Madam Vida advice is "whatever money that we get, let's try to save it. Let us cultivate the habit of saving for tomorrow and should not see pretty things, funeral dress, new shoes and the rest.    Vida is on vigonda@hotmail.com

In our next entrepreneur, we would look at Ms Sharon Gboney came up with Awesome Engels, a beads, hats and events and planing promotions company in Accra.