When young Ms Sharon Gboney started applying the classroom theory that she had acquired while schooling at the Central University College in Accra, she got little job fulfilment as she had expected.
As a result, a few people, including family members advised her to engage in something else that was more fulfiling to her. Those thoughts of “why not just pull out and engage in something more fulfilling than this office work”.
Little, however, did she know that putting those thoughts together with the pieces of advice from family members and friends to work would today grow into her Awesome Angels to manufacture beads, hats, shoes, decorate and plan events and promotions in Accra.
Today, the fruits of that desire to “engage in something else fulfilling” has being her fashion related company named Awesome Angels. The company currently employs five people, intermittedly trains interested persons in craft acquisition and brands chocolate and souvenirs aside its core business of manufacturing beads and hats and the planing and decoration of events and promotions for all persons
Then and now
Looking back to her days at the office and those in the entreprenuerial realms, Ms Gboney said that “it’s been good so far.”
She, however, said the beginning was not smooth. "When I first started operations, things weren’t easy at all but with time, it got well. Though it is still not easy, we believe with time, Awesome Angels would become a household name in the country's fashion industry”.
Ms Gboney, a lady who was born and groomed in the midst of women entrepreneurs, stumbling on such challenges were nothing new to her and could therefore, not stall her targeted goals.
She told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that operations of her now Awesome Angels started way back in 2008 " in a house at Latebiokoshie where I sold my wares through my sister's fashion shop. A few months later, we moved into this (referring to the office building which has separate rooms each dedicated to displays of the company's wares, training, manufacturing and the rest) building".
According to her, business was "a bit slow at the time we started operating from here, but we are gradually growing and hope to, in the near future attain the image that we wish for ourselves."
Market for the products
Ghana's 24 million population though considered as a population explosion and therefore a mounting challenge on the country's infrastructure is only a drop when compared to the nearly 200 million Nigeria population. But as Nigeria battles with its numerous inhabitants, market for products in one of the most populous country in the sub-region continue to widen perhaps to the envy of the small populated countries such as Ghana.
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| Sharon poses with some of her products |
According to Ms Gboney, the country’s small population figure when compared to that of Nigeria was hindrance to the marketing of company’s wares and thriving of businesses, especially to the country's present booming fashion industry.
The fashion industry in the country is currently booming, a situation that can be attributed to the desire of most people 'not to repeat attires' and also due to the ease and quickness at which the country's folks are embracing modernity. Most people are thus shying away from the old held conservative dressing styles in Ghana to welcome these emerging fashion trends. As a result, most fashion events, shops and companies are consistently springing up country wide to serve this increasing demand. This has given birth to most fashion events, shops and companies in the country as they consistently spring up country-wide to serve this increasing demand.
These numerous fashion related businesses have thus adopted various promotional strategies as they each seek to gain a market share and stay in business. These strategies mostly include pricing and the quality attached to their wares.
According to Ms Gboney and her Awesome Angels, the company uses glass in making the beads “unlike others who mostly use plastic. This means that our products should be priced higher than the others. We believe that it is the end product that matters. So, when we price them higher than the others, most people find it difficult to understand. But some of them after using the product for sometime would come back to say “oh I now understand why yours was higher than the others."
She said her company had made a resolve not "to promise but to commit ourselves to an excellent end products; we under promise but we over deliver."
Formal education
In Ghana, self employment in the areas of craft, entreprenuership and the likes have long been tagged as "jobs for the dropouts". As people in the western countries see formal education as an urgent spice to the entire package of self employment and trade acquisition and its application in particular, those in the African continent and Ghana to be specific see it as an end to an office work.
Until recently, most people in the country were of the view that 'hand work' which mostly grows into self-ran companies were the sole reserves of those with little knowledge in the classroom or the dropouts.
Ms Gboney, however noted that her experience in formal education, BSc Administration in Marketing acquired at CUC was a massive blend to her current business operations.
She therefore entreated all women entrepreneurs and those aspiring to become to "spice it up with formal education. Education gives you that kind of exposure and experience that you need to apply to when it comes to the job.
Finance for expansion
In a country were the financial sector and its lending scheme is tight and ‘discouraging’ to the business community that needs these finances most, only the risk taking business folks can afford to go for loans for expansions for their businesses.
Ms Sharon Gboney is not one of them. She told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that she prefers mobilising funds from her family members and friends than going to the banks for loans.
"It is difficult to access the bank’s funds and their repayment terms do not also take into consideration the business’ performance at the time.
“For now, I prefer to get my ‘loans’ from family members and friends rather than from the banks. But if we become big one day, then we can go for their loans.”
Why? Well, Ms Gboney says “May be its because I'm not a risk taker or we are not big as we want to become that is why.”
A woman in business
Entrenched perceptions in this country have long relegated women to household chores, care takers and other community-based activities outside the permits of revenue generating enterprises.
The few who have, until recent times successfully broken that jinx have had to engage in menial revenue earning yet risky activities of petty trading and the likes as they sought ways of taking care of themselves and providing the immediate needs of their children.
The situation is however changing for the best. Women are nowadays robbing shoulders with their male counterparts in the areas of entreprenuership, a situation that is promising to remain for good. But the situation is not that easy as women try to adjust their long held household and 'mother' chores with those of business.
For women, combining business trips, capacity building training and workshops with family duties is just as hectic as one can imagine. And that gets worst in the case of the married ones as they would have to 'tactfully' marry the responsibilities of a 'married woman' with those of 'a woman entrepreneurs'.
But for Ms Gboney, combining her womanhood with the activities of her Awesome Angels has being so far "okay". She, however, hoped that her present experience with "a woman entrepreneur’' would continue after she tights the knot "some time to come".
For now, Ms Gboney said it is her target of making the Awesome Angels at Mamprobi along the Banana Inn Road a house hold name in the country. Sharon is on hagboney@yahoo.com
In our next issue, we will discuss what gave birth to Mrs Matilda Amissah’s Matamiss Enterprise, a pottery producing venture at Tema.
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