There are many great people that you find along your journey. More often than not, their goodwill almost goes unnoticed, but become a bridge that leads you on to new territories.
In October 2014, I started producing in my garage factory. Nana Yaw came in one day and asked to help. He became my partner in production for the next 5 years. Late nights, early mornings, he showed up and was always available for whatever was needed.
I started looking around for places to sell the products. Most of the shops just asked for samples and price lists and nothing came out of it. During the week, we would mix, package, and label products by hand. On the weekends, my sister Esi would join me to sell at fairs and small community markets. This became my life. I was constantly looking for places to market and sell the products. Sometimes the cost of the event became more than revenue I would make at the market. Somedays, we made a lot of money, other days, nothing. But I noticed something, we started getting regular customers. They would call us to find out where we would be, bring their friends with them, and provide feedback on our products. We had customers who were not only Ghanaians but also Kenyans, Nigerians, Americans, and Europeans. I was getting invites to markets I didn't know existed. I needed more help.
That's when Maame Serwaa came along, a young college graduate with a love for selling. Her energy brought so many people to the brand. Selling on the weekends wasn't enough, I needed to pay her as a full-time employee. We went to Accra Mall one afternoon and Ama became my new bridge. She offered us a temporary space to sell during the week. We couldn't afford to be there every day, so we sold there a couple of weeks in a month. Soon, customers started to trust our consistency. We told them we were here to stay. We hoped so, and somehow they believed and stuck with us.