FROM BAR ATTENDANT TO SHOE MAKER thing about that job, I decided to learn more and upgrade my skills from shining shoes to making them. So I began searching for a place that I could find someone who would teach me. Then I came across one elderly man who made shoes, and agreed to teach me the art. The training alone took me about four years.” Then came another hurdle to jump. After graduation, he wanted to establish his own shoe-making shop, but as has always been the case in Accra, finding a place( land) to serve as location for the shop, became a problem.
As if that was not enough, he didn’ t have the needed capital to get a kiosk for himself.“ I thought that after my graduation, I would get some help from somewhere to set up. But there was no help from anywhere. So 10 years ago, I decided to start the business under a tree with a seed amount of GHC50.” He reckons that the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey was not easy for him as he had to constantly sacrifice some part of a day’ s meal( often lunch) just to accrue enough capital for the business.
Sacrifice and challenges
With time, that sacrifice paid off as he was able to raise enough money to set up a kiosk at Korle-bu, a suburb of Accra, within one year. But getting into his fifth year, he was evicted from the site as the landlord saw it was time to put up a structure on the land. After he was evicted, Yaw Barimah now needed capital to move to a different location to expand his business. So his next move was to go to the banks to seek a loan for the expansion. But guess how much he was given. Nothing! The banks were not in any position to lend him money.
And even to date, he says, most banks are still not willing to give out loans to small businesses.“ I remember I had an opportunity last year at the Trade Ministry to get a grant of € 100,000 from Italy. But they needed a bank guarantee and no bank was ready to provide me that guarantee with the fear that I will not be able to pay back, so I couldn’ t get the grant.” His limited education also sometimes affects his confidence level especially when expressing himself in the English language, but Yaw Barimah maintained, he is not sidetracked by this. Beyond the issue of capital, Yaw Barimah has a difficulty in accessing raw materials for his business as he said there is no company in Ghana that produces leather. He is therefore pleading with the government to establish or assist local companies to produce leather so that shoe manufacturers will have easy access to raw materials.
“ I want my brand to be a household name such that if you mention‘ Barimah Shoes’, everybody should be able to associate it with quality and know that it is made in Ghana. I also have the vision of exporting to other countries in and outside the African continent in the next two years.
Words of wisdom
Yaw Barimah bemoans the misconception that still lingers in our part of the world that subjects learning a trade as a profession suitable for school dropouts.“ If I take my company as an example, even though I employ eight people, I only have one apprentice. What it means is that many young people do not find learning a trade attractive. But I want the youth to know that learning a trade is the best way to fight youth unemployment. They should not
I ALSO HAVE THE VISION OF EXPORTING TO OTHER COUNTRIES IN AND OUTSIDE THE AFRICAN CONTINENT IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS
consider it as a profession for school dropouts. I rather think the youth who are educated should spearhead the campaign for everyone to engage in learning a trade so that the country will move forward.” I also want to tell those who have not made it through our educational system that it is not all lost for them. They should study their lives and see what they are good at doing and capitalize on it or learn something new which can help them earn a living.”
2016 | Business Times Africa 59