Skills training necessary for women empowerment
For Ms Ruth-Maria Assandoh, building tomorrow’s leaders starts with skills training. She said skills training especially for women and the youth, was a sure way of making people self-reliant and independent.
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Determined to empower herself economically to support her family and the nation in general, she did not allow herself to be discouraged by people’s comments.
Career and education
She combined her MBA course at GIMPA with her work as a sales specialist at Hewlett Packard for the Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone office to establish her own business, AKILA, a bead accessory hub for men and women.
Established as an online shop for bead products, AKILA means ‘intelligent girl’ in the Egyptian language.
“Our vision is to be the leading producer of handmade beaded accessories in West Africa and beyond while projecting our Ghanaian culture and heritage”.
Akila currently sells in Ghana, Nigeria, Holland, Germany and the United States.
She took up a bold step to develop her existing art skills through beads making, in partnership with her sister, Ms Emilia Assandoh.
Products
AKILA has at present explored the areas of using beads for the making of slippers, bracelets, clutch and handbags, travel bags, iPad cases, laptop bags, suitcases among other items. “Occasionally we make use of gold-plated metals, bamboo, African prints, and chain straps in the production process,” she said, and added, “In this era of globalisation, coupled with cultural advancement, I decided to evolve my business to suit people of the 21st century.
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The few that supported me urged me on while others also appreciated my work and inspired me to continue to work towards the attainment of my vision,” she said.
Owning a workshop at Dansoman in Accra, she produces for the standard market and also makes customised products for her customers.
Speaking about some of her challenges, she said although the country had numerous resources to support major and small-scale business operations, some operators in the industry had to import raw materials from Nigeria, Niger and other countries to boost their operations.
Cost of production, she said, was unreasonably high, making pricing a challenge.
“With high import duties, yet the need to remain in production, I would want to manufacture my own beads using commercial ovens,” she said.
That, she said, would also create room for employment for the local people and enable her to export to the international market.
Advice
Ms Assandoh advised the youth, especially women, to take up the challenge of building their skills to be self-dependent and sufficient in life.
“My motivation was knowing my skills and using them to support the needy in my community, giving them not only a career, but a decent living, while providing sustainable livelihoods to families challenged by poverty.”
She hopes to set up a vocational school in the near future.
Writer's email-rebecca.quaicoe-duho@graphic.com.gh