IF IT HAD NOT BEEN THEM, I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN WHERE I AM TODAY – A BAC SUCCESS STORY
Persistence and assurance led George Ampadu into an experiment in 2000 that has been nurtured over the years to become a popular brand on the market – Blackman Fashion
In 2013, Ampadu began a relationship with REP that has helped to improve his business, income and livelihood. He has benefitted from training programmes in business management, financial management, packaging, marketing and fashion and designing. He has also benefited from a series of counselling sessions. He has also been sponsorship by REP to attend several trade shows including trade shows organized during the celebration of Kwahu festivity. Ampadu also says his participation in these trade shows and fairs have helped him to significantly improve upon his packaging.
Until receiving training in business management and financial management from REP, Ampadui says he was routinely misapplying the little income he was making from the business. “I didn’t realize I needed to pay myself. I thought the business is mine so I can do either. However, I’ve discovered that I need to do appropriate record keeping which can even assist me with getting credit support,” he clarifies.
With support from the BAC, He approached the Mumuadu Rural Bank, a participating financial institution of REP, for financial support. He has been given a total loan amount of Ten thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢ 10,000.00) under the Programme’s Rural Enterprises Development Fund to purchase an overlock machine and to also support him as working capital.
Through the technical trainings he had in fashion and designing, he now sews different types of clothes including suit and wedding gowns. Again, due to variety of clothes he sews, people are willing to learn apprenticeship training at his workshop. He has trained sixty-one apprentices and currently has twenty-one apprentices undergoing apprenticeship training. These apprentices are paid an average allowance of twenty Ghana cedis (GH¢ 20.00) weekly.
Ampadu expresses profound gratitude to REP, saying, “If it had not been them, I wouldn’t have been where I am today. With my business booming and more profit being generated, I have built my own house and I am able to cater for my family. I am also supporting my sibling who is currently in a nursing college.”