On today’s celebration of our women in events, we delve into the life of Serwaa Akoto Juliet, an Ashanti from Juaben Municipality, an optician by profession and the CEO of Sajus_Northern_Pride.
Asking her how she got into the events space, she exclaimed, ” I love business, I got the inspiration from my mom who is a business woman. Growing up I wanted to be a full time business woman but I found myself in the health sector. Initially when I was posted to Tamale West Hospital 2017, I was linking people to a nurse who deals in Northern kente, Smock and Bolga fan, and anytime I link people to her, she tells me how people patronize it. Latter part in 2019, I was inspired to do more by selling on my own. I got my first order which pushed me to work with my personal weavers and by God grace people are really patronizing.”
Being a vendor has a lot of challenges and Serwaa has had her fair share. “The delivery wahala. Some clients don’t want to pay delivery fee. So for such clients, I have to factor the fee in the cost. Delivery takes 24 hrs to reach customers, some do complain they want it fast. There is also low patronage sometimes due to poor advertisements. For delivery fee as I said, I’m trying to add to the product prices.
She also stated that she is motivated by her mom and her husband. He (Husband) just loves anything she does so when she is stressed out and wants to give up, He reminds her that giving up is not an option.
We asked her if she plans on quitting her professional job to focus on this venture. “Never. I will blend the two because it is the profession that exposes me to the business and other clients”. What makes her different from other vendors in the same venture is the fact that she believes in the phrase ‘The lady of her own, race no competition with anyone’. There are competitors in the kente business but she sees them as her inspiration because she’s in her own race. She also stated that social media has been her great helper. She does not remember the number of people she has sold to around Tamale, but through social media she has her largest customers from Accra, Kumasi and other regions.
Asking her about her plan for the next five years, she stated, “Though I won’t stay in Northern Ghana forever because of marriage, I’ve never dreamt of quitting when I finally leave Tamale”. In my next 5 years, I’m planning of having branches around Ghana. And I pray I will be one of the best sellers such that even if I mention luxury prices customers won’t ask for reduction because they trust the brand.
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