Meet Senam Adjei — a mother of 3 children, and the owner of not just one, but TWO businesses! Senam’s first business is Kokoushh – Freshly Bottled Coconut Water. Her company manufactures and bottles coconut water for distribution. She manages a group of 10 employees including factory workers and sales members. Her second business is Devio Kids Wear. She makes tailored dresses for children, and has recently expanded her business to include adults’ fashion as well. She grows her business online through sites like Instagram, Etsy, and Shopify.
Like most other small Ghanian business owners, Senam has to deal with many business challenges such as limited funding capital, high interest rate for borrowing, and hiring and retaining skilled workers. She notes that while being a stay-at-home mother comes with many responsibilities, it also has the benefit to have somewhat flexible hours. Senam loves working on both of her companies because it gives her pride to be an independent woman. She is driven by her desire to contribute to the Ghana community and economy.
After meeting with Senam briefly, you’ll find her to be a very special woman and business owner:
1. Employee empowerment – Senam takes the time to teach and develop her employees. It’s important to her that her workers understand the vision of each of her businesses. Senam also rewards them generously, such as offering them bonuses and contributing to their national health insurance plan.
2. Proactively contributing to the community – During just the first conversation, you can tell that Senam is very thoughtful about how the government can better support small businesses in Ghana. Senam is passionate about giving back to the community, and that’s one of her primary drivers for being a business owner.
3. Business minded decisions – She records of all of her business transactions – sales and expenses – through a mobile app called OZÉ. She reviews her transaction data frequently and uses it to make purchasing decisions.
Senam uses her OZÉ app to record her expenses and sales, review her historical data, and make smart business decisions. Each month, she receives a report from OZÉ that evaluates her businesses’ financial health in a concise way.
OZÉ is a free mobile app that empowers small business owners in Ghana, like Senam, to make data-driven decisions to improve their performance. The app connects users to the resources needed for small businesses to accelerate their growth. It’s like a cash ledger, but on a phone. With OZÉ, you’ll be able to: back-up your records, track debt and credit, generate financial statements, and more! Click here to learn more about OZÉ or download OZÉ on the Google Play Store.
