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.
Mary Dickson
Mary Dickson is a versatile professional with over a decade of experience driving innovation at the intersection of technology, marketing, and female empowerment. She is currently the Business Development Manager at GP Business Consulting serving as Lead Consultant with CBI -Netherlands Enterprises Agency. With a background in marketing she’s worked in different roles cutting across HR, Sales, Business Development and Marketing over the past 14 years in the Tech space. She has a keen interest in Digital marketing especially social media and has spearheaded over 50 training programs geared towards training women led business owners and young girls, equipping them with digital and simple tech skills. She has also consulted for companies and institutions across sectors, helping them optimize content, creation, ad management, customer engagement, and automation. She is the powerhouse behind the WeMompreneurs community, which supports mothers in business through training, networking, consultancy in digital tools. Mary is the co-author The Fruit of the Spirit (a children's book). She holds a BSc.Management with Computing and a MSc. Strategic Management and Leadership. She is the Vice Chair , Women’s Affairs of the Ghana Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs and a member of the Advisory Board of Prime HER ( NGO)