Living her dreams — Sally’s story
Sally Amonoo is in her early thirties and a mother of three. When she left the Anglican Secondary School in Kumasi, marriage was not the next thing that most appealed to her.
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Unable to stand the threat of a possible loss of the man of her dreams to another woman, she had to head for the altar soon after graduating from the senior high school. After her second daughter arrived, the idea of a trade began to take root in her.
Training
In early 2009, Sally started her training as a beautician, finishing off specialising in nails and hair designing. The training was going to take nine months and an additional three months to fine-tune the rough edges. Immediately after a well-attended, colourful passing out, Sally roamed the city of Kumasi in search of job. Before luck could run out on her, a hairdressing and designing enterprise hired her.
Three months into this new employment, Sally had to bid Diva’s Salon goodbye after she had secured a better deal with RoseBen Salon. Her new employer had carved for herself a rich niche under the Tech Credit Hostel.
As the only beauty business legitimately licensed by the hall authorities, the enterprise had a heavy stream of customers who patronised the business regularly.
Difficult Decisions
One and a half years later, just when Sally had well-adjusted to the new business, her obligations to the family was going to stand in the way of a good employment with RoseBen Salon. Due to the fact that the group RoseBen was busy servicing comprised mainly of university students, Sally was often required to work late into the night, which is the time most busy undergraduates found time to pamper themselves.
Her two kids grew tired waiting for their mum at the salon whenever they closed from school. The effects of this was slowly but steadily getting in the way of the children’s health. She quit.
Idea Generation
The idea of building and owning a business did not dawn on Sally when she was busy working for others. The steady flashes of inspiration which cumulated to birth an irresistible desire to own a business was going to come from the loss of income, however meagre such monies were and the frustrations associated with depending on a single source of income for the entire family. She started thinking hard, very hard, so that by the third month into unemployment, a fanciful idea had come up her frontal brain. And the idea was so funny that for a while Sally laughed out loudly to herself.
Sally, nevertheless, started her salon in her hall and corridor. She and her husband first sought and obtained the permission of the landlady before embarking on this costly experiment. When she secured the approval of the estate owner, business began one morning of September 2012. However, the adversities were not over yet.
The Journey
With one hand drier, two giant combs, a long narrow mirror and a rubber pan to improvise for a sink, a salon started in the narrow 6x8 footed corridor.
“Business commenced with the usual starters, most of whom were crazy outliers who cared little about the misery of my so-called makeshift salon,” Sally recollects, smiles enveloping her slender face. When a couple of months passed and she could afford some low cost equipment for the trade, another obstacle reared its unpleasant head: Sally’s co-tenants did not take kindly to the constant invasion of her customers into the house.
The family had to relocate, and so did her little business. The new apartment was not too far from the old one so Sally did not lose her existing customers. She actually made new ones and added them to the growing flock.
Prospects were high and business continued to be good. About a year and a half after, the family was going to lose the right to continue living in this house too. With the continuously worsening ‘dumsor’, Sally had to procure a standby micro power generator. When this equipment arrived, instead of bettering the circumstances of the business, it worsened it and actually killed it. The landlord ejected her and her family after severally stretching the patience of other occupants of the premises. Unable to placate their fury over the noise Sally’s electricity supplier machine generated, she had to move again. The business was on its way to a collapse.
Business location
By then, Sally had purchased nearly everything that a modern beauty business required. Falling on her lean savings, she sought the assistance of her husband. When she put that together, it was enough to rent a befitting business premise, but the location had to be strategic. Personal care business being what it is, location alone could connive with other less relevant factors to ruin a great business idea.
“When a customer comes again and again, it is a sign that they like your craftsmanship. They are building trust with your business. Relocating far from such customers will result in the loss of important customers,” Sally analysed intelligently.
Having worked in the students milieu for a reasonable period and quite a good chunk of her clientele being such undergraduates, Sally resisted the strong temptation of relocating far from the Bomso neighbourhood. Even though doing so could save her a good proportion of the rent, she nevertheless resisted such sways.
Bomso having been declared a non-negotiable location, Sally and her husband spend days talking to property owners in the vicinity. The most conspicuous and most sought-after locations had rent quotes twice as high as what she had budgeted for. By the time Sally settled on the current shop, four weeks had elapsed.
Today, Sally runs her beauty business with five other staff members and three student interns from the college she attended. When I asked her whether business was good, her response was electrifying. “.... but when school goes on recess, business does almost same, until September. But it is a good way of refreshing oneself when they go home.” Sally concludes, her eyes sparkling with joy and a sense of accomplishment.
Sally is currently eyeing other areas in the city of Kumasi for possible opening of annexes. She says Accra, Takoradi and Tema are high on her business agenda for next year and the year after that.