Linda Dor: God, education the reasons behind her success
For Madam Belinda Doris Arkorful, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Linda Dor Enterprises Limited, her father’s dream for her future was not a big one and the reason was simple - he was a small-time carpenter who did not believe in girl-child education or women empowerment.
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Her father was thus not prepared to pay for her to go to school. “My five sisters also did not get the support of my father, however, he readily supported the education of my five brothers,” she told The Mirror in a chat noting that, “My parents had 11 children”.
Indeed, her late father’s modest vision was to see her grow up to become an illiterate but decent homemaker, who would get married to a hard-working man and have the principal occupation of managing the household of her family.
On the contrary her baker mother was seeing young Belinda in future as a fine nurse working in a top hospital. That motivated her to save some money to sponsor her, and her sisters to school, while her father took care of the male children.
Madam Arkorful, who is a native of Apam in the Central Region, was born in “nineteen-forty-something” at Kade, where her parents were living and working.
She entered the classroom as a fresh Class One pupil at the Kade Presbyterian Primary School, entered the Middle School and then moved on to the Komenda Training College, where she studied to become the professional teacher that she had always wanted to be.
She was first posted to the Asamankese Primary School. She later asked to be transferred to the Koforidua Methodist Primary School in order to be with her sisters, who were living in the Eastern Regional Capital.
After teaching in Koforidua for about two years, she put down her chalk and moved on to seek higher academic training at the then Winneba Specialist College, now the University of Education, Winneba, where she studied and obtained a Diploma in Education.
Fresh from the specialist school, she landed a job as the Headteacher of the Nsawam Osaebo Local Assembly (LA) Primary School and later returned to Koforidua to take up the chalk again as a teacher at the Koforidua LA Middle School, where she taught for two years and decided to walk out of the classroom for good.
Apparently, while she was growing up, her mother’s intrinsic trading skills and high entrepreneurial spirit had influenced her so much that she literally worked as a businesswoman while she was in school, selling anything saleable. This explains why she decided to stop teaching and enter into the catering business full time.
“My uncle, Mr J. A. Afful had a guest house called the Castle Bridge in Koforidua. In 1976, after I had taken the decision not to return to the classroom again, I approached him and asked that he gives me some space to start an eatery and he gladly obliged and that marked the beginning of the Linda Dor enterprise,” she recounted with a huge smile filtering through the gap in her upper front teeth.
She said after operating the food joint at the Castle Bridge Guest House for a while, she visited the Registrar-General’s Department to have her business registered under the name Linda Lee Restaurant.
“But I was told that name had already been taken so an officer looked at my names “Belinda Doris” and suggested the business name “Linda Dor,” which I readily accepted.
Madam Arkorful run Linda Dor at the Castle Bridge Guest House from 1976 to 2011 and moved on to open three branches in other parts of Koforidua, namely the Linda Dor Plaza, Linda Dor Annex at the premises of the State Insurance Company (SIC) and Linda Dor at the Ghana Telecom area, Koforidua. There is another branch in Accra, opposite Rana Motors on the State Transport Company (STC)-Graphic Road bypass.
However, the branch that has brought her fame and honour locally and internationally is the Linda Dor Highway Rest Stop and Restaurant at Bunso in the Eastern Region, which is said to attract more than 3,000 guests a week.
Recounting events leading to the establishment of the highway rest stop, she said she was earlier invited by the SOS Village at Asiakwa, also in the Eastern Region, to operate a restaurant to serve the staff and children at the village as well as commuters on the old Accra-Kumasi road.
“After operating at SOS for a while, the Accra-Kumasi road was diverted through Bunso so I approached the late Chief of Asiakwa, Nana Agyemang under whose jurisdiction the Bunso land falls, for a piece of land to establish a world class rest stop and restaurant and he offered me more than 10 acres of land to develop”.
Presently, Linda Dor Enterprises Limited employs more than 315 permanent workers and a host of casual and contract workers plus individuals who periodically come and work as interns.
Madam Arkorful also operates a fuel filling station close to the highway rest stop as well as a students’ hostel at West Legon in Accra.
A tour of the Bunso rest stop on Tuesday, January 7, revealed that Madam Arkorful, her supportive husband, Mr George Freeman Boateng, who is the Deputy Managing Director of Linda Dor Enterprises Limited and their team have embarked on an ambitious project to expand the facility to accommodate the growing number of guests visiting the facility daily.
Over the years, the rest stop has expanded to include a closed restaurant and an open one; a canteen, a special place for dignitaries, a mosque, snacks spot, mini shops, washrooms and there are plans to build a modern hotel to complete Madam Arkorful’s dream of establishing a world class hospitality facility that is a preferred choice for customers in West Africa and across the world.
In preparing for the big take off, Linda Dor has acquired its own cold storage facilities, power generating sets, butchery, improved kitchens etc., and has constructed some houses for some of its members of staff.
“It is interesting to note that some people think that the Linda Dor rest stop is government owned and therefore do not see why they should pay to use the washroom. This should tell everybody that we need the support of all to develop the highway rest stop concept to offer better services to the people,” Mrs Arkorful stressed.
Besides helping to open up the Bunso community to more development, Madam Arkorful and her team have been supporting the SOS Village and other towns in the country in kind and cash over the years.
As a staunch Methodist, she serves as a patron of many youth groups in the Methodist Church and also supports others in other churches and communities.
Her hard work has earned her several awards including the Ghana Business and Financial Services Excellence Award, the Ghana Tourism Authority Lifetime Award for The Development of Highway Rest Stop plus many regional tourism awards.
She said she is prepared to sell the Linda Dor franchise to interested parties that wish to establish highway rest stops around the country and also invited potential partners to join her to develop the hotel project at Bunso.
She thanked the Ghana Commercial Bank, SG-SSB the Muamuadu Rural Bank at Osino and the management and staff of her company for their support over the years.
“I would give the biggest thanks to God for His care and guidance”. “It is God and education that have brought Linda Dor this far,” she pointed out.
Of all the foods that she sells, Madam Arkorful says it is rice and stew that easily whet her appetite.