By Khadijah Amponsah, MIB San Francisco
Khadijah Amponsah is my name also known to be the Beader. The Beader because of what I am into. I am from Ghana, West Africa.
The word the Beader was derived from the word beads. I am into creating designs with beads which comprises of comprises of bracelets, key holders, slippers, flip flops, necklace for both men and women; waist beads, bags, anklets and earrings for women. We also have some of our beads designs in dresses and tops. I work with other three designers in beads. We work with all sorts of beads; African beads, Crystal beads, glass beads, seed beads, pave beads and a whole lot.
It all started on November 2016, when I walked into this bead shop. I was inspired by their work then I decided to work with them. I went to the shop the following day took pictures of their works, had the pictures on my DP on WhatsApp and had a status which went like “AFFORDABLE BEADS AVAILABLE. WHATSAPP OR CAL FOR YOURS”.
My strategy to capture customers was to have some of the designs on; like the anklets, waist beads and bracelets, I made free deliveries to my customers and also made sure any problem they encountered with the designs were picked up and fixed on time. The customer turnout was massive to my surprise and I was making a lot of profit as well.
The first one month of my startup was not easy but I learnt from the situations and found effective and efficient ways of fixing them. There was this particular day I had to get this particular design for one of my customers, I got this design fixed and on delivering it that’s when I got to know the size giving was inaccurate. I had to drive all the way back to get it fixed again in order to solve this situation of returning deliveries back due to inaccurate size, I decided to learn to fix these designs as well. This really helped me save a lot of money because anytime I found myself in situations like this, I had it fixed there instead of driving all the way back to get it fix again by these designers.
I normally get my inspiration from other designers in the beads business, my customers and anybody I find on the streets having these beads designs on.
I never knew I had this passion for being a Beader until I entered this bead shop and decided to start something and it also helped me discover my talent in bead designs. I believe life is a gradual process, there is a lot to experiment to find what you are good at and it also has more to offer.
The Hultian 