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African Dream: Tips from Ghana's banker turned shoemaker.
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Fred Deegbe is a former
Ghanaian banker who decided to take on the world's leading shoe brands
by teaming up with a friend in 2011 to start Heel The World - a high-end
shoemaking company based in Accra.
As part of the latest series of African Dream, the young
entrepreneur, who now has 13 full-time employees and a passion to
improve the quality of shoes made in Ghana, shares some of his 10 top
tips for success:
Competition is always good but not easy to handle. Chinese
goods on the market have never been my worry - I make sure that my
company constantly churns out beautiful products in order to get the desired attention
It is very important to emphasise quality over quantity
One of the key strategies I have had from the start is to focus on niche markets
Fred Deegbe's company relies heavily on social media for marketing
Better branding and marketing of my products
is an area where I have put in a lot of time and investment too. We
market our products primarily through social media - and word of mouth
From the start of my business it was set in stone that products made by my company would be crafted by hand rather than machine-made
Treat clients as your friends: This is crucial and I made sure that I engrained it into the minds of my team so that there is trust and loyalty between the customers and the business
Use locally acquired materials. It is important that through my business I support other local industries
Have a social cause that your local clients
can buy into. Because of low employment rates among youths and a lack
of training for entrepreneurs, we have created a division that empowers
people who want to become entrepreneurs. We hold start-up work shops and
give regular talk at schools, universities and even corporate bodies in
Ghana such as UT Bank
Invest in the wealth of local talent with
world class potential. We hire and collaborate with all sorts of
creative people we believe can compete globally. We also run internships
for people who want to learn bespoke shoe-making and leather work.
We champion the made in Ghana/Africa campaign -
especially for the export market We value our own products and have
over the years campaigned that it is wholly and totally a local product.
Our beads are made of recycled glass and recycled brass.
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