In the age of the microwave, where people’s everyday needs are met at the click or touch of a button, entrepreneurship is at its peak, and young people are leading the trail.
The focus now is not on how hard you can work, but how smart you’re able to find solutions to people’s needs.
Elselund Ewudzie-Sampson, a young Ghanaian female entrepreneur is one of the few women making a difference by venturing into a business which has become extremely relevant in the Ghanaian community in this age.
She manages Big Samps Market, a food market and grocery delivery service company which has come to be affectionately called Agbogbloshie, after the popular market in Accra.
The main idea of the company is to provide a ready market for consumers while saving them the stress of spending hours on the market to buy groceries.
In simple terms, one can now place a simple call to Elselund (aka Adwoa Agbogbloshie), and have all their groceries, including the Koobis, Momoni and Kako delivered at their doorsteps without any hassle.
Big Samps Market also provides their delivery service to small-scale food vendors and food processing businesses by purchasing items directly from farmers at an affordable cost.
Before starting Agbogbloshie, Elsie had already been involved in some businesses.
“I’ve always had the mindset of making an impact by doing something so I started businesses when I was as young as 8 years; when I failed I started again”, she disclosed to Prime News Ghana.
She first began a Gari, Sugar, and peanuts business, then moved into selling candies and some snacks.
Elselund further revealed that when she was in Class 6, she introduced a business idea to her classmates and was able to get them to work with her. They sold popcorns to generate money to buy water, Ice blocks and Birthday presents for themselves.
Her urge to make impacts and do something carried her through Winneba Secondary School, to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where she studied Communication Design. She currently works as a professional graphic designer for GHOne TV.
In her University days, Elsie also began a shoe business, Samels Shoes which she plans to revive.
Explaining what pushed her to start Agbogbloshie, she said, “ I developed a passion for local food packaging whiles in school, it advanced to a passion for processing local food ingredients, then researching to know the opportunities in the Agricultural Industry that are currently not being explored. The results I got made me want to start this business and also venture fully into the Agriculture industry.”
“ The will to make impact and be known for achieving something great motivated me. My family is also my greatest inspiration, Big Samps is actually named after my Father”, she added.
The company, which has been in existence for only a short while has already gained popularity on Campuses. And they plan on maintaining their customers by embarking on their special ‘Mobile Agbogbloshie’ and Campus Initiatives this year.
To get items to be delivered, clients send their orders via SMS, WhatsApp(Mostly) or email, the team then interacts with them to confirm their prices and items. Then they shop and deliver the item to their clients within the shortest time frame possible.
Describing some of her challenges, Elselund mentioned that her business originally began in 2015, but she failed thrice at it due to certain constraints, re-branded and started again in 2017.
“I first got the idea in 2013, when I was in school. But I couldn’t combine working on the idea with Academic work, besides people did not really understand the idea at that stage so I decided to put it on hold until after school.”
“ Financial constraints held me back for a moment as I initially thought I needed a lot of money to start. But after careful planning and research, I started with just GHc100. When the business began to grow, I borrowed some money from my Parents and that helped me a lot. My parents have always been ready to sacrifice and support even with the little they have”
Ms Sampson added that at the initial stages, the timing was not right. “I’m a Christian and I believe God makes everything beautiful in His time. When I started all over in 2017, suddenly even those who never believed in the idea began to support. I believe I had to go through all those failures so I can empower others to never give up”, she narrated.
The future promises to be bright for ‘Agbogbloshie’ as more people are busier and are getting more acquainted with smarter and faster means of satisfying their basic needs including getting foodstuffs delivered to their doorstep.
She has no doubts that her business will make huge impacts in Ghana’s Agricultural sector in a few years as Big Samps market aims at becoming an actual local food ingredients market and a local food processing company.
Watch Video: {youtube}https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hwADp8R2WM{/youtube}
www.primenewsghana.com/ Ghana News
