Fiifi in a photograph with Gifty displaying her new washing products
“I have never been discriminated against or looked down upon in society. Although I acknowledge that I have faced a few difficulties in my pursuit of a better life. With my strong motivation and dedication, I have overcome any physical, psychological, or mental torments society throws at me.”
These were the words of Gifty Dei-Mensah, an ambitious entrepreneur and member of the Persons With Disabilities Society.
Gifty’s touching yet successful story illustrates the popular saying “Disability is not inability” which implies that just because she is differently abled, doesn’t mean she is not capable.
According to the 2021 Population and Housing Census Report Vol. F approximately 8 per cent of the Ghanaian population (31 million) five years or older have varying degrees of difficulty performing activities. Such persons are typically labeled as (Persons With Disabilities) for ease of reference. Females (8.8%) have higher difficulty levels than males (6.7%).
The same report further established that the proportion of the population with varying degrees of difficulty in performing activities in rural areas (9, 5%) is higher than in urban areas (6.5%) and the share of female PWDs is higher than for males in both rural (56.2% vs 43.8%) and urban (59.7% vs 40.3%).
Gifty’s Story
Born in 1981 Gifty was diagnosed with scoliosis; a sideways curvature of the spine most commonly diagnosed in those with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and paraplegia, a paralysis of the lower half of the body.
Gifty has lived with the reality of her condition over the past year with the aspiration of being a source of motivation for differently-abled persons in society.
She is an alumnus of St. Geraldo Junior High School, Superstars Senior Secondary School, and Accra Technical University with a High National Diploma HND, in Purchasing and Supply.
Having served as a national service person at the Achimota Hospital, Gifty’s diligent work earned her a place with the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) where she worked for some time but had to resign due to complications with her condition.
The chronic pain in her back and fainting most of the time prevented her from working at a public organization because of her health condition.
After years of being confined to a wheelchair, Gifty’s elder brother suggested she learn how to make laundry to earn a living. “I had to learn how to make laundry whilst living with agonizing pains. My back felt as though someone had placed a heavy weight on it. It was very difficult, but I had to go through the pains to gain knowledge on the job” she said.
After her successful training, Gifty founded the Climax laundry shop at Lapax Petroleum Estate, 10th Avenue in 2008 with funding and support from a family. The shop gained prominence in the community, receiving ten customers a day on average. She has trained and employed 20 staff since its establishment.
COVID-19 IMPACT
Covid-19 and the ban on social gatherings affected Gifty’s laundry business. Customers boycotted her services because of canceled weddings, business trips, anniversary celebrations, athletic tournaments, graduations, and funerals.
“My staff on the other hand was mostly afraid of contracting the virus and this affected my sales. I was left with no choice but to lay them off and close the shop hoping the season would end soon” she said.
After months of lockdown, the ban was lifted. However the equipment used for the laundry services broke down, resulting in a reduction in efficiency, affecting productivity. The detergents used for the laundry were not in suitable condition for use. “My world turned crushing. Am I going to start again and how do I start? These were the questions on my mind after releasing my situation,” she said.
Gifty says the situation compelled her to locally manufacture detergents for her laundry services to reduce the cost of its operations.
Her business has started to recover this year, but insufficient funding has impacted work. She however hopes for the needed help to fully recover.
Gifty also revealed that during the embryonic stage of her business, she applied for government support but was never shortlisted due to the competitive nature of the process, but hoped to be listed among the PWDs grants.
“This was why I decided to participate in this year’s Person With Disability enterprise support program from the government. This program seeks to empower people like us to recover fully from the devastating effects of the pandemic. This grant would help me expand my business by buying my machinery, and I am very hopeful that I will be shortlisted for it”.
GEA PWD Grant
The government with funding and technical support from the World Bank has established the PWD Enterprise Support Programme to be implemented by the Ghana Enterprises Agency under the Ghana Economic Transformation
GEA CEO Kosi Antwiwaa Yankey-Ayeh stated during the program’s launch that the agency’s past business support programs have provided valuable insight into the challenges faced by PWD enterprises due to their inability to compete effectively with non-PWD firms.
Since most grants are based on small and medium enterprises, this is the fate of most differently-abled people in this country. For them, they operate on a micro basis making it a disadvantage for them as stated earlier by Gifty.
Specifically, the grant support is to promote the welfare of 150 enterprises owned by persons with disabilities through business and financial management training. It also provides grant funding of GH¢12 million.
The grants are eligible for persons in the agro-processing, construction, education, food, and beverage sector. ICT, Healthcare, manufacturing, textile and garment, tourism and hospitality, trade and commerce, transport and logistics and non-profit organisation.
The programme will not just provide the beneficiaries with the grant but will offer training programmes on business and financial management, digitization in business, business plan development and marketing.
The Ghana Enterprise Agency as the implementing agency of the PWD Enterprise support programme has called for eligible owned Micro Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and startups enterprises to apply at no cost via the GEA web portal https://gea.gov.gh/getp/pwd .
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke