Yaa Peprah Amekudzi
A GHANAIAN entrepreneur, Yaa Peprah Amekudzi, has urged young businessmen and women to embrace the country’s cultural identity since it is key in gaining access to the global market.
She said most celebrated global brands were evolved by men and women who fully accepted their cultural identity without trading it for others.
Mrs. Amekudzi, who is also the Head of Cocoa Life Programme in Ghana and a cocoa farmer herself, said this at the opening of her shop.
Called “Kai-Biyoo” and located at Kanda Estate in Accra, the shop has products made with Ghanaian traditional ware like beads, kente, calabash and lost-wax brass.
It also offers wax prints, duku, fugu, bags, slippers and paintings. To support the works of young artists, the shop provides space for the display of various forms of art at no cost to the artists.
Shedding more light on the shop, Mrs. Amekudzi said the whole idea was to preserve the place of beads and other traditional accessories in our society and embed them in our lifestyle.
“Though beads used to be exotic to Ghana, we as a people have embraced beads that we have established ourselves as beads producers earning an enviable place in the world with especially our Krobo glass beads and Abompe bauxite beads,” the motivational coach said.
According to Mrs. Amekudzi, many traditional ceremonies “are replete with beads of all kinds. And thus, there is a mentality that beads are worn as accessories to traditional attire such as kente, kaba, batakari.” But she said Kai-biyoo was on a campaign to make the wearing of beads a part of every Ghanaian for their weddings and other occasions.
She said Kai-Biyoo, a combination of Ga words meaning, “daughter of Kai”, desired to make wearing of beads on our neck, wrist, arm, ankle, ears and waist a norm.
“We are positioning ourselves to not only provide a place for hobbyists to display and sell their artworks but also to source our materials from producers as much as possible. As a small business, we desire to remain affordable; and to do that we carefully and ethically source all the materials, ensuring quality and authenticity are not compromised,” Mrs. Amekudzi said.
A business desk report