What a completely different set of emotions I have as I sit on the plane from Heathrow bound for Accra. It was only a year ago that I ventured on my own to this distant country that I knew almost nothing about. Four months immersed in Ghanaian life made me realise what a special place and people I was lucky enough to have found.
I knew when I returned to London that it wasn’t the end of my relationship with Ghana – but the beginning of something that I knew not what. What luck that I met John whose friend Gerald lived in London. And not one to miss an opportunity, when Gerald and I met on my return to the UK at the end of March this year, I told him about my dream of building a business that would mean I’d have an excuse to return to Ghana on a regular basis. He then explained his own dream of building a business too, because what he wanted was ultimately to return to Ghana with his partner and their son, to settle.
And that’s where it started, my return journey. Gerald introduced me to Tayo and they explained their idea to me – and asked me if I’d get involved in getting the idea off the ground. Another stroke of luck came when we discovered an organisation called AFFORD, set up specifically to help Africans living in the diaspora. AFFORD’s objective is to help small businesses who want to set up in Ghana, with the ultimate aim of bringing wealth to the economy and much-needed employment to the locals.
We’ve formulated our idea and worked it into a business plan, with the aid of our business advisor, also courtesy of AFFORD. So here I am, flying to Ghana a day before my new business partners, ready to find out if Ghana is ready for us and our idea. We’ve got a lot of research to undertake, plenty of people we need to meet and time to spend on working out if it’s feasible. Very exciting times .... How lucky am I?
So a three day delay thanks to the vagaries of the UK weather this week has done nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for this venture. I can’t wait to get started – though a bit of sunshine won’t go amiss either!
I’ll update this as and when I have time and anything interesting to add.
In the meanwhile, season’s greetings to all. It doesn’t seem so long ago that I was saying the same thing – from the same place.
