Throughout her life Zupuo has sold millet, maize and beans. She travels to Hamale, an hour or two away, to buy stock from her regular suppliers and then sell in Lawra. In the past, without the business capital to buy stock she has taken loans of 1,000 Ghc from money lenders in Jirapa, paying back 237 Ghc per month for six months, so pays back a total of 1,422 Ghc. With the Jirapa loans the interest she had to pay on the money she borrowed meant she made no profit.
Referring to ATE, Zupuo smiles and says she now has help from a “friend”. With her ATE grant of 800 Ghc she bought 10 bags of grains but prices have changed and she now buys 8 bags at a time. She makes about 100 Ghc profit from the 8 bags of grains that she buys to sell and her outgoings are spent on the transport to buy the stock and food for herself.
She sells in bulk from her house to women who brew pito (the local alcohol made from fermented millet). This means people can call on her to buy at anytime. She also has a store at Lawra market which she inherited from her father and sometimes on non-market days she gets calls from customers to go to open up, measure and sell what they need. She explains that she gets more profit from selling in sealed bags as she chuckles that when someone comes to buy from bowls you have to add extra to make the customer happy so she ends up running at a loss.
Selling of millet and other grains in the area is highly competitive. There is a sector in the market place where most millet sellers line up to sell and Zupuo says she notices new people are now selling there too. Outwitting the other traders is challenging. Being a small town Zupuo explains that it can be difficult for those coming to market to buy millet to from her rather than another seller that they may know or are related to, so having her shop well located at the start of the market away from the others makes it easier. Zupuo says she makes her business successful by working hard. She gets to the market early to sell from the shop and then returns to continue selling from the house so that she doesn’t miss a customer. She has benefitted from advice and guidance on her business from ATE who taught her how to maintain regular customers and gain new ones. She learnt from the ATE workshop that if she gives her products out on credit and her customers don’t pay, the business can collapse. Previously Zupuo had got herself into a difficult situation by taking out high interest loans when business had been bad and she had responsibilities to pay for her children’s schooling. With her first loan she explains that she was just learning to think differently about her business and was still giving out her stock on credit. Once she paid the loan back she realised she only had enough capital to buy one bag of millet to sell. Now she only sells to people for cash and doesn’t offer any credit. ATE’s advice has helped Zupuo understand ways to manage and save money. Zupuo now belongs to two savings groups to help her save over short periods and benefit from lump sum pay outs to buy stock. One is with the Credit Union and one is a savings box which she pays 20 Ghc into after each market and will open in one year’s time.
Before, she says, she didn’t have any business sense and used to squander her profit. With ATE’s help, it has been a revelation to realise that the buying and selling she has been doing all her life, she can actually turn into a lucrative business. She now records everything which is new for her and she now knows the amount she bought, how much she sold and how much profit she has made. She explains that it is exciting to see her trade with new eyes. Now she understands it and is learning new lessons in business. In the dry season, when she has saved enough, Zupuo aims to get a display case for her shop to branch out into selling smaller items. In this development she is really thinking of her future when she can no longer travel to Hamale to buy the sacks of grains. She wants to concentrate on the shop and invest in it and grow it as she is growing older.
It is wonderful to see Zupuo, who has been trading in grains all her life, so excited to learn about how to turn her trade into an effective business and develop it to give her security in her old age.