My mother was an entrepreneur.
We had a little factory in the house.
All my fingers have been stitched before, because every time after school,
if you're looking for me, instead of doing my homework, I'll be in the factory.
And my little fingers will always get caught and
they're rushing me to the hospital.
The sound of sewing machines, I don't know what it is, but that's my high.
I just love it
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My name is Linda Ampah, my company's KAD Manufacturing and
we also have a fashion brand called, Cadling Fashions.
We started Cadling Fashions about some 22 years, or so, ago.
Originally when I started, I was happy with custom made and then ready to wear,
those small volumes until people started asking questions.
Well, can you do a hundred of this one?
I'd say, really?
A hundred, are you out of your mind?
And then over the years we branched off into mass production.
We currently produce school uniforms.
We also produce for brands in the US like Anthropology,
Brooklyn industries, or Say Drew.
It was actually through that production,
that Michelle Obama wore one of the garments that we made.
It was very exciting.
The ideal situation for us would be to be marketing our own label and
hoping that it will do very well.
At the same time, we have women who are waiting for
their daily bread from working, not from handouts.
And so for us, we look at it both ways.
If bringing the jobs to us with your level will keep them working all the time,
we're happy to do that.
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Being a female business owner, where I come from, it's not exactly easy.
You have the basic challenges of raising children.
So you're in a meeting, you have to go and pick your child from school or
your child is ill, and therefore you can't join the meeting.
You get men making passes at you just because you're a woman.
You're looking for business from, maybe an organization, and they feel like,
well, maybe dinner here or maybe a weekend there, [LAUGH] would make it easier.
If for instance, you married somebody who already has his name on his property,
your husband's name is on the property, are you now going to tell him that he
gives you the property to go and give to the bank?
Some of us might be able to provide that and so get access to the money, but
a lot of the women, they don't have access to collateral.
So that cuts them out completely, and then you're stuck.
So you can't grow.
You're stuck, you will remain there.
And then as time goes on, you probably will be pushed out.
In Ghana, in the marketplaces, there are women and girls who sleep on the streets.
So we went out asking them whether they'll be interested to come in train,
and the response we got was just amazing.
So we invited them over, and then we started training them.
Now, the challenge there was that because they didn't have a place to stay,
they get raped, they have children, very, very real stories of such women and girls.
So we decided, you know what, we'll add housing to it.
So we rented a place and then we gave them the accommodation.
So those who wanted to stay, they'd come in stay, finish their training and
usually after a year, they're able to rent their own place and
then they move from the hostel.
Currently we have a girl who came to us through an NGO.
She was picked off the street as, I think maybe, six or
seven-years-old then, and as we speak now this girl is able to do patterns.
And for the garment industry, I find the pattern making as the most challenging.
This girl is able to do patterns from scratch to finish, is just amazing.
Right now the American Embassy has decided to give her a scholarship to
come to fashion school in the US.
We are very aware that giving somebody a skill and employing them in Ghana,
the ripple effect, you're touching the lives of about six to ten people,
just by employing one person.
>> When I came I don't know how to sew.
I don't know anything about sewing.
This place, you've been taught how to use a paper to graph and
trace, and how to use the pattern on a dress.
So, I can say this company will help me, I can open a company.
Now, I will employ people in it.
>> We have a young person, he had been coughing quite a lot.
We found out that he is HIV positive.
He has two children who are also HIV positive.
Now, what do you do?
You can't let them go.
You can't leave them alone, they will die.
So then you have to help them with antiretroviral drugs.
You have to help them with their children.
You have to keep counseling going, and it's a long journey.
And is draining, financially very draining, but for us, it's worth it.
It's really worth it.
As a business leader, I was at a stage in my business where I was tired.
I was burnt out and probably ready to throw in the towel.
Where I come from, trust can be an issue.
So, everything you do you feel like there's somebody who's not thinking in
the same direction as you or they really don't look out for your interest.
I realized that, you know what, there are so many young people in my
organization who it turned out had the best of interest for the business.
So let it go and letting some of them own parts of the story, and
of the future of this organization,
it's actually made me rest easy, and it's just amazing.
I never knew that could happen.
So as a leader, I have learned that, you know what,
others can do the job and probably even do it better.
Ten years from now, I hope to have retired.
I will sit back and just keep encourage them.
If they need any strategic direction, I will be there to support, but
ten years from now, I expect them to carry the torch and continue going.
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