Cement in tots: New trend of cement retail emerges in Kumasi

Some businesses are devising more ingenious ways to survive the extreme
competition they face in the market, especially in cement sale.

The challenge, therefore, has resulted in a creative way of retailing cement in Kumasi in cans and other plastic containers.

A visit to Railways Line, a suburb close to Alabar and the Central Market revealed that some retailers have heaped in small containers — the cement is sold in bits and pieces other than in bags.

One of such innovative retailers is 20-year-old Faila Salifu, who does not have enough money to rent a shop or buy in large quantities to retail.

With a bag of cement selling at an ex-factory price of between 29 Ghana Cedis and 35 Ghana Cedis sales has dwindled drastically with retailers being at the receiving end.

20 year old Faila Salifu

Faila Salifu who has been in this business for the past three years is happy at the prospects of selling in small containers.

“In a day I can sell either two or three bags, the business is good, there are no jobs so this is what I am doing”, he said.

Prices range from the small ‘magarine’ container which is 3 Ghana Cedis, the ‘olonka’ goes for 7 Ghana Cedis, while the rubber paint is 9 Ghana Cedis.

This style of retailing used to be peculiar with grains and cereals.

But perhaps the complexity of the market and the quest to make income is pushing it to other commodities.

Forty-three-year-old Yaw Amankwaa has been doing this for seven years.  But competition has eaten into his sales.

43 year old Yaw Amankwaa

“I used to sell seven bags a day. It has reduced because now a lot of people are getting into this business,” he complained.

According to him, he started at the Railways Line (an area close to Central Market), but it has now spread to Aboabo Station, Sofoline and other areas.

So as with every business, the customer will almost always dictate how products are sold.

“If I need little cement for the job I am doing then I buy it, in fact, it really helps my business but with cement when you keep it open it for a long time , it loses its potency,” Kubina Okyem, a mason said.

Kofi Sarfo, a tiler at Maxima Junction in Kumasi  has been patronising what has become known as ‘cement-in- tots’ is happy at the develop because he is able to save some money on the product.

“As little as 5 Ghana Cedis, I can buy what I need, so I don’t waste cement and money,” he said.

For young Salifu, “one would only complain about no work if they are lazy to work.”

Story by Prince Appiah

 

CEO OF RLG COMMUNICATIONS INSISTS GHANA CAN BE AS BETTER AS THE WESTERN WORLD IF….

RLG Communications is the first indigenous telecommunication company to produce its own mobile phones and laptop computers in the history of Ghana.

The CEO of the company, Roland Agambire asserts that Ghana can rub shoulders with the western world if it adequately harnesses the potentials of the young Ghanaian.

He continues that whatever is being done in the eastern and western part of the world can be done in the center, which is Ghana.

Mr. Agambire however indicated that there are a lot of brains and entrepreneurs in this country who are under-utilizing their potentials thereby burying their ideas.

He says Ghana could become like the China and produce most of its needs if the youth are encouraged into technical and vocational apprenticeship and entrepreneurship.

Speaking to a student gathering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, he advised that the first step to break the status-quo is to take some amount of risk.

According to him, overcoming the risk of taking risk has catapulted RLG to its current height.

‘The refusal to take risk is the greatest risk one can afford to take in life.’ He says.

The owner of the only Ghanaian electronics assembling company, admonished young entrepreneurs to press on amidst any challenges that may be impediments to their business ideas.

 

 

 

‘BLACK MARKET’ OPERATORS TAKE OVER FOREX EXCHANGE BUSINESS IN KUMASI

  Forex bureau operators in Kumasi are accusing wayside currency dealers popularly known as ‘black-market’ of killing the business.

They fault Bank of Ghana’s move to restrict the amount of dollars the bureau can sell to the public.

My checks reveal business is booming for illegal dealers, especially, at Alabar, the nerve centre of ‘black-marketing’.

The illegal business is dominated by non-Ghanians who pay no tax to government.

Though they will not speak on record, many of them admit they are making it big because they are not affected by the central bank directive.

A Forex bureau operator who wants to remain anonymous says many legal entities in the sector have collapsed as a result, and thinks the Bank of Ghana must act to reverse the trend.

“Here in Alabar, the problem is we have many competitors that is the black marketers. In the past there were over twenty Forex bureau operators here but all have ceased operations due the black market operations. For every transaction, the Bank of Ghana charges us some fee in addition to a tax.  Because these people do not pay any tax, they exchange the currency at cheaper prices. This is killing our business”, he said.

Some traders say they prefer doing business with the wayside operators instead of the Forex bureau.

According to them, the ‘black marketers’ never run out of foreign currency, in addition to having cheaper rates.

“For the banks and bureau, they always run short of the dollars. When they have it, it’s very expensive so we resort to black-marketers. The secret is most of the business tycoons patronize the black-market operations. For them, they can reduce it to a very low price especially when you buy in large quantum from them”, some traders opined.