By Betsy Ramser Jaime
‘I am Hermann Kofi Aho Aduvi from the Volta region of Ghana. I am twenty five years of age, born into an average Ghanaian family of seven. Of five children I am the first born after which follows two girls and two boys. Both of my parents are older citizens who are self employed working hard to cater for the family.’
Born into a family of entrepreneurs, Hermann knows the importance of hard work and responsibility. He also manages to balance his job as a rigger with his entrepreneurial endeavors.
He shares, ‘As a first child of the family I hold a share of the need and responsibilities of the family. I am currently employed as sales personnel in STARTIMES Company and part time worker in PEG Solar as a distributor in a humble spirit of good working ethics. I am enlightened in my duties as an older sibling and committed to the welfare of my family with total diligence.’
As a member of the Zidisha community since 2017, Hermann has raised 11 Zidisha funded loans over the past couple of years. During this time, his loans have ranged from $118 to $1,509.
With his very first loan in October 2017, Hermann set out to purchase decoders to re-sell. In his sales work, he is able to distribute these decoders all over the country. With each de-coder costing $30, he would be able make a $5 commission on each one. He discovered that the more decoders he could purchase at a time, the larger the discount he would receive.
As 2018 rolled around, Hermann found himself in need of assistance as he shared, ‘I work with StarTimes Decoders as a sales Rep. Our work is to distribute decoders to all parts of the country. Commission is based on the amount sold. I am using a van to go run for sales but the gear box has a problem. I kindly need support to fix or buy new home use gear box to fix. Over the past 2 months my sales have been down because I was not able to do the rounds so I make less income. With the replacement of the gear box I strongly believe sales will improve.’
Fortunately, with the help of a $226 Zidisha funded loan, Hermann was able to repair his gear box, and keep moving forward. In fact, afterwards, he updated lenders on his discussion page and shared, ‘The gear box I got was very good. I was able to make many trips for sales. Thanks so much lenders. The vehicle is back on the road now.’
With Hermann’s following 9 Zidisha funded loans, his biggest need was funds to fuel his van for distribution to wholesalers and retailers. He explained, ‘Due to the current increment in fuel price in my country, I would like to ask for support to enable me to fuel my van to aid me in my distribution to wholesalers and retailers. I distribute PEG (Solar product) to agents. I go round the distributing point every single day so that Agents can always have the product available for their customers. In every round I spend about $45.00 every day times 25 days in a month. So I kindly need a loan to aid me for this task.’
On August 7, 2018, Hermann took to his Zidisha discussion page and shared, ‘Thank you all very much for your support. It was very good because I always have fuel for my job and don’t need to think about my fuel. The Zidisha money was designated for the fuel/gas and their did not pose any pressure on me during the period. God bless you all.’
For Hermann, the assistance from the Zidisha community has been instrumental in giving him the freedom to educate himself and his siblings, in his own words, ‘One treat to my salary is fuel/gasoline expense and this loan is going to help me put into judicious use my salary so that I can pursue my education. Thank you all lenders for your genuine support. You are helping me to grow my business. AYEKOO, which literally means “well done.”
Would you like to positively impact the life of an entrepreneur like Hermann? Make sure to head on over to the Browse Projects page to see what exciting projects our Zidisha business owners are taking on.
