Getting a job in Ghana has become the most difficult task for every young Ghanaian especially graduates from our tertiary institutions. Year in year out, the number of unemployed Ghanaians keep on rising and this, ipso facto, has led to most young Ghanaians seeking greener pastures in other countries. While some graduates are interested and have the backing of their family to start their own business, there is one girl who has hidden her idea of starting her business from her father because he disapproves of it. Her name is Millicent Amoah and she is the CEO of Purrfect Fit Clothing.
Millicent who hails from Anum-Boso in the Eastern Region graduated with a degree in Political Science and Linguistics from University of Ghana. Knowing how difficult is it to get a job, she made up her mind to go against her father’s obligation to look for a job and concentrate on her dress making business.
According to Millicent, her father doesn’t like the idea of her going into dress making as he does not think his daughter will be able to make enough money from it.
‘My father is not aware of how big the fashion industry is now in Ghana. He is used to seeing fashion designers work in container shops and verandas and therefore thinks it will be unwise for a graduate to venture into it’, she told me when we met in October last year.
‘I knew how to do little stitches with thread and needle and my mum encouraged me to start trying things out with her sewing machine at home’, she added. ‘I was able to improve my skills by observing how my seamstress operated her machine whenever I go to her shop’.
She started by making dresses for herself, then her siblings and later made free dresses for her friends when she was at the university.
‘See you’re starting something and people don’t believe you can do it or you are the one doing it. In other to convince or prove to them you can do it, you have to give them samples for free because they won’t be willing to pay for something you never learnt but you’re saying you can do it’, said when I asked why she did for her friends for free.
Since completing school in 2016 and without any training in fashion designing, Millicent has been able to start her business on her own and attracted new customers through her friends. Her dream is to expand her business and hit the jackpot before her old man finds out.
For more of her designs follow Purrfect Fit Clothing of Facebook and Purrfect_fit gh on Instagram.
by: Nana Asabere