 | |
| Awutu-Winton Senior High School in all its glory! |
I have been here for two weeks and yet it seems like two months. Marcus, the Project Manager has only been here for two months, and again, one would have the impression he's been doing the job for years. Must be something to do with the degree of accessibility that one has to everything here and hence the sense of an immediacy of contact and advance.
In a mere two weeks, this has been the case for the Abrofresh project. Francis ( the local manager recruited late last year by Harriet , our predecessor at EDP ) has ably taken over the reins managing Abrofresh and I have slipped in alongside to assist him. As a team we have hit the ground running and things seem to be advancing rapidly, both of us motivated by the clear potential that Abrofresh has.
Currently Abrofresh generates only a little profit to be fed back into the charity. However, we have been following the Business Development Report compiled by Alan and Di, ( both experts in their field who visited Awutu last November) and development on the juice project has been kick started. This has also been helped by a chance encounter with the Managing Director of Jei River, our local pineapple supplier, which led to a now free supply of pineapples. A courtesy sample of our juices has produced a small but very enthusiastic new fan base, made up of Jei River clients and the MD’s mother, a significant consumer!
The MD is very keen to support Abrofresh, and the school, and has already been to visit our facilities and meet the students, and has enquired into the possibility of our teachers giving English literacy classes to his own workers. So we hope that this will develop into a solid and mutually ‘fruitful’ partnership!
Abrofresh is also looking into partnerships with local secondary schools and we have had a positive first meeting with the Head Master from a large local school - Village of Hope - who is eager to buy juice from us, enthusiastic about the potential of our project and keen to publicize our product.
A great degree more of knocking on doors would seem to be required however The marketing process appears to take much longer and seems to entail more ritual in Ghana than in UK. However, a slow development does assure a certain stability of relationship.
I am already struck by two hard facts:
1. Here, every minute of the day you spend out on the street, you are starkly reminded of the need for Awutu-Winton Senior High School as everywhere I see poverty , and education is the only way to break out of the cycle.
2. Here, also you spend so much of the day hot and thirsty that the prospect of a chilled to the touch bottle of pure, fresh, tangy pineapple juice or even better a deliciously green Pineapple and Moringa juice, is like a dream!!
In short, potential Abrofresh consumers do not require too much convincing. The immediate challenge that Abrofresh faces is coordinating sales developments with production capacity, as well as consolidating the interest that has been shown in our product and targeting that section of the local market can afford our admittedly modestly priced beverages ( deliberately set at a price below Coke and Fanta !)
A great first two weeks -. Francis and I might perhaps need to temper our enthusiasm for risk of burn-out! But with the Abrofresh advertising signboard up for just 4 days before the first new customer came to knock at our door, we were chuffed and relieved in equal measure!
Helen
