Akouélé

Akouélé Ekoué Hettah, owner of a clothing boutique in Lomé, started her shop with limited business knowledge, or as she would say “blindly, by trial and error”. However, after taking the Personal Initiative Training course, she has become an accomplished entrepreneur. Having gained credibility in her business environment and vis-à-vis her customers and partners, she was able to obtain financing for her business much more easily. “When it comes to providing financing, we only think of banks and microfinance institutions, but after my training I realized that suppliers, friends, and relatives can also be sources of financing,” she said.

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A constant pursuit of innovation is one of Akouélé’s most important attributes as it enables her “to stand out among her competitors.” Today she is adding her personal touches to wedding dresses that she has purchased from her suppliers, to attract more customers. “We need to have innovative products, creative ideas. We need to propose extra special items to appeal to our customers,” she says.

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Akouélé has become more ambitious since her training and now has bigger dreams. Her boutique began to seem too small to her, so she moved her business to a more prestigious location on a boulevard in Totsi, a western suburb of Lomé. She has even turned her eyes to the international market, with a boutique already open in Benin and another under way in Ghana. Not only is Akouélé’s business growing, but so are her ambitions.