Fidelity Young Entrepreneurship Initiative Success Stories - Asili Coffee Purveyors Name of Business Asili Coffee Purveyors Name of Business Owner John Nana Addo Francois Tell us who you are? A young entrepreneur and CEO of Asili Coffee, a beneficiary of the Fidelity Youth Entrepreneurship Programme. I was born and bred in Ghana. I used to be a banker but quit going into business to have a greater impact on society, especially in the Akuapem areas, where I come from. I am proud of my Ghanaian heritage and building a business to help my country has always been my dream. What motivated you to start the business? Asili Coffee Purveyors is a licensed coffee processing company with its head office in Akropong-Akuapem, in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The company currently produces two types of products: Asili Premium and Asili Steep coffee. The Akuapen hilly environment is suitable for the growing of coffee, even though Ghana is not known as a coffee-growing country. The reason why I chose to grow coffee was to take advantage of the suitable climate to try something new and exciting. Coffee has great potential as an export commodity with a large market in and outside Ghana. I am hopeful that in the future, Asili coffee will help contribute to the export revenues and to the growth of Ghana’s economy. Kindly elaborate on some of your achievements? Asili Coffee has its processing plant within the Akuapem community and that is a significant achievement. The ultimate turning point for the business was when Fidelity Young Entrepreneurship Programme under the Orange Corners Innovation Fund offered me a loan to develop the steep coffee product. Any challenges/lessons learnt? Anybody who is serious and wants to create something out of nothing must be open to new ideas. Take your time and be careful when buying what you need for your business. In my case, acquiring land was problematic and took a lot of time and patience. Sensitizing people on the planting of coffee in the Akuapem region was critical as it was a new venture for many of the people in the region Technical expertise from people who operate machines can be expensive especially when there is no local expertise. Growing local expertise in the core functions of your business is important. Finding the right material to package the products is also essential Raising capital can be a challenge especially when there are long processing times. That is why working with a dedicated programme like the FYEF is beneficial. How has the funding received from the program helped your business? Imagine having an expensive car but no tyres, so you have this beautiful machine, but you cannot move it. FYEP in partnership with OCIF gave us the tyres we needed to move our beautiful machine, Asili Coffee Purveyors. Through this funding opportunity, we have been able to develop the Asili Steep product which is sold directly to consumers, and this has enhanced our cash flow. It has allowed us to create employment for youth in the Akuapem and assisted them to build a life in the rural area rather than migrate to Accra. The funding and support from the programme have been crucial to the survival of the business. Advice to young upcoming entrepreneurs Take advantage of initiatives or incentives such as FYEP and OCIF Find a business and/or personal mentor who can guide you through the process within the country Have contingency plans in place Keep working your 9 to 5 or have savings while building your dream empire Your products should address a customer need and you must consistently ask customers what they need so that you can identify any changes in customer preferences. That is my recipe for success. Click here to start your application process.
