Samasey, a father of four, believes in Genesis 1.28. He opines that nobody was born to suffer and die for nothing. After years of trying various ventures with no success, Samasey decided to become a miller.

In a society like Ghana, where a lot of importance is placed on whitecollar jobs, anyone venturing into milling (with all the dirt and mechanical noise involved) raises eyebrows. They assume that it’s because you're a failure or you are looped by destiny to fail. But not Samasey.

Samasey has been a loyal VisionFund client for four years. Starting with a loan of 3,000 Ghana cedis (US$497) Samasey has established himself as the most resourced milling operator at Hwediem, a community near Keyansi, a mining town. He first started with a simple business plan: “…get a loan, buy a corn milling machine, work, save the profit, payback the loan, apply for another loan, buy another machine, save the profit and grow.”  It was a vague plan, but he made it work. Samasey comments, “I didn’t want to just be a corn miller but wanted to be a productive one.”

With the help of the VisionFund loans, Samasey has been able to construct a factory for his operations. The factory, with tiled floors, is one of its kind in the district. In 2018, it was just a corn mill machine which emitted significant smoke into the atmosphere; by 2020, using his COVID relief loan of 18,000 Ghana cedis (US$2984) he's been able to install electric machinery to power his operations. This has significantly reduced the level of smoke and noise pollution. A business which started with one corn milling machine now boasts of six industrious machines, including machines for mixing bread flour, grinding millet and soybeans. He’s also employed four permanent staff to man the operations.

Unlike the many years before where he worried about his children’s education, Samasey has single-handedly sponsored his eldest son to study medicine. "VisionFund moni help me, I tell you, they help me, now my boy enter doctor school," he jokingly expressed himself in faltering English.

Samasey intends to purchase a rice milling machine with his next loan, expanding the brightness of the future of his business. No vision is too large. Deciding to be what you envisage is the torch to illuminate the vision.

 

 

Written by Abban Enoch Johnson, VisionFund Ghana