When Afua decided to get her products to the public, she didn’t just go out and that was that. Prior to launching her products at the market place she was super nervous.
” I was nervous and almost didn’t go. My mum was the one who told me to just do it. I kept contemplating whether or not I was ready. I had put the Cremeux in an ice chest because I was scared something would happen to it; like explode or something.”
At the time she only had access to cheaply made packaging that ran the risk of having her products leak – and leak they did. At that stage her products fell more on the liquid side in terms of their consistency, which did not help much either.
All of these factors made her nervous and uneasy about getting her products to people.
“I was nervous because I wasn’t comfortable with my products. Back then if you would have asked me if they were 100% and if I loved them and if I was proud of them I would’ve been very uncomfortable with saying yes because it was not true.”
Regardless of her setbacks and anxiousness, with the help of her sister, she put together a table cloth and a table and set up her stand at the bazaar.
“I guess the part that was nerve-wrecking is the way the bazaar is set up. You are on the sidelines and there are walkways. People get to look at your products and just walk by. You have to greet them and try to pitch to them. They can easily say nope, not interested, which can definitely make you feel a little bit bad. Some may listen and say maybe next time. You just have to take it, have faith and try the next person.”
Afua remembers not having a sale for about an hour or two. She told her sister that maybe they should just pack up and leave because it didn’t look like anybody was going to buy.
Great support structures go a long way when you are trying to get a business going. Her sister told her to “have faith.”
She says, “I actually remember that. That was a bad attitude to have, by the way. She was like have faith in your things. And really, people did end up buying. Thank God for that.”