Pause, Reflect, Restart How one Ghanaian Company is staying afloat in a crisis: As businesses around the world navigate the economic effects of a global pandemic, KAEME is determined to remain resilient in pursuing its mission.

• Author: Seltier, Evelyn
• Position: FEATURE

Local and natural--Freda Obeng-Ampofo would have it no other way. As long as the owner of Ghanaian cosmetics line KAEME can remember, she has been using shea butter and black soap (roasted cocoa pods, plantain bark and coconut oil) as her only two care products.

Interested in finding ways to kick it up a notch, teenage Freda started giving the products her own touch. With success! People would stop her on the streets of Guatemala and France to ask how she managed to have such smooth skin. Over the years, her friends were excited about her cosmetics gifts for birthdays or weddings--and demanded more. Even though she had a steady job with the EU delegation in Accra, the idea of starting her own business persisted.

'Ghana is one of the world's biggest producers of shea butter and there are many popular brands in Africa. I wondered how I could compete with other businesses. So I hired a brand strategist to develop the right concept to set mine apart,' explains Freda.

This is how, in early 2016, Freda took her business KAEME online. She set up a website, used social media and produced a short video that got over 28,000 views in only 24 hours. A few years later, a physical store followed in Accra, next to product placements in Lagos, Cotonou and Abidjan. Business was going well. Early in 2020, KAEME's founder and chief mixer had her goals set for the year.

'Things were good. But then... no one was prepared for COVID-19.'

This is how the majority of small businesses--who create 70% of all jobs worldwide--feel.

'I had to tell my staff to go home. Our business had lost approximately 95% of its revenues since the first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Accra. We had to close our store mid-March.'

And there were issues on the logistics side.

Despite being a well-established online shop that should ideally withstand physical lockdowns, the shop owner was facing logistical problems.

'We were not able to ship any orders as logistics providers shut down. The lockdown meant practically zero sales for close to six weeks,' says Freda.

But Freda kept on paying her employees.

'This was a tough decision we had to make at KAEME, but we feel it's the right thing to do because our employees are our biggest assets. They are also like family. We invest in training them, so we would like them to stay with us as long as possible.'

Sourcing materials was another challenge Freda had to overcome like many small businesses in Africa. Looking for quality yet affordable...