‘I was born into a happy family of eight in a
village called Breman Brakwa in the Central Region of Ghana. I am the second
child of Mr and Mrs Nipah’s six children. My family was not rich neither were
we poor but everything we had asked for where given to us. As a young girl,
becoming a nurse was my biggest dream so my parents never joked with my
education. Shockingly, one day a severe illness affected my mum and lasted over
a year.
Her sudden disease drained my dad so much that he
was not able to further my education after my home economics studies at Breman
Asikuma Senior High School. All my other siblings including me dropped out of
school. Rita Maame Esi Nipah is my name but I am famously called Rita and this
is my story’.
Rita left the village with her younger sister when
things became unbearable for her family. She came to Accra to join
her elder sister ‘who was then married’ and lived in a single room. But she had
to leave the house which belonged to her brother-in-law’s father, when their
family started complaining.
She took her younger sister to a friend and she also
went to stay with a male friend she had fellowshipped with but was asked to
pack out due to some peculiar reasons. She moved and ended up perching another
friend in a kiosk for about a year.
Desperate Rita who wanted to do something to attain
a lucrative living, ventured into dressmaking. “I had an idea and love for
sewing which I acquired during my secondary education. And since the idea was
already there, I realised that diverting from my dream career of becoming a
nurse to a fashion designer would be the easiest so I enrolled as an apprentice.
God being so good to me, my hard work and humble character made my madam have
trust in me and left the shop in my care whenever she travelled outside the
country. It was a very big shop, we had where we sew and a store – where we
sold fabrics”
Unlike every other apprentice, Rita was paid for her
dedication towards her work and started earning little money for a living. “The
way I related to my madam was exceptional, I sometimes gave her advice and she acknowledged
them. This made her develop trust in me. So my madam decided to use me as her
shop keeper and paid me instead of hiring someone from elsewhere to be paid
monthly. I also received tips from customers due to my service”
Unfortunately for Rita, they were asked to move out
of the kiosk she lived in with her friend. She rented a single room with the
little money and the tips she had received from the work place.
Rita bemoans that, after her apprenticeship she
never thought of practicing fashion design simply because she couldn’t afford
to purchase a shop. “I never thought I could continue with the fashion design
because life was really hard. But thankfully, a customer who used to buy from
me when I was at my madam’s shop, searched for me and encouraged me to put what
I had learnt to practice”
Feeling challenged and determined, she started in her
small corner where she lived and strived to develop her craft. She bought some
fabric and a sewing machine and started in her porch where she cooked and kept
all her cooking utensils. She moved from door to door and begged people to sew
for them.
Despite the many complications, Rita is now the
Chief Executive Officer of Ritz Design in Spintex. The company she established
with just two machines can currently boast of 9 industrial sewing machines and
6 professional employees who sew for her many clients. Just like her name Rita,
Ritz Design sews both male and female clothes for her clients and shop.
According to her, she struggled to get to this stage
in life, “I don’t remember any family member or a friend giving me a pesewa to
invest into my business I struggled to be where I am today. It’s all the doing
of God.”
Narrating her struggle to the Motivate Ghana team,
she said it was tough for her to buy her new shop.
“The woman who encouraged me to pursue the fashion
design came to me one day and said to me that a friend of hers had a shop that
she was renting so I should go for it. I turned deaf ear since I didn’t have
the money she requested. In three months’ time, I was in the house when the
woman called me to come to her house, I got there and met the owner of the shop.
She asked me if I wanted the shop and trust me that day I wept. The owner asked,
“Why”. I explained to them and begged the owner to rent the shop to me on
credit and she agreed”
Rita Maame Esi Nipah in the past two years has not
only settled her debt but has also rented a new apartment in Spintex and has
paid for seven years advance. Throughout her trying times, she catered for her
two siblings. The younger one she came with to Accra has completed Takoradi
Polytechnic and the last born is currently studying at Swedru School of
Business.
She explained that it was her candid responsibility
to take care of her siblings because she didn’t want to be in a situation where
she will be living in a mansion and her siblings will be begging her for money.
She draws source of inspiration from God. She
believes her success today primarily sterns from the faith and commitment she
had for God. Her greatest wish is to open an orphanage home for the needy and
the less privileged.
Rita has called on the youth to never lose hope but
rather set a goal and work towards that goal. Hard work and determination has
always kept her moving in life.
What
is your Story? #MotivateGhana
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