The Chief Executive Officer of Horseman Shoes, Tonyi Senayah is encouraging parents to become agents of change for their children, by inculcating into them the spirit of innovation.
Tonyi who is a Sociology graduate of the University of Ghana has no formal education or training in technical and vocation skills, but says he developed interest in shoe making by under studying a local shoe maker at Lapaz as far back as 2009.
He started by sitting by the local cobbler usually after work. Speaking on The AM Show on JoyNews, MultiTV Mr. Senayah said; ‘I normally pull up pictures of some shoe designs from magazines and ask him if he could make the same shoes and his responds were often positive’, Tonyi said
The young entrepreneur said, his passion of becoming a cobbler became stronger after he wore a pair of shoes made by his local cobbler to work. He says, his colleagues developed so much admiration for the shoes, with most were surprised when he told them the shoes were locally made.
Tonyi advised, artisans in Ghana to take their jobs seriously, adding, they should try as much as possible to produce quality products because, it doesn’t really matter where the product is coming from, provided it was of top quality. This is a view he still upholds till today.
In his line of work, Tonyi identifies hard working young people out there who are doing so well but nobody knew about, then brings them together and harnesses their skills into a bigger entity. This he says is an effort to woo Ghanaians from patronizing secondhand products.
He is calling on government, stakeholders and NGOs to help youths in the various technical and vocational schools with the necessary tools and finance to enable them set up their own business.
He believes technical and vocational education prepares people for specific trades, crafts and careers at various levels whether as technicians or professional positions in engineering, accountancy, nursing, medicine, architecture, pharmacy, etc.
Horseman Shoes is a Ghanaian based footwear manufacturing company which produces men’s dress shoes, unisex sandals and slippers, school sandals and safety boots.
The company seeks to build Ghana’s biggest footwear manufacturing company in terms of brand preference and employment.
It won the Global Professional Achievers Young Entrepreneur 2011 Award and was one of the 10 finalists of ‘MY BUSINESS 2010’, a Joy FM young entrepreneurial mentorship program.
Horseman Shoes was a prize winner in the 2010/2011 UT/Enablis Business Launchpad competition to unearth young entrepreneurs.
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