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HOW I STARTED MY FRUIT BUSINESS -CEO, KANDY’S SMOOTHIES LAB
Meet Abrefi Krobo Edusei, a young female entrepreneur who started her own business by learning from her grandmother’s hobby.
Abrefi grew up at Awudome Estates, North Kaneshie where she lived with her father, grandmother and siblings . Growing up, she had so many ambitions. At different points, she wanted to become a nurse, an air hostess, then later she became interested in running her own businesses. She is a graduate of Methodist University with a degree in Business Administration (Management major)
Abrefi was greatly influenced by her grandmother during her formative years which led her to pursue what she’s currently noted for.
Her grandmother made fruit juice and jam from fruits that were in abundance in their house. She also recalls that her grandmother often cooked different herbs as remedy for their ailments.
At a point, her quest to loose weight led her to conduct extensive research on various fruits. This curiousity, later grew to become a business.
Her first major event was for a party in May 2016. Through that first event, she received great referrals and that’s when her business started to grow. Her core business focus is serving her clients with mouth watering yet nutritious smoothies, juice, cocktail needs.
Kandy’s Smoothies Lab have been present at several major events such as Chalewote, Black Art Street Festival in Tema, Tidal Rave, Vodafone 10cedis shop initiative as well as many others.
As part of their corporate social responsibilities , they have sponsored and supported charity programs such as the just ended Miss Hygiene Ghana and “Project share your wear” an initiative by the Pervita foundation.Kandy’s Smoothie Lab currently has branch in the United Kingdom.
She believes that what has made them m stand out is that, they use 100% natural products. No artificial sweeteners or preservatives added -which makes it even more plausible. This she believes makes their cherished clients prefer them for their cocktail events , barbecues , wedding reception etc.
She’s motivated both by the challenges of being an entrepreneur and life-long learning . She believes that if you stop learning you are ineffective in an environment that is constantly changing .
Feedback from clients and consumers also bring her satisfaction.
Her greatest fear is leaving the earth without making an impact .
These are a few words she had to share :
“I deal with setbacks by looking for the silver lining in my struggles and remind myself of all the positive aspects in the setback.”
“I also don’t dwell on failure , I have a short memory for them, I simply learn from what went wrong and apply those lessons the next time I’m in a similar situation.”
“My greatest regret is not starting this earlier, if given the chance I would have started this earlier when my grandmother was around, she would have helped me a lot. ”
She’s had the opportunity to help people towards living a healthy lifestyle with Rocky Dawuni Dzifa Gray, Ameyaw Debrah giving positive feedback. She’s also had the chance to share her story on the Morning Ride show on Metro TV.
She mentions that she doesn’t suffer from the need to be right in every situation but rather take the opinions of others and analyze them from a point of view. This is her principle as an entrepreneur.
She also believes that you do not have to be afraid to loose people in the journey of becoming an entrepreneur . Not everyone deserves to move forward with you, you’ll never be able to grow if you are afraid. The past doesn’t always belong to the future .
She mentions that
Jan-Philip Sendker’s Whispering Shadows is a book she enjoyed so much. She says it thought her the importance of sacrifice.
During her leisure, Abrefi does research work and also watch movies.
She’s of the view that as most African countries are grappling with the issue of unemployment, she believes if more people are encouraged to go into entrepreneurship, it will not only improve their lives but also reduce unemployment rate.
In her final words,she is of the view that nothing is achieved when we are in our comfort zones. She admonished young entrepreneurs to work hard and strive to be successful. She also indicated that she won’t have been able to achieve what she had if she didn’t have support from her family and friends, all of whom she’s grateful to.
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My Story Magazine is the one-stop platform for up to date trends and information on entrepreneurship in Africa. It is also a platform to share success stories and journeys of entrepreneurial and technical leaders making impact and leaving long lasting legacies on the continent.
