Can you smell it? The fragrance of Fathers’ Day? Yes, I can. It is even more refreshing that I am hearing about it on the airwaves lately. Since my book A Toast To Fatherhood was published in 2016, every year, the third Sunday of June has become a special I look forward to. I do so for a simple reason. It is the day sons and daughters show (or ought to show) appreciation to their fathers and father figures.
You may ask: Should fathers or fatherhood be celebrated only on a Sunday in a whole year? Certainly not! That reminds me of the banner I spotted the other day in front of a shop that had the inscription: ‘every day is Fathers’ day’. Everyday indeed! Even more, the best form to show appreciation to a father is when his children turn out as responsible adults to contribute positively to society. Perhaps, that can be considered the highest return on any ‘fatherly investment’. I call it ‘a father’s pride’. Gladly enough, that is the framework upon which The Delse Shop is anchored. It is the story of how one young woman is determined to honour her father and the father of her own children by building a business that projects some of Ghana’s best natural products onto the global market.
How did it all come about? The journey started as a seed that was planted in the heart of Mrs Selasi Dzikunu, a young African woman who believes cosmetics should enhance the rich skin of the African – black or otherwise. What others saw as challenging is what Selasi identified as business opportunity. Thus, like any other business, The Delse Shop is thriving and growing because it provides a fundamental solution to a societal problem. What is the problem?
Being a lover of natural products herself, Selasi observed how difficult it was for her fellow urban dwellers, especially those in the national capital Accra, to have access to natural beauty products at affordable prices. That observation called for action; one that would provide some solution, no matter how little. In the process, The Delse Shop idea was birthed “to present a platform that creates high quality yet affordable beauty experience for Afrocentric individuals”.
Since its launch and commencement of operations, The Delse Shop (https://thedelseshop.com) has predominantly functioned as an online retail shop devoted to made-in-Ghana products as it aspires to champion the use of natural products with special emphasis on locally manufactured products. The Delse Shop has body products, hair products and fragrances that are all made from natural products in the original state. The business offers a wide variety of natural products from brands such as R&R Luxury, Laam Shea, Nzua Naturals and Nokware. Products include oils, lotions, body scrubs and hair shampoos.
Gauging the Ghanaian business terrain, it could be said that quite a number of start-ups and local companies have trade limitation as a major challenge. This is to say that the local manufacturers only concentrate on a fragment of the Ghanaian market without exploring the possibilities of marketing on a global scale. The Delse shop’s solution to this problem is to become a place where these Ghanaian brands would be celebrated and marketed adequately.
To an extent, The Delse Shop serves as the hub for micro, small and medium scale enterprises in the beauty and cosmetic industry. The impact the Delse shop has is that it increases the revenue of these local manufacturers. Most of the raw materials that form the basis of these products are sourced from deprived communities where women are engaged in the production of the raw materials. The local manufacturers who deal with The Delse Shop take these raw materials, add value to them and market to people in the urban areas.
The Delse Shop operates a model that marries business sustainability with community development. In other words, “our corporate goal is tied in with our community. We believe a truly successful business is one that makes its society a better one”. With this philosophy guiding its operations The Delse Shop upholds three of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
- SDG 1 (No poverty) – By paying fair wages and partnering with local farmers for ingredients such as shea butter.
- SDG 3 (Good health and wellbeing) – by providing purely organic products for personal health care.
- SDG 8 (Decent work and economic growth) – by fostering innovation and reducing inequality through training people, especially women in the rural areas on basic good business management practices.
Overall, The Delse Shop has provided support to over 2000 rural women by ensuring their suppliers or manufacturers use fair trade in procuring raw materials from them. More importantly the business organises and facilitates simple book keeping trainings for these identified rural women to streamline and strengthen their business operations. To the Management of The Delse Shop, value addition through strategic partnership is most critical.
Being an online retail shop, information communication technology (ICT) plays a major role in the daily dealings of The Delse Shop. Indeed, as the COVID-19 pandemic has made more apparent, the future of business operations depends essentially on how much investment a business is willing to make in the area of ICT to drive innovation — the non-negotiable path to business success. Thankfully, The Delse Shop is well positioned for such a moment. How? Primarily, middle class individuals in the urban centres who have access to the internet and are tech savvy form the main customer base of the Delse Shop.
Are you an investor? Management is open for investment and strategic partnership for business growth. The Delse Shop’s aim is to present the end products to the world on a global market. We are seeking to have a secured and trusted e-commerce platform and extending our marketing plan which will see an investment in digital marketing.
Kindly permit me to gently remind you again: This Sunday (June 21) is the day for fatherhood. To celebrate fathers and father-figures, throughout this month of June The Delse Shop has an array of activities and engagements on their portal and social media platforms (Facebook; Instagram). What stands out to me is the informative professional advice on how to care for the skin. Who knows? Perhaps, one of the best if not the best gift you could offer your dad is to take advantage of this free professional offer from The Delse Shop.
Guess what? The Delse Shop has a special package of products that every father or father-figure would be grateful to receive from his son or daughter. And in the words of the CEO, “we are focusing on celebrating our fathers and encouraging them to be great role models to young men by practicing good personal hygiene”. This is your moment… ‘a convenient online beauty shopping’ experience awaits you. Just visit https://thedelseshop.com
>>>the writer is a Communication Practitioner, Social Researcher and Writer who loves to learn and share new knowledge through self-learning, writing and public speaking. As Program Quality Director of Ghana Toastmasters (Division G; District 94) Evans supervises twenty (20) corporate and community clubs in Accra, Kumasi and Tema. He is the author of ‘A Toast to Fatherhood’ and the co-author of ‘The Dawn of Ghana Toastmasters’. Contact him on +233 (0) 246 480040 or [email protected]
