When Yehowa Adom Baiden was first set into the managerial position in her company, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. With no particular experience apart from working as a receptionist in the same company, the advice she was given was simple – the business was now on her laps; she could decide to run it successfully or into a ditch.
She was literally thrown into the deep end of the business and asked to swim ashore. But she is not one who runs away from challenges.Thanks to her strong determination and taste for good things, she wasn’t going to just relent; her faith in God and respect for the elderly has kept her raising the company from grace to grace.
For over five years, the business – His Majesty Haulage, a general logistics services provider – is not only alive, it is doing extremely well and offering livelihoods to many who had little or no hope of keeping body and soul together.
And Yehowa is happy to see her workers thrive because as she often says, when you treat them right, they give off everything for the business growth. As the lady at the top of the business, Yehowa does not just sit and bark orders; she gets to the ground and get her hands dirty.
“If a driver or mechanic is working on a truck, for example, I am down in my gear working with them,” she said. “When there is a problem with truck A or B, I know how to go about getting the problem fixed.”
On a business afternoon away from the four walls of her office, Yehowa stepped out into the yard where fleets of trucks had been packed. She casually strolled around one of them which is being worked on by the office mechanic, ahead of a trip. The truck was being prepared ahead of a long-distance trip outside of Accra to discharge bags of rice to customers.
She asked a few questions, offered feedback and walked on. As we strolled back into her office, I noticed she was moving her steps in a very calculated manner. She was apparently going through the rest of her bucket list for the day. The day does not end until after 8pm, if she is lucky. She works hard and does not compromise on standards. She makes it her habit to memorise the number plates of all the tucks. “It helps me approach emergency situations in a decisive way.”
Yehowa, who started life as a journalist at both Multimedia and Media General or TV3, is studying for her MBA in Procurement and Supply Chain Management. She believes the programme will give her an insight into how processes and productions are approached from various perspectives, especially from the start to finish.
Her optimism comes from the fact that the education will give her another layer to her work life because she does not only wish to improve herself, but through the acquired knowledge, help her workers become better in both the work and their personal lives. “Integrity means a lot to me,” she added before her phone rang.
Apart from managing the company, Yehowa also supervises the running of Nkunim Mall, which was first launched during the peak of the pandemic, and continues to expand, serving residents in and around the Ningo Prampram enclave.
Yehowa has a strong giving spirit and she describes that as a calling. She will not mind giving away the last food on her plate if that means she has to starve. She has been involved in lots of charity work, but has always kept them on a low key. At the peak of the COVID pandemic, Yehowa was on the phone, calling friends and acquaintances, checking if they knew anyone who needed food and related items to help them get by. Bags of rice, sugar, sardines and a lot more were dispatched to those she managed to connect with.
For Yehowa, reaching out to people is part of her calling and if she looks at the number of times God has come through for her, she cannot but be grateful. Now a mother of three under the knife, and having to loose five children through miscarriages is enough testament to how much her faith in God continues to lift the weight of fear off her shoulders.
And she credits her strong faith in God to the guidance she continues to receive from her spiritual father, Prophet Nanasei Opoku-Sarkodie, founder of Potters City, Prampram. Yehowa does not just warm pews in the church, she is part of the ministry that cleans the church before and after services are held. She speaks proudly about how important that ministry means to her spiritual growth.
Though she is the one who appears to be enjoying the spotlight, she credits her continuous growth to the selfless support her husband often gives her. The two run a security company, and she describes him as a constant support in her life.
She was born in Osu and as a young girl, played ‘gutter to gutter’ football with her peers, mostly boys. She has three siblings. Her parents, who are originally from the Eastern region, remain one of her strongest allies.
Her favourite quote is: “SIFTED BUT SUSTAINED”, was inspired by one of her father’s: Rev. Martin Asare Yeboah. “Success takes time and I’m glad to be on a journey,” she affirmed.
