Ayisha Awudu Ali: Trailblazer In Making Northern Smocks For Urban Ghanaians  

Ayisha Awudu Ali, Founder and Creative Director of the Shaaliwud Ventures

Accra, Ghana, March 7, 2020//-The story of the production of Northern smocks for both men, women and children in urban Ghana can never be told without mentioning the immense contribution of Ms Ayisha Awudu Ali.

 Ms Ali is the Founder and Creative Director of the Shaaliwud Ventures, the leading producer of Northern smocks and other traditional wears for people living in the metropolitan cities of Ghana.

As the creative director, she is responsible for all aspects of product design, initiate and stimulate creative ideas for and from those involved in the creative process.

Ultimately, Ms Ali is responsible for the quality of the final creative works in this case smocks locally known in Ghana as batakari or fugu, as well as other products.

Ms Ayisha Awudu Ali, Founder and Creative Director of Shaaliwud Ventures

These traditional wears which are made with hand-woven strips, are very popular in the five regions of Northern Ghana and are mostly worn during very special occasions.

Recently, the wearing of these attires is becoming rampant in the southern part of the country due to the excellent designs of Ms Ali and few of her colleagues in urban Ghana.

Another contributory factor for the patronage of these northern attires is the sustain campaign on made in Ghana goods and services by present and successive governments.

Ms Ali has been described by her colleagues and industry watchers as the trailblazer in the manufacturing for Northern smocks due to her pioneering roles she played in the growth and patronage of the smocks in urban Ghana.

How it all started  

She started Shaaliwud Ventures with the tradition smocks after her National Service in 2015. Shaaliwud is a Ghanaian owned fashion brand that uses the Northern textiles to produce smocks and other accessories for today’s market.

Ms Ali told African Eye Report: “My passion for entrepreneurship started after my National Service in 2015 even though I was brought up by self employed parents.

At a very young age, I used to help my late mother who was a trader in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region of Ghana to sell her items”.

Fortunately, growing up in Bolgatanga where the production of smocks was very common, Ms Ali took advantage of the situation to learn and modern the Northern attires and make money out of them.

Ms Ayisha

In her words: “The Northern textiles have always been in existence even before I was born. But I decided to add modernization to it, making it trend for the 21st century. I also make it a point to always look at the recent styles trending and adjust our designs to suit them”.

Shaaliwud was also set up to tell her story of where she comes from in a unique way. So, she started the Afrocentric, trendy and stylish clothing still using the smocks. “This time I made it simple and easy to wear from the bulky smock everyone was used to over the years”, she explained.

Furthermore, through Shaaliwud Ventures, Ms Ali has created a number of employments for more people in the northern parts of Ghana especially women.

Currently, her smocks and other accessories as seen in the pictures are in high demand in Accra, Kumasi and other urban centres across the country. She is poised to bring out better smocks by the grace of God, so watch out for her beautiful attires.

“Hopefully in three years I would love to have branches in Ghana and in other parts of the world”, she told African Eye Report.

Stood Against Odds

She stood against all odds to build the fastest growing indigenous smock brand in the country with small savings and family support. In Ms Ali’s words:  “Starting my own business was tough and had rough paths since I was unemployed and needed to start something to assist myself since I searched for a job and could not get one”.

From a humble beginning, Shaaliwud is becoming a household name in Ghana as it continues to provide beautiful smocks and other tradition attires for the people of Ghana.

With the meteoric rise of wearing of the Northern smocks in urban Ghana, most industry watchers say Shaaliwud is one the companies to watch.

Ms Ayisha and FUSE ODG, Afrobeats superstar

Her starting-up story is not different from the hundreds of entrepreneurs profiled by the African Eye Report but her ambition to provide quality smocks to hundreds of people at an affordable price is unique.

Ms Ali’s customers are satisfied with her designs, they keep talking about her and more people get to know her brand. And, she is being rewarded with more sales.

The company is succeeding because Ms Ali continues to serve the needs of the people. Her customers are her most prized assets, thus providing them with quality and prompt smocks are her topmost priority.

She guided the way and did it with skill, style and high passion and dexterity. She had the right products (smocks) and at the right time – which translated into high demand on a mass market scale.

But all that would have been worthless without her unique brand of commitment, high energy and sheer determination, and the zeal to change the modest wears industry in the country.

Akosua Dentaa Amoateng MBE, best known by her stage name Dentaa,, an award-winning British Ghanaian entrepreneur looking splendid in Shaaliwud dress

As a young indomitable entrepreneur, she never allowed the different headwinds to weigh her down. Ms Ali rather turned those challenges into golden opportunities.

Entrepreneurship is a key driver of our economy. Wealth and a high majority of jobs are created by small businesses started by entrepreneurially-minded individuals like Ms Ali.

 Advice to the youth

 “My advice to African entrepreneurs is that African is blessed so are we the young ones growing up. I also want everyone to know that: “There is a fire in us” all we need to do is to find it”. “Everything you have to do start now and God will see you through it”, Ms Ali advised.

Giving up to the society

 Shaaliwud runs an educational fund called the Shaaliwud Foundation which donates educational materials  such as exercise books, pens, pencils, erasers and others to deprived schools annually.

The Foundation also supervised by Ms Ali usually identifies any community in any part of the northern regions and donate to them. “We successfully had one in 2018 at the Borigo community in the Upper East Region and our second donation is coming off this year”.

The legacy she wants to leave behind as an entrepreneur

Ms Ali who obtained an MBA in Finance from the University of Ghana wants to leave a legacy of being the Queen of Fugu (Fuguwora). She also wants to be remembered as a person who also contributed a quota to the development of Northern Ghana.

“I want whenever the North is mentioned I should be remembered as a person who also contributed a quota to its development”, Ms Ali who studied Integrated Management Studies at the Wa campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS), added.

People exposed to entrepreneurship frequently express that they have more opportunity to exercise creative freedoms, higher self esteem, and an overall greater sense of control over their own lives.

As a result, many experienced business people political leaders, economists, and educators believe that fostering a robust entrepreneurial culture will maximize individual and collective economic and social success on a local, national, and global scale.

To quote an American author and entrepreneur, Brian Koslow: “If you nurture your mind, body and spirit, your time will expand. You will gain a new perspective that will allow you to accomplish much more.” This quotation best fits well with the humble and affable Ms Ali whose story can be told in several ways.

 By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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