I live in a country called Ghana where starting a small business is like pushing a camel through the eye of a needle. You can just imagine that. I do own a small business myself and business advertisements do not come cheap either. Indigenous small businesses always suffer in trying to take off and most of them die in their early years. Even if a local indigenous small business survives, it is only recognized as a local business which is only popular among the locals. How can such a business grow and cross international boundaries then? At least that was the question I always kept asking myself.
So I then decided to engage google maps. Then, I experienced the answer first hand when I added a friend’s small business called Solace Consults Limited (Used car dealership). People interested in used cars from all over Ghana started calling in and that was when I realized the small business that my friend had started has the capacity to break regional boundaries. People started traveling from other regions of Ghana to come and see his car stocks which also pushed up his sales. I then realized that if this could work for my friend’s small business, it could also work for every small business in Ghana. I then set off to add small businesses in my neighborhood and all other small businesses that I had the opportunity to visit. I knew that even if their owners did not appreciate my contribution to their business, it would still reflect in their business growth in one way or the other.
For the people I know whose small businesses I have added for them, they have given me positive feed back that their customer base is becoming diverse since they have people from outside those localities patronizing their services when those customers come visiting those localities. Sometimes I could just give myself a pat on the shoulder and say, that is the little contribution I could give to my people. I don’t think I would ever stop being a local guide as long as I am strong and can move around.