This story is told by

Jakes Naude

Africa Director for B4T

Jakes Naude

Africa Director for B4T
Back to all

Susan The Belt Seller

Susan used to be a part time domestic worker in Kumasi, Ghana. She didn’t have the luxury of a full time job, and was responsible for providing and looking after her very sick husband, and four children. Tragedy struck when her sister suddenly passed away, and her five nieces and nephews moved in with her. She was now responsible for a household of eleven people, trying to provide for them all on her very small salary. She continued with this until she no longer could. While sitting at the breakfast table one morning, she shared the devastating news with her family: “This is the last meal that we are going to be able to have together, because after this there is just no more money left for food.”

Her second eldest son replied: “But Mum, just remember that Jesus has always been taking care of us. Why wouldn’t he do this again today?”

After school, the boys were playing street soccer – a favourite pastime of men, both young and old. An empty plastic bag blew across the street, and Susan’s son slipped on the bag. He glanced inside the bag and saw that there was a 50 Cedi note (approximately $8).

Abandoning the game, he immediately rushed inside, handing his mother the note, saying “Look Mum. Like I said this morning Jesus is always taking care of us. Here is money. He has taken care of us again.”

Susan took the money, and spent about 10 Cedis on food for the evening. The next morning, with the remaining money, about $7, she went to the Chinese Bazaar. She bought second hand men’s belts and started to sell them from house to house. Slowly but surely, she grew her business to the point where she could support her family by reselling second hand belts to her community.
When B4T met Susan, she had established her business to the point where she was turning over a profit of around $500 dollars a month, buying and selling these belts. Susan mentioned that she wanted to grow her business, so she could branch out into second hand clothes, which was also available at the local bazaar.
B4T started helping her with an interest bearing loan of around $5 000, so that she could have some extra working capital in her business, which started to grow.
With all the lockdowns and restrictions that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, we as B4T were worried and wondered if her business would still be operational. But when we visited Susan early in 2022 we were pleasantly surprised to hear what had happened in Susan’s life. Her business has been growing tremendously in spite of all the lockdowns. She is not trading so much in second hand belts anymore. She is now trading in new clothes which she is importing from Togo. She goes across the border to Togo twice a week to buy stock and sells it in the local community

Susan has three women working for her, and all three of them did not know the Lord. They came to know Jesus through this business, and she is disciplining them. The business has grown to a turnover of about $15 000 a month – around $180 000 per year! Susan has taught us how to take $7 and turn it into a $180,000 per year business.

She is still taking care of people – those employed in the business, and 21 others who live in her house. It is just so beautiful to see this. She has also repaid her first loan, but he has also bought a property and constructed a home, all in the last two years, while growing her business and supporting so many people.

Get Involved

Scroll to Top