By Amankwa Priscilla of Accra, Ghana
Greg Fox sponsored a $1,000 grant for Ghana based charcoal business, Priscy Ventures. Watch as he awards the grant to Priscilla in the video below. The grant came as a result of Priscilla’s business pitch during a Rotary Club service project called, Shark Pond.
Priscy Ventures offers quality charcoal to consumers in Accra, Ghana. The business has forty (40) customers of which thirty (30) are regular customers who purchase from me everyday. And sometimes, I carry the charcoal and go and deliver to customers who cannot make it home to purchase the charcoal. By so doing it helps me to to get new customers. As I go round the community and introduce my product to them as well. Sometimes, customers also call on mobile phones and I go and deliver to them in their various houses.
BUSINESS DESCRIPTION
The business is owned by Amankwa Priscilla. I tie and sell the charcoal by myself. The business is to provide charcoal as an alternative source of fire for cooking to everyone. The business primary product is charcoal which is produced from wood.
Because of this, it is easy to lite the a small quantity can last for a long time, and can be used to cook for many cooking minutes. The charcoal is a sourced from Jermerny a town in the Volta Region of Ghana. Greater percentage of people still use charcoal as a source of energy to cook. I estimated that eight (8) out of ten (10) houses in the urban communities use charcoal in Ghana and this provides a large market for Priscy Ventures.
PRISCY VENTURES HAS THE FOLLOWING STRENGTH
- 1. Flexible pricing strategy
- 2. Year-round supply of charcoal
- 3. Quality charcoal that last longer
- 4. Non smoke charcoal
- 5. Good customer service and feedback mechanism.
THREE (3) MONTHS CASH FLOW STATEMENT
| April | 1st Week | 2nd Week | 3rd Week | 4th Week |
| Income | 271.50 | 336.00 | 321.00 | 356.00 |
| Fixed Expenses | 88.00 | 95.00 | 60.00 | 100.00 |
| Variable Expenses | 30.00 | 50.00 | 30.00 | 40.00 |
| Profit / Loss | 153.50 | 191.00 | 231.00 | 216.00 |
| Loan Payment | 145.00 | 145.00 | 145.00 | 145.00 |
| Available profit | 211.50 |
| May | 1st Week | 2nd Week | 3rd Week | 4th Week |
| Income | 344.00 | 471.00 | 265.00 | 346.00 |
| Fixed Expenses | 70.00 | 148.00 | 90.00 | 70.00 |
| Variable Expenses | 50.00 | 60.00 | 40.00 | 30.00 |
| Profit / Loss | 224.00 | 263.00 | 270.00 | 275.00 |
| Loan Payment | 145.00 | 145.00 | 145.00 | 145.00 |
| Available profit | 452.00 |
| June | 1st Week | 2nd Week | 3rd Week | 4th Week |
| Income | 348.00 | 480.00 | 270.00 | 250.00 |
| Fixed Expenses | 80.00 | 155.00 | 100.00 | 90.00 |
| Variable Expenses | 60.00 | 70.00 | 50.00 | 40.00 |
| Profit / Loss | 227.00 | 250.00 | 300.00 | 350.00 |
| Loan Payment | 145.00 | 145.00 | 145.00 | 145.00 |
| Available profit | 547.00 |
PROFITABILITY
A bag of charcoal costs me 100 Ghana cedis. I charge my customers 140 Ghana cedis per bag. My supplier deals with the manufacturer directly and brings the charcoal to me. My fixed cost for one bag of charcoal is equal to (8.78 US Dollars), so to buy 100 bags is equal to (877.73 in US Dollars, and the transportation is (17.55 US Dollars).
Unit profit margin:
140 ghc sales price – 100 ghc cost of goods = 40 ghc profit before labor and fixed costs (29%)
