Okbell Bedwei Majdoub is a Ghanaian who is gradually going global with her innovation of turning jute sacks into stylish clothes and accessories.
Majdoub had the idea for J’karta (meaning “my sack” in Hausa) after the financial sector clean-up between 2017 and 2019 in Ghana.
By then she had worked with Marks & Spencer and Fidelity Bank and she was on the staff of Beige Bank when the financial sector clean-up hit Ghana, leading to a big loss of jobs in the financial services industry.
Majdoub studied marketing at the University of Ghana and specialised in communications and marketing, earning a Master’s degree.
A constant learner, she acquired various skills in her career at Marks & Spencer and with two banks in Ghana and had the inspiration to venture out on her own even before the banking sector crisis.
While at Fidelity Bank, she started exhibiting her acquired skills by making monogrammed pillowcases for sale, just one of the lines she offered through her interior decoration business.
Appearing on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday (25 July), Bedwei Majdoub said that right from the start, she was optimistic she would see the J’karta brand of clothes and accessories in global showrooms in cities such as New York and Paris.
“I had to make sure that, within each year, there was a key achievement for what I had to do,” she said.
“I am still not there but the world has exposed us to be there because they have taken Africa out of the cream of stories with what we are doing with sustainable, eco-friendly [business] …
“Export is important to us as a nation,” said Bedwei Majdoub. “It is one of the things we keep prioritising: to see ourselves in the showrooms of New York, Paris … and that is what we will do – we are making sure we do that.”
Listen to Okbell Bedwei Majdoub in the audio clip attached below:
Watch the full interview with Bedwei Majdoub in the video clip attached below:
Reporting by Fred Dzakpata in Accra
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