By Opesika Tetteh Puplampu
Sege, Dec. 04, GNA – Mr. Simon Fantevi, the Sege Zonal Chairman for the Ghana National Tailors and Dressmakers Association (GNTDA), has urged artisans to plan their time and activities well to avoid disappointing their customers.
Mr. Fantevi indicated that this would facilitate the growth of their businesses as customers would trust them and recommend them to others.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the GNTDA’s 29th Graduation Ceremony held at Sege, he noted that, “being a madam or a master of any artisanal shop, you owe your customers your presence at work at all times.”
According to him, this would boost the morale of the customers to continuously patronise their services, cautioning that failure to do so would be detrimental to the growth of their shops and finances.
He also disclosed that learning artisanal work in the past only focused on one aspect of training, explaining that “Today, people learn multiple skills. Some of the masters and madams have added designing with beads on slippers and easy wears and other skills to the sewing. And even as of now, a lot of the learners are sewing for all sexes, making it very easy and improved.”
Mr. Timothy Teye Tokoli, exams coordinator for the GNTDA, disclosed that the Sege Zone has, since 1995, graduated a number of artisans, disclosing further that the aim of the association was to have more persons trained and graduated to prepare them for the future.
He condemned the assertion that less brilliant people are meant for artisanal skills, stating that the artisans were rather the brilliant ones because keeping records, measurements, and others of thousands of people, and even the use of machines, was not something that the less brilliant could do.
“If you are educated, learn a skill in addition because things have changed. Make sure you have a skill or artisanal work even if you have an educational background.
“It rather adds to your values and does not devalue you,” he asserted.
Madam Eunice Lasi, independent parliamentary candidate for the Sege Constituency who graced the occasion, gave the 28 graduated apprentices one sewing machine each and awarded the most respectful, decent, punctual, hard-working, and overall best apprentices.
“I gave the Akplabanya zone 4 machines, the Anyamam zone 40 machines, and the Goi 16 machines to be shared among the graduating apprentices. I am not doing it for only the tailors and dressmakers but the hairdressers, barbers, and other artisans in the constituency,” she revealed.
She further disclosed that when voted into office as a member of parliament, she would establish vocational training centres in all the 16 electoral areas of the district, concluding that, by so doing, every youth who aims at learning a skill would not suffer since machines and gadgets would be placed at the centres to assist or facilitate easy teaching and learning of skills.
GNA