When Brigitte Buahin, 28, returned home to Ghana from the United Kingdom in 2007, she decided, like everyone else, to look for a job. She applied for some couple of jobs but later thought she could do something on her own. “Those were very difficult moments because jobs were difficult to come by,” she said with some smile. She however conceded she lost interest at a point and decided not to follow up on even some of the calls she received for potential interviews from the areas where her applications had been reviewed. “Somehow I felt I could do my own things and I didn’t even do follow ups.” But was the decision to return home to Ghana without a job a good one? I asked. “If I come home it will be easy to do something good for myself,” she told me to indicate she never regretted her return back to Ghana. Brigitte Buahin said the first thought that came to her mind soon afterwards was to pursue a career in soap making. Without any substantial capital except the few she brought back from the UK, she decided to put her skills to text. She decided to produce soap and other related detergents. Even though she was fully aware of the presence of established products on the market, she was still determined to push her luck through. But three months was enough for her to fold up the business and look elsewhere. She was obviously frustrated by the amount of money involved in the business. “I couldn’t continue because the cost involved was too much and it will be difficult to compete with the likes of Omo ,” adding: “ I wanted something that will not involve too much money.” Despite the setback she was still determined not to go back in search of a job but try her hands on something she’ll call her own. Back in the United Kingdom Brigitte said she visited some few clothing stores not to buy any thing but to take a long round and get some few fashionable ideas into her head just in case she decided to explore an opportunity in the fashion industry. Obviously moved by what she saw in most of the fashion shops back in the United Kingdom, Brigitte decided to put her idea to the test. Without any capital and no knowledge about the deep secrets of the business, she decided to settle on a childhood passion of using beads to define the worth of a true beauty. “Beads are en vogue and I love beading accessories,” she said while explaining to me the processes involved. “I chose beads as a medium because they are always en vogue and there is so much variety and colour. And they are also robust and hardly get damage. I the first clutch purse for myself and it became a commercial hobby.” And for the past six months she has been using beads to create different items including bags, slippers, belts, clutch purses, bridal purses, earrings and bungles. Brigitte Buahin said the first time she told some of her friends about her intention to use beads to make fashion accessories, they did not believe it because she had no knowledge about the very things she was talking about. Her friends were forced to eat back their words after coming out with some few collections of what she intend to make out of those ordinary beads in the foreseeable future. “It came out really-really well and everybody liked it,” she said as vindication to her own beliefs. “I didn’t really get any capital from anywhere,” she again said to show how much determined she was to carry the business through. She does not use machine in her work. Everything is hand made and coming to think of the idea that she uses beads for her product, the end products always turn extremely nice and colourful. By word of mouth she’s been able to penetrate through some co-operate environments with her work and as a result of the demands for more of her products, decided to engage the services of other persons whom she is giving free training. She is his however happy to be contributing into the lives of other young persons who look up to her for inspiration. Brigitte’s determination has paid of very well as she now owns her own fashion brand ‘Pearl X’clusive which, according to her, will be adding on to her current stock clothing line so she could fulfill her dream of “creating accessorize Ghana.” Brigitte, who also volunteers her skills at the Ghana Neurological Foundation in Accra, said she is committed to charity work and that will be an avenue she’ll add on to the Pearl X’clusive brand. Ms. Buahin is a former student of Wesley Girls High School, Cape Coast and the University of Ghana, Legon, where she graduated in 2005 with a major in Psychology. Nii Okpoti Osabutey/B&FT Lifestyle/Ghana