Segment: From Alibaba to FDA Approval - The Real Steps to Import Products from China to Ghana

From posting products nobody cares about to teaching 800,000 cedis worth of value on TikTok, and why the brutal truth about selling anything online is that no one cares about your camera, your shoes, or your feminine hygiene products unless you show them the problem it solves, how to use it, and why their life needs it right now, the entrepreneur who discovered that the woman selling products for 350 cedis was just posting pictures assuming everyone knew what it does when ladies had no idea because African homes don't teach feminine hygiene and parents don't sit you down to explain these things, the university graduate who went through problems herself and wished someone was there to help her understand how to take care of herself which created the drive to teach ladies what they need to know instead of just selling products, the TikTok strategy that made 800,000 cedis and more because she wasn't there to dance and fool around but to sit down and give explicit knowledge that celebrities, pastors' wives, and mothers never had, the haters who said she didn't make that money and her response of "I don't care, the money is in my account not yours, I made more than that" because when you know your product works and you're giving value you don't care what people say, the Alibaba journey where she taught herself how to order from China by playing on the app, watching YouTube videos, and learning without waiting for someone to sell her a course or sit her down because no one has your time, you should have your own time, the beginner advice to identify the problem your product solves first before you even think about suppliers or shipping because if you're selling anything you need to know what problem it solves and who your audience is, the FDA approval battles that became her biggest challenge when products come with one name but FDA changes it after she's already marketed it creating confusion, the ingredients research she does on every product because "if I didn't want to die I wouldn't want you to die" so she uses her own products and learns about what's inside them, the lab analysis costing 1,000 to 3,000 cedis and FDA registration for imported products at $500 proving you need money to do things right but you can start by reselling other people's products if you have knowledge about what you're selling, the camera example where posting "I'm selling a camera" means nothing but showing phone camera versus real camera quality, explaining why someone serious would choose the camera, demonstrating the value makes people care, the salon analogy that if you open a salon and don't know how to wash hair it will collapse because you just wanted money or had support but didn't have knowledge about salons, the internet wisdom where she doesn't care about gossip, doesn't go online looking for anyone's business, uses her time to learn instead of looking for gossip because anything you want to know is on YouTube, TikTok, free materials that people make available, the verified suppliers on Alibaba for beginners, the AKT shipping company she's used for years because they're reliable, the Turkey and China trips proving she's willing to travel and learn and build an international brand, the people who want to be taught before they take a step when sometimes you need to start, get the idea, play on the apps, watch videos, and figure it out yourself, the realization that when it comes to products you don't need to do your own production from the start but you need to know something about what you're selling because there are people who swallow when they're supposed to insert and insert when they're supposed to swallow, and why the ultimate truth is this: people are usually more focused on the money than the value they give which is where she picked her form because the woman selling for 350 was just posting assuming everyone knew what the product does when people didn't know, but when she came in teaching ladies how to take care of themselves and using the product in addition to that care, when she gave knowledge that African homes don't teach, when she showed up on TikTok not to dance but to educate, when she learned everything from YouTube and the internet without waiting for courses or teachers, when she researched ingredients and used her own products, when she didn't care about haters saying she didn't make 800K because the money was in her account proving her value was real, she wasn't just selling products, she was solving problems and teaching solutions, and that's the only way to build a business that lasts because no one cares about what you're selling until you show them why they need it. Guest: Charity Boateng Host: Derrick Abaitey