PROFILE OF MOHAMMED ABDUL BASHIRU

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                                   PROFILE OF MOHAMMED ABDUL BASHIRU
                                     Nominee for NSA Student Entrepreneur of the

Mohammed Abdul Bashiru is my name. I was born on the 20th of June in the early 1990’s at    
 Nima in the Ayawaso East Constituency, Greater Accra Region to Mr. Kassim Mohammed and Mrs. Alimatu Sadia. I am in a family of five, my parents and two other male siblings, Fuseini andMuftawo,  the eldest and youngest respectively.
I began my basic education at Asiamah Memorial School which is located at Lapaz and later      continued to Star JHS at Lomnava from 2000 to 2008 all in the Greater Accra region. I                completed Star JHS and proceeded to Asamankese Senior High School from 2008 to 2012 to      pursue a four year course in General Science. After obtaining very good grades in WASSCE, I   gained admission to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in the year   2013 and   currently in my third year reading BSc. Chemistry.
After SHS, I worked a year in several places around my residence that included working in a      corn, pepper and other food stuffs milling shop in the famous Nima market. With the daily pay I received, I managed to establish a unit transfer sales point, which has become my second source of income till date. Right from infancy, engaging in selfless business has been a passion. At age 14, I worked in a stone quarry where I helped my parents. As young as I was, I managed to get a trip of stones for construction which I used the proceeds obtained to buy a small battery-operated TV set and game deck. I started operating a game centre which attracted the youth in my area. It was such a profitable business venture that helped reduced the financial constraints of my parents as I sometimes used the proceeds to cater for my siblings.

      I started my business venture on KNUST campus with the selling of sachet water in my room to members of the University hall (Katanga). As a result of my acquired experience in the past, in   addition, I continued with the sale of credit cards.  As time went on, I added doorstep delivery     service to the sales of sachet “pure” water and credit cards. The business gradually expanded to   the sale and delivery of bags of water to students in and outside my hall. Later, I identified         members of my hall had the love for an Islamic outfit (Jalabia) and hence started its sales which eventualy became the gateway for my clothing line. When patronage became impressive, I          extended my sales in the outfit to other halls. It happened that one day a student who wanted a    smock for a program approached me; he asked if I could be of help. Being uncertain, I promised to get him one. As of that time, I had little capital almost around Ghc 96 because I had used some of the profit    accumulated for my upkeep. Then, it dawned on me the need to also venture into   the sale of smock so I discussed it with my then roommate, Mr. Panporror, a CID, who is one of   the key pillars in the BDK story. He being a northerner, he tried to get me wholesalers so that i   buy from them at cheaper prices. By then, my lovely sister, Sister SAMIRA who I describe as     ’101%’ shareholder of the company, loaned me an amount to purchase the smocks.  I tried          several vendors but proved futile till my SHS desk mate in UDS, Abeka Vera skived her  lectures that day  to get me one  in Tamale and right away I ordered for ten of them. It arrived at an          inconvenient time as I also     had to skip lectures to get the items from the STC terminal in asafo.

Unfortunately, the very first person who requested for the smock got disappointed as a result of   the delay and bought it elsewhere. Luckily for me, my hall master who has the desire for smocks  bought three and marketed it to his colleague lecturers and that’s how the story started. In just    5 days I sold the ten smocks. Most part of the money was received in installment without interest. The demand for the two clothing (jalabia and smock) increased but had less capital so I kept     soliciting financial support from my sister. Business started booming even though there were      hurdles. As the company grew, the need to get a company identity popped up so I pondered on       the name to use. A lot came in mind but finally I settled on BDK Ventures which after                 registering, I added “LINK” to give a proper definition to what I do. BDK which means                             “Bash De Kemist” was conceived after several searches for a brand name that would appreciate my utmost desire for Chemistry. It sounded so weird to people initially when I told them the       name, but has now become the household name on KNUST campus and others.
The transport story: Since SHS, I had been transporting students from school to Accra during  vacations with the school’s bus with little or no profit. Student transport service has been a               passion. With that little experience, I organized successful excursions and field trips as the           President of the science and maths club which received tremendous commendations
 After spending a year in KNUST, I realized there were many lapses in the way and manner my   pioneers organized buses for students and thus there was the need to make it better. I did so        many feasibility studies and found out some students wanted a reliable and affordable transport  company.  To see it materialize, I started enquiries on how to secure those buses.
One day, as I was going on my usual errands to pick smocks from asafo, I heard one transport     company making publicity of their reduction in fares. I went there to find out and realized theirs was also very cheap and luxurious. I did all negotiations with the “bookman” and decided to get some other familiar students namely Iris, Keke, Jeffery, Diana ,Nathaniel, Gabriel and Solomon who were my class mates at the University and some my Juniors from SHS to  help with the       mobilization of students . I was discouraged by some few friends who saw transport on campus as for the already existing companies and not for starters like me. It nearly affected me but took inspiration from other optimistic friends. I attended an interview which is a prerequisite if any        student wanted to engage in the transport system on campus. I went to the interview  room           tensed because I never was part of the transport companies on campus and that was the key         factor they looked for. Fortunately for me, I passed and had the certification to operate.
As a result of inadequate finance, I printed just 20 posters for publicity which wouldn’t be           enough for student population of about 45000. I had to add ten extra posters which my reps used in publicity. It wasn’t easy as a starter competing with more than 20 other transport companies.    Initially, I had 8 students who patronized the bus services so I had to merge with another             company to reduce loss incurred. For a period of 9 days, we transported the students. Some days I had to pay for as many as 22 empty seats just to satisfy my customers. In all, we transported     about 113 students to Accra and Tema and used all of the profit we made for orphanage donation on the 7th of march 2015 after soliciting and adding some proceeds obtained from the first ever   back to school organized for continuing students. We set a mark by moving about 1544 students to campus from Accra and Tema. Currently, BDK Travel and Tour has extended its transport      services to polytechnics, private universities, other public institutions and SHSs notably University of Ghana, Kumasi Polytechnic, University of Cape Coast, Central University College, Kumasi Anglican SHS amongst others and very soon we look forward to extending our services to all      institutions in the country.  
   
All this happened under a semester (October-December 2014) except the extension to other         institutions. The following semester (2nd), I drew my business plan after series of business         advices I received from business experts who realized  I had a genuine entrepreneurial spirit       which had in it Foods, Keep Fit Club and now the company becoming a multi business company.
    
                                  AN OVERVIEW OF THE VENTURE
BDK LINK VENTURES is a business venture registered with the Registrar General’s                 department under the registration of business names Act, 1962(No. 151), in the                           Kwame University of Science and Technology; KNUST set out to deliver Quality and                Affordable humanitarian services and currently extended its services to various institutions          including Senior High Schools in the country. One of the primary aims of the company is to        re-invest in the various institutions by improving the quality of life for many students through      charitable work using a proportion of the profit made. Having spent a considerable amount of      time at these institutions, some observations were made with regard to common problems faced by students and areas which presented an opportunity to explore Entrepreneurship.
    It has five main subdivisions;
I. Travel and Tourism: In the travel and tourism subdivision, we organize excursions and field     trips that enable students to socialize, create meaningful links through networking (with students from other institutions) with the added bonus of touring the country. We also organize affordable and reliable buses and flights to convey students to and fro their various campuses and homes     during reopening and vacations of schools using the buses of transport companies with trusted     brands. In my recent developments, I have started with helping students who wish to study         overseas like Finland, USA, China etc. in their applications to these countries  with easy access   to visas, scholarships and admissions of which very soon BDK Travel and Tour is aiming to be Ghana’s number one travel and tour company. Currently, I have purchased a private car which    supplies my goods in and around campus (KNUST) that is (BDK branded sachet water, clothing, foods, etc.). It also serves as a private taxi on campus which generates a considerable amount of  income.
II. Clothing:  We deliver clothes with much emphasis on African outfits to students and lecturers   on various campuses and the general public, In my desire to instill the love for African clothes  and clothing in Africans overseas and foreigners as well, my team has been set up to  deliver         those outfits to people living in the UK.I have in stock a variety of African wears, (Smocks, others),Dashiki, Islamic wears, casual ladies and gents wears ,belts ,locally made slippers, printing of   t-shirts and polo shirts and  many others with more styles in the pipeline.
III. Charity Foundation: As a business entity and as part of my social responsibilities, I believe   that in as a much as we make profit,   there’s the need to contribute and give back to the society.  My team and I have set up a system for contributions to raise funds for the charity foundation as well as invite contributions from other people, groups and organizations. Thus, I write to             corporate bodies to solicit their support in kind and in cash whenever we embark on such missions (already started). We donated some foods and other items to the Kumasi children’s’ home on    the 7th of March, 2015 and some others behind scenes. There are numerous students on these      campuses with genuine needs and no means of support. Having identified such individuals, we    aim to support them in any way we can. There are already some beneficiaries of our support        scheme.
IV. Peer Support: The Company has started building a very reputable brand (BDK) on these     campuses and beyond. With this, we help other students with business ideas to start up by           offering     free advertisements, hypes, financial supports and developing of these ideas into         realities.
 V. Other Social Activities: The venture is into the packaging and delivery of food (pure honey, sachet water (BDK branded), locally manufactured biscuits, doughnuts etc.). Again, we organize and plan entertainment activities and events.  Also, we organize health exercises to help students keep fit and maintain a healthy body and a well-defined brain which is under the BDK keep fit    club.
    As the Chief Executive Officer of the venture, I, Mohammed Abdul Bashiru having started      the operations in October 2014 in KNUST, won the  Best Student Entrepreneur Award of  the    year 2015 and also a nominee of the category of Most Innovative Student of the Year for the 5th         edition of the  local NUGS/SRC/VICE CHANCELLOR’S Excellence Awards which took place on 11th April 2015.

 Due to our unique services,  being the first student-owned company, blending  businesses with societal responsibilities and making student transportation services nationwide as a priority, BDK Link Ventures tends to attract not just students but parents who have had the opportunity to hear or read information about us or received substantial services rendered by the venture. This is       currently building up the brand name in a tremendous manner and makes the venture a reliable and authentic service provider for many if not all students and other citizens.  The Venture tends   to give a taste to the already existing and uniquely employs creativity to make sure each and every person has his or her needs taken care of.
In my bid to help reduce unemployment and encourage entrepreneurial spirit in students, I have about 155  casual and permanent employees all over these institutions and also employ SHS and   JHS leavers in Accra and Kumasi who sell my sachet water, ‘ayigbe biscuits’, doughnuts  and    many others and very soon will be nationwide God willing.
I believe that capital and experience are not so important in business because you can get them. What is important is the idea. If you have the idea, you have the main asset you need and there is no limit to what you can do with your business and life.
                BDK Link Ventures, Quality and Affordable services at your doorstep….










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