This was written while in Accra, Ghana on September 23, 2009
I’ve been interested in Africa and in economic development ever since serving in the US Peace Corps in Kenya from 1982 to 1984. One reason I started a business importing garden products some 12 years ago was that it would give me the opportunity to source products from Africa. We built a good business with one particular pottery company in Ghana and four years ago we gave them a loan. Two years later, this could have been material for an April 2007 newspaper column in the New York Times by Thomas Friedman, ‘Patient’ Capital for an Africa That Can’t Wait.
Ceramica Tamakloe (CT) started operations 22 years ago at Adenta, outside of Accra, Ghana. The company founder, Peter Tamakloe, started his business producing glazed tableware for local customers but this market did not last, killed by cheap Chinese imports. CT ceased producing glazed ware entirely in 1995. Fortunately it had developed an export business and the company found itself with big repeat orders from the large US retailer Pier One Imports and from smaller privately-held importers in the US and Europe. Its merchandise ranged from decorative plates to candleholders to flowerpots, often decorated with Adinkra symbols, a popular Ghanaian design motif. CT’s authentic African designs resonated with many Western consumers and allowed a premium price over similar mass-produced merchandise.
Given its history of repeat orders from prompt-paying customers, CT was able to obtain purchase order financing, to provide the working capital needed to quickly fulfill orders. From 1993 to 2002, CT financed a total of over a million US dollars in export sales. Its CEO and its staff had become experienced in many facets of the business. They operated efficiently and could adjust production at their customers’ specification, adjusting light to dark or giving them a rustic look, with variation in color and firing marks.
The export market is fickle, subject to currency shifts, changing fashion and consumer trends, and buyers moving on. For a time in Ghana it was a great hedge against inflation and here were a lot of exporters. But Ghanaian inflation lessened, and relentless competition from Asian ceramics producers meant unending price pressure. In 2003 a struggling Pier One stopped sourcing products in Africa. The decline was felt across Ghana’s export sector. CT exported its last orders to World Pottery, my business, in 2006. In 2009 pottery exports – like those of many Ghanaian industries – had dwindled to near zero.
Peter Tamakloe saw all this coming 15+ years ago and moved to expand CT beyond exports and beyond the craft approach. CTs present capital-intensive industrial approach aims to win over the local market with affordable, mass-produced tiles.
In 2000 CT moved to a new site: a 5 acre property some 30 minutes out from Adenta, at Afienya Mangotsonya. The location was interesting. It was land. Nothing more. On a decent road a very short distance straight to Tema (the port). The site was selected for one major reason: it was immediately adjacent to a larger property on which stood a shuttered clay roof tile factory/brickworks in excellent condition. This factory had been constructed to high standards by the Ghanaian government in the early 1980s and featured a Hoffmann kiln, one of only two in Ghana. Mismanagement led the initial firm, the Agritree Bricks company, to close shop within a few short years, and there it sat. This property was unavailable in 2000 but figured in CT’s long term plans so Peter Tamakloe moved in next door.
Export order financing aside, CT had largely self-funded its operations and it continued this practice. It used retained profits, eventually adding a mix of small borrowings, to pay on a 60 year land lease for the property, to construct factory buildings and to purchase a refurbished automated tile line from Italy. Refurbished it cost $250,000 in 2002 — an incredible investment in a part of the world where trading in finished goods constitutes the vast majority of all business activity. And it marked the beginning of a steep — and long — learning curve.
The machinery arrived disassembled, in twelve 40-foot containers (instruction manual not included). The terms of the purchase did not include commissioning. The equipment was highly dynamic and involved many variables. Parts were missing or found to be in poor condition and often their replacements had to come from Italy. Problem resolution was linear. A part would be found faulty and be ordered from Italy. It would arrive after significant delays and upon installation, other issues would arise. Money was tight and in the midst of this we made a modest loan to help tide CT over. We didn’t tie the loan to strict payment terms, but it was set at a competitive rate and with the clock on interest running after an initial period.
We didn’t know the term at the time but it was an example of patient capital. CT secured a larger loan, also patient, from another friend, an extremely successful publisher. We were not the only ones impressed by what was going on.
Side note: in 2005 CT developed a new product for local markets, the CT Filtron water filter.
This took over one production building. This is a terrific product that needs marketing. It has been most successful when large quantities are ordered by various aid organizations. CT has not funded a proper marketing campaign.
In 2007 as Peter Tamakloe knew it would, an opportunity rose to occupy the adjacent property — the former Agritree Brickworks. CT assumed a land lease through 2029 and jumped onto a new learning curve. The Hoffmann kiln had not been fired in roughly 20 years. Hoffman kilns are less mechanized than the Italian floor tile machinery, and spare parts can be sourced locally. Still the Hoffmann was huge and complex in its own way. Testing could not be done in small inexpensive experiments. Local clay was not successful (this likely contributed to Agritree’s downfall). Fortunately through its many years of experience CT is knowledgeable about most of the sources of clay in Ghana and even Togo and was able to bring in a clay to mix with the local clay. Firing was another challenge and CT devised a system to burn a recycled material but the first attempts failed.
With two big challenges on the side-by-side properties by 2008 the floor tile line was finally working well. CT was perseverant. Finally, in April, 2009, CT could say it solved the riddle of the Hoffmann and had it operating efficiently.
This brings us to the present day. CT has two smooth-running industrial lines, both tremendous technical challenges, and is finally ready to produce on an industrial scale. A July 2009 revaluation report places the value of the properties at over $ 2 million. CT’s staff is extremely experienced and capable. The University is there as a large customer, with has a long list of development projects. Greater, though disaggregated, demand exists within the general public as tile walls are popular in new housing styles (and housing schemes are booming).
This came at a cost – losses in 2007 and 2008 from ruined production runs and from an exchange rate differential – the Ghanaian cedi’s drop against the US dollar and the British pound, in which several small loans were denominated. A bit of marketing will go a long way and CT is committed to funding a small viral campaign, to generate volume. More marketing dollars will generate higher sales of CT’s baked clay products and a planned infusion of funds will boost efforts ten fold..
It is also great that the product, old-style red clay roofs, bricks, tiles — are lasting and beautiful – and Made in Ghana. We believe in Peter Tamakloe and continue to extend CT our patience, as Friedman asks, convinced it will pay off and that, in a small way, we will have been part of something great.
Tags: africa industrialist, africa industry, clay products, passion for business, patient capital, perseverence, thomas friedman