About the Entrepreneur
Tess Karl Buah is the Founder and Owner of Ghana Locals, an authentic African culinary oasis nestled in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong. Together with her team, Tess is committed to welcoming diners with a taste of their home, delivering flavors from Ghana, Nigeria, and East Africa to compatriots from the African continent and Hong Kong alike. The menu, filled with signature African dishes like Jollof Rice, Fufu, and Peanut Soup with Goat Meat, encapsulates the essence of hearty African home-cooked meals. In the spirit of Tess’s iconic hospitality, the team treats diners with the hope that they would leave the restaurant with not just a satisfied stomach but also a pleasant experience of authentic African cuisines.
Challenges Faced by the Entrepreneur
- Developing a Strong Brand Identity
Ghana Locals struggled to define and articulate its unique identity, including the visual elements, messaging, and overall positioning. This can make it difficult to effectively market and promote its offerings.
- Lack of Time and Expertise
Restaurant owners like Tess often wear many hats and have limited time and resources to dedicate to branding, marketing, and digital efforts. This prevented her from fully leveraging these critical business-building activities. For example, Tess really needed support for designing visually appealing social media posts to showcase her dishes properly and engage with customers.
- Reaching and Connecting with the Local Community
The restaurant also faced challenges in effectively communicating their African cuisine offerings and connecting with the local market. Many local Chinese customers were not familiar with Ghanaian dishes and their unique names, and had negative preconceptions regarding African cultures, making them hesitant to try the food. Business owners like Tess needed guidance on creating marketing materials that would resonate with their target audience and help introduce them to the authentic flavors of Ghana in a way that dispelled these misconceptions.
Direct Business Support Provided by FSI and CBI Interns
Together with FSI’s Community Business Intern Wendy Dichoso Zhuang, the FSI team provided a total of 20 hours of work to support Tess from April to May 2024 and achieved the below:
- Branding Consultation and Marketing Collateral Development
- Designed and produced a series of eye-catching posters to promote Ghana Locals. This involved researching its brand identity, selecting appealing visuals and color schemes, and crafting compelling messaging to attract new customers.
- Social Media Strategy and Content Creation
- Developed a social media strategy for Ghana Locals, including creating a content calendar, generating relevant and engaging posts for Facebook and Instagram, and actively engaging with Ghana Locals’s online community to increase brand awareness and customer interactions.
From the Entrepreneur
“Working with the team at FSI has been an incredibly positive experience. They are incredibly helpful and it was great to work alongside them, as we had a common goal of growing my business. When they helped me create a new menu, they made it look visually appealing and included detailed descriptions of the food as well as some background history about my business. This really helped us gain more exposure to the local market, as the non-English speaking customers now felt more comfortable exploring our offerings.
Overall, partnering with FSI has taken my business one step in the right direction, integrating the local community and minority populations through the shared love of food. I would absolutely recommend their services to other small- and medium-sized business owners. They are truly caring and have good intentions when it comes to supporting entrepreneurs like myself.” – Tess Karl Buah
From the Youth
“As a Community Business Intern, I leveraged my background in graphic design and marketing to create impactful poster designs that aligned with Ghana Locals’s brand. I conducted in-depth research to understand Ghana Locals’s target audience, menu offerings, and unique selling points, which informed the visual elements and messaging used in the posters.
Through this project, I gained a deeper appreciation for the importance of visually compelling marketing materials in the hospitality industry. I learned how to effectively translate a brand’s identity into eye-catching visuals that would capture the attention of potential customers scrolling through social media or passing by the physical location.
This internship allowed me to enhance my skills in graphic design, including the use of color theory, typography, and layout principles to create visually striking posters. I also strengthened my ability to translate client requirements and brand guidelines into cohesive design solutions that resonate with the target audience.” – Wendy Dichoso Zhuang
Interested in learning more about Ghana Locals? Check out the photography and translation support we previously offered to Tess here and Ghana Locals’s listing on GuideFong here!
Get Involved
Here’s how you can help FSI support more grassroots businesses in mutually beneficial ways:
- Join our Community Business Support Internship to equip yourself or your students with business consultation skills and help under-resourced entrepreneurs;
- Sponsor and/or volunteer for our Community Business Support Internship, Impact Jams, Mentorship Program for Ethnically Diverse Entrepreneurs, Entrepreneur’s Toolkit etc. to channel private-sector resources towards positive social impact;
Check out GuideFong to find more grassroots businesses, try them out, leave reviews, and tell others about Hong Kong’s first online directory for ethnically diverse businesses!
