TEDxChemungRiver - Gabriel Ankamafio-Adjei - Patents, Market Share, and Niches December 24, 2011

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I was born and raised in the Atlantic coastal town of Labadi in the capital city of Ghana. By the age of 15, I was farming organic vegetables on our family home back yard, and selling the produce to restaurants along the coast. I managed the farm all through my high school.

I wanted to expand into poultry and I partnered with a childhood friend of mine to enter into this new venture. We were raising about 500 chickens a year and selling to smaller and bigger restaurants alike within the center cities of Accra, Ghana. We had to close shop during an outbreak of poultry disease which wiped out all our hard work and investment. Being enrolled in a boarding school didn't help us in starting over either. At 19, I left Ghana to study in Denmark and also play semi-professional soccer.

I moved to the U.S. after a three year stint in Europe. I stayed in Bronx, NY for almost a year, saving for college which I did end up completing in Upstate NY. While in college I accumulated patents through my consumer products ideas, which helped me make my move into starting a company. Things did not necessarily go as planned, primarily due to oversight on my part concerning several hurdles, stemming from a lack of maturity as an entrepreneur.

I foraged on through another venture, FANSHOES, where I currently am the CEO. FANSHOES was an idea, I conceived in late 2008, after looking at the market availability for branded footwear in the collegiate and pro-sports market. Although, FANSHOES is not the first and would not be the last to tap into this niche market, the possibility of grabbing significant market share was worth pursuing.

Since the launch of sales the products in 2009, we have worked with some of the largest national collegiate stores and big-box retail stores in the country, and are considering the potential of moving aboard through international sporting games.

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