My husband was the reason I quit my corporate jobs to start my business – Janet Sunkwa-Mills
In a country where finding a job is a tough row to hoe, there are still people who quit their jobs for many reasons.
The Lead Judge for Ghana’s Most Beautiful (GMB), an iconic beauty pageant, Janet Sunkwa-Mills, quit her two lucrative corporate jobs for her husband to pursue hair-making.
Speaking on Joy Learning TV’s entrepreneurship and career development programme, ‘The Career Trail’, she revealed that she quit her two corporate jobs because traveling took too much of her time, leaving her with less time to spend with her husband, and that informed her decision to eventually settle in her homeland to start her own business.
Madam Sunkwa-Mills disclosed that she worked with Nestlé Ghana Limited for seven years as a sales executive, before being promoted to a Sales Administrator and then to a Brand Manager.
At Nestlé Ghana, Janet hinted at how she had the opportunity to join the managerial team to develop the 21 regions for the company, adding that, because of her hard work and commitment, she was posted to 21 different countries, including Cote D’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, and Switzerland, to help run the company, and in each of these countries, she served in a managerial position.
“I excelled in Nestlé, so very soon, they said, Janet go to Cote D’Ivoire. I worked in Cote D’Ivoire for three and a half years. Straight from Cote D’Ivoire, they said you are doing so well, go to Nigeria. I worked in Nigeria for two and a half years. When I came back, they said Janet you are doing so well, now we will promote you. We’ll give you a bigger role and I became one of the first female Business Executive Managers and I was posted to a new region which was newly formed,” she narrated.
She mentioned that she moved from Nestlé to work with GB Foods where she became the Marketing Director for the company in 22 different countries.
“I have travelled to a lot of countries and I have experienced a lot of countries, be it in Africa or outside Africa. I was in charge of marketing, Marketing Director for Africa and the Middle East, and I was part of the Regional Management team where we made decisions on growing the business within the 22 countries, etc’,” she expounded.
After working with GB Foods for two years, Janet explained that she had to quit to start her own business because she felt travelling had become repetitive and therefore wanted to settle down.
“There was a turning point in my career journey. The management team for Nestlé Equatorial Guinea, we were moving from Kenya to Congo …on my way to board the next plane with my management team, I was saying bye to someone and my boss asked, who is that and I said that’s my husband and he said why is he here and I said, he is also travelling to South Africa and my boss asked, you couldn’t stop for one day because you are working? I said yes. So the question got me thinking because, you know, you can’t be doing that all the time,” she elaborated.
The Chief Executive of JANE’M Salon Spa stated that after this encounter, she decided to become an entrepreneur, thereby leading to the birth of ‘Jane’M Salon and Spa.’
She, however, clarified that her decision to enter into business ca,e about after she had a discussion with her husband and realised they had enough income to cater for their two sons’ needs.
Despite the hurdles she faced, such as the high cost of importation, she kept moving on. Today, her company is six and a half years, receiving several awards including the ‘Best Spa and Wellness Center’ at the Ghana Beauty Awards.
Janet advised students that while the road to success can be daunting, they should not be discouraged because the difficult things people go through in life propel them to bigger wins.
Source: Ghana News
