SERIOUSLY contemplating opening factory w/father in Ghana...suggestions?

[gloryaccordy]

As some of you might know my family is from Ghana in West Africa, which might be one of the few STABLE sub-Saharan countries left. My dad is set to go back and has a house and some land there, and with the rising cost of living here I'm thinking about either moving there forever or at least setting something up there...

Anyways, with my mechanical engineering background and almost obsessive infatuation with the machinations and performance of cars I've been kicking around the idea of opening a tuning company. This is where everything gets beautiful- with the abundance of shadetree mechanics and the super cheap cost of labor and land, it would seriously not be difficult to open a FULL testing/design facility for aftermarket parts. PLUS, with the proximity and business ties to South Asia, partnerships and deals could be made for things we couldn't make, i.e. shocks, springs, etc...

Obviously I'm not gonna pick up and move today, and I'm gonna work and start it up mainly with my money (with some help from Dad)...so it'll be in a while. But what do you guys think? For me it could be the realization of a dream, as honestly I could see myself designing parts and tuning cars until I die. Plus I keep an eye out for things people wish they had and stuff...and I know manufacturing techniques for parts and all the stuff needed. Best of all, land, labor, and fuel are pretty cheap (I dunno if they have 93+), so even if things tank I wouldn't be too deep in the hole, and I could sell whatever I have...it seems like a win-win.

Again, thoughts? I just talked w/my dad about it and we're both as he wants to get out of medicine and begin investing in other things...

[HondaFan81]

Once you commit, it's ballz to wall...don't turn back til you there. Otherwise don't start it to begin with.

[deevergote]

If you think you can do it, then go for it! It sounds like a great opportunity. Cisco is right though. There's no halfway... either you do it or you don't. If you give it your all, you'll probably do well. Just don't forget your CB7 family! If you get into designing and producing parts, you MUST do some CB7 stuff!

How's the quality of life in Ghana though? I have a friend who's family is from there, but I know nothing about it (other than the fact that the accents are cool as hell ) You'd need to get into international sales for your parts if there's little demand there. I know many countries are either too poor or too heavily restricted for people to bother tuning cars. You can't survive with an upstart company on just the top 5% of the population! There's such a strong car tuning market in the US (as well as the UK, Japan, and Germany) simply because there's a LARGE middle class population. Many countries don't have that middle class. There's the small group of "haves" and the large group of "have nots". If Ghana has a decent middle class population with a fair amount of disposable income, then you'll be able to do well, I think. If not, prepare yourself for international operations from the start. At least you know you'd have a bit of a market here on cb7tuner.com!

Good luck in whatever you choose. Sounds like a really cool idea.

[gloryaccordy]

Sounds good guys...

Yea, the market for aftermarket parts there is basically non-existent...most of the cars are from the era before all the computer crap took over, so peeps are just happy to have something running. A lot of the cars I'd like to tune aren't in abundance there, so I'd have to do some importing (which again wouldn't be to bad after buying a container) from here. However, from what I know things are cool and stable enough to warrant the time and investment necessary for such an endeavor. Compared to here, the investment is so low- honestly, having a testing track, dyno/engine lab and prototyping lab is not at all unfeasible...the equipment itself would cost more than the land/cost of operation by a landslide.

But yea- if this goes down, again, it will be marketed across the world for sure, like one of the Japanese tuning companies. It would be completely global, with the brunt of the design work being done here, and testing/prototyping/manufacturing done both here and there. My first car/engine to tune would definitely be the Accord platform/F22/F23 as that's easily what I'm most familiar with, and I see the potential of the chassis/engine. But right now it's basically a dream...it wouldn't get off the ground for a couple of years as I really have to create a business plan and figure out what to sell first/how to market my stuff...

But yea, stay tuned!!!

[Makaveli2k]

YaY Ghana. I am from ghana Too sounds like a good idea but do you really think the demographic their would be interested in tuning?

[gloryaccordy]

It wouldn't be sold there really, just made there. It would be sold here/Europe.

[teh win]

Man, that would be awesome. Spreading the tunning scene to parts of the world it might never see. I know that some parts of the world are run down and just will never see what us americans get to see. We are very lucky for what we have. I mean Isnt africa very poor? I do realize some parts are nice but growing up i remmeber how i used to watch videos about how poor places in the southern hemi are broke.

Mourn to their poor countrys

[gloryaccordy]

It wouldn't be sold there really, just made there. It would be sold here/Europe.

We would just make the stuff there...not sell it. Peeps are pretty poor...I don't think anyone's looking to spend a month's paycheck on a muffler. We'd make it there, and sell it here.

[mondojackal]

dude...this sounds like a freakin awesome opportunity for you yaw! i want to see you succeed at this man!!

[minoreparations]

sounds risky as hell. i certainly wouldn't do it but i would also miss out on that cashflow if the business took off. it's good that you have time to think about it instead of just jumping into something you're not so sure about. from what i've read, it seems like you have a pretty good job right now so why risk it? that's just me...cliche time: do what you feel is right.

you might want to take the ny meet link out of your sig

[Clueless]

sounds good, altough I wouldn't really want to move to Africa....follow your heart and dreams!

[HenRoc]

Meh I have mixed feelings really.

My dad is from Liberia, and he opted to open a computer business and lumber yard in Monrovia, but civil war erupted and it made everything worse.

I dunno for me personally it would be a risky sit. then again Ghana is alot more stable than Liberia.