Joseph Mensah: Meet the Ghanaian physically challenged shoemaker who runs his own business

Wednesday, April 14, 2021 at 9:52 AM by Nathaniel Crabbe

- Joseph Mensah is the founder of Joe Mens and the Hope for Disabled Foundation

- Joe Mens is a footwear brand that produces quality leather shoes and sandals

- Despite living with a disability, he has defeated rounds of odds and is running a successful shoemaking venture

- Mensah sat for an exclusive interview with YEN.com.gh

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Ghanaian entrepreneur and designer, Joseph Mensah, is the founder of Joemens, a shoemaking company that produces quality leather dress shoes and footwear.

At age five, Joseph Mensah developed a disability after he was infected with measles and was rendered disabled after receiving an injection to help with the symptoms.

Mensah had a turbulent childhood owing to the disability, which affected his education. He was made to drop out of school at class five (5) as a result.

Joseph Mensah: Meet the Ghanaian physically challenged shoemaker who runs his own business. Image: YEN.com.gh
Source: Instagram

In later years, his parents sent him to the Accra Rehabilitation Centre where he learned the skill of shoemaking.

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Despite coming from an economically disadvantaged home, Mensah defeated the odds including rounds of challenges to start his business.

The native of Teshie in the Greater Accra Region begun his shoemaking business on a table as a cobbler by the roadside.

In 1996, Mensah joined a charity organisation called Hope for Life Handicap Brothers and Sisters Association, where he secured a loan of GHC200 (old GHc2 million) to expand his business.

In an exclusive interview with Yen.com.gh, Joseph Mensah shares his heartwarming journey and the lesson-ridden impediments that he surmounted to become a now-established shoe designer with a successful business.

The founder of Hope for Disabled Foundation pleaded with the public to stop giving money to disabled beggars on the street but rather encourage them to work hard to earn a living.

Previously, YEN.com.gh reported Rebecca Chogtaa Dumeh has blue eyes, is deaf, and could not speak due to a rare genetic condition called Wardenburg Syndrome.