Little did Mabel know a term she had crafted in 2007 in fulfillment of her passion and also to reflect her dynamic persona would eventually be at the verge of becoming a valued brand that people will desire to be associated with in less than a decade.
But one thing is certain, she has always been enthusiastic about creativity before her mid teens when her parents presented her with her first pack of drawing pencils and a sketch book. That is one thing she is aware of and insisted would be difficult to forget when I engaged her in a conversation at the La Tawala beach.
Until she was interviewed on the One Show on Vaisat 1 somewhere in the last quarter of 2010, Mabel never knew how popular mSimps; her line of ultra chic bags, stylish male slippers and trendy accessories had become after a few months into full scale operations.
Christened Mabel Maame Ama Simpson, she is the last of three children and the only girl of former anchor of GTV’s Sports highlight, Emmanuel Simpson, a man she described as Christian indoctrinated and commands an enormous influence on her life.
Now in her mid- twenties, she started her elementary education at the Ridge Church School in Accra then to Wesley Girls’ High School for her secondary education before enrolling at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in 2004.
Aside her love for artistic works, inventive products of rare forms have continually found a place in her heart in her visual arts class whiles in high school and after becoming a graduate and genius in communication design, her course of study at K.N.U.S.T.
In a rather calm demeanor coupled with an unfriendly breeze that kept her hair flying, Mabel revealed the motivation for starting the brand and further explained the name mSimps.
‘I was obsessed with radio and television programming whiles in K.N.U.S.T so I planned to register a company for that purpose. I wanted a unique name I could connect with. I settled on mSimps, an abbreviation of my name after discussing it with a good friend, Joy Fm’s Kojo Oppong Nkrumah’.
As a non conformist with a burly quest to persistently fish out new ideas and concepts, she decided to switch the direction of mSimps after realizing several other outlets had started radio and television programming projects.
Inspired by her nature and love for African fabric, mSimps became a line of handmade products including ladies bag, men’s slippers and the latest addition, hair and dress brooches. mSimps also deals in several other trendy accessories for an ideal fashion statement.
In the year 2010, Mabel had to take a bold yet tricky decision which was described as rather inane by those who mattered in her life. She resigned from her full time job at a marketing communications company to pursue what could be regarded as a strapping passion.
‘To many people around me, it didn’t make sense especially after quitting my previous job as assistant producer cum presenter at Hitz Fm. Just like most of them, I occasionally wondered how I was going to survive selling these products. However, I was always hopeful and optimistic about the prospects of mSimps’.
With a startup capital of GH200, Mabel rolled out mSimps in her bedroom and determined to make it work. Her nights became incessantly sleepless, a time to conceive ideas and designs for various products aside generating effective marketing ideas.
Combining her knowledge in Project Management and her commitment to work, she made it to Oktoberfest 2010, a bazaar organized by the American Embassy for diplomats and other nationals in Ghana. Mabel was fulfilled; she was getting closer to her dream of promoting Ghana and also taking mSimps to the ‘Diaspora’.
Other milestones in Mabel’s life and a confirmation of her prudent entrepreneurial activities were invitations to address a student gathering on leadership at the Ashesi University College and an entrepreneurial session organized by the Rotary group.
‘My main challenge as a young entrepreneur has to do with funds. Also, it becomes quite uncomfortable for people to deal with you or become associated with your brand just because it is new and obviously struggling. These are issues I love to discuss anytime with a group so we find solutions to it’.
With mSimps becoming a household name in fashion, Mabel is confident of attaining her long term goal of transforming mSimps into an esteemed global brand. She advices other young business executives to be guided by the philosophy of commitment and should always be ready with alternative approaches so they don’t fail.
Anytime you come by any product branded mSimps, be reminded hard work pays. When you cut Mabel Simpson open, she will bleed nothing aside inventiveness!
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