Ashanti Man creates Fufu Pounding Machine
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Kumasi, Ghana Aug. 2007 - Around the Garden City, Nana Agyapong is known as a man’s man. He’s built a successful empire by Ghanaian standards, selling toffee, biscuits and ice cold minerals to the residents and passer-bys in his neighborhood. The 43 year old trader’s rise to entrepreneurship has been nothing less than inspiring. Possessing only a forth grade education, the Fufu pounding machine architect was happy to share with us how his creation was born. Preparing fufu is a laborious, and time consuming process. It can be done in teams, with one person pounding boiled yam, cassava and/or plantain with a 5 pound pestle, while the other turning the meal and adding water until the desired consistency is reached. Some persons do both tasks on their own; however that takes dexterity and years of training. It takes rhythm and skill, as many a hand has been crushed in the preparation process across the country. For anyone who has spent the hour or so required to make fufu, news of this invention is both welcome and timely.
Sucking heartily on a Hack’s cough drop, Agyapong recounts his timeline of success.
“You know, I never finished school,” he began. “As I used, I used to sell dog chains and apple by the side of the road. What distinguished me from the other boys was that I could run faster to collect my money when cars would try and speed off without paying. I would also shove my apples into the faces of passengers of vehicles until the bought at least one bag. I was very persistent.”
He gestured toward his 4x6 table that served as a kiosk in front of his home.
“That’s how I got all this.”
Eventually, he got to how he created the fufu pounding machine. As Maize Break walked around his compound, he explained. A delicate “thump-thump-thump” could be heard in the background. It was the distinct sound of fufu being pounded.
“Well, one very hot day about 6 years ago, I was making fufu and decided I was fed up with doing it myself! I approached my wife for a possible solution, and that very night, the seed for the invention was planted. After years of product development, the prototype is now mature enough to prepare fufu for entire families. We call her Alice.”
‘Alice’ it turns out is Agyapong’s 5 and half year old daughter. From the time she could walk, her father fitted her with miniature sized mortars and pestles. They were the only toys she was given to play with. Now a sturdy 4 foot tall lass, she pounds fufu faithfully everyday after school for different families in the neighborhood for a set nominal fee.
Nana Agyapong is beyond pleased with his…invention.
“All these students at KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) have spent years trying to figure out how to build an automated fufu pounding machine. And here! A man with only a kiddie’s education has outsmarted them all. God is truly wonderful.”
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