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Mr. Joseph Brenya, 49 years old, hails from Mamprono in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. He had high hopes in becoming a University Graduate but after completing his GSSCE Level 4 in 1979, the bitter truth about his poor background hit home. Income from his parent�s peasant farming could only take him so far. He tried several menial jobs to support his family who felt they had invested on him and were expecting him to take over the mantle of breadwinner. In the heat of his own self-disappointment coupled with criticisms from his family and friends, he gave up his dream. In 1983, he began apprenticing at a local tailoring shop. And after 7 years he �passed out� successfully. Mr. Brenya subsequently opened his own tailoring shop in his hometown of Mamprono, which soon won the heart of his clansmen because of his dedication to timelines and his workmanship. He got married and the union brought him 5 children. Soon after his last-born he lost his wife. And then another reality hit him, catering for the needs of his 5 children as well as his parents and other family members. In the year 2008, he relocated to Atibie in the Eastern region to try his luck but here he realized the competition was very keen. Instead of opening a shop like everyone was doing he rather decided to work from home (where he doesn�t have to pay additional rent). Rather than waiting for potential customers to come to him, he goes to them. And again his professionalism and good work ethic has earned him a very good reputation. He currently has about 180 regular customers. Mr. Brenya begins his working day at 7am and closes at 6pm 6 days a week. He earns an average of GHC 30 a day out of which he saves GHC 10 at his local Susu Company. He then gives every child a daily stipend of GHC 1.50 for school as well as provisioning GHC 100 every month to cater for their school fees and other educational expenses. His first son completed his second cycle education with distinction and was accepted for admission at the University Of Cape Coast to pursue a Bachelor of Commerce but he had no idea how to make this a reality. Then in April 2013, the SmartCash team of AFB Ghana on their sales pipeline generation visited him and spoke to him about how they could support him grow his business. He instantly took a likeness to the SmartCash staff (because he felt they were �honest�) even though he had shied away from other finance companies. After meeting the assessment criteria he was offered an initial loan. He used this to buy school uniform materials to sew in order to take advantage of the reopening of the new school year at the time. In the next couple of months he worked assiduously, aided by additional loans from AFB SmartCash and in August he succeeded in taking his first son to the university. Mr. Brenya is one of the oldest customers of AFB Smartcash who has never been late in repaying and in many instances makes early repayment. Over the last 10 months he has acquired several loans from SmartCash and repaid all in full. With his children set firmly on the course of achieving the academic feat that eluded him, he has as his next task to establish a healthy cash flow. His ambition is to own a big tailoring shop that will employ and train like-minded people to cater to the needs of busy people who do not have time to spend at the tailors�. Smartcash is one of the unsecured products of African Finance Business � AFB Ghana Ltd, targeted at retailers in Ghana. In an interview with the Sales Manager for Smartcash, Mr. Arnold Kavaarpuo, he asserted, that �this is the story of many a SmartCash customer. These are hardworking women and men who only need a helping hand to realize their dreams. Maybe we will not be able to see them through those dreams but we WILL help them believe in themselves and enable them take responsibility for their future�. Thanks to AFB Ghana SmartCash, lives are being changed indeed. AFB Ghana is a non bank financial institution with presence in over 23 locations in all ten regions across the country. It is part of the AFB Group which undertakes consumer finance operations in Kenya, Mauritius, Zambia and South Africa.