For Sue Eyram Kumah-Boateng, jewellery is more than an accessory. It is a combination of art, craftsmanship, technical skill and an appreciation for materials.
A jeweller by profession and the Founder and CEO of Sue Shimmers Jewelry, Sue has built her career around creating distinctive pieces, working primarily with gold and silver while incorporating carefully selected gemstones.
Her journey into jewellery, however, was almost accidental.
Discovering Jewellery by Accident
When Sue entered Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), her original intention was to pursue fashion design. Architecture had initially been another consideration, but as an artist, she knew she wanted a career that allowed her to create.
During her first year, students were exposed to several disciplines, including fashion, textiles, ceramics and metal product design.
That was Sue’s first encounter with jewellery and metalwork.
The experience changed the direction of her career.
She found herself fascinated by a form of art she had never encountered before and decided to explore it further. During university vacations, she began interning and working in a jewellery store, gaining practical experience alongside her academic studies.
She continued working and acquiring tools throughout university.
By the time she graduated, she had accumulated enough equipment to begin operating her own small jewellery business.
Building a Jewellery Business in a Capital-Intensive Industry
Jewellery manufacturing is not an inexpensive industry to enter.
According to Sue, equipment and materials can be extremely expensive, while technology plays an important role in achieving the precision and finishing expected from quality jewellery.
Poor equipment or processes can result in significant material losses, particularly when working with valuable metals such as gold.
Sue’s strategy was therefore to start preparing early.
Rather than waiting until graduation to build a workshop, she gradually purchased tools while working and studying.
But even after establishing her business, investment in equipment remains an ongoing requirement.
And then there is the challenge of gold itself.
Gold prices can change significantly, making it difficult for jewellery businesses to predict costs, manage inventory and maintain different price points for customers.
For a young jewellery entrepreneur without an established showroom, there was another challenge: building customer trust without having a large collection to display.
Sue initially relied heavily on family and friends, who helped introduce her to other potential customers.
Over time, however, her customer base expanded beyond people she personally knew — an important milestone in the growth of her business.
What Makes Sue Shimmers Different?
One of the things Sue identifies as central to her brand is its focus on distinctive jewellery.
While some jewellery available in Ghana is imported, Sue Shimmers manufactures many of its pieces locally while also importing certain components and lightweight jewellery where necessary.
The company also places significant emphasis on gemstones.
Sue has a particular passion for gemstones and travels internationally in search of unusual stones, including rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls.
These gemstones are incorporated into pieces designed to be distinctive and, in some cases, one of a kind.
Customers can also commission customised jewellery.
For Sue, the objective is not simply to produce another piece of jewellery. It is to create something that gives the customer a sense of individuality.
Quality Before Profit
One of Sue’s strongest business principles is simple:
Quality comes first.
She attributes this philosophy partly to her mentor, Jonathan Ababio, a jeweller with whom she worked while she was a student.
The lesson was that while money is important, the quality and finishing of the work ultimately protect a jewellery company’s reputation.
Sue says that principle has become part of the culture she has passed on to her own team.
The company pays close attention to the quality and composition of its gold, with the aim of ensuring that the finished product meets or exceeds the stated carat specification.
For a jewellery business, where trust is fundamental, reputation can be one of its most valuable assets.
Building More Responsible Jewellery Practices
Sue Shimmers has also developed a buyback programme, through which customers can sell their old jewellery back to the company.
The initiative is connected to Sue’s concerns about the environmental damage associated with illegal mining, particularly the destruction caused by galamsey in Ghana.
The company seeks to increase its use of recycled gold rather than relying entirely on newly mined material.
Sue says the business has already reached approximately 70% or more recycled gold in its jewellery and hopes eventually to reach 100%.
The programme does, however, come with challenges.
The company needs sufficient cash to purchase old jewellery from customers, while there is also the risk of unknowingly purchasing stolen jewellery. This means the business must conduct careful checks before completing purchases.
Where Creativity Comes From
For Sue, inspiration isn’t confined to a studio.
It can come from almost anywhere.
Nature, stones, pearls, objects encountered while travelling and everyday experiences can all trigger an idea.
Sometimes an idea arrives unexpectedly even late at night and she finds herself sketching it before developing it into an actual piece.
That creative spontaneity is part of what makes jewellery design an artistic discipline.
A designer has to be able to look at ordinary things and see possibilities that others may overlook.
Learning From Mistakes
Like many entrepreneurs, Sue’s journey has also included difficult lessons.
One of her biggest lessons has been the importance of hiring the right people.
She acknowledges that bringing the wrong employees into a business can create financial costs, operational problems and, perhaps most importantly, damage to a company’s reputation.
Her experience taught her that entrepreneurs should recognise the areas where they lack expertise and seek help from people who possess those skills.
For Sue, that has meant becoming more willing to outsource certain aspects of the business, allowing her to concentrate on the areas where she is strongest: jewellery design and craftsmanship.
It is an important lesson for growing entrepreneurs:
You don’t have to be good at everything simply because you founded the company.
The Bigger Challenge: Growing Ghana’s Jewellery Industry
Sue’s ambitions extend beyond Sue Shimmers Jewelry.
She believes the growth of her company is connected to the growth of Ghana’s jewellery industry as a whole.
For Ghanaian jewellers to compete in larger international markets, she believes the industry needs greater access to training, equipment, markets and opportunities to export.
She also believes there is an opportunity for Ghana to do more to support local jewellery manufacturers and create conditions that allow the industry to develop.
Her vision is therefore not simply for Sue Shimmers to succeed independently.
She wants to see Ghana’s jewellery industry become stronger.
Because when the industry grows, individual businesses can grow with it.
Building African Luxury From Africa
Sue Eyram Kumah-Boateng’s story reflects a broader opportunity within Africa.
The continent possesses valuable natural resources, talented artisans, designers and creative entrepreneurs. The challenge is to transform those resources and talents into sophisticated products that can compete locally and internationally.
Gold, for example, does not have to leave Africa primarily as a raw material.
It can become jewellery.
It can become a luxury brand.
It can become a design story.
It can create skilled employment.
And it can carry an African identity into international markets.
That requires investment in technology, craftsmanship, branding, training and access to global customers.
Sue Shimmers represents one example of what that journey can look like.
Looking Ahead
Sue sees the next five to ten years as a period in which Sue Shimmers can overcome some of its current challenges and operate in a much more open market.
But she also recognises that no jewellery company operates in isolation.
Her ambition is tied to the development of the wider Ghanaian jewellery industry from access to training and equipment to opportunities to export and reach international customers.
Her story is therefore not simply about starting a jewellery business.
It is about discovering an unexpected passion, developing a craft, investing gradually in the tools required to practise it, learning from mistakes and building a brand around quality and originality.
And perhaps most importantly, it is about seeing the potential for African craftsmanship to become African industry.
Sue Eyram Kumah-Boateng is building more than jewellery.
She is building a business around the belief that Ghanaian creativity, craftsmanship and precious materials can be transformed into products that people value both at home and around the world.
