Approachers Series books were popular at a point in time in all Senior High Schools across the country and the author who was then a student has ended up in parliament representing the people of the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai constituency.
Speaking on Personality Profile, on Joy FM, Alfred Obeng-Boateng said at the time, many people were ordering the textbooks in huge quantities for students across the country, so he made a lot of money from the sales.
“From the second year to the third year, I was a millionaire, just that I kept it quiet. Putting assets aside, at the time I was even richer than now, because, nationwide no student goes to school without looking for Approachers Series,” the CEO of Approachers Ghana Limited told the host of the show Lexis Bill.
He explained that he had the idea to write the book while doing his national service after finishing his Advance Level education.
He further disclosed that he used to tutor students as a side job when they were on vacation and it was during that time that some students told him they preferred his materials and style of teaching to that of their teachers, Myjoyonline.com reported.
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“Since the holidays were short, they asked if I could prepare some pamphlet for them to use in school. That was when I used part of my time to prepare the manuscript which was later published as Approachers Series,” he explained.
Obeng-Boateng got inspiration from what his students told him and while in his first year at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), he pleaded with a typist in his department to help him turn the manuscript into a book, a service for which he paid with his student loan.
“I started with 50 books at first. Friday was a free day for us so that is when we could sell the books.”
“We got to Obiri Yeboah Secondary School, they assessed it and said they needed 450 for all final year students. Integrated science was a problem for them.”
After the first 450 copies, the school ordered another 900 copies for Form 1s and 2s ostensibly because it was satisfied with the content and was sure it would be helpful to the students.
“So not long after they wrote the SSCE and the school which has never recorded a B in Core Science recorded 6As that year. It was a small school then.”
“The headmaster used that and promoted the book in the Ashanti Region. So, from there, every school was bringing orders.”
The now lawmaker revealed that he kept his finances a secret while building his company, Approachers Ghana Limited, and living a humbling life in school.
“So, in the third year, that’s when I started the business and the company. I formalised it, took offices, bought machines and employed about 50 people.”