Fort Worth Shoe Store Owner From Ghana Looks To Inspire

FORT WORTH, USA - A brand new shoe store is open in Fort Worth but it isn’t your average shop. The Fort Worth man who opened it once lived his life ‘barefoot’ and now he’s using his business to give others a step up.

George Baah of George Baah/Kwame Baah shoes certainly likes selling shoes and he loves designing them but at the sole of what he does — that’s s-o-l-e — is crafting the solid footing of opportunity for others in his home country by making something — he himself — didn’t have as a child.

“Now if I can make a shoe for somebody so comfortable they feel like they’re walking on a pillow, man, that’s amazing,” said Baah. “Growing up my parents [were] not able to buy me shoes. I used tires to make shoes to go to school.”

The boy from Ghana with no shoes is now the Fort Worth engineer and creator of Kwame Baah Shoes.

Crafted from the culture of his home country, Baah uses workers from Ghana to make his shoes.

His new Fort Worth shop is a “well-heeled” effort to help others help themselves. “Anytime I go home, people always ask me for money, but I need to teach them to fish, instead of giving them money.”

He said that seeing satisfied customers today makes him feel good.

George Baah’s boutique is in northeast Fort Worth. His family in Ghana are part of the busines.