Meet Emmanuel Geraldo: A Ghanaian mechanic who built his own car after dropping out of school
Emmanuel Geraldo left school at the JHS level, yet he persevered and built his own car here in Ghana despite the lack of resources.
It’s motivating. Eye-opening. Spectacular. Impressive. Building an automobile counts among his proudest achievements for a 28-year-old.
But the moment he drove his custom-built automobile to Ada a few months ago marked the rawest expression of his creativity. While traveling, he encountered a policeman who was so intrigued by the car that he (the policeman) wanted to touch it. He even joked that Geraldo should leave the car with him and take a troski to continue traveling to Ada.
“When I was young, I thought only the Whites could make cars but when I grew up and started following my dreams, I realised nothing was impossible,” Geraldo told Pulse.com.gh.
“When I was growing up, I was not good with books. But I was good with taking things apart and putting them back together.”
Geraldo would finally discover his calling thanks to his optimism and propensity for making things right. Talent is in abundance in Ghana and all of Africa. How to utilize their abilities, however, continues to be a difficulty, particularly in the absence of a support infrastructure and policy.
Those without a formal education are in a more dire situation. Without a degree, many are compelled to give up on their aspirations and, in the majority of cases, are denigrated by those in positions of authority who are meant to set the foundations for such aspirations in place.
When I got to JHS 3, things weren’t going well so I had to stop and start to fix bicycles,” he explains. “Through that I had a motorbike and the motorbike started to give me problems so I had to take it to the shop every day.
“I was spending money every day on this one problem, so I decided to take it there one last time. While there, I was looking at the man carefully and what he was doing”
“I noticed this was not difficult – that was when I started to fix motorbikes. From there, I started to fix people’s motorbikes and, early last year, I had a dream I was driving my own car.”
“I had a vision on everything about the car, so when I came to came to the shop, I told myself this is work but let me see what I can do,” Geraldo said
“At the time, I had two Majesty and three Royal motors so I had to sell all of them to raise the money to go for the parts of the car. I had help from my father too.”
“When I was done with the car, the first day I moved it was fun,” a proud Geraldo effuses. “The people around my area all came to see the car and were amazed.
“The mechanics around drove it and said it was good. I was very excited that I could do something that could move.”
“In the next five years, I want to see myself owning a car shop, building my own cars and even building it bigger. I have my next project in mind, which will be a Four-wheel drive.
“The young ones out there who are like me, they shouldn’t shut their dreams away,” Geraldo advises. “It’s not easy to build something but when you have the opportunity to do something, you’re supposed to do it” He said.
