A CHANGE in hairstyle helped a former Windsor Boys’ School pupil get the money he needed to volunteer to Ghana.

Jack Fellows, 23, of Horton Road, Datchet, needed to raise £800 to take part in a global volunteering programme run by the International Citizens Service (ICS), during a break from business studies at Loughborough University.

He said: “I had shoulder-length hair back then and would put it in a knot on top.

“Everybody hated it so I started a ‘stop the knot’ campaign, agreeing to get it all cut off if people would sponsor me. I ended up raising £1,200.”

During his time in Ghana he spent three months working alongside a volunteer from that country, helping the owner of a small smoked fish business called Samuel Abunya.

Mr Fellows said: “He lived in a poor area, but had built a workshop on the side of his house and had his own smokery. He packaged his product in boxes for market to protect it from flies and carrying out deliveries in his car.

“He employed a small team of fishermen.”

It was the sort of small business that can mean the difference between poverty and a decent living in Ghana and during his time there Mr Fellows became fond of the country.

He was impressed by the beautiful textile work he saw all around him and wanted to get involved.

He spent all his money buying 90 back packs and tried to sell them in Hong Kong. Initially it all went wrong and he found himself stranded and penniless.

He said: “I had to get a job counting seeds and was living in a room the size of this sofa.”

But he persevered and now has established his own unique venture he calls the ‘social mercenary’ – selling goods made by talented textile workers in Ghana in the UK.

He works with a talented man called Johnny who turned out some nifty baseball caps for him and a small factory that makes bags, shoes and backpacks.

His long-term aim is to bring beautiful African textile work to the rest of the world - and he is off to a good start.