![Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Margins ID Group, Moses Baiden Jnr. [Left], with Bernard Avle, Host of Point of View on Channel One TV [Right].](https://www.citinewsroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/BAIDEN-4.png)
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Margins ID Group, Moses Baiden Jnr., has recounted the unlikely beginnings of what has become one of Africa’s most respected security and identity solutions companies.
In an interview with Bernard Avle on Channel One TV’s The Point of View on Wednesday, December 17, Mr Baiden revealed that the journey began not in a boardroom, but in the life of a 23-year-old first-year law student at the University of Ghana, armed with just $100 and a belief in opportunity.
“I actually started at 23, and I registered the company at 24,” he said.
Now 35 years old, Margins ID Group grew by riding a quiet but powerful revolution in offices—the shift from typewriters to personal computers, and the explosion of laser and inkjet printing. Where others saw routine office supplies, Baiden saw a market waiting to be built.
“We went into the revolution selling paper, binding equipment, finishing equipment, and laminating machines,” he explained. “We bet on the fact that every single place with a computer would need to output documents. We built databases, customised solutions for companies, and built brand loyalty. Once you start buying from us, you won’t stop.”
At the time, professional offices—from accountants and consultants to printing firms—were spending about $1,000 annually on consumables, creating a steady and expanding customer base. Margins ID Group positioned itself at the centre of that demand, extending its reach into professional graphics and commercial printing.
“In the 90s, we supplied laminating film for book covers, binding wires for calendars and diaries, hooks for hanging calendars, and even automatic laminating machines for the West African Examinations Council to prevent certificate falsification,” Mr Baiden said.
That niche quickly became dominance. According to him, Margins ID Group was the only company offering several of these services at the time, giving it a crucial first-mover advantage.
“We’re the ones who were supplying, for instance, the West African Examinations Council with all the laminating film and automatic laminating machines for laminating their certificates so they couldn’t be falsified. And in the laminating market, we were on providing ID services, small pouch laminating services for everybody. In the 90s. We were the only ones who did it, but there were no competitors,” he recalled.
From those early days of laminating and binding, Margins ID Group has evolved into Africa’s most certified secure production facility for intelligent cards and security products. It holds the distinction of being the first African company to manufacture a secure national ID card on the continent and the first to act as a prime contractor for a national ID project anywhere in Africa.
Today, the company’s footprint stretches far beyond Ghana, with operations and subsidiaries in eight countries across Europe, North America, and West Africa. With nearly ten world-class certifications, Margins ID Group’s story stands as a testament to how foresight, timing, and persistence can turn a $100 idea into a global enterprise.
