Funerals are a big deal in Ghana and it is not uncommon, in some parts, for a ceremony to last up to seven days, drawing thousands of crowds adorned in flowing red and black robes and gold jewelry.

It’s hard to miss the coffin shaped like an old Nokia brick phone at the entrance of the sunlit workshop on the outskirts of Accra. Here, on a busy road next to Ghana’s Atlantic coastline, Eric Kpakpo ...