About two years ago, I was introduced to the business of selling various types of snacks. I started from my living room (with my husbands permission of course) and could only buy small quantities at a time. I didn't have enough start-up capital and the kind of snacks I was introduced to had a very short shelf-life but it was very fast moving though with very marginal profit. the products I was selling then were essentially Gala, Biggie and Superbite. At the time I was living in one of the densely populated areas of Lagos. One day I went visiting an old classmate in university who resides in the Coconut area of Ajegunle. We were sitting in her living room when I heard an uproar and went out to investigate.

On getting outside we saw an unbranded ford delivery van offloading a lot of bags of a particular product. The more interesting thing is that there were several women standing and counting money and trying to pass it to another lady. On inquiring further my friend revealed that this is what happens here every other day. The woman receiving money is a distributor for an Ogun state based snack company and she receives two truck loads of Chin-chin every week, precisely on Tuesdays and Thursdays while she receives another truckload of doughnuts every morning. She added that the fight for the doughnuts which arrives at about 5.00 am Monday through Friday was more than what I was observing then. The demand increase had been so phenomenal that her customers were now making cash backed orders prior to delivery. I was so shocked but maintained my cool until we returned to her flat. I was feeling my excitement mount and decided to broach the matter with my friend. I told her that I would like to join that business in my area and agreed that she would buy me some samples of the product the following day.

I went back to Ajegunle the following morning and by 5.00 am I was already in front of my friend's residence. The doughnut bus arrived promptly and there was a sudden surge of activity. The sales commenced immediately and all the Kekes' who were waiting suddenly carried their clients and goods away. I was able t buy some samples and immediately tasted the doughnuts. For the retail price of N 50.00 it was fair in size and had some jam in the middle. it was also very beautifully packed and tasted very good. After having breakfast with my friend I went home and gave it serious thought. I then called the company and went over the following day. I met with a very helpful Clients Account Officer who helped me understand the business properly and highlighted the sales model and the pricing mechanism. I then left and went home to discuss with my hubby in full.
He was of the opinion that I could start it since it wouldn't affect my wifely and motherly functions.

The following day, I made payment for a small quantity of Chin-chin (39,000k) and also paid for doughnuts (9,250). Please note that the doughnuts were small because the shelf life is particularly short while the Chin-chin has a six months shelf life. The sales were quite slow especially as I refused to do any credit sales whatever. I still marched on without being discouraged. two months after I was selling Doughnuts every morning for all the food vendors in public schools in my area and was grossing 55,500 daily, 277,500 weekly and 1,110,000 monthly. Please however note that these figures represent only time frames when schools are in session. The chin-chin was a bigger business becuse my major customers were inside our local market. and I could store the goods for a longer period.
I was happy with my progression until my husband gave me what I consider to be bad news.

Wow! This is highly interesting and entertaining . . . following . . . . . . . . . . .

My husband works for an agency of the FGN and he was to undergo transfer to PH. KI was a bit disturbed considering that I had a 2 Million Naira turnover business. i braced for the change as we had only two months left before our rent would expire here in Lagos and hubby wasn't ready to renew since he would rather pay for a new place in PH. staying separately was not even on the cards.
I had to gradually wind down my business or hand it over/sell to somebody else. My friend from Ajegunle convinced her husband and they took over our house and she took over the business. I showed her the ropes and she learnt fast and today her monthly turnover exceeds 3 Million Naira. This is to let you know that there is a lot of money in small businesses like this one. In the next episode I will tell you about how I started up in Port Harcourt.

Pls dear, I am very interested in this business. Pls how can I get in touch with you? My email address is trinity_mnena@yahoo.com. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.

Madam karin001 am patiently waiting for your next post with my pen and book hoping to learn more from you.

On arrival in Port Harcourt, I had to settle down with new home, new school for kids before looking for what to do. I must say that my mind was a complete blank as regards business here as I had never even visited Port Harcourt before this relocation. We got a place in the Federal Estate in Woji. After about a month, I decided that I was ready to start something and since my capital wasn't that much I will have to start again with something realistic All I had was around 200,000 having supported hubby to secure this reasonable house. There just had to be something that could be started with 200k. My Hubby made a suggestion that I will eternally be grateful for. He encouraged me to go to some wholesale shops in Port Harcourt just to have a feel of what trends in Port Harcourt. I did visit some places and later he followed me to the major markets in Aba and we tried to check out what moves very fast in this area. It is imperative to state here that for some reason or the other my preference for busines as a housewife with little children is something that moves very fast and gives me marginal profit. While going around Ariaria market I noticed that different kinds of chin-chin were sold here and that engendered my desire to start selling my previous product. On the spot I immediately called my former suppliers in Lagos and they referred me to their PH branch/Depot. Guess what? The Port Harcourt is just a walking distance from my new residence and they had just opened shop. That was the end of the Aba trip as I quickly returned to PH.

The following day after dropping the kids in school with the regular Keke that Hubby hired for this purpose i requested that the guy take me to the Depot. I met the Depot Manager and the Customer Support Officer and saw lots and lots of Chin-chin in their store. In fact a truck was offloading even more into the warehouse. I quickly told them my history with the company which the quickly verified with the Lagos office. I was immediately registered as a sub-distributor and assigned a territory for my exclusive supervision. i was simply elated. I now hired the Keke guy for the rest of the day at least till schools close by 4.00 pm and he then took me on an excursion visiting as many shops/mini markets as possible on Woji road, Abuloma, Slaughter area, Trans-Amadi, Ogunigba, and all round to Ogunabali, Stadium road, Rumamasi and back to Woji through Artillery. Mind you this was achieved in 3 days because apart from noting the location of the shops, I actually came down and visited some of them and showing them what I had to offer. Non of them had ever seen chin-chin so wonderfully packed. After the visits I spent two days plotting my strategy and then I was ready to hit the road.

Following this thread seriously.

I envy you ma'am. 1 egg roll now cost N70 in my area.

Opportunities everywhere; no will to take risks
Karin001, could you please help us with photos? Just an idea of the package

My approach was as follows;

I drop the children in school with the Keke and then zoom off to the depot and pick up my goods and then start the merchandising process. Note that the products are usually prepaid for the previous day via a first bank account. Immediately the client agrees to display the goods I provide an invoice and give him just a little, maybe just a dozen. I buy the chin-chin in bags and then break the bulk so that it is easier to manage and sell off. I do my rounds and even visit some shops where I know that they will still have goods and I have the goods rearranged for a proper display.

To guide me appropriately I set myself monthly , weekly and daily targets and try everything possible to meet these targets. I never set superfluous targets. having done a similar business from scratch in Lagos, I knew very it will not be easy but then I also know that with patience, endurance and determination I would succeed. I had done it before and I would do it again. What drives me in anything I embark oon is a saying that is permanently emblazoned on my mind; everything is difficult at the beginning, the more difficult it is the bigger the success that will result from persisting. While my targets were not overtly ambitious they were realistic and encouraging.

Month 1; Sales of 100 bags of chin-chin with net profit not below 20,000

Month 2; Sales of 150 bags of chin-chin with net profit not below 30,000

Month 3; Sales of 250 bags of chin-chin with net profit not below 50,000

Month 6; Sales of 500 bags of chin-chin with net profit not below 80,000

My overall ambition is to become a Key Account Distributor with this company. With that my rebate will be nothing less that five Hundred Thousand Naira annually. At the moment the distribute chin-chin and cakes from this company, I have assurances that they will commence the production of doughnuts latest September. I look forward to this. In hierarchy, their doughnuts move fastest while cakes are also fast but the chin-chin is the bomb. There is a distributor of this chin-chin who started just like me in Aba about 7 years ago. Today she has joined her husband in his shop selling over 10 million Naira worth of chin-chin every day. They are in Cemetery market, Aba and the husband is a major distributor for Chi products. I am moving slowly and yet making progress. I have now been able to acquire a VW Golf station wagon for this business. I am now known in Port Harcourt (especially around Woji, Abuloma, and slaughter as the chinchin madam). Indeed I am proud of this sobriquet.
Ladies especially Housewives in major towns of this country and even younger people fresh from school who are yet to finmd their feet, start doing something immediately. I am not by any means promoting any company that is why I am not mentioning names but I am encouraging you to choose any company and push their products for them and grow your business. there are some many women that I have met in lagos and in PH who started smll and are doing so well. those of you who know Woji well, there is a woman that has rented almost an entire plaza for her distribution business. She is into so many things and yet she started at her home as a toilet tissue merchant. today she does so many things with many graduate employees.

There are many women who are bread distributors and you will be amazed at how much they help their families. Some carry pampers around in their cars and ensure they make sales every day. One tip I can give you is that when you start a business while taking care of your children as toddlers your business will be toddling and as your children grow and need less attention you transfer some of the attention to the business, by the time your children are independent your business will be towering like a colossus. Go out there and look for a business to do. Too many companies willing to do business with you. Dot ever complain of capital. You can never have enough of capital. This sales model can be replicated by anybody in any town in this country. If you have any comments please present them here. For any advise, tips encouragement or recommendations you can reach me via karinebinne@gmail.com (karinebinne@gmail.com)
I will stop here and watch the responses for a while as I prepare for tomorrow. The school session is usually our busiest time of the year. should I decide to continue this thread I will in the next episode raise some issues that newbies in sales usually meet and how to overcome that.

Following bumper to fender.

Thanks for the encouragement, Karin001. God bless you.

Nice one madam.

this is why I love nairaland. ..loads of ideas to tap in from..God bless you madam

Very true Oga Acidosis. Even when we eventually develop the will to take a risk, the bigger problem is our outright refusal to start small and build an empire that is sitting on a solid and tested foundation. Every successful business that is today great started at some point with what they had and where they were at that time.

Acidosis:
Following this thread seriously.

I envy you ma'am. 1 egg roll now cost N70 in my area.

Opportunities everywhere; no will to take risks
Karin001, could you please help us with photos? Just an idea of the package

Nice one... I love this!

alalubosa issue on agric section comes to mind but I go dey on top fence

Your story didn't only encourage but challenged me as well.

Here is a machine that will Mill, press, slice and cut your chinchin into your desired sizes. I will process 3 bags of flour in just 60minutes. If you want to go large scale, this is what you need.

You need a blender mixer, a chinchin Plant and a deep fryer with draining mesh.

I will add the pictures.

Very inspiring,God bless you more.

Wow! Very inspiring. I love this

Maximus85:
Here is a machine that will Mill, press, slice and cut your chinchin into your desired sizes. I will process 3 bags of flour in just 60minutes. If you want to go large scale, this is what you need.

You need a blender mixer, a chinchin Plant and a deep fryer with draining mesh.

I will add the pictures.

Do you have a smaller size of this

I diligently read through your write up, wow! Inspiring nd it goes to show that you've got this business thing deeply rooted in your mind. Also, I believe since you've been able to grow the business gradually and formed a network, it won't be difficult for you to manage bigger businesses. Keep on succeeding. Cheers!

Congrts madam!Dis is gud but if i may ask,are they other distributors in PH or u're d person running it alone?

toyeem:


Do you have a smaller size of this

Yes, that one will only slice and cut. (450K) Meaning you will need a separate Miller (350k)

tycoon2:
I diligently read through your write up, wow! Inspiring nd it goes to show that you've got this business thing deeply rooted in your mind. Also, I believe since you've been able to grow the business gradually and formed a network, it won't be difficult for you to manage bigger businesses. Keep on succeeding. Cheers!

Thanks! I intend to become a business TYCOON one day!!!! Support me in your prayers.

Kamkamdd:
Congrts madam!Dis is gud but if i may ask,are they other distributors in PH or u're d person running it alone?

No, I am not alone in Port Harcourt. They have a depot here and they even have a sales team but PH is a large town and very thickly populated. I only a very small part of PH and I am sort of deepening the market (vertically) as against widening (Horizontal). Honestly the market is too big for even 7 distributors. I am welcoming as many women in PH who want to do it to join me (but not in my own territory sha). I however insist that you make the business formal by insisting that the company assign you a territory. Are there no women who can replicate this business model in other cities around here; Owerri, Umuahia, Awka, Eket, Uyo, Yenogoa, Sapele, Ughelli. I am very willing to help as many people as I can especially people in PH and Environs.

toyeem:


Do you have a smaller size of this

Oga Maximus, are you the one makingvtgebequipment displayed in the pictures? Please publish the address and phone number of your showroom.

Karin001:


No, I am not alone in Port Harcourt. They have a depot here and they even have a sales team but PH is a large town and very thickly populated. I only a very small part of PH and I am sort of deepening the market (vertically) as against widening (Horizontal). Honestly the market is too big for even 7 distributors. I am welcoming as many women in PH who want to do it to join me (but not in my own territory sha). I however insist that you make the business formal by insisting that the company assign you a territory. Are there no women who can replicate this business model in other cities around here; Owerri, Umuahia, Awka, Eket, Uyo, Yenogoa, Sapele, Ughelli. I am very willing to help as many people as I can especially people in PH and Environs.

God'll bless u d more madam since u'er willing to be an instrument in His hands to lead oda folks out of poverty.
But come oo,is dis biz basically for women alone,u alwys attache it to dem or just coz ur're a woman?

Kamkamdd:

God'll bless u d more madam since u'er willing to be an instrument in His hands to lead oda folks out of poverty.
But come oo,is dis biz basically for women alone,u alwys attache it to dem or just coz ur're a woman?

No it is definitely not gender specific. Many men are involved in this business in many places. however the men I know are really large buyers. There is a man in boundary market, he sells many snacks, his name starts with 'G' and he buys the chin-chin in Millions weekly. There is another distributor in Aba. He sells these products in Tens of millions monthly. There are several men out there who are doing this business, however I was recounting my own experience and I am also inclined to believe that men do big business while women are more prone to start smaller and grow. In private I I could give you the addresses of these guys for you to verify my claims but I don't have the liberty of posting names and addresses on a public forum without permission.