₦airaland Forum

KenGali: Third time am posting on your topic. Your problem is likely not the bright colours of your label if you are going to specialise on premium bakery. I hope that's what you mean by specialise. If your clients recognise the quality of your bread, they will not mind even if your label is as dark as charcoal. Do not rush to spend your money, go back sit down and study the business before you decide what the problem is. Packaging may not be the problem. Be logical in your approach not intuitive.

If you are producing average quality bread, your problem could be your distribution network, maybe it's too small.
If you are producing above average quality breads: maybe you are targeting the wrong clientele. May be your bread needs to get to high end supermarkets and like.
It is still possible that your label is too boring, but I doubt that.


Am interested in how you solve this problem, do keep us posted when you do.

Thank will def keep it updated

Maybe she is tired, jus take things easy. Some women are not big on sex. There are certain times of the month wen a woman is Horn-ier than others.

Pls don't be talking about maRrying another wife marriage is for better for worse.

This is just a phase it will pass.

donpata: Like really, most of the people talking here have no experience in baking things. Evryone is running his mouth based on the Nigerian thing we know - Dishonesty. But to the question; Yes, u can run dat bakery even without coming over yourself. Some businesses however require that the owner has a significant idea of how the business operates. I mean, like the bakery, u shouldnt just be a novice in bread production, u must know a bit of wat nd wat 2 mix to get diz or dat. Then all u need to do is to direct ur sister based on the information u are recieving from her. U would only suspect foul play if u dnt trust her in the first place or if she's not acting to ur dictates.

that said, I also run a bakery and i must tell u dat in recent times, bread business profits have deminishd due to the serious hike in price of commodities. I also suffer by making abt 1.5k per bag which is not mearnt to be. Take for instance, a bag of flour sold for 5200 as at early last year; but now, it goes for 7200 (since GEJ hike d import duty 4 wheat flour) nd d prices of bread are not things u could just wake up a day nd change simply bcoz the cost of productn has risen. U nid some cooperation from other bakers so dat evrytin can be uniform. Now dats where ive been suffering coz the members of d bread union in my place aint cooperative. So u see d cycle continues. Anytime theres a loss u suffer it greatly cos d profit margin is so small.

D only way u can break even is if u specialize. The business is so competitive as there are too many pple now on the scene. U nid to consult to improve ur bread greatly so u can invite more distributors. Coz truly, d higher u produce, the much u gain. imagine producing 15 bags a day at a gain of 1200 per bag; dats sometin in nigeria today. bt if u can specialize and produce very standard bread, u could gain at least 3k per bag. With a good distribution network, imaging hw mch u will make by producing just 10bags a day.

contnd later

Tnks for ur time.

Am getting to increase our profit margin I need to go more specialise. At the moment it's mainly medium and super but my plans for that baery was that i ud be doing a lot of breads and cake dat we enjoy here.

We we will get there I think I need to get more involved.

Pls can u help me, I need a reliable printer that can print on nylon and also do some bright coloured labels.

No we're are in benin city, wat weight is the jar and how much dd it cost u. Tnks

AMEN!!!!!!!!

promkingzz: Thanks to u both greatgod2012 and bebe2, my dads getting better, d doctor took the stiches off yesterday hopefully we'd be outta here soon. wow @ur stories

tank God, glad he is better, dnt forget to take of urself too

their traditional clothes too dull
happy married life

pls can anyone help me, i need cinnamon spice ground or sticks i dnt mind.
is it available in nigeria?

hi, i also have a bakery in benin city dat am strugling wit, wud be nice if we can rub mind.

blink182: instead of you trying to convince her, you are making rubbish of her genuine concerns. Bini people when no de use juju play. I believe u even told a lie by saying you don't believe in juju.

In the long run, you seem more like someone who wants to tell us she has a bakery than someone looking for feasible business solution.

pple nevacease to amaze me, wats ur problem? i shud beg her, wat for.

i have seen various post of urs and thot u were a sensible person. wat do u want me to tell her? "pls advise me, my sister wont juju to kill u" how petty does dat sound? ave u seen the amount of advice i hace recieved on this thread? did u see any other person repeat that statement of hers.

and I repeat I DONT BELIEVE IN JUJU!! unless u can convince me otherwise.

bigx: Does your sister have prior experience in running a bakery or is this her first time?

No it's her first time

Rimbaldi: In my opinion,

1. ur business is still very young and u are too much in a hurry to start making profits. You don't even have the framework on ground yet and u expect profits?

2. Did you formulate a business plan for the venture cos it sounds to me like u just upped and poured money into venture?

3. If u set out with a plan from the onset, then u should know that 2-3 months is not enough to break even. Stick to the plan with only minor adjustments due to operational realities on ground.

4. Our people can be dubious BUT before u start blaming ur sister, how much do u know about how the business is being run?
5. What kind of bread do u make? Who are ur target clientele? What are u doing to reach out to them and get them to patronize u? What incentives are u offering them? Why should they buy less of some other baker's products and more of yours? Or do you expect them to just jump at ur bread? Na ur bread sweet pass for Benin? Ur sales are only as good as ur marketing strategy. Even companies with less than average quality products still make a killing with the right marketing mix.

5. U LIVE IN THE UK AND U CANT SEE THE SALES ADVANTAGE IN THAT EVEN WHEN NAIJA DEY WORSHIP ANYTHING EFFIZY WORTHY? How attractive is your packaging and how appealing is ur bread to the eye? Does ur bread wrapper contain ur uk mobile number as one of customer care hotlines? Do you call customers randomly to keep a tab on sales and for PR purposes?

6. How often are u in touch with ur sister? How many times a day do u call her or BBM her to keep tab on operations? How many of ur workers do u have their contacts and do u reach out to them at all? I don't know ur sister, but I don't think she should run the business. You can let her oversee things generally while she is on a stipulated salary or COMMISSION(preferrable) but not run the business. Employ someone with experience and let her manage the person if necessary. If she doesn't like the terms and conditions, she will look for something else to do with her life or like someone said earlier, give her a parting gift. Get POS machines and let customers pay directly into ur account at the swipe of a card. Do online transfers to an operational account for purchases and sundry expenses.

7. I concur with what Bigheart2013 said in his post and this is just an addition. 4mil is reasonable to start that kind of business but will do a lot more if u planned well ahead. What usually prevails is that people just do a little research and pump money into a business because they have it, and when the venture flops it is easy to blame it on the next guy. A lot of people here who got burnt probably did not do their own research and relied heavily on the info their kith and kin provided them with only the expected profit margin ringing in their ears like door bells. If u want to start a business that would be run by proxy, it is usually best u start and run it urself for a couple of months to really get first hand experience. So I suggest next time u can get a leave, come down to benin and run it for a couple of months, that way u get to know the challenges and strategize on how to surmount them. We have foreigners owning businesses in Nigeria and running them by proxy through the same Nigerians that everyone is quick to call criminals. How do they do it? One way is they employ locals and get their 'brothers'(countrymen)to manage everyone else without really having that power to squander funds. Take Lebanese businesses in Nigeria for example, some of their operations are structured to undergo approval from UAE,Qatar or wherever else their HQ is located and very often, the real management teams make unexpected trips to inspect operations. I know urs is a small scale venture compared to those, but u could take a cue from them. UR REAL PROFIT COMES WHEN U HAVE A STEADILY GROWING LIST OF LOYAL CUSTOMERS. UR FIRST TASK IS TO GET THEM HOOKED ON U.

Am glad I opened started dis thread.
I am learning so much, I will take all ur advice. Def need to increase sale.

I am looking fo a general manager with bakery experience, wen I get one I will take my sister of operation and she can jus act as a figure head.
I will go home in September to see wat I can do.

Thanks for ur time

Raymondenyi: Hello maa'm u can successfully thrive in ur business here in Nig 4rm d UK, If n only IF u make me the manager of that business. Should u b interested contact moi.

Hmmmmm ok, wat experience have u got?

uyogabie: I read your post few minutes ago about your bakery,now you want to ship goods down here.It's a good idea but why not concentrate on the growth of your bakery first.I assume you will still want one of your relatives to handle it for You from here.I and hubby are both based in Nigeria,we've had several businesses that was managed by relatives.All investments has gone down the drain.My dear,if you are not here,then be wise and careful.wish you luck.

Thank u, I was thinking I cud bring in the goods sell it come back to the uk.

S for the bakery I will give it a few months if no improvement then I will rent it out. I can't go and stay in Nigeria, but I will visit for 3 weeks in September to try and save the bakery.

The problem is, am a busy body I like to on the go, I get bored if am not doing something with my time

I have often wondered, especially for those living in diaspora.

At least Nigeria parents expect the kids to fund their old age, provide food, shelter etc basically act as a pension. But in the western world u go to a supermarket n see mother and daughter at the till each will pay for their groceries. Give each other a kiss and go their separate ways.

The mums are even spending money on their kids and gran kids.

amdman: I think we need to take into cognizance the profit margin in bakery business generally, as profitability is based on volume.

Due to stiff competition, profit margins are generally slim… about N2000 to N3000 per bag (after production expenses). Cost of N11,000+ per bag of flour is not that unreasonable depending on the quality of bread you are making. What you now need to do is increase your volume of sales. If you keep doing one bag daily, you will never make a profit. You need to grow the business to start doing 5 bags daily, and to do that, you need to re-jig your marketing strategy. Where in Benin is the bakery located and how do you sell presently (do you supply retailers or they come to buy from you?)

On the other hand, you may want to lease the bakery to someone that will pay you a fixed/relative rate monthly.

The bakery is in ikpoba hill, aduwawa.

Our sales is not great, we just bought a van to help wit distribution.

Bakers are not staying for long we ve been looking for bakery helper for sometime wit no luck.

Once we register the van am hoping sales will increase.

crisycent: TV license people don come my house tire.....weytin na only me nor dey pay? because of dem if I hear door bell, my enemy go begin panic.

This got me laughing loud, I went to my friends house in abbey wood we were busy gisting ( shouting/yelling Naija style) nexthing there was a bang at the door, she jumped up and threw her self on the floor, grabbed me to the floor. " babes, dat na tv licence pple" we stayed down for some time wen it went quiet we went to the door only to find that ir was Argos dat were trying to deliver her fridge that she ordered

PBundles: Join the (growing) list of those who have been there done that. Im very sorry to tell you that your business is being mismanaged. I wouldnt go as far as saying you are being ripped off as I dont know your family or those in involved. I did something similar a while back investing a little more than what you have, only to disciver that it was run into the ground. The problem is that you are seen as a financer, so if the money is finished we will simply ask for more. Its even possible that any profit being made are being used elsewhere. When they say its cost NGN 15k, be rest assured it cost NGN 10k but they have added lunch, transport, jarra etc etc etc etc. The reason why workers dont stay is most likley the person in charge is not coming to work on time and is not professional so why should the workers. I feel for you badly as I can imagine what you are going thru thinking I can achieve something and also help my family. This only suceeds in very rare cases. The few I know succeed because the person makes suprises visits a couple of times in the year and has a financil advisor who he has check up every now and then. The worst part is you better not complain. If you do you will hear what I heard... OK IF THEY HAVE EATEN THE MONEY IS IT NOT IN THE FAMILY.

God bless u my dear, everything they will call me, so I thot, open a business and we can all benefit from it.

But am still being asked for school fees and all sorts. I have 4 kids of my own. If I worry about just me and my nuclear family I will be very rich I will holiday all over the world but I have to worry about my nieces and nephews. I can't ignore them, they were born in my presence, cared for them, fed them bath them, I love them as my own but by the time I pay this pay dat, I start struggling to meet my own bills.

I tire jare

strangest: We can set up cctv cameras in your bakery and route it through IP servers for you to be monitoring your bakery anywhere in the world. Lol... Only you that knows how hard to get the money to open a business can successfully control it, others will always see your business as a way to better themselves

tell me more about this, sounds interesting

bigheart2013: Yes you can! I asked a similar question before on Nairaland and got very useful tips. Here's the thing.

1. Businesses are established not only for financial profits (cash) but also for economic profits (non-cash), which may be to provide employment ur sister, or to make name, etc. establish which one is more important to you.
2. If you live outside Nigeria never hire a family member or relative to run your business.
3. Don't hire anyone who come to you advertising him/herself or begging for jobs
4. Hire people through a thorough interview process like a real company does. They'll respect the job more.
5. Do not pay salaries. Share the risks by paying only commissions (usually 10% on sales, or about 40% on profits.
6. Commission on sales is more motivating for hard-working people
7. U can also pay a base + commission. Anyone who cannot live on commission is not business-minded. Afterall the owner lives on profit only
8. Have a Bank account with a Microfinance bank (they help small businesses more) not a commercial bank
9. Every dime made must be paid into the bank (and withdrawn if needed)to build cash-flows in case you need loan some day. they should take picturess of bank slips and receipts of purchases and BBM u immediately the transaction is done.
10. Use BBM to stay connected and on top of business. BBM can transmit instant pictures of events & real-time chats as if you are there.
11. Be ruthless, professional, and out rightly non-sense with Nigerians. A lot of fraudulent crappy people out there.
12. You may take a bank loan to share the risk with a local bank, and let part of the loan be management TA (technical assistance), so the bank can provide their own manager to run the bakery professionally as a partner.
13. Another option is to rent out the bakery to a baker who pays you a flat fee every month, just like you will rent out a house you built to a tenant.
14. Every receipt must have the seller's or buyer's phone number on it (not hand-written). make random calls each month to audit or confirm transactions. If they know you call sellers and buyers, they will shape up.
15. Be patient! A business setup in January is not supposed to be making profit by now o!. It usually takes about a year or more to make profits.
16. On marketing use established re-sellers who buy in bulk and pay cash- Supermarkets, bread sellers, restaurants, shops, etc. Don't sell directly to people yet.
17. Please, please, please, hire a lady as a manager, preferably an educated married lady with kids. That's the only thing that works in Nigeria. They may be slow, but at least they won't loot your funds.

18. Ok having said all this. Please fire your sister now if she's not performing. Give her N350k gift to start her life somewhere

All the luck.

thank u, am giving it 8mths to improve if it doesn't I will rent it out as stated in option 13.

[quote author=Okija_juju]Use Bromate..



Ok! Seriously! A Business is only as successful as the management and its market!
Did you ever personally manage this business before handing it over to your sister?!
If Yes?! What was you profit margin then?!
If it was high, what is the cause of this low profit turn out?!
Do you have an idea about your market and customers?! E.g Hotels, e.t.c.

Answer and lets take it from there![/quote]No, I just sent money down for it to be established.

I did a bit of research which bread business was a good venture. But if they are making 1200 from a 12 k investment den that's not gud.

We dont do big supplies yet, we just got our first distributor , we also just bought a van registering it next week.

The profit margin is just too low

CFCfan: Also, the federal minimum wage here in the U.S. is $7.25/hr. No State or City is allowed to set a minimum wage below that of the federal. President Obama and Congressional Democrats want to increase the fed minimum wage to $9/hr.
The Australian minimum wage is the equivalent of US$15.

Now we're talking, pls get me to Australia

payless: Haba! God forbid bad thing, bro.

U Neva see, only in uk I don see pple with masters dey do security work

CFCfan: Are those cable/satellite channels? if not, why do u guys have to pay the tv license?

Dat an why Britain na thief thief country. The have been stealing d For centuries.

Remember the empire saga? Dats wat it was for

CFCfan: Lol. I heard that the tv License fee funds the BBC. How true is that?

So they said o, but u still have to pay for sky satellite. I can comfortably live without the BBC but u can't opt out.

The moment u think, hey. I have £5k, thank God o, the next morning one better postman go land u bill wey go collect all the money. The thing don tire me o

I no come dis country con look london bridge o

I can't go to Nigeria becos I have young children

I cant go to America becos I have young children

My mum is not in the uk

As for the tv license, dat's my oga's biggest pain. He pays it by direct debit.
There are pple dat will never open their front door for fear of tv license people

Hun, if u give me advice on wat wud will help my sister will do juju to kill u

Babes, dat one strong o

Tnks anyways

Btw I don't believe in juju

its april again and local authorities in uk are busy looking for money.
how many bills can one recieve in a day.
i think the easter holiday delayed the postman, water rate, business rate, council tax, speeding ticket( self inflicted, hubby beat red light) shey na only dis house dey dis country?

i want to import food stuff from europ to nigeria in december.
am thinking of chopped canned tomatoes.
considering the flood in nigeria last year am thinking this might be a good idea.

what do u guy,s think?

hi NL, i have a bakery in benin city nigeria. it was opened in january and its been run by my sister.
the problem is were are not making a profit.
i spent about 4million setting it up but it has refused to get off the ground.

cost of baking one bag of flour (including other ingredients)according to my calculations is about N11,800.
they are making profit of about N1200 fom each bag after expenses.
this doesnt make sense, i expect to make at least 40% of the cost of making a bag of flour.

we cant even holdon to a baker they come spend 1 month and they are gone.

pls anyone wit experience, can u help wit tips?

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If u r below 30 get rid of the pregnancy and start over. This is Naija o, single gal no see husband talk less of after one unless ur family are rich enough to take u abroad. Becos in Europe and America single mums are the hottest thing around

Well, it a very difficult task.

My great aunt came to live wit us in the early 80s she was very ill, I was too young to look after her but I say my mum doing it. My great aunt had no kids and my gran ma had only my mum so it was like she had 2 mum in the house. She wud wash her, dress her up nicely and use gele to tye her hair like she was going out, then sit her on the varandah. She was doubly incontinent. She died a few year later my gran died in 2001 and my mum had to go thru same thing. I feel sorry for her knowing all she has beef thru.


That had a great impact on me, Wen I first came to the uk I worked as a carer, u wud see pictures of these folks getting married, dancing smiling then u look at them laying in bed almost lifeless with all the muscles wasted. I never got used to it I wud go in the toilet and just cry it out. I stopped after a couple of years couldn't take.

I wish ur dad a swift recovery, hope u get some help so u don't break down .