₦airaland Forum

Calyb:

@op
Nice work... Any updates on experiences so far? Would be nice to share

westerk:
This is one of the most enlightening thread ive read on nairaland in a very long time. Kudos to all those that shared their experiences. I've also invested in people especially friends and I've lost money too. Actually I have a job so it's more of investing in friends who are not really employed. So I've learnt the following
1. Most business people feel that their major problem is money, once they get funding their business will explode. Based on my experience with helping friends fund their business ive realised that what most entrepreneurs lack is ideas. Secondly a lot of them do not even do proper reaserch before going into the business. At the end they will lose investors money. That's what happened to me.
2. Believe me there are lots of people who have money to invest but d challenge is most people that will come to u to fund their businesses have not even sat down to do extensive research before looking for investors.
I will explain my experiences briefly. So i have a friend from d middle belt, told me about soya beans business, that we will buy, store and after some months we will resell and make profit. So i sent money we bought about 80 bags between November 2018 and January 2019. Cost of the soya beans plus bagging and transportation to where we stored at TARKA l.g came down to about 12,000 plus per bag . (Based on his so called research we should be able to sell each bag for at least 18,000 in 6 months time). To cut the long story short the price kept dropping we ended up selling them at 9,500 per bag to other sellers in benue in January this year.
We also planted yams, were able to harvest about 1,800 tubers of various sizes. The challenge has telling me now is how to get buyers for the yams. Meaning he didn't even consider where he will get buyers after harvesting. It's currently being priced anyhow at benue ( 100 big yams at 30,000) quite unbelievable.
Another of my friend gave him 400,000 he sells all this alkaline water. Buys from unique and sells in owerri. Later for to know that he sells on credit mostly to civil servants in d state and its always difficult getting them to pay u the money. He still has over 250,000 outside after I have him d money over 5 months ago.
I'm not really bothered about the monies that ive lost, it just reinforced my belief that a lot of so called business people won't sit down and and take a lot of time to research about they business they want to go into before disturbing people for money.
Another one based in Benin is now telling meme about butcher business , that they buy cows from d Hausa people there take to abbatoir, sell to middlemen and consumers and make up to 40,000 per cow, did a lot of good analysis. But based on my experience all those are just analysis nothing more. I didn't even bother with him even though he's still calling. For me I'm not really d one that lost , i invested the money in them to help them stand on their feet, unfortunately they didn't do t heir homework well, and i have no intention of giving any of them even a job. As a friend ive done my bit for them.
So for every businessman out there take time out to do ure research because u might never get a second chance from d investor once u flop. And believe me there are thousands of people out there with money to invest.

While I agree with most of what you said. I don't agree that lack of ideas is the reason why businesses fail.
All the instances you gave had fantastic ideas, but none were successful.

The issue is that most people have been deceived by the cliche 'have an idea that can change the world' What changes the world are not just ideas but hard and smart work. I just mentioned on another thread that no matter how spectacular that idea is and how much business planning goes into it (not discounting the importance), most 'ideas' fail when put into the real world. There are lots of things you cannot envisage on paper but one can only talk of its viability when it's test-run


For most of the start-up businesses you mentioned, I usually advice people to model what Igbos did after the Civil war that helped to spread wealth. If it's something people are already doing, even if you have much money, go and understudy or work for a successful person in the line of business you want to venture into. Learn the ropes, then go out and first start small. It's much easier to scale up after getting a successful model than scale a non-succesful mega project down into profitability

westerk:
The truth is that businesses that are extremely profitable are discovered by the individual. In this part of the world those that are into very profitable businesses hardly reveal the businesses or trade secrets to others. It's something people have to discover for themselves. I'm not a business person o , I'm just stating what ive observed among business people / entrepreneurs.

Sadly you're right and it's similar world over...
It must not be something an individual is currently working on, it may be something they did in the past or something open to everyone (e.g stocks, Forex) but they were able to turn to make profit. The amount of detail shared is purely at each persons discretion

These was once a thread here someone put up to chronicle his business activities. He was involved in lots of legit and basic stuff (like tomato resale, Forex...) and they were very profitable... It was an inspiration to lots of people

I've come to see that people overate the 'idea' factor..... Majority of people with fancy ideas make nothing. It's putting the idea to work that counts...and in real life, out of 10 fancy ideas put to work, about 2 or 3 may become viable in the long run

alkines:
Pple don't really want to show their arsenal

Not good.... It's easy to share bad experiences, it should be easier sharing good ones.... There's enough room in the sky to contain all birds that want to fly

More experiences house.... It should be a good learning curve for all

For me, presumably, it was during the previous naira devaluation when Buhari took over.... It was so clear the naira wouldn't hold....bought some dollars and later sold in naira....about 500k in... Was a significant sum at the time

Currently in to a number of investments but none is yet to
really pay out.

@lalasticlala front page.

dawnomike:
My bwst investment this lockdown period has been Binary options... It is as though this period is my lucky charm period

NB: Please do not try binary options like me ooo... YOU WILL LOSE YOUR MONEY
It is like fortune just sent luck to me this time ni o.. it is not always like that

I have not heard about binary options.... Can you expatiate?
It's not limited to the lockdown... Your best financial investment in life so far

I made the thread below as a follow up on this... Feel free to share thoughts
https://www.nairaland.com/5775951/what-best-financial-investment-how#88129457

I made the thread below as a follow up on this... Feel free to share thoughts
https://www.nairaland.com/5775951/what-best-financial-investment-how#88129457

Tis is a follow up to the two threads below:

https://www.nairaland.com/4852491/how-old-when-made-first

https://www.nairaland.com/4853587/what-worst-business-investment-how

Having followed the two threads above for a while, it occurred to me that during this lockdown, it would be good to share ideas on decisions people made that put them on a different financial pedestal... If you have any, please share for the benefit of others

Edit:
For me, presumably, it was during the previous naira devaluation when Buhari took over.... It was so clear the naira wouldn't hold....bought some dollars and later sold in naira....about 500k in... Was a significant sum at the time

Currently in to a number of investments but none is yet to
really pay out.

jp130:
A small piece of land, abt 234m². D building has a lobby, palour, dining, kitchen, a store, 3bedrooms ensuite, a laundryn a tank stand above d kitchen. We pray to God for success n with ur prayers n contributions.

@op kudos on progress so far.

Just to clarify, the digging of 150 per meter is to what depth?

AlfaSeltzer:
Ewu Innocent Okafor, you were fighting for the unity of the Zoo?!
Aturu efuluefu, well done to you. I just pity your wife and son. I hope she remarries a wiser man. Fool.

You my friend is stupid. This is not the way to go about the quest for Biafra

voltron14:
My initial response is the lack of creativity and productivity of the average Nigerian, however you seem more fixated on government.

I continue with my premise, Nigerians are unproductive and uninventive people.

Whatever shade you wish to colour it by, 60 years of nationhood underlines this fact.

Watch how he would swing it to politics.

Below is a snippet of your post I quoted and the reason you gave for our current power problem. All I did was make you see why your excuse of blaming the past government wasn't sensible.

Whatever you wish to call Nigerians, I wouldn't go down that line of self hate with you. Yes, Nigeria has her problems but Nigerians are humans similar to same specie in any part of the world. We are not of less value.

voltron14:
You know many Nigerians are unwilling to hear the truth.

Under the previous government electricity was privatised. Unfortunately, it was sold to fly-by-night businessmen who had no interest in improving on power but seeing it as an opportunity to make money forever, even without effort.

Since these deals are legally binding, the government of the day cannot break such a stranglehold.

voltron14:
The question I would ask you is if this government is inept, were they also responsible for lack of power supply for.the rest 55 years?

They were voted in to build on the progress or fix the errors where necessary of the past 55 years and not to start blaming every past government from Nnamdi Azikiwe of 1960.

The question is that in the 5 years they've been there, what tangible steps and progress has been made on power? 5 years is enough time to know the direction of a sensible government

voltron14:
You know many Nigerians are unwilling to hear the truth.

Under the previous government electricity was privatised. Unfortunately, it was sold to fly-by-night businessmen who had no interest in improving on power but seeing it as an opportunity to make money forever, even without effort.

Since these deals are legally binding, the government of the day cannot break such a stranglehold.

In any case, we are an extremely poor nation, and seeking quick fixes are unachievable.
We do not have the local capacity to build cables or any form of components to make power generation a local game.

Government has recently sought the support of Siemens and we can only support them to achieve, rather than castigate, impugn and sabotage.

Often times, I wonder if Nigeeians truly seek a solution to their predicament.

Stop making excuses for ineptitude. This government is over 5 years but they're still pointing fingers.
Privatisation of some aspects of power generation was a step in the right direction. What I had expected this government to do is to build on that by mandating distribution companies to issue meters to customers much more earlier. After all, most were shedding power even when available as they preferred to use estimated billing and take in profits without doing much. What did the government do for all these years it's been going on? It's now they're trying to find a solution. Even if you claim they were sold to the wrong people, there are ample ways of mandating performance. Look at our refineries. Would you also blame their redundant state on the 'past government'?

Also, another way they could have built on past efforts was by privatising distribution (which the government still hold unto and has continued to run it down) and making it easier for states to produce and supply power locally. It's not rocket science. Keep this government for 20 years and they'd still look for who to blame

mbahdi:
Hahahaha what a world.
This virus just dey sweet me like mind.seeing d Drama.atleast d whole world will now know there's a supreme God in heaven.see how d mighty are falling.if we as humans can be this prepared for heaven and rapture the way we are preparing and ad hearing to precautions on dis virus,heaven will never miss anyone.prepare cause Christ is coming soon.no body seems to care.just a virus and everyone is afraid and preparing.were are d so called world powers.this is just corolla virus.think of how tense it will be when the superior mezdes Benz which is d oga of all virus will come by next year.
How d mighty have fallen.if the world will now respect God we will know.

If you think this is the right way to preach Christ then you are mistaken. The impact of the disease may not be obvious in Nigeria but recent events has taught us things can change quickly.
To put it in perspective, what you're saying is similar to laughing at those being killed by herdsmen or bokoharam and accusing the victims of not trusting God

@op...What's the cost (including installation) based on turf types.
Also, what states do you operate in

Slimchubby:
Hi guys, pls am looking for pig farm in Kaduna where I could buy good breeds.

Hi..... Still into pig farming?

Slimchubby:
Pls am looking to start something small in this line of piggery. My location is Kaduna, are there places I could get pregnant sows or about to mate to buy around Kaduna? Here is my no pls if u have info wch wud be of huge help to me:- 07037999416.

Hi....
Curious.... Did you still start up? I'm looking in that direction too

Good job @op
What was the depth of the foundation?

@op
Is it still available?
What's the price?

Perfecttouchade:
that's also fine but get like 2 different distributor to enquire from so that u can go for the best price, I'm sure u might get different prices..I hope you understand what I mean sir. Or if by any opportunity u are able to meet one of the drivers who deliver for those distributor, that's ok too

Yeah... Thanks.... I'd look into it

Perfecttouchade:
I think Obajana kogi State should be the best place u can get your orders at least u should get it at N2,400+plus for the truck load ,that's a price of each bag and u will definitely get a good supply (full bag not the re-bags)...

Thanks. But Obajana is far and not feasible for me. I was thinking of asking a major distributor around if he could help with the arrangement

Perfecttouchade:
since the location is in kaduna, you should get a better bargain price and a trailer load should be cheaper. Most of these small reatailer even get it at a good price and they just attach their orders with other buyers despite most of their orders are not even up to full truckload

Thought as much... Any idea how I can go about this?

Perfecttouchade:
probably N50 difference tho...even some of these small retailers are selling re-bags. ... I'm sure you should get a good supplier here...

N50 would not be worth the stress and risk. I was thinking buying in bulk should give a significant difference per bag which when multiplied by say 500 bags should be a good sum

megacontrol:
Contact distributors directly. That way you remove middle-men that are not vested and offer you nothing other than placing a phone call on your behalf.
You'll get good deal starting from 300 bags upwards. if you push it to 600 bags then even better.

Where is your location? Which brand of cement do you want? I can share some of the contacts i use often with you.

You should establish direct contact with two or three distributors for redundancy sake.

good luck.

Yeah... I was thinking about same thing.
Location is Kaduna town. I'm not so particular about the brand but would prefer Dangote.
I was looking at getting a trailer or half but don't know how to go about it

@ house
What's the cheapest way of buying 400-500 bags of cement for a project. The small retailers are quoting 2,600 but I believe I can get it at a better price considering the number

[quote author= post=86779945]This is nothing but gross incompetence!
All lives matter.

Tho Doctors only cares, Only GOD heals.
But competency is key.


WTF [/quote]So in this case, did the people die because of the doctors incompetence or because God refused to heal them? Or are both parties to blame?