₦airaland Forum

Lets assume that my husband has been transferred again and this time around he moves to Uyo in Akwa Ibom State.
What would I do? Would I just arrive Uyo and immediately start selling my current brand of chin-chin? Of course not. My first duty would be to ascertain the nature of Uyo, The geography, the demographics and the economy, I would then visit the various markets in Uyo, Etuk Street market, Akpan Andem market Itam market, and some other enclaves which may not necessarily be denoted markets like the city center a.k.a Ibom Connection or Circus.

My main objective here would be to establish the buying patterns of the people and their purchasing power. What sells most in the town? I would also check out the snacks sector to ascertain the moving brands while also checking out the availability of my current brand. Then I would look for a list of large public and private primary and secondary schools within the state capital. I would then visit at least three more major towns in the state and then do the same analysis. In this case the towns that come to mid are Eket, Ikot Ekpene, Oron and maybe Abak. Another place I usually look for is a military barracks because of the pocket of population density you usually have there. Normally you also have a local economy in that kind of place. So to Ibagwa barracks I would head to and then look at the mammy market and seek out what is available in the market and how receptive they would be to me and whatever I would be selling. After this I would then sit down and map my strategy. Now my first approach would to discuss with the Regional Manager in PH or whoever covers Uyo and seek for an exclusivity clause. When I have gotten that I would then ensure that I commence the implementation of my plan.
Step one would be to make significant effort at making the product popular in the town. Initially there will be a lot of horse trading and very deft negotiations but my eyes would not be on the poor and almost non-existing margins but rather on the future. that does not in any way translate to my incurring losses at all.

Schools, offices and the secretariat at Abak road would be my first port of call.

Mallams and small kiosks would be my next port of call.

My choice of these type of outlets initially is because they sell very quickly and you are dealing with the owners of the outlets directly. Should there be any issue of credit at all you will get your money that same day.

It is when the product begins to move that they will want to make commitments for higher volumes. But before this happens I would already have commenced a relationship with a major snacks dealer in the market with the intention of having him sell the products in the market, Now this will also display the product in the major markets. While it may be true that all the supermarkets in Uyo buy their products in Aba I want to assure you that some of them still enter the markets in Uyo to restock from time to time. I would also ensure that I supply the ones who will not delay my cash for too long. The most important thing here is to ensure that whether they buy from me or the guy in the market i have a share in that money no matter how small.

A car will be a very necessary tool for expansion purposes because once a week I would visit all the major economic centers to ensure that goods are always available and well displayed.

After the meeting, my aunt braced herself and withdrew all her older children from school for that year while those in Primary schools continued. The entire house and chores was restructured to accommodate the present circumstances. My mum in recounting this experience says that in those days immediately after the meeting my aunt had transformed from the supposedly weak and helpless widow to a personification of determination who was committed to excel despite all the odds stacked against her.
Left without a penny, death had dealt this very young woman a deadly blow and in the aftermath society had decided to test her will and her love for her children. She started with selling the only thing she knew then how to sell; chewing sticks, The account has it that she used to go to the swamps with her older children and cut the preferred stems for the chewing sticks and return home with them daily and then she would concentrate in cutting these sticks to the desired lengths and arrange them in bundles. At the crack of dawn all the children would be in all public places; markets, motor parks, churches etc and would sell these small bundles of chewing sticks to interested people before returning home and then preparing for school. At this time my very hardworking aunt had already left their food in various plates and together with the older ones she had departed for another round of getting the stems. The cycle continued for about one year.
Exactly one year after the death of her husband her business began to experience growth and all her children were back in school. At this point everyone in the house was selling Chewing sticks before going to school. The surprising thing is that with time this lady attracted large scale buyers of the chewing sticks, traders from neighbouring states started tom buy the chewing sticks in large quantities and some were even booking for their supplies and paying upfront. The business was booming and she employed a lot of local women and some men too. She completed her husbands’ house in the village and quietly embarked on another one right there in her village but building it under her sons’ name. This business paid school fees for all her children gave them a roof over her house and made a significant name in her society. Not to talk of the fact that a lot of men chased her and desired her as one of their wives.
While this looks easy on the outside especially as we read it in black and white the eldest daughter and first child surprised everyone including her mum when she said that for many nights when she thought they had all slept she remembers her breaking down and weeping profusely but when they arose in the morning she was all steeled up and determined to face another day. Today the only signs you can see that shows the pains which she went through earlier are her very charred and rough hands that are remind the children every day of the sacrifice one woman made for 16 children.
Quite frankly how many of us can do this even for our own children?

The essential lesson I want us to draw from this epistle is the need to start as small as where we find ourselves at the moment. There is no such thing a s a business which requires capital which cannot be miniaturized for it to start small. This aunt of mine started by selling directly as a retailer and then transformed into a distributor and then a mega distributor.

Maybe my aunt was lucky! Or maybe she was blessed!

Dear readers, I apologize for the very long story in the last post but I hope it is worthwhile because it is supposed to set a tone and show you some of the misconceptions regarding the much hyped excuse for Success in business; capital.

I take a break now and will return.

My maternal background is phenomenal. I would like to use a maternal aunt of mine as an example in this case. She never went to school even for one day and married very early and had a total of 16 children(actually 19 but three were stillborn). This lady is a potential case-study for Harvard and Yale Business Schools. The fact that she delivered all the children naturally and without help(apart from the first) one is a story for another day. She has also never visited a hospital unless invited by nurses to help out with a very difficult delivery. Her husband never allowed her do serious work then apart from buying and reselling chewing sticks.

I am indeed very proud of my very uneducated yet accomplished maternal aunt of mine.

Her husband was a fisherman who could barely fish enough for the large family. The pressure from feeding these little ones was so much I think that he gave up very early and transited 'prematurely'.

At the time of his departure all he had to his name was an uncompleted 35 rooms apartment.
Now the expected thing is that the family and the older children had to organize a befitting funeral for the man and the money was raised through contributions from the extended family and age grade members. After the funeral, the larger family convened a meeting. The agenda was to share all the children among the kindred especially those who had a source of livelihood under the pretext of helping the children but we all know those children would be seriously enslaved. This was in the early 70s' just after the civil war and my mum was in that meeting. i will state here that the first option for this kind of situation was that one of the brothers of the deceased was meant to marry her but one look at the number of children was enough deterrent. That is why the option of sharing the spoils came up.

My aunt put up a fight and a serious one at that. According to my mum all the persuasion and threats by the family members which of course included older women fell on deaf ears and the meeting finally ended with her and her children being abandoned to their fate. Predictions were rife that it was a case of self inflicted genocide. Today, my aunt has 16 graduates, with 9 of them living in abroad and the remaining ones in Nigeria. I would like to assert that she did this all alone. Indeed at a point my aunt became a most sought after bride by her in-laws and other admirers. I understand that when the pressure for marriage became too much she bought her freedom by paying back her dowry in an elaborate celebration during the Christmas of 1983.

HOW WAS SHE ABLE TO ACHIEVE ALL THIS? HOW

The concept of CAPITAL means different things to different people. for some it could be large tracts of land, form others it could be a large amount of money ( think with me; have you ever noticed that when the word capital is mentioned in many discussion circles what come to mind for most people is very large sums of money?), for others it could just be equipment, buildings. Nobody ever thinks of health as capital, fewer people think of expertise as capital and I dare say that just an infinitesimal number of people have bought into the most recent thinking of capital being nothing more than an idea or information that is temporarily exclusive to you which if backed by expertise and massive action will translate into unprecedented success. These are my thoughts.

If you ever pay a visit to Alaba International, Aldipo market Mushin or indeed any major market in Nigeria( I also observed this in Ikoku, PH when we went to buy car parts with my husband) you will see a stream of young men approaching you and as they they are interested is in 'helping' you make a purchase through them. They play all sorts of pranks, tell you all sort of untruths but finally one of them wins and you finally buy from him. You must note that in observing very carefully he gets the real owner of the shop to relinquish his shop temporarily while he carries out this transaction which is mutually beneficial. These boys have probably gone through the prescribed apprenticeship scheme and do not as of yet have sufficient 'capital' but they are not waiting at home for the capital they are out there hustling to get the much desired capital and more importantly they are increasing their experience.

Whenever one thinks of doing business one of the very firs things that come to mind is the need for lots of capital and in this case especially in present day Nigeria capital must always refer to money, tonnes of money.This is also compounded by our erroneous education which is founded on very wrong predicates. In our O/L economics we are taught that capital is one of the basic requirements for the set-up of a business; please refer to the factors of production. We have all grown up and gone through a school system which at different levels emphasizes this baseless assertion.
On graduation from school almost graduate is searching for a job. They take jobs that they don't enjoy, do not grow and worst of all do not learn anything from. About twenty years ago taking a civil service job was an anathema. Fast forward to today we now have millions of young people pitching their tents in Abuja and other Metropolitan centers just waiting for an opportunity to get a job. I will have you know that some of these people actually wait for as long as 5 years and it is horrendous to note that some pay hundreds of thousands of Naira just to secure a job. Lets not even talk about what happens in Telecoms and the Oil and gas sectors of the economy. Case in point is the last immigration recruitment saga, and recently the Nigeria Police recruitment effort. For 10,000 potions we already have over 800,000 applications. And more are applying. What beats me is that more than half of the people that are applying for the police positions already hate the institution with a passion but then again 'man must wack'. Why on earth would you pay as much as 100,000 to get a job? Many cases currently abound of monies changing hands and jobs not provided. I recall during the last administration we had some people gathering at the former tollgate in Lagos in respect of jobs (subsidy empowerment people). It is only when a new party took over the reigns of power that we heard the staggering sums that people paid for these positions and they lost these sums. The biggest loss in my opinion is not the money but rather the time and and effort expended on an excercise in futility. If only you know what some people would have done with just fifty thousand in two years you will be amazed. The biggest culprit here is a deep seated fear, and the ego coupled with ignorance and laziness that cannot be described. What could be more foolish that spending 100,000 or more to get a job that probably pays you less than 35,000. Oh a job gives you security. Well if you think so find out what is happening today as regards disengagements even in the most supposedly secure settings.

How do you get to introduce and sell new product over and over again?

How do you manage your finances in such a way that the business can only progress rather than retrogress?

How do you insulate the business from everyday demands of living?

These are some of the questions that will arise as we progress and I am sure fellow readers of this thread who are more knowledgeable and experienced will share whatever they have for us all to benefit.
Most importantly, I hope our discourse will will show how with simple steps, a little understanding, unflinching determination and persistence backed by MASSIVE ACTION all the challenges that will appear on our path will be preempted and overcome with little difficulties and strain.

Starting small has always been the biggest hurdle form the new business person. In my next write-up I am going to demonstrate a step by step method of how to start a new business with as little capital as possible and then grow it phenomenally within the shortest possible time. I will choose two towns in Nigeria that I have a little knowledge of and show how a determined person will go about starting and sustaining a snacks distribution business. I will also try answer questions that will arise and with relevant examples we will together demonstrate how sheer determination to to survive within this business will keep you afloat and eventually turn you into profitability. This will now be our thrust.

Kamkamdd:
Its alrite ma,u've given me d ans.D company in question,do they've a specific amount u must deposit b4 u become their distributor?

No deposits required for small timers. Deposits may apply to Key Account Distributors. I dont know about that. I can only speak clearly for purchases below 1million.

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.

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.

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.

Whatever you do don't place all your eggs (3m) in one basket. It is difficult to advise without some background knowledge of your person, history and circumstances. A lot of things come into play. Production for instance is for a certain kind of make-up while sales is for a totally different personality trait. PM me if you really want to discuss further.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We are a Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company operating from Lagos and Ogun State. Our main area of interest is producing and distributing snacks that have mas appeal. We are currently selling in large volumes in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Aba. Resulting from our desire to expand we are interested in recruiting experienced sales staff to develop a distribution network in the two commercial cities of Onitsha and Kano.

Interested candidates must be able to show evidence of a a good knowledge of the town and its major markets. Familiarity with the norms and operating principles of Key Account Distributorships will be an added advantage.

We are open to either a full employment status or a consultancy position with a very generous commission and bonuses where necessary.

Interested and qualified candidates should forward their c.v to vikbiz2011@gmail.com.
Please indicate your preferred location as the subject of the mail.

Ha, Ha, Ha OP you have never heard of the word HYPMOSIS abi?

Op, please you cannot abandon your thread because of one person who doesn't see any good in everybody.

Every thread cannot be a scam. Then again good threads will probably be hidden among the bad threads and the onus is on us to separate the if it is we hold ourselves responsible as individuals if we do not verify and check everything out before parting with money. I have personally decided that till the end of this thread I will not contact you nor part part with a single dime. Please shoot.

Allstrasse:
I had to go through the rulesn governingbthe cre tion of threads on nairaland and could not see what I am doing thatbis so wrong. Maybe you would be kind enough to quote the relevant guideline and I wil abandon this project immediately. If you dont I will be forced to continue nd risk whatever the penalty the mds will pronounce and implement and you sir wil have no choice but to remain calm or ignorebthe thread even though I doubt if ou are capable of the latter.

Is there something I am not getting?
There is no advert on the thread and op claims there will be no sales, what could he possibly be doing wrong?

Could you please throw more light so that we all or at least some of us don't get scammed?

tunwumi:
I'm sure u are aware that what u are doing is illegal on this site u just chose not to obey the rules. Well moderator will do the needful.

Hello OP, please you cant retire now, i need you continue with the thread, This is a wonderful narration and I'm looking forward to hearing a few tips on how to grow your business.

08099991075 My bros is in PH too and very lonely.