₦airaland Forum

Main problem with juice making here is that you have to meet de standards of de best but unable to command their price.

Been on holiday in ghana twice nice place but small market and you can only smuggle de product to nigeria from there.

debo a few observations. you ought to depreciate assets on every bag. four hundred bags is four tonnes and vans die fast hauling water. increase cost of repairs per trip to at least one thousand naira. some days you go without repairs and you wake up on a bad day to see repairs of fifty thousand naira due to collision. add a little more to diesel like ten litres per trip. are yoiu not paying management staff and yourself. what about cost of funds

call it cowardice but I am thinking hard about whether to stay here for long or find my way back home soonest. I watched that Japan tsunami and na like play that kin thing de take develop.

My area or my street was not flooded, na for internet I de watch all the swimming and rowing but that did not make me feel any safer.

@kabarka. It's like I will move my operations to that your state, she na Rivers State? Price increase is needed everywhere but Lagos messed up its own and we are all regretting now. As for that drawing, I am not too good at reading plans but I think the WCs need to be moved far and if possible out of the building. It cannot be that near to the loading dock. Again the finished goods room is far from the loading area and there will be too much trekking around to get goods into the vans. The thing is for the finished goods room to open directly out to the loading bay so you pick the goods and come out without much interaction with the production area. I will write more as I look at your drawing.

I produce bottled water and know that the loading is tough. Some of the time my people throw and catch the cartons and it is the fastest but that cannot happen from the drawing unless there is a long chain of people throwing and catching cartons.

where's everyone? Kabarka, anything new happening at your end?

@HEAL. these days it is too dangerous to attempt producing without nafdac number, it used to happen before like Kabarka said but not any more. your rivals will report you instantly plus that you will be in very deep trouble if nafdac ever catches you. it is not advisable; exercise patience until you get a number.

I also suggest you poach a driver from an already existing company; that way, you will not need to hire a salesman. If the driver is a good worker, he should be able to get you some of his old emplyer's customers so you can have at least a few customers to start with.

the interview process should be rigorous. if possible beg or hire an experienced worker from another pure water company to interview your first batch of staff unless you already know much about the biz.

@HEAL. well done. you need one driver and like two motor boys, one machine operator and maybe one parker or two. one strong packer can face a machine and pack the one hundred bags (2000 sachets) that a typical machine produces in one hour. however, it is a good idea to have one more packer for the days of absence if you hired not-too-responsible workers.

I don't know how they pay at the middle-belt area, you have to ask questions there. I only know the Lagos payment mode.

Where is everyone? Who is setting up now and any serious problems? This is the best time to start off so that you will be through and ready before the season starts.

I hope no one is too discouraged by the rains and is planning to close shop; the first rainy season is usually awful but with time and a stronger customer base, you can still be selling well during the off season.

Here ma. That is all for now; just registering my presence, will do more later. Very good thread.

@Am Alone. It is possible to make that level of profit. It all depends on strategy and careful planning. There is a producer within this my area, Ikotun, THAT IS ROLLING IN CASH BOTH IN TERMS OF PROFIT AND TURNOVER DUE TO A VERY WISE STRATEGY. He sells only very very close to the factory. Due to that, the quantity of diesel I use for two trips running to the Island is what he uses for seven trips!!! He operates close to home so all the road traffic officilals know his trucks and leave them alone. His trucks don't get spoilt too often because for the seven trips per truck daily, a truck can do just a total of eight kilometres.

The man is wise and I would have gone into serious competition with him if not that he is too well established in his sales zone. I am still planning to dare him next season.

Point is that you have to think and calculate well and then you are bound to make it in the biz.

Good idea even with the power supply problem. if you can replicate the display and storage pattern at grocery and produce sections at oyibo stores, that will be great. also if you can find a way of sourcing the produce at very cheap prices, there will be some good money left after paying for petrol.

Sorry friends for the long delay in writing this. I promised long ago to write about some of the new trends in this biz and that is what I am doing now. I noticed that there is a lingering impression that it takes a few thousands of naira to set up a water company. That is very far from the truth; it takes millions of naira to build a factory, sink an acceptable borehole, buy production machines and delivery vans and of course high-capacity gen sets.

Usually there are two main sections, the production/packaging section and the sales department. Each of these is a full set up by itself with its machinery, staff, supervisors, records and headaches. The problem and burnout experienced by producers is mainly as a result of managing, financing and shouldering the burdens of both sections.

That can be avoided and is being avoided these days; the development is equally creating more space for others to join the biz and make cool money at different levels. These days, one can decide to just play at the production side and keep away from the sales side. Others choose to only take up sales and leave off production. Yet some others skip some aspects of production like setting up a full factory while still packaging water. That way one can start reaping without having to throw in millions.

A typical example of producing without setting up a factory is the situation whereby one can reach an agreement with an existing factory to co-use facilities. All that is needed is for one to buy one or two packaging machines and install in the factory and then pay as agreed and he will start producing under the brand name of the company. It looks much like a franchise. Assuming the brand name is ‘wxy water’, you automatically produce under the name and sell or give out to others to sell.

Under that arrangement you must adhere to all issues related to quality assurance and ensure uniformity in all aspects. The good thing about this arrangement is that you will enjoy all the privileges accruing to the parent company. You see, long standing companies make a lot of friends and must have done a lot of ‘settlement’; you automatically benefit from these. It is akin to what many inter-state transport companies do. I gathered that all those fine buses do not belong to one man; others buy and register under the umbrella of the company. For some of them, no one stops them on the way to search or harass and I even heard rumours that they often settle some organized high way gangs such that they move in relative safety. It is the same arrangement here. You don’t dig a borehole nor build any factory nor buy gen set or pumping machines or land or reverse osmosis or any of the many expensive treatment get ups. The main man does that; you only arrive with your packaging machine(s).
This trend is working very well at some locations in Lagos notably at FESTAC Town and is spreading.

Another arrangement is for one to play only at distribution. In that case, you only arrive with one or two or three delivery vans. You totally skip all aspects of packaging. At the factory, water is sold to you at a highly-reduced price and you load your vans and sell at higher, profitable rates. It is very much like being a distributor for big companies. You only worry about just the vans and maintaining them.

The very best of them all is the lucrative 19-litre water jar biz. You can decide to buy jars, fill at an existing company and sell. This is lucrative because the jars are re-usable, unlike smaller bottles and sachets.
So if you know you cannot afford to set up a full factory, you can decide on any of these options and explore them. It is a new era and new doors are opening in the sub-sector but you must be ready to comply with all set standards. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Hi everyone, It's been hectic trying to function with the fuel hike but I am surviving. The good thing is that I do not move goods by day, I operate the Nightshift which halves diesel consumption by the vans. It is a good survival strategy now. There is no fear of theft, my people do not hold cash at night, customers pay in the money to a bank account.

I promised to write about certain new developments in the sub-sector and I will do that within the next three days but I will answer Kabarka on the issue of the enthusiastic salesmen he saw. People can only work that hard if there is something in it for them. A fixed pay will never bring out that level of devotion. They are also other ways of inspiring hard work like the diesel buy-back arrangement I have with my staff. It sounds very funny and I may appear weird to agree with such but it is working magic. It is not an original idea but I copied and modified it from others I saw doing well.

There is  an agreed number of litres that can take you to and fro for each trip. We all know the van can take less than that especially at night. What we do is give you full money to buy that number of litres knowing full well that there will be plenty of change left. A good team can run five times from base to Lagos Island at night just to earn all the FUEL money for five trips.

In my own case I do buy back. If you are entitled to sixty litres and you use just thirty, I usually buy back the remaining thirty litres and pay cash but at a highly reduced price. That way I don't feel much of the fuel price increase. I don't know how come the vehicles started taking very low quantity since this arrangement. They are not adding kerosine. I do check.

This may sound silly but if you give exactly what is needed without the extra, you must get a call that the "motor cut gas". I have done my costing and there is still profit with the number of litres I give out. ThIS BIZ THRIVES ON TURNOVER, YOU MUST ENCOURAGE THAT BY ALL MEANS.

It is an intricate relationship but you must ensure your peopla are well provided for and that everything is tied to performance.

hi, what type of vans are they? I am interested if they can serve my purpose.

Kabarka, a million thanks for yhe bundle of packing bags. I will email my location. I am happy this thread is helping people. thank God for that. Been too busy but thinking of writing some thought-provoking new approaches to this biz. I noticed that once many people know what it takes to start it they usually freeze and abandon the idea. There are new ways out of starting and when I finish resting, I will try to point out these ways. I just hope many will keep an open mind and explore these options,

@teamman. the 20-litre jar biz is good business. It is the only one in the water biz with a re-usable main cost component. it is also the only one where you can easily keep count and so keep a tight rein on the books and account. to start it, you will have to set up a full water factory and fulfil all the conditions.

the other alternative is to buy the jars and delivery trucks and partner with an already existing factory where you can fill your jars and sell. you will then agree with the factory on what you will pay per jar filled. this is the option many are taking now and it is a very neat arrangement. many factory owners will agree to this arrangement but certain conditions must be kept to in order to ensure quality control.

@ Kabarka and Paul. Still on the letter to you by Paul. I have some suggestions. Paul obviously doesn't know much about the business and so he needs to educate himself first on the general issues, cash flow analysis and sundry matters. He needs to go back to his feasibility report if that was done at all and done by a knowledgeable person. He will also have to work out the potentials of his business as it is now.

He may then decide to run it as it is or beef up with one more machine and a van and then work out the potentials that way. This will give him an idea of how much his factory makes in one month and from there, he can decide what he ought to be getting and reach an agreement with his sibling. It is clear that he did not do the paperwork well before commencing. He must have to do it before the biz will make sense to him.

Abuja is a good place to produce water since they sell at N100 per bag while we sell N50 per bag in Lagos. The man ought to be smiling to the bank regularly.

@ Brokswater. pls get in touch by email livcord@yahoo.com. I will direct you to reliable suppliers who can also install and repair de machines. Best of luck sir.

Been thinking about Paul's problem and how History repeats itself. I used to sing the same song. My own factory was set up long ago but at first myself and spouse were holding down high profile jobs and so left the factory to siblings and others to run. We were paying salaries all through from our pockets; the venture never made a kobo then. One day, we got very angry and shut the doors and sold off all the vans. The next time we re-started was when I resigned and came to run the business.

The major problem with this biz is that there is much room for hanky panky until you master it very well. There are also many grey areas and many opportunities for stealing and a lot of things that are approximated leaving ample room for fraud.

The best way to handle his case is for him to agree with the sibling on fixed monthly returns rather than what he is doing now; that's about the only way to run it long distance. As for his other requests on breakeven analysis and all that, anyone helping him do that may give him a bill.

I must say he needs more than five employees for two machines and one van. He needs at least two parkers, a machine operator, one driver and two motor boys and a salesman.

I fail to understand why a mercedes benz truck is unreliable in his factory. That is the only van I can vouch for and I bought my first MB truck in August 2006 and that one is still running strong, It is a very rugged piece of machinery and the spare parts are cheap; even engineering novices can understand the technology of an MB. I use only MB 508 and 608 brands for now.

Still thinking about his problem and will write more later.

Hi good people,

I can see a lot of people are already setting up; that's wonderful. I need to say something though about the choice of machinery, the vans and the production machines. Be very careful with these; bad choices in the area of machinery bring about most failures in this biz. A good chunk of money goes into repairs of machines and if you happen to chose bad ones, you will have to say bye to success.

Ask questions before you pick any brand. Let the seller take you to where it has worked for one year or more. There are a lot of machines and vans in the market but only a few are good, the rest will only help take away all your profit and often most of your capital. Check out the type of vehicles working well for others, don't do unnecessary experimentation by way of buying just anything you see and trying it out to see whether it is good. Spend a little more money to get quality if need be rather than buy the many cheap but poor quality production machine brands in the market.

Ucheobodo sir, we are at the same location, ikotun egbe. do be careful who you accept as a driver. do not act out of desperation. do an exhaustive interview and ask for where he worked before.

No I do not pay for the extra bags. I only pay for de ones for sale

the N300 and N1500 serve as fixed pay receivable at the end of the month. my trucks carry at least 400 bags per trip. for every bag sold during the trip, the motor boys earn N1.50. that means that if they finish selling all 400 bags, the motor boys will earn 400 multiplied by N1.50 which is N600. the driver earns N1 for every bag sold and so for the trip, he will earn N400. if you add N400 and N600 it will give you N1000 for the driver and motor boys per trip. clear now? five trip a day will get all of them N5000, not so?

I pay the basic to make them happier and compensate for down times.

Did I hear well about a driver doing two trips in a whole day? I know drivers that do five trips of long distances in a day and some of my people do that. It is because of the fixed pay you are giving them.

In my area in Lagos, there is no fixed pay but for me, I pay N3000 BASIC PER MONTH TO DRIVERS and they earn the rest of their pay as commission. I pay N1 per bag sold. That is basically the Lagos method. The motor boys earn N1500 as basic and N1.50 per bag sold. That means I pay N1000 to both drivers and motor boys for a trip in a truck carrying 400 bags. If they want to earn N5000 a day it is up to them; they will have to go for five trips and they do some days.

palm wine talk

Kabarka, how far now? you don de do season? where is everyone? who is just starting off? did anyone succeed in registering his or her water recently?

They were registering the priests in the various shrines; abi are they not citizens of this country?

Hi girls, I also wrote on the other thread about nzu. Ever wondered why it is only girls that crave for it? It is often a sign of anaemia. We often get anaemic without knowing it. I prayed to stop, added fasting and it didn't work. I only found out what was wrong when I got a quality blood boosting drug and after one week I lost the crave and threw the ones in my bag away.

The drug finished and I relaxed on pampering myself soon after and the crave returned big time. I then became sure what was wrong. Do not let your good looks deceive you, go for blood tests and see a good doctor, that's the way to go on this.

It is not addiction at all, it is often a sign of anaemia. If you fight the anaemia and boost your blood level you will lose the crave for nzu. Pls talk to a doctor and try checking your blood level and all that. I am writing from (let's say) experience. We ladies often don't realise when we are anaemic since we might still be looking cute and meanwhile the thing will show up in the form of crave for nzu.