₦airaland Forum

If I was jobless, I would set up an Akara joint.

But it wouldn't be just by sitting on a stool by the roadside.

I would BRAND the operation.

Choose an ideal location first. A busy location.

Get some flashy yellow canopy, wear a yellow uniform, yellow cap, and brand it a nice flashy VISIBLE name like "Akara Junction", or "House of Akara".

Maybe have some music pumping in the background.

Add a few other items like akamu, moi-moi, soft drinks etc.

Suddenly, you jump from a miserable peasant in rags making a few pennies a day to a full blown business paying you SERIOUS CASH every blessed day.

BANKABLE CASH.

I noticed this way of doing things when I visited Jamaica a few years back.

You'll see a guy selling some street food or small chops in one tiny roadside canteen or shed, but the whole set-up would be brightly painted and shining, with artworks and paintings of Bob Marley and other icons on the wall etc, such that you have no option but to look when passing by.

Or driving by.

But here, we have this despondent view of what we're doing (I'm so poor and I'm just managing by selling akara), that we don't even bother making the business to stand out, or be attractive, in order to draw large crowds.

This poverty mentality then justifies itself by the low sales figures compared to if the joint was properly branded.

So Madam President was right!

You can GET RICH SELLING ANYTHING IN NIGERIA.

You just need to BRAND UP your operations.

When people pass your shop, they must SEE SOMETHING that makes you stand out, or you can forget about scaling or getting rich.

The problem of the critics is entitlement mentality,hate and nothing more,they have no answer whatsoever to the problems bedevilling this country and any suggestion from a perceived political rival be damned no matter what......food business is good business anywhere in the world,there are street food kiosks and cornershops all over from upstate NY to London to Shangai to paris to dubai etc.....instead of them to initiate policy advocacy to get the govt to provide capital for those interested and ensure the businesses remain sustainable they will only keep spewing thrash and condemning with no alternative idea to whats been offered......some foolish one was saying building tech hubs and STEM schools for an amira that has only known hawking and petty trading all her life or a chinonso that survives selling in traffic.......whats he going to be eating before fully acquiring the tech skill and putting it to use?

Lithiumite:
The problem of the critics is entitlement mentality,hate and nothing more,they have no answer whatsoever to the problems bedevilling this country and any suggestion from a perceived political rival be damned no matter what......food business is good business anywhere in the world,there are street food kiosks and cornershops all over from upstate NY to London to Shangai to paris to dubai etc.....instead of them to initiate policy advocacy to get the govt to provide capital for those interested and ensure the businesses remain sustainable they will only keep spewing thrash and condemning with no alternative idea to whats been offered......some foolish one was saying building tech hubs and STEM schools for an amira that has only known hawking and petty trading all her life or a chinonso that survives selling in traffic.......whats he going to be eating before fully acquiring the tech skill and putting it to use?

Ethiopia nko?

I saw a video the other day of a joint in Addis Ababa, where all they served was Ethiopian Tea, nothing else. The place was beautifully branded, etc. Come and see people, including tourists, patronising this joint.

In Europe, there are shops you'll enter in the nice parts of town, and all they sell in the shop is groundnuts and other types of nuts.

The beautiful packaging of the various nuts on offer alone is enough to make you buy, even if you hate nuts.

This is the SAME GROUNDNUT that one poor woman will sell on the roadside and make next to nothing.

Yet some people build million dollar shops and even franchises out of it.

Kemetian:
Ethiopia nko?

I saw a video the other day of a joint in Addis Ababa, where all they served was Ethiopian Tea, nothing else. The place was beautifully branded, etc. Come and see people, including tourists, patronising this joint.

In Europe, there are shops you'll enter in the nice parts of town, and all they sell in the shop is groundnuts and other types of nuts.

The beautiful packaging of the various nuts on offer alone is enough to make you buy, even if you hate nuts.

This is the SAME GROUNDNUT that one poor woman will sell on the roadside and make next to nothing.

Yet some people build million dollar shops and even franchises out of it.

Even at the local level here demand for akara and yam is really high and you will always make sales no matter what insofar you are good at it.......this same people running down this suggestion ask them what urgent support can the givt give to unemployed women to alleviate their poverty,tbey will start mumbling rubbish......you will be shocked that all sone people need is just pots,pans and cooking equipments to start with as little as 100k capital.