Category: Small Business and Entreprenuership

Hair making has long been a lucrative business for women entrepreneurs. But dreadlocks may have become the new rave in town. The vocation is attracting some new generation service providers, DANIEL Essiet reports.

Chief Loc Officer, Locitude, Ade Balogun, has always had passion for good hair styles.

Her decision to take to loc (dreadlock)  was spontaneous. She had admired them.  She was dissatisfied with a weave she had done cost a lot.

A visit she made to a hair salon in Ikeja one Saturday in November 2009 opened her eyes to the world of dreadlocks making.

Realising how hard it was to find a good hair-maker, she knew she had stumbled on a business opportunity.

She said: “I wasn’t particularly focused on entering the hair- making industry. I am naturally explorative. I am an architect and I also have experienced working in the e-commerce industry; so, when the opportunity to try my hands on entrepreneurship came, it seemed like an adventure I was willing to take. Being in the hair care industry is a gateway to a fulfilled life.”

She started the business in July 2015. She started out really small. It was a one man show.

Ade said:  “Locitude was not entirely planned and thought through as a business from inception. It started out as a blog (locitude.blogspot.com) where I wrote about my own hair which is loc’d (dreadlocked). The blog gained some attention, which led to hosting the first Loc Appreciation Day on the continent. Thereafter, I published a magazine, hosted a stylist competition and it became inevitable to run a hair studio for people with locs. More than anything, Locitude is a community and a way of life.”

Today, the business has grown. She has six staff. She is excited about her business and the industry. She found a way to make it better because she’s passionate about it.

A one time Head of Administration,  Konga Online Shopping Ltd, and also former editor,  Deal Dey,  Ade   offers Loc starting and maintenance services by appointment at Locitude.

Unlike trends of any previous generation of business owners, social media has played a significant role in accelerating the growth of natural hair care.

This is why elite entrepreneurs like Ade has been able to hold onto the business, particularly when an increasing number of other entrepreneurs are realising the financial potential.

Today, she runs one of the most successful customer-centric hair-  making e-commerce retailing site.

Since launching in July 2015, it has grown significantly. She projects it will be a multi-million naira business by 2020.  With Locitude as the example of an audience-enabled business that relies on a loyal community of hair enthusiasts, this seems achievable.

Ade said: “I see Locitude as an embodiment of authentic Nigerian lifestyle choices cutting across indigenous industries that evolves our perception of the value in ourselves and our environment. It is my belief that the power to change our world for better lays within us and we only reach our full potential when we tap into that power. At this point we are using African hair as the outlet for this concept; in 10 years it will extend to aspects of the contemporary Nigerian lifestyle. We are already taking steps towards this and we are excited to be relaunching in January 2018 to encompass all the values we stand for.’’

Her most satisfying moment was her selection to speak on the TEDx platform about The African Hair Revolution. She said: “It was a big moment of validation for what we do at Locitude; it was, indeed, a satisfying moment.”

She has had to make some sacrifices to be a successful entrepreneur. “I’ve had to make some tough choices to reach this point as an entrepreneur. Leaving the comfort of a paid employment with some fantastic benefits to start from ground up counts as one of them,” she said.

She said her aim was to influence her peers, environment and society through positivity, hard and smart work. She said she believes in the empowering others. To achieve this, she strives to progressively develop herself and lend her skills to industries geared towards achieving success and empowerment.

Her advice to young entrepreneur: “Focus; do something for your business every day. It always adds up in the end, it’s like sowing a seed into the future. “

A campus entrepreneur and Science Laboratory undergraduate of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana, Ebonyi State, Mercy Caleb Agwu, has turned her beads making hobby into a thriving business. DANIEL ESSIET writes.

Mercy Caleb Agwu, a Science Laboratory undergraduate of Akanu Ibiam Federal Polytechnic, Unwana, Ebonyi State, never envisaged that her beads making hobby would launch her into the lucrative  handicraft industry. But as fate will have it, today she is an owns a thriving beads-making business.

For many of Mercy’s peers, their  goal is to graduate and get a white collar job. But with job scarcity, she realised that rather than wait endlessly for a job, she could do some things for herself. This was how her interest in craft developed. She said she thought of inventing something unique with beads.

Over a year ago, Mercy started the business with N5, 000. Now  it has grown.

She had shown her entrepreneurial skills from a very tender age and all signs pointed to her making use of the talent to become big in future.

Her philosophy of seeking knowledge has helped her a great deal. To her, there is no end to learning.

As determined as she was to dare into this sector, she used every opportunity to learn the craft. She doesn’t see herself as new in the industry, as she is ever ready to find out how to build her business.  She has also mastered how, where, and who to sell her beads to.

Along the line, she discovered  the most efficient ways to bead making and the preferred designs and styles. Through this, she has been able to feel the pulse of the market and sees what people like or not.What makes her work unique is her desire for beautiful beads with their matrixes.

She received a lot of feedbacks and orders from people who loved what she had done.  As the business grows, Mercy has become known and her self-confidence has also grown. The satisfaction she gets from creating something with her hands and the appreciation from her family and friends have made her an artist.

According to her, they have kept her motivated. Most of her costumers are neighbours and family friends who took interest in her work after seeing others wear her beads.

One unique thing about her is that a day does not pass without her doing any creative work. She has been exposed to various mentors who inspired and ignited the business spirit in her.

She described her experience as a campus entrepreneur as challenge. Her words: “I sacrifice most nights to do the business.” She said she wants customers who walk into her shop to see her collections to be assured of  great customer service, beautiful designs and the highest ethical standards.

For her, sales are critical, but communications skills are just as important for growing one’s client base.

Mercy’s approach to asking questions helps her to determine what her customers want and use her skills to meet those needs.

Projecting into the future, she said sees herself and her brand  emerging strong in the bead industry.

Ideas are valuable assets for entrepreneurs and start-ups. It is critical they get patents to protect them if they want to make money. A United States-based Nigerian start-up, Oshi Agabi, advises young entrepreneurs to seek protection for their intellectual property at a forum organised at Co Creation Hub(CChub), Lagos.

Silicon Valley-based Nigerian Oshi Agabi, who  has created a device that can be used to detect the smell of explosives and cancer cells, has advised  young entrepreneurs to protect their ideas with a patent if they want to make money.

He  said this applies to  any invention, whether it’s a piece of software, code or a totally new invention.

He advised startups  investing  in products which have national impact to start planning some sort of protection for investments.

According to him, the United States (U.S.) patent law is very generous for inventors who file a patent application for their innovations. Generally, the inventors have one year from the date of a public disclosure to file a patent application. But, in most other countries, one loses patent rights as soon as there’s a public disclosure of the invention.

He explained that it was important to start thinking about patents even before one starts talking to any potential customers and attempting to monetise the idea.

According to him, if one has  a product that has some use outside Nigeria, one needs  to get into the U.S.  early with competent counsel because one slip-up in patent filing could cause  a startup to lose  out completely to competitors.

With supply and distribution chains becoming more international, he said startups needed to be aware to take advantage of the U.S. legal system to file a patent and get  protection in all relevant international markets.

The  Nigerian-born  founder created a device that he says can be used to detect the smell of explosives and even cancer cells.

He explained that the device, called Koniku Kore, is the first to fuse live neurons from mice stem cells into a silicon chip. Koniku, which means‘immortal’ in the  Yoruba language, started in 2015 and has raked in $8 million in revenue.

”We believe quite strongly that it’s going to be run with biological brains that are made with synthetic biological neurons. That is the declared intention of our company: to build a brain,” he said.

A “scrawny, nerdy kid,” Agabi grew up in Surulere in Lagos and obtained a Bachelors degree in Physics from the University of Lagos. He went on to do further studies in Physics and neuroscience in Sweden and Switzerland.

Errands and business support services is not new, but in recent years, companies have risen up to modernise it. One of them, Elite Concierge Services, a part of Les Concierges Group, is servicing customers globally. Rajni Parashar is one of the movers of the private members’ club and concierge services outfit, DANIEL Essiet reports.

Concierge business is one of the top low-cost startup ideas. It is one of the few profitable small business ideas that do not cost much to start.

In Lagos, most working parents have very little time to take care of personal errands, such as grocery shopping, and making returns at the mall or mailing packages.

Entrepreneurs are emerging to take  care of  such time-consuming errands for clients and free up their days for the important things in life. But, in recent years, some companies have risen up to modernise it.

Elite Concierge Services is one of them. Rajni Parashar is one of the movers of Elite Concierge Nigeria, a private concierge services firm. The club has entered the market and is wooing globe-trotting corporate honchos and entrepreneurs in a big way.

She said: “Elite Concierge is a personal assistant, travel guide, entertainment adviser, errand runner, party cum wedding planner… all rolled into one. We redefine all daily chores for clients with luxury and practical services.

“The inception of idea for Elite Concierge started in 2014; however, we spent around two years to build processes and a robust supply chain system, along with building and training our supplier base.The fundamental idea behind this planning is to get consistency and standardisation in all our services. Our client may be based in Lekki, VI, or Ikeja. They can  expect the same service across geography.  Now our supplier base is over 7000 all verified and vetted; strategically we plan to cater to all requests at all times. The segregation is made firstly under verticals as travel, entertainment, homecare, paperwork, dining, errands, and gifts. Secondly, we divided location to suit the geographical requirements of the end user.”

The business provides errands and business support services  for many multinational corporations who are sending many high-flying executives to work here.

Her clientele is wealthy, discerning and sophisticated and has very exclusive demands. To meet their demand, the group has  developed a huge network of partners across countries to service them.

Many of its members will have to deal with various cultural and social networking issues when they relocate to Nigeria, and they will look at providing them with services ranging from club memberships to shopping at the best places and leisure travel.

At the heart of the business are advisors providing   one-on-one assistance and use their industry experience and knowledge to help entrepreneurs and companies to the most appropriate programmes and services. They have extensive networks, experience and expertise in a wide range of industrial sectors.

According to her, Elite Concierge  is a brain child of Mr. Pradeep Pahalwani (MD), a veteran business man.

She said: “I joined the team when the idea came to Nigeria. We made a perfect team with his business acumen and my background in quality assurance and contracts. We teamed up to launch the idea of concierge in here. We started with Lagos and now are spanning up to Abuja.

What is the worth of the business now?  She answered:  “Let’s talk about that three years from now. I will be pleased to discuss that when we complete our first five years in business.

So far, they have  a  team of 20 young professionals handling client requests via its call centre and team of five riders on the field.

But they have had a few challenges.             She said: “I would say, however, the biggest challenge has been that an average Nigerian boss will likely send his personal assistant or secretary on errands, while parents would send children or drivers and give away transport and some extra change every time they run an errand. The challenge was to show the value a professional concierge can offer against making the support staffs run 10 times for the same job. Annually the cost of errands adds up to four times when completed by informal circle against the professional concierge services. Besides, our huge network and numbers get better discounts and privileged benefits for our clients. Most errands are mandatory tasks that needs to be completed. All we needed in Nigeria was a reliable system so that every individual can have a single speed dial number where they can call and with nominal input get the tasks done. Our systems are intelligent enough to evaluate the preferences and pattern of the client requests. “

Where does she see the business in 10 years? 20 years?  She said:  I see concierge services have stayed in the world for more than 300 hundred years and it is to stay here for a long haul. In the time to come, our strategic view is to be a concierge of choice for every resident and employee in Nigeria and then expand further to cover Africa completely. Our parent organisation has been in business for more than 20 years and as a group we intend to make a stronger foothold in Africa in the time to come. “

Many young entrepreneurs are earning income from food processing. A Cross River State-based entrepreneur, Peter Edoki, is making money from producing plantain flour. The business has created jobs and contributed to improved food security in the state, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

Cross River State-based  entrepreneur, Peter Edoki‘s life has been full of hard work and  challenges.  He earns his living by sweating. But one business that has turned his life around is plantain flour production. His firm  Santal Plantain Flour, located at Ikom in Cross River State, processes unripe plantain into flour. It has no additives. The product is complementing the government’s effort to reduce poverty and under nutrition.

Edoki was motivated to start the business  because he wanted to be self-employed.

He started small but the business  took a leap after his encounter with   the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Southsouth Entrepreneurial Development Centre (SSEDC), Calabar, which he knew about from friends.

Since then, he has learnt so much.  “During the training, I learnt that recording keeping and customer satisfaction is the soul of every business and this became our driving point. We needed to grow the business national and improve our product packaging and that was what SSEDC helped us to achieve,” he said.

He was exposed to best business  practices. “I was producing without target market before and had no idea of the difference between my business capital and sales capital; but all that has changed as I now understand the importance of separating the two,” Edoki said.

In addition, he realised that his customers are the main reason he is in business and as such needed to consistently serve their needs through his products.

“Now, we have repackaged our products to meet national standards and that has increased our sales rapidly. The business was struggling to survive before the programme but took a different turn after the programme. We implemented most of the learning from the programme and applied for CBN Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Fund which we accessed,” he said.

He accessed N2 million from CBN MSMED Funds, which he said, was channelled into acquiring new machines and more raw materials and repackaging of products. This, he said,  had increased brand acceptability and increased demands.

“Today, the business is worth N6 million and is constantly expanding. We have created six permanent  and five contract workers.” The demands for Santal plantain flour has increased tenfold over the past few months, leading to new expansion drive, as increased demands from around the country is stretching his capacity.

“My long-term goal is to make Santal Plantain flour a household name in Nigeria before exporting to other countries,” he said of his plans for the business.

He is focusing on ensuring long-term sustainability of the business from the success he has seen. He is improving productivity and quality and ensuring sure that he has access to reliable markets.

His successes have not been without  a few challenges. They included mass production, funding, and the dearth of raw materials.

Due to unreliable supply of raw materials, there were lows and highs in production levels.