Despite growing unemployment and economic crisis, a lot of female entrepreneurs are joining the wagon of builders, innovators and risk takers fervent in their resolve to transform the economy. They are solving critical socio-economic problems and creating job opportunities, reports, DANIEL ESSIET
Mrs Nkiru Nsofor is a graduate of Plant Biology from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
After her fruitless search for job, she decided to go into the production of household cleaning products. She started with N5000 in 2006.
She conducted a thorough research and decided to produce something that would be acceptable in the market- a detergent for dish washing and floor cleaning.
At the beginning, it was a challenge to build awareness for the product. Over time,it gained acceptabilityand began to sell. At a point, she had eight employees. They worked side by side, manufacturing products, labeling, filling, loading, selling and nvoicing them.
The business boomed. But the happy days were shortlived long as she began to suffer police harassment. She was spending money to settle them at each encounter. This was because her products hadn’t the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) registration certificate.
When the harassment was getting too much, she decided to reduce production volume in case they are confiscated so she would not suffer huge losses. This ultimately affected sales and profitability.
Along the line,a saving grace came through the Association of Micro Entrepreneurs of Nigeria(AMEN). Her joining the association has helped to reduce police harassment as it has assisted members to get NAFDAC registration for their products. While the harassment continued, Mrs Nsofor was forced to reduce her staff strength to two. These were indeed bad times. But she never gave up.
Thanks to all the entrepreneurial experiences she had garnered advising her to fight with all vigour for success and get the best results. Today, Mrs. Nsofor is happy that she is one of those taking positive action to create an enterprising generation. The business though a micro enterprise is worth N400,000. Funding, however, has been her biggest obstacle. Though she has great idea and a business plan in place, not having sufficient funds is delaying the process.
Since she couldn’t raise money, she had to start small. She still believes that the “shackles have been taken off” her growth because she has not been able to strike a relationship with a company to finance her production for a small margin, giving her funding up front for expansion.
With increasing customers base, Mrs Nsofor said the company requires extra financial firepower so that it can increase its production volume and employ more hands to sell her products to the market. Her goal is to develop a company that will grow into a major enterprise
She envisions a company that it will become a household name.