Pamela Braide·Wednesday, January 13, 2016
My 2016 amateur consumer/opportunity forecast on what will be favoured by the tough forex exchange rate and scarcity. People I know who have positioned themselves seriously over the last 3 years are really doing well and there is much more space for entrants. I have made my range very narrow.
Ill focus on just 2 for today
Natural beauty products
Have you ever noticed the average cosmetic shop in Nigeria has 99% imported goods? If dudun osun didnt package black soap or the mid range petals etc products didn’t exist that would be 100% Well most can attest to the rising popularity of shea butter and coconut oils in all manner of combinations made by Nigerians in their homes of small factories for sale. I expect that in 2016 one wont need to know a friend who knows a friend who heard of another person on whatsapp to get coconut oil or whipped shea butter. We would simply walk into our usual cosmetic “customer” and find a range. Remember the FACT that Nigerian shea was of a lower grade? Bunkum. Seems it was the processing that wasn’t right. Cooperatives trained by GIZ (in partnership with state and FG) are hitting the quality grades with consistency in Nigeria
A friend Hajo @ai.tadi on instgram started her shea butter sales years ago and has now branched into making a range of luxury shea soaps and added raw cocoa butter to inventory. Yes cocoa butter. Ever realised we actually export a lot of cocoa yet import a lot of cocoa butter? Well Hajo does and added that to her range. She cannot keep up with the demand. I hope she can get a loan to scale up an already successful business and the others like her can do same. I am glad her focus is luxury grade as well.
Jodine Coconut oil below is an example of a small scale producer marketing by word of mouth and social media.
Informed eating
I am astounded by the explosion in quail egg sales. It seems every other gate has a discreet sign reading quails eggs sold here. Once Nigerians believe something is good for their health then its a wrap, right or wrong. And we follow through with BUYING. Witness the wheat in place of garri phenomenon. Or now ground oats in place of “swallow”. These are all things that we have to import and are to me of dubious benefit. We have improved processing and packaging of foods like fonio, millet, sorghum and guinea corn pap, native spices, drinks, cereals, etc
I expect that with more information about the benefit of different foods especially information on the now trendy micro nutrients, Nigerians including those with conditions that respond to lifestyle and dietary changes can make INFORMED choices and buy food that wont depend on XYZ supermarket importing it be on the fit train. EG Fonio or acha is much gentler on raising blood sugar than the famous wheat. …but poor information. We have a rise in fitness training professionals and there could be food/product endorsement. Tony of The Body Alchemist by Tony Ekaidem is a fitness entrepreneur as popular for photos of his meals. Are we seeing deliberate collaborations between food entrepreneurs and a physical fitness guru like Tony? Can we not work in separate silos?
Companies like Mezuo and Ndidi Nwunelis AACE Foods are already ahead in the game and smartly positioned themselves early to export to the diaspora who are not giving up jollof rice or suya anytime soon. With food innovators like Nky Iweka The Executive Mama Put placing Nigerian food front and centre in new ways to new taste buds the demand for export compliant ingredients and condiments from Nigeria will rise. Reading her attempts to source Nigerian ingredients in London reminds me of Indiana Jones looking for the lost Ark or even a Jason Bourne adventure. We haven’t even scratched the surface. Check out Nky Iweka being interviewed by the BBC here http://www.bbc.com/news/world-afric… and AACE foods contributions to IDP (refugee camps in Nigeria) http://www.bellanaija.com/2015/10/r…
This is Wilson’s Juice Cos lemonade. I had a very very small part to play in thier growth during a project called YouthTrade by visionary Poonam Ahluwalia supported by Hafsat Abiola-Costello and Kind Nigeria. Our attempt to get them on Shoprite shelves failed years ago but provided valuable insight. Last year I walked into a Shoprite and saw this 🙂 Yep. Wislon’s on the shelves and in local flights! The brothers were NYSC when we met at our Ogun State Youth Trade fair selling then rudimentary packaged products. They are more than ready for this 2016.
And we are ready to try new things. Check out dried fruit and snacks pioneers ReelFruit I can buy Affiong Williams products in shops and enjoy mango all year round. Its by no means easy but it is being done and a Forbes listing is no small matter. Who says what Nigerians will buy or not buy is cast in stone?
I imagine what a 20% increase in Nigerian made stuff on the shelf of my local cosmetic shop will mean for my skin my hair and of course jobs. It will definitely save me the time I spend searching and asking. Yes there are online shops but that isn’t enough. And for me that’s really all this buy local means. Its not about charity, or patriotism, its not total isolation and replacement. For me its about making informed buying choices and getting good products. For me.
The next posts will focus on the African luxury trend and opportunities for business support and its not all about training. Its about thinking differently. E.g. We want to label goods. Consistent quality. Where are the testing labs? Who guides us through NAFDAC hurdles? People will pay for guidance if you can provide it! Then can we not try to do everything ourselves? To beat costs and meet NAFDAC requirements can others with better funding set up processing factories for smaller food or cosmetics companies to patronize or outsource certain processes to according to specification? Why must every small cosmetic company stall once it comes to NAFDAC inspection of factories? These are all business opportunities.
Have a nice day yall.
My name is Pamela Braide and I now end every post with my music video 🙂 Wake Up people. It is a new day. Hugs