The Entrepreneur Betting On A $20 Billion Industry From His Quiet Town

The Entrepreneur Betting On A Billion Industry From His Quiet Town

Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.

This week’s story pulled off in collaboration with Payday Investor. Before you start to make plans about your next salary, click here.

When was the first time you made any money?

That’s an interesting question because I didn’t make money until I was in my final year at school. I had this friend that cared very little about money, and life, so he drank a lot. But he was a really great artist.

So I got the info that one government house where I had a friend was renovating, and somehow, I managed to make a case for an artist to come make murals across the government house.

On the other end of things, my dad gave me ₦50k to pay my school fees. And what did I do, I carried that money and used it to buy materials for my friend.

He went on to do the work. In three months, we got paid – ₦2.5 million.

₦50k to ₦2.5 million. That is quite the start.

I gave my guy one million. Paid my school fees. Then I spent about ₦800k on getting people to make noise about it – PR in some of the right places. That fetched us other gigs that brought in about ₦1.9 million.

Woah.

Some people at the Government house took an interest in me. The best thing about working with people in government is the access it gives you. Meanwhile, I started looking for what to do with all that money, so I invested some of it in stocks and acquired some land. Pushed that into Agric.

Sounds robust. What happened next?

I applied for YouWin in 2014 and got a grant of ₦6.5 million. It was actually a partner and me.

My partner was the admin and comms guy while I was away, and I was the technical guy.

How did the Fonio business go?

First of all, Fonio, or what we call Acha locally, is a kind of grain. It used to be really popular, but it didn’t get all the love that Sorghum, millet and co have gotten. What we wanted to do was experiment with Fonio in more consumer-friendly forms. We tried it in baking and different recipes. So we developed a packaged product.

Interesting

We got the money in tranches, and the first one was about ₦1.9 million. The first thing we bought was some equipment. There was a kind of dryer we wanted to buy, but it would have cost us about ₦1.5 million locally to bring it here. So I carried my mechanical engineering sense, and we fabricated locally. That cost ₦500k.

We didn’t want to wait for all the money, so we got started immediately. Took the rest of the money buying tons of Fonio from local women, dehull, wash and package.

The value we were trying to add was taking it quicker to consumption.

What’s the demand for Fonio?

It’s a resilient crop, and it requires no fertiliser. People use it for various things, like pudding, swallow, and even baking. People also tend to encourage it as a healthy alternative for diabetic people. But, Fonio doesn’t get as much love as you’d expect. It’s not so popular in Nigeria, so while we believed we had a great product, there was one problem – advocacy.

Now, to make a product popular, you need to make a lot of noise about it. When you make noise about it, your increase demand. But that costs a lot of money and resources.

What came next?

I started to experiment with other stuff and gently ease out of full management of Fonio. Somehow, I found my way back to an old obsession – Coffee.

I live in Jos, and because our climate is unique, coffee grows here. I had a coffee tree from about 15 years ago. I’d roast the beans for my dad, and he’d give feedback and I’d improve it.

In 2017, I decided to give it a shot. I actually tried to go at it from scratch – so I threw in one careless ₦5k.

Then I started going to people who had farms and buying berries from them. Buy, process, roast, sell. And slowly, it grew. By  October, we’d done about 800k in revenue. The profit was just about 380-something-k.

The biggest struggle that year though, was that when I started buying coffee, a lot of them were bad. So I started researching more about how to properly treat coffee better, and transferring whatever I learned to farmers.

₦380k? I’m not sure that was enough to sustain you.

So, because I was researching more than most people, that also created another opportunity. I started consulting for other farmers, and someone even asked me to help him co-manage his plantation. It’s sitting on about 50 hectares of land.

I believe there’s a growing coffee culture in Nigeria, and I want to be a part of that. Especially because the coffee we brew is not only fresh – a lot of imported coffee is stale – and it’s homegrown.

If you ask me about numbers, I can assure you that I know very little about those things. My wife was the one managing my finances, while I just focused on making my roast better.

Ask my wife, please.

Fair enough.

Hello, your partner asked me to ask you about money, because he doesn’t seem to know much about it.

Hahaha. Very good. I actually started keeping records in July 2017, because there needed to be a system that showed progression and tracked growth or something. There was no evidence that there was growth, because we weren’t tracking anything. He’s passionate, but passion is not always enough to run a business. If you have passion but no skills, it dies.

Word.

In August 2017, it was ₦50k. These days, it can fetch many times that amount on very good months. In March, for example, we made up to ₦400k in profit.

That is interesting.

Yes, that’s more than the entire 2017 from selling coffee alone. We tend to re-invest a lot of it in materials, from the coffee beans to the packaging. Also, because you don’t harvest all year round, we invest in buying a large amount of coffee beans.

So, what’s the most important lesson as an entrepreneur?

First of all, hunger is super important. I think entrepreneurship forces you to improve, make things better, and do things differently.

It is also forcing me to work on my personal discipline; in finance, in relationships, and everything –

Her: – he still needs to hire someone to manage his books. I can no longer do it because my 9-5 job is taking my time. There needs to be someone to actually pay him a salary. That forces him to be more accountable.

How much salary do you think you’d earn as an entrepreneur in 5 years?

Him: Using today’s value, maybe ₦100k?

Her: Add more.

Him: Okay, ₦250k. I think what is most important for me is that we have a strong place in the new coffee culture in Nigeria in the next 5 years.

Entrepreneur or not, bills need to get paid. How’s that going?

First of all, the most important one is rent, and ₦250k per year fetches us a really good 2-bedroom. I hardly go out much, except I have to go and get materials. That means I don’t spend a lot on transport. Last-last, ₦50k is enough for a good month in Jos.

Minus your business, what other investments do you have?

Her: Right now, we’re actually looking into doing mutual funds, my sister is a heavy investor in mutual funds. I’m considering it too though. Aside from that, I also invested in a farm with my parents. It’s about 9 hectares of Rice and Soya Beans.

When do you think you’ll retire?

Her: My husband said he wants to die at 85, so that he doesn’t turn to anybody’s problem. Hahaha.

Him: It’s too much?

Her: Too small. Anyway, you’ll be too troublesome then.
Him: By 60, I’m done with work. Then I’ll be travelling, and having the time of my life.

What was the last thing you paid for that required serious planning?

A van – to be honest, it’s still in the works. My farm is quite far from the house, so buying a van will help me move produce fast.

What’s the most annoying thing you’ve paid for recently?

We paid for coffee, and they gave us bad coffee beans. We had to return it, and they didn’t pay back for up to a year. A loss.

Do you have an emergency plan for weird things like health emergencies?

Her: We were actually talking about that yesterday, I think we’re going to do it with one of these apps.

Happiness levels, 1-10.

Her: To be honest, we’ve not reached where we want to go.

Him: Yep. But I really don’t feel like I’m struggling, I even have room to give a lot. So, I’m really good.

Her: We need more sha.

The post The Entrepreneur Betting On A $20 Billion Industry From His Quiet Town appeared first on Realising Ambitions.

The Jack Of Many Trades Earning ₦450k/month

Every week, we ask anonymous people to give us a window into their relationship with the Naira – their secret Naira Life.

This week’s story pulled off in collaboration with ARM Investment Managers. They have a diverse range of Mutual funds for everyone looking to give investments a shot, from the beginners to the veterans. Find out more.

When was the first time anyone paid you money for work?

200-level. I used to sell cooked noodles in the hostel. I wasn’t really keeping track of the numbers, but I just needed extra cash to add to my pocket money from home – the money my dad was giving me wasn’t enough –10k. Then I started looking for what else students needed but couldn’t get. Our school was remote, so I started selling headphones and memory cards because everyone needed it and couldn’t travel far to get it.

This was 2009. I had outlandish dreams of what University was supposed to be; a place where everything was possible and all that. Well, that was the year that dream died. I just focused on the practical courses and coasted through the abstract shit.

First Semester in 300-level, I first saw Photoshop on someone’s computer in an Entrepreneurship class. Not too long after, I went to meet this guy in my hostel and asked for the full Adobe Suite. Next thing, I’m installing. Next thing, I’m looking for tutorials.

By the next morning, I was going round the hostel, showing everyone what I’d just designed; my first logo ever.

By 400-level, I was just about that selling phone life. I sold up to 20 phones then, most of them Blackberries. I tried to pick out fancy Blackberries – the white ones, the purple ones, the red ones. Just the colourful fancy stuff that I knew they’d like. Everyone wanted to stand out.

What came next?

I went for NYSC in the Southeast in late 2012, but I was getting gigs from Twitter, a logo here, a poster there. I even helped a rapper design the cover art for his song. One of your faves. It was a hit too.

How much did he pay?

EX-PO-SURE.

That wasn’t what I asked for though.

Anyway, NYSC was giving me ₦19,800, my place of assignment was giving me ₦10k. Those random gigs were probably giving me ₦5k per month. I remember that time, I’d send the logos and everything to the clients from the really bad Internet on my phone. I lived in a village so ₦10k a month was enough. I saved the rest and bought two budget smartphones – one for myself and one for my mum.

Post-NYSC?

I was jobless for like 6 months, in the true sense. Then one day, my dad came and said his friend wanted someone to take photos and design flyers for his hotel. The man paid me ₦10k, it was also the first time I saw my work in print.

Around that time, my mum was like “why don’t you apply at a bank or something instead of staying at home? What if you never get a job with this your design thing.”

Mummy, I’ll get.

You can’t work in a bank?

I can. But getting hired in a bank back then mostly meant you had to sit all day at the desk attending to deposits and withdrawals. I didn’t want that.

I had one more cousin staying with us who was also unemployed, so that kind of took away some of the pressure. One some days, I was focused on becoming a better designer and not staying idle. On other days, I was sleeping for the entire day.

To be honest, I was purposely not applying for jobs that she wanted me to apply for. I was looking for advertising agencies. Since Uni, I was really obsessed with having my work on a billboard one day.

So, your first full time gig?

Late 2013. I applied to this music blog, and the owner offered ₦40k in the first month. By the second month, he told me “guy, I honestly can’t afford to pay you. These ads don’t seem to be coming. I’m sorry.”

And that one ended. He was a nice guy though.

After that, I was jobless again for a few months. Then a friend introduced me to this small agency that needed a graphic designer. I took the test, got in, and they started me at ₦50k. About four months into that gig, I went to a small Ad school, and in our final branding task, an agency saw my work and they made me an offer.

So I joined this new agency in late 2014, for ₦150k a month. Payroll issues and they had to shut down business after about 6 months of joining, while still owing two months of salary.

Did they pay up?

They did, a year and a half later. In the time being, I was back to just random freelance gigs after they couldn’t pay, but that lasted for about 2 months. Another friend called and said a Food Processing Company was looking for a Graphic Designer. He told me the offer was ₦200k. I jumped on it straight up.

I went to the interview with my deadbeat laptop, and these guys needed to see my work. The question was, how quickly can I show them all my work before this laptop goes off like a TV. The laptop managed to come on, and you know what they were most interested in?

What?

My personal experiments. I knew I’d gotten that gig the moment they saw those. Oh, and just as we were wrapping up, my laptop tripped off. Hahaha.

Sha, they made an offer of ₦150k for my probation period. I said I wanted ₦170k at least, but they told me I’d get a 200k bump after probation.

First of all, HR delayed, and when my raise finally came, it was ₦170k I received. And I’m like what’s this nonsense?

That’s when I learned the difference between net and gross salary.

Anyway, I’d already gotten into the job, designing all kinds of things for cartons, to buses, and even the one I’d always wanted, billboards.

One year into the gig, I asked for another raise. I legit wrote a list of everything I’d been doing:

When the brand manager left the company, I had to stand in as Brand manager, working with them to create jingles and all that.

I got that raise. ₦250k, net. Can’t fool me twice.

This was 2016. All this while, I was still doing freelance gigs, but they weren’t as intense, because I was putting everything into the work at the time. So there wasn’t really time for me to actually do them.

Still, freelancing was bringing in another ₦50k every other month.

By 2017, I started learning animation. Besides that, the year was pretty meh workwise. Also, I started learning how to shoot properly in 2017. I actually picked up shooting at work the previous year, but 2017 was when I was experimenting in the wild. I interned on the set of a movie – it never got released though

2018?

I got another raise towards the end of the year – ₦300k. Worked on another film set. I really just wanted to learn. Then I directed a short film. I actually planned to shoot two short films, but I didn’t have the time – work, relationship. Generally, I think relationships are emotionally, physically, and financially expensive.

Fast forward to 2019, I started getting better at animation and getting more freelance gigs. So to get better, I started an internship. One class a week. Add Youtube tutorials to that. Add two other online courses. 2019, I’m also going to learn code, because if you’re going to animate for web, you need to learn code.

What’s your most important perspective on money, between 2009 and now?

Money is the bread and butter of this world, and there’s no living without it. People are in denial of how important money is. People will tell you to follow your passion, but they won’t teach you how to make money. We go to school to learn about everything, everything but money, which is like the most important thing, post-school. They teach Entrepreneurship, but they should also be teaching personal finance. It’s why we’re all so shit with money.

People shouldn’t be shy talking about money. If you need help on how to make money, say it.

How much do you feel like you should be earning every month?

₦700k, at least. That’s the value I’ve put on my diverse skills at this point in this market.

Let’s breakdown that monthly income.

My monthly income is at about ₦450k if you add side hustles. This is what an ideal month looks like:

We haven’t accounted for ₦36k.

Eh ehn? Wait, what am I using this money for? Omo, I dunno o. Maybe that’s my own lau-lau.

When was the first time you sent money to my parents?

I used to send money to my mum, but you see my dad, he’s a very proud man. I assumed he was getting his pension, then my mum told me “he hasn’t started receiving his pension. They keep postponing and postponing, but really, nothing is coming in.”

So I sent him money. ₦30k. He was so emotional and thankful, and told me how it was going to go a long way with some family stuff. This was in 2017, and since then, I’ve made it a duty. It’s been everything from car trouble to school fees. I’m just thankful that I don’t have any other responsibility.

Then there’s the random ₦30k’s to people who are really in a tight spot. Whenever I’m in a position to help, I just step up.

Explain this savings things for me please.

My ₦250k first lands in my savings. I tend to save for stuff I need to pay for, or stuff I need to get. Like rent, or a laptop. My rent is actually fair, ₦300k. So there’s that.

I tried investing in an agric business, but I missed the window. I also have some other long term investments, like stocks. I haven’t tried any other investments.

Why haven’t tried any other investments?

I wanted to try Mutual Funds. But I was unsure about it.

You know how Mutual Funds work?

Not really.

How much do you imagine you’ll be earning in 5 years, and how did you arrive at that number?

1.2… 1-point… ₦1.2 million at the very least (using today’s estimates). It’s mostly because of the skills I have and I’m trying to acquire. And the confidence to even call this amount is because with the skills I’m looking to acquire, there is global demand.

Wait, how much is $6000?

About ₦2.2 million.

Yes. That’s the amount, at least. There’s a price chart for motion designers in the US. The pros earn like $300k a year. On average, I should be looking at $7000 per month, but that -1k is to solve for X, where X is the Nigerian factor.

What’s something you really want but can’t afford?

A beach house. I won’t say a car, because I really don’t find driving as a necessity. An efficient life for me will be Ubers, and Taxifies. Or carpooling.
But I never get the money reach that side, so I dey jump bus.

What’s the last thing you paid for that required serious planning?

I would have said rent, but I already programmed it somehow. It didn’t really require serious planning actually. I just have this thing where I just keep rent money aside.

But serious planning would be my laptop. I paid ₦500k.

When was the last time you felt really broke?

Really broke? How broke?

What is broke for you?

Broke for me is when you’re down to your last ₦50k. Last time I felt like that was two years ago. There’s an amount of money my bank account dwindles to, that I just start to feel sad. When you have money, you’re calm. That’s why people’s voice changes when they’re rich. They take their words slowly. Because money is a nerve calmer.

Actually, this sadness starts to kick in for me when I’m down to my last ₦200k. Rock bottom is now ₦50k.

What’s the most annoying miscellaneous you’ve had to pay for?

My laptop charger. ₦30k. A bloody Macbook. It scattered. It’s one of the things that triggered me to dump my Mac. Those things are ridiculously expensive. That was also my third charger. Anyway, if you must buy a Mac, buy a surge protector.

What’s your greatest fear, right now?

It’s something coming up that I can’t afford, like a family emergency. This fear has never reared its head in any form, but I’ve had hints. Like the health from one of my parents. I’m expecting it to become a problem in the future, so I’m doing my best to delay it as much as I can, by taking as much burden as I can now, whenever I can.

Let’s talk about happiness. On that 1-10 scale.

About my finances? I’m at a 6-7, because I don’t have grand needs. I can afford the simple things; food, clothing, shelter, Internet, transportation. I can even afford to take a holiday. Then my family, I can afford to take care of

People tend to ignore the things they could be grateful for in the present because they want to aim higher. I get that, I also like to aim high. But I also like to pay attention and be grateful for the present. I have awesome friends. I have an awesome family. Those things are priceless.

What’s something you want me to ask but I didn’t?

“How many children will you haveee?”

Depends on how financially buoyant I am before I start popping, and after I start popping. But also, that depends on how many my wife is willing to pop. Because no be me get the bẹlẹ́. But if I could, I’d have a lot of children. I’m definitely going to be adopting too.

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Still Fighting For Her Future at ₦60k/month

Every week, we ask anonymous people to give us a window into their relationship with the Naira – their secret Naira Life.

This week’s story pulled off in collaboration with ARM PENSIONS. Tomorrow is looking good. How’s it looking for you? Start making tomorrow look good by making the right calls today, by clicking here.

When was the first time you earned money?

A scholarship when I was in 100-level. The money wasn’t coming to me – it was going to my dad’s account – but it was in my name. That’s the first money that’s ever come in my name. 220k a year.

But besides that, I didn’t make any money in Uni or anything like that. No businesses and all that.

But my first salary was in NYSC – ₦9,775 – in 2009. Then the state I served was paying us ₦40k quarterly.

After NYSC, I travelled for Masters and so I was also working. This was 2012. My first job was paying £7/hour and I worked and I worked 8 hours a day – 40 hours per week. I was a cold-caller at a Utility company. Also, students were restricted to 40 hours a week. I changed jobs twice after, but by the time I was coming to Nigeria, I had about £3,000 in cash. I already invested £1,200 of the money in Nigerian stocks, mostly oil company stocks.

Why did you come back?

Marriage noni. I actually proposed not coming back, but my fiancee didn’t want to relocate. My family was like “Oh come back, don’t worry you’ll get this and that.” So I came back.

Marriage plans kicked off immediately. I think only the bridesmaids’ dresses and my wedding gowns. But I really didn’t have to spend much. My family paid for the whole thing.

After marriage, I was just chilling and getting into the job hunt vibe, then one morning, two things happened.

What?

I got an email from an auditing firm – one of the biggest in the world – emailed But then, something else popped.

Whatttt?

Bẹlẹ́. I found out I was pregnant. I really wanted to continue with the application, but when these guys interview you, there’s always the screening exercise where you run all kinds of tests. The tests were definitely going to come back with a positive for pregnancy. So I just let it go.

Also, there was some comfort in the fact that I hadn’t exactly run out of my small stash of money, so I focused on carrying my baby full term. The baby came in 2015. When my baby came, I wanted to give the baby some time before going back to job hunting.

I committed the next year and a half, and so I started job hunting in mid-2016 again. Then the recession hit.

What was your biggest struggle at this point?

First, I was doing the usual blind applications online, sending in CVs and all. My partner hustled for jobs and opportunities too. The ones that invited me for interview were like, “you’re married. How are you going to manage both? Will your husband be comfortable with late nights?”

Tragic. How were you getting money to get by all this time?

I was throwing the little money I had into a bunch of things. I invested in a family member’s poultry farm that brought in some stipends. For every ₦200k I invested, I got a profit of ₦80k in 4 months. Then allowances from my partner.

I tried experimenting in stuff. For example. I started helping small businesses with their bookkeeping and projections. Only 3 gigs came that year, 2016, and they were at ₦30k each. I tried starting a business to keep busy, but the margins weren’t good enough to earn anything from it. It really was just to keep me busy.

2017 was a drought for me. There was this company – a small financial services company – they hired me on a contract basis. So I only got paid when there was work, but I really just wanted the experience. There was a lot of free time, and I was like, “might as well drop another baby since I’m at home.”

Another one.

I kind of knew how many children I wanted to have, so might as well. I went on to have my second baby in 2018. Some months after my second baby, I got a fulltime job now paying ₦60k.

What’s happened to your perspective between 2014 and now?

Not like marriage is bad, but growth might be harder when you have to carry people along, somehow. If I wasn’t married I wouldn’t have had a child. If I didn’t have a child, I’ll most likely be earning more.

The job market, especially at entry level, has a prejudice against married women and mothers because they assume you’ll be making excuses for family and all that.

That period also showed me that I’m not a “buying and selling” person. I’d rather spend my time providing services. There’s also the part that I grew up really comfortable – there was always money. But you see this period? I learned frugality.

Let’s break down that monthly ₦60k.

First, because I’ve started working, I’m having to restock on work clothes. My partner provides for most of the big bill needs, but he still gives me money for the kids’ care. He pulls in all his weight, but to be honest, baby care money is never enough.

Then there are small debts from when I didn’t have a job. Transport is cheap because my workplace is not too far from where I live, so it’s almost negligible.

How much money do you feel like you should be earning right now?

Hahaha. ₦400k, at the very least. And that’s because of the experience I would have gained between then and now. Plus the qualifications I now have – ICAN.

Okay, realistically how much money is good money right now?

As per Frugal Master now, I’ll have enough to meet my needs and have enough to save at ₦200k.

What’s something you want but can’t afford?

A good phone, a powerful computer, and a good watch.

Do you have a pension?

Hahaha. Pension ko, pension ni. The company I work at is really small. To be honest, they can’t even afford it.

What’s the last thing you paid for that require serious planning?

My ICAN induction. I had to plan for that ₦100k because it’s not like I had any money at the time. Also, I’m currently paying for graphic design classes – ₦70k.

Design?

Yeah. I love design, video games, animation and all of that. I’ve been enthusiastic about them for as long as I can remember. When I was Abroad, I spent a lot of my money on buying game CDs – GTA V, Far Cry, God of War, Assassins Creed, Driver, etc.

Anyway, paying for it took a big hit on my finances.

Sounds like an important investment. Tell me about your other investments.

I invested in stocks, and although it made some decent dividends, it took a hit in 2016 during the recession. At some point, I had to liquidate the stocks for an emergency.

Also, there’s that farm that the family member has. But Oga farmer is no longer receiving outside investment. So I have no active monetary investments.

What’s the most annoying miscellaneous you paid for recently?

A bridal shower. Ugh. It was ₦10k, but that money was unexpected at the time.

Do you have an emergency plan for health and all that stuff?

My father. My father is my 9-1-1. I mean, my partner always comes through, but I can also be sure of my father.

What’s the scale of your happiness looking like right now?

7/10, and it’s mostly because of my kids. They’re the reason I still keep fighting and pushing to be better. They are the reason all those years don’t feel wasted.

What do you think you’d have done differently about the last few years?

I’ll use protection, first of all. I don’t regret my first child, but I’d have conceived that baby much later when I’m already working. In fact, this is the order I would have done it; get a job, then marry, then have kids.

Still grateful.

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Source: Zikoko