Musings On Owning A Business In Nigeria.
How it is in my head.
With all of the things I have heard from friends, family, and other people, I can say that starting and owning a business in Nigeria is pretty hard. IT CAN BE THE GHETTO.
Yet Nigerians survive, you can say they owe it to the resilient spirit that is most times forced on them by the conditions of the country. They just somehow learn to thrive amidst all the issues that spring up. Business owners are nothing short of amazing.
I was speaking to a friend about a business I am familiar with and as I began laying down points, I realized that there are a lot of things that could have weighed many businesses down and killed them actually if not for the owner’s drive to see things become better and, probably, the staff’s promise to improve on themselves regularly.
The food business is one I know very well so I would say a bit of what I know here to expose you to the hardship business owners face. One thing I want to talk about is the number of ‘fakes’ you have in the market. I mean, there can be fakes for other products but HOW and WHY do we have FAKE
RICE? Or FAKE TOMATOES? Or even FAKE GROUNDNUT OIL?
I have actually known about this all my life but it doesn’t just sit well with me, as it shouldn’t. They say it is because of how Nigeria is and that is what Nigeria has to offer, ‘FAKE’. Let’s not even talk about how Nigeria itself already ties your hands with thick ropes (A story for another day).
Moving on, it becomes hard to look for a trustworthy supplier of products and raw materials because there are so many unreliable suppliers and you, on the other hand, do not want to give your customers low-quality food. When you eventually find a supplier, you have to pay a lot. Why? They are the only ones who sell quality. You would hear things like “You cannot find another store that sells better”
Brethren, that statement is oftentimes true.
When all is done with purchasing, you have to increase the price of the food you sell because of the quality and stress management. Then the consumers will come around and say “I have never heard of this pricing in my life”.
WOW!!!!!!
People dupe people… (I know that you already know this). These same Nigerians that complain about the problems we face are the ones that compound the problems we face. SICK…
Even if the country and its officials are going berserk, why can’t we help each other out? Why can’t we do ourselves well?
I still have a lot to say to those who outsource jobs to writers, Nigerians who outsource writing jobs to other writers? Can you accept that money you are giving that writer for their intellectual property?
Still pondering on this topic.
These are just today’s thoughts.
