This thread is being created to showcase my ongoing experience and knowledge on launching a cassava flakes processing business in lagos.
I'v discovered in my interaction with the market through my last business (which failed horribly by the way) that there is a longing with customers for this product.
My last business left me with unlimited access to farmers and supply of agricultural produce in the most rural of places, but this access is incredibly advantageous to me because i can source products at extremely reasonable prices in bulk in their raw form, repackage it in my brand and sell for a nice profit.
I have put my ears on the ground with managers of supermarkets, retailers, I got talking with them, relationships i built from my failed last venture.
Most customers love their cassava flakes, its in extremely high demand and there are thousands of competitors who are already in the market.
BUT.
There's a variant of this product, which is a lot smoother, and can only be gotten directly from the source...The farmers, and there are no packaged form of this, for what reason, I do not know why? So rather than go with my feelings, I decided to test the waters a bit, I packaged 1 kg pieces of the product at a determined price of reasonable mark-up return for me, and distributed to the top supermarkets without payment, to see customers response to it. Turns out people love it and I have been getting requests already for supply, so i'm going into production and i'm starting out with 2kg and 5 kg sizes, as a result of the feedback i got from the retailers. All things go well, i'll have to buy a processing plant, but for now we can still make due packaging and sealing manually and see how the market reacts. I'm really extremely lean bootstrapping this one until i see some headlight from the market that this is a great product, then I can blow it up with some real production
Online marketing and mobile commerce is still relatively new, and people are just starting to explore this arena, this is a big plus for me, if i can build a proper lead magnet and maximize my facebook advertising my margins online will be unbelievable compared to retailers, unfortunately people aren't really searching for my product, but with the help of facebook and instagram, I can make amazing combination of pictures with my product and the most wonderful African delicacies of soups, to attract their attention, rather than explore the Adwords route.
My goals for next week 7/06/2014 - 13-/06/2014
Keep grinding
I'v discovered in my interaction with the market through my last business (which failed horribly by the way) that there is a longing with customers for this product.
My last business left me with unlimited access to farmers and supply of agricultural produce in the most rural of places, but this access is incredibly advantageous to me because i can source products at extremely reasonable prices in bulk in their raw form, repackage it in my brand and sell for a nice profit.
I have put my ears on the ground with managers of supermarkets, retailers, I got talking with them, relationships i built from my failed last venture.
Most customers love their cassava flakes, its in extremely high demand and there are thousands of competitors who are already in the market.
BUT.
There's a variant of this product, which is a lot smoother, and can only be gotten directly from the source...The farmers, and there are no packaged form of this, for what reason, I do not know why? So rather than go with my feelings, I decided to test the waters a bit, I packaged 1 kg pieces of the product at a determined price of reasonable mark-up return for me, and distributed to the top supermarkets without payment, to see customers response to it. Turns out people love it and I have been getting requests already for supply, so i'm going into production and i'm starting out with 2kg and 5 kg sizes, as a result of the feedback i got from the retailers. All things go well, i'll have to buy a processing plant, but for now we can still make due packaging and sealing manually and see how the market reacts. I'm really extremely lean bootstrapping this one until i see some headlight from the market that this is a great product, then I can blow it up with some real production
Online marketing and mobile commerce is still relatively new, and people are just starting to explore this arena, this is a big plus for me, if i can build a proper lead magnet and maximize my facebook advertising my margins online will be unbelievable compared to retailers, unfortunately people aren't really searching for my product, but with the help of facebook and instagram, I can make amazing combination of pictures with my product and the most wonderful African delicacies of soups, to attract their attention, rather than explore the Adwords route.
My goals for next week 7/06/2014 - 13-/06/2014
- Order products from supplier
- Hire two interns to work with me on packaging, sealing
- Get small warehouse for storage and distribution front
- Get necessary equipment purchased, e.g.industrial sealing machine, scales etc.
- Set up account with ace.ng for distribution
- Get my branded nylons manufactured and printed - 3 working days
- Update my konga (similar to Amazon model) seller hq account with new product
- Set up an Instagram account and update our facebook fan page with new product
Keep grinding
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