Uncle Favours’ Post

Available in 25kg bags for resale and and repackaging.

█▓▒▒░░░Available at all patriotic stores near you░░░▒▒▓█ Retail outlets a.k.a supermarkets in Nigeria appear to have a primary purpose to service the fast dwindling expat populations with imported goods. Many of these goods have close substitutes in local markets. Sometimes the exact same items exist, such as maize from South African and black-eyed-peas from India. Indeed, there are a host of Nigeria's agricultural produce and flours that up market retailers give short shrift in preference to imported options. Every retailer probably has standards for packaging that must be met, including NAFDAC certification, but this seldom helps because even the conditions for supply of local products are unfavourable to SMEs - something called payment on sale or return, which forces cash strapped SMEs to give credit to stores with no guaranty of payment because if no sales are made, products are returned and always in worse condition than supplied. Worse still is that Nigerian products - unless they are known brands - are consigned to hot, dusty, lower shelves. A couple of decades ago a law made it mandatory for radio stations to play 80% local content. The result on Nigeria's music industry is clear for all to see. There was resistance at the time, with radio stations losing legacy listeners but they soon gained new ones, in greater numbers. Plus the old ones returned. Little else to do in traffic but listen to the radio ... ... ... Back to local products. Will a similar law work for Nigeria's food and beverage industry? Will it persuade supermarkets to stock local? Will it promote competition and innovation? Will NAFDAC Nigeria support SMEs by putting an end to current exploitative charges for product registration and make the process more efficient and accessible? Will Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi work with SMEs on new product development? Since we must import food, will the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, @nigeriacustomservice, FEDERALMINISTRYTRADE ANDINVESTMENT ensure that AT THE VERY MINIMUM the packaging is done in Nigeria? The point is not to stop trade with those countries or to overly protect our markets. However we can partner to ensure that Nigeria is part of all the value chains trading within its borders. While our markets continue to provide income and create jobs in other countries, let us build in some benefits for ourselves.

Nothing maintains health and prolongs life like CLEAN FOOD

We have been exploring channels to export markets and with advice from "experts" we decided to explore the family/friend route to the diaspora. in this case it was Australia, a notoriously difficult destination even even for regular Nigerian tourists. Anyway the three 500gm packets of peeled beans and two 500gm packets of beans flour were taken away at the Australian customs because according to them, they have not been adequately processed and will grow. Suggestions for getting the right permits to export beans (black-eyed peas) to Australia are welcome. We are happy to supply to distributors licensed for the market

Uncle Favour's packs peeled beans in 25kg sacks to make it easy for brands seeking to repackage and resell in Nigeria, Europe and the Americas. We deliver to freighters

Last week, the price of Iron Beans rose to N85,000 per bag. Bag in Nigeria does not mean 100kg. It could be anything between 85kg and 95kg if you are lucky. Transport and other logistics costs takes the cost of each bag to N95,000. Still there are no guaranties that what you see in the picture sent by the supplier is what will arrive at the factory. In the very expensive game of chance that is agribusiness in Nigeria, small players remain at the mercy of predatory market actors and a chaotic market system.

𝐑𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 honesty and 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 Business sometimes is about building a reputation from ground up. However there are no lessons on how to do it. How do creditors come to accept your word as your bond? For how long is a business and its owner(s) expected to remain vulnerable to suppliers before they can actually say please supply, payment is in six weeks? The small business in Nigeria is often caught in this bind. They seldom get the benefit of credit from suppliers but must supply to customers who will not pay until later. We are often simply grateful for the custom. Money is paid up front - via informal channels - to suppliers of raw material. There is a wait period before goods arrive. Goods are handed to transporters who get paid up front and provide no tracking or assurance of safety and good condition. This means getting any form of insurance is iffy. Insurance products are anyway usually not suitable, are expensive or laden with administration and the burden of proof should anything go wrong. Production is the easiest bit, because that is the only part of the process that is completely within the control of the business. Following this, goods must be released to bulk buyers who will not pay before sales are made. In the meantime, improperly displayed goods languish on dusty supermarket shelves, inching past expiration dates. There is a lot of lip service paid to helping small businesses in Nigeria while no attention is paid to the very real currency of honesty and trust that routinely imperil business investments. It is not as simple as offering insurance, especially when more than 60% of the market is informal. The distances (not just physical) between supplier and buyer! The small business has absolutely no power and is mortally threatened by predatory practices of the informal and poorly regulated markets. Owners are lucky if all they get are bitten down nails. Most develop life changing ailments and are still run out of business, impoverished within five years.