My manufacturing journey was circumstantial, expository and rewarding. It took a four-year journey to appreciate the enormous responsibilities entrepreneurs face, and the highs and lows experienced. Till date, anytime I see someone that created a unique product and selling it themselves, I remember my struggles. From enduring a gruelling 8 months journey to achieve NAFDAC Certification, to developing a supply capability of 25 stores within Lagos, I believe I deserve some flowers.
I wasn’t prepared for that trip into manufacturing. I had been in the IT and digital space for over a decade, before thinking of manufacturing. As a young man, I grew up with my civil servant mum, who sold food products to make ends meet. She prepared and sold powdered soy tea, body cream, powdered pap, bean flour, powdered tea to name a few, as far back as 25 years ago. Having seen her create fantastic products, with little marketing influence, I watched her struggle to get a commensurate reward for her ingenuinty. I guess my compelling drive in marketing emanated from this experience. Now my mum handles all the production aspects of my factory.
My stint in manufacturing made me realize some myths; largely, I realized that sourcing capital wasn’t the greatest problem of entrepreneurs as I initially thought; compared to having competent and faithful staff. In my short stint, I got a grant and was involved in associations like NACCIMA, NASSI, NEPC, etc. Found out that there were many programs and interventions for nigerian entrepreneurs by both the Government and other foreign institutions. And the lure of exporting your goods to earn foreign exchange was somewhat very rewarding.
Today, my belief is simple – when Africa gets manufacturing right, the continent will reduce its poverty by 80%. Before you come up with excuses of non-availability of Power, there are areas of light manufacturing that uses little power. For example, cold-pressing manufacture of Coconut Oil requires no power element. And lack of power is the biggest opportunity to manufacture solar panels, so whats the excuse? If 80% of Africans are farmers, and we have just 5% of them in light manufacturing, then Agricultural GDP can be quadrupled.
I believe having a Private Manufacturing Hub, where small-scale manufacturing machines can be shared or outsourced, like Millers, Pulverizers, Hammer Mills, Powderizers, etc, will inadvertently help manufacturing. Imagine having an area on Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a young farmer can take his raw cassava to, and in few hours bring back cassava chips or flour. Or a Mango Farmer drop his mango, and in few minutes have Mango Juice to do a raw supply to an Office on the Island. If the trajectory of Africa’s FinTech Journey is attributed to regulatory frameworks and Infrastructure, then a similar trajectory in manufacturing will inadvertently let the continent realize its potential.