Thread by @fimiletoks

Few weeks ago, I had an informal meeting with an Indian lady while waiting for a client. They came into the country to invest in a particular product and they stumbled on the plantain chips market while in traffic in Lagos.
The plantain chips sold in traffic..

Thread..👇

They were shocked at the huge potential in the plantain chips market and they had to quickly shift their attention from the main product they were here to launch.
They began their research, drove round the city of Lagos, speaking to the sellers and buying samples of "chips"

From the little study, they estimated the amount consumed daily to be around 1m sachet during peak periods.

Early morning traffic hours, midday, rush hour traffic and late night on major roads.

Third mainland bridge, ikorodu road down to ikorodu, ikoyi Osborne, lekki - Ajah

Surulere, eko bridge, Lagos Abeokuta expressway and oshodi axis. The sellers pick up 100 pieces each to sell and they counted over a thousand boys on the street selling the product.

By their estimate, the market is worth 80m - 100m in daily revenue and about 2bn monthly.

2bn naira monthly revenue, much more than Osun's or Ekiti's state state Federal allocation and IGR combined.
Gross profit margin between 30% - 40%.
Their target is to own 20% market share of the 2bn monthly plantain chips market and generate an annual revenue of 5bn naira.

They are coming back to set up plantain farms and buy up produce from existing farms. We all move around daily in Nigeria without looking at the opportunities around us. We lament about everything while foreigners come in to seize opportunities.

We youths want white collar jobs in banks, civil service, oil and gas etc. We expect the govt to spoon feed us. Foreigners especially the Indians and Chinese, look at our supposedly horrible situation and identify quick opportunities.

This same country we curse daily has turned so many of them into millionaires. Money they will never make in India or China. While we run away to seek greener pastures, they arrive here with no visa to make our pastures green.
Some Chinese guys sell vegetables at ogba market..

Agric will produce so many young millionaires within the next decade. We have to feed ourselves and also feed Africa. There is no staple food we currently produce, store or refine in enough quantity to last us all year round. Rice, maize, millet, eggs, poultry, fish,tubers, vegs

80% of our arable land is still uncultivated. Our population keeps growing at 2.9% yearly.
6m children will be born yearly and they must eat.
The Chinese and Indians are scrambling for Nigeria, they want to get in the country while Nigerians are dying to jet out via the desert.

I agree that the govt needs to do more by encouraging entrepreneurship in different sectors but we as a people must identify these opportunities and seize them.
Nigeria has the potential to be great and it will surely be great..

Has anyone ever analysed the ewa agoyin, suya, bottled groundnut, cashew nut, garden egg even agbo jedi market in terms of revenue size in Lagos?
Do you know how many people consume agbo jedi at N100 per shot in Lagos daily? You think you are rich because of your 150k salary..

Some of these guys who sell agbo jedi and all these petty items end up owning houses in remote areas of Lagos while those of you with 150k salary who see them as 'poor' will most likely retire with a lean bank account in a rented apartment.