• Make huge cash from sales as a small product exporter
• Exploit opportunity to supply kola nuts to producers of soft drinks, fruit juice, flavored and energy drinks
He who brings kola brings life’. This is a popular saying in igbo land, especially at social functions that involve breaking of kola nut. It is interesting to know that this socially accepted fruit type is a money spinner
for those who know the trade. Chewing kola nut is a social habit in Nigeria, especially in the North, similar to coffee drinking in the U.S and European countries.
Mr. Ayoola Saheed, a dealer who has experienced what it takes trading kola nut and making good returns give insight into how to rake in cash just as he does.
About Kola nut.
Kola nut is a product of the kola tree.
It has special significance in Nigeria. It is one of the country’s major cash crops. There are two types namely; Goro and Igho Oji. Kola nut is used to show a gesture of peace, friendship and hospitality for our forefathers, the use of kola nuts symbolized everything that was civilized and peaceful in their world.
Historically, the green or brown nuts were used as currency (money). Its addictiveness creates a huge demand even beyond the rainforest region where it is predominantly found. Today in many places, the nuts are still regarded as store of wealth. In the old days, travelers could go to markets with the certainly that they would trade their kola for the goods they needed.
Kola trees are natives of Central and West Africa and are distinguished primarily by the medicinal and stimulant properties of their nuts, bark and leaves. Kola nuts serve as the basis of all cola soft drinks. No wonder it is a hot, exportable product to American and European soft drink manufacturers. Kola nut could either be dry or wet.
General Uses of kolanut
• Kola nut is part of the social fiber of Nigeria. In some parts of Nigeria, Kola trees are planted at the birth of a child and upon the death of a family member.
• Kola nut is a valued gift, signifying an even more valuable friendship. Kola is shared at the commencement of important business transactions.
• Kolanuts have been part of the traditional wedding proposal in offering and acceptance as well as for the bride.
• Kolanuts have near-magical properties and are widely used as stimulants.
• Kola nuts contain caffeine which according to a joint study produced by Oxford University and the U.S. Agency for international Development, are powerful stimulants that relieve fatigue, inhibit thirst and suppress hunger.
• Kola nuts are exported to the U.S. market for flavoring cola drinks like Coke and Pepsi. Cola-based soft drinks are substitutes for tea and coffee that provide that provide quick energy from caffeine. The nuts themselves are quite bitter and are chewed to refresh the breath. The tree’s twigs are chewed to clean teeth and gums.
• Medicinally, the kola nut is an all-purpose pharmaceutical. The leaves, bark, fruit and flowers of the tree make a tonic that is used as a remedy for coughs, whooping cough, vomiting, chest problems, dysentery, diarrhea and asthma.
Storage and Packaging of Kola Nuts
Kola nuts are prone to fungal diseases if they not properly preserved. Truth is, they are better consumed fresh by those who eat them. This knowledge has informed kola farmers and traders to use edible salt and wood ashes to protect and keep them fresh. The use of sacks and leaves are also a good way of preserving, packaging and transporting kola nut to keep it fresh.
Demand in the Nigeria Market.
As earlier explained, kola is an important economic cash crop to a significant proportion of Nigeria population involved in farming, trading and industrial utilization. About 90% of Kola produced in Nigeria is consumed within the country. While the demand is rising locally, production remains low because many trees are unfruitful or have very low yield.
Some Industries that Require Kola nut.
Beyond the regular chewing of kola nut, it will amaze you that there’s hot demand for it by some of our local industries. They include:
Soft drink producers – Apart from the popular soft drinks like Coca cola and Pepsi that use Kola nut extract in their production – you have other fruit juice or flavored drink brands in the market that make use of Kola nut extract. You can locate some flavored drink (cottage producers) produce outfits at the Lagos state incubation centre Agege, Matori and Onike, Yaba.
Energy drink producers – Nigerian consumers have welcomed energy drinks.
Producers of this brand of drinks make use of Kola nut extract as an ingredient for production. Some existing brands in Nigeria are power Horse, Passion etc.
Recognized herbal producer – As for their uses in beauty, you’ll often find kola nut extract in beauty products for firming,
boosting, energizing, and stimulating the skin.
Wine Producers – Kolanut is also needed by wine producers. An example is a company that exist in Iseyin,
oyo state. The company produces a Kola nut variant wine known as Dee Champaign and Sparkling both of which are even exported. There are quite a few of such companies in other states including Lagos.
Producers of sweets and chewing gum – there are different variants of sweet and chewing gum in the market. One of the variants is the Cola which of course has Kola nut extract.
Beverage tea producers – there are various brands of tea in the market today most of which contain different percentages of caffeine which is sourced from Kola nut. There are also herbal tea (common with Chinese) brands which are used for medicinal purpose. The process is that the nut is grated, boiled and then sweetened with sugar or honey. Some ailments ‘kola nut tea’ is said to relieve are menstrual cramps, headache, gout, rheumatism, jaundice, nausea, vomiting, and stomach upset.
West African countries to Purchase Viable Kola nuts from
It has been observed by kola nut merchants that other West African countries apart from Nigeria have commercially viable species of kola nut. Hence, scores of traders and buyer demand for it. The tree major countries are cote d’voire (Ivory Coast) Ghana and Togo.
According to Mr. Ayoola Saheed, “quite a few West African countries grow kola nut. However, Abidjan, in Cote ‘dvoire, seems to be the most patronized when it come to sourcing kola nut.”
Where to buy in Nigeria
Here in Nigeria, you can purchase kola nut wholesales in states such as Ogun, Oyo, Osun, etc.
Hot Market to sell for quick cash
The beauty of this trade is that you have a ready – market to sell your product once you have enough stock. As you all know, you can sell your kola nut stock anywhere you have the Hausa community located in different part of the states. Here in Lagos, they are predominantly in Bariga, Agege, maza Maza, along the mile 2 road. For greater profit, you can leverage on the following inter states market areas to dispose you stock:
The various marketing spot include: Goro Garage market in Sango, Oko Market in Osun state, Ogbagba Market, Osun State, Shagamu, and Ijebu in Ogun State.
Commercial Seasons
Nigerian ‘wet kola’ is available in the market from March to November. This is the ideal time of the purchase of kola also from Abidjan which happen to be the major market with commercially viable species.
Preservation and Packaging
Kola nut are usually packaged in sacks and preserved using dry or wet leaves. Aside from this, one can also pack them in any other form but one should ensure that over night they are wrapped with the leaf. For the wholesales, you sell in bags and for retail you sell using baskets.
How much you can invest.
Wholesales purchases are in bags and retail is purchased in basket or counting in hundreds. Individual determine the extent to which they want to invest. If you wish to limit yourself to just trading at the local level, that is in Nigeria, with as low as N20,000 to N30,000 you can make your purchases. While trading in Kola nut within the West Africa zone (such as Abidjan) you need between N200,000 to N500,000.
Profit Potential
Here in Nigeria, assuming you get a bag of kola nut for N27, 000 you can sell to the Northern buyers popularly called aboki at about N50, 000. The margin is N23, 000. If you invest about N300, 000 to buy at the Abidjan market you can possibly sell for N450, 000. This leaves you with a margin of N150, 000.
How to get to Abidjan to purchase kolanut
The only place to board transport to Abidjan is at Ejigbo (Osun State) in igbo Owa but if you will have to go from Lagos, first board a bus to Ghana, then to Lome then to Abidjan. The requirements include:
i. Cart Dante Pass (to be obtained at Nigerian embassy at Abidjan). It costs N1,320.
ii. Any means of identification e.g. National I.D Card, ECOWAS , Drivers license etc.
iii. N20, 000 to cover transportation to and fro.
How to start exporting Kolanut on a Small Scale
The Federal Ministry of commerce and industry has said that Nigeria realized about $378 million (about N56.7 Billion) from export of agricultural produce in 2009. This statistics has continued to soar till date. The report listed some produce exported during the period under review to include sesame seeds, ginger, cashew nuts, palm kernel cake chilies, kolanuts etc.
As reported sometime back in SDE! About 20 million Nigerians reside outside with majority living in USA and UK. This is great opportunity to sell kola nut to this category of people. Countries you can export to include; Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, Brazil, Canada etc. These are countries that supposedly have very large production of various energy drinks as well as high rate of their consumption.
What you need to start
Get an e-mail address, mobile phone, a current account with a reputable bank.
Advertising your product is the major key to success. Endeavour to have a presence online that you can refer prospects to. By this is meant having a website that displays your goods and communicates your reputation. You can also register for free at Alibaba. This is a popular trade site. These are quite a few others if you do an online search.
You can leverage on friends or relatives abroad, to help you sources for genuine buyers. With the advent of facebook, an online social network, communicating should not be a problem. Starting small, it is advisable to deal with an individual client to overcome the hassle of documentation.
As a small exporter, you can deliver your stock to clients through NIPOST or send it by air. This is an advantage because kola is not a perishable item like tomatoes. You can also engage services of reputable courier companies like DHL, UPS, TNT etc.
It is not out of place to also engage services of reputable freight forwarders.
Finally, ensure you establish a consistent source of procuring your kola nut so has to meet up with demand as they arise.
Be Among The 100 Lucky Ones
With a lot of consideration, Ayoola is planning to make 100 Nigerians (100 only), to share from his wealth of experience and start cashing huge profit from kolanut business. A lot of people are talking about the kolanut business but only few (very few) understand the process. Dont just buy ebook from just dicks and harrys, come to a Live Practical Class with Ayoola Saheed. Be among the Lucky 100 to control the wealth of Kola Nut in Nigeria. It is either now or never. Ayoola will exposes to you, how to make the cool cash both online and offline.
Date: 4th of June, 2011
Venue: Sweet sensation, Opebi opposite Glo office.
Fee: N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira)
Mr. Ayoola Saheed
159, Dopemu Road, Agege, Lagos
Tel: 08161343019, 08091903899
