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By Chinwendu Obienyi
Considering sustained calls from various quarters on the need to diversify the country’s economy, there is no better time than now to promote non-oil sectors of the nation’s economy. One critical approach to achieving this would be to revive local industries. However, for 32 year old, Uche Onyekwelu, who is the Chief Executive Officer, Stuch Interior and Apparel, the only full-fledged company dedicated to producing bed sheets in Nigeria, says the country’s over-reliance on crude oil as the primary export commodity and foreign exchange earner has, worsened the situation of local industries in the country. She gives tip on how to boost the nation’s non oil businesses in the new future.
Excerpts:
Inspiration for the business
Firstly, I will say I have always been a huge fan of the niche. I needed a business that was not capital intensive and I embarked on research and found out that there was nobody who runs a company where there are tailors producing bed sheets and moving out stocks on daily businesses. This was how I conceived the idea of starting the beddings business with N10,000 in my self-contained room. I also wanted a product that was used in every home irrespective of one’s economic status and I took a cue from the fact that successful entrepreneurs like Aliko Dangote focused on products that were not based on gender or religion sentiments. This is how I got inspired to start the business.
Challenges
I started the business during my NYSC days and my parents got to know about it after I was done serving Nigeria as a corper. I decided to stay back in Uyo, Akwa Ibom where I served to continue the business but my father insisted I get a job which I did in an estate firm. But resigned after 3 months to focus on the business. My parents got to know that I was not working again after a year and of course expressed their concerns.But by then, I made them understand that I knew what I was doing. There were challenges but it was not much. I made sure I marketed the products to all my neighbours and before you knew it, I sold them all. That was how I continued stocking up on bed sheets and selling even to those at the local government where I was working. One strategy I also used was collecting deposits from interested buyers.
Business strategic plan
Evolving and positioning well online helped the business grow significantly. I invested in sponsored Instagram adverts, spent time learning about how to grow a business online, gained the trust of strangers and market my products aggressively. We are in a digital era where people shop for everything online and have it delivered to their doorsteps. So I made sure that the shopping process was easy, smooth and fast. I also ensured we never compromised on our cotton fabric quality and one other thing that helped was that we got referrals from our customers. The truth is once you put out a structure and follow it to the last letter, your business will thrive and these are the things I did to put it on the path of sustainable growth.
Little attention paid to local start-ups
I totally agree and the truth is there is no support system in place for business owners as we lack even the basic amenities. There is unstable electricity, high cost of diesel and insecurity challenge that is hindering the growth of most businesses. A business with good prospects that should be experiencing 80 per cent growth annually will be struggling to achieve a 5 per cent growth.
FX scarcity
The issue is that we are importing more than what we are exporting. This is because 90 per cent of business owners need FX to pay suppliers and the 10 per cent we get from exporting is not enough. The government has to make grants accessible to business owners to scale up production and this would result in a larger scale for a surplus output enough for our consumption and exports. The Government should also put a system in place for enlightening its citizens on how and what to export and ensure that the procedure is not cumbersome.
Why Nigeria should control imports from border
This is what is happening at the moment and so I agree with that 100 per cent. We have been talking about diversifying our economy and one way of achieving this is for the government to provide the financial support in setting up local industries so as to encourage locally made goods then we will be able to produce what we consume and there won’t be need to import them.
Advice to budding entrepreneurs
Do not wait till you have it all figured out waiting for a huge capital, just start with what you have. Be ready to work hard and practice delayed gratification so that you can keep reinvesting your profit into the business to achieve sustainable growth.
Target in next 10 years
The brand will be a household name for quality cotton Beddings, Bedroom essentials and continue to be the biggest beddings business in Africa. We are already making waves with our beddings, bathrobes,towels, pyjamas, our scented candles that were launched last year and sleeping pillows that were launched this year. We would be in the forefront of using technology to scale our business globally, open more outlets nationwide including other African countries and create employment for thousands of youths.
