Nigerian entrepreneurs explore offshore opportunities

Nigerian entrepreneurs are tapping into opportunities abroad, earning dollars in the face of weak naira.
Some of these entrepreneurs are in the tech space, while others are in agro-processing, export, manufacturing and fashion.
Here, Start-Up Digest will examine just two entrepreneurs who are earning dollars and making money by tapping into offshore opportunities. This will, perhaps, open the eyes of readers to opportunities they may be ignoring.
Attah Anzaku is the CEO of AgroEknor, an international commodity trading firm. A native of Nasarawa State, Attah started exporting a container load of hibiscus flower in 2013. It takes between N5 and N6 million to fill a container of hibiscus flower and Attah and his two friends are already exporting 100 containers to Mexico, Chile, Peru, Guatemala and even Europe and North America each year.
A graduate of Petroleum Engineering from Covenant University as well as Gas Engineering and Management at the University of Salford, Manchester, the United Kingdon, Attah, who is less than 30, turned down a job offer by an oil firm in the Middle East for agro export.
“Opportunities here are endless. God, in His infinite mercies, has made some countries not to have certain products and others to have them. So there will always be international trade no matter how technologically advanced countries are,” he told Start-up Digest.
“If you want to just make money, maybe because of the foreign exchange involved, you will make money. You can have a nice life and travel once or twice in a while. However, if you want to leave your name in the sand of time, build a brand and earn more money, then you have to add value before you export,” he said, when asked the secret of his success in his three-year business sojourn.
“Basically, what Nigeria has been doing over the years is that we have been sending semi-processed crops out and what they do in those countries is to add value and then shoot up the prices. So, if I am sending cashew nuts in a raw form, I get $800 per ton, but if it is processed, I get close to $2000 per ton. So the money-making thing here is value-addition. Why most people are not so interested in exporting value added products is that they are just satisfied with the little dollar they get from raw products. But if that is what you want out of life, good for you. If you go abroad to all the shelves and retail stores, you see most of the things we sell to them. I was in Barcelona around June and I saw tiger nuts bar. A tiger nut was selling for 20 euros. A euro is about N400, but if you are selling that in a raw form, you will not get as much as that,” he stated.
Next is Bamidele Onibalusi, founder of Deloni Enterprise, an online business. Onibalusi started the business with N15, 000, which he used to register his website and purchase hosting. Today, he counts in millions, according to him.
“I mainly deal with clients and customers in Europe, America and other parts of the world. I also earn my income in dollars and convert at the current exchange rate. This ensured that the recession in Nigeria had little or no impact on me,” Bamidele told Start-Up Digest.
He believes technology is the biggest solution to Nigeria’s economic woes, stressing that the country will see remarkable results when citizens use their resources holistically.
“We can use technology to jump-shoot the productivity of the diversities the economy would be spread into. For example, how about using satellite imagery in developing irrigation strategies for the northern part of Nigeria to curb dryness and ensure that they have year-round food production. Therefore, technology can play the role of productivity enhancement,” he stated.

ODINAKA ANUDU