ENTREPRENEUR'S MIND

 

I AM LOOKING AT A MILLION KWACHA BUSINESS RIGHT HERE !!!

TUTE NE MBALALA ( Cassava and Ground Nuts )

Entrepreneurs I am looking at a million kwacha business right here . How can we put Cassava and Groundnuts in the shelves of Shoprite and Pick and Pay ? How can we make Cassava and Nuts acceptable snack in a bar , How can we make cassava and nuts an acceptable snack in board meetings ? In short how can we industrialize this humble Zambian snack ? . Don’t wait for trade kings to do it , Do it now , they already took our munkoyo and tobwa and made the famous maheau we love and added all kinds of flavours to it like strawberry , buttercream and banana . The also make chibwantu now . They also make simple pop corn sold like bag of crisps … Guys we can do this too !! its your right as a Zambian . 

I invite you with all your ideas to make this product work . I am thinking we make it in a form a quick snack like crisps . Something dry someone can have whilst watching a movie , at work or whilst driving . I bought some Cassava and Nuts , Took a picture and from it we can discuss how we can improve it . 

PROFITABILITY 

1 cassava piece is 1 Kwacha and the ground nut sachets are K2 each . Do you understand the profitability levels here !!! ????? !!! . If a person can sell cassava at 1 Kwacha and make a profit then how much are they spending on it ? its in the ngwees , meaning there is a lot of potential . I know 1 Kwacha is not exciting but look at it this way , You have to sell talk time for K100 in order to make K1 comission . For Mobile money you have to transact about K200 or K100 to make that same 1Kwacha . So at the end of the day selling tute and mbalala has a higher return than selling talktime if we run the numbers . Same concept for the nuts , I think the profit for the nuts is K1 per sachet or even more because they are soo tiny . So lets Assume a profit of 2 kwacha profit per serving of 2 cassavas and one sachet of nuts . Do you know that that is the profit a bar owner makes when they sale a castle lite ? That is the profit someone selling bread makes , That is the profit someone selling news papers makes .. so don’t let the humbleness of this trade fool you . 

With a bit of education to this business by adding value we can make the profit as much as K8 per serving . You sale two servings you make more profit than someone selling chickens . Except it didn’t take you 7 weeks to make it . LETS JUMP IN 

VALUE ADDITION 

In order to ask for more money or even sale something we need to add value to the product . Using the plate lets discuss the value we can add to the food 

HYGIENE

My number one concern is the hygiene in preparation of this food . That is why people don’t buy these foods because they are concerned with how they are made . If we can take away that worry from potential customers and make them think the food is prepared hygienically and safe to eat . More people will be comfortable buying them . 

SALT 

Look at the kama paper for a brochure for shoprite , that is what she used to wrap the salt in . I suggest we replace that with those common salt sachets that food is normally served with . They are inexpensive and they look a little stylish

GROUND NUTS SACHETS 

The groundnuts can use a bit of work . How about buttering them up and rubbing the skin off so that they look like those nuts we buy in stores . this can be easily done . I don’t think we need to package them I will explain why in the the cassava point but for now take it as packaging them will be an unnecessary cost . 

CASSAVA 

The cassava is cut so thick that is not even cooked inside . Is it possible that the cassava is cut stylisitically some some funk into it , to cut it symmetrically and finesse . I am sure there is a machine that can do that or just to use a chips pressure cutter . You know the ones am talking about for cutting potatoes . Ensure the cassava is roasted dry and to perfection . 

PACKAGING 

Now lets package these products , we find a paper bag that keeps the food dry , you can have someone manufacture them for you . You serve the cassava and groundnuts in the very bag , packaged and sealed then you sell for K8 per bag !

WHAT DO YOU THINK ?