BUSINESS
How to Make Your First 1 Million Dollars in 2022
When we asked our followers from different platforms that what is your immediate financial goal, most of them said that they want to make their first million. So that’s what we’re doing today.
Making 1 million dollars sounds like a lot of money if you’ve never earned high figures before. It might seem like a obsolete objective, but the truth is 1700 new millionaires are created each day, that’s over 620,000 new millionaires every year.
So how do they do it? How come so many people become millionaires and why can’t you do the same?
Well.. it’s all about positioning and how valuable you are to the marketplace. If the marketplace thinks you deserve 1 million dollars or more, it will in turn give you that amount.
Table of Contents
01Be in the top 1% of a lucrative profession
Shocking right?! Be really good at a job that pays really well!
It is super easy to become a millionaire if you know what you’re doing and you’re specialized.
Doctors, Lawyers, & Upper management in the US and Europe earn on average over 150,000 dollars per year. If you’re really good at what you do and hyper specialized you can double or even triple that amount.
The highest paying job with the lowest barriers of entry is SALES. If you know how to sell, you can make a ton of money no matter where you find yourself.
Compared to doctors and lawyers, the 1% of sales people earn north of 250,000 dollars per year, which will have them pass the million dollar mark in just 4 years.
Not to mention that selling is an incredibly valuable skill for all the strategies we will discuss throughout this article. We will also write on the best books on selling sometime soon, but if you want to start today, we recommend you pick up The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone or The Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer. You can get 1 of them for free as an audiobook when you sign up at alux.com/freebook
Speaking of books:
02Write several books that sell ok
The trap many people fall is that they think you need to write the next Harry Potter or Fifty Shades of Grey in order to get rich from books. The likelihood of you knocking it out of the park is incredibly low, that said, getting to 1 million dollars from writing books is a pretty doable job if you find the right angle and an audience willing to purchase.
Few people know this, but in order to become a New York Times best-selling author you only need to sell around 10,000 books, it can even be as low as 5,000 books if you’ve been on the list before.
If your writing is good, just keep putting out more and more books, until one of them is a hit.
There are plenty of examples of people who did it this way, but our favorite is by far Amanda Hocking. You probably have no idea who she is. She’s been rejected by almost every single publisher in the game, none of her novels were given a shot, she was broke, but really wanted to go to a Muppets convention but she needed the money for gas in order to drive to the event.
In order to make some the 300 dollars she needed she self-published her novels on kindle. 1 month later she had made over 20,000 dollars, so she added all her novels up there. 20 months into it, she’s made over 2.5 million dollars from books which were not good enough to be picked up by a publisher.
Pro tip: If you have a podcast, a blog, a YouTube channel, any form of audience, people will want to support your efforts and are even willing to pre-order your work just to share the journey with you.
03License a patent or trademark to a big company
Another creative way to add value to the world is by being an inventor, designer or engineer. If you can figure out a way to solve a problem better that what’s out there already, you could be sitting on a goldmine.
A great example of this is Lonnie Johnson, again , you probably have no idea who he is, but you’ve probably heard of the super soaker. While toying around — pun intended — he created this cool toy but didn’t have the skills to create an entire company, produce, market and sell individual products so he licensed the technology to a company called Hasbro. He got paid a 3% royalty out of the price of every unit sold making over 100 million dollars from this deal alone. He now has 80 patents and a net worth of over 350 million.
Pro Tip: We know patents are expensive, but there are certain ways to protect yourself even without having an international issued patent.
What you need to do, is to document how your invention works in extreme details, have that in writing and burned onto a cd or USB drive and mail it in a sealed envelope to yourself. When the envelope arrives back it should contain the date and stamp of a governmental institution. Never break the seal. If it comes to it, this is your undeniable proof that you were the first one to figure this out and rights should be awarded to you in a patent case or at least end up in a highly lucrative settlement.
04Start a dropshipping company under your own label
For those of you who have no idea what dropshipping is, it’s a very fun and interesting business model, where you find a supplier — someone who can create, package and deliver a product on your behalf.
Your job is to bring in the sales. Here’s how it goes.
Let say you found a supplier who can package and deliver weight loss tea from china for $5 per package.
You now set up a website where you sell that exact product for 20 dollars a piece. When the order comes in, you send over the $5 to the supplier with the details from the order, who takes care of everything and delivers the item to the buyer on your behalf, yourself keeping the remaining 15 dollars. Cha-Ching! Profit!
We didn’t choose weight loss tea by accident, we’ve actually studied and analyzed the success a young entrepreneur named Gretta van Riel had in this space. She’s the one who started the entire Instagram model fitness tea phenomenon. 6 months into her business she was bringing in over half a million dollars per month. If that number shocks you, you might want to read up on her, since she’s one of our personal heroes. During new product launches she made over 1 million dollars in a single day, just to let you know that these kind of numbers are possible.
You know how Kylie Jenner is a billionaire now? She’s been using the dropshipping model as well. She owns 100% of the company and only has 6 employees. All production & fulfillment is outsources to a different company.
Also speaking of Kylie Jenner, make sure you check:
05Start a small business and keep growing
Although most of the ideas mentioned on this list are super-specific, the way most people end up millionaires is by creating a small business and growing it. We know it sounds a tad more general, but this comprises the hustler mindset which is focused on growth.
Starting a new business is always difficult but the path is more or less the same no matter which business you choose. It all starts with solving a problem, figuring out how to get paid and then bringing in people so that you can focus on what it important for the business to grow.
Everyone has a couple of business ideas in their heads, it’s just a matter of implementation.
Although that might sound overwhelming, the process is pretty straightforward and simple.
That’s why we’ve wrote an article called — “15 things to know when starting a business”! If you’re planning on starting your first business, there probably isn’t a more important article to read than this one!
06Aggressively save money and put it in index funds for several years
You need to understand the power of the compound interest and use it to get rich.
Someone might say it’s the most important mathematical discovery in the world! And by someone we mean Albert Einstein, who numerous times referred to it as
Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn’t … pays it.
If you understand money and investment funds, you know that 7% annual return is easily do-able.
Now it’s a matter of just how much money you can save. Traditional strategies go like these: If you’re able to save 10% of your yearly income and let say you earn 50,000 dollars per year, it will take you 40 years to get to a million dollars saved. But who wants to be a millionaire when they’re old?! That’s not the ALUX way?!
It gets a lot more interesting if you are able to play around with those numbers. You should try to increase all 3 most important variables:
- The amount of money you earn
- The amount of money you are able to put aside
- The return on your investment
While the first 2 depend on your own choices, the 3rd one on the other hand is pretty straight forward.
For example, the first thing we would do, is take the money out of a 7% mutual fund and put it in an index fund like the S&P 500. For those of you new to this, the S&P 500 is a fund made out of the top 500 companies in the US. If a company is not performing well, it’s being taken out and replaced by a new worthy company. For the past 90 years, the S&P 500 generated an average of 10% yearly return.
Although we are not sponsored by them we would recommend you look into Vanguard and Robinhood.
If you are not the entrepreneurial type, meaning you’re not sure how to create a multi-million dollar company by selling products or services, there’s this really great book by Tony Robins called MONEY: Master the game! Which we can’t recommend enough. It’s the book we gift our friends on how to get rich is the safest way possible.
You can even get the audiobook for free if you sign up at alux.com/freebook
07Do an ICO
For the past couple of years, crypto has been the wild-wild west of money. The amount of people who go really rich really fast on crypto has been astonishing to us.
For those not familiar with the crypto terminology, ?Initial Coin Offerings also known as ICOs are an alternative form of crowdfunding, where a company issues tokens at a discounted price so they can use the early funding to create a digital service which will run on said tokens. If the product is successful, your initial tokens could skyrocket in value based on the demand for them.
We would not actually recommend investing in other people’s ICOs unless you know them to be trustworthy and have a solid team behind them. Instead, create your own blockchain based company and seek private investors to back it up. Only after the product has gain some traction you should be ready of your own ICO where you open it to the public as early investors.
Every single type of financial related service is getting disrupted by blockchain, your goal is to find where you fit in this cluster of new services.
No matter what your stance on Bitcoin and Ethereum is, blockchain is here to stay and we would actually recommend you start teaching yourself more and more about the industry if you want to make sense of the future.
08Purchase a franchise and make it really successful
If you’re not the creative type, a franchise is a simple and lucrative way to get yourself into a business, because somebody else has already optimized it for you, you just need to make sure things keep on moving the way they should.
A franchise for those of you who don’t know is where a company creates a lucrative business with an already established brand that’s made out of a simplified system which can be duplicated over and over again. Think McDonalds or Starbucks.
So how does this work? You reach out to the company with the aim of buying a franchise. There are two types of costs you need to know about. A standard franchise fee and a percentage of the business you’re generating. In exchange for this money, they company provides all the tools you need to get the business up and running.
You can find profitable franchises starting as low as 10,000 dollars but depending on what you’re looking for there are obviously more expensive options.
For example a Dunking Donuts franchise fee is between 40,000 and 90,000 dollars depending on location. But that’s not all. The company requires you have at least 250,000 dollars in liquid assets just to make sure you can keep the thing running.
It’s up to you to find the right franchise for your geography and budget.
09Create a subscription service where 1000 people pay $83 per month
Ok, it’s time we introduced you to what is called Millionaire-Math.
Which means, in how many ways you can get to 1 million dollars in a year?
Off the top of our heads considering subscription services you have:
5,000 people pay you $17 per month for 12 months
2,000 people pay you $42 per month for 12 months
1,000 people pay you $83 per month for 12 months
500 people pay you $167 per month for 12 months
300 people pay you $278 per month for 12 months
… you get the point.
All of these will get you to the 7 figure promise land.
That’s why everybody is doing subscription services these days and you’ve seen the popularity of the likes of Netflix, Tidal and Apple Music increase.
Just to put things into perspective, as of 2018, Netflix has 125 million subscribed users to its service with a minimum of 7.99 per month. In 2017 they did over 11 billion dollars in revenue.
It’s always shocking to us how many people never do the math on these things.
Once you realize the type of numbers you need to be making it’s a pretty straightforward game to play, it’s all about finding a service people are willing to pay and stick around for.
MILLIONAIRE MATH: Explained
Millionaire Math: The way rich people think about making money!
medium.com
10Work for someone who’s a multi-millionaire
Or even better, work for someone who’s a billionaire!
The quickest way to making your first million dollars is to work directly for someone who’s made a billion dollars.
Rich people value time above everything else and they really value people who are able to save them time.
The way to do this is to find someone who’s incredibly wealthy and help him either save time or make more money. Either way, you’ll find that their generosity is directly proportional to the value you bring into their lives.
Before you get a shot at this, it is important to know that you should already have a trust based relationship with the wealthy individual.
The last thing you want to do, and we can’t stress this enough, is to spam the hell out of people with how you have this idea which will change the world. Believe it or not, even we get at least 100 emails like these every month, which we will never reply to.
When most people think of multi-millionaires, they usually envision entrepreneurs starting companies, but the truth is, roughly 1 in 5 millionaires work for someone else and that’s how they got rich.
If you think about it, you are more likely to become a millionaire by working for a wealthy individual than becoming a millionaire by starting your own business.
If this is your plan, we recommend you find yourself a mentor. These people are open to helping you grow. They provide guidance and opportunities which you wouldn’t have access to otherwise. If they trust you enough, they will bring you into their organizations and make sure you’re being taken care of.
11Go viral on YouTube
Who would’ve thought that going viral on YouTube could make you a millionaire?! This all changed in the last couple of years.
It obviously depends on the type of video, if it’s advertiser friendly and who is watching the video, but a ballpark figure would be somewhere between 500 million and a billion views.
For example Gangam style alone made PSY over 8 million dollars. It’s not all YouTube advertising alone, but the exposure got him plenty of extra opportunities and PSY is still cashing in big. Believe it or not, that video is still making him decent money today.
You also have large creators leveraging their YouTube fame to create additional revenue sources like the Paul brothers do with their Merch lines or how Jeffree Star did with his makeup line.
YouTube is the new TV, that’s why we’re here ourselves.
12Have a blog that gets over 41 million views per month
Speaking of advertising, having a popular blog can still make you a multi-millionaire.
When we started out, Alux.com was focused on publishing articles on luxury topics and we still get a lot of visitors to those articles.
One of the people we’ve been following closely in this space was Scott DeLong, the creator of ViralNova. For those of you who don’t know the website, he’s been at the forefront of viral articles distributed through facebook. Very similar to what buzzfeed used to do — and to be honest still does.
He started ViralNova in 2014 and sold it 1 and a half years later for reportedly 100 million dollars. During November and December he was already generating over 1 million dollars per month from advertising revenue.
Out of everything we mentioned on this list, getting to over 40 million readers per month on your blog is probably the most difficult one to do, unless you’re able to do what Scott did and ride a new wave which people haven’t figured out yet.
13Make an app that a million people use
There are still a ton of money to be made with apps, if you know what you’re doing and can actually offer a valuable service.
The problem with apps is that unless the user feels the need to return to the app on a frequent basis, you’ve already lost.
The app ecosystem has evolved in the past couple of years. From candycrush making almost 1 million dollars per day at their peak, to meditation app “Calm” who’s just recently been valued at 250 million dollars, to now fortnite surpassing 1 billion dollars in just 3 months through in-app purchases.
The secret to most apps has been the ability to bring in additional revenue within the app. Depending on how much revenue you can extract from every single user the road to the first million dollars can be shorter than expected if the customers find value in what you’re offering.
If you really want to score big with apps, there’s a book which we recommend called: how to build a billion dollar app, by the guy who created candycrush in which they breakdown how to conceptualize and scale this kind of project. You’ll find a link to the book in the description or get the audiobook for free when you sign up at alux.com/freebook
14Get over 100,000 twitch subscribers
Live streaming is going mainstream and some might even say it already has. You have the likes of Ninja who are spearheading this moment generating between 500 thousand and 1 million dollars every month from streaming alone.
For those of you who have no idea what we’re talking about, twitch is a platform which allows users to broadcast themselves in real time. This type of technology has been quickly adopted by gamers who broadcast themselves playing video games. All good?
So how do they make money? There are multiple revenue streams here, the main one being paid subscription. There are different tiers of subscribers on twitch: $4.99, $9.99 and $24.00, this amount being split between the streamer and the platform.
In addition to the paid subscription, viewers can donate money directly to the streamer in order to show support.
And then there’s the good old finding a big sponsor who’s paying a streamer to endorse their product, like the type of deal previously mentioned Ninja has with Red Bull.
The ballpark figure to shoot for is 100,000 paid subscribers, but you can get to a million dollars with less than 50,000 if they’re generous enough.
15Buy — Flip — Repeat
This is the fundamental rule of hustling and one of the most common ways to make some more money.
This is what commerce was built on and it’s capitalism in its purest form. Find something you can purchase at one price and then sell it for more to someone who is willing to pay a premium for it.
This buy-flip-repeat strategy has taken many forms throughout the year and we’re always excited to see it evolve depending on how the culture is changing.
Our favorite story is the one revolving around 16 years old Benjamin Kicks, who’s making over 1 million dollars per year, reselling sneakers. Sneaker culture is big and people are willing to pay good money to get their hands on anything that’s exclusive — like how people are paying $500 for bricks that have the supreme logo on them.
Back to Ben! In the sneaker space, everybody knows Ben — Business Is Boomin’
He started out when his mom bought him a pair of sneakers which he sold to a classmate for almost double what he paid for. He then went ahead and started buying more. A few months pass by and celebrities are looking to get their hands on the type of sneakers this kid has, so they reach out. Next thing you know he’s selling sneakers to DJ Khaled, French Montana, Future & more. The most expensive pair of sneakers he sold was for 20,000 dollars and now he has an entire operation for reselling sneakers.
People do this in different markets, buying — fixing — flipping cars, houses, antiques, you name it.
It’s all about understanding how much some people are willing to pay for something and getting it for less than that.
BONUS POINT (for sticking with us till the end)
16Come Up With An Original Crazy Idea That It Might Just Work
If those ideas previously mentioned are pretty straight forward, this time we’re encouraging you guys to look waaay outside the box and let your creativity free. Who knows what might come out?
There’s this guy who made 15 Million Dollars selling rock’s as pets to people.
Another who made 1 million dollars by selling pixels on his website for 1 million dollars each.
A women became a multi billionaire by selling sunglasses for dogs.
And some guys would send a message on a potato on your behalf.
The world is filled with crazy stories and we hope this list sparked an idea inside of you.
BUSINESS
Top 5 Political Campaigns in Nigeria
The elections are here again and with the elections in full swing, things are heating up. Awesome ampaign agencies internationally such as Brand Envoy Africa, impact politics, Anttention Media have done amazing work that helped secure political positions for candidates and winning over the electorate.
Let’s take a peep down memory lane into the top 5 political campaigns we’ve seen (or read about) in Nigeria since the 1950’s.
1. Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, SDP 1993
That year’s election is still regarded in many quarters as perhaps the freest and fairest election Nigeria has ever had. Chief Abiola campaigned on the slogan Hope ’93 and smarting from the Structural Adjustment Policy, SAP, of the Babangida regime that had sapped many Nigerians economically, Chief Abiola’s message rang a bell especially with that memorable jingle. The result was a resounding vote for the Social Democratic Party candidate.
2. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, PDP 2011/2015
GEJ’s presidential campaign in 2011 was a big hit Promising a breath of fresh air, he played the role of the underdog to a hilt especially with that famous line “I had no shoes”. The African campaign agency “Brand Envoy Africa played a key role. His message resonated with the Nigerian masses as they lapped up to him. He gave many hope that ordinary people could rise to the top in Nigeria, he became the poster boy for the new Nigerian dream and despite some irregularities in the elections, he won. The rest as they say is history.
3. Peter Ayodele Fayose, 2014
Impeached in 2006 on charges of corruption, Governor Fayose was back in power in 2014, defeating the cerebral Kayode Fayemi in the process. Although his campaign didn’t have any clearly defined message, Fayose endeared himself to the electorates with a good mix of populist tokenism (or stomach infrastructure as he called it) and street smart. While his opponents hit it big on social media, Fayose ate pounded yam and drank palmwine with the ‘real’ voters and for all his troubles, he beat the incumbent in all the 16 local government areas of the state.
4. Babatunde Raji Fashola, ACN 2011
In 2010, BRF as he’s popularly known was contesting to be re-elected as governor of Lagos, Nigeria’s economic nerve center and on the basis of his performance in his first term, his candidature was quite popular with the electorates. However, the SAN with a sound mind gave nothing to chance as he went all out, campaigning on the platform of continuity…’BRF is working’ his posters screamed. The result was a landslide victory at the polls, leaving the People’s Democratic Party candidate far behind in a cloud of dust.
5. Obafemi Jeremiah Oyeniyi Awolowo, AG 1959
Chief Awolowo’s Action Group was at the time regarded to have been the best organised political party in Nigeria with a clearly defined ideology and manifesto and he ran an equally efficient campaign in that year’s elections. Awo traversed the length and breadth of the nation in helicopters, reaching out to the commoners with a promise of improved welfare, free education and health as espoused by his political party. Although Awo’s party couldn’t secure enough votes beyond the western region to have enabled him become Nigeria’s first prime minister, his campaign was undoubtedly innovative and far ahead of its time. Some other time, some other clime perhaps history would have been different.
BUSINESS
Workplace Extramarital Office Affairs: How To End It maybe retain your job
Table of Contents
Workplace extramarital office affairs are more rampant than we think. In a work environment, sharing accomplishments, risk and intensity can open up new levels of intimacy between colleagues. The long hours put in at the office in close proximity with that colleague does not help either. If these situations aren’t handled properly it could trigger the budding of a work-place affair.
Office Extramarital Affair Facts You Should Know…
After understudying workplace affairs for a period, a pattern began to emerge. Facts that I believe everyone currently involved in or romanticizing with the idea of kicking off an office affair should know.
- 39% of workers had relationships in the office at least once
- 35% have kept office affairs hidden and tried to sort it out even though they knew it affected their work
- 24% are attracted to someone of the opposite sex who had similar jobs
- Office Affairs were most common in the following sectors: Banking & Finance, Hospitality & Leisure, Information Technology, Healthcare, Media/Entertainment and Business Service
Only about 17% of these affairs end in marriage. The other 83% ends in personal, marital and professional problems with far reaching consequences that would be discussed in the real world by ex-colleagues many years later (when they see you). The decision to either continue with or end an extramarital office affair is something I totally leave up to you. However this article is for the latter group. The hardest part about having a workplace affair is seeing each other after you have decided to end things with an affair partner. However its not a totally lost cause because there are basic steps you could take to begin correcting this mess.
After being blessed enough to sit with individuals going through the issues associated with an office affair, i am going to give you the quickest way to end an office affair and MAYBE still get to keep your job.
Cut Down The Time Spent Together
You need to start creating some distance between yourself and this affair partner. What you will achieve with this is to gradually bring back the correct work ambience you both enjoyed before the fall (sorry, before the affair began). This is the point you need to start bringing food to the office so you don’t need to go to lunch together. When a task has been completed take your belongings and leave. When you end things quick, that is what is considered a real ending. These measures help you quickly bury the relationship. You know everywhere both of you used to bump into each other? the backroom, the cafeteria please avoid all those places when you know they would be there.
Do not expect that these evasion tact’s of yours would be welcome with an understanding nod. Harassment or blackmail might become something they resort to in a bid to get back at you for stopping something made in heaven and breaking their already broken heart. Your job at this point is to quietly gather all the messages, record conversations, take screenshots and then taking it to the company’s HR department. At this point, if your ex-affair partner is a drama king/queen who does not mind losing their job as long as they take you down with them, you have to make a quick decision to either get a new job or get transferred to another department/team. If their job is still important to them then you have to let them understand that your lawyer already has the fact file gathered and one other bleep from them would have you filing a harassment lawsuit.
Do Not Beat Around The Subject
Now you have done a good job at avoiding them but somehow they managed to corner you and want an explanation to what is happening. Directly tell them you are done. Do not say it in a way that makes them believe there is still hope of rekindling things with you. Inform them you want to work on your marriage and clearly state that you do not want them contacting you. This saves you loads of texts, chats, emails or phone calls on the subject. At this point, if your spouse has found out about this affair a well written break-up letter will help them stay in the loop on how things are going and shows your seriousness towards ending the affair.
Do not Allow Them Contact You Again (discard every memorabilia)
When you are having an affair Adrenaline and serotonin are two basic hormones pumping through your veins. One takes care of the pleasure and the other handles the edgy feel. This is somewhat similar to what keeps an addict constantly in a loop. This is the point you must inform your spouse that they tried to initiate contact. Having an accountability partner works at this point. If your spouse is not aware simply get a professional therapist bound by client confidentiality agreements to help you navigate this period. This is the point you limit contact via phone, personal email, social networks or otherwise, and also blocking future messages. If they got you anything burn it or give it away. This steps will help you break the urge to want to go back.
Sort Out What’s Missing in Your Marriage
Now that you have been able to cut yourself off and maintain the discipline to sustain those decisions of yours, this is the time to work on your marriage with your spouse. My workbook on Affair recovery could help at this point because the thing your partner wants to know is not “How sorry you are”. They first want you to answer the question why. The time for apologies will come but its not the main thing. Communication must be worked on reflections around what you did wrong must happen. Then seek out a professional marriage therapist around you to assist the both of you at this point. If your partner on the other hand is not aware of the affair , then you have to make the big decision of informing your partner about what you did or not. If you finally decide not to tell your partner you have to be sure the reasons behind that decision is properly vetted because if it isn’t that could become the springboard for another affair.
Research has shown that when you confess to having had an affair a third of many relationships survive infidelity but when you have been caught it’s usually harder rebuilding trust and getting to the point of forgiveness.
To anyone out there struggling with similar issues my general advice is always this. If you feel an attraction to someone in your office, consider a transfer to a different department, a different position, or maybe you should quit. No job is more valuable than your marriage. Being honest with yourself is the first starting point. If you’re dressing real nice to catch the attention of a co-worker, you better stop before you lose it totally. Hanging around the office common areas hoping to bump into that person does not help either. Not only is it cheap especially if its just a fling for the other person its just downright wrong. If your spouse was there you would definitely not be doing all of that. That is your first boundary. Secondly if there are issues with you and your spouse and maybe you feel a bit justified doing what you’re doing, then use a spiritual boundary, If God was in front of you, would you be doing this? If this does not stop you either then my brother, my sister i drop my case. Whatever you have to hide or lie about, don’t do it at all.
This may not have been the most exciting of articles especially if you are caught up in a situation-ship as they call it at you workplace. However i just told you everything you need to help you navigate this affair and come out clean without losing your job or your home. If you’d like to let us know how this went for you, feel free to contact us via email.
BUSINESS
20 Things You Can Export From Nigeria and Make Dollars
Table of Contents
Finding the right type of business to start up is one of the most difficult things many people have to face. As a result, 9 out of 10 businesses fail in 10 years, and most of the last ones standing do not survive the next 10 years that follow.
The same applies to finding the right type of commodity to export.
The export business in its own right is a highly lucrative business to venture into, but determining the right type of commodity to export depending on the profit margins you’re targeting can sometimes be a problem.
While some exporters are okay with netting profit margins of between 10-30% per non-oil transactions, many others are uncomfortable with that, especially as an export cycle in a country like Nigeria is about 45 days, and so, would want to make the most of the time and possibly make up to or more than 100% profit on the commodity exported.
If you’re looking for high-margin commodities that can take your export business from 0 to 100 in 45 days, here are 2 hot-selling commodities that you can export to make up to or more than 100% profits on every sale:
1. Ginger
Ginger is one of the most traded spices in the world which Nigeria happens to be among the largest producers. Why we are not exporting ginger in large quantity is beyond me. You can start a Trans-Sahara or Trans-Atlantic trade with this goods and be making dollars on regular basis. Garlic is also on top of the list of items you can export from Nigeria.
2. Palm Kernel Oil
Palm Kernel oil is the oil extracted from the pulp of palm fruit which is different from palm oil. Palm Kernel Oil is used for the manufacturing of various cosmetics, pharmaceutical products and confectioneries. The uses of this oil is broad and the mineral contents are said to be rich in protein for various uses. Nigeria has it quantum and makes dollars exporting it to other countries of the world.
3. Textiles and Garments
This industry alone generates close to $32bn as revenue from export from Nigeria. It is also a fact that unlike other products that battles with high strict rules of tests, Nigeria’s textiles enjoy duty free passage into United States where it has the largest market in the world because of its unique designs, ethnic African designs and quality.
4. Cocoa Butter
This is the real sources of chocolates of all types. The fruits of Cocoa is used for the production of various skin care products, health products, and pharmaceutical products. The demand for Cocoa is very high in both America and UK and that is why cocoa farming is very essential in Nigeria.
5. Gallstone
This is a clay-like solid substance gotten from the gallbladder of matured cow and oxen. The size could be as big as chicken egg. Gallstone is a hotcake for foreign pharmaceuticals because they use it for medical purposes. If you could lay your hand a good quantity of well dried gallstone about 100g that is well packaged, ready buyers are waiting for it in either Asia or America.
6. Rubber
Nigeria has put in place proper Central Testing Laboratories to ensure that only certified products leave the country to Europe and America. Nigeria happens to be a significant producer of Rubber in Africa. A cubit meter of fine quality rubber goes for between $400 and $600 presently because of the instability of dollar rate in the market.
7. Sesame Seed
This may sound a bit strange if you are not from the area where it is produced in the country. Sesame seed can be found in quantity in places like Benue and Jigawa states in Nigeria. This product ranks second to cocoa in terms of export volume and foreign exchange earnings. Nigeria is the 5th largest producer of this commodity and shipping it into foreign countries brings dollars exchange.
8. Honey
Pure honey is another export commodity from Nigeria to other countries. Presently, a kilogram of honey costs above $150 in the international markets. Pure natural honey contains trace enzymes as sugar, mineral, vitamins and amino acids. A litre of honey can fetch good dollars in the foreign market.
9. Shrimps
The Niger Delta region in Nigeria is blessed with rich organic deposits of Shrimps. The demands for Shrimps is high in countries like Portugal, France, Belgium, Spain, and USA.
10. Garlic
Garlic is a cash crop which is grown under irrigation by farmers in the Savanna areas in Nigeria. With internationally certified good quantities of garlic, you are sure of foreign hard currencies.
11. Yam Tubers
Nigeria is presently the highest producers of yam. In 2009 alone, yam export accounted for about US$450 million exchange. But due to low quality, it is saddening to know that the country is not maximizing its export potentials of this products. So there is need for prospective exporters of yam to foreign countries to adhere to quality regulations that is guarding the process. Yam farmers must take this into consideration and tap from this opportunity.
12. Charcoal
This is at the fore front in the international market. This product which is produced in good quantity in Nigeria with now perfected technology, has about 50% ROI.Even an individual can own a charcoal production outfit and have exporters shipping it for him. A large market for charcoal exists in ASIA, EU, and USA. A tonne of this product goes for about $1000.
13. Cotton
This sector recently received a boost from the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) of N33 million to rehabilitate it. Cotton is the most natural sources of fiber and it is in demand internationally.
14. Cassava Flour
We already know that Cassava is food for all in Nigeria because of various methods of preparing it. There is need for this in the foreign markets as well. The demand for well processed cassava flour is increasing both in Europe, Middle East and in America.
15. Cashew Nuts
Almost every part of the country has the potential to produce this international commodity. Great quantity of unprocessed raw cashew nuts are exported to India, Brazil and Vietnam where they are processed into kernels and moved to the Northern America and Europe where they are sold for about $2 per pound. The demand is on the increase from these consuming countries.
16. Snail
If you can produce snails in good quantity, there is a ready market for you. Snails are hotcake in European and America. The good thing about this is that it is very easy to rear as it produces rapidly with close to nothing in expenditure for feeding.
17. Chili Pepper
Nigeria is blessed with good weather which supports the proper growths and production of the internationally accepted pepper. If you can grow and source for the export opportunity, you are sure to get it.
18. Fruit Juice
It may sound somewhat strange to many that Nigeria provide export opportunity for fruit juice concentrates. Yes, we have it because Nigeria can boast of so many naturally grown fruits all over the country which provides the best of fruit juice products of great quality. The opportunity for Nigerian fruits concentrate export is huge in USA.
19. Poultry
Forget about the facts that some greedy Nigerians go about smuggling chicken into the country. When we talk about poultry, it involves all domestic birds, egg or meat.
Nigeria poultry farm products are still highly needed both within Africa and Western countries because Nigerian weather conditions for poultry farming still remains the best. Poultry products export from Nigeria is an avenue that is still highly untapped.
20. Cosmetics and Soap
Nigeria has grown in this very important area but the only challenge that is holding us back is procurement of good technology to produce cosmetics in great quantity to compete favorably with other developed countries.
Soap making, which extends to other toiletries, laundries and so on are already export opportunity waiting to be invested in. Nigerian cosmetics products can be exported to other African countries where they are badly needed.
Nigeria has big market in soap industry already which other neighboring countries travels thousands of kilometers to get in big quantities to sell in their countries for good profits. If that area is properly looked into, the investment opportunity there are still virgin. If well harnessed, could mean a huge opportunity for foreign exchange. This exchange will further improve the underused avenues of cosmetics and soap industry in the country.
If the exporters from Nigeria could strictly follow the rules guiding export, more avenues can be opened up for others who are aspiring to join in making export from Nigeria available to other countries around the world.
BUSINESS
STRIKE: NAFDAC may lose WHO maturity level 3, ISO certifications
Following the ongoing strike action embarked upon by the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) branch, almost three weeks ago, the agency may lose all the certifications it got from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other global bodies, The AUTHORITY has learnt.
It would be recalled that MHWUN NAFDAC branch began an indefinite strike on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, for many reasons including welfare. It would also be recalled that NAFDAC staff went on strike in 2014, 2015 and 2016 on the same issues.
NAFDAC achieved the ISO 9001 in June 2019, and also got the WHO High Maturity Level 3 in March, 2022.
With the Maturity Level 3 certification, it means that any product produced by NAFDAC will be recognized as meeting the WHO standard globally.
At a recent media briefing in Abuja, the Director General NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, disclosed that her agency had since commenced work to attain Maturity Level 4 status.
All these successes, our findings have shown, will go down to the drain due to the ongoing strike embarked upon by the workers of the agency.
Findings from a dependable top source at NAFDAC disclosed that before the WHO and other global bodies gave the ISO certification and the Maturity Level 3, three components were examined and considered before the approval.
The top source who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the three components that were considered include one; staff retention and sustainability, two; staff welfare, three; there must be mentoring.
However, the source expressed concern that following the strike, all the three components can now be considered at zero.
The source explained that because of the prolonged strike: “The staff welfare is zero, staff retention and sustainability is zero and mentoring is zero.
“This strike has really shown that there is no welfare, no retention and sustainability.
“Today if the workers decide to write to the world regulatory bodies, they can withdraw all these approvals and certifications and NAFDAC will have to start from the scratch.”
Following this development, a reliable source at the Federal Ministry of Health disclosed that the management of the ministry is not satisfied with the actions taken by Director General of the NAFDAC, Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, to resolve the issues so that the workers can go back to work.
The source who pleaded not to be named because she is not authorized to talk on the matter said that the ministry is worried that instead of making efforts to resolve the strike, the NAFDAC Director General decided to travel abroad.
“NAFDAC is a very sensitive agency. Many things in the country including safety of foods and drugs will get bad within this period due to the strike.
“We are concerned that instead of her working day and night to resolve the issues, she decided to stay away. The last time we were looking for her, we were told that she is outside the country. Who is she expecting to go and resolve the issues for her?
“In fact, we are not happy with her. She is lucky that the current minister is a patient person if not that could have cause her that position. But who knows what may happen in the days ahead if she did not sit up,” the source said.
However, speaking with our correspondent on telephone, the Chairman of the MHWUN, NAFDAC branch, Anzuka Peters, said that the union tried to ensure that the strike is averted but that the management was not willing to resolve the issues.
Responding to a question on some of the issues under contention, Peters said: “One of the reasons why we are on strike is that we have promotion areas of five years including 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and now 2022.
“Secondly is the issue of salaries. NAFDAC workers currently have no salary scale. They migrated us from Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) to Research and Allied Salary Structure (CONRASS) which is alien to NAFDAC. NAFDAC is not a research institute. “That makes many workers to loose over N100,000 to N200,000. Others N50,000 depending on one’s rank. The least some people lose is 30,000 naira. That problem has not been solved.
“The federal government said they are ready to implement our Consolidated NAFDAC salary structure but that there was no money.
“They therefore, advised us to go and look inward in our revenue whether we can get some allowances that will be in commensurate terms with the salary we are asking for.
“We sat and created regulatory allowance, hazard allowance which we increased from 10 per cent to 30 per cent and other allowances which we arrived at a conclusion and we all agreed. But the management seems not ready to implement any agreement.”
Responding on the possibility of losing the WHO certifications and the Maturity Level 3 due to the strike action, the NAFDAC Media Consultant, Sayo Akintola, said that the WHO Team that conducted the assessment using its Global Benchmarking Tools that qualified NAFDAC for Maturity Level 3 commended the agency on the significant progress in the implementation of recommendations across the regulatory functions.
According to him: “Staff welfare was a key WHO-GBT used in assessing NAFDAC. The ML3 rating for Nigeria is for medicines regulation and vaccines.
“It’s impossible for the certification to be withdrawn over workers’ strike. Worker agitation for improved welfare is a global phenomenon. It’s a legitimate demand and management of NAFDAC is on top of the situation as negotiations with the union leaders are ongoing and they are making progress.
“Staff welfare has been paramount on the heart of the DG and she’s doing everything humanly possible to enhance the welfare of her staff whom she always commends for the milestones she has been able to achieve in the agency.”
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