JIB CRAFTS: The Nut Place

Hey, la familia!!!!!!!!

How are you all doing this fabulously fresh month of February?  I hope you all go through this month

fulfilling expectations and achieving set goals.

Yeeup!!!

Speaking of goals, I encountered a few entrepreneurs when I attended the Slay Festival, which I wrote about here; one of the vendors at the festival was The Nut Place. I was attracted to this vendor's stand because of the arrangement and packaging of their products. 

Here is a session with Chigozie Bashua, the CEO of The Nut Place; enjoy!

MY BUSINESS AND I?

My name is Chigozie Bashua. The Nut Place was borne out of the desire to process our locally made edible nuts. In Nigeria, we have lots of farmers and more people are still going into farming. However, we have very few processing plants; hence, we produce the raw materials, sell them to the western world and buy back the finished product at a higher price. So what we succeed in accomplishing is enriching and creating employment for other countries while buying back our products as luxury goods. 

The Nut Place Ventures is a startup business that processes edible nuts produced by farmers and processed into finished goods like Tiger Nut flour, roasted Cashew Nuts and Peanuts, mixed nuts and nut by-products like peanut butter.

This idea became a written plan in 2013, though I had no funds to start at the time. I applied for the YouWiN competition in 2014 but only made it  to the semi final stage. Fortunately, the Growth and Empowerment Program, a World Bank initiative, awarded a grant to my business as part payment for machines and that was how we kicked off last year. 

CHALLENGES?

Basically, our challenges have been in the area of cost of production which is enormously high especially for startups.

BALANCE?

You have to know when to take a break because you are the one with the vision. If you are not careful, you'll find out that you are probably working round the clock. What I do is to consciously take a break when it's family time.

MOTIVATION?

Family, friends, the Word of God, a sneak peak of what the future holds if I consistently work on my dreams. People will dismiss you with a wave of the hand, some will actually outrightly discourage you but if you believe that what God has in store for you is greater than people's opinion of you, then you will make it.

DO YOU ACCEPT INTERNS\TRAINEES?

Yes, we accept interns

ADVICE TO OTHER UPCOMING ENTREPRENEURS?

I think I am still upcoming but my advice is "don't quit even when people dismiss your ideas"

CONTACT DETAILS:

Tel: 08098383535

Address: 20b Bank Olemoh Crescent off Akerele Street Surulere Lagos

Instagram: The Nut Place