Broom making and selling is a lucrative business in Nigeria; virtually every home, office place, etc use broom for keeping the surroundings clean. Those in the industry have testify how good the business is.
According to report, a marketer said that what motivates him to remain in the broom selling business despite the introduction of electronic sweepers and the fibre brushes, Udo was that it is rewarding. In his words: “The business goes beyond what you see. In fact, a potential seller does not just go into it. He needs to go through years of apprenticeship because the trade is in phases. You first must know how to preserve, then sourcing and then the distribution. If you preserve them badly, in moist places, they will be brittle and become unprofitable. So, one has to know the right temperature for it."
“The hover machines and fibre brushes cannot be compared to palm frond brooms. Unlike hover machines, which are powered by electricity, the broom does not need that and they are cheaper if you compare them’s in term of maintenance and repairs. Besides, the market is huge; I at times leave Lagos to Abeokuta and other states in the West to sell brooms. We make different brooms, the long ones for sweeping open spaces, the medium for the rooms, the short ones for ladies that prepare Ewedu soup and the extreme short for washing potties; and their prices are not the same. I make between N150 to N200 as profit from a bunch of broom sold. In a month I make between N80,000 to N100,000,” he disclosed." Wah!
They source for finished product from various villages where they are produced in large quantities. Getting the quantity needed, the tie them into smaller bunches with raffia thread or plastic tapings and sell to buyers. The prices vary from one place to the other, and no matter the location one is sure to make good profit. According to a seller, "For each little bunch that goes for N200, I make N80 and multiply that into a 1000 in a month. However, this price differs from place to place; for instance the same broom could go for N300 or more at Ikoyi or Lekki. Only we make them look attractive and different from your every day broom by dying the head or handle with different colours and also add a pole to some, so that one can use them to clean the ceiling or high places in a house while standing,”
The add colour to the brooms to add more value, thus attracting more money per broom. A marketer said “We add colours and sell them higher because people like flashy things. Also, we make the colours to be in line with the APC party, whenever we are in APC dominated state, so that party faithful can get their brooms from us,”
The level one wants to begin would determine the capital outlay. The start-up capital could be as low as N10,000. If you want to be on the street hawking or at particular junctions, it means with N10,000 to N20,000 one can venture into it. But if one wants to go to the villages or the remote areas to get them, then one would need a huge capital to buy the brooms from the people doing it and if possible commission the locals, who are mostly youths and women.
“I started by hawking, carrying brooms in a wheelbarrow from street to street, and gradually moved to travelling to Benin, Akure and other places with a lot of palm trees to get brooms. I sell more in the cities, despite fibre brushes. Some people believe no other item can sweep their homes cleaner than the palm frond brooms. On the average, I make N60,000 to N80,000 selling as a retailer and whole seller. The profit margin is high. I get the bunch for a very low price, sometimes N100, depending on the location and sometimes less and after retying each bunch, sometimes I make N2,000. And I do get such bunches in hundreds."
“The business is flexible and anyone that knows packaging would make quick money within a short time. I do not regret being in the business because it has paid my bills,”
Some of the challenges in the business:
bad roads and weather as the major constraints; bad roads make it difficult for one to sometimes go into the remote areas, while rainy season hampers the brooms making because it would be difficult to climb the palm trees for the fronds and also for the sun to properly dry the sticks.
Advice:
One should get a mini-warehouse to store the products so that during the rains sellers and buyers would still have wares to sell and buy.
