Pure Water Business - Tips to Make Money in Nigeria

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Posted by Felix Okoli on Tuesday February 14, 2012 17:46:28:

I listed this as one of the ways you can make money in Nigeria. Although it may look like a small business, it can grow very fast and the good thing about this business is that there is free entry and exit and there really is no need to buy a pure water manufacturing license worth millions before you can venture into this sort of business.

Introduction
When pure water business came into Nigeria in cities like Lagos, Abuja, Benin, Onitsha and Port harcourt, it was really so easy to enter but as time goes on, it had more competition, more stringent laws and more pressures from the government. The common name for sealed water satchets in Nigeria is Pure water although you can't really say it is 100% pure. Most water satchets are basically safe treated and drinkable water as they do contain small amounts of dissolved salts or ions. However, the reason why people have become used to buying pure water is simply because there is hardly any safe public water provided by the government. You could decide on which line of business to venture into such as satchet or bottled water. Bottled water production and factory setup does require a significant amount of capital but satchet brands are mostly popular due to its affordable market price.

Nowadays, in order to start a pure water business, you need to scale through a lot of barriers just to get in but for those who started early, they've already made millions from it. The business is even becoming better for producers and retailers now as prices have almost doubled with a satchet of water now selling for N10 in places like Lagos due to inflation caused by fuel subsidy removal. This is probably a good reason to agree that the business has long term viability.

Some things needed to start a pure wate business in Nigeria
- Registered company
- Land or accomodation for factory. Owned accomodation is better as you don't have to pay rent
- Logo design for product
= Purification process; e.g UV sterilization bulbs, treatment tank or distillation. You may need a well dug borehole
- Chemical analysis of your final product - You need to take your product to the lab for results.
- NAFDAC license - This is like the most important requirement. You need to get a license from them and there is a guideline they have provided for doing so.
- Automatic seal and fill machines - Cost about N500,000 - N800,000
- Raw materials; Packaging for bags and satchets
- Labour - At least 5 persons for a start
- Delivery mechanism - You may have your own delivery truck or sell to wholesalers who do pickup themselves. The latter could save cost but reduce your marketing ability

Recent trends
Due to the fuel price subsidy removal, cheap products like pure water satchets which used to sell at N5 now sell for N10 and that's about a 100% increase. The bags normally containing 20 satchets now go for about N100 up from about N50 it used to sell for. Also, more government authorities now seem to put more pressure on pure water factories and these include environmental protection agent,s local govt agencies, waste authorities and even PHCN have all hiked prices ofr pure water factories.

So it's becoming harder to get into the business but it is also becoming more profitable. So if you've got the right capital, a long term focus, water business is always a profitable busines. You could even venture into other water products such as mineral water and bottled juices. It would be impossible for people to do without water, even if the govt finally makes water safer for drinking.

How much capital do you need?
For a start up and depending on your assets, you may need up to N3m for a start up in order to get machines, materials, pay for labour for about 1 year. Your cost could be higher if you are also paying for rent.

Comments:

Re: Pure Water Business Reply by Alex on Wednesday April 4, 2012 at 9:59:1:

Can I start the business with one million? How much do the machines cost?

Re: Pure Water Business Reply by Felix Okoli on Wednesday April 4, 2012 at 9:59:1:

I know some machines cost as low as N200,000 and the good ones as high as N500,000. N1m may not be sufficient to start the business if you don't have other assets like land, factory, treatment tank and labour.

Re: Pure Water Business Reply by richy on Thursday May 10, 2012 at 18:55:0:

so where can i get this machines to buy if i wanna start something

Comments:

Re: Pure Water Business Reply by ssimbwa hassan on Saturday December 27, 2014 at 15:10:56:

thats my future business target but i need help an partnership such that i get funds

Re: Pure Water Business Reply by Jude Atuma on Friday January 30, 2015 at 13:57:6:

pure water business is something I am looking foreward to but here we are
talking about 3m.I have tried to make some findindgs and this days you hear people talk about reverse osmosis machine' automated sealing and packaging matching and so on. pls can 3m buy all the machines

Re: Pure Water Business Reply by Felix Okoli on Friday January 30, 2015 at 13:57:6:

I think it can buy all the machines as long as you are buying single units. It may not be enough for other things like raw materials and paying salaries for staff.

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