It is often said that necessity is the mother of inventions. However, in the context of entrepreneurship, it is opportunity.
Opportunity as they say comes but once and the contemporary society is more aware of this fact than their predecessors.
This opportunity has been the brain behind many business venture today; on the street, in secondary schools, higher institutions, government offices and even in commercial vehicles.
Garri, a cassava-derived product is a staple commodity in the Nigerian household and has been ignored collectively by majority of business owners, which still persists till date. Though, it is not a scarce commodity, hence it is readily available and generally sold in its state of ‘naked cassava crunchiness’ to be sold in the common leather bag (known as nylon) till the emergence of other garri inspired snacks like the “garri parfait”, “coconut garri” “3-in-1 garri” and the likes of it.
Sometime in 2023, the “garri parfait” was actualized by a student of Abia State University (ABSU), Maureen Emenike. She devised a way of packaging garri, milk, sugar and groundnut together in a disposable covered plastic container.
According to her, she realized students barely have the time to prepare food for themselves before setting out for long hours of lectures. As a result, she tapped into the business in what she termed “quick fix” for students to get fed.
Similarly, a Nigerian beverage brand, Checkers came through with a sachet garri mixed with sugar and milk, sold for a reasonable amount considering the quality and quantity.
Business enthusiast with the brand name ‘Deeroyaldelightfoods’ also keyed into the garri market. She sells her garri in a unique style called “Coconut garri” where she blends coconut, milk, sugar and garri in a branded pack and sold for two thousand naira (N2,000) per kilogram (Kg).
Evidently, garri has been rebranded into a unique food item that we didn’t know we needed and the aforementioned are not borne out of necessity because garri is quite common, rather some entrepreneurs deemed it fit to explore a new market.
A ‘derica’ of garri now goes for four hundred naira (N400), sugar can be purchased for as low as fifty naira (N50), milk at seventy naira (N70) and groundnut at hundred naira (N100). Having gotten all these, you are left with the packaging and it is based on your business idea and financial capacity.
That begs the question, are you now convinced that there might be sightings of gold in our local garri?
