ENTREPRENEURSHIP:
1. How to start an Egg Distribution Business.
INTRODUCTION:
INTRODUCTION:
Egg distribution is like any other business. More over, the distributor today may or may not own a farm or have a shop to start the business. He can choose between being a retailer and a distributor.
Egg distribution was the business of farm owners and others egg making poultry businesses. That is why Bud Brown, 81 years old chicken farmer excitedly posited that Perhaps the only thing better than cracking, cooking and savoring your own farm-fresh eggs is sharing a dozen or two with family and friends.
Bud Brown, an 81-year-old chicken farmer in Roseburg, Ore., regularly fills his pockets with enough “egg money” to pay for feed, supplements and miscellaneous expenses. He sells his free-range eggs at his U-pick farm, at local farmers’ markets and through community-supported agriculture programs. His real customer base, however, formed from word-of-mouth advertising.
“Everybody wants my eggs,” says Brown, decked out in his utilitarian farm garb-a thread-bare T-shirt, perfectly worn denim overalls, a green-and-black frayed-cotton flannel and holey muck boots covered in years of chicken-rearing experience. “Twenty-something years ago, I started out with a dozen layers for my family. As soon as my wife started telling her friends about my eggs, we were in business.”
Benefit and Uses of Egg:
Egg is high in cholesterol and this makes it a perfect diet for growing children. It can reduce risk of many diseases, it supplies quality protein to the body, it is rich in vitamin A and this helps healthy eyesight, it contains chlorine and this is used to build cell membranes which helps in producing molecules in the human brain.
The uses of eggs are numerous, we use eggs in baking different types of confectioneries like bread, cakes, meat-pie and so on. It is used as cosmetics like shampoo, conditioners, soaps, cholesterol, face mask and lots more. It is also used as glue, the sticky quality of egg white clean some certain surfaces like leather. To make it clear, the demand for eggs in the Nigerian market is so high right now and will continue to be so.
Potentials of Eggs Supply Business
One of the silent money-making businesses in Nigeria is the Egg Distribution Business, though lots of risk is involved but they are risk that can be curb. This business requires very little capital though with a lot of marketing and customer service skills.
The nature of egg distribution makes it one of the businesses you do within your home. This is because, your retailers and other people should easily and happily come-in to make purchases till night. It should be sited at major street and road junction within your neighbourhood. From where you distribute to supermarkets and retails stores.
In Nigeria, reliable farms expects you to register with them and declare your buying capacity and regularity before you start lifting eggs on a regular basis. Your ability to buy from them regularly will endear you to them.
In this business, you are your own boss and you will decide how much profit you want to make in a week. Depending on any size of egg you choose to buy, you will gain profit of N100 on a crate of egg if you sell as a whole seller but if you choose to sell as retailer you can have profit of N300 on a crate. If you restrict yourself to selling just 100 crates of eggs weekly, that means you will realize profit of N10,000 weekly and this is just N40, 000 monthly.
This is how you determine your profit. Setting a target to sell 500 crates of egg per week will mean you will realize 100 x 500 = N50,000 weekly, multiply this per month, that is a whooping sum of N200,000 . When you remove cost of hiring a bus or fuelling
One of the things that makes a business to stand out is the level of packaging put into it, you need to package your business to ward-off competition or to keep you at the front of the competition. Below is the list of basic things you need to know before you start Egg Distribution Business.
Before You start:
Know Your Market, Know the Laws
The most important aspect to consider about the egg business is your market. Do you have buyers lined up before the chicks have feathered out? Do you live in a rural area where fresh eggs are a dime a dozen? Can you sell your wares at a local farmers’ market or through a network of big and small consumers like Bread and backeries, Eatery joints etc
One of the advantage of this business is that it doesn’t require much capital and I for one, I’m a fan of the phrase ‘start small and grow with time’. It’s always better when you enter a particular business with a small capital and then grow bigger as the business is booming.
Characteristics of the Market: Please pay attention and learn from the experience of a young entrepreneur about the essential things to know about Egg distribution.
1. You don't need a lot of money to start the business.
With mere N50,000, you can start the business.
2. You greatest challenge is not money or the products{eggs}, but your ability to do the marketing in pivotal. I was amazed to find out that the demand for egg is huge. However, every distributor and retailer has a supplier already. For you to dislodge their existing supplier and etch yourself into their business book determines your success.
3. The business is dominated by women-mothers to be precise.
Its awkward seeing the younger generation involved. These women are already in this business for years, thus they will teach you a lot if you become their son or daughter in your quest to succeed.
4. Getting more than 100 crates of egg delivered to you in Abuja or Lagos is not cheap. For farm owners and bulk distributors, they prefer having 20 clients who buys from them regularly than having 3 or 5 major buyers. Reason, when they have about 20, at least 15 will be available on every sales day.
5. Major egg suppliers comes from outside Lagos/Abuja.
The bulk of eggs consumed in Lagos comes from Ogun, Ondo and Oyo. Within Abuja, the quality and fairly priced eggs come from Nasarawa, Jos. The farms in Lagos are attached to notable merchants. Also, eggs sourced from outside Abuja/Lagos are cheaper.
6. Large size and poulette size eggs are demanded more than the small size.
7. There is a lot of work to be done to succeed. You may be:
Are you going to be a retailer
Are you going to be a wholesaler
Are you going to combine the two?
Get Reliable Source(s) for Eggs:
The reliable sources will include big poultry farms within your locality and neighbouring states or reliable big-time distributors around you. In Egg business, you will notice there are big and small size eggs and reliable farms crate them separately, and they attract different prices.
The ideal steps to follow is identify a reliable poultry Farm or farms that you’ll be buying the eggs from in bulk. A proper survey and investigation might be needed here so as to find a farm that is reliable and consistent. One of the things you might need to put into consideration before making decision here is selling price, size of the eggs and colour (Brown or White), distance from the farm or distributor to your location or warehouse.
Get Steady Buyers - Big and Small -
This is where your marketing skills will come to play, you’ll need to locate people who will be ready to buy from you though most of the retailers already have someone they are buying from but you must do well to convince them to buy from you.
Marketing of your egg distribution should focus on the following target bread factories, pastry food makers, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, provision stores, fast food centres
Generally, Egg marketing will do better with the following steps:
1. Put a “farm-fresh eggs” sign in front of your shop/house/farm
2. putting a small signage at the end of your street stocked with
eggs every morning
3. Build a client base and their quantities as well as when each
client is supplied eggs regularly
4. Get a stand in a recognized farmers market
5. selling through locally owned grocery stores or markets
Get a Store at Home or a Shop:
You’ll need to get a shop in a strategic market place where it will be easily accessible for you customer. Most people in this business prefer to site their store close to their home, so they can continue selling to retailers, small buyers and local customers throughout the day to the night.
In the alternative, you need a store in your house where you will store at least 500 to 1,000 crates to reduce the number of times you go to the Farm. Having set-up a small store with stacks to hold the eggs, you are ready to blast
Empty Crates:
The basic tool needed for this business is empty crates, it could be paper crates or plastic crates. You can buy crates of 100 pieces at N10,000 or N5,000 if you choose to buy the paper crates , the total number you will need to run your business now depends on you. Note that the paper crates are more protective to your eggs, it reduces the number of cracks you will realize from transferring your eggs, and it is cheaper as well but damages more quickly than the plastic ones.
Delivery Van:
Cost of acquiring a used vehicle constitutes almost 90% of your capital needed in this business. Once you are mobile, the only cost you will need to run this business for a start is N50,000, with this amount you can buy 100 crates of eggs. A crate of egg can cost N650 or less from farm depending on the size you choose to buy, any balance left will be incurred on fueling your vehicle and other road expenses.
Pricing your Eggs?
You may think your farm-fresh delights are worth a little more than the ordinary crate, but your customers will not be willing to pay quite that much. The only your eggs can be priced higher is when you enter the market with big sized eggs. The bigger ones cost more and the market demands for it even more than the small sized eggs.
You may have to sell at the ruling market price or get slightly below it if possible in order to meet up with the competitive forces and still make your huge profits.
Delivering the Eggs
The safest means of transporting this type of goods is either a car or a bus, simply because this means of transportation comes with a space that can contain the eggs safely without falling off.
Your eggs should be delivered fresh. Fresh eggs count with customers. You have to think about how you’re going to get those eggs to your customers fresh - the regulars and the new ones.”
First and foremost, you’ll want to ensure the product is clean and safe. Proper chicken husbandry, which includes keeping the nest boxes fresh and clean, results in eggs that require little washing,
Next, consider your packaging. And you may wish to stamp your name and phone number on the package so customers know who to call when they run out of eggs. Farm-supply stores and online outlets sell unmarked cartons at reasonable prices.
Plain cartons with contact information ascribed on the lid promote repeat business. In Abuja for instance, the supermarket we patronize, some of the eggs are embossed with the farm's name and mobile number.
CONCLUSION:
The business of Egg distribution requires hard work to win the business of big egg consumers that demand large quantities at regular interval. The easiest way to win them is through quality eggs, big in size and freshly delivered. Sometimes, little discounts hen you master the demand and supply equations right, then you are ready to harvest goodies from the business.
Also, you must continue to market your eggs to new and different customer everyday. This is why you need a van to move about with samples while marketing. Big sized eggs are usually easy to sell, no matter the number of crates you take out, chances are that you will sell all before long.
OPTION 2: DOING THE BUSINESS WITHOUT MONEY (Van & Shop)
Under this option, you don’t have money to rent a shop or store, and so you will go mobile and turn your mobile (Phone) to be your store. You will work hard to get buyers, big and small, whom you will visit regularly to collect their orders and then deliver to them directly from the farm or your supplier.
For this business plan to work, you need a store in your house where you will store at least 50 to 500 crates to reduce the number of times you go to the Farm. Having set-up a small store with stacks to hold the eggs, you are ready to blast Now, here’s what to do:
• Go to a large chicken poultry farm in your area and source for these eggs at cheap prices.
• Get yourself a transport medium. You can buy a fairly used tricycle for a start in order to save costs. If you have a bus or a tricycle already, that will be better for you.
• What you will do every day is to buy eggs from a poultry farm, package safely them in crates inside your distribution van and make supplies to your target customers like bread factories, pastry food makers, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, provision stores, fast food centres, households and the general public who need it.
• Sell at the ruling market price or get slightly below it if possible in order to meet up with the competitive forces and still make your huge profits.
Continue the process on daily basis and grow your capital base. When you must have saved enough money, you can set up a poultry farm where you will grow the Layers chicken for egg production once they mature in a few months time.
This is when you will start reaping and enjoying the full profits in the business because you now produce the eggs yourself. Grow your customer base and make lots of money from your egg distribution business venture.
CONCLUSION:
The business of Egg distribution requires hard work to win the business of big egg consumers that demand large quantities at regular interval. The easiest way to win them is through quality eggs, big in size and freshly delivered. Sometimes, little discounts hen you master the demand and supply equations right, then you are ready to harvest goodies from the business.
Also, you must continue to market your eggs to new and different customer everyday. This is why you need a van to move about with samples while marketing. Big sized eggs are usually easy to sell, no matter the number of crates you take out, chances are that you will sell all before long.
FIRE...
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