In Nigeria You Need a Husband to get Capital to Start Selling Hair

In Nigeria You Need a Husband to get Capital to Start Selling Hair

Feb 11, 2020 | Nigeria

Home 9 Tag: New Business Ideas

How to Start Selling Hair in Nigeria without a husband?

It started with an app, on a Monday morning. Blessingfearless told me she was ready to start selling hair in Nigeria. She found a great business opportunity that will change the hair market in Nigeria for ever. But she needed a husband to get the capital!

Because that is the way it goes in Nigeria. Men get loans and women must beg. You can have a splendid idea, but if your gender is not male, too bad girl!

But Blessingfearless, as you can see on her Instagram account is full of passion. She really made me fall for the idea too. I wanted to help her, with or without a husband!

The fact is if you want to start selling hair in Nigeria, women are second in line compared to men. The World Bank is fully aware of this. They started to develop programs to support women because Africa will only see major improvement if African women are empowered.

So, I started my quest for capital to help Blessingfearless finding a husband. Sorry, I mean finding a loan.

Why would someone need a husband to start selling hair?

“There is growing global evidence that shows that ensuring economic opportunities for women is an important entry point for addressing gender inequality and ensuring better education, health, and nutrition outcomes for families”. This sentence, in a report of the World Bank, tells the male part of the world that by empowering women the only way up for many areas in the World.

Imagine, the growth of the total economy in Nigeria, that is now around 2.1 percent for, could have been 3.3 percent if gender equality would have been reached. This means the Nigerian economy would grow faster than the US economy under Trump or Obama!

To reach this equality between the sexes quite some regulation has or had to change. Some examples are the law on prohibition of inhumane treatment of widows (2001) in Edo state and the Child Rights Act 2003 in Ogun. Nigeria is in the top ten of countries with the highest levels of gender discrimination!

As small producers and asset holders, Nigerian women have greater difficulty reaching economies of scale, which affects their competitiveness. In other words, Nigerian female entrepreneurs face a lot of difficulties to grow their business. As a result, they have limited bargaining power with suppliers and buyers, restricting their ability to earn profits.

Would You Like to Make $ 30.000/month for Only $ 29/month?

Yes

Time to Change, Empower women

The Nigeria for Women Project

Through the Nigeria for Women Project, a project initiated by the World Bank, 324,000 women will benefit through investments in comprehensive skills training, the leverage of financial and technical resources, and support to policy dialogue on women’s economic empowerment.

This first World Bank-assisted standalone gender operation in Nigeria was approved in June 2018. This also created and strengthen Women Affinity Groups to facilitate social networks and increase women’s voice and participation in the economy.

How to get access to female friendly financing?

Thanks to the above-mentioned movement, there are several initiatives and organisations active to support women empowerment. This helped to change the mindset and inspired several organisations to develop women friendly loan facilities.

FEMFUNDS for women selling hair in Nigeria

Femfunds is a social enterprise that provides interest free and collateral free loans to women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (also called MSMEs) in Nigeria.

They give women with small businesses everything they need to build profitable businesses which in turn creates a cycle of empowered women who go on to empower other women.

The vision of FEMFUNDS is to create sustainable female-led businesses that can contribute in a positive way to the economic development of Nigeria. Thanks to the important role of women in society.
They provide funds, or capital, to enable business to grow, to replicate a business in another location and to provide capital a business needs to survive.

There are various lines to support women, like interest free loans, with no collateral and advisory to female run small businesses, like mentoring, coaching and workshops on branding, marketing and other intellectual resource to help the businesses.

FemFunds promises hassle free financing.

Evaluation criteria

FemFunds follows the next evaluation criteria when evaluating a business in need of capital:

  • Stage of Business, they look for businesses that are already operational
  • Sector, FemFunds invests in businesses across sectors
  • Revenue, FemFunds is interested in businesses that are post-revenue, have a clear pathway to profitability and possess strong growth trajectory
  • Product Market Fit, FemFunds looks for businesses that will work well in the Nigerian context
  • Structure, properly structured and where this is not the case, if a business is selected, FemFunds will help the business become better structured
  • Competitive Advantage, the business should have a clear competitive advantage and a unique value proposition

It is clear, FemFunds offers great financing possibilities, but only if you have the capital to start a business. Blessingfearless has the idea to start selling hair in Nigeria and will not qualify for this program. Let’s continue our search for capital for women with plans to start selling hair in their State.

W Power loan Access Bank if you want to start selling hair in Nigeria

This offer seems to be much more what Blessingfearless needs. Access Bank understands the position women come from. They have set up a financing that answers all their needs if they want to step into business. Within 30 days after opening a corporate bank account, Blessingfearless can apply for the W Power Loan.

The W Power Loan package comes with benefits such as:

  • business advisory services,
  • a flexible repayment period
  • a low interest rate as well as
  • flexible security options, to ease the minds of the passionate business owners in their own words.

Access bank has taken measures to accommodate women in need of capital to fund their business. On top of this they share some advice, that will be helping you finding a loan from any other bank or organisation.

Understand your business and convince others

Woman are great in organizing, that makes them great entrepreneurs because doing business is all about connections. But sometimes this stand in the way to document the business processes. To get a profitable business you need to be able to understand the environment, the market and the processes. Before you make any appointment with anyone who can give you access to a loan or capital, come up with a business plan.

Your hair business deserves more attention than a side hustle

Microsoft started their business in a garage, and many successful hair businesses started in the living room. If you want to make serious money, you need to take the business serious. Register your business before you apply for a loan. If you do not take your business serious, why would the bank officer do? Some banks can help you with the registration.

Be real, have open a corporate account

Keep your personal financial means separate from your business, do not mix private and business on your bank account. This will also reduce the expenses for the bookkeeping and tax calculations.

Do not ask your husband to do the bookkeeping

Bookkeepers and accountants are not known for their sex appeal, but you need them anyhow. Monitor your business is only possible with a reliable bookkeeping system in place. You can outsource the hard work, but make sure you understand better than your bookkeeper where you make your money and how much! Find a good bookkeeper before you start selling hair in Nigeria.

Join a business community and build your network

It is always good to share your experience with others, join a business community and learn from others. This network can also be of great benefit in times of crisis.

Only borrow what you need

The business plan is the base for the loan or capital request, only borrow the money you need for the business activities. Protect yourself against excess cash, that you must repay later. Use the cash flow forecast in our all-in-one hair business package.

I hope this post will help Blessingfearless, but I will keep my eyes open for more financing possibilities. If you need money for your business or you want a low priced website, leave a comment below so I can help you to find the money,

Darling Selling Hair Successfully in Africa

Darling Selling Hair Successfully in Africa

Dec 29, 2019 | Darling Hair

Home 9 Tag: New Business Ideas

Darling Selling Hair Successfully in Africa

Darling Selling Hair Successfully in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. They are planning to grow in neighbouring countries soon. Profit from the insight Darling gives about their successful strategy. This strategy gave Darling Hair Sales a stable double-digit growth. Adapt the strategy to your own position and give your hair sales a boost.

Darling shows Selling Hair at Double Digits Growth and you?

Darling Hair is a brand owned by Indian Consumer Product giant Godrej. Thanks to this Darling can show double digits sales growth year on year. This gives you a good benchmark to know if your hair business is healthy. If your sales show a growth of 10 percent or less, you can learn from the strategy Darling Selling Hair.

You should never copy the strategy from another company. But there is nothing wrong to learn from others. Especially when the other is the number One Selling Hair in Africa, Darling!

The Overall Strategy

For the Consumer Products in general the mother company of Darling Hair has defined the following. In bold the strategy formulated and after this a translation to your situation. This gives you great suggestions for your own hair selling business.

  • Keep the Core Business Healthy. This means you should always have the right focus on the business people know your business for;
  • Create New Growth Boosters. Plan to regularly launch new products or services;
  • Ensure Adequate Funding to Support Growth. Keep an eye on your cash flow, once a year scrutinize your expenses. Is the supply chain still optimal or can you make things more efficient;
  • Pursue Sensible Acquisitions to Accelerate Growth. Think about a collaboration with a stylist or salon to broaden your market and to grow faster;
  • Build a Higher Performing Organisation. Every day see if you can do things more efficient, logistics, purchase, marketing, selling, bookkeeping;
  • Do Our Part for an Inclusive and Sustainable World, invest and participate in your community

The strategy above shows you can not write your business plan and sit back and relax. You have to work on the company, the world around you, your clients, the competition and the suppliers, changes all the time and you have to adapt to this. Surprise your clients with new products or services. Look for a collaboration with a stylist or salon and work out together a new hair product or service. Do not do the numbers once a year for tax purposes only. But check on a monthly basis how your profit margins evolve, and your commitments where can you cut expenses. Start the conversation with the hair supplier and see how you can get a shorter time to delivery. Do not forget every morning to think what have I done yesterday and what can I do better or faster. And make sure the local community knows you care.

Get the all-in-one hair business package, complete with hair samples and launch your own hair store now

Would You Like to Make $ 30.000/month for Only $ 29/month?

Yes
Hair Store Names
Be Your Own Boss in Kenya

How does Darling Increase Selling Hair

Darling hair is increasing the sales of the hair and growing their business because the follow the following guidelines (in bold). See my suggestions for you how to put this in place in your own business:

  • Invest heavily in the brand. Select your logo and brand and be active on social media and local events
  • Innovate Your Products. Make your products available for everybody. Perhaps you have to organize a special event near a college, or think about other payment methods;
  • Be Unique. Think about how your products can be unique in solving the needs of your clients. Remember you are not selling hair; you are selling an experience;
  • Disruptive Pricing. Even if you are a small player, if you have a unique service you can be the price leader for that kind of hair solutions;
  • World Class Package and Design. Have eye and patient for the details like packaging and design.

No need to allocate all your money to market your brand. You can also use the lost hours in a day to keep the conversation going on Social Media or in real life. Make sure you have an inviting and eye-catching hair style. Go to the mall or places your ideal clients likes to be and get their attention. If people do not buy from you, it is possible they like the hair and they feel they get value for money. But they can not find a parking space or they payment method is not convenient for them. Spend time and energy to look after the slightest detail on packaging and website design. All this will help you to increase the sales of the hair.

Let’s get digital

Darling understands they have to get digital. This is both the marketing and the supply side. They team up with bloggers to be sure they will reach their ideal clients. Clients will find education on the hair and maintenance, but also how to use the tools available. How user friendly is your webstore for somebody who was not involved in the design? Use social listening to catch new trends before there is a standardize solution on the selves.

But also, the shopping experience should be smooth and help your supply chain to be the most efficient possible. Consider a platform like Shopify that provides both Point of Sale solutions for your store and a webstore. But also integrated drop shipping and payment facilities.

See how one point for every sale helps you selling more
Thanks to the digital world we know much more about customer behaviour then ever before. Darlings keeps on working on better measurement and reporting of the crucial drivers of customer behaviour. Do not only use your bookkeeping to know what drives your business. Measure and report behaviour using tools like Google Analytics and the analytic tools of your webstore.

Darling Hair Supply Chain

What is driving you to success and allows you to scale your business is a very efficient supply chain. How does the hair get ordered at the wholesale store. Shipped to you or the fulfillment centre and delivered at the doorstep of your client? This process should have your daily attention. Reduce complexity because this will also reduce the number of errors. On your quest for hair suppliers, take into account their order and delivery processes. Are they able to work out a supply process that supports your business?

The future

Darling has selected the countries they see as the upcoming markets for hair extensions. Next to mature hair markets like Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Nigeria. They have identified the countries that will be interesting for the near future, because they see the hair market will expand. Think of countries like Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Ghana and Senegal. They even work on new distribution models; this all could be very interesting for new entrepreneurs too.

Get the all-in-one hair business package, complete with hair samples and launch your own hair store now

Ready to go for double digits growth and sell hair like Darling?

Are you ready to start selling hair or grow your hair business, leave a comment below or contact me on WhatsApp if you need any support!

An after Christmas sales drop is easy to avoid!

An after Christmas sales drop is easy to avoid!

Dec 23, 2019 | Get Help, Launch Your Web Store

Avoid an after Christmas sales drop

An after Christmas sales drop is easy to tackle! You can still make good deals but – as always- you only must be a little bit more creative. To help you to benefit from the still increasing demand and to have the clients visit your shop instead of the shop of the competition, we have selected five items for you to think and work on.
We give you more background information and we provide you with some links to make it work for you right away!

Update: December. 23rd, 2019

1. Offer additional items together with your extensions, at a special price

You know you are not selling hair, but you are selling a “look good” feeling, an experience. Your client wants to look good and you have the products and services to make her feel awesome! So why don´t you offer her, or him, together with the extensions, a very nice bag or another luxury item? Offer bags at a good price but at the right quality. You are in contact with your client, you make her happy with the hair so the perfect time to make the picture complete and offer her something extra.

Get the all-in-one hair business package, complete with hair samples and launch your own hair store now

2. Be creative in shipment and payment and stimulate after Christmas purchases

The first thing is of course not to charge separately for shipping anymore, clients do not want to see a shipping fee anymore. But clients also want to receive your extensions in time and as fast as possible. Why don´t you consider Collect on Delivery (COD). In the US for example (The United States Postal Services) USPS offers this service so your clients will have more confidence in the transaction and consider easier to buy from a new shop. By doing so you´ll reduce the delivery time after payment to zero! A great argument to convince your clients to buy from you.

One step further is to offer your clients to pay afterwards, how thoughtful of you! After they spent their money on Christmas gifts for others. Now they still can buy the hair they want and pay afterwards. Interesting? Klarna Pay Later is an invoicing payment method for Shopify Payments. When a customer selects Klarna Pay Later as their payment method, they agree to pay for their purchase later. Combined with a 14 days free trial you cannot miss this client friendly business opportunity.

Looking to build a successful online business? Get a free comprehensive guide that covers everything you need to know about running a dropshipping business.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1v772A3bU0s" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

3.Are you on Amazon?

Offer part of your products through platforms like Amazon, or Jumia, more and more people search on.
Amazon and you can use their platform to offer your products to a bigger audience. Amazon has a very good ranking in the search results of Google and Yahoo you will directly benefit from this. Your ads will be targeted to shoppers searching for similar or related items on Amazon.com. They will see your ads in many places on the Amazon website and you will only pay for clients who clicked on your advertisement and thus visited your website!

4. Offer true bargains

Consumers have seen a lot of offers and special discounts the last months. But they are still interested, if the offer gives them value for money.
Only offer true bargains, after all you want your clients to return to buy again and to spread the word about the quality you offer.

5.Gift cards

Reach for the partner, family or friends of your clients and offer gift cards with a bonus.
Gift cards are hot, and you can benefit from this. A gift card of your own hair brand helps partners or friends to give their loved one or good friend your hair extensions without the risk of buying the wrong hair. The card can be made from paper or a specific coupon code that can be used together with the purchase of the hair. Do not forget to consider a paper gift card, paper still has more style over digital, right?

Ready to invest in your after Christmas sales? Let me know what options works best for you!

Start the Best Hair Extensions Store in Coffeyville, today!

Start the Best Hair Extensions Store in Coffeyville, today!

Nov 23, 2019 | Find Hair, Make Your Dream Happen, Prepare for the Launch, USA

There is always room for improvement, and if you have been dreaming to sell hair for a long time, how about start selling now! Suppose you live in Coffeyville, Montgomery County, Kansas, United States. I can tell you there is enough opportunity to start the best Hair Extensions Store.

Opportunity, sell to salons in Coffeyville

If you want to start selling hair extensions, you should never forget to check the market. How is the hair market in Coffeyville? They have over 20 salons that refer in the yellow pages they also sell hair extensions. That as a good base to start the conversation. Ask the salon owners if they are interested to get their hair from the best Hair Extensions Store in Coffeyville. Local for local, right!

Some are only beauty salons and to help them to broaden their service offering by directly selling hair could be an interesting opportunity.

Step one, find your potential clients

First, let’s see the list of salons and hair stylist below, they are all located in Coffeyville. Plus, you also have potential to sell your hair to salons in neighbouring towns. But let’s focus on Coffeyville first. By approaching the salons and hair stylists, you do not need to invest strongly in marketing. The existing client base of these salons and stylists, will indirectly become your client base. Of course, you are not going to steal them away from the salons. You will only grow, if you respect your clients and work as a partnership.

Again, please find the overview of salons:

  • The Envy Salon & Day Spa
  • The Hair Junction
  • Diva’s Hair Salon
  • Headlines Hair Studio
  • Head to Toes
  • Jan’s Style Salon
  • Paradise Hair & Tanning Co.
  • SmartStyle
  • Left of Center Hair Design
  • Cuts& Tans
  • Studio Blue
  • Styling Corner
  • Hair Time
  • Kim’s Cuts & Styles
  • Hair Center
  • Unique Reflections
  • Hairology
  • The Hair Mill

Launch your own hair store with the all in one hair business package, complete with hair samples

Elevator pitch for visit to salons

Before you pick up the phone, or plan to visit these salons, you need to think of what your value added is. Who you are and why they would give you the opportunity to sell hair to them. What will be their profit from your offer? A short story you can tell with confidence. You only get the opportunity once to introduce yourself, so make sure it is a moment they will not forget and makes them to want more! Tell them what you want, namely, to solve all their struggles on hair extensions.

How to become the Best Hair Extensions Store in Coffeyville?

You will become the best hair store if you know how to listen. Listening should be your main activity to start with. What is it the clients of these salons are looking for, what price are they willing to pay and what they like and do not like about hair extensions. I can tell you, if you manage to get the feedback of only half of these salons you will be the smartest hair extensions seller of Coffeyville! These salons only have the overview of the needs of their own clients. But you will have the ideas and struggles of all women and girls of Coffeyville!

Do not look for a wholesale supplier before you have finished all the previous steps

Now, you can ask me for the best hair supplier, because you know exactly what your clients, and their clients need. You will be the hair guru of your town. You can negotiate the conditions that will make your hair business profitable. But even more important, you will never have unsold hair, because what you purchase from the supplier is what the salons in Coffeyville need!

Would you like your own Professional Hair Webstore?

Yes!

Please tell me, are you ready to become the Best Hair Extensions Store in Coffeyville?

How to Sell the Best Beauty Products in Tanzania

How to Sell the Best Beauty Products in Tanzania

Sep 10, 2019 | Tanzania

Home 9 Tag: New Business Ideas
The future of Tanzania is in the hands of the women and girls of Tanzania! The World Bank said the Government should invest in girls. This will improve the quality of life in Tanzania. More and more women will get better education and get better paid jobs. They will also look for the Best Beauty Products in Tanzania. Why won’t you take advantage of this evolution? Start selling the Best Beauty Products in Tanzania, now!

Do you want to earn your money by selling hair?

Yes!
Learn to Sell From Darling Hair
Hair Store Names

Proposed Increase of Import Duties on Human Hair is not helping

The Finance Act, 2019 is published on the Special Gazette of the United Republic of Tanzania. To increase Government spending a new Harmonized System Code or HS code was introduced. These codes are used to classify traded goods. The new HS code 0501.00.00 Human hair, unworked whether or not washed or scoured; waste of human hair and has an Excise Rate of :

10 percent if locally manufactured or

25 percent if imported.

At the time of writing this post, September 2019 The Finance Act, 2019 was still in the phase of first reading and not yet implemented.

Proposed tax will not stop women of buying hair extensions and wigs in Tanzania

The proposed increase of tax on human hair is of course not helping to start a business with the Best Beauty Products in Tanzania. This attempt to keep hold of traditional values will perhaps delay the change in the Tanzanian Society, but never stop. Many women already wear wigs and hair extensions because they feel it makes them feel and look good.

The business environment in Tanzania remains challenging but offers opportunities

The World Bank sees it is still rather difficult to do business in Tanzania. The biggest struggle for businesses are in the areas of:
– trading across borders,
– starting a business and
– paying taxes.

To import goods into Tanzania it is well known the complicated documentation requirements are a main hurdle. Regarding taxes, start ups sometimes have to pay taxes based upon estimated revenues, even before commencing operations.

The goal of the government is to become a middle-income country by 2025. This goal requires reforms. One of the most important reform is on the increase of the role of women in the economy. Reduce child marriage and early childbearing plus more education for girls will help the country to reduce the poverty and increase the average income.

Start Your Beauty Store now

With the aim of the Government to become a middle-income country, and the planned reforms for girls, this is the time to prepare the launch of your hair business. You should not wait until everybody has discovered the attractive and growing hair business. This is the time to grab your place on the market. So do not wait.

Start with obtaining the right education, both on language (English) and business skills.

And invest time to find the best hair wholesale company.

With the best hair and the right education you will become financially independent. And have a fun business with the girls of Tanzania talking hair all day, with or without the higher tax on human hair.

Contact me if needed, I love to help you