Bean pudding popularly known as moi-moi is not only popular among the low income earners, even the middle and high income earners in Nigeria have taken to the protein-rich food. Moi moi business is lucrative and easy to set up. ADEOLA TUKURU reports.
Moimoi is a steamed bean pudding made from a mixture of washed and peeled black-eyed beans, onions and fresh ground red peppers (usually a combination of bell peppers and chili or Scotch bonnet). It is a protein-rich food that is a staple in Nigeria.
For its smallness, moimoi sellers are often found at street corners while some put theirs in carts and push from street to street. Yet, there are some entrepreneurs that have moved the trade a bit higher on how it is packaged especially online.
One unique thing about selling moi-moi is that the business can be run from one’s home on full time or on part-time basis depending on choice and clients.
Business location
An Edo State indegene, Mrs Joan Osaretin, told Business Starter that one may choose to be stationed at a location, while the itinerant sellers move from place to place seeking for buyers.
Operating at this level, sellers target the highbrow areas, where people appreciate moi-moi.
Unlike before, where moi-moi selling were solely left with the itinerant sellers, grocery stores are spring up in their numbers in different parts of the country, especially in highbrow areas of most big cities selling moi-moi.
Distribution of moi-moi
She said all that is required is for the small-scale traders or middle men to get to the sources of supply and buy, for onward distribution to the final consumers, which may be schools, restaurants, hotels, individuals among others.
Mrs Joan said selling moi-moi is a big business; “you need to know where to source them and how to preserve them to make it in the business. It is business that could be started small based on your capital”.
Preparation
Speaking on the market, she told this reporter that she has been in the business for the past 8 years, “I do not regret entering the business, because it has paid my bills and sustained my bills and sustained my family. I make enough money and have to get people to sell for me at different locations.”
Beans is an essential ingredient of moi-moi. There are many varieties of beans, but the type used in preparing most Nigerian recipes are kidney-shaped and brown. “Olotu beans” from Niger state ( N/Central Nigeria) is mostly preferred for preparing the meal.
There are several shapes of moi-moi, but their preparation always begin with the process of converting beans to a soft paste that can be mixed with a variety of condiments.
How I started the business
“I have worked in a number of places, but I did not feel fulfilled; I felt I needed to do something like a service to humanity because what gave birth to Moi-moi was my love for children and my love for cooking.
“So, I know that beans plays a major role in our nutrition and a lot of us think that protein is just the major nutrient we get from beans, but beans is one food or meal that comes with so much nutrients like vitamins, anti-oxidants, protein and even carbohydrate.
“I also realised that for you to cajole children to like beans as many of them don’t like beans porridge, so I now thought of moi-moiand akara, especially moi-moi, because with it, you can do a lot of things with shrimps, fish or eggs, minced meat and whatever you want and this is healthy not just for kids, it is good for pregnant women, the aged, in fact, everybody.
I will tell you a wrap of moi-moi a day will keep the doctor away. So moi-moi is the easiest way to get children to enjoy beans and akara also. That is basically what brought about moi-moiexpresso.”
Raising capital
Funding is the major problem lots of SMEs in Nigeria face. Affordability of fund is something everybody suffers.
“When the idea came, I honestly did not have a dime, I was as broke as a church rat, but I had the idea. And I had at the back of my mind that as I was thinking, the next person is thinking so I didn’t just lock up the idea in a box and wait.
“I moved into action and what I did was to go to Eman Plaza here in Abuja, the only thing I had was my mobile phone, a Blackberry Touch 2, which I bought some months back.
This was in September, 2011. I bought the phone for about N110,000 and I went to Eman Plaza and I traded my phone and got a very bad deal as the phone was bought off me for N35,000. But this did not deter me.
“With the money made from the phone, I went to the market and bought samples of the various varieties of beans in the market and even went ahead to buy products of my competitors and I experimented.
“I got to realise that it is not every variety of beans that comes out tasting the same after processing and there are different ways you can go about processing your beans that helps retain the quality and the taste .
“In as much as there were other beans flour products in the market and I wanted to set myself apart, I had to come up with a product mixed with ingredients, that is why mine has onions, seasoning, crayfish and chilli.
“I experimented basically with friends and family before I got the final mix and then I started selling to friends and family, church members, going to exhibitions. That was how moi-moiexpresso story started.
“But, I must tell you that it was not an easy journey; I am still on it as it is a long and interesting journey. I have had to cry, smile and laugh in the course of the journey.”
Acceptability of the product
“I am grateful to God as it has been interesting. For one, my happiness is that people who have bought the product called to ask for more, this shows that I have a premium product.
“The demand increases by the day and I must tell you that it gives me joy to know that something I thought of can actually come this far and by God’s grace, I know it will go farther. I get calls from people I have not met before, as my customer care number keeps ringing.”
Staffing
“I have one staff that helps me and I work too. I do my mix myself because it is food and you cannot afford to be careless. The truth is that many people don’t even know where this is coming from so you have a reputation to protect.marketing online. I participate in lots of exhibitions and fairs. I do talk to few supermarkets in the country and I have some distributors.
“These are people who want to make extra money on the side, so they buy off me to resell, so the marketing of the product is still ongoing.
SMEs challenges
“Funding is a major challenge. I know the government is coming up with a lot of packages to assist entrepreneurs as we are working hand in hand with the banks, but I must tell you that they sound really sweet, but as an entrepreneur when you go down, things are not as sweet as they sound on televisions and the papers.
“Sometimes you go to these agencies happily because you have an idea, the Nigerian factor comes to play and at the end of the day, they tell you that you are not fit to access the fund.
“The regulatory bodies’ requirements
most often, are too rigid, too stiff. You say you want to assist entrepreneurs but your guidelines don’t even show you are concerned about the SMEs.
“What you require of big companies are same as what you require of small companies. For someone like me who traded my phone to raise money, you now tell me I need to get a big space!
