Why I grind pepper rather than being a Thug – Trader

Babatunde Ariyo, 32, ekes out ‎a living from grinding pepper, beans and corn at Dei-Dei market, has chosen to follow the path of honour rather than engage in thuggery and other vices. According to him, the business he started two years ago, has earned him money to take care of his family and personal needs. ADEOLA TUKURU reports.

‎Babatunde Ariyo, native of Osun state has preferred to follow the path of honor by working hard no matter how humble the starting point was.

The young and hard working man, who resides in Dei-Dei, FCT did not consider the way of degradation, taking poverty as an excuse.

While recounting to Business Starter on how he started his grinding business in 2017 after engaging in all manner of manial jobs said he resulted to grinding pepper and others in the market .

How he started the business

Babatunde, after several attempts to get a job failed , the young man gathered the money he saved from the manial jobs to get him self a grinding machine when he saw the flocks of customers in the market on daily basis .

According to him, he used the some of N35,000 to acquire a grinding

Machine, bowls for washing pepper , stick for mashing the pepper in the machine as a start capital to keep the business floating.

He said had only several hours for sleep

per day to ensure he is available in the market just to satisfy his customers.

Gains in the business

Regarding his earnings, the young hard worker managed to save up to N3,000 to N4,000 on daily basis particularly during the weekends, which amount he deposited in a bank.

He also said he is saving up money to go back to school “I wish to further my education but I will keep struggling till I achieve my goal, I won’t sit back and allow anybody to use me as thug or to take advantage of me because of my present status.”

Babatunde did he now doesn’t depend on his Uncle and Aunt to survive because of his business and he is spending money home to his parent to take care of his siblings and also themselves.

Like some businesses, grinding pepper could be affected more by the raining season while dry season is the best period of the trade.

Plans for future

The O’ level holder said he is making plans to further his education as he doesn’t want to be taken advantage of “that is why I started this small business.”

“I also plan to buy more grinding and spread them around the markets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) so as to create employment for teeming youths in ye country”.

Advise for peers

When asked to give advice to his peers experiencing hardships, Babatunde recommended them to understand the value of dignity in labour and create legal job opportunities for themselves.

He also called on the Federal Government to engage youths, women and girls in vocational skill acquisition which make them more independent in life.

Challenges of the job

He lamented how some customers talk to him. “I recalled a customer addressing me as an illetrate because I didn’t answer her on time and the reason was because I was trying to look for change for someone”.

“Some customers hardly patronize us because they say there are many health hazards in grinding your food in a machine”

It would be recalled that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development , Chief Audu Ogbeh has warned Nigerians against using grinding machine to grind vegetables.

He gave the warning at the launch and National Dissemination of food and Nutrition Policy in Abuja said that the machine was not good for such purposes.

According to him, the machines which are being used to grind tomatoes, pepper and other vegetables, contain some elements which were harmful to the body.

“The elements in those machines are produced in ordinary steel not stainless steel. As a result of that, a great deal of granules get into our food.

According to him, the granules are very poisonous to the liver and kidneys; no wonder cases of liver and kidney diseases in the country are on the increase.’’

How to maintain grinding machine equipment

With the continuous improvement of mining, more and more businesses and individuals choose to buy mill equipment to reduce more heavy work. Mill equipment prices relatively high, so that each purchase mill equipment maintenance companies or individuals must do, good maintenance can extend the life of mill equipment mill equipment, mill equipment then how to maintain it?

1.when we will be grinding we should first check the routine mill. Which include: the connection of the device is a phenomenon of loose, the cylinder body can not be in addition to other impurities in the grinding medium, check the width of the mineral; check with the upper and lower working process equipment. In addition, we should also check the mailbox in the oil and oil temperature.

2.we should also give the grinding equipment to smear some oil. The operation of the machine should be appropriate to smear some of the oil, has been to ensure that the device can be flexible rotation, rotation axis of each part should be at least one month to fill a grease

3.Straight energy saving ball mill should be cleaned up and a comprehensive inspection of the idle ball mill equipment, placed in the case of damage but do not know the situation.ball mills

4.the pressure of the filter in the water should be lower than the oil pressure 0.05Mpa, or water is likely to penetrate into the oil caused by accidents. When the lubricating oil is reached and the lubricating point is reached, a driving signal is issued and the ball mill is started. The ball mill idle 3-5min, the machine to normal speed, then started to make the ball grinding work feeder.

How to start grinding business

Acquiring knowledge

You don’t come into what you don’t know anything about, it very necessary you seek and learn about the process of producing this particular product, if you don’t have money to learn this, you can find someone that can teach you at their own will and it is something you can easily get with proper teaching not hard to handle and learn.

Get a good location

This is a very crucial and important part of any business that is intended to grow and you don’t just raise a business where there’s no good market for it, in choosing this you need to really know your market, set your target. ‎Locations like schools area be it university, secondary/primary schools], garage, market area, where a lot of people come to always, are a very good point for this kind of market. And if at all you don’t get a particular location in school area, or anywhere else you see, you can just get your location very close to that area, where you can easily transport your goods down to such areas.

Having good marketing strategies

This will also enhance your sale, be kind of unique don’t go as everyone goes, if you desire to sell more than everyone, brand your stuff, have well designed label, choose a unique and easy to pronounce name on your label. If your branding is attractive enough you will be surprised at the increase in your sale.

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