Running on chips

ABUJA, Nigeria—Gertrude Basorun parked her gray Honda station wagon outside the iron gate of a single-story factory in Abuja’s industrial region. During work hours inside the building, an employee fries plantain chips, a common snack in Nigeria. Near the entrance, three large trays hold plantain peels that dry under the hot Friday sun: They will later be made into animal feed.

Basorun, the owner of the business, has spent most of her day attending two separate meetings, making a trip to the market to pick up supplies, and delivering 100 packs of plantain chips to a customer traveling abroad.

The 48-year-old mother of four began her career on a very different path. With an undergraduate degree in mass communications topped with an MBA, Basorun made her way through the corporate field and eventually landed a job at a bank in Lagos state. But the bank’s financial crisis led her to consider her own business plans.

“Even though we were still going to work, we weren’t getting paid for almost six months,” she said.

Entrepreneurship is now thriving in Nigeria, where an ongoing economic crisis is battering businesses. Unemployment remains high, and the pay at many jobs is undependable. Business cooperatives are springing up across the country to encourage and equip people who start new businesses, like Basorun.

In her Lagos compound, Basorun built a fishpond out of wood and began to rear catfish. But after relocating to Abuja, she could not run a fishery from her new apartment and began to make plantain chips instead.

In Nigeria, hawkers often sell the chips on the street, packaged in transparent baggies. Manufacturers cut the plantains—a variety of banana—into long or round thin slices and fry them crispy. Basorun began with an electric fryer in her kitchen, using the familiar transparent baggies and stapling a label over each one. She sold a bag for about 14 cents.

In 2012, she applied for and won more than $35,000 from YouWiN!, a government-sponsored competition in which winners receive grants to execute their business ideas.

“Through that program, we built a factory and registered the company as a limited liability,” Basorun said.

Shortly after moving to Abuja, Basorun joined a business cooperative called NECA’s Network of Entrepreneurial Women (NNEW). Her membership gave her access to different entrepreneurial training sessions across the country. Founded in 2005, NNEW assists women with the training and networking they need to grow their businesses. The organization now has more than 3,000 members across three states. It operates its own microfinance bank that offers loans to women.

“One of the problems women have is only 2 percent of women have title to land and only people with [a certificate of occupancy] are given loans,” said Ekaette Umoh, the chairperson of the organization’s Abuja chapter.

Basorun’s business has grown since then. Her factory operates with a full-time employee, and demand for its plantain chips has increased. A bag of the chips now sells for about 53 cents.

As Nigeria’s economy remains in crisis, Basorun’s business also has struggled to stay afloat. The rise in gasoline prices has affected her shipment of plantains from suppliers. She collected a loan from NNEW earlier this year, but problems persist.

“Plantain is seasonal,” she said. “Over the years we’ve still managed to do production during the scarcity period, but this year, it didn’t make sense to continue.”

She now prepares plantain chips based on orders from customers. Basorun is still working on cutting plantain shipping costs and moving into a more steady production system. But she remains optimistic and recently rolled out a new package design: “For me, that’s a major step.”

Abiola Olumodeji, another Abuja entrepreneur, always had a flair for business. She ran a makeup studio and spa eight years ago before launching her organic products brand, House of Merola, in 2012.

“I had the inspiration people will start looking for more natural … ways of skin care and treatment,” she said, sitting on a plastic chair in her store, where a single electric lantern illuminated a shelf of hair and skin products.

Over the past few years, many Nigerians have drifted back to natural hair and skin care products. The movement began as more research emerged on the hazards of using chemical straighteners on the hair.

But for Olumodeji, breaking into a new field came with challenges. She struggled to find the raw materials needed in making her products. As a NNEW member, Olumodeji attended an event publicized by the cooperative, where she met women who dealt in shea butter. Through them, she met other suppliers.

Her business now includes 36 different body and hair care products made with coconut oil, shea butter, argan oil, and other natural ingredients. Demand for her products spans the country.

Nigeria’s economy, despite its struggles, has created an opportunity for people to pursue their passions, Olumodeji said.

“We all can’t try to fit ourselves into a field that was not designed for us,” she said. “I don’t need to work in the oil sector to be successful.”