How to start tissue paper production in Nigeria
There are many lucrative and less competitive business in Nigeria just that they are not attractive and look non lucrative from the outside, such is the case for tissue paper production business, it is not attractive or who would have thought that tissue paper which are sold at #50 to #100 can make billion for entrepreneur.
if you are reading this there is a chance that you already know that tissue paper production business is lucrative, you just don’t know how to go about it.
Don’t worry you’ve come to the right place as I will be taking you through the steps you need to take to have successful tissue paper production business.
But before that I will like you to take note of the following
Tissue paper business definition
Tissue paper production is the use of soft wood pulp to produce soft paper which is then packaged and distribute to the retailer or final consumer.
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How profitable is tissue paper production business
Tissue paper have become commodity which is needed often in Nigeria. Perhaps because of it affordable price, company, organization or individual often buy surplus which shows that tissue paper is in great demand in Nigeria.
You don’t need to worry about competition there are not much player in the field, this is validated by the estimated tissue paper demand in Nigeria which is up to 1 billion unit per year and estimation supply which is at 150 million unit per year.
Target market/niche
Unlike other business which have only one or two profitable market segment , here almost all the segment is profitable and not competitive. You can target company, school, girls, event, hotel e.t.c.
Niche in tissue paper productin busisness
As stated above tissue production is profitable one of this reason is that tissue paper production have many niche which helps to reduce competition, if there are too much people in one niche you can venture into another niche and grow from there.
Some of these niche are
Toilet role production
Toilet role is one of the lucrative niche of tissue paper production, if you chose this niche you don’t have to worry about demand as its demand continues to rise, the only problem is that it is competitive every tom and dick in tissue paper production are now into Toilet role production.
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Target market in this niche are
School
Office
Public restroom
Hotel
Paper towel/ face wipes production
This is a lucrative niche with less competition. In this niche tissue paper is packaged into paper box where people can take it and use it to clean their faces.
It’s a good replacement for hand cloth towel because it is disposable, no need of washing.
Target market in this niche are
Home/kitchen
School
Event
Meet up
Religious gathering
Baby wipe production
Baby wipe also comes in box with an opening end where it can be tear to clean toddler hand, buttocks and sometimes faces. This niche is also lucrative but marketing should be targeted at parent because they hold the buying power.
Target market
Its target market is easy and specific you don’t need to carryout too much of market research, you only need to create a consumer persona which will help you to understand your customer very well.
Baby/ mother
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Wrapping tissue
This is a growing niche, its lucrativeness is not really known yet. Well, the rate at which people now demand soft tissue for wrapping items is exposing wrapping tissue production as lucrative niche.
There are two business model in this niche. You can produce wrapping tissue and sell or customized according to specification of your customer.
Target market
Individual
Boutique
Retail outlet
Table napkins production
Table napkins are used in cleaning mouth and hand after meal. It is a lucrative niche which is currently experiencing market growth perhaps due to it affordability.
To make it in this niche you need a good marketing skill or system as there are a lot of people in this space.
Target market
Home
Restaurant
Equipment/ raw material needed for paper production in Nigeria
Below are the equipment you need to get ready before starting tissue paper production business
- Soft wood pulp/ paper waste
- Band saw cutter
- Core making machine
- Embossing machine
- High speed toilet paper machine
- Tissue paper folding machine
- Jumbo roll
- Perforating machine
- Toilet role cutting machine
- Paper roll rewinding machine
- Packaging machine
Steps to starting tissue paper business in Nigeria
Skill, knowledge and experience
Tissue paper production require some skill that you can only get if you have been in tissue paper factory before.
You can take up internship in a factory to gain skill and experience and if you have no time on you side you can hire experience person who will help you to over see your tissue paper business.
Feasibility study
Though tissue production is a lucrative business, you still need to conduct a feasibility study in a location where you want to sight your business.
The following questions will guide your feasibility study
Is the loction pliable by car?
How is competition in that location?
What of manpower?
How easy it is to get raw material?
Make sure you answer the above question and the other that might pup up during the study, believe me you don’t want to invest your money in poor location or any other factor, it can be painful.
Location
Base on your feasibility study chose a location that suit the type or niche of tissue paper production you want to venture in to.
Business plan
Business plan is a projection of what your business will look like in 3 to 5 years time, and how you will get to this projection.
While business plan might not last more than 2 years it is still advisable to write it, you never know you may encounter investor or need loan to expand your business someday.
Register your business with Cooperate Affairs Commission (CAC)
To have a legal business you need to register your business with CAC . To avoid future confrontation from the authority, you need to register your business , also there are some benefit from government which you might not be entitle to if you refuse to register your business.
Fund and funding
To start medium scale production you will need 8 million naire and above. You can source for fund from your savings, friends and family or take a loan from bank.
Please do not put your mind in angel investment or crowd funding the chance of securing such fund is low.
Raw material and equipment
Most of the raw material needed is already listed above and can be ship from abroad or buy in Nigeria the deferent is that buying in Nigeria is more costly than buying abroad while the risk of losing uour money when importing your raw material is more than buying in Nigeria.
Staff and staffing
Sure you can’t do everything alone, you will need to employ people. When employing make sure you employ people who have some passion for tissue paper production. You will need 5-20 worker depending on the scale of your production.
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Marketing
People often confuse marketing to advertising, but they are deferent , advertising is part of marketing.
Marketing involve 4 p’s which are people, place, promotion (advertising) and product, so your marketing start from choosing a niche, location, target market, advertising medium and making a better product.
If you have done your feasibility study, by now you should no who your target market are where they live and how they go about their daily activities this will help you to select advertising/promotional medium suitable for your target market.
Some of the advertising medium are
T.V/ Radio
Billboard
Flyers and sign board
Branding of vehicle
Packaging and distribution
Packaging is part of marketing, you need to package your tissue paper according to the specification of market segment you are targeting and create a good distribution network to reach that target custormer.
Challenges in tissue paper production in Nigeria
There is no business without its challenges . the more the challenges a business face the higher the chance of it been profitable because people hate chanlenges , they won’t go into such business therefore reducing competition for the serious entrepreneur.
Below are the challenges you might encounter.
1). Epileptic power supply
This not a news, we lack stable electricity supply in Nigeria.
Solution: you can rely on electricity for a start but have it in mind that you will need to use electricity generator in the future.
2). Low quality tissue paper production
If you buy a locally made machine you might produce an inferior tissue paper
Solution: purchase better machine
Fund
It is hard to secure loan from financial institution in Nigeria.
Solution
Start small and grow from there
Conclusion
Tissue paper production is a lucrative business which as been proven countless time by entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
If you follow above steps you will have no or little problem in operating tissue paper business in Nigeria.
Thanks for reading