With the continued downward slide of the economic fortunes of Nigerians, more and more citizens are finding ways for multiple streams of income, hence the popularity of the term, ‘side hustle.’
Fola Balogun popularly called ‘Fola Ibile’ is a banker who doubles as the founder of Ibile Treats, a meat-vending enterprise she established to meet the demand for meat by Nigerians.
With the pandemic still threatening lives, many Nigerians are cautious of going to crowded areas like markets, this is where Ibile Treats comes in.
Ibile Treats, like many other side businesses, leverages the internet to serve customers. The business employs Instagram to satisfy its clients who rely on it for their meat consumption. The business is all about selling live cows and also killing and sharing for clients.
Balogun said she had been able to widen her reach for prospective clients by adopting the use of social media, most especially Instagram.
Ibile Treats has been existing for a year, but this was not her attempt at online selling.
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At first, like many women of her age, she had tried selling fashion products like hair extensions, makeup, and even tried mini-importation, but somehow, everything failed, except meat selling.
“I tried to sell clothes, shoes but I ended up wearing most of them but this one, I can’t eat a whole cow and I am surviving,” she said excitedly.
As a nine-to-fiver in a bank, running Ibile Treats on the side is hellishly challenging due to the stress involved in taking and delivering orders. Her job at the bank requires her to take a lot of calls, just the same way customers in need of meat keep buzzing her phone for inquiries.
She explained that this situation makes her anxious because she has to deal with so many calls coming from customers of her two jobs who want to make inquiries on things.
But as difficult as this is, for her, balance is a must when hunger strikes and bills heap.
“When I think of where I am coming from and I know very well that if I sleep, it won’t pay the bills, I have to balance it,” she intoned.
In addition, Fola said she was mocked and despised when she started doing the business. This is because meat vending involves getting your hands sorely dirty, dealing with blood and it may not be the ideal job for posh belles.
She recalled being treated with scorn for taking up meat vending despite her education. But that made her more resilient as the business has continued to thrive, and even more so in the pandemic.
On tips for a thriving business in a country saddled with many economic misfortunes, first, she stated that while other sectors may struggle, nothing “can ever go wrong” in the food sector.
Balogun submits that it is important to start gradually from your comfort zone—your home, in order to build trust. She explained that if people at home cannot trust you, people outside will most likely not trust you with their money as well.
“You need to build up your page so when people come to your page, they will see the content. If I come to your page and I see 10 posts, I won’t patronize you, I will move to the next person,” she argues.
She recommended developing a drive to succeed in business because the government can come up with different policies to stifle progress and in such a case, innovation and resilience will always be required.
“Resilience is one factor an online meat vendor must possess to ensure the longevity of the business. If you are not the type of person that gives up easily, then you will succeed and make plenty returns in the long run, no matter how small you started,” she added.
Also, she refrained from giving details about her profits, she stated that profit-making lies in bulk-killing. For instance, if she gets N3, 000 profit on one cow or goat and she kills about 20, the profit would be N60, 000.
“That’s where the more profit comes in,” she explained and encouraged online vendors to grow their customer base.
