How to Start a Cashew Nut Processing Company in Nigeria
Cashew fruits are highly nutritious and contain energy, antioxidants, and vitamins that are essential for robust health. High in calories, fibers and many other minerals that help protect us from diseases and even cancer.This corroborates the popular saying that “One fruit a day keeps the doctor away”. You should consider starting a cashew nut processing company.
Cashew can be processed into lots of products. This attribute alone makes the cashew fruit unique and presents opportunities for processing the seasonal fruit into other products that have a lot of benefits and business advantages that one can decide to key into and profit from.
Related: How to start a business while working full time in Nigeria
To set up a cashew nut processing company you require some technical details that need a lot of attention to put in place.
To start a cashew nut processing company and build it into a viable and profitable business, you have to follow the steps below:
Tips On Starting A Cashew Nut Processing Company In Nigeria
-
Do Your Research
Endeavor to research to find out the benefits of cashew nuts, the season it is always available, what benefits are derivable from it when it can be bought when harvested, how long it can be stored for, and so on. Research before going into any business is a requisite for every business.
Related: How to start exercise book production business in Nigeria
You have to research to find out about cashew nut processing company to be able to stay grounded in the business.
You can also carry out some physical research to find out things such as how cashew nuts companies run and the kind of machines used to process cashew nuts and how they work.
This may require you taking some time out of others’ own companies. However, you may do this research online. But for better insight, you should take a trip to some companies.
-
Choose a Name and Register Your Company
To succeed in cashew nut processing company, you have to identify your business with a name and go ahead to make the necessary registrations. Register the business with the relevant authorities and agencies as stipulated by law in the country. Though it’s not compulsory, you should also try to register with pressure groups such as the association of cashew nuts processors and the rest.
-
Choose a Location for the Company/Business
Cashew nuts are heavy fruits and require a lot to move its raw materials into production. Locating the company close to the farm where the cashew is grown is of a good advantage than locating it far from the farm, which will increase the cost of transportation and in the long run the overhead. And locating it close to the farm also means getting them on time to avoid the fruits getting rot early.
-
Obtain Construction Permit
To successfully locate your business, you need to obtain the license to operate, and also contact the agency in charge of building construction in the city you wish to locate your cashew nut processing company for necessary vetting and approval of your building plan. This is to enable this agency to direct you on how to properly raise your structure without contravening the building plan of the city.
-
Seek Out Partnership
This can be on two fronts of the farmers and/or investors. A partnership or alliances with farmers can make them to regularly supply you when they harvest the cashew on their farms. On the other hand, you should try seeking out investors who can partner with you for finances; banks, equity investors and so on.
This will give you soft landings when you start your cashew nut processing company.
-
Seek Out Professionals
Endeavor to always involve professionals in every phase of your projects. For instance, when constructing the cashew processing plant, make use of professionals ranging from Engineers to electricians and the rest. Your cashew nut processing company has to be well constructed.
At this stage, you have to hire those who will be involved in both the administrative activities and in the factory; such as drivers, loaders and so on. They can be either full time or part time pending on when what they do. The success of your cashew nut processing company depends on your workers.
-
Test the Market
Proceed to produce your product and do some market testing to ascertain if there is some level of market acceptance. Do get feedback from customers to help you adjust your product properly before pushing it into the market
-
Refine Your Product
With what you gathered from the feedback you got, go ahead to refine your product to meet the needs of the customers. This step is very vital because it may just be that little edge you need to break into the market.
-
Have a Website
To give this business a professional front, you need to develop a website for it not minding whether you are operating it at a low or high level. This website should serve to inform your customer audience of the activities of your business on a regular basis thereby encouraging new people to patronize you.
Do well to showcase your product to the rest of the world. Use all legitimate sorts of media open to you to publicize your business and encourage people to patronize you. You can also employ the method of giving out freebies to your customers. This can go along way in attracting more customers.
Please do well to observe these steps below religiously, there might just be that little tip you need to succeed right in between the lines. These tips have been drawn from successful people in the business.
