Following the recent rise of the dollar against the Naira, values of several goods, especially household items, have been on the rise almost on daily basis. One of such household items is liquid (dish) washing soap, which has become an essential commodity in homes across social status over the years.
Some of the familiar brands of liquid soaps are PZ’s Morning Fresh, Mama Lemon, Mr. Muscle, Palmolive and Fairy, among others. Before the present economic recession bedeviling Nigeria, an average cost of 900ml bottle of some of these brands varied between N200 and N350 per bottle, but with the recession.
The average price per bottle of these brands have gone up to as high as N400 or N500 per bottle. Most of the producers of unbranded liquid soaps sell same 900ml at N100, smiling to the bank with about N30 profit as they can sell 20 or more every week.
With this, experts said investing in the business is a discerning move by anyone with little or much capital, depending on the scale of production.
the demand for liquid soap will never drop, because Nigerians do not use the soap for dishwashing alone, as they also use it to wash clothes, vehicles, clean floors and sanitary wares among others
MAKE MORE MONEY
An entrepreneur coach, Mrs. Joke Aruleba, explained that the demand for liquid soap will never drop, because Nigerians do not use the soap for dishwashing alone, as they also use it to wash clothes, vehicles, clean floors and sanitary wares among others.
She advised that one could invest in liquid soap making either on a small or medium scale, as it remains a business that can be done either on full time or part time basis, such that housewives, the unemployed youth and even students, can invest in the business too, making money while studying.
Also, investing in the liquid soap production business is a very profitable business, as it is a product people cannot do without; and despite the proliferation of liquid soap production companies, with a vast majority coming from small scale backyard liquid soap factories, the market is not yet saturated and can never be saturated.
“This can be attributed to the fact that people will never stop washing their dishes and doing their laundry. That is to say that the demand for liquid soap or any other type of washing agent can only increase and never decrease, because as long as people live, they must continue to wash and if they must wash, they need a washing soap,” she added.
In order to tap into the opportunities that abound in the liquid soap production, Aruleba disclosed that all one needs is to acquire the skills, set up one’s own mini factory for small scale production in any available in one’s room or compound, that will contain the turning container and packaging materials, which cost as low as N10,000 or N15,000.
Other assets needed for production are buckets, storage drums, 50 or 100 litres washing bowls, alkaline paper, nose masks, hand gloves, weight balance, liquid soap chemicals, packaging containers, a good and steady source of water and a convenient production space.
With N30,000, any interested entrepreneur can buy these materials, print his or her brand label on it and behold he or she would have joined the league entrepreneurs, taking his or her own share of the ever increasing soap making business.
To start with, soak 1/4kg of carboxymenthyl cellulose in 10 litres of water for 2-3 days, and check for complete dissolve. Thereafter, dissolve 1/4 kg of soda ash in water and pour it into the carboxymenthyl cellulose solution and stir until reaction is done.
Then dissolve sodium laurel sulphate in water to give clear solution, afterwards pour it into the previous solution of carboxymenthyl cellulose and soda ash, then stir. Add 1/4 kg of texapon and pour a litre of sulphonic acid into the CMC solution.
Dissolve caustic soda in water and stir properly. After all these mixture, wait for the lather to disappear, then add color and perfume.
Note that the mixture of these reagents requires a step by step process, don’t mix everything together at once, and also ensure that the reagents are smoothly dissolved in water, before mixing them, if you follow the steps rightly, then your liquid soap should be ready for packaging, thereby creating a unique brand, which will help you corner your own share of the ever increasing market and demand for liquid soap. Now that your soap is ready, the next step is sales and marketing.
Here, you don’t need to be scared of competition, because the market is large enough for all brands, but you need to be strategic. Focus on car wash outfits, restaurants, bars, dry and house cleaning firms as your primary targets. Do not underrate your family and friends, because aside from using the soap at home, they can also use it as souvenir when hosting social gatherings.
As long as you are ready to reduce your price a little, they would embrace your brand and shut their minds against others.
