There is a lot of profitable business opportunities in Nigeria that any entrepreneur can start with and make profit from.
One of these lucrative businesses is coldroom business. The coldroom business is one of the most lucrative businesses in the league of Small and Medium Enterprises sector. When you put the right things first, as well as learn all that is required to be learnt about the business.
Starting a coldroom business in Nigeria is usually for two major investment purposes. It is either for ice-block making or frozen food business, Ice-blocks are sold in solid bars, to drinks vendors as well as to caterers and event organizers for the cooling of drinks, while Frozen food business involves the preservation of livestock foods such as sea foods and poultry products among others.
However, it is very important to do some market survey in order to acquire knowledge that would make for a smooth start.
What you need
According to the Chief Executive Officer of Ibukunoluwa Frozen Foods, Mrs. Ibukun Adekanbi, cold room business is a profitable business of which the capital involved depends on the capacity of the business.
“The capital required to start a cold room business depends on the capacity of the coldroom you want to setup. The startup capital ranges from N500, 000 and above depending on your budget.
“To start a cold room business, first thing that should come to mind is determining your scale of business because we have different scale of cold room business. You can either go for a small scale which would only entail selling to immediate customers but if are going for large or commercial scale, it involves manufacturing/packaging and importation of the products yourself, which is a big investment.
“For those that want to engage in small scale cold room business, all you need is a good shop, refrigerators, constant power supply and access to cheap supply of products,” she said.
Adekanbi also added that location is very crucial and important part of any business that intends to grow.
“It is very important that your business is located in a strategic position, so as to reach all. You may want to consider locating your business in a shopping plaza, street, or a very busy bus stop. You have to make sure to get a large space that can contain your equipments and all other gadgets that would aid an effective running of the business,” she explained.
Basic Requirements
The business woman added that there are some basic things you can’t do without when you start a cold room business such as deep freezers, generators, cutlass, knifes, scales, aprons, cutting tables, buckets, cutting planks and so on. It is needful that all these are got from the start so as to have a smooth operation of the business.
Determine the type of foods business
One other thing that really needs to be considered is the type of livestock foods that you want to deal in. You may want to choose from a wide array of; Fish- Titus, Tilapia, Croaker, and other species of fish, Different body parts of Chicken, Turkey, shrimps, and what have you. You may also want to focus on just a few just so that you are focused.
Constant power supply in your locality
Power supply is very essential for a cold room business and in this regard the governments as well as the Discos have not lived up to expectation.
Hence what you need to do is to have a stand-by generator to provide constant power to your cold room business.
Narrating some of the challenges, Adekanbi noted that, “the cost of running the business is a big challenge of which electricity is the crucial one. Without adequate power supply, a whole stock of products could get wasted and result in loss. Unfortunately, the epileptic nature of power supply in the country has not helped his business at all.
