YOUTHVILLE TRUST
ISSUE #78
...young at heart
Friday, May 13, 2016
Sachet Water: A drink in your palms, what’s involved!
ABC
?
PRODUCTION DISPOSAL
STORAGE AND DISTRIBUTION
Illustration/ Graphics UKEOMA MODESTUS
A
Sachet water delivery
ABC Water 60 cl SHOP SALES & HAWKERS
CONSUMERS
RETAIL SHOP Sachet Water
SALES
‘Ladies need double efforts to succeed in an all-male field’ Text by Latifat Opoola (@LatifatOpoola)
B
ukole Fatile is an entrepreneur in the field of Architecture. She started earning her income as an undergraduate by making architectural designs for clients. Fatile told YOUTHVILLE the challenges that come with the field especially for a lady in a country where cases of gender discrimination are prevalent. “I remember listening to Madam Okonjo Iweala once and she said when you are in a profession dominated by males, you (ladies) have to
FG told to empower more youth to grow economy — Garba 33 >>
work twice as hard to excel because they have more working for them,” Fatile said. Starting since 2009, Fatile convinces more clients to look her way other than her male counterparts by putting extra efforts to make her works ‘speak’. To her, a key secret of her standing alone is that the profession encourages selfsufficiency and enterprise. She said: “Being an entrepreneur is an automatic thing for an architect and it entails being creative and having a lot of experience. “We also compete with artisans who have the raw knowledge but because
clients don’t want to pay the architects who have the technical and professional education that could give the work and edge, they go for the artisans,” Fatile explained. The young professional urged the Nigerian Institute of Architecture (NIA) to help groom more young architects out there. She said they need guidance to be rooted as what most of them learnt in the school is quite different from what is practiced on field. To the youth, Fatile encouraged them to be entrepreneurially minded as it is the only way they can fend for themselves.
REFLECTIONS
YOUTHVILLE
Friday, May 13, 2016 Page 34
Sachet Water: A drink in your palms, what’s involved! Sachet water is often called ‘Pure Water’ in the Nigerian diction. It is actually a table water usually around 60 centilitre (cl) capacity and sold in sealed polythene packs. Text by Victoria Bamas @sinach360, Simon E. Sunday @SimonEchewofun, Latifat Opoola @LatifatOpoola, Ibrahim Kabiru Sule @ikabirsule & Eseohe Ebhota @sleek_diva88
W
ith the turn of the millennium, the improvement in water technology has transformed the sales of drinking water from the ones tied in ordinary polythenes (leathers) or water sold in cups/bowls in public places and markets. While many consumers at the last lap of the 20th century described such water as having many impurities as it was mostly raw from the tap or borehole systems, the coming of the packaged table water meant something better – pure; hence the name – ‘pure water’. The Daily Trust YOUTHVILLE took a swipe at the value chain beginning from its production, storage, distribution, sales, consumption and residue disposal. Production Fayemi Adeleke produces sachet water in Zaria at his Simi Water factory. To him, producing the content involves having first, a sustainable water source – usually a public tap utility or a borehole system. Describing a typical factory, Adeleke said it should have a section where the various layers of purifying
unted system are fabricated and mounted. He said: “Water from the tap runs into the purifier which have several layers and three stages. They have active filters and rock purifying system fixed to it to hold back all forms of impurities. “The purified water is then channelled to the sealing room where the machine packs the water into a 60cl content polythene sachet. The process here is also monitored by a Science Laboratory technician or graduate alongside the use of electrolytes and other chemicals to disinfect it,” he explained. The producer said 20 sachet water are packed into a bag which sells from N70 at wholesale price. “We distribute the certified water bags with our trucks. The production process and factor must be duly registered and certified by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC),” Adeleke added. He said the business is quite lucrative if one has a ‘tasteless’ water brand. Another factor is the location as it tends to move fast in a populous community. “We could sell over 6000 bags in a day especially during the hot and dry season when people need more water in their system,” he said. Cold room, allied business vital in the table water industry The cold room business does well
to grow the sales of table water as everybody wants it cold! Ladi Oguta who has couple of them at Mararaba near Abuja said the major challenge power supply. She said using the generator is not an option as it rips the business of much profit. “The market this hot season was not as high as that of last year due to the increase in price of the sale of a bag of sachet water, without corresponding increase in the price of a sachet, because of this the retailers are not making as much profit hence the drop in morale,” she said. Juliet John sells gas and other materials used for maintaining and running the cold room refrigerator. “The rise of dollar has affected the market because prior to the rise we sell a kilo of gas for N750 but now it is N1000,” she said. Another Cold Room operator in Jabi, Abuja, Abdurrahman Adamu said he combines that with selling the sachet water and ice blocks. He said: “We sell a bag of water at different prices, depending on the weather. Sometimes we sell it N100, N120 or N110. The reason is that, the nature of people we often do business with are also selling it in pieces. They, too, look to gain profits.” Sachet water retailing, hawking Sani Musa, a hawker in Kuje town of
Backpack Firm, bank train students on FG told to empower more youth 200 entrepreneurship to grow economy — Garba Text by Nurudeen Oyewole Text by Kamardeen Abubakar Ismail
A
r i s i n g e n t re p re n e u r, M u r t a l a Mohammed Garba has said until government fully commits to youth empowerment through technical skills, its visions of wealth creation and economic diversification will remain a mirage. Garba who specializes in mechanized farming told YOUTHVILLE in Abuja that the economic hardship experience globally indicates that only countries that have tapped into technical skills will weather the storm. He said: “Government
has not invested in the youth empowerment. Almost 90% of the youth who still roam the streets in search of jobs have not benefitted from any skills acquisition programmes.” He also said most youth shy away from acquiring technical skills because they are either ignorant of the values or are over-reliant on paper qualification. To address this Garba said team of young entrepreneurs will soon organize an orientation programme and embark on a campaign to sensitize the youths on the plethora benefits that entrepreneurship holds”
Lagos
A
bout 200 undergraduates have participated in a five-day entrepreneurial training programme organised by Gazzelle Academy Vocational Centre in partnership with Fidelity Bank Plc. At a press briefing in Lagos, the founder, Gazzelle Academy, Muna Onuzo, described the programme which comprised undergraduate students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) as “enlightening and fulfilling”. Onuzo said the partnership for the programme was struck after the parties became worried about the alarming rate of unemployment in Nigeria. She said the trainees did so well within just two days in the areas of fashion and beauty, including tailoring among others.
Abuja told YOUTHVILLE he has been hawking the sachet water for years now and he makes profits because it is a fast moving consumable good. He said: “Everybody wants to drink water especially when they are out in the sun, besides everybody at least once in a day will drink one sachet of water when they are out.” On this, a health official, Mrs Glory Efe said: “I don’t drink sachet water again because many of them must have been touched by many hands before you even have the opportunity of buying one.” She urged government to come up with measures that would help in healthier and safer production and sales of the sachet water. Disposing the sachet? The YOUTHVILLE observed that despite the enormity of consumption scale, the authorities especially in Abuja have not implemented any rule on indiscriminate disposal of the sachets. A Climate Change Specialist, Mr Mike Terry of the Green African Movement said people are not reluctant to recycle the pure water nylons because it cost much to recycle them. He said government can find a way to make the production of new ones expensive thereby enforcing the recycling of old ones considering that the nylons take up to 100 years to decay.
Educational games, key to developing children skills Text by Simon E. Sunday @SimonEchewofun
A
n app developer, Rachael Ejoke has said the key to developing children skills lies in the creation of more educational games. The Words Barn developer who spoke with YOUTHVILLE in Abuja said “Empowered with words means being empowered with knowledge and application of positive knowledge leads to growth and development in any society.” The Words Barn application which is available on android and Google Playstore has an inbuilt Fun, Social Media Competition platform that provides easy motivational quotes for readers. She called on more youth and teenagers to join the competition at www.starryclassix.com or on its social media sites to build themselves and improve their vocabulary. “If you are a Go-Getter, love challenges and you love the social media, this competition is for you!” Rachael said.
Results will show up when you do – Jill Koenig
Group creates platform for scholarship, job opportunities Text by Latifat Opoola @LatifatOpoola
A
group, The FSB (Federal Savings Bank) Connect said it is creating a foundation to provide scholarships for students, job opportunities for youths and skills acquisition and empowerment schemes for the less privileged. In a communiqué issued by the group, it is seeking some representatives to come up with ideas that are useful to the society for sponsorship. The FSB Connect comprises a team of experienced bankers from the old Federal Savings Bank that separated for years due to the capitalization exercise of the Nigerian banking Industry.