Beauty Beyond Borders: Scaling Your Brand from Nigeria to the Global Stage

Hello and welcome to the show. Before we begin, apologies for the noise in the background today. The question that we're going to tackle is how one can go about scaling your business beyond Nigeria and we're going to be looking at this primarily from the angle of those people who have product based businesses. Now, the reason why I'm going over this question today is because this is one of those questions that I was giving that I wouldn't say I was stumped.

But once in a while during a training, I receive a question that goes a little bit beyond my area of expertise. And this is one of those questions. But still, nevertheless, I'd like to tackle it over here while we share how I tackled it when the question came up live in one of my trainings so that some of you who are facing those sorts of challenges can get the benefit of my insight from a sales and business development perspective.

Now, this is a question that I was asked by a lady in a live training at Avon, Avon Business Incubator. Yeah, Avon Business Incubator. So in Abuja we have a bunch of incubators, tech clubs, you know, those sorts of places. And I do some work for these sorts of institutions every now and now and then. And this is the sort of question that I was received, how do you go about scaling your business beyond Nigeria if you have a product business?

Now, a couple of things to note. When people are talking about scaling a business, typically that means that they already have some sort of activity on ground. So they have validated the business idea. They have a bunch of customers, it looks like things are going good. And so they think they can expand the business, whether it's Togo, what else, Ghana, UK, America, whatever. There are people who scale beyond the shores of Nigeria.

So it is a yeah, it's a relevant question. So like I said, the lady who asked me this question was in the beauty space. And like I pointed out, it's beyond my areas of expertise and it's kind of complicated anyway. That's relative to the sort of things that we discussed here on the podcast, because we notice over here on the podcast we talk about primarily personal selling and how that relates to business growth. Those are situations where you're communicating with someone one-on-one because you have a particular product you're trying to sell or an agenda that you're trying to move forward.

So if you look at things from that angle, personal selling, sometimes sales strategy, then these sorts of topics, yeah, kind of becomes a little bit complicated. Now my response is, First off, you have to understand the market. You have to do a bunch of research on the target market. You have to look at demographics, since we're talking about the beauty products here, you know, makeup and things like that. You have to look at beauty trends and then the presence of competitors.

And this was, to be honest, this is one of those questions that made me a little what's the word? I'm not sure. No, not uncomfortable, iffy, because it's a question that I put out there and I wanted myself. Do we need a Nigerian makeup brand in the UK market when it is already a saturated UK market? And you also have a bunch of people who are trying to sell products that are targeted at women of African descent, you know?

Yeah, women of African descent who have dark skins. So I was wondering, do you really need to throw a Nigerian makeup brand into that mix? Because I think it's kind of saturated enough. But anyway, who am I to kill anybody's, anybody's dreams? So, but these are the sorts of things that you have to look at. You have to look at the target market. So if you already have things popping off here in Nigeria and you're thinking, let me expand to Ghana, to Togo, to Australia,

to America, to the UK, in this case, the lady was thinking about the UK. You have to ask yourself all those sorts of questions. So if you're thinking maybe Australia, but you're thinking Sydney, and maybe Sydney is, I don't know, I'm just guessing. Let's just say Sydney. Should I be guessing? Let me just go ahead and guess anyway. Of course, you know, if I get it wrong, you know, no disrespect to my Australian listeners.

So let's say Sydney is maybe 98% Caucasian, for instance. So these are the sort of things you're going to look at. If Sydney is 98% Caucasian, you have this beauty brand that is popping off here in Niger. Would it make sense that you should be looking at Sydney to expand to since it's mostly Caucasians that are there and you don't have Africans, immigrants, people of African descent, what are they called, indigenous folks, you know, all those sorts of things.

So those are the sorts of questions that you have to ask. Then another reason why it's kind of complicated is because when you're talking about makeup, you're now in that space where you have to start looking at regulations. What are the regulations concerning the import and the export of products like these because these sorts of things are safety, safety concern. Now let us remove the LAX enforcement environment that we have in Nigeria because the laws are there about what you can import and what you can import.

But you step into any shop and all the products are there all kinds of creams, you know, whitening creams, you know, based carrots, whitening creams, tomatoes, whitening creams based on unlike all kinds of things out there in the market, including things that are supposed to be illegal, you can, you can find it all if you, if you want it, you can find it. But so if you remove Nigeria's LAX environment, I'm sure that if you try other countries, UK,

Australia, you know, wherever, you'll find that they're going to be real tough and stringent regulations on what you can import and what you can import. OK, well, beauty is not Myspace. So, well, let me just guess, maybe they have quinine in some of the products. OK, No, not quinine. Quinine, that's malaria. Let's see, beauty products, creams, carotene, yes, carotene. Carotene is in carrots, carotene is in tomatoes and in pauper.

And they can be used as a lightning agent. So I'm sure that in, let's say America, for instance, or in the UK, they have strict requirements of, yes, you can make whatever face cream you want, but you can put, you know, this percent of carotene beyond a certain, you know, per milligram or something. So all those things are, are there and you have to do the research on what the import and export regulations are. Make sure that you comply before you start running a bunch of stuff because you don't need to be that it's popping off in Nigeria.

You think it's a good thing, you say we can run it now. Then you say you try to branch out to the UK and then you find out that you run foul of a couple of laws and you know, before you know it, it's police baby and all that. Then, OK, now you also have to look at what your export strategy is going to be. And typically, no surprise, since my error of specialty is personal sales, these sorts of things are always default to direct sales.

It's kind of like my default. So I would say go to international trade shows and beauty Expos, whether they're all being hosted in Lagos, you know, maybe you travel, you go and see your auntie in, in, in Toronto or whatever. You know, attend shows and go around, meet people, show your product, talk to a bunch of people you might be aware of validating whether you have a business idea in these sorts of markets. You might get to meet other stakeholders, start growing your networks.

These are places where you might find possible distribution partners. So for someone who is thinking of getting into this sort of business, you know, expanding, growing beyond Nigeria, the shores of Niger, this is not a bad way to go about it and do research. So it's kind of my default to, you know, this whole one-on-one direct contacts, you know, body contacts. That's, that's my, that's my default basically. So doing direct sales will not be a bad way of building up your export strategy.

That's from an, an emergency standpoint, you know, talking to people, trying to figuring out what is there. And that will help you to develop your sales strategy. Then of course, there's also establishing an online presence, which is part of what the lady was contemplating. That's apart from exports and yeah, apart from export, those whole thing of having an online presence and then working our fulfilment. So there are different kinds of platforms that you can with international shipping options that you can put your stuff on.

So you know, Amazon, Etsy. OK, forgive me, I should have done some research to see, you know, to what extent Etsy is available in Nigeria and stuff like that. So I'm sure you guys can access Etsy, but yeah, I just haven't been able to figure out if you know, like all those people who do arts and crafts like in Abuja here, like all these people like baggy artisans, for instance. So if you get authentic baggy art, I'm sure you can put it on Etsy.

But I'll need to do some research. I can't remember what the question was just to figure out how easy the whole thing is setting up your Etsy store, How you going to handle the the what's it called? Fulfillment. So the person has paid how you going to ship, you know all that back end stuff. So I should make a note of that and still do that research so that next time we're talking about online platforms, I can give you guys a much more educated response on that then.

OK. There's also indirect sales. That's why you partner with international distributors or wholesalers that are familiar with that target market. You know, that is the reason why I say these sorts of things, you know, direct body contact, going to international trade fair, things like that. You know, that's why that's why it's important because all the people that are going to be doing the intern indirect sales with, you know, these are the ways that you might meet those people to say you're going to stay here in your room or in your office and do a Google search and then come up with a bunch of international distributors and it can work.

But if you can, if you can afford to go and do somebody contact and show up in new shows, I, I would recommend that. That's how you'd find partners, international distributors and wholesalers. Then let's see what else. OK. There's also the matter of logistics and fulfilment. Shipping is going to be really important. You have to choose reliable shipping partners with international, with experience in international deliveries and customs clearance and all those sorts of things.

Now this is something I can speak to first hand because of me and my brother trying to do to export charcoal and agricultural commodities. So this is something we have faced first hand. You don't pick the right partners and you know, you start losing, you start losing money on the trade from day one. So let's say trucking companies, you pick a trucking company, well, for the sale of charcoal anyway. You pick a trucking company that's unreliable and they don't show up on time.

So your charcoal stays in the field for too long. Moisture content starts climbing depending on which season it is. And then because of that, they drive late, you miss your shipment, you know, on and on and on and on. And that's how you start losing profits in these sorts of things. So logistics fulfillments, you're going to have to lock those things down. Your partners have to be reliable. You need people with experience.

International deliveries. Yeah, like I said, customs, customs clearance, because it also is a nightmare where you deal with people, your stuff gets to customs and anything just hangs and people don't know how to move the thing forward. As a wedding photographer, I faced that once because I had stuff that was being made in Salt Lake City, in, in America. Some, some frames. No, not frames. Well, they could make frames, but it was customized Usbs,

customized flashes. That was with photos of the couple on it. And the books got in OK. But then that was the time that Nigerian Customs went on strike. And, you know, I'm here in Abuja and the bird is expecting her stuff. She really loves the album. But then Customs goes on strike and I'm like, what kind of rubbish is this? And of course, at the time I didn't have anybody in Lagos. But luckily the bird was like, oh, no, it's on the news.

We know it's Niger. This sort of thing happened and I was like, wow, thank God she was understanding. If not, could have been a nightmare. So all these things happen. Then inventory management also becomes a big issue here. If you're going to be expanding, even if it's just common Ghana that you're expanding to, inventory management is a big deal. Inventory, I'll explain Inventory. OK, Inventory. The idea behind inventory management is I sell makeup.

OK, in this case, let's stick to makeup. I sell makeup. I'm doing pretty good. I sell 50,000 units of makeup in Nigeria, but then I'm thinking of expanding to Ghana. So how much stock should I prepare in Ghana or prepare for the Ghanaian market to make sure that I still have enough to fulfill the orders in Nigeria? And yeah, so that's the sort of thing anyway, inventory management, basically stock management. How much raw material do I have to make the product that I need to sell here to sell over there,

to sell everywhere? So that's what inventory management is. Am I keeping things too long on the shelf? Because we keep things too long on the shelf, you are effectively losing money because you're keeping capital tied up that is not doing anything. Now you can see how I say when I receive some of these questions, I'm a little bit stumped because I'm a I'm a layman. So inventory management, yeah, I can tell you what inventory management is, but that's not my area of speciality.

So if you call me in and you say I should do inventory management for you, you know, verily, verily, I say on TV your business shall flop. So, but these are the sorts of things that you should be paying attention to. Now when it comes to event tree management, all the things that we've been saying so far over here on the podcast about CRM solutions, customer relationship management solutions. You now been talking about how you can use an Excel sheet or your mobile phone as a substitute for ACRM.

This kind of thinking is not going to work when it comes to inventory management. So to say you're going to be using your phone to be doing inventory management for shipments that are going out to Ghana and then you're still trying to manage your entry for your Lagos customers, it's going to be a stretch. You only need something a little bit much more sophisticated. What will you need? I don't know because I'm not an inventory management specialist,

but if you're on this lady's particular situation, these are the sorts of things that you have to start Googling. You know, go to Google, research it, go to ChatGPT, research it, go to YouTube, watch a bunch of videos. At the very least, you will get much more educated so that when you have to start talking to other people who are good at inventory management, store management, castle management, all these sorts of things, you will know the right questions to ask.

Now finally, here are some resources to consider. You guys can check out Smedan as a small and medium, no hold on small and medium Enterprises Development Authority of Nigeria, if I got the name correctly. So Smedan this, these are the sorts of things that they do, you know, so they want to promote small and medium enterprises in Nigeria. And of course, since a bunch of SM ES grow big here and then start trying to export stuff,

even if it's just share butter to Ghana that they're exporting, you know, that is still international trade. So international trade is not the, is not the primary focus of Sweden, but since they're trying to promote small and medium skilled enterprises, you should be able to find useful resources there. Like, OK, I, I'm a Nigerian babe. This business is rocking. We're doing good in Lagos. Honestly, how we can stretch and enter Ghana or I found some people that I think might be good international distributors,

let's say how we can stretch, we can enter UK or we can enter Canada. You know what resources are available, blah, blah, blah, all those sorts of things. I've found that, well, some of these median staff that I've come across anyway, not just in person, but then also some of the officials that I see on TV, It looks like these are the kind of things that they like because if they provide support, the whole thing does well.

These are the kind of what are they called, you know, like features that they like to do on channels, TV and NT and everything to show that oh, Smidan is working because these are people that we've promoted and this is the assistance that we've lent and stuff like that. Then for those of you thinking of doing trade on the African continent, the AF was one of these convoluting things. AFCTCA or something, basically the African Free Trade Continental Treaty and something something just Google the African free trade Continental Treaty and the the ACT will come up.

You can find some resources there lots of provisions around how to do trades not just in goods, but also in services across the African continent. In fact, one of my students in quote, well, not really my student because actually she was my classmate a very long time ago. And then she sees that me to podcasting. She's a specialist in the in the African Free Trade Continental Treaty. She wants to start the podcast on on the subject.

We had a conversation about it. I put her through and our podcast is doing very well. So they are specialists in the AFCT. Something, something a by the way, those of you who are in that field, the next time you guys have a meeting at the African Union or whatever it is, can you guys propose a simpler name? Because for those of you who are specialists, yes, you guys know it all the time. And every time I say it, somebody corrects me that no,

it's not a FCTC and they say the correct thing. But The thing is, for we average folk, everyday folk, for people like me, I like Mom C and you know, my friends who are not specialists in these sorts of things, it's a mouthful. You guys, please change your name. Then there's also Nexim, I think that's the Nigerian Export Import Bank or something. Forgive me, I'm running on freestyle, I should not be, but these are some of the resources that are out there.

I think I've seen them at a few events and I think we studied them back in school. So next thing, something you guys can look at. Then there's also BOY Bank of Industry. So Bank of Industry is not Bank of Industry, they're not export is not their thing, you know like Smedan. But like I said, since they tried to support, support Nigerian, what's that word Nigerian enterprise. And since they do lots of public education programs on channels TV, I've seen them on NTAI think there's even one of them that is on AIT.

They like success stories, you know, to show we are working, we're working, we're working. So if your business is popping off and it looks like they can be helpful in terms of money or helpful resources or things like that, they like to get behind these sorts of things so that they can thumb their chest and promote, you know, great features on Public TV to show that, you know, Nigeria is working. So, yeah, so check, these are the sorts of things that you guys should be looking for or looking at and these are the sorts of specialist that you should be.

Looking for if you have these sorts of questions. Anyway, that's the limit of what I can say. I guess you've seen that I mentioned some things that from a sales and business development perspective, you know the part where I was talking about and direct sales and then finding international distributors and stuff like that. So yes, I may have been able to say one or two helpful things, but this is actually something that is beyond my wheelhouse.

But one useful tip, however, take advantage of whatever resources that people offer because at this event I gave my opinions just like I did here and I was willing to talk on other sales related aspects of her journey. If she would get in touch with me one-on-one, you know, so that we would, we would talk especially where the especially on the power. I was talking about trade fairs and then dealing with other stakeholders like distributors and things like that.

So I made myself available, but the lady didn't call. Also there was somebody amongst the cohort, a classmate, same member of the session, who claimed to have useful resources and experience in these sorts of things. And I told the person, OK, that was good. You know, you all should hook up. So Madam, why don't you call this guy? So between talking to him, talking to me, you might get one or two ideas. So I was in touch with the other guy later on because me and him,

we had some some runs that we had to follow up on and the lady was not in this was not in touch. So if you are in this situation where you're trying to solve this sort of business problem or any sort of business problem and you meet two or three people who say they can help, take the phone call, take the meeting. Then if the meeting is productive or unproductive, then you can either qualify the person and spend more time or disqualify the person and throw away the person's phone number,

you know, depending on how productive or unproductive the meeting was. But still take whatever resources that you can find, take whatever helping hand that you can get. Because it was not just this young lady, but there are other people that I've come across and I find it quite strange anyway that you go, you attend these sorts of things, you say that this is problem, there's some excitement, people are willing to help, and then you don't follow up on anybody who offered a hand.

So you're in this situation, The people offer a hand, take it If it's useful, continue. If it's not useful, delete the person's number. Because yes, it's possible that, you know, there might be young men there who want to collect your phone number just because you're a fine babe and you're sharp. So they think, OK, if I marry this one, I'll marry into wealth. So anyway, that's all for today. Please connect with me on WhatsApp, phone number 08064662140.

The country code is +234. Also connect with me on LinkedIn. My name is Tavishima Ayede, I'm the host of the show. You can confirm the spelling of my name and e-mail address from the link. We're currently listening to this episode, so thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.