Entrepreneurship Zone: 31 August 2020: Cameroon: Selling household gas in Nigeria: Entrepreneur identifies gap in the market

Mon Aug 31 08:18:45 CAT 2020

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Entrepreneurship Zone: 31 August 2020: Cameroon: Selling household gas in
Nigeria: Entrepreneur identifies gap in the market

Opab Gas is a Nigerian company that supplies liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
to households and businesses in Kwara State. The company was started in
2018. Co-founder Olasupo Abideen (26) answers our questions.

1. Give us your elevator pitch.

Opab Gas offers a safe, convenient and affordable gas refilling solution to
individuals and businesses through a network of locations in Nigeria. We use
digital scales to weigh the gas content in the cylinders, which builds trust
among customers.

Customers can refill their cylinders with their preferred quantity of gas by
either walking into any of our six locations or by ordering through our
social media platforms and website. Once an online order is placed, we
connect customers to the nearest gas station.

Olasupo Abideen

2. How did you finance your startup?

We started with a 100,000 Nigerian naira (about $259) personal contribution
from myself and an additional 100,000 naira soft loan from friends and
family. In addition, the company has received two grants of 100,000 naira
and 1.5 million naira (about $3,884), respectively, to really expand the
business to where it is today.

3. If you were given $1 million to invest in your company now, where would
it go?

It will give us the opportunity to build a prototype of a smart meter which
will be installed on the cylinders. The smart meter will automatically
inform customers if their gas is finished as well as send a message to their
nearest gas station, which can then come to their house and refill the
cylinder.

The smart meter will also make a loud noise for 30 seconds in the event that
the gas is leaking. If no-one attends to it within 30 seconds, the system
will shut down automatically to avert a fire hazard.

4. What risks does your business face?

Unfavourable policies from the government. There is no unified process of
taxation. We are paying taxes to the local government, the state government
and the federal government. It reduces our profits and capacity to scale if
we have to pay taxes to the same government three times. We are not getting
value from all this tax, as infrastructure such as roads, is very poor. We
have to repair our vehicle every two weeks due to the bad roads.

One of the six gas refilling stations run by Opab Gas.

Another risk is the lack of adequate measures to verify new entrants in the
gas business. There are people who will simply start selling gas without the
required technical know-how and expertise. When things go wrong, such as gas
explosions, it reduces people’s trust in LPG as an energy source.

5. So far, what has proven to be the most successful form of marketing?

Word of mouth through our existing customers. The healthy and safety (HS)
card that we give to our customers has also been a success. In addition,
social media has been productive in generating new business.

6. Tell us about your biggest mistake.

Appointing staff who didn’t have a guarantor. I’ve learnt that no one is to
be trusted. Every new staff member needs to have a guarantor – someone who
knows them well and who would refund any stolen money. --Howwemadeitinafrica

INVESTORS DIARY 2020

Company

Event

Venue

Date & Time

Companies under Cautionary

Bindura Nickel Corporation

Padenga Holdings

Delta Corporation

Meikles Limited

Invest Wisely!

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