How Kano women make brisk business from food packaging

Walking through different sections of a store while shopping, one can’t help but notice locally produced snacks and products beautifully branded and packaged for willing customers to buy. Before now such products  weren’t readily available in cities unless  one takes a trip to the market or the village. These products range from, dry locust beans […]

Walking through different sections of a store while shopping, one can’t help but notice locally produced snacks and products beautifully branded and packaged for willing customers to buy. Before now such products  weren’t readily available in cities unless  one takes a trip to the market or the village. These products range from, dry locust beans known as daddawa, dry okro, dried ginger, cinnamon, ridi candy, groundnut candy, fried grasshopper popularly known as fara, cakes, drinks amongst other intriguing items. Weekend Trust spoke to some of the women behind the food packaging business.

Salma Muhammad Salisu, founder of ‘The M&S Mannah Wassalwa Kitchen,’ never imagined becoming an entrepreneur she said. After earning a BSc in Statistics and completing the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme in 2019, she found herself at odds with a long-standing foe -unemployment.

“With no work in sight, I started thinking about what I could do for myself,” she said.

In traditional Northern Nigeria, women have long pursued small-scale ventures that can be operated at home, in compliance with cultural values prioritising indoor business. Sewing and knitting, processing foods, and spinning cotton have long been a path to financial independence for women, keeping them in the comfort of their homes. This age-old practice is best captured in traditional Hausa weddings, with brides arriving at their marital homes with sewing or knitting machines, and other variety of food and cloth processing tools – icons of both domesticity and entrepreneurialism.

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In Kano, the commercial and cultural hub of Northern Nigeria, a quiet revolution is taking place—one that is being championed by female entrepreneurs determined to build successful ventures in the food industry from the comfort of their homes. Women entrepreneurs are transforming kitchens into miniature factories, by producing and packaging local foods for supermarkets and social media markets.

Amidst growing unemployment and increased financial burden in today’s rapidly changing economy, many women have ventured out of traditional limitations and have started utilising their capabilities in food production to build organised and viable ventures. Unlike older generations, who relied on sales in neighbouring communities, these women have adopted branding, expert packaging,  distribution to stores and social media marketing to target a larger base of buyers.

Entrepreneurs like Salma Muhammad Salisu, Aisha Auwal and Ruqayyah Nazir are at the helm of this revolution, proving Northern women not only preserve traditional values but redefine their role in modern times. With fresh fruit juice, traditional northern snacks, and new bakery trends, these entrepreneurs have created a niche for themselves in a competitive marketplace.

“I attended and signed up for trainings on marketing and packaging foods, branding, and getting my goods into supermarkets,” Salisu explains. “I sell my juice to supermarkets and restaurants, working on a consignment basis.

“I could not stand consuming raw fruits, so I blended them and prepared them in juice form. That’s how I got the idea of my business.”

Her first beverage was mango juice packaged in repurposed carbonated drink bottles. She cleaned and disinfected the cans and filled them with juice, stocking them in a shop near her residence.

By 2020, Salisu had formally registered her business with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and added a range of fruit juices, traditional drinks such as zobo and tamarind, and mocktails for events to her offerings. Her big break came when she became a part of the Chefs Dexterity Food Forum, a vibrant community of food entrepreneurs and professionals. Today, Salisu is supplying her juices to supermarkets and restaurants, working on a consignment basis.

According to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE) (2021), one of the most vibrant regions for female entrepreneurship in the world is Africa, with almost 27 percent of its female population involved in entrepreneurial ventures. Furthermore, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) (2022), 40 percent of Nigeria’s small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) have female owners, beating out 29 per cent, a benchmark for countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

This success of entrepreneurship for Kano women is therefore nothing short of astonishing. Converting kitchens into small factories, transforming and packaging traditional foods for supermarkets and social media sales, and effectively creating a niche for themselves in a competitive marketplace, for them, is a lifeline in an economy with a scarcity of jobs in a conventional manner. With tireless determination, limitless imagination, and social media’s powerful voice, they’re redefining the face of the food business in Kano.

For Aisha Auwal, an entrepreneur in the baking business, her passion for food processing goes way back to when she was a child helping her mother make traditional foods in Northern Nigeria, such as ‘alkaki’ and ‘dakuwa’. After completing a degree in Islamic Studies and Shari’a Law at the Bayero University in 2016, she started a range of ventures before seeing a gap in the marketplace for a range of northern snacks packaged in a sanitary manner, such as gireba – a traditional cookie made with flour, butter, eggs and milk.

“I started the business around June 2023 after I decided to turn my passion for baking traditional cookies into a business,” she said.

However, to build trust with her customers, Auwal opted to deliver orders in person for free when she first started, a move that helped her build a strong brand name.

“I knew my immediate circle enjoyed my product, and therefore, naturally, they’d inform others,” she looks back.

She even took to social media marketing in her stride, effectively using platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook to expand her base of customers.

 

Ruqayyah’s break: Cake-in-a-Jar

Nineteen-year-old Ruqayyah Nazir started a cookery and bakery business, having discovered that her baking and culinary expertise could develop into a successful business.

Her journey started with buying and selling clothes via social media. She later moved to distributing packaged water, and in the process, gained a lot of expertise in marketing goods and dealing with buyers.

Inspired by her desire to pursue her culinary aspirations, Nazir took a culinary school in Kano, and in the process, developed expertise in African and European dishes, desserts, and catering. She formally started her bakery, initially providing daily meals, then mustering enough confidence to move into cakes and pastries. One of her biggest breakthroughs involves introducing cake-in-a-jar to Northern Nigeria.

“Customers were used to traditional cake cutting,” she looks back. “They resisted at first, but when they took a bite, they enjoyed the ease and freshness.”

 

Challenges

Despite their success, they each encountered significant obstacles. Aisha Auwal had her products suddenly dropped by a store, with no one explaining why it happened. Instead of getting disheartened, she extended her distribution to several stores, not wanting to depend on one retailer alone.

Rukayya Nazir’s business initially received gpood reviews  from new buyers, but she won through social media marketing and free samples.

In contrast, Salma Salisu has an ongoing battle to secure a NAFDAC registration number, a critical qualification for supermarkets interested in stocking her goods. In addition, she battles competition from restaurants that initially bought her juice but have started producing similar drinks in-house.

 

How technology is changing the game

For female entrepreneurs who are into packaged foods, the advent of technology especially social media has become a game-changer. Platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook enable them to sell directly to buyers, bypassing a store, and simultaneously paying them huge amounts of money for the content creation.  

According to Women’s World Banking, Nigeria has the world’s highest proportion of activity by women entrepreneurs, comprising a remarkable 23 million women who command 41 percent of the country’s micro-businesses. According to the organization, following the COVID-19 pandemic, 67.9 per cent of these women adopted digital technologies to sustain and grow their businesses. These women are the unsung heroes of resilience, contributing to their families and shaping the fabric of Nigerian society. This is why entrepreneurs worldwide view social media as a must-use tool for marketing, regardless of success in their ventures.

As for Ms Auwal and Ms Salisu, they use WhatsApp and Instagram to promote packaged gireba and receive orders, while Rukayya leverages social media marketing by getting influencers to endorse her cakes instead of conventional advertisement expenses.

 

Government and private sector assistance

While the Nigerian Government initiated programs such as the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP) and Women in Business (WinBiz) scheme under SMEDAN, many female entrepreneurs at the grassroots level have continued to face a challenge in accessing funding. However, in the private sector, ‘She Leads Africa’ and ‘The Tony Elumelu Foundation’ have programs offering mentorship and grants, but many perceive these offerings to fall short. In addition, in Northern Nigeria, lack of awareness and access to technology continues to present additional obstacles.

 

The future of women in Kano’s food business

Notwithstanding, female-owned businesses contribute a lot positively towards Kano’s economy. Nigeria’s informal economy, including food ventures, generates over 50 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP.  Therefore, not only are these female entrepreneurs generating employment through employing assistants for baking, packaging, and delivery, but traditional customs are being preserved through them.