To scale up, you need to collaborate – Zainab Jaji

Zainab Mustapha Jaji is the General Secretary of African Women Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) West Africa, a platform for women to form trade collaborations. The serial entrepreneur, who set up an ICT company with other partners, is also in the business of rearing cattle. With about 500 cattle, she said the business is tough. In this […]

Zainab Mustapha Jaji is the General Secretary of African Women Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) West Africa, a platform for women to form trade collaborations. The serial entrepreneur, who set up an ICT company with other partners, is also in the business of rearing cattle. With about 500 cattle, she said the business is tough. In this interview, she tells us more. Excerpt.

Tell us about your journey as an entrepreneur?

My journey into entrepreneurship started after my NYSC.  My family has a background in business. So, I joined to work with my dad. He is an industrialist so I was working with him and learning. I was working with him through the poultry processing, rearing and some of our manufacturing arms in Lagos.

My dad’s company was Daddo International Nig Limited and we were exporting agricultural produce like ginger, sesame and others.

I moved to Abuja after I got married and I started working with my friends. We set up an ICT company and we were doing management consulting.  But then, I was pursuing some agricultural business at my spare time.  We do cattle rearing and we work with major processors in town providing them with input and sourcing grains for them. We keyed into the agricultural value chain.

Which of your passions do find fulfilment in?

I enjoy both of them. Cattle rearing is tough. Agriculture generally is tough. Especially for the fact that you are not always there all the time.  My sister and I collaborate and we are trying to go into the dairy aspect. Within communities where we have cattle, we are trying to set up milk stations and so on. But it’s definitely tough. I go to the farm but we go early.

How do you go about the cattle rearing business?

I am Fulani any way. But we have herdsmen who also help us.  We do bull fattening so we can send them to the market for slaughter. That is the more profitable aspect of the business. You keep them in feed locks where you feed them for three months. Then you take them to the market when they are quite big, then the slaughter. You do it for some of your animals. You don’t do that for most of your herd. The cows you see going around with herdsmen are not easily slaughtered. They are people’s wealth.  You see one person that has about 500 cows.  For him, it is an asset.  We have over 500.

How did you get the cattle you rear?

As a Fulani person, when you are born, your parents give you cattle. When you marry, you are given cattle. When I was getting married, I got money and cattle were part of my dowry. So you add it to your herd and they gradually grow. And then you develop a business relationship with your herdsman. You have you veterinary doctor and you have land where you keep the animals. You let them have access to water and good health services. The business can be profitable, but when the cattle get sick, you have to think of how to cut your losses.

One of the challenges women entrepreneurs face is finance, how do you think this challenges can be solved?

That is an overbeaten topic, because you may have a business which does not need finance but a little bit of re-structuring. Maybe you need to have a look again and see what cost to reduce to save money. You may just need guidance to help your business succeed. You may just need someone to look at your business with a fresh eye.

But then, the government is doing so many interventions for SMEs, through the CBN or Bank of Industry. Statistics show that women are the best in terms of repayment of loans. But it does not mean that we are taking those loans. Because we are afraid. But I know the CBN is doing Asset Registry were you can give a movable asset, like generator or jewellery as collateral.  So, finance is not always the first thing, you may just need a training to help you improve your business.

You were the immediate past president of African Women Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP). Tell us about AWEP West Africa, what role are you playing?

I am the General Secretary for AWEP West Africa. One of the things we are doing is try to harmonise interaction with all the West African chapters of AWEP. Most importantly, to identify each other and train with each other. Also, how do we source raw materials from each other; how do I take my products from one country to the other. It is women trying to organise themselves within West Africa.

There are 32 chapters within Africa. AWEP was set up by the United States Department to help women to trade under African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). But if not trading with America, the African market is huge. And that is the only way we can empower ourselves; by keeping our money regionally. Even in the Nigeria chapter of AWEP, we trade a lot with each other. For instance, we have a platform you can put a question through. You could ask, does anybody have coconut oil, cashew nuts? Or who has corn to process? With such information we are working amongst ourselves to provide linkages and network with each other. So, whatever a woman wants she can get.

How can more women key into this?

Since Nigeria is divided into six zones, we have also divided AWEP based on that. It’s not easy for a woman entrepreneur in Sokoto to come and join AWEP in Abuja.  So, we have a North West branch.  Each zone has a vice president and each state has a chapter. We have channel of information from the centre out. And then we lease with the state chapters.

We have a good structure for AWEP in Nigeria. But women have to be members of AWEP to get access to this information. We have a website and you can join or contact your VP.  We have our headquarters in Abuja and we are working closely with the Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment.

For women who are producing things like Shea butter locally, how do you think they can get to the level of export?

Let’s take a product like Shea Butter. It has a lot of derivatives but it’s the quality that matters. When you think of export, you must think of the quality you will prepare your product for export. Also, it must be same quality you produce for Nigerians. Don’t think that you will produce with less quality for Nigerians, your product will not sell.

Also, packaging is very key in selling your products.  Get your certification from NAFDAC and SON. Also, if you want to export, make sure you meet the regulation of the country you are exporting to locally.

To scale up also, you may need to collaborate. Collaboration is very important.  I am comforted that I work with a lot of women. Going out alone is not easy. You need a support system. We do some businesses together. We may come together and say let’s export this product in September for instance. We prepare and put money together. I cannot raise N15 million, but 30 of us can.  So we come together, work together and make profit. This helps us to become disciplined and organised. And at the end of the day, we are not leaving anybody behind.

At the recent AWEP AGM, there was the AWEP rice. The women came together on their own to produce that.  They bought a piece of land and produce AWEP paddy rice. If you want to upscale, you need partnerships to do that.

I was born in Lagos; I went to Sunny Field Primary School, Lagos. When we relocated to Kaduna, I was in Capital School in Kaduna. Then, I went to Queen Elizabeth School in Ilorin and MillField School, Somerset England.

I did my first degree in Politics and International Relations at the University of Warwick, UK then I did Masters in International Relations from University of Reading in the UK.