Nigerian agidi hawker gets financial support from US lecturer

Mr Moses Eteng making waves with his unique marketing strategy
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A Nigerian man who hawks agidi (corn flour jellos) on the streets of Uyo, the South-south state of Akwa Ibom, has received a N350,000 (about $500) in financial support from a US-based lecturer.

This is the first time he is getting such help, he said.

The agidi seller, Moses Eteng, is a familiar figure in Uyo because of his unique dress – he wears a neat suit with a well-knotted tie every day he goes out to hawk agidi inside a tray on his head, which is what attracted Obasesam Okoi, an assistant professor of Justice and Peace Studies at the University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, US, who stumbled on his photos on Facebook.

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Unique marketing strategy
PREMIUM TIMES last year reported on Mr Eteng’s unique marketing strategy and how it endeared him to many.

The wraps of agidi are carefully stacked in the tray; the price for each is N100. A full tray is about N20,000, according to the report.

Except for the tray – filled with agidi – which he carries on his head, one may be tempted to think that Mr Eteng works with a corporate firm.

To sell agidi in Nigeria is considered a low-level business, and those hawking it are usually dressed in less than attractive ways.

Mr Etengs agidi
Mr Eteng’s agidi

“What attracted me to him was his creativity to dress decently in a suit while selling agidi. That made his product attractive to the point that I thought this guy could be encouraged to scale up in his business,” Mr Okoi told PREMIUM TIMES.

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Mr Okoi’s admiration for Mr Eteng increased sharply when the agidi hawker told him he preferred a loan instead of some free money.

“I have never heard that. He told me he wanted a loan. That means he has a sense of responsibility. He is accountable,” Mr Okoi told PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Eteng told this newspaper that he preferred getting the money as a loan, not a gift, because it would compel him to work harder to repay it.

The N350,000 was eventually wired into Mr Eteng’s bank account as a gift, both men confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES.

Mr Eteng said he would use the money to set up a kiosk where people can easily visit to buy his agidi instead of leaving potential customers to wonder how to trace him.

But setting up a kiosk would not stop him from continuing to move around with some quantity of the agidi “so that people will know that I still exist”, he said.

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Mr Eteng currently produces 300 to 350 wraps of agidi daily and does not intend to increase production immediately until he sees how the market reacts to the new introduction, he said.

“A time will come when I will have other kiosks in different strategic points in the city,” he said.

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“Educated agidi” is the special name people call Mr Eteng’s corn flour jellos because of the man’s dress and neatness, and he has taken advantage of this to register his business as Educated Agidi with Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission.

He has taken his marketing strategies further by adding his customers to a WhatsApp group he set up to ease communication with them. He announces when the agidi is ready, takes orders from customers and then outsources the delivery to a local logistics firm.

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But there is a snag.

“Sometimes the delivery guys do disappoint me. There is a way you call them, and they say they are busy,” Mr Eteng said. “The challenge I have now is a delivery bike.”

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Several people who patronised Mr Eteng have attested to the delicious taste of his agidi.

Key business lessons
Apart from Mr Eteng’s unique marketing strategies, his ability to start small and grow his business is a key lesson in entrepreneurship.

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“One thing about business is that you don’t start big,” Mr Eteng told PREMIUM TIMES. “It is how you manage the small scale that will determine how big the business will grow.”

“Whatever thing you know how to do, focus on it, hold it tight, dream about it, remain consistent and do it better to stand out,” he added.

Mr Okoi shares similar sentiments
“The key lesson for entrepreneurs here is that first, you need a vision to succeed as an entrepreneur, and you need to start small. A lot of folks have big dreams, but they want to start from the top.

“When I spoke with this guy (Eteng), he has a big dream, but then he wants to start small,” Mr Okoi told PREMIUM TIMES.

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Mr Eteng is a self-sponsored secondary school graduate from Yakurr Local Government Area, Cross River State. He began selling agidi for his aunt in 2008 till 2018. He started his own business selling agidi in July 2018.

“I have done this business for 14 years (now). My 14 years in Akwa Ibom State make me 14 years in this business. I started by serving someone. I served a woman for ten years, from 2008 to 2018 when I left her.

“I decided not to stay with her again, so she took me back to my village. I had to gather money and come back to Akwa Ibom. When I came back, I started the business by myself.

“Then, I was still in school, and this is the business I used to train myself from my SS1 to SS3. That is how I started the business,” Mr Eteng told PREMIUM TIMES last year.

Credit: Premium Times

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Sanya Onayoade

Continental Editor, North America

SANYA ONAYOADE is a graduate of Mass Communication and a Master of Communication Arts degree holder from the University of Ibadan. He has attended local and international courses on Media, Branding, Public Relations and Corporate Governance in many institutions including the University of Pittsburgh; Reuters Foundation of Rhodes University, South Africa and Lagos Business School. He has worked in many newspaper houses including The Guardian and The Punch. He was the pioneer Corporate Affairs Manager of Odua Telecoms Ltd, and later Head of Business Development and Marketing of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO Plc).

He has led business teams to several countries in the US, Asia and Europe; and was part of an Aviation investment drive in West Africa. He has also driven media and brand consultancy for a few organizations such as the British Council, Industrial Training Fund, PKF Audit/Accounting Firm and Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme. He is a Fellow of Freedom House, Washington DC, and also Fellow of Institute of Brand Management of Nigeria. Sanya is a member of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a 1998 Commonwealth Media Awards winner and the Author of A Decade Of Democracy.
Morak Babajide-Alabi

Morak Babajide-Alabi

Continental Editor, Europe

Morak Babajide-Alabi is a graduate of Mass Communication with a Master of Arts Degree in Journalism from Napier University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He is an experienced Social Media practitioner with a strong passion for connecting with customers of brands.

Morak works as part of a team currently building an e-commerce project for the Volkswagen Group UK. Before this, he worked on the social media accounts of SKODA, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. In this job, he brought his vast experience in journalism, marketing, and search engine optimisation to play to make sure the brands are well represented on social media. He monitored the performance of marketing campaigns and data analysis of all volumes of social media interaction for the brands.

In his private capacity, Morak is the Chief Operating Officer of Syllable Media Limited, an England-based marketing agency with head office in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The agency handles briefs such as creative writing, ghostwriting, website designs, and print and broadcast productions, with an emphasis on search engine optimisation. Syllable Media analyses, reviews, and works alongside clients to maximise returns on their businesses.

Morak is a writer, blogger, journalist, and social media “enthusiast”. He has several publications and projects to his credit with over 20 years of experience writing and editing for print and online media in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Morak is a dependable team player who succeeds in a high-pressure environment. He started his professional career with the flagship of Nigerian journalism – The Guardian Newspapers in 1992 where he honed his writing and editing skills before joining TELL Magazine. He has edited, reported for, and produced newspapers and magazines in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Morak is involved in the development of information management tools for the healthcare sector in Africa. He is on the board of DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited, a company with branches in London, Lagos, and Abuja, to make healthcare information available at the fingertips of professionals. DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited achieved this by collaborating with notable informatics companies. It had partnered in the past with Avia Informatics Plc and i2i TeleSolutions Pvt.

Out of work, Morak loves walking and also volunteers on the board of a few UK Charity Organisations. He can be reached via http://www.syllablemedia.com
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Ademola Akinbola

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

Brief Profile of Ademola Akinbola

Ademola AKINBOLA is an author, publisher, trainer, digital marketing strategist, and a brand development specialist with nearly three decades of experience in the areas of branding, communication, corporate reputation management, business development, organizational change management, and digital marketing.

He is the Founder and Head Steward at BrandStewards Limited, a brand and reputation management consultancy. He is also the Publisher of The Podium International Magazine, Ile-Oluji Times, and Who’s Who in Ile-Oluji.

He had a successful media practice at The Guardian, Punch and This Day.

He started his brand management career at Owena Bank as Media Relations Manager before joining Prudent Bank (now Polaris Bank) as the pioneer Head of Corporate Affairs.

The British Council appointed him as Head of Communication and Marketing to co-ordinate branding and reputation management activities at its Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt offices.

In 2007, he was recruited as the Head of Corporate Planning and Strategy for the Nigerian Aviation Handling company. He led on the branding, strategic planning and stakeholder management support function.

His job was later expanded and redesigned as Head of Corporate Communication and Business Development with the mandate to continue to execute the Board’s vision in the areas of Corporate Planning and Strategy, Branding and New Businesses.

In 2010, he voluntarily resigned from nacho aviance to focus on managing BrandStewards, a reputation and brand management firm he established in 2003. BrandStewards has successfully executed branding, re-branding and marketing communication projects for clients in the private and public sectors.

Ademola obtained a M.Sc. Degree in Digital Marketing & Web Analytics from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2016, and the Master of Communication Arts degree of the University of Ibadan in 1997. He had previously obtained a Higher National Diploma (with Upper Credit) in Mass Communication from Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta.

He has published several articles and authored five management books.

He has benefitted from several domestic and international training programmes on Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Change Management and Organizational Strategy.
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