BY BIMBOLA OYESOLA

PRODUCING bottled or sachet wa­ter has become a money spinning ven­ture for entrepreneurs who realise the importance of water production not only to bridge the supply inadequacy, but to grow the economy at large. The importance of water to human survival cannot be over-emphasised, as a recent report shows that over $100 billion is spent globally on bottled water annu­ally.

Though there are many companies, including multinationals and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) al­ready in the production of bottled water, the leadership of the National Union of Food Beverage and Tobacco Employees (NUFBTE), about three years ago, in its bid to generate funds for the union, decided to tap into the potential available in this natural but essential product.

The National President of the union, Lateef Oyelekan, confirmed that start­ing a bottling water company in Nige­ria is very lucrative and good business to invest in considering the population and the target market, but for the pres­ent electricity challenges. With many states’ water corporations obsolete, there is no gainsaying that the demand for clean water has expanded the mar­ket for bottled water in Nigeria.

Oyelekan said the product has po­tential market, which cuts across Nigeria with its ever growing popu­lation. The Food Labour water was started with a capital of N15 million bearing in mind the size of the factory, but Oy elekan said the venture can actually take off with a starting capital of between N1.8 million and N12 mil­lion.

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According to him, it is possible to cover about 30 per cent of the initial investment in one year because of the high demand for bottled water in Ni­geria and within three years and half, recover the initial start-up capital. He said, “despite all the challenges, we’ve been able to re-coup all the initial capital invested and right now we are moving to take up the profit. It is a good investment and has a good po­tential for expansion because people cannot do without water,” he said.

Basic requirements for bottled wa­ter production include:

  1. Market Research
  2. Business Plan
  3. Good location
  4. Buy or lease a piece of land (at least 1,800sq); can also use your own building but will have to demarcate it from residential accommodation.
  5. Build a factory or a warehouse and you will need at least four rooms, factory, office, a store and a changing room.
  6. Buy and install the water bottling plant.
  7. Get a bottle supplier.
  8. Get Labels. 9. Get CAC registra­tion. 10. NAFDAC approval.
  9. Generator
  10. Employ few staff at initial stage

Other requirements are:

  1. Fire extinguishers and preven­tion equipment.
  2. Online batch number printer.
  3. Trucks for delivering finished product.
  4. Offices for administration pur­poses.
  5. Office equipment.
  6. Bottled water filter and washer, filler and packaging machines

Creating awareness for the product is very essential, hence the need for publicity and regular advertising.

Going into a bottled water produc­tion could be much more easier as the would-be entrepreneur can easily ac­cess loan from the bank or get easily the SMEs fund support from the gov­ernment through the Bank of Industry (BoI) and some other organisations.