Nana Firdausi Habib is an entrepreneur who has used her social media handles to take her business to the “next level”. Expanding her business empire from supplying kitchen utensils and gadgets to delivering a myriad of commodities, including luxurious foreign furniture sets to her customers’, she reveals the secret behind the surge in her profit despite the current economic challenges facing small-holder business owners in the country. In this interview with Daily Trust, Nana gives credence to her seamless transactions enabled by cyberspace.
How were you able to record success in your business?
My line of business is interior décor accessories, which I import from Turkey and China. The business niche is purely online, with delivery arrangements to every nook and cranny of the country. We display our items mostly on Instagram and Facebook.
What kind of interior décor accessories do you supply?
We are into home décor accessories such as Turkish wooden table sets, tripod standing lamps, canisters, consoles, TV stands, assorted wall clocks, Turkish dinner wares, Turkish carpets, Turkish Islamic frames and many more items.
Why did you choose to deal in interior décor items and on social media as your market space?
The choice was made out of my passion for interior decoration, and I strongly believe my target customers can find me on my social media platforms by merely promoting my goods and services continuously on the platforms. I can tell you that the North has evolved; we stand to achieve even more because of our sizable customer base like whatever the Lagos or Port-Harcourt business people can achieve.
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How profitable is your business?
The items are in high demand and the turn-over is also high, thereby making the business profitable. The profit is more than enough to take care of the business expenses.
How did you raise capital to start the business?
The business capital was raised using personal savings and little borrowings from family members. Then I later got a facility from Jaiz Bank. With the money obtained, we were able to expand from the décor items to include home furniture.
How has the Jaiz facility helped you grow your business?
Like I mentioned earlier, before the facility, we were only selling décor items. However, the facility has provided us with additional capital to now include home furniture, carpets and kitchen utensils.
Have you encountered challenges in your business that affected your payback plan since you received the Jaiz facility?
We have never encountered any challenge as we have always made funds available for repayment even before the due date, and we do not have a single record of default in our repayment throughout the facility period.
What would be your advice to young entrepreneurs who are willing to start a business?
They should first have the knowledge and passion for the business they intend to venture into. They should not go into any business just because they see someone making profit from it. They should be patient to have a good knowledge of it first.
Secondly, the fear of the unknown should not be their watch word; they should be confident and bold.
With this kind of support, do you think Jaiz is helping smallholder businesses to grow, and by extension alleviating poverty in Nigeria?
Yes! The SME facility of Jaiz has assisted to a great extent a lot of small-scale businesses that I know of. The bank is hereby encouraged to keep it up.
