For entrepreneurs looking for high yields and good daily cash flow, please add toothpick production to your cart of profitable small businesses in Nigeria. Since the federal government prohibited importation of toothpicks, a few cottage industries have sprung up to bridge the gap for the product which used to cost the Nigerian economy about N1billion in foreign exchange annually.
Those who have ventured into the business have proved that producing toothpick locally is an interesting business that attracts huge demand. Despite its small size, it’s a business that has high yield return on investment. Toothpicks are used in homes, restaurants, fast food joints, hotels and for many other purposes, including export to other African countries. It is one of the few profitable ventures that entrepreneurs can invest in and break even in the same year.
One factor which make the business profitable is the advantage that raw materials, labour, technology and market for the products are locally available. More importantly, entrepreneurs are shielded from the travails of sourcing foreign exchange, as all the raw materials to produce quality toothpicks are 100 percent locally available, all year round.
Basic raw materials include wood (bamboo or any other hard wood for toothpick made from wood) or plastic material (plastic granules) for plastic toothpicks. You will also require plastic containers for packing finished products. Usually, you may need to patronize more than one supplier for each raw material, to avoid production disruption arising from non-availability of raw materials.
While hard wood can be easily sourced from any local wood market, you may have to melt thermoplastic material in an injection speed and pressure machine to process plastic for use. Once cooled through the cyclic process, remove before packaging and labeling. And for the packaging containers, you can purchase in bulk from any packaging company or dealer in your city.
There are both locally fabricated and imported machines for small and large scale toothpick manufacturing, but it is better you purchase standardized machines to produce quality toothpicks. There are local manufacturers who also produce standardized equipment. Besides, substandard equipment will not only affect the quality of your products, but the cost of repairing them too often can also have a long term crippling effect on your business.
Equipment required will include: splitting, polishing, and sharpening machines. Others are dust collector and packing machine. To produce plastic toothpick, you should own either semi-automatic or automatic injection molding machines. The automatic injection molding machine is more effective, precise and reduces production time. Apart from the injection molding machine, you need scrap grinders, mold lifters and color mixers. Other machinery are packaging machines, molds and weight scale.
Your staff strength depends on the scale of your production. You might need machine operators, driver for delivery and supplies and sales representatives. You will need people to handle each task involved in the production process.
The finished work is also important as it has to appeal to the market and consumers, so you can make more sales if you package the product nicely by creating a distinctive, attractive packaging in small light containers.
Toothpick production is one of the commonly overlooked, but very profitable, businesses that anyone can venture into.
