Two brothers have turned $5 into thriving juice business
They started out selling cups of lemonade at their college, but now two brothers have built a company in
Nigeria which distributes its juice in over 650 locations in 18 states in Africa's second largest economy.
With just $5, Seun and Seyi Abolaji set up Wilson's Juice company in Lagos, Nigeria in 2010. They say their
company is now worth millions.
Their company produces about 24,000 bottles of lemonade daily in a factory they built which employs 30.
Since starting the company, the two have raised nearly $200,000 with the help of family and friends and their
own savings.
"When we started thinking about Wilsons in Nigeria,
there was nobody doing lemonade. We went around
to anybody who would let us in their factory, and we
just started asking questions," said Seun Abolaji.
They talked to yogurt and water companies, and big
companies
that
were
doing
fizzy
drinks,
and
thought: "Hey, why is there nobody doing juice in a
bottle?“ The two seized the chance to tap into this
new market.
"We saw an opportunity with fresh juice and with lemons, it has so many health benefits," said Seun, who
added it's a healthy alternative to what's on the market now. "There are a lot of challenges...but could we have
started this company in the United States? I doubt it. We would need $10 million. We started this whole
company with 2,000 naira. That's $5 now. And that's the beauty of Nigeria, you can have a naira and a dream,"
said Seun.
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