How I started Coffee business with 35k- CEO Lingzhi Tea
How I started Coffee business with 35k- CEO Lingzhi Tea
By Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The Chief Executive Officer of Lingzhi Tea Miss Blessing Nanman Tantur, has discloser that she started her Multi-million Naira brand business with barely 35,000 Naira about a decade ago.
Tantur disclose this while interacting with journalist on the sideline of ongoing training of prospective entrepreneurs with desire to venture into the tea and coffee business in Jalingo, the Taraba State capital.
The young entrepreneur insists that Nigeria has enormous potentials in the sector that are grossly under utilized due to policy framework and lack of awareness.
She said that she has toured over 16 countries with her brand and has decided to establish a base in Nigeria with a campaign to get others on board not just to key into her brand but to also realize the potentials in the sector and take advantage to develop their own brands to make the sector more viable.
“I’ve been in coffee business for over a decade after studying Coffee and science in Brazil. I am back to Nigeria and Taraba to awaken our people that coffee is our heritage and we need to rise up and derive the benefits that this natural gift offers.
“The journey has been quite rough but knowledge has helped me to navigate the precarious journey. We need to learn and leverage on the new trends in the industry to put ourselves at vantage points rather than depending on outdated measures to address contemporary business challenges. That is the reason for the ongoing training sessions.
“I started this business with 35,000 Naira and leveraged on my social capital to grow this global brand you see here today. I was attracted to the business because I realized I don’t need so much fiscal cash to start up. All I needed was my social capital and I leveraged on that to grow.
“I realized that a lot of Nigerians have health issues and that they love coffee. And so I decided to come up with a brand that each sip is not just a satisfying sip of coffee but a sort of antidote to health challenges. All our products are specifically tailored to address some of the common health concerns of our people. We have products that tackle issues such as prostrate in men, ulcer, diabetes and a whole range of issues, while giving the satisfaction of quality coffee.
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“For me, my greatest satisfaction is that each packet of coffee I sell gets someone better and greater. My major challenge is production. The raw material is here but we have to take it to China to produce it and bring it back to Nigeria. And so it exposes our recipes, our formula and skills to them and they can very easily copy it. I don’t necessarily have to own the machines. The government should be able to set up these factories so that we can produce locally and protect our formulas.
“As a lady, I don’t allow my gender to limit me, rather I take advantage of that to make my way through the tough time. Anywhere I go, I try to make everyone understand that a woman is not a weaker vessel but a power, a force to reckon with” she said.
Tantur laments that even though Taraba State has both coffee and tea abundantly, they grossly underutilize the opportunity and potentials and insists that there is urgent need for enlightenment for farmers, traders, dealers, and even the government so as to change the narrative for good.
