1. Investigate: Investigate on anything that has to do with charcoal. Read about the country you want to start exporting to and their views concerning charcoal. Also, check the policies that govern exporting charcoal from Nigeria. When you are well informed, it saves you from a lot of troubles.
2. Get Registered with Cooperate Affairs Commission (CAC): Once you conceive your business, the next thing is to get registered with CAC.
This goes a long way to protect your business and give your prospective customers the right attitude towards you. Needless to say that foreigners outside the countries are afraid to transact business with Nigerians due to the past experiences they had.
But once your business is registered with CAC, it eradicates that fear from their mind while transacting business with you.
3. Register with Nigeria Export Promotion Council Certificate (NEPC) as an Exporter: After registering with CAC, the next should be to register with NEPC as an exporter, this helps to ease stress for you because they offer helps to exporters registered with them.
4. Open an Account for your Business: It is wise to separate your personal account from your business account. This is what every wise businessman should do and it helps you to manage your finance effectively.
5. Get the Account Funded: As soon as you open an account for your business, get it funded. You can take a certain amount from your personal account and deposit there. That serves as your capital. The amount of capital mapped out for the business will determine the level you will start your charcoal export business from.
6. Get A Counselor: Get someone that has been in the business as a counselor. This person knows in and out of the business so he or she should be in a better position to advise and counsel you. He can guide you through the mistakes he had made in the past and save you the unnecessary pains of passing through the same mistake.
7. Get A Good Supplier: After you get the necessary counsels, the next should be to get a good supplier. This is necessary because if you make the mistake of supplying bad charcoal to your foreign customer, chances abound that they would lose interest in your business. This can be done by checking the internet and getting their contacts. Through their contact, you can visit them and discuss face to face with them; this would also give you the opportunity to bargain prices.
8. Get Those To Buy: Concentrate on those countries that have a high demand for charcoal. Countries like Europe and Asia usually demand more than other countries. If you don’t seek for buyers, you will not be able to make sales, so it is necessary to look out for them.
To get prospective customers, search the internet and also attend trade fairs being organized by NEPC that you registered with. You can connect with buyers from places like that. Another way you can get buyers is by contacting agents to help you source for them.
9. Get Ready To Export: The last step is to start the exportation of the charcoal. This means sending it to the countries where they are needed. It can be done in two ways: Free on Board (FOB) basis or through Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) basis.
The first one means you have to take care of the product’s cost and other expenses till it gets to the shipping point. While the second means that you will take care of the insurance cost and transportation until it gets to the final destination.
Now you are well equipped with how you can run your charcoal export business, so you can go ahead and prosper in it.
