A Nigerian social media user Chukwudi Iwuchukwu has enumerated reasons why ValueJet Airlines owned by Kunle Sonami remains one of the best airline companies in Nigeria.
In his submission, Chukwudi enumerates a number of critical issues as well as advises Nigerians on why mass-market businesses which may appear boring at first may be the best kind of business for intending investors.
Bringing to bare the outstanding example of Bet9ja founded by Nigeria’s entrepreneurial Wizkid, Kunle Sonami, the social media user noted that the betting platform remains the most visited site in Nigeria after Google.
True to his claims, data collected by ENigeriaNews shows that Bet9ja actually records more traffic than Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Only Google has more traffic in Nigeria than it.
In addition, Bet9ja makes an average of $400,000 every day, according to a recent KPMG study.
$10 million every month in revenue in Lagos alone, which is their biggest market, Bet9ja turns over about $1 million monthly.
What Kunle is doing with Bet9ja is simple. Selling hope to a greater number of our people by encouraging them to part with their money daily in anticipation of winning life-changing money
Below is the full report by Chukwudi Iwuchukwu on why he prefers to fly Valuejet.
I fly ValueJet Airlines for my local travel within Nigeria.
The only time I don’t use them is if they are not going my way.
I like their aircraft; they are small, comfy, and compact, but the attraction was the air fare.
They used to charge around 40k when they came out, as they were the cheapest in the market and very affordable when you juxtapose the fare with the premium service they offer.
Their price has gone up of late because of the crazy dollar rate, but I still use them, and I just used them yesterday.
Any time I’m flying with them, I’m reminded of the power and possibilities of the mass market in Nigeria and how it can change your life as an entrepreneur.
Nothing illustrates this better than Kunle Sonami, the owner of the airline.
Before he founded ValueJet Airlines, Kunle had another business called Bet9ja.
He founded Bet9ja in 2013, and the gaming business has grown to be a monster, the biggest in the gaming industry in Nigeria.
To show you how big Bet9ja is,Bet9ja is the second-most visited website in Nigeria after Google.
It has more traffic than Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Only Google has more traffic In Nigeria than it.
In addition, Bet9ja makes an average of $400,000 every day, according to a recent KPMG study.
$10 million every month in revenue
In Lagos alone, which is their biggest market, Bet9ja turns over about $1 million monthly.
What Kunle is doing with Bet9ja is simple. Selling hope to a greater number of our people by encouraging them to part with their money daily in anticipation of winning life-changing money.
This alone changed the life of Kunle, who is today a billionaire and one of the richest Nigerian men alive.
A detained former CBN governor, Emiefele, was astounded by the amount of money betting companies had in their bank accounts in 2021.
Idle funds in the bank that they are not using for anything.
Tired of keeping those idle funds in the bank, Baba Ijebu moved $420 ‘million abroad into his official offshore account, and that move attracted the wrath of Emiefele, who gave instructions that Baba Ijebu’s corporate bank account should be frozen by placing a post-no-debit on it.
The reason why Baba Ijebu or Bet9ja are swimming with so much idle cash in the bank is consistent with what I have been preaching about the mass market and the power to change your life as an entrepreneur.
Think about it.
Bet9ja’s business model is to target poor people and low-income earners by selling hope to them, just like Nigerian churches do.
They have scaled this hustle to the 36 states of the federation, including Abuja.
So let’s say that their lowest customer pays 100 naira for daily betting. Calculate this by the number of people they serve daily and see how much these guys make.
Insane blood money.
Your business does not need to be a luxury business to be rich.
No sir
If your hustle does what Bet9ja is doing by targeting poor people who spend 100 naira to patronize them and then scaling it to reach more people who can afford to spend 100 naira daily, you will be so rich that the CBN governor will be wondering what is going on and how you make these monies.
It is the same business model that RCCG uses, and it has made them widely successful in the past 40 years.
The RCCG church is on every street, and the reason is to make it more accessible for you, just like Bet9ja. The truth is that RCCG did not build those buildings on every street by themselves.
Let me explain:
RCCG introduced a franchise model whereby Chukwudi can come up with a proposal to build an RCCG church on my estate and then sign a sharing agreement for money generated from my church between myself and RCCG.
So, I use the RCCG name to open a church instead of opening my own church, and then every Sunday, after the collection of Thanksgiving, first fruit, and tithe, the money is shared between myself and the national headquarters on the percentage agreed upon.
What I just need as the pastor of the new RCCG church in my village are church members who pay 100 naira or 200 naira in offering in a bigger number, and that is okay to meet my target.
Aside from being a fantastic spiritual director, Adeboye’s business acumen is uncanny and out of this world, and that explains the rapid growth that the RCCG has experienced under his watch.
The power of numbers
Tired of using the idle funds in the bank for fixed income purposes by either placing them on Treasury bills or fixing them with banks, Kunle Sonami decided to deploy them to create high-wage jobs for our people.
I remember vividly when they launched. After Air Peace, they were the second employer of labor in the airline industry for white pilots who sleep over at the Sheraton hotel when they are on break.
They also employed the greatest number of Nigerians in other capacities, like air hostesses and other management roles.
The airline business, as we know, has a low margin.
Bet9ja, with a 35% profit margin, is significantly more profitable than ValueJet Airlines, but I believe Kunle founded Value Jet in order to use the extra money that Bet9ja generated over the last ten years to create jobs for our youths rather than keeping it idle in the bank or using it for treasury bills.
Again, his motivation is not profit-driven; the airline business is not lucrative like that.
But I think that the biggest challenge for my generation of entrepreneurs is to look for mass-market products we can start and then scale them by targeting a greater number of our people.
When we are successful with mass markets, we can then channel the money to luxury businesses like airline businesses or hotels which is another low-margin business.
Mass-market businesses are boring businesses, but they can change your life.
Dangote is in the business of mass markets, which is why he is the richest man on the continent.
