Up until recently, selling coconut was deemed as a business venture for the uneducated.
But that perception is being altered as university graduates are taking over the business and transforming it right from handling to packaging and then sales.
A crop of young Ghanaians seem to have found success in this business and taken it as a full time job.
It’s not known what might have accounted for the mad rush into this business. However, we can narrow it down to two main factors. 1. Unemployment and 2. Innovation
With the rising unemployment rate in the country, a chunk of the youth are finding innovative means of survival.
The Labour Force Survey Report last year pegs unemployment rate among the youth at 1.2 million people representing 11.9%.
And with universities churning out more graduates each year, high rate of unemployment continuous to be our bane.
Amidst all these, the youth has not given up as evident in the various social entrepreneurship initiatives and innovation they have come up with.
Here are 3 thriving coconut businesses owned by graduates.
Kube Pure
Kube Pure is a coconut business that Kwasi Addai Mununkum set up last year after years of researching. He had job offers right after national service but he chose the coconut path because his passion to provide tasty coconut packaged under strictly hygienic condition kept burning. Kube Pure has one of the most innovative packages you could ever imagine.
Kubae
Kubae, another coconut startup works to ensure that customers enjoy healthy coconuts in a convenient and an attractive package. They provide healthy choices for all events and can even customize coconut upon request of the clients and depending on the occasion. Their pina juice and lantern juice dispenser sets them apart.
Photo credit Kubae
Zuri Coconut
Adowarim Lugu-Zuri has found her feet in a male dominated area- selling coconut. A university graduate, she left her Non-governmental Organisation (NGO) job and moved into selling coconuts after someone she met hinted on the booming revenue from coconut. With her innovative packaging, she has had contracts serving major banks in Ghana. She is reported to now own 40 acre coconut plantation.
These are just a few of the coconut businesses run by young graduates.
It seems they are not the only group who are privy to the potential of coconut as government has started strengthening supply chains of exportable coconut by injecting GH¢600,000 into the field through its Coconut Export Revitalisation Project.
By Pamela Ofori-Boateng