Why Asians still dominate the Diaspora Nigeria food market - Jesse Adeniji (Jazzey Bay)

Why Asians still dominate the Diaspora Nigeria food market - Jesse Adeniji (Jazzey Bay)

I have been posting about Nigerian food in the Diaspora since 2010 when I conducted a market research job for a client in Hackney. That research opened my eyes to the potentials of the Diaspora Nigerians untapped by the government and looted by the Asians. Till today, the Western market for African foods is dominated 90% by Asian businesses...And I have proven this by visits to a few cities too, with report from contacts in the places I haven't been to.

I have visited places like Richmond Virginia, Baltimore and DC to scope the African markets. The Ghanians are competing well in this area but still rely on some Asians and Chinese for the goods we consume. In the UK, it's the Asians. From yam to gari, to noodles, stock fish.....almost everything! London, Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Kent, Leeds e.t.c. The same was in Ireland at Dublin and Sligo.

The raw food market is not going to be cracked by our own businessmen in a thousand years because of one thing.....meeting regulatory demands.This is the core area which hands power to the Asians. There is a particular Asian company that built a £1.5 million quality control and packing unit alone in Harlow Essex. That facility allows them to import raw food on a massive scale as semi-finished products (the regulation for this better than ready to end user products).

They have their food tech teams there processing these imports to meet the consumer standards. This is where you might find the raw palm oil imported from Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda reformatted to meet the UK standards. The same goes for legumes. When you buy a bag of beans and read the label stating 'produce from many countries of origin', that's what they have done. Nigerian business men don't have that capacity yet

Nky Iweka of Pitanga Restaurant, London

Two, it takes conscious investment to build legal, technical and marketing teams to get a the legal requirements and meet them by applying pressure on the value chain points where these regulations can be met - from farm to logistics, to processing and repackaging. You need food technologists, lawyers, quality assurance specialists e.t.c

Three, the product development needs RESEARCH! The Asians know by research, that we like mackerel smoked, catfish smoked, turkey smoked and crayfish nicely done. Lol. They have the ability to do this for the market.

Of course the original Nigerian products are for me still the preferred, but when you don't have the preferred, you make do with the available. Fresh Ugwu from Nigeria is still plagued with the residual sand impurity problem. In 2021. But something inspiring is happening.

The Asians cannot cook our food like we do, so that is where we have almost absolute control over the market. Cooking and plating the dishes has brought about the birth of many famous restaurants in the major western cities. And because this area thrives on originality and taste, a lot of the restauranteurs prefer the original Nigerian ingredients for their inventory.

You may have noticed how many times Nky Iweka shares in Facebook the original ingredients brought for her from the Motherland. Now, social media is the cheaper avenue for these restauranteurs to market their services. This has meant that we now have increased presence of Nigerian food demos by culinary experts across the social media platforms. Explainer videos, how-to videos, pictures, lifestyle depictions that goes with the African foodie culture, have exploded. 

Not only do we have Disapora kids learning about their parents culture on the digital space, they are sharing the food they eat in their houses but are afraid to publicize with friends and family. The African born celebrities too have joined the craze. Anthony Joshua is fond of making eba for cameras and referencing 'Igusi soup' when delivering acceptance speeches before the Queen.

Davido having some Pounded Yam

Music stars have worded Jollof and Egusi soups into their lyrics and people are tickled.

Influencers are eating African foods just to bring some exoticism to their repertoire.

Ultimately, and this is where I am going, the authentic food products from Nigeria, by Nigerians is the big winner. The demand for Nigerian food by Nigerians in the Diaspora, curated by sassy and committed restauranteurs, have given rise to the demand and the shipping of authentic food products as exports from Nigeria.

This will only grow bigger. People are beginning to open up and discover African food (will post a collection of video on my wall after this post)...And this is where you expect a serious Government to build an understanding of the whole value chain from farm to table and begin to build a resilient system which will become a massive foreign exchange earner.

Anthony Joshua eating some Pounded Yam and Egusi

The Ugwu leaves alone has produced millionaire exporters in Nigeria, not necessarily the farmers, a situation that has to be corrected so the likes of conscientious farmers like Yinka Adesola can take advantage. This cannot be done individually if the while system is to work. It has to be a conscious, deliberate planning effort.

The day a natural food enthusiast like Nky Iweka's Pitanga gets supplies from a pesticide free farm like Yinka Adesola runs, them doing business across continents, is the use case for a successful program. But this would entail a government that encourages small holder farmers to grow into medium scale farmers. A port system that is professionally and efficiently run, a Government helping to harmonize food standards in line with the global best standards, and making farming a thing of joy once again in the country.

We live in hope......

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