Pillow makers exploit local materials for production

TWO local pillow and mattress makers in Bauchi State have explained how they are making profit from mixing sugarcane chaff and wool to make their products.

The pillow and mattress makers, Adamu Muhammad and Abdullahi Yusuf spoke of their ingenuity in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Bauchi.

They emphasised the need for young unemployed Nigerians “to make good use of their creative and resourceful minds to turn nothing into something’’.

Muhammad said he was making good profit by using the sugarcane waste and wool to make pillows and mattresses.

“I combine sugarcane waste with small quantity of wool and process them locally to make pillows and mattresses for sale. I go to the sugarcane market here in Bauchi to collect from the sugarcane chaff peeled by those selling it.

“If I collect four wheelbarrow-full of the sugarcane chaff and process it with wool, I can produce more than 20 pillows. I sell each pillow for N1,500 which will amount to N30, 000”, Muhammad explained.

Speaking on his marketing strategy, Muhammad said: “I sell the pillows during market days and I also go to various markets where some middlemen buy them on credit.

“If they sell the products, they will pay me in the next market day after deducting their profit’’.

Also speaking, Yusuf said that the business was very lucrative especially with access to free raw material.

“The business is profitable because the dominant raw material, sugarcane chaff, is free. We are also helping to rid our environment of dirt by converting waste to wealth,’’ he said.

Yusuf said that the products are “durable, soft and convenient’’ for end users.