You can make real money in art business

Art is a medium for expression of the mind, but due to globalization, art has deviated from using it as a medium of expression. It has become a commodity that people use to decorate their houses.

This is not the time when carving represents deities and ancestral worship. This is the time modern man creates objects that beautify the home. Art encompasses both carving and painting, which could be used for decorations or souvenir for loved ones.

It does not require huge initial capital for someone who already has a space and tools for the business. The major materials needed in the business, particularly for carving, are wood and bronze, which are cheap to buy, while, canvas, colour, brushes, frame, wood and isle are used for painting.

You can go into painting with less than N10,000, which you can use to buy some materials that will produce about five small sizes of painting. At the end of the day you may make a good sale and reinvest the profit into the business.

Some artistes make a daily income of between N5,000 and N50,000 especially when there are sales, but sometimes, they go home without making sales; since, it is not an essential commodity that people purchase everyday.

"I am into art production and export. My main customers are tourists and foreigners. Presently, Nigerian environment is becoming aware of interior decorations, so, they are now patronizing us. Some years back, it was not like that. Those visiting Nigeria, those who buy them and sell abroad and most of the international galleries that display and sell our work, come at different times to buy and sell abroad.

"I am a born artiste. I am not trained. I have the natural talent but that does not mean I am daunted. I studied about it. I read about artists. I mix up with so many artistes, I travel wide. I have visited a lot of galleries and I have worked with many artistes, so it has brushed me up. I equally read widely. I read about things and peoples’ culture. If I am reading about others, I should be able to read about my own.

"I am motivated to portray my culture and heritage because it makes me unique. With the level of my reading and traveling, I have come to see that Africa is very rich in this area and international communities are interested in all these art works. Many buy it as souvenirs, some buy it to decorate their houses and others buy it to know more about Africa, so, that is why I decided to take it as a business," he said.

Egi sees art as a lucrative enterprise to be appreciated and purchased by intellectuals because of the message it portrays.

"Art is lucrative, if you are patient because it is not food, or commodity that is purchased by every person. It is purchased by intellectuals, not particularly the rich, but brilliant and knowledgeable people who can look at art and get meaning from it or you explain it to them and they appreciate it.

"Art is educative. People who buy it learn a lot from it. For example, there are meanings behind some of the paintings and carvings we do and it trips people when they come to know about these," he stated.

Egi, a trained automobile engineer abandoned his career when he discovered he had the talent and more flair for art. Although he needed not find easy with his family because, they wanted him to go into full time automobile engineering.

As a result, he could not source for loan to set up art business rather he made do with the little money he had raised while working as an automobile engineer. However, he did not believe that setting up art venture can consume huge amount of money.

"I did not borrow money to start. It is something I have been doing for a long time. I did not start as a painter, sculptor or a carver. I did automobile engineering that is the area I have problem with my family because that is exactly what they wanted me to do but on the long run, I realized I was more talented in art.

"I had to do part time job to raise money to finance art. I started art about 28 years ago when Nigeria does not buy art. Then, I did not know where to sell it apart from people who wanted me to exhibit with them.

"And at those exhibitions, you do not really make sales that can sustain you. It is like hit and run business, you sell, make some money and the money cannot sustain you for three months.

"A human being needs consistent income. And the government does not have a platform for this. For the Nigerian artiste, it is like you are on your own. So, I decided to create things that people like, such as letter inscriptions on wood. I started creating games like ayo in quantity and sold them.

‘I want to speak with what I do. I want people to see my work make meaning. In carving and painting, I am creating an environment where I come from, when I sell it abroad, it will make them know we are not monkeys, rather we are intelligent.

"There are certain things that happen in this country which we use our work to speak about, in future, we know people will ask what the motive of this job was? Why did the artiste create this? For instance, we have art works that represent people who are embezzling money today, 419 and things like that," he added.

"I did not start art with money. I create things. A very good artiste does not need much money to create anything. Wood is cheap. So I carve and people appreciate it. But the problem I had was that I wanted a bulk sale. I wanted people to be buying so that I could make more money but the avenue was not there.

"So I came to roadside, display my work on the roadside and people see them, like and buy them. After a year, things changed. I could afford to buy car and pay workers.

This is not the time when the gallery hides us, we are exposed to the world. When people started buying my art works, I started making money and improved my living standard.

"The turnover is good because you make 100 percent gain in art. I do not see any business as lucrative as art but the problem we are having is that, we need funds to grow.

"Regrettably, Nigerian businessmen have not come to appreciate what the artiste can do, so nobody is ready to invest. It is lucrative. It is a business you do and you are not afraid of the economy because you invest little and make much. And competitors are not many," he noted.

"I went for training for two years before I set up my own in 2004. I started with less than N10,000, which I saved while I was training. I used it to buy small materials and produced about five paintings. But today, my business is growing. I have many paintings on display and can produce as many as I can.

"I am talented in art works, so I had to develop it by going for training. There is quite some profit in the business but we do not make sales everyday. We do not count our profits on a daily or weekly basis because there are times we do not make sales for three months.

"The price depends on the concept of the inscription and the buyer. For instance, I can sell the landscape painting showing village activities at N15,000. But there are people who appreciate concepts more and are ready to buy it for N25,000. Some people buy it for decoration and not necessarily because of the message it portrays.

"The landscape can take me about one week to finish. I buy materials in large quantity and use it to produce more than one painting. We source our materials from art world, Tejuosho market. I can buy four different colours and use it to produce about 15 paintings of different sizes. We buy canvas at the rate of N350 per yard and stretcher at N3,000.

With N10,000 to N15,000 you can buy some materials to start the business but you must first acquire a space. You can use it to produce about four or five small sizes of paintings to show people the job you are doing and they will come to buy it and from there, you can pump in more money," he said.

"I have been doing this business for two years. I learned the work for two years from my uncle. I started the business with N150,000, which was sent to me by my brother who is in Europe.

"I spent about N12,000 to fence the space where I am doing business and bought some wood tables for displaying my goods. I used about N120,000 to buy some art products for sell. Today, my business has grown to the volume of N250,000.

"The market is seasonal. There are times we make more sales and I will go home with between N10,000 and N60,000 but sometimes, we do not make sales for weeks.

We sell art works made of thick woods at the rate of N500 for the small size and N1,000 for the big size. We sell the carvings for between N500 and N7,000 depending on the size and the message it carries.

"I reinvest the money I make from the business so that I can have more goods that will attract customers. I was using small size cupboard to park my goods when I started but now, I have a cupboard that is three times bigger than the first one. Rather than saving in the bank, I invest in my business.

"I am into this business because I learned it and have acquired knowledge in it. I do not intend to stop but to expand by establishing another branch.

Sometimes, I gain N300 or more from selling an item, and at other times, I sell at the cost price. But when I see customers who have money and are ready to buy, I can gain N1,000 or more from an item. It all depends on the bargaining power," he explained.