Nollywood, the popular name often used to refer to Nigeria‘s dynamic film industry, has been arguably rated as the second biggest film industry in the world, coming behind the famous Holly Wood film industry in the United States.
Film rental operators state that many new films are released into the market every two weeks, adding that the trend creates a boom for film and video rental business.
The Managing Director, Zeze Ventures, one of the famous film rental centres at Ikotun in Lagos, Mr. Azeez Ajibade, says the business has proven to be a lucrative one, in view of the surging demand to watch new films.
Ajibade, who says each film goes for N100 as rental fee, says rental outfits usually have clients, who come individually or as members of a video club. He adds that such films or disks are usually rented out for between six and 12 hours, after which they are to be returned in line with the business rule.
Of course, the film or disk being rented out, hourly, to several clients, is usually purchased from film marketers at the rate of N240 by operators, according to the Zeze boss.
Ajibade says he makes enough profit from running the centre because, at least, 30 clients patronise him on a weekly basis.
For Mrs. Iyabo Samuel, owner of Elis Video Club, in the Lagos mainland area, the business can rake in fortunes, if manned by hardworking operators. She says over 60 clients rent various films and video disks from her every week.
Explaining her sojourn into the trade, Samuel says, ”I found myself in this business by accident. I had opened a small super market. However, when things were not moving the way I expected, I made a foray into the home video club or film rental business, which as I found out, was a booming business. I dedicated myself to the trade. And since the year 2000, when I started the business, I don‘t think I have had any reason to regret.”
On how a prospective operator can go into the business, the Zeze Video Centre boss says about N200,000 start-up capital may be enough. Nevertheless, he notes that people, who may not have as much as N200,000 can still start operation with an amount less than this, depending on the area and location.
According to him, a new operator will need to rent a relatively small shop and also equip it with some furniture, including shelves for displaying films, a table, a chair and two stools.
A new entrant will also need to acquire a television set and a DVD player. These are to be used for testing films before they are rented out.
Depending on how much rent one pays to get a shop in the proposed business location, Ajibade says in a sub-urban and semi-rural area like Ikotun, N200,000 should be enough to rent a small shop, furnish it and acquire all the necessary operational gadgets, including a small power generating set, in case of power outage.
The next thing is for such a new entrant to acquire various films, which for marketing purposes should be newly released films. Having acquired all these, the Zeze boss says any amount left can be used as revolving capital.
”In my area, where my business is located, the size of my shop goes for N2,500. I paid for two years in rent, including agreement and other charges that added up to N80,000. The remaining N120,000 was used to acquire all the needed gadgets and other things, including buying films and registering the business with the controlling trade association that regulates films rental business,” he says.
Operators believe that the registration step is crucial to business survival because failure to register with the Video Rental Operators Association of Nigeria may lead to a situation, where the body‘s task force will always come to disturb such a new entrant. Registration costs N14,500.
On the challenges facing the business, Elis Video Club owner, Samuel, says the activities of film pirates have been impacting negatively on the business.
”Another challenge, which is related to film piracy, is the problem of multiplicity of works on DVDs. This refers to a situation, where pirates record about five sensational films on one DVD and sell it for a ridiculous price that may be as low as N150. It is a challenge because we acquire a single film for N240 and rent it out for N100. So, rather than come to rent from us, the clients would go for such cheaply sold, notwithstanding the fact that such may not be durable,” she adds.
Although the business has been experiencing a massive influx of new entrants, however, Samuel says that the market is still very big to accommodate profitable operations.
To the Chairman, Video Rental Operators Association of Nigeria, Egbe-Idimu Zone, Mr. Sunny Dauda, film rental business is part of the entertainment industry at large, and as such, will keep flourishing.
Dauda, who has been in the business for eight years, says he will continue to be in the business. His focus on the business is underscored by the fact that, through it, he has been able to measure up to his contemporaries in terms of financial standing.
The Abarika Video Club boss says, as new operators grow in the business and increase their capital, a new line of operation may be accessed by them. According to him, such people, for instance, may start to buy films on wholesale basis from marketers and then sell in retail form to video club owners.
For instance, Dauda says he buys about 400 films on wholesale basis from marketers, which he resells to fellow video club owners after two weeks, especially when new films are just released.
”This is what some of us, who have spent enough time to understand the business, do to raise our profit level. There is huge profit in buying in large quantity from marketers to retail,” he notes.
SOURCE:/www.punchng.com
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