BLACK SOAP: A Major SME Item

Black soap is one of those nice, locally made soaps seen in different parts of Nigeria, especially on the outskirts of Abuja (like Kubwa).

It is called Ncha Nkota by the Igbo people and Oshe Dudu by the Yoruba People.

In Yoruba land, they use this soap to bathe a newborn baby or any other person of any age, as it is believed to have healing powers on the skin, and it eliminates the possibility of body odour. This soap is also known to kill any form of skin irritation, no matter how bad the case may be, thereby making it a local remedy for a medical condition. Interestingly, the Yorubas originally used this soap to wash plates.

The Gwangara people in Abuja also make this local soap. They also use it to bathe their newborns to prevent irritations due to dead skin. These people also point out that this same soap cleans the body very well, hence it is hawked on the streets of the outskirts of Abuja and can be seen around Dutse and Kubwa.

It is so obvious that the health benefits are huge, and it is further interesting that it is manufactured only by females in these tribes. This has led to decent work, industry, innovation and infrastructure (achieving the goals 8 and 9 of the UN SDGs). However, The Bow recommends and strongly suggests that women in these localities, especially unemployed ladies in Kubwa, should as a matter of importance and urgency go into mass production, distribution and sale of these soaps as a form of small and medium entrepreneurship (SME)  scheme, We cannot divorce the fact that SMEs are typically the largest employers of labour in Nigeria.

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