Here's the story about how we made #RooftopBazaar happen.
A lot of people have been wanting to rent our rooftop for events, so we thought - let's try one ourselves first! My parents thought of either a bazaar or a weekly/monthly themed buffet. We went with bazaar, but had to wait until our suya pit was completed, and bought chairs and tables, material to sew table cloths, oh and a hamburger machine (I'll write about our food later on).
Promotion
1) I designed our banners and leaflets and my Dad printed them in UTC (the best place to get these done - they give an amazing rate for bulk printing, oh and excellent quality too.) We placed banners on the streets in Gwarinpa, and on keke napeps. Two of our banners in Gwarinpa were stolen before the first bazaar. For the second bazaar, we had to cut holes on on the banner so that they won't be useful to people who plan on stealing it to use as a mat or shade from the rain. My mom made stencils and I spray-painted it (very poor quality haha)
2) Texts - Only for the first bazaar, we got in touch with a friend who we paid to text over a thousand MTN and GLO numbers within the area. Just because none of us in the family were lucky enough to be part of that "random" selection of MTN numbers, we were sceptical as to whether or not it did work, so we didn't do it again.
3) People who make it their business to promote. For the first bazaar I got the help of "Abuja events and places" on Instagram. For the second bazaar I got the help of "Buzz9ja". Both of them allowed me three posts, because of the budget I had. I went with a small budget. Buzz9ja has thousands of followers, and they charge big but I told them what I'm doing is small scale, so they made arrangements around my budget.
4) Facebook. I found several groups on facebook just by searching for words like Abuja marketplace, business in Abuja, events in Abuja...but the ones that worked the most (where a lot of the visitors came from) were the expat groups. Some of the vendors told me "I hope you invited a lot of expats, because they're the ones who love our African crafts". The first bazaar attracted a lot of foreigners, yes, but the second one not so much and I told some vendors in advance not to expect the expats because they're all on summer holiday (August).
Another feature I tried on facebook was literally the "promote" button. We used our credit card for this - you select the post you want to promote, select your audience (we chose Abuja and Gwarinpa), then type in the amount you're willing to spend. Your budget determines how many people will be reached via facebook (on mobile and desktop AND your associated instagram account - we connected it with our "Persian Shop" IG account).
The vendors.
1) Business cards. I had a number of business cards I gathered from vendors at different bazaars I went to. I copied all their numbers to my phone and messaged only those that appeared on Whatsapp (I preferred Whatsapp over regular text because it's more convenient with sending them photos).
2) Instagram! I spent lots of time browsing around for home-based entrepreneurs in town. There are so many of them and they're so amazing! I'm always happy to see people make social media accounts for their businesses. I tagged them on my advert posts, and many of them messaged back with interest. I reached out to over 50 creative artists - entrepreneurs who make unique handbags, dresses, jewelry, rugs and mugs (I have to admit that my favorite discovery was Asah-Bara and their mugs! I might dedicate another blog post entirely to them).
Another reason I needed their pages was to create personalized posts for each one of them. I made these for them to share on their respective pages (to let all their friends/customers to know) and also for me to share, letting everyone know what to expect!
We can only accommodate 30 vendors on the rooftop. We arranged the tables and chairs upstairs, giving everyone equal amount of space, and of course enough space dividing the vendors, and a good amount of space to walk around and yes - 30 was just perfect. We left the two balconies free so that the visitors could also go there to enjoy the view (as advertised hehe). I didn't say yes to just anyone who called. My first question was always "what do you sell?" At one point I noticed a lot of clothes and Anakara bags were calling in, so I had to turn down some calls even when there was still space, because... I wanted DIVERSITY. I didn't want a fashion bazaar or a ladies bazaar so to speak. I wanted something for everyone! So I limited it to five clothes, 5 bags, 5 jewelry. During the second bazaar, we had a lot of make-up vendors calling in, but I limited it to three. Kids toys/kids clothes too. I felt that that way, everyone would sell because the competition would be less. I was also not after just having lots of vendors. We charged each vendor N3,000 for a table, and there was N200 entrance fee. I knew it would take four bazaars to only cover the cost of the chairs and tables that we bought. So that's why I wasn't focused on just getting vendors - I wanted to make sure there was enough of everything, so that each one of them would be happy, and have some sales! QUALITY over QUANTITY :)
I also wrote the vendors' names on the tables before they arrived, so that they'd know exactly where they'd have to be. This was very tricky, especially for those who had 'clothes, bags and jewely' all on one table. My arrangement did not go too well during the first bazaar because a lot of ladies changed their tables, just to be beside their friends. But during the second bazaar - it went very well. On one line for example it was children books then flowers then dresses then bracelets then underwear then ankara accessories then clothes. The other side of the hall was jewelry then make up then dresses then t-shirts then jewelry then tablecloths. Basically no two similar beside each other (but there were a few cases where I couldn't help it). During both bazaars we also accommodated a few vendors downstairs.
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| On the morning of the bazaar. Note: my mom sew all those table cloths herself. |
My role during the bazaars - Once in a while I sat at my henna table. Sometimes I stayed downstairs to help my parents with the shop sales. But most of the time I was climbing up and down, taking photos and having chats with the vendors (I became good friends with many of them!)
The pictures are all on our Facebook (click here) and Instagram page (click here) but I'll share a few below:
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| Bazaar 1 |
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| Bazaar 1 |
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| Bazaar 1 |
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| Bazaar 1 (TapsJuwel also requested for the same spot at the second bazaar!) |
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| Panorama of Bazaar 2. I put all the food in the middle |
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| I put these signs on the steps going up because I knew everyone would struggle at firstwith the climb! Had to make them enjoy it :) |
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| Bazaar 2 |
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| Bazaar 2 - Samuel and his brother's batik table cloths, bags & aprons are always everyone's favorite. They came all the way from Lagos, twice! |
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| Bazaar 2 - make up by Gele on d go |
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| Most of the food vendors during the 2nd bazaar were desserts - cupcakes, donuts, crepes, cookies. But we had a healthy side too with CLEVER KITCHEN! Love them! |
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| These two guys (Crepe Walk) were really inspiring! A week before the bazaar, my Mom and I went to the Abuja Food Expo. I was so excited to see crepes there (I love crepes) so I stopped to make an order. They were experiencing electricity problems, then the guy kept apologizing, and he said "sorry...this is our first fair". and then my mom asked "Would you like to have your second?" So we invited them to the bazaar. A LOT of their friends came, these two boys were VERY hardworking! They also left really happy! |
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| My online adverts said "Shop & Chop on a rooftop! OR simply just come and enjoy the view of Abuja from our rooftop" |
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| My Dad wasn't in town for the second bazaar - my mom and I were really amazed at how we still pulled it off :) Photo by Kodak Express |