CNN 'African Start-Up': How 2 Brothers turned $5 investment to a multi-million dollar Lemonade business

This week’s African Start-Up, airing on CNN International, turned its focus to an entrepreneurial success story from Nigeria. The programme meets brothers Seun and Seyi Abolaji, who set up Wilson’s Juice Company in 2010.

Explaining how the company tapped into a new market, Seun Abolaji tells CNN:

“We offer a fresh squeezed juice product made from real lemons; a healthy alternative to what's on the market now.”

Seyi Abolaji continues:

“When we started thinking about Wilson’s in Nigeria, there was nobody doing
lemonade... we went around to anyone who would let us in their factory and we just started asking questions... and saying “hey, why is there nobody doing juice in a bottle?"

Now a household name, the Abolaji brothers tell African Start-Up that they started the company with just $5. Seun Abolaji says:

“Could we have started this company in the United States? I doubt it. We would need 10 million dollars maybe three... And that's the beauty of Nigeria you can have a naira and a dream.”

Distributed to cover 650 locations and 18 states within Nigeria, Wilson’s Juice now has a factory that employs 30 workers and produces up to 24,000 bottles a day.

Seyi Abolaji tells CNN:

“We are focused right now on making sure we saturate Lagos and Nigeria. We believe there's a lot of work and a lot of value to add here. But from the very beginning we've seen ourselves as a global brand. We made a product and we're making products that can stand on the shelf anywhere in the world.”