Music executive and entrepreneur Ubi Franklin has sparked debate with a bold claim: a structured investment in street food vendors, popularly known as mama put, could generate as much as ₦1.8 billion in annual returns. Speaking on the Built The Hard Way podcast hosted by Cyril Okoi, Franklin outlined a model where investors provide ₦50,000 to each of 100 vendors daily, collecting the same amount back at day's end, with vendors keeping profits above that threshold.
Franklin's Investment Model for Mama Put Vendors
Franklin's proposal targets vendors operating at motor parks and densely populated areas on the mainland. He suggests giving each vendor ₦50,000 to fund daily cooking. At the end of the day, the vendor repays the ₦50,000 capital, while the investor collects a daily return of ₦50,000 per vendor. Franklin argues that vendors who spend ₦30,000 on ingredients typically generate returns exceeding 250% of that cost, making daily earnings of ₦150,000 to ₦200,000 achievable.
"Do you know how much they make every day? Let's say they use 30k to cook food, those people make more than 250% of that," Franklin said. Scaling the model to 100 vendors at ₦50,000 daily return each produces ₦5 million per day. Multiply that by 365 days, and the figure reaches ₦1.8 billion. "Calculate 50k daily times 365 days," he said. "Let's say you invested in 100, that's 1.8 billion."
Why Franklin Warns Against Entertainment Industry
Franklin began his podcast appearance by cautioning against the entertainment industry, describing it as one of the most volatile sectors to enter. He said it has a way of turning even good people into villains. Instead, he pivoted to what he called the unbanked sector—a largely ignored pool of small-scale traders and food vendors operating entirely outside the formal financial system. "The money in the unbanked is a lot," he asserted.
The Informal Economy: A Hidden Investment Frontier
Franklin's argument is not specifically about mama put but about the untapped capital sitting in Nigeria's informal economy, where millions of traders operate daily without access to credit, investment, or formal financial support. His pitch is essentially a micro-lending model dressed in everyday language. The math, however simplified, reflects a real gap that fintech companies like Moniepoint and OPay have already begun exploiting at scale.
According to data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, the informal sector accounts for about 65% of the country's GDP, yet remains largely excluded from traditional banking services. Franklin's model, while ambitious, highlights the potential for structured investment in this space.
Reactions and Implications for Aspiring Investors
For the average person watching from the mainland, Franklin's point is simpler: the opportunity is already in front of you. His remarks have generated mixed reactions on social media, with some praising his entrepreneurial insight and others questioning the practicality of daily collections and vendor reliability.
Franklin, known for his role in the music industry as a co-founder of Made Men Music Group and former manager of Davido, has consistently advocated for unconventional investment strategies. His latest proposal underscores a growing interest in Nigeria's informal food economy as a viable investment frontier.
While the ₦1.8 billion figure is based on a simplified calculation, it has sparked conversations about the potential for micro-lending models to empower small-scale entrepreneurs. As fintech companies continue to bridge the gap between formal finance and informal traders, Franklin's idea may not be far-fetched.
