In light of the pressing issue surrounding the traditional practice of spraying money at Nigerian parties, it’s evident that a paradigm shift is necessary to address concerns regarding the perceived mutilation of the Naira. Enter OG TEGA, founder of SPRAY MINT, a pioneering startup aimed at revolutionizing the way Nigerians celebrate at gatherings, popularly known as “owambes.” At the heart of SPRAY MINT’s innovative approach lies its custom-designed mascot, MINT MAMA, a symbol of cultural celebration and financial responsibility.
OG TEGA’s vision transcends the mere prohibition of physical currency spraying; instead, it advocates for a reimagining of festivities that preserves the essence of Nigerian culture while embracing modern financial practices. Through SPRAY MINT, partygoers can now carry on the tradition of expressing generosity and camaraderie, thus eliminating the need for the original Naira notes that risks damaging the integrity of the national currency.
MINT MAMA serves as a beacon of this transformative movement, embodying the spirit of celebration and community without resorting to the traditional practice of Naira abuse. By leveraging custom-made look-alike notes, SPRAY MINT facilitates seamless and secure transactions, ensuring that the joyous atmosphere of owambes remains intact while safeguarding the integrity of the Naira.
Moreover, SPRAY MINT’s initiatives are not just about celebrating in parties. It helps curb the long problem of people losing their money to party goers who pick these money and disappear with them. We’ve heard complaints of celebrants saying they didn’t make as much money after the party from what they visualized they were sprayed.
By empowering Nigerians with the knowledge and tools to celebrate responsibly, OG TEGA and SPRAY MINT are not only addressing the immediate issue of currency abuse but also fostering a culture of financial empowerment and sustainability.
In essence, SPRAY MINT represents more than just a solution to a cultural dilemma. It symbolizes the power of innovation and collective action in shaping a brighter future for Nigeria’s cultural heritage and economic stability. Through the guidance of SPRAY MAMA and the visionary leadership of OG TEGA, Nigerians can embrace a new era of celebration that honors tradition while embracing progress.
The StartupsVibes Team met with OG Tega, and he briefed us on the conception of the Spray Mint idea and its actualization as a startup. Hold On, before you proceed, watch the video below for better understanding.
SV: How did you come up with the idea of Spray Mint?
OG Tega: We’ve always had this issue from time to time. People always want to get their money completely at parties when they get sprayed. The initial goal was to get people their money back 100%, right. The idea sparked from when Craze Clown did his wedding, and at the end of the day, we saw that a whole lot of people sprayed him money that very day. We could physically calculate how much was sprayed, because some men were spraying in bundles and if you count those bundles, just from what you saw, you could tell the figure, say 4 to 5 million for example. So eventually, when we went to the hotel and counted the money, we realized that we were having about half of what we speculated to have been sprayed. It was crazy to us that after all the stress we had gone through, all the money spent on the wedding, we expected that one would make the money back, even if it’s from the money being sprayed. So, I said to myself, there has to be a more efficient way to do this thing. It can’t just be that everybody is facing the same problem that we’re facing. If they’re stealing cash at this wedding, then they are also stealing cash at another party obviously. So, it makes so much sense that, you know, this problem needs to be solved. So, I spoke about it with my brother. I talked to him about it and he liked the idea. Imagine if you could just spray something like confetti, just shoot confetti in the air and the real money is in your bank account, you don’t even need to worry about people picking the money from the ground and doing all of that stress. It makes a lot of sense. We saw that there was a business to be birthed from the idea and a huge market to address. Also, it’s something that nobody has looked into before. So why not? So we looked into it and said to ourselves, what if we use prop notes? The notes that they use in music videos. The idea sounded nice, so we decided to give it a try.
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So fortunately, as God would have it, the idea first sat for one year before we implemented it. And then my birthday was coming up and I was like let me have a party to test out this idea. So I did the party and I made sure that everybody was going to spray my notes at that party, but they would exchange it for real cash and let’s see how it goes. So I did all the running around, set everything up, printed banners, T-shirts, and put people in place to collect the money. And as you have it, people started buying the money and on our first event, we were able to raise a millionaire Naira. So we were like, Okay, we’ve done something here, this works, it’s time to put it in the field. And that was how the idea just took off, basically. So yeah, in our first year, we were able to do almost 20 events, and that was just last year. We were able to raise about 30 million for people. So we were able to preserve their money for them and ended up saving them the whole stress. And yeah, so this year, fortunately, we launched in the US. We have partners in the US and we’re trying to open in the UK as well too. The culture in the US with Nigerians as well is quite heavy, so we’re trying to break into that market and the UK as well. And then we know that Nigeria is still heavily dependent on cash. So people still feel the need to spray money as opposed to that, but then now the whole EFCC thing is becoming more clear that they want to hammer on the abuse of the Naira note.
SV: Nigerians are known for their love of showing class, and it’s the same when it comes to parties and the denominations they spend. So does Spray Mint come in different denominations like the Naira notes?
OG Tega: Yes, they come in denominations. So we did Spray Mint according to the most sought-after denominations, which are 200s and 500s at events. Hardly would you see people spray 100 Naira anymore. It used to be a thing in the past but now they hardly do it. Even 1000 Naira is scarce as well at parties. You know, so you hardly see someone spraying 1000 Naira at parties. So we just limited it to 200 and 500.
SV: What’s the exchange rate for the Spray Mints at parties?
OG Tega: We basically just price it at a 25% markup. We have a 25% markup on each bundle. Those who sell the real notes at parties charge as high as 50% to 60%, but we placed ours at 25%.
SV: Do you also make Spray Mints for special events where people actually just want the face of the couples or celebrant on the cash and do you charge higher for that service?
OG Tega: Oh! Yes, we do. We have a design fee, which is just a one-time fee to design the note for you. This is special and different because, if it’s the regular note, we can come to your events and make trade. The reason been that we have our own custom made face on our regular note. The face on our regular note is our mascot and you can use the regular note for any event. For special occasions, since it’s going to be your own face, it is only valuable for your own event, so you can’t repurpose it. This means you would have to purchase the note upfront.
SV: What’s the name of the mascots for your regular notes?
OG Tega: We call her Mint Mama. She’s basically a representation of every aunty you see at Owambe. There’s always at parties who is either in charge of food or money or one particular task. That aunty always has this unique look. I don’t even need to describe it to you, you already have a picture of such aunty in your mind already. So that was how we came up with the mascot idea.
SV: So slightly over a year since you started, what has been the major challenge so far?
OG Tega: Major challenge, definitely the adoption of the idea. At first, we thought it was going to be a no brainer, like, oh, this makes sense on paper. So it should make sense to anybody that hears it. And when we tell people, a lot of people go, ‘oh! that’s a lovely idea’. When it’s time to implement it, they’re like, ‘Oh, I want to use real cash’. So the adoption has been a huge problem. But that hasn’t deterred us because when I started I was fully aware that Nigeria is invested in cash and people are stuck in their ways. The idea will come to fruition as time goes on. I’m not scared at all.