Welcome to a DUO guest author post by Hive account@thelastdash
If you are interested in being a guest author be sure to let us know, 50% profit share on the post and 5 DUO tokens are up for grabs!
More info and rules about the guest author spot here

If you need any help or have questions about DUO, the team is here for you! Leave a comment or reach out on discord

_{This post is written by a guest author. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the DUO team. The DUO team check the guest author posts with ai and plagiarism detection tools}

Top 3 DUO stakers

1

2

3

The Impact of Inflation on My Small Business

Life has gotten tough for many of us in Nigeria due to high inflation. In the small town where I live with my five kids, my little business that I started recently is really feeling the money pinch due to the rising cost of goods and Dollarization of our economy.

At my clothing stand, you can find jeans, t-shirts, chinos, shorts, and pajamas for sale. We get our stock twice a month from Lagos. But now, the cost of fuel has shot up to N65k a trip, from N25k just few months ago.

Other than the cost to bring products from Lagos, other costs have gone up too. This rise in costs has hit our profit margins, making me hike our prices by 50%.

So, my business is making less money because of these high costs, but I’ve turned to blogging and freelancing more. Yet, the rise in costs quietly takes away your buying power, making online gigs less fruitful. The part of my earnings that used to cover 30% of my needs now only covers 10%. That's why I’ve picked up more work; our old way of life just can’t keep going. The time for family activities has been taken from us.

Also, making less from the business, and a crazy rise of over 200% in the price of basic foods has hit our family budget hard. In the market, a 50kg bag of rice that was between N45k-N65k is now a shocking N135k-N145K.

Other basic foods like beans and yams have also jumped in price. We once spent N50k a month on food, but now we get less food for over N100k. With prices going up fast and my money going down, it’s tough to even buy basic food. If inflation keeps up, I fear for everyone.

The hit on our family money has forced us to make tough choices. I've risked my health with sleepless nights since I need to work more online, which brings in some money. These long nights will harm me if I keep losing sleep like this.

I can't even pay for my kids’ private school now, so I'm planning to shift them to a cheaper school that's still good. My savings, which could have helped my shop or given us some cushion, are all gone. We all are feeling both tears and stress from these money problems as we fight just to get by.

As this article points out, the severe inflation all over Nigeria has badly hit my small family business and put our survival at risk. Our home budget is tight from rising production costs and falling profits. Making basic needs like enough food a luxury can lead to health issues later if we don’t address them now.