I’m really excited about the newest addition to the resources on Eat Right Naija, The Wholesome List. The idea came to me when I noticed that people who spoke to me about switching to a whole-foods, plant-based diet were having difficulty finding a place to buy alternative food items, like wholewheat flour or mushrooms. And for those who wanted to eat out, finding places to eat healthier options was a daunting task. These challenges made it very difficult to maintain the new lifestyle.
At the same time, I was becoming increasingly aware of the proliferation of Nigerian healthy lifestyle businesses popping up on Instagram. On the one hand, I had friends lamenting how difficult it was to find dairy milk alternatives in Nigeria, and on the other hand, I had come across Instagram accounts of several businesses offering locally made tigernut milk in Lagos and Abuja.
The Wholesome List is a searchable directory that aims to connect these businesses to their customers. Users can search for items they need and get a list of vendors offering that item, whether in their vicinity or online. Whether you’re looking for a healthy lunch in Lekki, soya milk in Abuja, or cold pressed juice in Ikeja, you can find it on the List.
To view the List, click the link on the menu bar. Listings are organised by category. You can either view all listings in a category by clicking any of the links on the page, or do a quick search for a keyword such as ‘salad’. This will bring up a list of all listings associated with that keyword.
You can also do an advanced search by clicking the link to the right, under the ‘Find Listings’ button. The advanced search form allows you to limit your search by location, filter by category, and so on. In the example below, I’m looking for grocery stores in Lagos that sell mushrooms.
As shown above, the List is super simple to use, and the best part is that anyone can submit a listing, for free!
How to add a listing to The Wholesome List
Let’s say I want to list a business called Healthy Munchies that sells salads, bulgur wheat jollof, smoothies, cold pressed juice and tigernut milk. The business operates as an online meal delivery service, from Lagos. Here’s how I would go about submitting a listing for Healthy Munchies.
First go to the ‘Submit a listing’ page or click the button at the bottom of the Wholesome List page to open the listing form.
Start with business category. You can select multiple. Here, I’ve selected ‘Healthy food spots’ and the sub-heading ‘Meal delivery services’, as well as ‘Food and beverage’, because Healthy Munchies sells prepared meals as well as nut milks and juices.
Next, enter the business name, format, a brief description of what they do, a website, and the address or location. Some fields, such as Business Name, are marked with an asterisk and are compulsory. Other fields may be left blank if you do not have the information required.
Next, provide contact information and a set of ‘business tags’ or keywords to associate with the listing, separating each one with a comma. These are the words that a user would search to find this listing; they may be products or services offered by the business.
Finally, upload the company logo, ensuring that the size of the image is within the specifications outlined to the right.
When you are done, click ‘Complete Listing’ and the listing will be submitted to the site admin for review, after which it will be posted.
Thanks for reading!
x
Itua
What do you think of the Wholesome List? Would you find it useful? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
