The best thing you can ever do for your financial status is to start a business and I understand people get overwhelmed with what type of small business to start. Well, this article is simply the Ultimate List Of Small Business Ideas In Nigeria and you get to choose whichever strikes a chord with you.
List of Small Business Ideas In Nigeria
Here are my top picks for the best small business ideas in Nigeria.
1. Become an Influencer
Becoming a content creator/Influencer is a really profitable business idea as crazy as it sounds. It’s magical how you just have to create content that drives Buzz, build an audience that loves you and your brand, stay consistent, and just like that you’re earning 6 Figures every month.
Considering the various social media platforms and the Zero start-up cost for this business model, I can boldly say that this business idea is truly possible and profitable. With TikTok’s Growth potential, anyone can become a content creator in this day and age. Other social media platforms to build an audience on include: Instagram and YouTube.
Once you’ve built a loyal fanbase and an engaged audience, It’s time to make money.
There are several ways to make money as an influencer and some of them include:
- Sponsorship deals
- Sell your own products/service
- Make money directly from the YouTube Partner Program/Tiktok creator fund
- Try Affiliate marketing
These are just the basic ways to monetize an audience, you can also brainstorm new ideas or survey the needs of your audience, and just like that you’d be able to build a completely new income stream.
2. Become a Tutor
Before I fell in love with marketing, I was an intelligent bookworm and I still am though. The point is, I really saw the struggle people went through to learn what I casually understood. Everyone understands the benefits of education and hence prioritizes it, so therefore people are willing to spend a fortune to make sure they get the best of it.
If you are a book nerd, it’s time to make some money. Offer to help out struggling individuals with your time, assistance, and knowledge to get them better grades and in return, you get paid.
This is one of the common businesses in Nigerian universities and I tell you it is profitable given our typical African parents can do anything to breed a sharp brain.
3. Affiliate Marketing
We all know affiliate marketing is the first business idea that comes to mind with Nigerian entrepreneurs, well this is a given since this small business idea is a really profitable one. On average, Affiliate marketers can earn 6 Figures monthly in passive income.
Well, if you’re lost, I’d give you a quick brief, Affiliate marketing is a business model in which marketers and entrepreneurs promote/recommend products created by another business to an audience in hopes of driving sales and receiving commissions from the vendor.
Mastering what goes into building a successful affiliate marketing business is therefore necessary. In summary, to start an affiliate marketing business, you’ll need
- A Niche
- An Affiliate product/Program
- A Traffic source and Marketing strategy
Just like said earlier on, Affiliate marketing flourishes when you have a huge understanding of the basics of marketing. To get started read this article to learn the different ways to market an affiliate marketing business in Nigeria.
4. Start A Reselling/ Retail Arbitrage Business
Retail arbitrage is not a new business model in Nigeria, in fact, it’s a widely successful business model in Nigeria. Ignore the cute name it has now, a popular example of this business idea in Nigeria is the “OKRIKA Business Model”.
You buy from a wholesale trader and resell it to consumers or simply buy useful goods to find and resell them online.
Unlike the Okrika technique, our parents used to live for, we now have the internet to lean on, you can simply find items for cheap offline and upload them online on marketplaces like
- eBay
- Facebook Marketplace
- Amazon
These marketplaces have a huge customer base built in, so unlike our parents, we won’t have to sit in the store all day long waiting for customers to come around.
Rather, you’ll only have to list your products on these marketplaces, optimize your listings, and sooner than you know, you’ll have sales creeping in.
5. Become a Fashion Designer
I’ll let you guys in on a little secret, I adore fashion designers and their ability to be so creative. I’ll be the first to tell you that if you can learn this skill and become a real professional at it, the earning potential is crazy.
It is quite logical why this is the case though, Clothing is a basic necessity of life and people always want more of them. So, to be frank, If you can become a pro at designing clothes, even with a handful of clients, you’ll still be able to earn a decent living.
P.S One point I’d like to make though, is that fashion designers need to ditch the old ways of marketing their business solely relying on a physical store location and referrals. To make crazy figures as a fashion designer in 2022 and beyond, you’re going to need to transition into the online world and market your business to a wider audience online, while offering delivery services.
6. Start a Clothing Line
This happens to be the most adorable and sophisticated of all the business ideas on this list. I mean when you say you own a business in Nigeria, people expect to see a boutique or company of some sort. With a clothing line, you’ll be owning a physical store where you manage all of your inventory.
You’ve definitely seen these types of businesses around, the ones that sell the latest and trendy clothing items. I won’t lie, this business model requires quite a huge start-up cost but once you have it all set up and of course with a proper marketing strategy, you can make millions from running this business.
What you’ll need to create a clothing line.
- A Wholesale supplier
- An inventory location or Store
- A Marketing strategy
7. Freelancing
This idea takes home the award for the “Easiest small business to start in Nigeria”. If you’re lost, freelancing is a business model where you offer your services to businesses or individuals in need of it.
With freelancing, there’s literally no start-up cost, you just need a valuable skill in high demand and clients to sell them to. Well, I’ve got you covered for both.
Top Most Profitable and In-Demand Freelance Skills To Learn
- Content Writing and creation
- Copywriting
- Marketing
- Graphics Design
- Website Design
- Coding
To find clients for your freelance business, here are some of the best freelance platforms I highly recommend, and if you’re really serious about starting a freelance business, here’s the complete guide you need.
8. Become a Coach or Consultant
Don’t Fret, you don’t need to go to business or tech school and have 8 years of experience before you become an online coach, you just need to have crazy knowledge about a certain skill that people are willing to pay for.
Coaching businesses are extremely profitable, I can say for a fact and anyone can start one today. Think about that one thing people always ask you for instructions around, maybe you are productive, organized, or just anything in general, as long as it solves a problem, it can make you money.
Heck, I’ve seen all forms of coaches, Hair coaches, travel coaches, dating coaches, you name it.
So how do you start a coaching business?
- Choose a Niche
- Create your signature offer
- Build credibility in your industry
- Pitch and promote your offer
Interested in starting your own coaching business? I have 2 Amazing resources to help you with that.
Read our article delving step-by-step on how to start a profitable coaching business and
Grab this Free blueprint to help launch a profitable coaching business from scratch.
9. Self-Publishing
So, if you happen to be that writer everyone loves, then I have the perfect business idea for you. How does writing books and getting paid sound? Well sounds like passive income to me, you create the book once, publish it for free and enjoy sweet earnings for years to come if you do your marketing well.
Back in the day, to write and publish a book meant you had to spend a fortune but not anymore. With the emergence of self-publishing platforms like Amazon KDP, Draft2Digital, and several others, you can now publish your books online completely and get access to millions of active readers present on the above-mentioned marketplace.
So how do you get started with self-publishing? Simply write books as you normally would, upload them to these marketplaces, and get paid.
P.S You need to keep in mind the caveat though, you’re going to need to create books that people are actually looking for and optimize your book listings so people actually find them.
10. E-commerce
Well, I just couldn’t leave out this business idea, as the eCommerce industry keeps growing year by year, this is undeniably a profitable business idea to venture into.
Ecommerce is a billion-dollar industry and people buy all kinds of stuff online. If you can tap into a tiny portion of this industry, you’ll be well on track to earning 6-Figures online.
Ecommerce is quite broad with many models to try out. You could try
- Dropshipping
- Amazon FBA
- Private Labelling
P.S Marketing is a really crucial part of eCommerce success and should therefore be prioritized. Read this article for a more in-depth guide to e-commerce in Nigeria.
11. Blogging
The last and one of the most popular small business ideas in Nigeria is Blogging. Might not sound fancy like the other ideas, but don’t underestimate its power.
Blogging has made several entrepreneurs filthy rich and it’s for a reason. Blogging involves writing articles and optimizing them to rank on Google. This is so powerful because Google is the largest search engine in the world with billions of daily search queries.
Every business needs customers or clients right? and the people typing different searches into Google are humans, aren’t they?
If you can create content that shows up on Google and get people onto your website, trust you can monetize your blog in crazy ways. Some of which include:
- Google Adsense
- Affiliate Marketing
- E-commerce
- Sponsorships
- Product and service sales.
Conclusion
Now I’ve shared my List Of Small Business Ideas In Nigeria, I’d love to give a brief of what goes into growing a successful one. As the saying goes, an Idea is useless without proper execution and strategy.
If you’re ready to take your idea to the next level, watch this video to learn how to start a profitable online business in 4 Easy Steps.