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With the increasing rate of unemployment in Nigeria, one will
agree that starting up a business is the wisest journey to embark
on. There are a thousand and one businesses that can be done,
but not all of them stand a good chance of turning out well.
If you have been nursing the idea of investing in the country’s
economy by creating jobs for yourself and other Nigerians, this
list will help you make a good choice of what particular kind of
business to get into that will guarantee a good profit depending
on the amount of start-up you can raise.
To help you get a better perspective, here are top 20 businesses
you can start-up in Nigeria and you’ll be sure of making millions
in no time. The list is not a randomly selected bunch
of businesses, they are carefully selected high performing and
time-tested business ideas you can rely on.
Some of them require a little capital to set-up, while others are
not cost-effective, all the same, they are profitable.
1. Sachet Water Production
An increasing number of Nigerians depend on sachet water for
drinking. Although there are several companies that produce
sachet water in Nigeria, the demand for the product keeps getting
relatively higher than the supply, therefore there is room for
more sachet water producers.
This business is capital and labor intensive but it is worth
venturing into, because it has a high-profit margin of over 50%,
especially if it is well-managed, and the product is widely
distributed. Since no one can do without drinking water, you can
be sure your business will do pretty well if it is well taken care of.
2. Laundry/Dry Cleaning
Everyone enjoys wearing clean clothes, but not everyone enjoys
the process of making those clothes clean, and this is where you
come in. Laundry business is a small-scale business that can be
established at the back of your house and requires small capital to
establish. With more Nigerians getting busier and some lazier by
the day, this business can fetch a lot of money in a short while.
You can also set it up in a big way to gain rich customers who
dry-clean expensive clothes and pay more. That requires a
handsome amount for purchasing the equipment needed,
nonetheless, the basic materials needed for this business are
water, detergents, buckets, pressing irons, hangers and a couple
of drying ropes and pegs.
See Also: Which Is The Largest Market In Nigeria?
3. Poultry Farming
Raising domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and
geese, for the purpose of meat or eggs for food, is one
successful business venture. This business has been making
average Nigerians rich in the last decades, and foreigners have
seen its lucrative nature and are coming in to invest in it too.
If you start with 1,000 chicks and manage your birds properly,
by the end of the first year you must have sold over 2,000 birds
and a thousand eggs, and still have more to sell for the festive
period.
4. Making of Fruit Juice
Because everybody wants to be nourished and look fresh,
Nigerians drink fruit juice more than any other people in the
world. This is one reason why companies like La Casera and Chi
are making billions of naira every day.
The country is blessed with various fruits; mangoes, oranges,
pineapples, and banana, especially in states like Benue. But a lot of
these fruits go to waste due to lack of preservative methods.
Although this business is capital-intensive, one can set it up in a
fruit producing state to cut down production costs.
5. Creche, Nursery and
Primary School
Education is a necessary door that every Nigerian must pass
through. No matter how many schools exist in a town, there will
always be room for another one – a cheaper one with high
standards of learning coupled with a conducive environment.
School business has no rival among its mates.
One area to start from is the creche; it is easier to handle and
can grow to add the nursery and eventually the primary sections
to the scheme. You don’t need to own a big building for it. You
can start from as little as a room in your house and expand with
time.
See Also: Here Are The 15 Youngest Nigerian
Entrepreneurs That Can’t Be Ignored
6. Rice Farming
Rice remains the single most consumed food staple in Nigeria
and Billions of dollars go into the importation of this product
yearly. Most of the rice eaten in Nigeria comes from China and
Thailand because the local farmers here are unable to meet up
with the demand due to poor funding and limited knowledge.
With a few millions, you can start-up a commercial rice farm in
places like Ebonyi state where the land is favorable to the crop.
Nigerians unanimously agree that local rice is sweeter than
foreign rice, so if you can start from the local and make sure you
de-stone it well, you can be sure to grow and make a good
profit.
7. Plantain Chips Making
On major streets in most Nigerian cities, one snack you are sure
to find in shops and traffic is Plantain chips of different brands.
The product is easy to produce and fast-moving as
consumers buy it every now and then to keep their mouths
busy and stomachs filled.
If you engage in the business of producing and supplying
plantain chips, you will be making good money on a daily
basis. All you need is: ripe and unripe plantains, a big frying pan,
a small sealing machine, nylons and labels, and other utensils,
and you are ready.
8. Import Used Cloth
Since a lot of Nigerians can barely afford to feed well, a good
number of them patronize Tokunbo clothes, also known as O.K
or Okrika clothes. The market in Nigeria is quite big as not
everyone can afford new and expensive designer clothes from
boutiques.
Most people who can afford expensive clothes still prefer buying
first grade O.K clothes because they are most times original and
one-made samples. The cost of buying and importing used
cloths is low compared to the prices in the market here in Nigeria
and it has a guaranteed good turnover. You can start selling by
introducing your goods to friends and neighbors.
9. Office Supply
Many businesses in the office supply industry have recently
expanded into related markets. Most people who work in offices
often times feel reluctant or get too busy to go out to buy certain
things like paper, pen, stapler, and other materials needed in an
office. You can help them do the shopping and add your mark-
up. Gradually, you’ll be a major supplier and even extend to other
offices around.
This business does not require a lot of money for start-up, and
allows even students to engage in selling stationery to fellow
students. In another dimension, you can buy goods such as
clothes and shoes and other personal items and sell them in
offices especially places like banks where workers do not have
time to get to the market.
10. Fast Food/Eatery
You can never go wrong in the Fast Food business. Lots of
Nigerians, especially bachelors, depend solely on foods made in
either restaurants or eateries. This is due to their inability to
prepare these meals themselves, or just the laziness in making
them. You can start small in stands or kiosks, or a real building,
depending on the amount you have as capital.
11. Professional Car Wash
Car wash business, which is offering outdoor services to clean
the interior and exterior of automobiles, is similar to the laundry
business. You can set up your car wash to be self-serving, fully
automated, or full-service with attendants who wash the
vehicles. This business is good if you can set it up in a strategic
location in a populated state where there are a good number of
cars and low competition with other car washers.
12. Snail Rearing
Also known as heliculture, the process of raising land snails
specifically for human use is a tedious one but at the same time is
a successful business venture. Snail farming is one of the choice
animal farming for many reasons. It is a low capital investment
with high yield and a large market. There are few people
currently doing this, most of which are in small scale. You too
can invest in snail farming and make good money within a year.
13. Selling Used Books
Used books are some of the fastest selling items in the Nigerian
market today due to the huge increase in the educated
population. Nigerians are well-read people and that can be seen
from the level of interest they show in purchasing books. A full
container load of used books can be sold within weeks, especially
in schools and office areas, and the profit margin is highly
attractive. One great thing about used books importation is that
they are sourced in countries like UK and USA for almost next to
nothing.
14. Investing in Internet
Companies
With the emergence of the internet, starting an internet business
in Nigeria is now possible for anybody. That is one good reason
why you should start an online business based on your
knowledge, passion and need to be successful. This is a new
crop of powerful investment opportunity that is creating
billionaires around the world including Nigeria.
It’s simple! You don’t have to be a tech person, all you need is to
look for a creative online tech startup with good ideas and invest
into. Within 1 to 2 years you will be counting your profits in
millions.
15. Transport Business
If you have been looking forward to creating additional streams
of income to make your dream come true, then your search
ends here. Transport business in Nigeria is one of the
surest successful businesses to engage in.
Nigeria has the largest road network in West Africa and the
second largest south of the Sahara, with roughly 108,000 km of
surfaced roads. Nigerians travel a lot from one state to the other,
and as such road transportation is a good business, and more
people should consider owing transport companies.
16. Hotel Business
This is probably the coolest money-making opportunity in
Nigeria with guaranteed success. Invest in a small-scale hotel of
just 10 suites and watch your money flow in duplicates. This has
nothing to do with the tourism boom of any kind; it is simply
connected to the fact that Nigerians are jolly people who love
luxury and comfort. Also, expatriates in Nigerian prefer to live in
hotels than an actual house, so you see, there can never be
enough hotels in a city.
17. Oil and Gas Business
Nigeria is blessed with huge deposits of oil which presents some
of the finest business opportunities for Nigerians. Owning a Petrol
Filling Station, or supplying diesel might sound big and expensive
but it is very lucrative. You can start from distributing kerosene in
your area, and grow into a big oil and gas merchandise. You are
sure of counting your money in millions.
18. Importation of Tokunbo
Cars/Spare Parts
Every Nigerian wants to own a car, but not all of them can afford
brand new cars. If you are very buoyant and don’t know what
business to go into, this will be a good one for you. There
is a huge market for used cars in Nigeria, you can start from one
car, then two, in less than a year, you will have a fleet of cars in
your garage waiting for its new owners to come pick them. This
business entails a lot of risks though, but it is a sure business you
can succeed in.
19. Investing in Property
Being a landlord in Nigeria is a serious business because
properties appreciate every day. Right now, Nigeria is one the
countries in Africa where landed properties are most expensive. If
you buy a plot of land now anywhere in the country, you are
sure to make 100% profit within two years. You can buy, resell
immediately, and make a profit, or buy and sell later. You can
also become an estate manager and get a percentage for
every house rented out.
20. Cassava Production
Normally, a lot of Nigerians will not want to embark on this
business because of its nature and the stress involved. But in
recent years, people are beginning to turn their attention to this
aspect of farming in Nigeria that has been neglected for a while.
Cassava derived foods are some of the most consumed in
Nigeria. If you can invest in cultivating 50 – 100 Acre in fertile
areas like Ondo and Rivers State, your harvest will be great, and
your profit will sure flow in.
Having gone through these businesses, don’t let this knowledge
go to waste. Analyze each business idea carefully; the risk, cost
and of course, profit margin. You never can tell which of them
might make you the successful businessman you have always
wanted to be.
Be Your Own Boss - Starting at Only R340
Get web hosting with unmatche
Be Your Own Boss - Starting at Only R340
600
agree that starting up a business is the wisest journey to embark
on. There are a thousand and one businesses that can be done,
but not all of them stand a good chance of turning out well.
If you have been nursing the idea of investing in the country’s
economy by creating jobs for yourself and other Nigerians, this
list will help you make a good choice of what particular kind of
business to get into that will guarantee a good profit depending
on the amount of start-up you can raise.
To help you get a better perspective, here are top 20 businesses
you can start-up in Nigeria and you’ll be sure of making millions
in no time. The list is not a randomly selected bunch
of businesses, they are carefully selected high performing and
time-tested business ideas you can rely on.
Some of them require a little capital to set-up, while others are
not cost-effective, all the same, they are profitable.
1. Sachet Water Production
An increasing number of Nigerians depend on sachet water for
drinking. Although there are several companies that produce
sachet water in Nigeria, the demand for the product keeps getting
relatively higher than the supply, therefore there is room for
more sachet water producers.
This business is capital and labor intensive but it is worth
venturing into, because it has a high-profit margin of over 50%,
especially if it is well-managed, and the product is widely
distributed. Since no one can do without drinking water, you can
be sure your business will do pretty well if it is well taken care of.
2. Laundry/Dry Cleaning
Everyone enjoys wearing clean clothes, but not everyone enjoys
the process of making those clothes clean, and this is where you
come in. Laundry business is a small-scale business that can be
established at the back of your house and requires small capital to
establish. With more Nigerians getting busier and some lazier by
the day, this business can fetch a lot of money in a short while.
You can also set it up in a big way to gain rich customers who
dry-clean expensive clothes and pay more. That requires a
handsome amount for purchasing the equipment needed,
nonetheless, the basic materials needed for this business are
water, detergents, buckets, pressing irons, hangers and a couple
of drying ropes and pegs.
See Also: Which Is The Largest Market In Nigeria?
3. Poultry Farming
Raising domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and
geese, for the purpose of meat or eggs for food, is one
successful business venture. This business has been making
average Nigerians rich in the last decades, and foreigners have
seen its lucrative nature and are coming in to invest in it too.
If you start with 1,000 chicks and manage your birds properly,
by the end of the first year you must have sold over 2,000 birds
and a thousand eggs, and still have more to sell for the festive
period.
4. Making of Fruit Juice
Because everybody wants to be nourished and look fresh,
Nigerians drink fruit juice more than any other people in the
world. This is one reason why companies like La Casera and Chi
are making billions of naira every day.
The country is blessed with various fruits; mangoes, oranges,
pineapples, and banana, especially in states like Benue. But a lot of
these fruits go to waste due to lack of preservative methods.
Although this business is capital-intensive, one can set it up in a
fruit producing state to cut down production costs.
5. Creche, Nursery and
Primary School
Education is a necessary door that every Nigerian must pass
through. No matter how many schools exist in a town, there will
always be room for another one – a cheaper one with high
standards of learning coupled with a conducive environment.
School business has no rival among its mates.
One area to start from is the creche; it is easier to handle and
can grow to add the nursery and eventually the primary sections
to the scheme. You don’t need to own a big building for it. You
can start from as little as a room in your house and expand with
time.
See Also: Here Are The 15 Youngest Nigerian
Entrepreneurs That Can’t Be Ignored
6. Rice Farming
Rice remains the single most consumed food staple in Nigeria
and Billions of dollars go into the importation of this product
yearly. Most of the rice eaten in Nigeria comes from China and
Thailand because the local farmers here are unable to meet up
with the demand due to poor funding and limited knowledge.
With a few millions, you can start-up a commercial rice farm in
places like Ebonyi state where the land is favorable to the crop.
Nigerians unanimously agree that local rice is sweeter than
foreign rice, so if you can start from the local and make sure you
de-stone it well, you can be sure to grow and make a good
profit.
7. Plantain Chips Making
On major streets in most Nigerian cities, one snack you are sure
to find in shops and traffic is Plantain chips of different brands.
The product is easy to produce and fast-moving as
consumers buy it every now and then to keep their mouths
busy and stomachs filled.
If you engage in the business of producing and supplying
plantain chips, you will be making good money on a daily
basis. All you need is: ripe and unripe plantains, a big frying pan,
a small sealing machine, nylons and labels, and other utensils,
and you are ready.
8. Import Used Cloth
Since a lot of Nigerians can barely afford to feed well, a good
number of them patronize Tokunbo clothes, also known as O.K
or Okrika clothes. The market in Nigeria is quite big as not
everyone can afford new and expensive designer clothes from
boutiques.
Most people who can afford expensive clothes still prefer buying
first grade O.K clothes because they are most times original and
one-made samples. The cost of buying and importing used
cloths is low compared to the prices in the market here in Nigeria
and it has a guaranteed good turnover. You can start selling by
introducing your goods to friends and neighbors.
9. Office Supply
Many businesses in the office supply industry have recently
expanded into related markets. Most people who work in offices
often times feel reluctant or get too busy to go out to buy certain
things like paper, pen, stapler, and other materials needed in an
office. You can help them do the shopping and add your mark-
up. Gradually, you’ll be a major supplier and even extend to other
offices around.
This business does not require a lot of money for start-up, and
allows even students to engage in selling stationery to fellow
students. In another dimension, you can buy goods such as
clothes and shoes and other personal items and sell them in
offices especially places like banks where workers do not have
time to get to the market.
10. Fast Food/Eatery
You can never go wrong in the Fast Food business. Lots of
Nigerians, especially bachelors, depend solely on foods made in
either restaurants or eateries. This is due to their inability to
prepare these meals themselves, or just the laziness in making
them. You can start small in stands or kiosks, or a real building,
depending on the amount you have as capital.
11. Professional Car Wash
Car wash business, which is offering outdoor services to clean
the interior and exterior of automobiles, is similar to the laundry
business. You can set up your car wash to be self-serving, fully
automated, or full-service with attendants who wash the
vehicles. This business is good if you can set it up in a strategic
location in a populated state where there are a good number of
cars and low competition with other car washers.
12. Snail Rearing
Also known as heliculture, the process of raising land snails
specifically for human use is a tedious one but at the same time is
a successful business venture. Snail farming is one of the choice
animal farming for many reasons. It is a low capital investment
with high yield and a large market. There are few people
currently doing this, most of which are in small scale. You too
can invest in snail farming and make good money within a year.
13. Selling Used Books
Used books are some of the fastest selling items in the Nigerian
market today due to the huge increase in the educated
population. Nigerians are well-read people and that can be seen
from the level of interest they show in purchasing books. A full
container load of used books can be sold within weeks, especially
in schools and office areas, and the profit margin is highly
attractive. One great thing about used books importation is that
they are sourced in countries like UK and USA for almost next to
nothing.
14. Investing in Internet
Companies
With the emergence of the internet, starting an internet business
in Nigeria is now possible for anybody. That is one good reason
why you should start an online business based on your
knowledge, passion and need to be successful. This is a new
crop of powerful investment opportunity that is creating
billionaires around the world including Nigeria.
It’s simple! You don’t have to be a tech person, all you need is to
look for a creative online tech startup with good ideas and invest
into. Within 1 to 2 years you will be counting your profits in
millions.
15. Transport Business
If you have been looking forward to creating additional streams
of income to make your dream come true, then your search
ends here. Transport business in Nigeria is one of the
surest successful businesses to engage in.
Nigeria has the largest road network in West Africa and the
second largest south of the Sahara, with roughly 108,000 km of
surfaced roads. Nigerians travel a lot from one state to the other,
and as such road transportation is a good business, and more
people should consider owing transport companies.
16. Hotel Business
This is probably the coolest money-making opportunity in
Nigeria with guaranteed success. Invest in a small-scale hotel of
just 10 suites and watch your money flow in duplicates. This has
nothing to do with the tourism boom of any kind; it is simply
connected to the fact that Nigerians are jolly people who love
luxury and comfort. Also, expatriates in Nigerian prefer to live in
hotels than an actual house, so you see, there can never be
enough hotels in a city.
17. Oil and Gas Business
Nigeria is blessed with huge deposits of oil which presents some
of the finest business opportunities for Nigerians. Owning a Petrol
Filling Station, or supplying diesel might sound big and expensive
but it is very lucrative. You can start from distributing kerosene in
your area, and grow into a big oil and gas merchandise. You are
sure of counting your money in millions.
18. Importation of Tokunbo
Cars/Spare Parts
Every Nigerian wants to own a car, but not all of them can afford
brand new cars. If you are very buoyant and don’t know what
business to go into, this will be a good one for you. There
is a huge market for used cars in Nigeria, you can start from one
car, then two, in less than a year, you will have a fleet of cars in
your garage waiting for its new owners to come pick them. This
business entails a lot of risks though, but it is a sure business you
can succeed in.
19. Investing in Property
Being a landlord in Nigeria is a serious business because
properties appreciate every day. Right now, Nigeria is one the
countries in Africa where landed properties are most expensive. If
you buy a plot of land now anywhere in the country, you are
sure to make 100% profit within two years. You can buy, resell
immediately, and make a profit, or buy and sell later. You can
also become an estate manager and get a percentage for
every house rented out.
20. Cassava Production
Normally, a lot of Nigerians will not want to embark on this
business because of its nature and the stress involved. But in
recent years, people are beginning to turn their attention to this
aspect of farming in Nigeria that has been neglected for a while.
Cassava derived foods are some of the most consumed in
Nigeria. If you can invest in cultivating 50 – 100 Acre in fertile
areas like Ondo and Rivers State, your harvest will be great, and
your profit will sure flow in.
Having gone through these businesses, don’t let this knowledge
go to waste. Analyze each business idea carefully; the risk, cost
and of course, profit margin. You never can tell which of them
might make you the successful businessman you have always
wanted to be.
Be Your Own Boss - Starting at Only R340
Get web hosting with unmatche
Be Your Own Boss - Starting at Only R340
600
