Small businesses Nigerians can start in Q4
A number of Nigerians may not have realised their dreams for the year. If you fall into this class, do not despair. The last quarter of 2018 can still open a new vista of opportunity. There are still some businesses that you can start this quarter. Start-Up Digest articulates some of these businesses.
Laundry
This business is often neglected but it still provides food on the tables of many. As long as the entrepreneur is ready to offer quality and timely services, laundry is still a great business, which can be started with about N50, 000 or even less. Nowadays, there is even what is called mobile laundry that anybody can start.
You can start with family and friends. Here is a testimony of the Kwara State-born Abubakar Sodeek Arekemashe, a 28- year- old student, who is the chief executive officer of a laundry outfit called Sky Limit.
“When the idea came to my mind, I discussed it with my friends. I told them I wanted to start a laundry business. They called it an inferior business (Alagbafo in the local parlance). But I let them realise that the mocking was nothing to me and I started it on 24th February, 2017 with just N200.00. It was easy for me because I had an iron, a laundry basket, regular water supply and electricity. Out of the money, I bought soap and starch, then started with three clothes. Today, I am getting a number of people who patronise me,” Arekemashe told Start-Up Digest.
Fashion
Without being overly optimistic or unrealistic, fashion and design requires funding. In fact, in some cases, N10 million may be insufficient to set up a full-fledged fashion outfit. However, to start at a micro level after apprenticeship, N50, 000 is enough to buy a sowing machine. Many fashion designers do their work at home, so the issue of rent is not always a limitation. This also applies to other areas of fashion such as the makeup and designing. Yejide Elugbaju, founder and CEO of Rivah Beauty Limited, told Start-Up Digest that she started her outfit in January of 2016 with N50,000.
Crystal Omotosimi, who is today the chief executive of HC Vestimenta Enterprise, a fashion and designing outfit, started in June of 2014 with just N9, 000 and has grown more than 40 times than that today.
You can play locally and internationally. Good designs sell across Africa today and West Africa is still a good market for fashion designers, irrespective of competition and challenges from China.
Online Business
Nigeria is still a goldmine. Many digital businesses that you find in Europe, China, India and USA are still not here. Many Nigerians are raking in millions through online sales, and payment platforms, among others.
Bamidele Onibalusi is the founder of Deloni Enterprise, an online business. Onibalusi started the business with N15, 000, which he used to register his website and purchase hosting. Hear his testimony to Start-Up Digest:
“I mainly deal with clients and customers in Europe, America and other parts of the world. I also earn my income in dollars and convert at the current exchange rate. This ensures that the recession in Nigeria has little or no impact on me.”
There are many things you can do online. You can start a YouTube channel, grow a blog, start an online tutorial, begin product reviews, do email marketing or do Facebook/ Twitter marketing.
More so, you can sell photos (including old and memorable photos), start your own Podcast, create your own eCommerce store or write articles and get paid. The internet is not just meant for chats but also for searching information that can improve people’s lives.
Cashew processing
Next on the list is cashew processing. If you do not have a cashew farm, get one. However, you can liaise with a cashew farmer who will supply you with raw cashew nuts for onward processing. Export of cashew is now one big business. Many a time, Vietnam, world largest cashew exporter, experiences drought and the world then relies on countries like Nigeria for the nuts.
Cashew sells like cakes in the United States, India, Spain and many parts of Europe. Apart from helping to maintain a healthy heart and bones, cashew also helps in weight loss and reduction of cholesterol.
Cashew nuts are used in producing chemicals, paints, varnishes, insecticides and fungicides, electrical conductress, and several types of oil.
Cashew exporters in Nigeria made $250 million in 2015, $300 million in 2016 and $402 million in 2017, according to Tola Faseru, president, National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), said.
If you wish to process for the local or international market, then be ready to procure machines such as boiler, sheller or cracker, dryer, and packaging machine. Two good things about cashew are that its return on investment is as high as 55 percent and its payback time is just 12 months, say experts.
ODINAKA ANUDU