Category : Start A Business

Start A Business

How to Start Small Town Business In Nigeria

How to Start Small Town Business In Nigeria

Nigeria has over 248 cities with population of between 10,000 to 500,000 people, with tens of millions of Small Town businesses. If you are looking for Small Town business ideas, here’s a guide to help you run your small town business successfully or start from the scratch anywhere in Nigeria.

One key advantage of small town business is opportunity to be known instantly without much publicity. Marketing is easier, and you can differentiate your brand easily in any niche.

Moreover, you can create the kind of services tailored to your market easily because you can profile your target customers more precisely. And if you provide top notch product or service it spreads across the town faster through word of mouth publicity.

What’s A Small Town Business?

A small town business is a business providing services targeted at customers living within a small town. In Nigeria, small towns are cities with population from 10,000 to 100,000. You can include any city that’s below 500,000 population.

Another Term that describes small town businesses is local business. But not all local businesses are in small towns. And not all small town businesses can be described as local business. Some businesses in small towns operate globally as well.

However, most successful businesses today started in small towns. Your An take advantage of the location to fully test and fine tune your idea before launching out into a much larger target audience.

How Business Works In A Small Town

If you are starting out your business from a small town, you should understand how business works there. Although, you still need to do and follow proper business startup plan. But with a different approach that helps you address the immediate needs of your target audience.

Furthermore, there are important things that make a Small Town business successful. Here are some of the best ones:

  • Be a big brand in a small town
  • Place quality above your marketing
  • Locate your business to be easily accessible
  • Communicate your business model early
  • Focus on the right customers

People in small towns like to associate with big brands. It gives them the feeling of importance. Remember, most of them have also lived or do travel to big cities. This big brand strategy is very important to starting a small town business.

Another thing is to offer quality product or service. Your product will make your brand stand out. While rest of it, like location, business model, customer segmentation will help you serve those who really need what you offering.

Types of Small Town Business Ideas

There are several businesses you can start in a small town. One way to pick a small town business idea is to examine the ideas based on your training or experience. I have also classified these small town businesses into for special categories to help you understand what’s applicable to you.

Below are the main categories:

  1. Service Business
  2. Retail Business
  3. Construction Business
  4. Farm Business
  5. Industrial Business

Small Town Service Business

One of the biggest industry in any society is the service industry. This also applies to small towns. You will find more categories under the service business than any other opportunities available for entrepreneurs in a small town.

The list is quite long, and I may not even be able to remember all of them in this article. You can help me add those you remember in the comment section. I will gladly pick it up from there and include them when next I’m editing this post.

  • Security service
  • Cleaning service
  • Delivery service
  • Transport service
  • Car repair service
  • Phone repair service
  • Computer repair service
  • Air conditioners repair service
  • TV and Radio repair service
  • Rental service
  • Plumbing service
  • Floor and wall Tiles service
  • Educational services
  • Ushering service
  • Bar service
  • Salon service
  • Cloth making service
  • Shoe repair service
  • Hospitality service
  • Medical service

Small Town Retail Business

The retail business is a very important category in small town businesses. It’s the second largest category after service business. Although, some retail businesses offer more than one niche product to enjoy higher patronage.

But I have made separate lists where applicable.

  • Food retail business
  • Cosmetics retail business
  • Drug retail business
  • Cooking Gas retail business
  • Farm produce retail business
  • Building material retail business
  • Baby products retail business
  • Shoe retail business
  • Supermarket business
  • Spare parts retail business
  • Petrol retail business

Small Town Construction Business

There maybe very few companies in the construction business in small towns, but there are many individuals who are involved in this sector. However, construction is one of the major capital projects you can find in small towns, especially developing ones.

In Nigeria, home construction work are the biggest direct revenue migration opportunity. Because most of these small towns are people’s villages. Some of who live in big cities and overseas. But they send money home to build houses for them.

  • Building Construction
  • Road construction
  • Block molding
  • Metal construction
  • Wood construction

Small Town Farm Business

Farming is one of the major occupation of most people is small towns. Most of what’s eaten in big towns are produce from the smaller ones. Also, the era of subsistent farming culture is gone. Farmers now approach it like a business. They farm for income and not just for food.

Here are some of the farming business main categories you can engage with:

  • Vegetable farming business
  • Fruit farming business
  • Livestock farming business
  • Cash crop farming

From these main categories you can further dilute them to smaller categories and pick what you can focus on.

Small Town Industrial Business

If you are thinking about building your own manufacturing business. Small towns are best for it. Because you will enjoy cheaper land cost, lower labour cost, and also affordable raw materials for your production.

  • Food manufacturing
  • Plastic manufacturing
  • Shoe manufacturing
  • Textile manufacturing

However, these category deals with everything Production. So, it’s not limited to just the few options listed above. You can enlarge the options by including what’s doable in your town.

Small Town Business Strategies

A good strategy should help you improve your small town business. Because you may practically know most of the people in your town. It’s important you develop a system that encourages more people to keep patronizing your business.

Here are a few ideas to incorporate:

  • Build Trust with Customers
  • Show Your Experience In The Niche
  • Find The Right Location for Your Kind of Niche
  • Explore Local Business Marketing Strategies
  • Small Town SEO Marketing
  • Rebranding Your Small Town Business
  • Hire People Who Love What They Do

Build Trust with Customers

The highest equity you can have in a small town business is trust with customers. Most especially in this current Nigerian market, people are easily attracted to businesses they can trust. If you achieve it, you must have made future investment in marketing that will keep paying you back for life.

Show Your Experience

In a competitive market, customers are given lots of choices. That means their will be more customers who will be interested in who can offer them the best service or product. In trying to be an expert, don’t

Find The Right Location

If your business is location based, find the right location to setup your business. A good location gives your business 80% more exposure to the more customers. It’s not something you should take lightly.

Location is more important if your business deals a lot with walk in customers.

Explore Local Business Marketing

Local business marketing is nothing new. However, I will advise that you explore Google My Business listing. This listing will give your business a special position in your city for those Search about your niche online.

Also, you can explore Google marketplace to post your products and get free exposure in your city. The big advantage is that it only showcase your business to those searching from your city.

Small Town SEO Marketing

SEO marketing is an integral part of marketing a small town business. Create social media profiles and use them regularly. If you have a website, which you should, create a blog section to share more information.

However, I recommend you explore local blogs in your town to publish information about your business.

Rebranding Your Small Town Business

Constantly give your business a facelift and improve some of your ailing facilities. It’s not okay to continue using dilapidated equipments. It gives sign of a crumbling business. Remember, it’s not only your customers that sees them, your competitors do too.

Hire People Who Love What You Do

Employment plan is a very important aspect of small town business in Nigeria. You must know that the brightest ones may have relocated to big cities to work there. And if there are still some remaining, they would be working for the best businesses in the town.

So, how do you find the right employees for your small town business? It’s not enough to look at their CV and say this one is most qualified. Consider their educational qualification less.

I would rather advise that you pay more attention to the stories about their lives, how they have solved challenges situations in their lives. Most importantly, if they have experienced any very difficult situation and how they solved it.

You should be looking at their personality, their goals in life and what they can do in difficult times with what they have.

Conclusion

If you are going to create successful small businesses in Nigeria, target small cities. What many don’t realize is that they have the same market size as sections of the big cities.

Moreover, it’s much easier to capture a small town market than the big city market. A small town market with population of about 100,000 or more people is an easy target when growing your business.

Follow the ideas shared in this post to plan and start your small town business.

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How to Start Travel Agency from Home in 2023

how-to-start-travel-agency

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Saint Augustine

Do you love all that has to do with travel? Would you like to make a living out of helping other people travel and find new places? The travel agency business calls for you.

What type of business is a travel agency business?

It provides the travel arrangements, transportation, housing and advice on the travel destination to its customers.

✅ Why Start a Travel Agency?

It is not as expensive as many other businesses. In the travel agency business, you can thrive even with a few staff. You also get to travel at a discounted rate to different countries.

So, how profitable is a travel agency?

The earnings annually can range from $50,000 – 100,000 and up to $500,000.

To stand out, you need a niche. An area to specialize in that meets needs and is not choked up with the competition.

The market is however competitive. To stand out from the crowd you need to put work into your branding, marketing and market research. This would help you find out who your target market is and what their desire is.

✅ How to Become a Travel Agent

A travel agent, like every other agency business seeks to provide travel services to its client base. Starting one would require not just your understanding of travel business but how to start a business as well.

?️How do you start a travel agency?
?️What are the requirements for a travel agency?
?️Who are Travel Agency target customers?
?️What would it cost to start a travel agency?

✅ You Need a Business Plan

Having a business plan can increase the chances for your business to happen. It is scientifically proven in fact.

A business plan does not have to be formal, especially if you’re not writing it for a loan. Writing a business plan gives you a goal and helps build a plan, a setting for your business.

It should include the type of travel agency business you wish to have, what your business aims to achieve, management of funds and the business entirely. It is also necessary to influence your acquiring of loans, investors or grants.

You can either be an independent agent working at home for a host travel agency or you can build your travel agency. This would influence how you write your business plan.

If you wish to start a travel agency and require a loan, a formal business plan is required. A lean business planning is simple and can be used for less formal business planning.

It can also be used to begin a formal business plan with the rest of the necessary info included afterwards.

Making a business plan is putting all about your business, profit margin, aim, target market on paper. Putting it out to the world what you want to do and the universe blessing it.

✅ Perform Market Research and Get a Niche

What does the travel market need? Market research helps you to find out the needs of the market and the spaces that need to be filled.

A need that no travel agency has met but is clamored by the public. This brings value to your travel agency business because you would be meeting a real need by real people.

Perform market research to learn about the market, the niches and your potential competition and then figure out your target, the people on the receiving end of your travel agency business and how you would meet their needs.

✅ Build a Brand

Now, that you already know what niche you chose, what you are offering and your target market, the next thing is to build your brand.

?️What do you want your customers to know you for?
?️How do you wish your customers to feel about the services you offer them?
?️What is the core of your travel agency business?
?️Do you wish to give your customers a library with a vast variety of books that pulls them right into the story written and into the lives of the characters while the environment is serene and a waterfall sound plays in the rooms?

This is what distinguishes you from other travel agencies. It is your spice that your own business brings.

This answers the question “what makes your business different?”

✅ Legalities and Business Structure

Do you need licensing? This depends on the country or state where your business is located. Some places don’t require you to have a license while some do. Find out and get one if required.

What business structure would work best for your travel agency business? Sole ownership, a partnership, a limited liability company? This depends on the needs of your company, where the funding comes from and your business plan.

✅ Source of Funding for Your Business

Starting your travel agency business requires low starting costs. You would not need a large space at the start. If you would be working from home, you don’t necessarily need a work office as long as you have a space set aside for work.

The source of funds for your business can be from what you saved up or a grant or loan. This cost is also necessary to cover advertising and branding. There are many more ways to fund your travel agency business.

✅ Location and Employees

If you would be working away from home and getting office space for your business, you need a location.

You may not need employees while just starting.

While a physical location is good, a virtual location, your business website is very important. Your target market is not only those living in the area. They are in other states and countries and while a physical location gives some formality to your agency, your virtual location is important, if not more important.

✅ Market Your Travel Agency Business

What’s your marketing plan? How do you intend to reach the people who your business aims to reach? Your target customers and your niche choice both influence your marketing technique.

Guerrilla marketing techniques and social media marketing are key marketing techniques to help guide your marketing plan.

✅ Build Online Presence

It’s much easier to market travel services online. A well planned online presence can help boost your marketing and attract regular customers to your Agency. Exploring different online channel may open up your Agency to new customer inflow.

Online channels to consider:

?️Building a website
?️Facebook for business
?️WhatsApp for business
?️Instagram page
?️Twitter page
?️Telegram channel

✅ How Much You Require to Start

The cost of starting a travel agency is about $500 on average. It’s an international business. The amount is not fixed. You can also start without capital, depending on your circumstances.

✅ Starting As An Independent Agent

An independent agent is like any other travel agent except that they are more flexible especially with the presence of technology allowing them to work anywhere even while on the move.

✅ Pick a Host Agency or Franchise

A host agency is crucial if you are starting as an independent agent. Host agencies not only provide you with the training you need to be an independent agent, but you also enjoy the benefit of having the support and guidance of experts.

Vital tools needed to perform as an independent travel agent would also be provided which is priceless for someone just starting. It also reduces starting costs.

✅ Challenges of Travel Agency

Creating and maintaining an online presence. Your online presence, your website and its functionality are important to put your services out. Your website should allow for easy booking, questions and recommendations from the customers.

A solution to the problem of not having good online presence is to have a website that is responsive to the customers and is travel inclined. This website should also be search engine optimized for organic audience reach.

✅ Knowing your Customers’ Needs

Since the recipient of your business is your customers, knowing and understanding their needs would make you understand them better and what they expect from you.

The questions they ask, suggestions they make, complaints and feedback would give you insight so make sure to ask for these things.

Meeting customers’ needs according to individual requirements. Feedback and reviews from your customers would give you the insight to know exactly what they need. Also, this would give them a personal and unique experience.

✅ Maintaining your Business Standard

Keep up with the standards you have set off for your business. This would keep your customers coming to you. It’s better to retain your standard than reduce it. Increasing your standard is also a good option.

Let your booking process be straightforward. Your customers should be able to figure out the booking process easier. Make it available and straightforward on your website.

You can have a specific dashboard for the booking process that is easy to locate and with multiple choices for a variety to choose from.

✅ Conclusion

The travel agency business has the marvelous benefits of building interpersonal relationships with its customers, exploring new grounds, adventure and a lot more.

Like Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”

Finally, you must constantly seek to know more about travel agency business.

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Nigerian Best Sheep Farming Guide For 2023

sheep farming business

Sheep farming business is an enterprise that not only provides meat, milk and fur but also improves the health of its consumers.

Sheep is one of the major sources of meat in Nigeria. Many homes include meat in their foods. This and its many benefits and taste places it in high demand.

Sheep meat is a source of protein, healthy fats, iron, phosphorus, selenium, potassium, vitamin B, vitamin K and many other minerals and vitamins.

Sheep is in high demand in Nigeria. During festive seasons, Muslim festive seasons, in particular, the demand for rams increase on a massive scale. Just some days ago during the Sallah season where the roads were busier because rams were being displayed and sold by the roadsides, the prices of rams went up in this period.

The females, ewes are usually kept for breeding while the male, rams are usually reared to be sold.

Why Start a Sheep Farming Business?

Why should you start a sheep farming business in Nigeria? Sheep stay together in a flock. Sheep rearing is easy and they are easy to manage since they stay together and you do not have to run around chasing stray sheep.

They reach maturation early. Ewes attain maturity at about 6-8 months of age. It takes rams 10-12 months to grow and enter full maturity.

The cost of catering for sheep is not overwhelming. Vaccinations, good feed, clean water, a clean environment and exercise would keep them in good health.

Sheep are resistant to certain diseases. The west African dwarf breed, for example, shows resistance to sleeping sickness.

However, they need to be vaccinated against diseases that affect them. An example is Rinderpest. These vaccines are cheap and do not take up a large part of necessary expenses.

How Much You Require to Start

The amount required to start a sheep farming business should cover the land and housing, sheep, feed, feeding equipment and so on.

It depends on how many sheep you are starting with. And how big you’re starting. A female sheep costs around N15000-N20000 and a male costs about N20000-N25000.

Starting with 2 ewes and a ram would mean spending 50000 -65000 naira to get the sheep. Housing costs would reduce if you already have land or space that can be converted to a sheep house.

How Much Can You Earn?

The price of sheep in Nigeria ranges from N40000-N80000. Selling price differs with breed and size. The price can increase during Muslim celebrations, like Sallah for example.

 

 

How to Build Sheep House

Sheep cannot stand being wet, therefore, they need shelter, a house that is well ventilated and keeps them from the rain and direct contact with the sun and other elements of nature.

A rectangular house with an open side covered with fencing net to allow for ventilation, keep the sheep together and prevent thieves from entry.

The pen should be 2-3 meters in height with an overhang of about 1 meter at least.

The grazing area where the sheep feed should be fenced to prevent a sheep from wandering away like the biblical lost sheep.

The Best Foods for Sheep

● Grasses
● Hay
● Grains
● Maize chaff
● Concentrates
● Wheat offal
● Haulms (stalks or stems of crops)
● Groundnut cake
● Legumes

Moreover, sheep need constant feed and water. There is no measured amount of food that they should have but there is a known need for constant feed and water, clean water which should be made available at all times. The water should be checked and refilled when it is finished or poured out by the sheep.

Profitable Sheep Breeds to Farm

There are four common breeds of sheep for sheep farming business in Nigeria: the Uda, Balami, Yankasa, and the West African dwarf breeds.

Each sheep breed is said to thrive when they are reared in their place of origin or somewhere with similar weather and climate to where they originate from than in a different place. This means that if a sheep originates from Oyo state, it can thrive if it is reared in Osun state.

In addition to the four common sheep breeds found in Nigeria, there is the Sudanese breed which originates from Sudan.

Uda Breed

They have large drooping ears. The rams have large spiral horns which are usually not found in the ewes.

This breed is found predominantly in the Sahel-Sudan vegetation zone and the northwest part of Nigeria. The colour of the coat can be brown or black from its forehead to its midsection while the posterior end is white.

Uda breed is known to thrive in a hot and dry climate and performs much less in a different climate. It has a good adaptation to grazing extensively. At maturity, ewes weigh 35-45 kg while rams weigh 45-55 kg.

Balami Breed

Is commonly found in the northeast region of Nigeria. Are tall. Have droopy large ears. They have prominent horns which are usually absent in females. Their tails are long and they are hairy and have a white coat of fur all over, unlike the Uda breed. They have a dewlap skin fold around their neck.

Yankasa Breed

This breed of sheep is typically found in the northern part of Nigeria. They are smaller in size than Uda and Balami breeds. The colour of their coat can be brown, white, or spotted with black or white.

Yankasa breed has a white coat that has black patches around the ears, eyes, feet and muzzle. The rams have a hairy mane and horns which are curved. At maturity, ewes weigh 25-40 kg while the rams weigh 35-50 kg.

West African Dwarf Breed

Dwarf Breed are much smaller than the other breeds. They are found in the southern part of Nigeria. The colour of their coat ranges from black, brown, white or white-spotted with brown or black. This breed is said to show resistance to trypanosomiasis– sleeping sickness.

At maturity, ewes weigh about 20-25 kg while rams weigh about 25-30 kg.

Sudanese Breed

These are imported breeds from Sudan. Have short horns and can be without horns, but large and have a large tail. They produce milk in large amounts.

The Best Time for Breeding

Ewes are mature at about 6-8 months of age. Rams enter full maturity at about 10-12 months. The best time for breeding is when the ram and ewe have both reached maturity.

Sheep have a gestation period that spans approximately 147 days. The heat period lasts for 17-18 days. They give birth to 1-2 lambs per birth (also called lambing) and are capable of producing 3 young ones but rarely do so.

For optimal breeding performance, it is advised to have sheep and rams in the ratio of 7:1 or 10:1. You can start with a sheep and a ram if you have a lower budget.

However, to keep them healthy, sheep should be dewormed 3 times a year at least. The sheep should also be vaccinated against the disease called Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) every year.

Conclusion

Since sheep is in high demand, more sheep farmers are summoned for. Would you like to be involved in the lucrative business of rearing sheep in Nigeria?

Finally, let me know in the comments your answer and your questions. Learn more on how to start a sheep farming business, roll up your sleeves and build your business.

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How to Start a Dog Breeding Business in Nigeria

Dog breeding business

Did you know that dog breeding business is one of the most profitable businesses in Nigeria?

Dogs are largely kept as an assurance of security in Nigeria. Aside from this, they’re kept by humans for companionship. The adorable faces, acts and fur of some dogs make them irresistible and craved for by their onlookers.

Dog breeding businesses are highly sought after due to the huge demand for dogs.

And this business can make you rich.

Now, although there’s profit in dog breeding, it must not be the major goal. The health, genetic makeup, and proper care for these animals are highly important.

For every business that booms, you need strategy and you need knowledge.

Why dog breeding business is profitable, how much you can make as a dog breeder, how dog breeding business works, how to start your business, the best dog breeds, among others are outlined in this article.

Let’s dive in.

Why Start a Dog Breeding Business

● You get an opportunity to make a career out of your adoration for dogs.

● You get to provide dogs for families, individuals, for security, cosy hugs, hunting and other differing purposes. You help someone who needs a guard dog get them. Soft, warm and furry companions exist in our homes because of you and people like you.

● You help prevent a species or more from going extinct, preserving their distinct features, characteristics and the purposes they primarily serve.

So, why not?

Who’s Your Target Market?

The target market for dog breeders includes dog lovers, security units, hunters, research institutes, dog trainers.

The targets vary with the breeds; athletic breeds for sports, cute and furry breeds for homes, muscular and fierce breeds for security.

How To Start a Dog Breeding Business

✅Knowledge

● Knowledge of dog breeding: how to cater for dogs; care for puppies, pregnant dogs, sick dogs; recognizing sick dogs and dogs in the heat period.

● Know genetics: this will help you as a breeder in choosing dogs to be paired for breeding. You will also understand their traits and qualities and avoid hereditary disorders in puppies.

● Dog coaching: puppies especially need to be given some basic training to prepare them for their new owner.

● First aid knowledge: just like humans, pets also have accidents and get injured. Knowledge of first aid before the appearance of a vet is very important.

✅Build Relationships

Vets, dog breeders are useful relations that would help you out in this business with their knowledge, tips and experience. Build relationships with them. Get help from them, also, help them when you can.

✅A business Plan

It is never enough to have an idea in your head, especially a business idea.

Write out your business plan. Studies have shown that there’s a greater likelihood for a business idea to morph into a prospering business when there is a business plan.

✅A Business Name

This is what would be used to refer to your dog breeding business by people. Create a name that would stick to the mouths of people like a piece of blown-out chewing gum.

✅A Location

A place where the puppies and dogs would be cared for. The neighbourhood where the kennel would be situated should agree with the noise that would be produced. It should also have enough space for them to roam about and play.

✅Set Up The Business

Acquire the starting or founding dogs- the starters of the breeding business. Make the necessary equipment available.

✅A business Account

This puts your business name upfront. The business account carries the business name and all the money for business goes into it, preventing your money from getting mixed up with that of your business.

It also offers the protection of your assets in a case where your business is sued.

✅Business Accounting

This helps you study the performance of your business. It involves the detailed calculation of income and expenditure for your business.

✅A Business Website

A business website helps put your dog breeding business out. It displays your business as legit and trustworthy and attracts customers to your business.

✅Build Your Brand

What your business stands for is your brand.

The quality and health of the breeds showcase your brand. If the breeds are weak, your brand is affected and people would hesitate to refer you or come back.

A website helps with the brand building too.

✅Dog Exercise

Regular training and exercise for the dogs to keep them active and alert are of great importance . Not doing this would lead to a weak immune system, restlessness, tiredness, among others in the dogs.

✅Regular Checkups

Regular checkups by a vet ensure that the dogs are healthy. You should have a veterinary doctor who you recognize as a vet for your dogs.

✅Marketing

To find customers, relationships built with other dog breeders and vets would come in handy.

Your website, social media and referrals are also ways to market your dogs.

Best Dog Breeds for Business

✅Siberian Husky

They have a lifespan of about 14 years. Siberian Husky breeds are active and have low possibilities of health issues. They are amongst the best selling dogs.

✅Rottweiler

The Rottweiler breed is among the most famous dog breeds. It is playful to the core with familiar people and defensive against strangers. Rottweilers are not susceptible to many diseases.

✅Otterhound

Otterhounds can swim. They have thick fur and a calm appearance. The Otterhound’s coat is waterproof, keeping its body temperature stable while it’s in the water.

✅German Shepherd

This breed of dogs is among easy-to-breed dogs. They are smart and courageous dogs (I’ve read a story where a child was saved by a German Shepherd). They are one of the popularly bred dogs in Nigeria.

✅French Bulldogs

French Bulldogs are adorable, small-sized breeds. They need much care and maintenance.

They are prone to defects like dwarfism and respiratory disorders. These defects can be countered by acquiring healthy starting dogs to produce equally healthy puppies.

✅Tibetan Mastiffs

Tibetan Mastiffs live as long as 16 years and more. They are guard dogs and are extremely intimidating to strangers.

They have a muscular build.

✅Saluki

This breed is one of the swift dog breeds. They would thrive in competitions and hunting. They are also homely dogs for families and individuals.

Best Dog Foods for Breeders

7 best dog foods recommended by Vets:

● Royal canin dog food

● Bavaro

● Josera

● Purina

● Booster

● Taste of the wild

● Arion

Housing Provision For Dogs

● The kennel must be warm and comfortable, a home for the dogs and puppies. There must be absence of fear and discomfort for the dogs.

● Equipment for feeding, warmth, cleaning, disinfecting should be available as well.

● The location of the kennel should also be in close range to vets, pet shops and customers.

How Much Can You Sell Your Dogs

The prices differ with dog breeds, age and sex. After checking in on the cost of feeding among others, study the market before you set your price.

Don’t try to breed after every litter. Give the dog time and space to recover and care for the puppies.

This would allow you to care for each litter sufficiently.

Conclusion

Did this article clear your doubts on whether dog breeding is a good business in Nigeria?

Let me know your answer in the comments.

Don’t forget to share.

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How to Tap Into Nigeria’s Investment Opportunities

Nigeria's Investment Opportunities

Nigeria is one country in Africa with huge investment potentials that’s still heavily untapped. It has multiple options to consider if Nigeria’s investment opportunities that suits your interest. Although, the current investment climate in Nigeria shows signs of a challenging future for investors, and there’s this perplexity among entrepreneurs on what business to move their funds into.

Since most entrepreneurs are traders, there are limited trades to invest in, considering the lowest demand for most luxury goods in the market. To invest in Nigeria now, one has to do some study on the market realities. You can’t just put your funds into anything, unless you want to lose it so fast.

Trade is tying down most funds. Importers and manufacturers are looking for daily income businesses to move their funds into. The idea is that if it’s what people can use on a daily basis then it would sell regardless of how slow the demand curve is currently looking.

Nigeria’s Investment Opportunities

Most Nigerian investors are turnover investors. They merely put their funds in mostly trades that guarantees short term returns. They overlook long term investment propositions. That’s also why most investors shy away from building private refineries, causing the high cost of petrol; but would rather import fuels from other countries, transferring the much needed employment to oversea companies.

To import fuel, you just borrow money from the bank, make order for the fuel, and when it arrives the shores of Nigeria, you load them into a tank farm, and start dispensing to trucks. In 90 days or more depending on the volume of import, your money is right back into your bank account. You pay off the bank loan and start enjoying your huge profits.

But with the pandemic, import is slow, and most importantly, demand is not so good. To invest in Nigeria, investors are thinking of what’s best to move their funds into, with a high propensity for turnover.

That’s also the drive for manufacturing that’s beginning to drive investment into the country. Investors are looking for opportunities that can guarantee daily returns, no matter how small it is, to keep their funds afloat. Idle funds doesn’t guarantee good income. So, the idea now to invest in Nigeria is to diversify into small manufacturing outfits that produces daily needs that are currently driving the market.

Tips About Nigeria’s Investment Opportunities

As this decline in trade continues, demand for micro industries will be boasted. Investors would learn to invest in Nigeria’s most demand goods. Typically, what drives consumers are daily needs. It takes 70 to 80 percent of their spending.

Let’s categorize the areas to invest in Nigeria now.

  1. Food
  2. Shelter
  3. Manufacturing

Food is daily needs. Anything that Nigerians can eat is where they are spending more of their funds. That means food commodities is a major investment area. That brings agriculture to the front burner. Also, food processing will drive investment. Another area would be food services. Restaurants, cooking gas refill plants, and convenient stores are major service areas to invest in Nigeria now.

 

 

Direct Foreign Investment In Housing And Manufacturing

Shelter is another area to invest in Nigeria. Now, I’m encouraging Nigerians in Diaspora who have disposable funds to help in this aspect of development. The population is growing daily, it’s not shrinking at all.

 

In 2020 Nigeria had over 7.4 million births, according to Knoema data projection of 37 births per 1,000; given a population estimate of 200 million. It’s the same way that over 500,000 of young people graduate from the universities according to yearly projection, while millions others from informal sectors, looking for shelter to start their own families.

And the third in what to invest in Nigeria, we take a slim look at the manufacturing sector of the country. There’s huge potential if you explore this area wisely. Nigeria has vast number of unprocessed food items that could be processed to help in proper storage and food security.

Nigerian manufacturing sector has always been on the decline over the years, due to huge imports from China and from other parts of the world. But recent statistics is driving new manufacturing businesses. And a lot of interest is in agricultural products. Nigerian investors are discovering food processing as new investors haven.

Nigerians Consumer Spending Analysis

According to Brooking, it listed some reasons for the fall in consumer spending as a result of the partial or full lockdowns from the pandemic. Below is the full list that should influence how to invest in Nigeria now.

  • Consumer spending primarily on essential goods and services.
  • Future income and expectation is low. Salaries are unpaid, most workers are being disengaged. Family income is dwindling, while small businesses are declining fast.
  • Finally, wealth erosion is the biggest of them all. There’s decline in assets such as stocks and property equity.

Conclusion

The Nigerian economy in the pandemic has its cure from within. Just as the infection rate and death rate has been low, the economic challenges can be reversed if investors focus on areas that meets the daily needs of the consumers.

Now that many are afraid and not optimistic about the economy, it’s time to take calculated risks to invest in Nigeria. There’s a future beyond the pandemic. As you invest in Nigeria now, solving the immediate needs of the consumers, you are also taking position in the future economy.

Take for instance the gas economy. 2020 was declared as the year of gas in Nigeria, and it has been a tremendous year for cooking gas and auto gas. Although, certain factors are required to keep the gas prices lower, it still didn’t discourage investors from building more gas plants and increasing the number of refill stations across the country.

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How to Start A Company In Nigeria with Zero Capital

How to Start a company

This year, unemployment in Nigeria has surged again. Due to the pandemic, many residents have been deprived of their usual sources of income. Losing your job is a nightmare, but there are still ways to become self-employed, even with very little or no investment. I’m going to show you how you can start a company with zero capital.

These ideas can help you succeed despite the saddening turn of economic events. Discover five occupations that pay enough to cover typical expenses and make savings at the same time. You can earn money in one of the following ways.

1. Website Design

You can start a company to create websites, using free online courses to acquire web design skills. In this realm, practice makes perfect, so all you really need is a good eye and perseverance. Instead of spending hours on social media, do something that will pay off in the long term. Then, you may spread the word among your friends, place ads on social media, and gradually grow your clientele along with your portfolio.

2. Fitness Training

Being fit is trendy, so why not leverage this trend? People are still crazy about six-packs and athletic figures. Education is also accessible through the Internet. Begin by toning your own body and offer services to other people. Many Nigerians would like to train, but they have no time to visit the gym or no discipline to work out at home. With home services, you will grow your network quickly, as people will be referring you to their friends.

You can also become a fitness blogger on Instagram and make videos for YouTube. This opens up a world of opportunities in terms of advertising. First, if you have many followers, brands will reach out to you with paid promotion offers. Secondly, you may join the YouTube partner program and to get money for every thousand views. Thirdly, you may open side businesses like the production of sportswear. Overall, if you start small and work hard, there are many possible money flow directions.

How to Start a company

3. Online Trading

This year, the popularity of trading online has soared. Skilled traders can make money wherever they are using computers or mobile devices. In 2019, Nigeria had the second-largest volume of FX trading on the continent. Now, it is poised to surpass South Africa. Education is free, and global brokers register demo accounts for risk-free practice on terminals like MetaTrader 4.

The idea of trading in the largest financial markets may sound daunting, but most instruments follow the same logic. Your goal is to buy low and sell high. All operations, from initial analysis to trading and withdrawal of funds are done online. All you need is the right software, reliable brokerage, knowledge, and a sound plan.

Entry into the live market is more affordable than ever, and you may open an account with just two thousand nairas (or $10). Forextime offers accounts denominated in the Nigerian currency, so you will save on conversion fees. Discover what is copy trading and delegate decision-making to professionals.

Start with currency pairs like USD/ZAR or EUR/USD. Subsequently, you will add more assets, which boosts profit and lowers overall risks. Beyond Forex trading, there are precious metals, stocks, and assorted derivatives. CFDs allow holders to profit from changes in different markets without owning any physical assets. There are CFDs on stocks, commodities like oil, market indices like FTSE 100, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, etc.

4. Private Tutoring

Is there a subject you know really well? Why not monetize your knowledge by teaching others? Young students and kids are not the only audiences. Adult schooling is also in demand, as there are older people who have not studied before due to a lack of time or opportunities. The third avenue is preparation for important exams like WAEC, NECO, GCE, and JAMB.

2020 has changed the education industry as distant learning is the new norm. This means you may not even need to leave your home to work. Register on tutoring platforms and conduct online webinars for groups or one-on-ones. Alternatively, you may build your own brand on social media and get clients from there.

5. Freelance Writing

The written word is still in great demand. You may become a copywriter and create marketing materials for companies, as the Internet is the main conduit for advertising today. Alternatively, you start your own blog and monetize it through Google AdSense. Finally, you can become a proofreader and check other people’s work without the need to write anything new.

Look Beyond the Familiar

Despite its rampant unemployment, Nigeria offers many opportunities for those who want to start their business. These five ideas require little or no capital, and education is free. Build your own brand, and it will help you earn money for years to come.

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How to Start Retail Cosmetics Shop In Nigeria

Retail Cosmetics Shop In Nigeria

If you want to start a retail cosmetics shop this year, this could be your best chance of learning very insightful secrets of starting a cosmetics shop. This guide is written to help you from scratch.

I will also answer the most common questions anyone who desire to setup a retail cosmetics shops would ask. Like, is this business profitable? What does it cost to start a retail cosmetics shop? Where can one buy cosmetics at bulk prices for a retail shop?

I have provided you with the right answers and the best advise you can follow to achieve success. As a consultant, I’m also available for enquiries if you have questions. But also know that some enquiries may attract consultation fee – just tokens to help me help you better.

How Retail Cosmetics Shop Works

A retail cosmetics shop is the last line of the cosmetics business before the products ends up in the hands of the end users. There are different lines of action in cosmetics business, from manufacturers, importers, distributors, wholesalers, to retailers. The retail shops is the end-point for cosmetics products.

In a nutshell, a retail cosmetics shop buys products at a hugely discounted price from either the manufacturers, importers, distributors, or wholesalers and sell at retail prices to end users.

Apart from retailing cosmetics products, a retailer should have a better understanding of both the products and the needs of the consumers. That way you can prescribe the right cosmetics to help your customers solve their beauty problems.

Is Retail Cosmetics Shop Profitable?

The first question you must find answer to when starting a retail cosmetics shop is how profitable can the business be? And also how you can make it profitable for yourself. It’s one thing to know if a business is profitable, which in most case is usually the situation. Like, every business is profitable, but a business may not be profitable for someone for some reasons.

So, finding how to make the business profitable for you, should be the right question that you must find answers to. That is one of the things I have provided you answers within this guide.

Cosmetics business is profitable generally. How profitable it can be for you depends largely on certain factors, your location, target market, product efficacy, and price point. The best way to understand the profit potential of retail cosmetics shop is the markup, which is between 30 percent to 300 percent. I will explain it well in my conclusion. Now, let’s finish with the steps first.

Be An Apprentice For Few Months

Make no mistakes, what you know about cosmetics business will be the only reason you will start off successfully or not. And it’s not this article that will teach you that. What you will get from here is the know-how, but it won’t be dealing with the current market realities of the business at the time you are setting up your retail cosmetics shop.

So, I recommend you become an apprentice to another retail cosmetics shop to learn more about the business, especially regarding the location you want to start the business. What you will learn as an apprentice will help you understand the business dynamics much better.

You may need to pay to become an apprentice for just a few months, like 3 to 6 months period. But know that the mentor may not want to teach you everything he or she knows about the business. Be smart to learn even when no one is teaching you. Also be aware that most of what you learn as an apprentice is based on what you saw or experienced. Take note of these two events as you learn.

Make A List Of Suppliers

While you are learning as an apprentice, one of the things you must endeavor to do is find where your boss is buying cosmetics products from. These contacts would help you when you want to start. It will also help you to learn how much your boss buys and how much he’s selling to make profit. It gives you an idea of the profitability of the business based on markup.

Your boss may not want to give you these contacts, but pay attention to details, listen in into phone calls when he is ordering or enquiring from suppliers. Ask others who are in the business to know where they buy from too. And visits some of the markets listed in this articles to meet with suppliers.

Write A Business Plan

Now that you have undergone apprentice for some months, you should have a grasp of how this business works and how you can make your cosmetics shop profitable. So, it’s time to write how you want to do your business differently.

Your business plan should address important aspects of your retail cosmetics shop. It should help you articulate the types of cosmetics you want to retail, who your target customers should be, where to locate your shop, how much you require to get started, what your retail prices should be like, how you intend to market your products, etcetera.

Pick Your Niche

If you have decided almost everything in your business plan, it’s time to take the plunge. Define your cosmetics shop niche. As a startup, don’t make business complicated for you. Pick a niche to start and add more as your grow, or as market demands.

For example, you can choose to start with a particular brand or with just creams and soaps, or with perfumes, or makeup kits, etcetera. Start with the one you know and understand the most. Once you are in the business you will learn more and be able to move to what sells the most for you.

Plan Your Setup Cost

Your setup cost is a product of your plan. This cost is personal to you. You must put it together. Nobody knows what you want to do more than yourself. But this is how I can help you know what your setup cost should be.

Start by inquiring on the cost of shops in your target location. That’s your first cost. Write it down as cost one.

Also, you should have made a list of cosmetics products, based on the products that are either selling more during your apprentice days or have better market potentials. In your list you should have both their retail prices and cost prices. Add carton orders to each product to get the total. And that’s your second important cost.

Other things you need to put into your cost consideration includes:

  • Interior decor cost
  • Power supply generator cost
  • Marketing and advertisements cost
  • Staff requirement cost

These things you can find out and at a cost prevalent at the time of starting your retail cosmetics shop.

 

 

Find A Shop

Once all the cost have been put together. You know what all that’s required would cost, it’s time to start implementing each of them. The first step here is finding a shop in the target location defined in your business plan.

Your shop will be where most of the sales take place. Retail cosmetics shop is a location based business. So, the best location must be your goal when looking for a shop. Here are a few tips to help you pick the right location for your retail domestics shop.

  • Know your target customers too well
  • Pick a location that’s easily accessible to them
  • Pick a shop that’s visible from the road

Buy Products In Bulk

For a retail shop, you will be buying stocks in bulk to sell at a good profit margin. That means you should know the contacts of either the importers or wholesale distributors. These are suppliers to buy your cosmetics products from.

However, if you know the distributors in your city that might be helpful to save you cost and time, try to connect with them. If you did the apprentice I advised you to do, this would have been sorted out while you were an apprentice. If you didn’t, then you have to do it the hard way.

Trade fair complex in Lagos is a major business hub for cosmetics importers and wholesale distributors. You can start your search from there. Other major markets for cosmetics are Onitsha main market and Cemetery road in Aba. Suppliers abound in these markets.

Pick Profitable Cosmetic Products

No matter what products you stock, there are those that would make you profit and there will be those who would just seat on your shelf and gather dust. Pick your products wisely.

During your apprentice, make the list of the best top 10 or 20 selling cosmetics in your target market. They should be among the products in your list for startup. It’s not the wisest decision but a good place to start.

Another thing to consider when buying cosmetics products is the product and the retail margin. It’s okay to just stock every well known products, but it’s smarter to pick some unknown products that can deliver on their promise. New products have higher profit potentials than already known products.

Marketing And Advertising

Sometimes it’s difficult to try promoting a retail cosmetics shop, if you sell the same products with other competing shops. But you should not discount advertising from your business. I built my retail cosmetics shop on Facebook advertising.

My secret is simple, I have a new cosmetics products, and I was also the distributor in the city. I leverage on it. Although, it wasn’t the idea from the beginning. My target customers, which are other retail shops were not patronizing me because the product was new. I had no choice than to try to sell directly to the end users.

Advertising worked best for me. From no sells I moved to 3 customers per day, and then 5 per day, until I started seeing much customers per day.

Don’t discount marketing and advertising. Find a way to leverage it for your retail cosmetics shop.

Conclusion

In summary, if you subscribed to apprentice you would be well informed about the profitability of retail cosmetics shop. When I started cosmetics, my best idea was to become a distributor for a cosmetics company in my city. But when I got one, I realized while I was making N1,000 per carton of cosmetics I sold, the retail shops were making as much as N20,000 from the same carton.

Although, it takes me little time to sell a carton, but until those retail shops sell off the carton they won’t be coming back for more. So, I wasn’t in a better position than them.

Also, your shop location is a major key. If you make this mistake, the business will struggle until it will eventually shut down.

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How To Start Bakery Business As A Beginner

Bakery business

If you want to setup a bakery business, even if you don’t know how to bake, here’s your step by step guide as a Beginner. In Nigeria, bread is one of the staple foods. That goes for all the bakery products. They are now staple in our lifestyle.

Sometimes the challenge is the thinking you should know how to bake before you can venture into bakery business. To start a bakery business, you only need to think like an investor. However, having the knowledge of baking is an advantage.

The market for bakery products is very huge and competitive as well. But you can choose to stand out with your own delicious recipes. Anyone can win in the bakery market. It’s not a first come takes all. A new entrant can sweep the entire market to its favour if you know what to do.

Understanding Bakery Business

Bakery business involves the production and sale of food made out of flour and prepared in an oven. These foods include bread, cake, pies, cookies, biscuits and pizza.

The bakery business is interesting. It involves a wide variety of products. Some bakery industries specialise in a collection of flour-based products while some only specialise in just one, for example, a bread bakery.

As a beginner, bakery business is lucrative and gives you a certain freedom to an extent to work from your home. If you’re a huge fan of baking and work-at-home jobs, you can start a bakery business at home even as an online business.

You can also transform your kitchen or garage to a mini bakery and shop with tables and chairs to accommodate those who want to sit and eat.

Tips On Setting Up Your Own Bakery

#1 – Get started with the kind of shop and business you want. Take your time with this. This step involves your view and the idea of your bakery. What does it look like in your head? Sketch it out.

  • Do you want to work from home?
  • Do you think a shop is the best for you?
  • What are your preferences?
  • What are your ideas?
  • How do you want your bakery business to be?
  • Answer these questions yourself to help you figure things out.

#2 – Make a plan, like every house before it’s built, and every business before it starts, a plan must be drawn. If you can do it yourself, get a business consultant to do it for you. Once you have figured out your strengths, weaknesses and preferences, write them down. Draw it out. More than keeping them in your head, it’s better to have a sketch on paper.

This plan should include your start-up cost, the amount needed to start your business. Also, include the specificities of your business. These include the products you’ll be making, their prices or price range of you don’t know it yet and all the equipment you need to start your business.

#3 – Map out your pricing plan. Formulate a plan you’ll use to figure out the price of each of your products. The factors to consider when choosing a price should include the time spent preparing the product, the price of ingredients, the time spent publicizing your business, and packaging.

Time is money. The time spent on a baked food or a batch of baked foods should be accounted for.

#4 – Find a space. Your space is your kitchen or garage if you’re working from home. If you would be owning a shop, be patient and be selective in your search for the perfect one. The right space should pay for itself overtime.

#5 – Marketing: Before you start baking, especially if you’re home-based, announce your business to the world. Or your community at least.

Use mouth to mouth and person to person mechanisms to inform people of your new bakery and the kind of goodies you make. Make sure you accompany your talk with beautiful pictures of your goods or printed flyers.

You can also spread the word via social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.. Send digital flyers to your friends, family and followers and make them send it to their friends and followers too. To further brand your bakery and increase your publicity, open social media accounts for your business.

#6 – Storage: A fridge or freezer is important in your bakery business. Baked products need to be preserved because they have a short lifespan which can only be extended by freezing them.

Buy the right cooling storage system. The regular home fridge may not be most ideal. But if that’s what you have , ensure it’s the type that has temperature control. Baked products have their proper cooling temperature for storage. Avoid letting them freeze above the required temperature.

Startup Cost And Requirements

The start-up cost of a bakery business is required to cover the necessary pieces of equipment, ingredients and the cost of a shop (if you would be getting one). The start-up cost depends on how large you’re starting. If it’s a small in-house business, it would cost less and the opposite for a larger business.

Pick your cost level based on the size of the bakery business you. If you are starting small, know what’s needed and invest only on such equipments for a small startup. You can upgrade as the business grows.

Types of Bakery Equipment

There are several pieces of equipment used in bakeries. The following are five classes of bakery equipment:

Cleaning Equipment: These includes equipment used to clean used and dirty equipment. Examples are dishwasher, soap and sponges.

Preparation Equipment: The equipment in this class are the ones implemented in the preparation of the baked goods. Examples are mixing bowls, cookie cutters, electric whisks, spatula and tables or boards for kneading.

Baking Equipment: This includes equipment used in the baking process. They include baking tins and trays.

Exhibition Equipment: These equipment are used to exhibit baked goods. They include display containers or boxes and display racks.

Storage Equipment: These are equipment used to store ingredients and baked products. They include freezers for perishable items and shelves for non-perishable ones.

Types of Bakery Products

The number of bakery products is inexhaustible. More new pastry ideas are being created everyday. You too can create yours. However, you can also explore some popular local pastries around the world and give your customers something new.

There are many types of bakery products but below are just a few popular ones.

  1. Bread
  2. Cakes
  3. Muffins
  4. Cookies
  5. Pizza
  6. Dessert
  7. Pastries
  8. Biscuits

Highest Demand Bakery Products

The bakery products with the highest demand are bread and cake. Bread is a popular choice of food eaten all over the world. Bread can be served in different ways and with a variety of accompaniments.

Cakes are consumed as desserts, breakfast and during celebrations. But depending on your target customers, the best products might not be bread or cake. For example, if your target customers are people planning events, pastries like small chops, buns and cakes may just be what is best offered to them.

You just have to identify your own best bakery products based on your target customers.

Challenges of Bakery Business

There are many challenges of bakery business, from setup cost to picking the right location, and creating the best user experience. But the top three challenges that stands out are about staffing, waste management and customers knowledge-base.

Getting The Right Staff:

The staff of a bakery is as important as that of any business. The staff is needed to serve customers, produce baked products and do deliveries. A bakery business with few staffs than needed would need to source for more.

Minimizing Waste:

Waste is one of the major challenges in a bakery business. Scrapings from cakes, leftover pastries and dough are some examples. To prevent wastage, cake scrapings can be sprinkled as toppings on cakes and the leftover dough can be collected and used to make an additional baked product or frozen for later.

Customers with little knowledge of gluten-free products:

This may come as a challenge to a bakery since most people wouldn’t buy what they know nothing about. This challenge can be curbed by letting the staff (waiters) briefly explain what it means to the customers.

Digital Marketing For Baked Products

It’s more easier to promote your bakery business using digital platforms. It creates even the best word of mouth of publicity that you need. Moreover, with location based advertising you can reach only those who are within reach to buy your bakery product.

You can find a lot of bakery marketing ideas online. Most bakery businesses explore the potentials of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. You can also expand it with a website for quick ordering.

Selling baked products online makes it easier and faster for customers to make a choice of what they really want from the collection of finished bakery products you post online.

Conclusion

Starting a bakery business is profitable, interesting and satisfying. If baking is something you love to do, owning a bakery business means you get to do what you love every day.

However, whether you can bake or you just invest in bakery ideas, horn your skills well and create mouth-watering baked goods with varieties. Customers love to change their taste. Create bake products that doesn’t exist before.

Finally, don’t be afraid to venture into unknown territories of the baking world. You can create eating areas for customers who would love to just take a seat and enjoy some pastries and a chilled soft drink. You can’t go wrong with great ideas for your bakery business.

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How To Start Profitable Business For Beginners

Profitable business

Do you want to start a business or a profitable business? Even though you might choose the later, most startups end up doing the former. Most of what beginners do is just to start a business. The issue of profitability is usually left for assumption.

Let me give you an example that describes it well. I’m a blogger, and the common idea among those who want to start blogging, is to setup a blog and ‘boom’ they start making money.

If you ask many of them how people would find their blog to read, they don’t know. They just assume that once you write a blog the internet will do the rest for you, and find you millions of readers. Then, you start collecting money from Google for AdSense.

It’s the same thing most startups do in Nigeria. They never factor the most important things about business before getting started. In fact, if you ever ask any startup the problem they are having in their business, you will hear things like, if only I have money to invest or my problem is capital. But the question is, what would you do with the capital?

Understanding Profitable Business

A business that doesn’t have a pool of customer base is not feasible and cannot be a profitable business. Get this right, you don’t have a business if you don’t have customers. Instead of trying to start a business first, why not try to get customers for the the business you plan to start.

A profitable business is not an assumption, and that’s why many startups don’t succeed. You cannot start a business you are not sure you have customers who are willing to patronize you and are within your reach.

Profitable business

An idea or a question

Take bloggers for example. Instead of rushing to start a blog, offer to write on another existing blog to build your audience. Especially if you don’t know much about blogging. The same thing for startups. Be patient to undergo an apprentice program. What you don’t know may be the reason your competitors are doing better than you.

A profitable business is not just a good business idea. Anyone can have an idea or even copy other people’s idea to start a business. You need both an idea, the required skills or experience to convert the idea into a profitable solution for the customers who are ready to buy it. Let me delve into apprentice program further in the next paragraph.

Business Apprentice Program

According to a TEDTalk in 2018, Igbo traders apprenticeship program was considered as the largest incubator program in the world. This system has raised most of the successful entrepreneurs there is from the eastern part of Nigeria. And if you must start a profitable business, don’t ignore this at all.

When ever I advise startups to do apprentice program first before launching their business, they always chide the idea as old school. They are usually in a hurry to start a business. I bet you, they are not planning on starting a profitable business, but they don’t know it.

Apprentice program gives you valuable knowledge and experience in that business that would have taken you many years to acquire. Sometimes, what most people don’t see in a successful entrepreneur is the many years he or she spent trying to figure out how the business works and failed.

No one talks about or remembers the failures of successful entrepreneurs. All people see is the success they have achieved after many failures. Take this from me, if you want to start a profitable business, become an apprentice first. You cannot lose with the knowledge and experience you will acquire. It’s the best form of mentorship.

A Different Kind Of Startups

The advantage most successful startups have in developed countries are because of their experience working for another company. Take a look at the tech world, you will see these examples. WhatsApp founders, Brian Acton and Jan Koum were former employees of Yahoo! before they started WhatsApp in 2009.

No wonder they went on to build very successful product like WhatsApp, which they later sold to Facebook for $19 billion in 2014. What do you think helped these guys come up with such an innovative idea as WhatsApp? In their days at Yahoo! they probably saw how the technology was evolving and what they needed to do.

Sometimes, what you need to start a profitable business is to create a product or service that people really need.

And there are many of such examples of startups who were able to launch profitable businesses because of their past experience or training. You cannot be competing against successful competitors with the same old ideas that nobody wants.

Writing. A Business Design

If you want to start a profitable business, you should at least write a business plan. It’s amazing how most startups never had a business plan, excerpt when they are looking for bank loan.

A business plan is not just a tool for collecting loans from investors. A business plan is a written building plan of your profitable business. How do you want to build a profitable business without a building plan. How would you even know what you need to do the most?

In the next subhead, I will be showing you about the 80-20 rule. How would you even know what would give your business it’s 80% outcomes? Your business plan is the real Bible of your business, and you shouldn’t be going into business without one.

If you don’t know how to write a business plan, I would suggest you hire a consultant, but work together with the consultant to write it. Even if you don’t know what he or she is writing, at least get them to explain. Don’t trivialize the soul of your business.

Moreover, there is so much about your business that your business plan would reveal to you. Have you ever wondered why car makers, phone manufacturers, even wristwatch makers add a user manual in their product? Imagine your business not having an owners operational manual. That’s not the way to start a profitable business.

How Money Works In Business

The issue of business capital is mostly misunderstood. It’s not every startup that needs money at the beginning. Don’t get me wrong, but you will understand as I explain further. Money is needed in a business to make your idea profitable.

So, what’s your business idea? How viable is your idea? What’s your huge value proposition? Who are those willing to buy it? What are your chances of reaching your target market? And lastly, what makes you think you can deliver on your promise?

The real work of money is to amplify your business. Your business will not become profitable because you have money. A profitable business is the business that requires money. That’s why the bankers and investors only put their money in a profitable business idea. And not just in a startup business.

Profitable business

A plan is the soul of your business

You do not have a profitable business if it’s only money you have. Money in itself cannot make your business profitable. So many startups have lost money because they invested it in a business that’s not profitable.

A Different Kind Of Marketing

From a different kind of business to a different kind of marketing. A profitable business must know how to market its product or service to reach a larger audience. Imagine the concept of 80-20 rule.

According to an Investopedia description, the 80-20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, is an aphorism which asserts that 80% of outcomes (or outputs) result from 20% of all causes (or inputs) for any given event. In business, a goal of the 80-20 rule is to identify inputs that are potentially the most productive and make them the priority.

As a consultant, I was faced with this kind of situation when I started my practice. I know the 20% effort that would cause my 80% outcomes, and that’s exactly what I did. However, I did it in a most usual way that multiples the effects of my 20 percent effort in a way that my 80% outcome is constantly amazing.

Do you know what your 20% effort for your startup business should be? Even if you have the most amazing product, you must have the most amazing marketing if you must turn it to a profitable business.

Marketing is probably the most important task for startups. It should be well researched and planned for as much as you work on your business idea. It’s always recommended that marketing precedes the business launch. It’s the success of your marketing that should encourage you to launch out.

Where Are Your Customers?

Now, I’m back to the main reason any business is profitable in the first place. It’s about the customer, and always about the customer. And there are different types of customers that you should be aware of when starting a profitable business.

That’s why it’s important you start your marketing ahead of launching your business. Some of these customers would only be helpful during the startup stage. Some may not be helpful in anyway. While some customers would be helpful once in a while or always throughout the life of your business or theirs, whichever comes first.

Here are the classes of customers your business may encounter:

  • Customers that loves your business
  • Customers that loves your product or service
  • Customers that would tell others about your business
  • Customers that would encourage others to buy from your business
  • Customers that would never buy from your business
  • Customers that would buy from your business sometimes
  • Customers that would always buy from your business every time

The customers that loves your business are usually the ones that comes in contact with your business early at startup. What they love about your business may not be profitable to you. That includes those who love the product or service, but are a lot better than just loving the business and not even knowing the product or service.

You may have seen those customers that likes, shares and comments on business pages or posts. That’s where you mostly find customers that tells others about your business. Another category are the encourages. Then, those who would never buy.

Finally on the real customers, you will find two different categories that buys from you. One group buys sometimes, either when they can afford it, or when they really-really need it. But the last category is your target customers. They are the kind of customers that gives you 80% of your outcomes. They buy every time. The thoughts of your product or service excites them.

The Skill-Set Of Startups

Let’s look at the skills you have to start a profitable business. It’s not just enough to want to start a business, you should know your strength and weakness. You should understand the important skills your business requires the most. If you don’t know what these skills are, you probably shouldn’t be starting that kind of business.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be you that must have the skills. But it’s important you know the skills you need in your business. You can hire such skills or get some as partners in the business. That’s why I recommended the apprentice program earlier.

These skills are the advantage your business would have over your competitors. You know there are no exact skill sets that are the same degree and experience. Imagine if you are a musician with the most soulful voice in the industry, just that alone can give your music career an edge. That applies to every skill set that you may have.

That’s what skills does for your business. If there are skills you need to acquire, go for it. If there are those you need to have as partners, do so. For the rest or lesser ones, you can hire them to work for you. But be mindful of the skills required for your business and prioritize their level of relevance and benefits to your business.

Conclusion

I didn’t set out to discourage you from starting a business, but to help you start a profitable business. If you really want to do something, at least do it well. There’s no joy in starting a business that would eventually fail.

I strongly believe that you never set out to start a business with the knowledge that you won’t be successful in it. So, you should humbly follow my candid advise here and do the needful. If your business is profitable, you are the first beneficiary, isn’t it?

And my role as a consultant is to help you make the right decisions. If you are having a problem starting your own profitable business, just share your challenges in the comment box and I will be glad to answer your questions. Cheers!

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Start A Business

How Business Works In Nigeria

How business works in Nigeria

Do you know how business works in Nigeria? It’s important you understand the basics of doing business in Nigeria before starting one. You should not venture into a business if you are not grounded on the simple knowledge of how business works in Nigeria.

The failures associated with businesses in Nigeria can be avoided if only the starters understood the terrain they ventured into. Business, like every other thing that we do, follows a principle and a concept. They guide you into knowing what works in Nigeria, what to do, how to do it and to whom you should do it for.

Business in Nigeria is more like construction work. When you are building a house, you are not guessing if it would eventually become a house. You surely know it would be a house. Those reasons that made you believe that you are building a house, and that you don’t expect it to become something else than a house, can be applied in the same way to building a business.

That implies, if you follow how business works in Nigeria, it doesn’t matter what business you are building, it will surely become successful, if not very successful doing business in Nigeria.

The Principles Of Business

Also, you need to go by the principles of business. There are no mysteries in how business works in Nigeria than just doing business the very way it should be done but with some unfactored twist. These principles lays out what you need to put in place or in consideration when starting or running a business in Nigeria.

Business principles provides us with ideas of what makes business work. That means, you are to be guided by the principles of business if you hope to make your business succeed. These guiding principles of business work for every type of business in Nigeria.

According to American National University, there are 8 fundamental principles of business you need to Know if you must succeed in business anywhere in the world. These principles would work for any kind of business, wether small, medium or large scale business. If you follow these principles correctly, you can beat your chest and say, I know what I’m doing Works!

Well, for Nigeria, there’s a little tweak to it. Everything about how business works would work but without including the Nigerian factor to the equation, it may never work.

How business works in Nigeria

Here are the principles for you:

  1. Make quality products for Nigerians
  2. Know your industry and competitors
  3. Protect your intellectual properties
  4. Pick a great Nigerian team
  5. Organize your structure and design properly
  6. Use cash flow wisely against corruption
  7. Understand the accounting and finance
  8. Take care of your customers

In a simple way, the principles can be better understood as product, market and competition, marketing, workers, structure and design, money, report and customers.

All these are what make business to work in Nigeria. If you carefully learn about each one, how they work in the overall plan of the business, and how to utilize them collectively to achieve your set objective, you would have known how business works in the Nigerian context more than anybody else.

Understand How Business Works

The idea of business is derived from a product or service aimed at target consumers with a promise of value, in exchange for monetary compensation. However, the concept may involve a new product or just a novel approach to marketing or delivering an existing product to a target Nigerian audience.

This idea can be better expressed as follows:

  • Service or product
  • Target demographic
  • Unique selling proposition (USP)

So, for the concept to work it must include all the three basic information of a business idea. That’s even the first steps of the principles of business.

What Is Business in Nigeria?

Business in Nigeria is better defined as a regular occupation, a trade, or a profession that a person engages in, as a commercial activity in Nigeria. If you have any occupation that you engage as a commercial activity you are already involved in a business in Nigeria.

What makes a business is the idea of service or product that is offered in exchange for value. A business in Nigeria is an organization where people work together to make or sell products or services. The word “business” is derived from the word “busy”, and that means doing things. This business or doing things should earn you a profit for the products and services it offers to Nigerians.

However, to have a business in Nigeria it should have these characteristics:

  • It should have individuals working together
  • It must satisfy a Nigerian need
  • It must seek to make a profit

Where a business in Nigeria is not designed to make profit, it’s categorized under another label; non-profit organization or not for profit organization. These kind of business meets the two characteristics of a business but willingly reversed the third one, which is to make profit.

Types Of Businesses

There are three major types of businesses in Nigeria one can engage in that represents a commercial activity.

  1. Service business
  2. Merchandising business
  3. Manufacturing business
Service Business

It’s a kind of business that one offers services that are intangible. The products have no physical form or shape. They simply provide some form of professional services, like skills, expertise, advice, etcetera. Some examples include, salons, repair shops, banks, hospitals, law firms, etcetera.

Merchandising Business

This kind of business is also known as “buy and sell” business. It’s a kind of business that deals on physical products, but primarily as in a trade transaction. It involves buying products at wholesale price and offering the same to the consumers at retail prices. Some examples include, resellers, distributors, eCommerce stores, convenience stores, grocery stores, etcetera.

Manufacturing Business

A Manufacturing Business transforms raw materials or other existing goods into new products. The primary role is transforming already existing products into better products for the consumers.

Note: Some Nigerian businesses may fall into more than one classification. Some may be engaged in manufacturing and also merchandising of the products. In that case, such business could be classified into multiple types of business. That makes them hybrid business.

A very good example is a restaurant, being a food ‘manufacturing outfit’, it also engages in the direct sale of the food to Nigerian consumers.

Starting A Business In Nigeria

Starting a business in Nigeria is not entirely different from building a house. Once you decide on the kind of house you want to build, which is like doing your research, wisdom demands that you design a building plan. A building plan is akin to business plan. It’s how to put into imagery what you want to build, and in the case of a building how you want to build it.

Now, with the building plan you can start the foundation. This stage is where you dig for solid ground and you lay strong iron with concrete mixture. You can relate this with the principles of business. Without a solid foundation your business might collapse if you begin to add the building blocks, as it gets heavier with each blocks added.

Moreover, you need to take care of all the legal requirements when starting a business in Nigeria, which include:

  • Register your business Name with CAC
  • Apply for FIRS Tax ID Number
  • Obtain necessary business permits and licenses
  • Protect your business with insurance policy
  • Open a business bank account
  • Consult with professionals

3 Forms of Business Ownership In Nigeria

When you talk about forms of business, it refers mostly to ownership structure than the organizational structure. You can form a business in any of these 3 ownership structures. These are the basic forms of business ownership:

  • Sole proprietorship
  • Partnership
  • Cooperation
Nigerian Sole Proprietorship

This kind of business is registered as owned by only one person in Nigeria. It’s the least formation of a business to form in Nigeria, also with the least ownership structure. It’s liability is unlimited, and it’s faced by the owner, but it’s limited to the personal assets if the business cannot pay.

Nigerian Business Partnership

This type of business is owned by more than one person in Nigeria, with contributed resources in form of equity. They also divide the profits from the business among each of the partners. However, there are 2 types of business partnership; a general partnership and limited partnership. While general partnership attracts unlimited liability, which puts their personal assets at risk, the limited partnership enjoys protection against their personal assets.

Nigerian Corporation

A Nigerian corporation is a legal business entity that’s separate from its owners. The ownership of a corporation is represented by shares of stock. However, the board of directors, which the stockholders elect, are mandated with control of the corporation activities.

What’s A Business Plan?

Wikipedia describes a business plan as a formal written document containing business goals, the methods on how these goals can be attained, and the time frame within which these goals need to be achieved.

That makes a business plan an essential part of starting any business. However, it’s necessary while writing a business plan, for you to understand the main purpose of having one. Here are just a few:

  • It helps to maintaining business focus
  • It helps to securing outside financing
  • It can help in fueling ambitions and mapping growth

Your business plan serves as your company’s resume to investors, partners, vendors and employees, in explaining your objectives. It’s effective in defining your goals and explaining the steps needed to be taken to reach them. It’s also in your business plan that you can detail out your purpose, the company’s vision, as well as your means of operation.

How business works in Nigeria

Types Of Financing Business

In business you need money. The power of money in business cannot be over emphasized. Money is the life of every business. Without money, your product cannot spread better than the competition.

Finding money for business is one of fundamental principles of business. That’s how important it is for your business. It’s not an optional decision to find money for your business, it’s how business works. Your money is the oxygen that keeps the business alive.

There are two main types of financing business, and they are:

  1. Debt finance
  2. Equity finance.

Debt financing deals with funds borrowed from a lender that is repaid with interest, while equity financing is about capital exchanged for part ownership or for the shares of the company.

The Purpose Of Business

One thing is clear about business, it must have a purpose. A business purpose is the reason the business is formed. This reason is distinguished from the company vision or mission. Business purpose can be industry specific or general, and includes support services and future business activities.

Therefore, the purpose of a business can be better described as a value proposition offered through products or services to customers, who in return pay for the value with cash or its equivalent. In order words, the purpose of business activity is the provision of goods and services that customers want, at a price they are also willing to pay.

Interestingly, you have to define your own purpose of starting a business. Your purpose should be based on your personal goals, starting from whether the business is for profit or non profit organization. You can start from these three generally accepted reasons, and they are:

  1. To make money
  2. To gain satisfaction from working in a field of interest
  3. To benefit others

Nigerian Business Models

A Nigerian business model is simply Nigerian business way of doing things. It describes the rationale behind how your business creates value, delivers value and captures value, in the context of economic, social or cultural values. This model forms part of your business strategy.

However, here are simple steps you can follow to define a strong Nigerian business model.

  • Identify your specific audience
  • Build business processes
  • Identify key business resources
  • Create a strong value proposition.
  • Partner with key business partners
  • Create a demand generation strategy

Also, Nigerian business models are broadly divided into four basic types that any class of business falls within. They are:

  1. Manufacturer
  2. Distributor
  3. Retailer
  4. Franchise

The Nigerian Factor

if you are doing business in Nigeria and haven’t heard about the nIgerian factor, you are dealing with foreigners and not Nigerians. There’s no how business works in Nigeria without the Nigerian factor.

Sometimes, you can’t even pinpoint exactly what this factors are but they are largely visible in every transaction you do in Nigerian business. The problem is that you won’t be told what you have to do, but at every turn you make you would hear it, but no one wants to admit that’s what they are saying.

The best way to describe the Nigerian factor is that thing the intentionally slows down business processes until a bribe is given to speed up the process. These factors exist everywhere, both in the public and private sectors. Don’t misunderstand it, that’s actually how business works in Nigeria, different from how it works elsewhere.

You can not plan without factoring into it this Nigerian factor. So, if it would have cost you N10 million to get something done, you should probably plan for N12 million, because of the Nigerian factor.

Conclusion

There’s so much you need to know about busines in Nigeria. This entire article is just to help you get on with the basics. How much success you can achieve in Nigeria would depend on this three simple factors, which are, wisdom, knowledge and understanding. You may not know how much those three words could mean to your business until you are in Nigeria doing business.

Finally, you also need to understand a simple fact. There’s a huge difference between being a business person and being an entrepreneur who knows how business works in Nigeria. A lot of times these qualities are used interchangeably, but they are nit really the same. A business person merely flips items for marginal profit, while an entrepreneur creates things for maximum profit.

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