Did you know that there are low cost business ideas in Nigeria that could transform your life if you identify them, set them up properly and get them right from scratch, regardless of your experience or startup capital?
I played around and found out after some research. And the best part? Most of these are also offline business ideas that nearly anyone can start traditionally from anywhere, be it at home, a corner store or outside your compound.
What makes these low cost ideas stand out is that there are a number of people already running successful small businesses like this. And if you look around you, you could easily see these businesses doing well around you and even in some other emerging markets.
I did my findings. And in this post, i’ll be listing out some of the top 9 offline business ideas you can start with low capital Nigeria that you could start from home either as a part time or full time business, grow it and start earning
Catering or Food Business
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Catering, restaurant or food vending is one of the most profitable small business ideas to start with low capital in Nigeria, regardless of your location.
Outside the fact that the food niche is an evergreen niche that’s always on demand, food business is one of the age long businesses that’s almost never out of fashion. Regardless of where they are, people are always going to have to eat food because it’s a basic need. So your services as a food vendor will always be in high demand.
The following are the popular options for food business:
Restaurant & Bukka: This is popular for high end areas with a decent number of working class or business people who are willing to buy. With NGN300K-1M, you can start and run an initial cost of the business, depending on your location. For this to succeed though, you will need an area with a high demand. And you may have to wake up very early to cook so you can meet up with working class customers.
Street Food Vending: This includes selling food at street corners with or without a regular store. For most beginners, with as little as NGN100k-200k, you can start a street side food vending, selling delicacies like rice, beans, spaghetti etc. using a makeshift stall around popular streets, junction, school areas or other busy location with a large population. At very micro level, this business can earn you at least NGN5000-10000 daily net income; depending on the location.
Meal Prep/ Personal Chef: In cities like Lagos, Abuja etc., services like this are in high demand. If your capital is less than NGN100-200K, you can buy, cook and sell the food to individuals based on request. This reduces your upfront cost while allowing you to save and reinvest in your business.
Noodles Stalls & Corner: Alternatively, you can also opt to get a makeshift stall where you cook and sell noodles. This is a popular street food that is high in demand in most locales in Nigeria. You can start with less than 200k. And the profit margins are encouraging.
Street food & Snacks: Popular street food like puff puff, fried yam, akara, fried potatoes etc. are always in high demand in most localities. These are fast selling foods that gets bought off really fast in popular cities. You can start this business from your home, run it outside your house, street corners or near popular facilities like schools, market, busy street junctions etc. with less than NGN150-200K and you can be earning as much as NGN50k weekly or more when the business is well settled, after deducting your expenses.
Retail Stores & Shops
Opening a retail store or local shop where you sell every day essential items is another low cost small business ideas popular in many localities today. With your store you can stock and sell items ranging from normal groceries and household items to other fashion accessories among other high demand products needed in your locality.
Although there are retail stores in most street these days, you can go to a street with fewer stores or alternatively, you can open a shop or grocery store where you sell only specific items like food items etc. Things that other stores are barely selling.
The thing with retail store is that you’ll need a decent capital if you want to have your store stocked up with many on demand items but you can still start this with a million naira or even less, including your first year rent, depending on your location. And you can grow it from there. And yes, you don’t have to start with a big rented store from the scratch.
Tip: It is very important you keep re-investing in this business, if you want to grow it.
Gas Refill Shop: If opening a regular retail shop is not your thing, consider opening a gas refill shop, cold room etc. This is an under rated low cost business ideas that can be really profitable. With NGN1 million to 1.5 million, you could set up a simple gas refill business in most areas and then grow it from there.
Vegetable/Fruit Store: If you live in a high population or busy area, you can open a fruit mart or vegetable store where you sell fruits, vegetables etc. to businesses across locations. If done successfully, this can reduce the competition for you as you do not compete directly with other retail stores. If you’re looking at having a fruit mall by the roadside, you can start with even less amount like NGN100k-200k, selling popular fruits like Watermelon, Pawpaw, Apple, Pineapple and other seasonal fruits.
TIP: In situations where there’s high competition in the neighborhood, you can decide to sell very specific items with far fewer competitors. With this you’ll get to acquire repeat customers.
Tailoring or Fashion Design
Clothing is another basic needs of humans. Regardless of the economy or economic situation in your country, people will always wear clothes.
This makes tailoring or fashion design services one of the top small business ideas you can start with low capital, anywhere.
While this is not necessarily as time consuming as the others, to start a tailoring business you’ll need some training or trained tailors to run the business for you.
As soon as you’ve gotten the needed training, you can purchase your tailoring machines and other tools and then have your business set up.
Usually, tailoring is a small business idea. It is also an offline business idea that anyone could start with low capital, provided you have the requisite skill. With NGN300K- 1 million, you can start a tailoring business, get your machines and grow it from scratch.
Outside setting up a tailoring shop, you can also sell clothes directly to final users. This could involve buying and reselling clothes based on the purchasing power of the neighborhood you live in, selling new clothes you make or ultimately importing your materials.
Regardless of your financial statement, you can start either of these businesses and then grow it to incorporate the others at intervals.
Beauty Salon or Barbershop
Are you a barber, beautician or someone versatile in hair making? Then starting a beauty saloon or barber shop could just be the perfect small business idea for you.
Think about it. Even in inner cities and rural areas, hundreds of people are barbing or making their hair on a daily basis. Young and old, people are getting to have their hair cut or made into different styles that fit them.
If you’re a skilled barber, you can start your own barber shop where you take care of people in need of barbing services. As a hair technician for women, you can also set up your beauty saloon for female hair needs. There are so many options you could use to make your beauty saloon stand out.
In addition to these two, you can also run any of the following services:
Pedicure & Manicure: This is a very popular and high demand service especially in cities. You can run this one as a part of your beauty salon business or you can set it up as a stand alone business generally. This is a low cost business idea that could work for students or other entrepreneurs with little to no start up capital. If you’re a student looking to start a traditional business, you can start this with less than NGN 100K. Run it from your dorm, personal apartment and get new customers through word of mouth.
Spa & Wellness Centre: You can also add a massage and wellness center to your beauty saloon. Adding a wellness center can be quite expensive so you don’t have to add this at the onset. You can bring it on gradually as the business grows.
Lash Technician: Fixing eye lashes is a business idea that can generate a decent income in Nigeria. As a las technician, you can run a side business fixing lashes for ladies around school area or busy professionals while doing other business. You could start this with less than a hundred thousand naira.
Depending on how you decide to run it, you can attract very specific kinds of clients to patronize your business. From lower to middle and upper income, you can choose your preferred target clients at the onset or grow to incorporate them as you work on the business.
You can combine both businesses to care for male and female clients or you can set to target a specific kind of clients.
PS: This is a traditional business idea that is largely unisex and easy to run part time. If you’re not skilled as a barber, hair stylist or hair/nail/lash technician, you may want to learn the skill or have a trusted expert run the business for you but it is important you get a hang of it so you do not get cheated.
Baking & Pastry Making
In a fast moving world where the demand for fast food and snacks is increasingly on the rise, baking and pastry making has gradually become one of the profitable low cost business ideas for entrepreneurs.
Considering that street food is a thing in many cities, you can start your own pastry business and start making finger foods like buns, donut, egg rolls, fried plantain etc. while you make a decent income out of it.
Getting started with this kind of business idea is not that expensive. With NGN100-300k, you can get started from scratch either with a makeshift table top and cooking utensils or a proper corner shop which (might be a bit expensive) or you can make these things and sell them outside your compound.
All you want to do is make and sell popular street food, pastries and all of that are high demand in your locality. Where you don’t have baking skills, you can learn the skills for a few weeks or months before getting started.
Like I mentioned earlier, the good thing about this business is that this is an offline business idea that does not require a huge upfront investment. With some decent funds, you can hit the ground running and then re-invest into the business until it grows to the height you want.
Laundry & Dry Cleaning Services
In most urban centers, the increase in urbanization and very busy lifestyle of city dwellers have pushed dry cleaning into one of the popular low cost small business ideas any one can start and make a decent earning.
Good thing is, regardless of who you are, you’re going to have to wear clothes. And when you do, sometimes you’ll not have time to wash and iron them if you’re very busy. This is where the need for a laundry man comes in.
In most areas, the number of reliable laundry men are never enough. Depending on where you are, you can choose to fix the gap in your neighborhood by setting up your own laundry services.
You can start this business with as little as NGN100K, if you’re willing to start without owning a shop at the onset. But if you plan to get your own shop and washing equipment, you can consider starting it with NGN1.5M to 3million at the beginning phase.
Setting up a laundry business equipped with modern facilities and offering efficient services can attract busy professionals and households in need of convenient garment care solutions. And just like the other businesses, you don’t have to be there to run it.
You have the option to hire people to run the business for you while you work on the side or you can engage in it full time But it is important to keep growing it and getting referral if you want to stay in business. You can do this using digital business strategies.
Transportation & Logistics Services
Transportation and logistics services is one of the popular low cost business ideas you can get started with little capital.
But it is not a walk in the park. First of all, to make a mark in this industry, there are many options to choose from. For example, from motorcycles to tricycles, mini buses and buses, you can get either of these as a means to run you business.
While this is more expensive compared to the other businesses, you can still start this with NGN 1M-1.5M for motorcycles and NGN3million and above for Keke or tricycles.
The best part is, if you’re living in a city with a bustling and growing population, then there’s already an existing demand for reliable transportation services.And you can step in to make this happen while smiling to the bank in return.
Also, instead of transportation, you can choose logistics to get started with. Both options do have a generous demand and long standing market as far as the movement of people and goods is concerned.
To get your logistics business a step higher, you can get yourself a website or mobile application to get started with.
POS Agent Business
For the past few years, point of sales agent business has become one of the popular small business ideas to start with low capital in various cities.
From street corners to city centers, a number of POS centers have been set up to service the teeming population of people who will rather withdraw money from the POS agents, than go to the banks.
What makes this business idea stand out is the lower reach of banks in most locations. Also, the fact that starting a POS business does not require a lot of start up funding has become one of the most attractive factors to most entrepreneurs.
If you’re keen on starting this as your own small business, you can consider getting your capital sorted and then looking for a decent location with a booming population around you. Generally, you can start this with as little as NGN200,000 and you can be earning roughly NGN10,000.00 to NGN20,000 daily as a beginner.
With all of this and your registration for licensing all sorted out, you can set up your stall and kick start your business and start earning from scratch.
PS: Another good thing about this idea is that you can also run a POS business alongside other business ideas.
Cleaning Services
Cleaning services is a traditional small business idea that’s thriving because cleaning is a regular part of daily life that cannot be wished away, even in a crunching economy.
It was one of the top small business ideas that can be started with low capital in Nigeria. From home cleaning to home laundry, office cleaning services etc. there are different aspects of this cleaning you could choose to start with.
The thing about cleaning is that there are many options you can use to position your brand. For example, you can choose direct one on one marketing where you introduce your business to clients directly using items like flyers, complimentary cards, word of mouth etc.
You can also choose an option where you use digital marketing options to modernize your business and position it fully online.
For beginners, you can start a cleaning services business with as low as NGN100,000 or less, from your room, grow it and then get a shop or office space after your business starts earning.
Whatever option you choose between this two, you’ll need to set up your business before getting started. That means you’ll do things like getting a brand name, setting up your brand etc. This is very important.
Final Words
There are a ton of low cost small business ideas you can start in Nigeria or any part of the world today and make a decent income. But one thing is certain, for some reasons, not all the business ideas are realistic or ideal for you. Find what works as per your financial budget, location, expertise etc. and get started with that.
Also, there are businesses like POS etc. that will need you to register with government or specific regulatory institutions before getting started. Find out about these institutions and get your registrations sorted before you launch.
In this list we’ve listed out some of the top small business ideas that are high demand for people in almost all locations but it’s still your job to choose the ones that suits you based on your resources and location.
After you do start your business, remember that things like your resources, location and quality of service are very crucial to success in this field. Offer excellent services, sell quality product and consider meeting the needs of your customers consistently. These are some of the things that will keep you in business.
Some of the mistakes you want to avoid includes eating up your earnings, including your business capital, not saving for rainy days or refusing to show up consistently to offer a great service to your customers. All these mistakes do have consequences and you must avoid making them by all means.
Beyond getting started, you have to put in the work, create awareness about your business and consistently promote it so new customers can show up. Learn what works, understudy your business at intervals to identify and replace what is not working, if you want to stay in business.
As a team that builds system that shapes visibility, opportunity an governance, we can work with you to grow your business reach. Reach out to us to for counsel and further guidance here.
Now, it’s your turn. What are your challenges when it comes to starting your own small business? Drop your comments below.
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