My first foray into the world of online business began close to 10 years ago. Caused by 2 unrelated incidences I experienced within that period.

The first of which was repeated confrontation I had with local government officials within my locality. People say that Ajeromi/Ifelodun local government area exerts more levies on inhabitants than any other local government in Nigeria. Though I don’t have facts to back this assertion, I quite believe it to be true.

Lock up permit, trade permit, advert permit, radio and TV license, business center & cyber cafe permit, and the list goes on and on. On several occasions, these officials had my shop (actually belonged to my mum) locked because I was found wanting in one of these levies.

It is good to pay your taxes and levies, however, I feel these should be business-friendly so we can be encouraged to get involved in entrepreneurship.

The second incident was a result of an article I read in one of the early publications on internet business (not sure if it was in Success Digest). The article gave reasons why people surfed the internet- fun/entertainment, study/research, information, business. It then highlighted some individuals who were successful from doing business on the internet.

Prior to reading the article, my primary purpose of surfing the net was studying and research. After reading the article, I made up my mind to use the internet as a platform for my business. I wouldn’t be harassed by landlord, NEPA, or local government officials cause my business operations would be on the internet.

So u sell card online?

youngest85:
So u sell card online?

Not yet. Never really considered it cause during my early days in online business, I had this group of friends that worked on that project. Guess it didn't work out so well, they would have being household names today

Back then when we had E-gold and Liberty Reserve, with businesses like Getaway (never tried it), bulk sms, forex, freelance (never got a job from it, even till date). Forex is actually a bitter pill as I have lost about 1 million naira trading it. Most of which belonged to people I traded for.

Part of me believes that online forex is a scam, and I’ve got my proof. It is a negative sum game designed to enrich the market makers. Statistically, the more trades you make on online forex, the more you lose money, and the more the market makers make money. That’s why they’re always looking out for people to register on their platforms, some even give you free money once you register. Well, this is a story for another day.

One important lesson of online business, or E-commerce, as lots of people know it, is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. You need to work with what works best for you. Information marketers are fast to sell you a quick-fix solution, or a system that guarantees overnight success. There is no free lunch anywhere.

If you consider the trend of online users, shopping, and especially the amount of people who do not shop online yet, you will find that the opportunities are great. But you must be ready to work the talk. Like it is popularly said, there is no overnight success in life, you have to take it one step at a time.

I started selling on the 4 major online stores- Jumia, Konga, Dealdey and Kaymu, from January 2015. That’s not so long ago, if you consider how long they’ve being in existence. The reason for this was for me to be certain these platforms had sustainable business models. And so I participated from the sidelines for a while.

Now to substantiate on my topic, why I’m called the king of e-commerce. Going into online selling, I had about N100,000 as start up capital. The first products I purchased were 2 cartons of FIL power banks, somewhere around N78,000. I sold them all on Dealdey within 7 days, raking in 40% profit in the process. Certainly very encouraging.

From then till December of 2015, I never had any month that I made less than 30% returns on my sales. As a research inclined person, I studied the modus operandi of the stores, their customer preferences, popular categories and products, buying patterns, continually sourcing for new innovative and profitable products, while focusing on reputable brands.

There was a particular month I made more than 200% on Dealdey in 1 month. Though this is still achievable, the system that enabled me to achieve this feat has being removed. Probably why a lot of merchants weren’t too happy with changes introduced late last year.

I have being involved in extending some businesses online for clients. Got some more people involved online through training and mentorship. And now working on an initiative that will provide 1 million jobs in the E-commerce sector in Nigeria. There are presently less than 100,000 jobs directly created from E-commerce, even though there’s capacity for much more.

From the E-commerce value chain, we see that web designers, developers, logistics, photography, warehousing, social media drivers, affiliate marketing, and more can create jobs for our teeming population. I was at the venue of Tech Plus conference on Thursday 21st July, even though it didn’t hold that day. I saw lots of young guys and ladies who were able and willing to drive E-commerce into the next phase. The time has come to start preparing them for the task.

It came from an old friend, himself a guru in the information marketing space, who always called me that when we talked on the phone. At first I tried to be modest and declined the ‘title’, but on further consideration I thought, “who the crown fits let him wear it”.

Hello, I am Samuel Bolu; Freelance computer technician, product manager, web content strategist and social media manager. I have worked with eCommerce companies and also small medium enterprise to help manage and monitor their sites. So do you want to start selling your products on Konga, Jumia, Bargainmaster, SME Markethub etc or you need your products on your site? Or are you new to e-commerce? And you need help registering and uploading your products? With marketing that increases sales? I am Looking for brilliant and exciting idea to help product manage. If you are running an e-commerce company, contact me if you need a product manager and management help. 07035943189 or 08154326177