previous art by Alhamdu Yila

One Big Challenge
I decided to get an Idea of how much it was going to cost to send one artwork out of Nigeria to US. The lady at DHL in one of their offices in Ibadan sort of dampened my spirit when she told me that it was going to cost up to 33,000 naira per KG to send to one of the zones outside Nigeria. I was confused, I thought she was making a mistake, I still do till now. But she was very serious, she even showed me a brochure. It made absolutely no sense.

A good place to continue research is to find out a reasonably affordable courier service that can deliver your artworks to anywhere in the World a customer places the order on your online store.

2. Risk: Doing any business that requires 3PL (third party logistics) services makes you to be reliant on the quality of service delivery of the logistics company. The quality of their performance can have a very strong impact on your Business.

3. Summary: Will you be the one with the online store that sells Nigerian Artworks to the global market?


Thanks for following the series

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please get in touch

Twitter: Follow @Mrebis
Email: mrebis1@gmail.com

Splendid and thought provoking.
Our youths are in dire need of these ideas and financing to back it up.
I just discovered these thread, please keep it up.
I will surely follow to year end.

JohnNU:
Splendid and thought provoking.

Our youths are in dire need of these ideas and financing to back it up.

I just discovered these thread, please keep it up.

I will surely follow to year end.

Thank you for following and the kind words.

1. Idea Intro: Very recently, I learnt about a good business opportunity that is very profitable (upto 100% return on investment) with reduced or manageable risks.

Please what is this Business?
It is simply buying Moringa seeds from the farmers in Northern Nigeria and selling it to the Chinese and other foreign markets (customers) when they come for them. I learnt that some big Asian customers come into Nigeria once a year to buy loads of Moringa seeds at a price per bag, which is good and offers very attractive profit margins.

Show me some Numbers
In the North, some farmers sell bags of Moringa seeds for roughly 600-800 naira, depending on the farmer. Whilst the buyer can resell the bags for up to 2000 naira per bag, to the Asians (for export) when they come to Nigeria at the time of the year when they come. The revenue is massive but when cost of sale (storage, logistics, manpower) is factored in, the profit margin can be more realistic but still very lucrative.

Why Moringa seeds, what is special about them?
The Moringa plant is also known as the Tree of life owing to it being a great source of nutrients and very essential minerals, as well as its other many benefits.
In some practices in ancient india, the Moringa seed has been used to cure and improve energy, sleep anomalies, hair growth, skin care and does boast of about 300 diseases in its healing repertoire.

Other benefits include
• Can lower blood pressure (HBP can cause serious cardiovascular issues like heart attacks and strokes)
• Lower blood sugar level
• High in fibre
• Zero cholesterol (can reverse high cholesterol effect)
• Beautiful skin
• Can help in weight loss
• Cancer
• Anti-inflamatory
• Improves eye sight
• Encourages hair growth
• Etc…

So why is it not grown everywhere?
It grows well, or survives in harsh soil and weather conditions and can be harvested at any time of the year. So in Nigeria it is mostly grown in the North.

Some requirements to make this work
You will need to connect with a Farmer or a supplier
Get your own store depending on quantity or scale of investment
Establish connection with the foreign customers.
Do all the necessary documentations and registrations too.

2. Competition
As you are reading this, more people have also seen this, and some people have already been making a lot of revenue from this. Do your research well, make the needed connects, and be very sure you fully understand the business before you jump in.

3. Summary
Not so complex, get your store, buy from the farmers, keep the bags of moringa seeds, and sell at a higher price when the international customers come buying.


Read more on Moringa seeds and its benefit


Thanks for following the series

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please get in touch

Twitter: Follow @Mrebis
Email: mrebis1@gmail.com

NEW ARTICLE FOR THE WEEK


IDEA 41 OF 52 - LOADING....

Idea 41 of 52 – Car Flipping Business (Buy low-Sell high)

1. Idea Intro: If you look around you or visit some mechanic workshops, you will see loads of cars abandoned (some beyond repair, or repair cost is beyond owners pocket). Some might be because the owner couldn’t afford fixing the problem, or maybe they had just grown fed up. There could be other reasons.

This follows the “Buy Low, Sell High” business model.

This idea is like the house flipping Idea, which was the 19th in this series, were it was explained how you could buy a house for a low price, renovate and improve on it, then resell for a profit. This Car flipping idea likewise involves buying a car that needs some cleaning up and a bit of TLC (tender loving care), and then putting it up for sale at a higher price in order to make a sizeable profit.
E.g. Buy a Small Golf car (that need repairs) for 180,000 naira, fix it depending on the damage for 100,000, then sell it for 350,000 naira. That will be a profit of 70,000 naira. (just an example)


Car flipping business, can be divided into three (3) stages, they are;
Stage 1 is buying the car at a lower price.
Stage 2 is repairing the car so you can add value to it.
Stage 3 is selling the car at a higher price.

Some Advice
Start small, spend less, find popular brand cars or research to know those that are selling well.
Know and abide by the law. If you have to sell a certain number of cars, you might need to register as a dealer.
Lookout for abandoned cars along your street or around your neighbourhood.
Flipping a luxury brand car may give better profit margins but might take longer to sell.
Spread your investment. Instead of spending 2 million naira to flip one car, spend, 500,000 naira on 4 different cars. This can help in minimizing loss
Where to Buy & Sell
Online listing sites – Jiji.com, Olx, Cheki.ng etc
Auctions
Mechanic villages and yards

2. Competition
There are thousands of other people reading this as well as countless others already into this business or thinking about jumping in on this. You will need to employ all the tools and techniques you can find in order to stay ahead of the pack to survive in such competitive market and in the present state of the economy.
You could use technology to your advantage. You can create your own website where you sell/showcase your cars you have flipped. You could subscribe for alerts, so that you will be notified when new cars are posted for sale.

3. Risks
You will need to be very careful not to buy a stolen car.
Also confirm that the car you are buying is not under dispute.
Check with a mechanic before buying so that you are sure of what you will be spending to repair as buying wrongly can leave you at risk of losing your investment, although worse case scenario you could scrap the metal for something.

4. Summary
There are numerous cars all over Nigeria sitting idly from one fault or another. The business is to find them, repair and clean them, then sell for a profit.

Read more: http://moneyconnexion.com/make-money-flipping-cars.htm


Thanks for following the series

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please get in touch

Twitter: Follow @Mrebis
Email: mrebis1@gmail.com

Idea 42 of 52 – Create Virtual Customer Service Agents (Chatbots)

1. Idea Intro: Many Jobs will be going extinct in the near future, and one of such Jobs will be the customer service/support assistants.

Today, we have less number of people in banking halls in Nigeria compared to 10 years (`2007) ago. With the advent of the ATM and other virtual channels, there was then a need to let go of one set of workers for a new set with a different skillset to take over. Whilst many were laid off, some were recruited. In clearer terms, some over counter staff were let go to be replaced by other tech savvy ones with needed skills for operating in the dynamic tech driven competitive banking environment.

Another wave of job losses will still come in the very near future with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Neural Networks.
If you learn how to create your own AI agent which can be used as a Customer service assistant or Chatbot, you can be in Big business by proposing to organisations (Corporate, Academic, Social & Religious), to embed the virtual agent (you will Build/Train for them) into their Facebook page (messenger Bot), or Website (Chatbot), so that their site (Virtual customer relationship channels) can always be attended to by this AI (Virtual customer Service agent) who has been built and trained to handle simple and complex customer interactions and enquiries.

You can learn to Build a ChatBot today without learning a single line of code. How?
These 5 applications are some of the leading programs that provide the tools you would need to build and train an AI. Do a Google search of them and read other materials you can find via Google that relates to building and training your AI agent.
• Wit.ai
• Api.ai (recently change name to Dialogflow)
• Mellisa
• Clarifai
• Tensorflow

The one I have used that is also quite very easy to use is Api.ai. This link shows how to get started using Api.ai to create your Ai.

There are also tons of materials that will guide you on how to integrate this into a Facebook page, a website, a mobile app, etc.
If all this interests you and you will be committed to putting the time needed to learn how to build and train AI agents, the possibilities ahead of you are endless as this can position you to play a relevant part in the emerging future workspace/economy.


2. Competition: This is not to compete with humans or run people out of Jobs, because at some points, the AI agent would still have to direct the customer to a human (for now though, because things can change as technology evolves). There are many others currently reading up, building and training AIs, some AIs are even learning on their own (Deep learning), the competition ahead is not something we may have a full picture of as of today.

3. Risks: There would be resistance to this in many organisations as they will accuse who ever suggest this of trying to increase the levels of unemployment, however if one can show that this cost less and can save the company money (the numbers matters), then one can stand better chance of selling. Soon, everyone will have no choice than to use AIs for customer service support. There are broader concerns about what happens if the AI grows out of control. There is also Data security and fear of hacking too.

4. Summary: There is something here for those who are ready. If you have access to the internet and PC, you have what it takes to start building and training your own artificial customer

Extra reading
http://www.assafelovic.com/blog/2016/7/11/chatbots-the-beginners-guide


Thanks for following the series

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please get in touch

Twitter: Follow @Mrebis
Email: mrebis1@gmail.com

Follow up link on how to build your own AI http://orangeloops.com/2017/06/how-to-build-your-customer-support-chatbot-with-api-ai/

Idea 43 of 52: Wireless Noiseless Fitness & Dance Session

1. Idea Intro: Are you a dance instructor, or an aspiring fitness coach, you can organize your classes or sessions out in a park or an open field with way less noise. People who will see you and your clients in your session will be curious and attracted to come find out how to be a part. This helps you standout.


This can be achieved using the Silent Disco concept;

A silent disco or silent rave is an event where people dance to music listened to on wireless headphones. Rather than using a speaker system, music is broadcast via a radio transmitter with the signal being picked up by wireless headphone receivers worn by the participants.

With this setup, you can have your session anywhere, even in a corporate business environment, as little noise will be heard except for gasps, instructions from the instructor, shoe stumps etc.


So, with the right permissions, you can schedule your session at a public space, leisure park, plus your rollup banner advertising your business and contact details. People seeing you and your group dancing to no audible music, will definitely arouse attention, and when they come to inquire what is happening, they will see your roll up banner and can register to be a part of your group.

2. Technical Setup

● Radio transmitters and receivers
● Mobile phones
● Headphones/earplugs
● Music player

How does this work?
The trainer/instructor will connect a music player, which will serve as a music source and also a headset mic into a second input of a transmitting device. This will transmit a combination of the music and the instructor’s voice over radio frequency transmitter.

Receivers

The trainees/participants will connect by using the radio receiver functionality in their mobile phones, so they will all be hearing same thing at same time. They can also all carry a receiver device, which they can wear around their waist.

This transmission and reception can also be achieved via Wi-Fi, though this would be contingent on the strength of the Internet service signal at the location. There is also the option of using Bluetooth headphones. All these can be explored and experimented.

3. Competition

This is already a thing being used outside Nigeria and as common with loads of other things Nigerian businessmen venture into, it is expected that many will try this concept of outdoor noiseless dance/fitness session, and when they are turning out to be successful, others will follow.


4. Risk

Be sure to understand the entire technical setup which is not so complex, and also be sure that all relevant authorities and community stakeholders are aware and adequate clearance has been given before going into certain public environments to carry out such sessions.

Security is also very important, so it is advised that the session, if done outside, should not in any way be on a motorable/busy road, and whilst everyone will have their ears plugged in, someone or some people should be alert to make sure everyone is safe and away from harm’s way.


5. Summary
Dance/Fitness instructors can now use a few devices and the mobile phones of their clients to host or carry out their sessions wherever they desire. Interested in how all this works, do your research, ask questions and be guided before venturing in.

Cheers and thanks for following the series.



If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please get in touch

Twitter: Follow @Mrebis
Email: mrebis1@gm

Interesting . Thanks. Your work is well appreciated .

mixter:
Interesting . Thanks. Your work is well appreciated .

Thank you very much.....

Idea 44 of 52 - Earning From Your Writing (A Beginners guide).

By Patrick Odimnfe

I began the business of writing when I realized I could make money with my talent, that was about 2 years ago.
Until then, I worked for free, hoping that someone will be benevolent enough to request that I write in exchange for pay.

The first advice I got on how to make money from writing was that I sign up on an online platform like fiverr and upwork as a freelance writer.

As much as this suggestion was good and had my best interest, it panned out that these platforms are saturated with freelancers of all sorts especially content writers and copywriters.
It never occurred to me that there was an easy way just staring at me all the time.
I only came to this realization when a friend offered me money to write a personal statement for his abroad application.Until then, I did this sort of writing for free. And with so much excitement.


My late granddad attended a missionary secondary school. This sort of schools were the best in his time.
Due to his brilliance, the village community sought him to write their letters or read letters sent to them from loved ones.
He was given tokens for his services. It made sense because, this served as a source of pocket money and sustenance back in school.
******
Do you know
you could start earning by offering services such as writing cover letters, resumes and business proposals?
Do you know that there are lots of people struggling with writing their own application letter?
Imagine if you're the go-to person for everything writing...you could charge on services from 2500 naira to as much as 10,000, 20,000 or more.
Yes I charged my second my client to write his business proposal for 10,000 naira.
Do you know you could charge to write essays and personal statements for people applying to schools abroad?
CVs are not one-size fits all; they are tailored to fit the intended job. You can offer services in writing professional CVs.

Even if you've never written one, you are first gifted with writing, secondly you have the Internet (which is your vault for all you'll need). Research the topic if its new to you; google samples of similar work; study and produce a stellar work for your client.

Are you a student, take advantage of the lazy colleagues in your class; charge them to write their assignments.
Maintain a principle of delivering excellent services.
You must be committed to the objective of your client -be it to get the job opening, get a foreign scholarship, whatever it may be.
This is a good way to teach yourself to always deliver excellent work and get testimonials too.
Also, you get to learn a great deal through the various writing projects you take up.


How can you get started?
Keep talking about your writing services everywhere you go. Put up ads on your whatsapp status update. Tell your colleagues at work (and church) to bring their writing needs to you (for a fee).
Try this, it'll jump-start your writing business. As you evolve, you can decide what writing suits you most and charge what you want and how you want.


Summary
There are opportunities to make some money from offering various forms of writing services, which can be explored and where knowledge is deficient, there are loads of resources online that can be very helpful.


Cheers and thanks for following the series.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please get in touch

Twitter: Follow @Mrebis
Email: mrebis1@gmail.com

Idea 45 of 52 - Dropshipping (Local Markets)

Idea intro: To understand this idea, I will begin by defining Dropshipping and how it works.

Dropshipping is a retail fulfillment method where a store doesn't keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when a store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. As a result, the merchant never sees or handles the product. (Shopify, 2017)

An example, you find a product on Amazon for 15 pounds, you add it to your ebay store for sale for 16 pounds. As soon as a customer pays/buys from your ebay store for that 16 pounds, you will then go make the order on Amazon and pay the 15 pounds. Amazon will fulfill the order by delivering to the Address you will have provided which is the address of the customer that bought from your ebay store. At the end of the day, you would have made 1 pound without holding any product.

This may not be as easy as it seem because the profit margins can be low, you will need a good volume of such transactions to make it worth your while and buying one or a very few items at a time might be more expensive as you may not enjoy whole price which would have had a positive impact on your profit margin.

NIgerian Example

You can find a fast selling product on konga or jumia, e.g, a 4000 naira Hand bag for Ladies (which includes delivery). So without even you having the bag in your personal possession, you can, with picture (s) of the Bag, advertise/market it using your own website (online store), instagram or facebook account for 4,100. You will also make the prospective buyer know how long it will take to deliver. As soon as the Buyer pays 4,100 naira, you go on to place the order on Konga or Jumia, using the delivery address as that of the customer.

Getting the Right Product (fast selling, Niche products) and Right suppliers (more reliable) is very important. If relationship is built with the supplier on the jumia or Konga site, you can request for discount based on volume of business you are attracting.

Benefits
Less Capital Is Required: Cost of website, social media management.
Easy to Get Started: Just your social media accounts, whatsapp, personal website .
Low Overhead: Not having to hold stock in any warehouse
Flexible Location: Can run this business from different locations
Wide Selection of Products: This can be replicated in a wide variety of products
Easy to Scale: Not having to hold stock in any warehouse


Risk/Challenges
Low Margins: Low prices from other merchants
Inventory Issues: Since you do not keep your own stock you may not know when the supplier has ran out of stock.
Shipping Complexities: Working with different suppliers on a wide range of products will lead to complexities
Supplier Errors: Issues can arise during shipping, an error which may not be your fault.


Summary
To get started with this, there are loads of materials and forums with information about DropShipping on the internet that can be very helpful. You can get really creative with this.

Useful link
https://www.shopify.com/guides/dropshipping/understanding-dropshipping


Cheers and thanks for following the series.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please get in touch

Twitter: Follow @Mrebis
Email: mrebis1@gmail.com