Interesting topic! I never gave thought to the fact that you could start a business with N4,000 and thinking about it now, I realized that it's possible!!! A lot of suggestions have been provided and I want to say I'm impressed that this buddy is thinking about making something of his life with the money he has.

I may not be able to give super suggestions on what kind of business to do but may be I would share a little experience. Early this year, I became tired of the fact that I had to rely on income from my parents, a salary and then some little income that I could get from doing little businesses and I wanted to have the feel of doing business! I did some consulting and started selling MTN VTU airtime in school.

I bought a VTU SIM card and paid a distributor to supply airtime to me so I could sell. The VTU SIM pack came with a manual on how you could operate the system and in a couple of days, I was up selling airtime. At a time, (without agressive advertising et al) I was making some good income. Now it really required about 18,000 to run the business then but it's a lot easier now as you can buy airtime worth 4000 (as a minimum).

I really do feel you shouldn't neglect the fact that you are to start small. You shouldn't despise your days of little beginning. You'll learn a lot in the process of starting small without incurring much debt. So this is my little advice to you:

1. Find something you can start with the capital you have. It may not give you so much in return but be faithful.
2. Work hard and be dedicated in building your business.
3. Watch your expenses and do proper accounting. Know how much you're spending and how much you're making.

Thanks.

Please what's the full meaning of VTU? Sorry for my ignorance.

VTU stands for Virtual Top Up. It's an electronic airtime top-up application developed by Nefto for MTN Nigeria. See here and here for more information.

Dont mind them all,the best way to make gain is not only by business,you can save your money inthe bank to yield interest,if your not sure which bank to save it,send it down to my account probably by the end of the year you get to receive 2ooo naira as interest.
Orget nice wallet and sell it at a profitable price,my help.

If he can change the "naira" to "dollars" I will have answer to his question now now.

Okafor David
The African Store
www.theafricanstore.org

guys that wicked don't send this Guy to the street before you now it he will join agberos to be collecting =N=20 from motorist
because soon as he starts Council boys will hijack him and throw him to cell for street trading or market violation of by NAFDAC

so i suggest he look for another job while you using the 4k as transport. or pray hard then gamble with=N=150
on. Lotto it fit be you O! boy remember me when you win o!

orange business or note book business

This is most interesting. One of my relatives has been pestering me for money. If I could help him set-up his own bussiness, I would be very happy. What do you reckon will be the cost of setting up shop, currently?
Airtime+store+ gadgets(if any is needed)?
And how profitable is it(realistically)?

timba:

Interesting topic! I never gave thought to the fact that you could start a business with N4,000 and thinking about it now, I realized that it's possible!!! A lot of suggestions have been provided and I want to say I'm impressed that this buddy is thinking about making something of his life with the money he has.

I may not be able to give super suggestions on what kind of business to do but may be I would share a little experience. Early this year, I became tired of the fact that I had to rely on income from my parents, a salary and then some little income that I could get from doing little businesses and I wanted to have the feel of doing business! I did some consulting and started selling MTN VTU airtime in school.

I bought a VTU SIM card and paid a distributor to supply airtime to me so I could sell. The VTU SIM pack came with a manual on how you could operate the system and in a couple of days, I was up selling airtime. At a time, (without agressive advertising et al) I was making some good income. Now it really required about 18,000 to run the business then but it's a lot easier now as you can buy airtime worth 4000 (as a minimum).

I really do feel you shouldn't neglect the fact that you are to start small. You shouldn't despise your days of little beginning. You'll learn a lot in the process of starting small without incurring much debt. So this is my little advice to you:

1. Find something you can start with the capital you have. It may not give you so much in return but be faithful.
2. Work hard and be dedicated in building your business.
3. Watch your expenses and do proper accounting. Know how much you're spending and how much you're making.

Thanks.

He should buy bags of purewater and sell. (Not hawk).

that funny

Well an adivce... do night browsing in cyber cafe... learn to search for information on the internet and use the remaining money to advertise your business.

though u will have to consider ur area, if ppl need it at all.
good? try it.

which money will he use to browse??

of course part of the 4k now, abi

nice one Emortal!
I really cant think of anything you can start with 4K but i'll make a few suggestions anyway...
Since you're in a school environment,i think it'll be profitable to organise shows.Students like entertainment and this will work better at the beginning of a new semester or session when students are fresh from home and have money in their pockets.
You might be wondering how realistic this is but i'll give you an explaination on what i mean.For instance,start a talent hunt competition for a winning price of 20k.Print posters(cheap) and advertise all around your school using public address systems that can be borrowed from your hall of residence or faculty.Make sure your adverts sound really convincing and entertaining.Dont be afraid to draw a crowd.
Anyone that wants to enter for the contest has to do so with a token amount of 100 naira,at least 50 people will register.By the time you start selling tickets for the event.....say at 50 or 30 naira,you would have covered the prize money and made some extra cash.
I dont know how feasible that sounds but its just my two penneth.....

well, its a good idea to even nurse that in your mind because of the nature of our economy now.

And i am advicing you to make a proper research before you go into any business...........i wish you the best; atleast you are not a SCAMMER; you want something legitimate.

u have to first tell us what kind of skill u have. cos thats another angle. like when i was in school bein gthe ibo boy i was i had to look for how to make neds meet. the generator of the school went down and i went into selling candles. i boiught a dozen pack at first selling one for N10 a pack was 35 and it was 8 in a pack
so what im basically saying is that you have to identify your skill and look out for opportunities that abound
if your good at barbing buy a clipper for N1,800 (not fake wahl oh!!) and but your other tools. u dont have to start with a shop u could start giving home service , its even profitable in the long run. and build up your clientele
if you good in a particular course in school charge those who dont want to study to help them. i was good at Engineering Drawing and i made cool money from doing assignments for people. i did it till my 3rd year (when i tried to write someones exam i had a rough experience..so dont try that, stick to assignments)
well the basic lowdown is just identify your talent and market it

bani:

........
if you good in a particular course in school charge those who don't want to study to help them. i was good at Engineering Drawing and i made cool money from doing assignments for people. I did it till my 3rd year (when i tried to write someones exam i had a rough experience..so don't try that, stick to assignments).....

I dont buy that. There are more legal ways to make ca$h. The day ur lecturer(s) find out means a stop to your bizness. It could also lead to suspension or setback in ur academics (grades). Some lecturers are sadists...very careful in markin scripts. They'll probably find out when assignments are beign replicated by almost half of the class. If u r not caught, the whole class could fail. Either way its loose-loose.
I know it works in some instance but my dear its called hustlin not business.

Me I don talk my own oo.

@pie1ect: well compared with other businesses, profit margin can be really low 4%. So it all depends on who is doing the business to tell if it's worthwhile and that's the reason why proper management of the business is very important. One wrong sale and you'll be set back terribly.

It is courageus of you to think that you could take off with N4k on a business, in life anything is possible. Here are a few hot ideas that will surely sell.

1. Buy Sachet Soaps, Bar Soap, Bathe Soaps, Sache Toothe paste, bag Ijebu Garri in small bags and sell them for N10, N20 and N50 depending on size( i mean real qualtiy Ijebu Garri). Students dont joke with quality ijebu Garri. It goes very well with concortioned beans. All the above should cost less than N4k

2. I assume you are in a residential campus. Make A4 sized adverts and list this products with their prices, you may also put your phone number thru which people can contact you. and paste over the campus (200 pieces will be more than enough) and write the things you are selling, also remember to indicate your room number.


I can assure you that you will smile to your bank every month.

Phone number is okay. You might have problems with your room mates if you include the number (except u leave all by urself).

I think he can actually start a business with N4K (providedhe wont finish it on food first). It all depends on his skill set and hobbies. He needs to take an inventory of what his skill sets and what he has. A campus enviroment even makes it easier as u dont pay some cost (shops, power bills, etc) associated with the real world.

As an example, for someone who has a pc with a cd burner, with free internet connection, you can download assorted software, games, utilities, tutorials, etc and burn in cd then sell to other students. Advert wont cost u anything as all u need is just scripbled adverts pasted strategically (I did that when I what in skool, each cd cost about 100 and I sold each for 400).

He might not have a system. he might have a phone or just know some people. Even knowing people who trusted you can be potentially turned into money. Like someone was talking about provision or foodstuff. He necessarily might not have to pay for it upfront. He can collect on credit from somebody who knows him and pay later (under a mutually agreed term). Everythng depends on his personality and about if he is not shy about selling.

I believe that human beigns are created as little gods who can accomplish anything he sets to achieve. In my undergraduate days, one of my friend started with two computers (one owned by him and the other borrowed) went from lecture room to lecture room advertising computer training (normal word processing), business was good and he got more computers employing other students as lecturers, typists, desktop publishers all in an hostel (he wasn't paying power bill nor any goverment rate). When we were leaving school (a session after, he had 5 computers, 2 printers, one scanner, 3 upses) in addition to the fact that he was sending money home second semester .

The point I'm trying to make is that, 4k is small for a commodity business xcept for the very meanial ones like selling purewater. Heshuld have akey skill if he thinks hard enough. To emphasise my point I recall a story.

When I finished freshly from university, I was scandalised by sitting at home and being fed like some slowpoke. I went out in search of Computer Hardware jobs. They kept asking me for my certificate. I didn't have one cause the university senatewas yet to sit. After futile searches, I had to sit down to change my strategies. I did an inventory of my skill set. I was surprised that I was good with system/web development (I wasn't aware until this time cause it was just a hobby). I didn't even have money for transportation. So I started with a proposal, going from computer schools within trekking distance that where not doing any web/system development program. My proposal was simple. The computer school advertise and I take the course and use their facility. I take 40% percent of the tuition paid. The first person I approached didn't take my proposal but someone did at the end of the day. The start was slow but it was worthwhile and I regreted that I had to leave everything and go for NYSC.

make una tell wetin him go do with N4,000 not bitten around the bush.

@ kenflavour, i agree with you.
he could also sell bread or eggs as someone suggested earlier.
if he is a student and he's staying on campus then he has no problem, anything eatable always sells well.just stick on your door "bread,egg and cold water available here" and before you know it, you're making your money.
i used to sell little things like that also when i was in school just to keep up. i sold cold water(it was 1 naira then,pure water was not so popular),bread and i also sold nitel cards(100units).

i don't leave in Nigeria but with the value of money in Naija now, I don't know what 4000.00 naira can do, or do you mean 400,000 naira?

I do not live in the naija but what I know is 4000 naira is not enough to do anything or do you mean 400,000 naira? except you start i at a very very very very small scale. I will advice buy and sell anything people need every minute and hour like water or buy used video game for little kids.

yo lets all contribute to get this persons capital to like 20k or so provided he has determination and he's going to stick to it!!!!

20k isnt alot people come on!!!

atleast then he will have more options.he has da got askin peopl..unlike my because askin me 4 100k in just in my 2nd yr!! ...my other because took 22k for some fone bizness he never mentioned again!!! [color=#550000][/color]

what exactly are you saying loverbwoy?

just start buying shares in Nigeria banks...........dts alll

Is 4k up to 50 dollars?

spikedcylinder:

Is 4k up to 50 dollars?

I think the calculator can solve that for you