This may read impossible but i want to tell you that you do not neccessarily need huge capital to start your business, the most important thing is the idea behind your business.Your idea is the product you intend to sell. MONEY DONT MULTIPLY , IDEAS MAKE MONEY. many businesses have failed today because the entreprenuers had too much funds than required in the running of thier businesses.
What you need to start a business is IDEAS and little capital. My overall position is that ideas are more important than capital because $1b without an innovative idea will shrink in no time because bad decisions will be made and losses will set in. SOLUDO had an idea of how much he wanted naija banks to have as capital base, he did not tell the banks where those billions would come from, and no one thought the consolidation thing will ever become a reality. I am sure his predecesors would have thought such an amount can never be met by banks.

GOOD TALK,
YOU A DEAD RIGHT I HAD AN EXPERIENCE WITH A WRONG PARTNER SOME TIMES AGO EVEN THOUGH I HAD A GOOD IDEA OF THE TELECOMS SERVICE ENVIRONMENT BUT AT TIMES BAD PARTNERS CAN ALSO KILL YOUR DREAM, WE CRUMBLED OUT OF THE ALMOST 3MILLION NAIRA BUSINESS BUT LATER SUCEEDED WITH A MERE TEN THOUSAND NAIRA CAPITAL WHICH TURNED IN TO MILLIONS WITHIN MONTHS
GOOD IDEA, GOOD TEAM AS WELL

It is really true that you do not really need money to start a successful business. A sound idea is what is needed.But without money, how do you back up your idea. I really think you need money and an idea to start a successful business.

first of all i would like to say one thing. ideas do count when opening a business. it definitely comes before capital. however, there is one thing which we all overlook; and that is skill. a good idea will cost bigtime if u don't have the necessary skill to handle it. i will give u an example: there's this uy who wanted to go into magazine publishing. now this idea of publishing a magazine was a good idea that required very little capital. all he needed to start it was just 2 computers. then he encountered a problem, he did not have the skill to work the computers that wuold give him the result he was looking for in his magazine business. hence he had to hire professionals, which by the way, don't come cheap. so in the long run he did make a lot from the magazine business, but he had to account for bills by paying the expensive computer experts.

U NEED A SKILL TO PURSUE AN IDEA TO RUN A SUCCESSFULL BUSINESS.

RELEVANT SKILL + FOOL-PROFF IDEA = SUCESSFUL BUSINESS.

luckynzo:

It is really true that you do not really need money to start a successful business. A sound idea is what is needed.But without money, how do you back up your idea. I really think you need money and an idea to start a successful business.

Although it is widely recorgnised that a key element of successful start up is adequate financing (Bates, 1997). However, success in a business is a function of many factors in which finance is one. Availability of capital does not guarantee success in a business. Lack of finance is bad but excess of finance is even worse, additionally, lack of innovative idea will lead to bad decision making.
        In most developed countries, new business finances take the form of bank loans while the next largest source of fund is from family members. It is hearth warming today that many young nigerians dream of starting and managing thier own businesses. some actually did and the rest keep on dreaming, the general excuse is lack of capital. Some people are not aware of sources of finance and thier requirement.
However you can go ahead and commit your little funds to the busisness of your dream and see how fast you will learn the give and take in running a business,  so that when big money comes you will not misuse it because some businesses have failed on the grounds of excess capital.

stevematix:

first of all i would like to say one thing. ideas do count when opening a business. it definitely comes before capital. however, there is one thing which we all overlook; and that is skill. a good idea will cost bigtime if u don't have the necessary skill to handle it. i will give u an example: there's this uy who wanted to go into magazine publishing. now this idea of publishing a magazine was a good idea that required very little capital. all he needed to start it was just 2 computers. then he encountered a problem, he did not have the skill to work the computers that wuold give him the result he was looking for in his magazine business. hence he had to hire professionals, which by the way, don't come cheap. so in the long run he did make a lot from the magazine business, but he had to account for bills by paying the expensive computer experts.

U NEED A SKILL TO PURSUE AN IDEA TO RUN A SUCCESSFULL BUSINESS.

RELEVANT SKILL + FOOL-PROFF IDEA = SUCESSFUL BUSINESS.

i quite agree with you guy that skills are requisite to a successful business in any set up, my view on it is that skills should be a sub set of an idea. A whollistic idea should already incorporate skill and technical know required in the running of the business, and remember that skills is not aquired in a day bit as the business grow a new challenge will prompt the neccessity of whatever skills that is required.

From the original post:

What you need to start a business is IDEAS and little capital.

"Little capital" is money, so the premise of this thread is wrong. One man's "little capital" is another man's fortune.

Seun, God bless you.

You Do Not Need Money To Start A Successful Business

The above premise is just another cliche. People who should be quoting this are those in an environment where the system works and the infrastructure in place to aid new businesses.You can have all the ideas in the world but, without capital, they will be useless. Success in business is very relative and depends largely on how big your ideas are and the capital invested. The bigger the ideas, the more capital you need. My point is, you are as successful as big as your ideas are and you damn well need capital, huge capital to get those ideas underway.

Seun:

From the original post:"Little capital" is money, so the premise of this thread is wrong. One man's "little capital" is another man's fortune.

This is logical and my argument is consistent on the issue, who does not know that what Adenuga spends on his daily breakfast is enough for another person to start his business,But untill we all realise that millions will not fall from heaven before we start a business.Most of these multi nationals started in a room with an idea and liitle capital, now they have companies all over the world.I think the reason why we have financial institutions is to help finance businesses, when there is need for expansion then you can take facilities at a reasonable cost.
        Additionally, I don't think this can only work in abroad because a lot of successful businesses in naija started on the premise of an idea, huge capital may be appropriate for a[b] an existing [/b] business.The reason is this, wrong decisions may be made by a new set up and those huge capital will be commited and losses may set in as a result of those bad decisons.
        Bill gates did not have those billions when he started but his ideas became money today, so brother the premise is not wrong but it is a fundamental and logical thread. we have instances here in naija too, i am sure if you look around you, you will see people around you that have made money out of nothing but ideas

Ynot:

The above premise is just another cliche. People who should be quoting this are those in an environment where the system works and the infrastructure in place to aid new businesses.You can have all the ideas in the world but, without capital, they will be useless. Success in business is very relative and depends largely on how big your ideas are and the capital invested. The bigger the ideas, the more capital you need. My point is, you are as successful as big as your ideas are and you damn well need capital, huge capital to get those ideas underway.

huge capital will be required on demand as your ideas are already working. A former phone call operator now has a GSM shop, if he had waited for money he would not have thought of setting up a GSM shop.I am sure he must have also obtained loan from family and friends to expand his business. What can of business are you dreaming of ?  worth =N=200,000,000 ?  bros i don't know how rich you are, but

You guys saying capital should not be a pre-requisite to sarting a successful business is dead wrong and should stop fooling yourselves.

First of all what business are we talking about here? If ur talking about frying akara balls then maybe you dont even need capital at all BUT if you talking what i think ur talking, then get a life.

Lets face the naked truth, a hungry man cannot even think straight, eeemmmh, brillian ideas + good skills EQUALS BULSHIT. Ideas my big foot,what arrant nonsense. If you dont know have capital or know how to raise one withing a moments notice, then dont go around fooling yourself that Your business will be successful.

I would advise such posts shouldnt be given frontpage as they are misleading in as much as they are fallacious, illogical and totally untenable.

I rest ma case.

naija4life:

You guys saying capital should not be a pre-requisite to sarting a successful business is dead wrong and should stop fooling yourselves.

First of all what business are we talking about here? If your talking about frying akara balls then maybe you don't even need capital at all BUT if you talking what i think your talking, then get a life.

Lets face the naked truth, a hungry man cannot even think straight, eeemmmh, brillian ideas + good skills EQUALS BULSHIT. Ideas my big foot,what arrant nonsense. If you don't know have capital or know how to raise one withing a moments notice, then don't go around fooling yourself that Your business will be successful.

I would advise such posts shouldnt be given frontpage as they are misleading in as much as they are fallacious, illogical and totally untenable.

I rest ma case.

your case should not rest.
I don't think you have read the thread properly, you also need to change your mentality about the fact that only people with some sort of huge capital can make it in business, you may just be ideologically in isolation.
CORRECTION, brillian ideas+good skills EQUALS RESOURSES, if you have these two and you can play around them,  then sky is not your limit
@post is misleading
I wanted it to be a cathing one for people like you with strong believe that unless you have millions,  you cannot start a business.
@olapeter
I thought of changing the topic but i felt anyone that reads my first posting should get my point, this topic is meant to change people's opinion that only huge capital can start a successful business

i have gone through all what you guys wrote in here and i beleive i have really learnt something.
there is a big difference between idea, skill, talent experience and capital.they alll have equal weight but the most important of all respectively is the idea-skill-capital for small scale bussiness.

on the other hand if you are talking about big time bussiness my dear i think money plays a very big role here and who you know in the market for you to have a succesfull bussiness.

from experience i happen to work with a managing director who has the money, the connection but lack managerial aspect of the work.

the company almost crumble but with the itervention of the who is who in the society he was able to scale through and right now he his back in the mess.

i have an idea and the skill for something in my field of study but all along i have been in the school of taught who believes capital its a must before starting a bussiness.

i have started out now with astep to climb the ladder by getting my company registered and starting out with the little capital i have.

i beleive with ideas and skill you can start something meanifull with your life without necesary having millions in your account

i rest my case

Gettolove:

your case should not rest.
I don't think you have read the thread properly, you also need to change your mentality about the fact that only people with some sort of huge capital can make it in business, you may just be ideologically in isolation.
CORRECTION, brillian ideas+good skills EQUALS RESOURSES, if you have these two and you can play around them, then sky is not your limit
@post is misleading
I wanted it to be a cathing one for people like you with strong believe that unless you have millions, you cannot start a business.
@olapeter
I thought of changing the topic but i felt anyone that reads my first posting should get my point, this topic is meant to change people's opinion that only huge capital can start a successful business

This is so ludicrous, lets all face it please people, how many graduates does NIgerian churn out every year into an already bloated system?

Are you trying to tell me all these people dont have ideas, of course they do ideas even better than the one YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen had when they started YouTube. BUT in the end, 90% of them dont see the end of their dreams or ideas cos they dont have anything to rely on as a backup.

And i never said HUGE capital, i just said depending on the type of business ur takling about, If you mean real business then better get some buck$$$

of course they have idea that are not tapped and utilised because many of us are trained to be job seekers, my brother, many graduates are out there looking for jobs that are not available while opportunities are everywhere but they cannot see. I aknowlegde the fact that the economy is not helping but some people have a sum of =N=1,000,000 but still think it is not enough to start a business, i wonder which bank will borrow you money to starct a new business even if the interest rate is 1%
@ real business
you can only refer to a business as 'real' as you have put it only after you must have started. there is no real business when you are still dreaming
wake up, got to start from somewhere

This is a really interesting one. To stsrt off I want to affirm that the visionary idea and the best processes can and should be a pre-requisite. However, money cannot be disregarded since a proper management of capital and human resources will justify success. Disregarding capital is like ordering a General to war without soldiers. So, my opinion is that the RIGHT structure or PROCESS should be set up parallel to the IDEA and let resources facilitate every other thing.

It sure does amazes me. Ok, ideas are great, developmental thinking brings up great innovations but can we just stop deceiving ourselves. In Nigeria for example, God has to be on your side for your ideas to become a reality because if you don't have the fund to carry it along, then gathering the fund could itself take out your motivation. I've heard people talk about managerial skills; well not everyone can manage a business properly but if you have the idea and have the funds, you can get someone who you know is capable to do the managerial aspect of it for you. Look at all these bigtime professional club owners, they hire managers to run their club which they know they can't run themselves. The managers/coaches have some qualifications that they do not possess but they have the fund to carry on their idea. I have no problem with people motivating with stuff like ideas are great but it's becoming so common and meaningless!

I can speak from experience here.

When I started a business in Nigeria, I didn't have capital. I had an LPO but no money. What did I do? I went to an investment house and they put up the money in exchange for 50% of the profit. And that started my business career.

There are so many opps in Nigeria because there is a lot of inefficieny there. For example, marketing of small businesses is practically nonexistent. If someone had a good idea there, they could clean up.
I don't see any reason why Nigerians can't teach themselves HTML, CSS and start designing blogs or websites for people.
You can go to rentacoder.com and regsiter as a website desgner and bid for jobs. Where there is a will there is a way.

The guy behind ABC Transport is a former youth corper that started the business with his NYSC allowance. Now it is a very successful business and he has branched out from transport to offer other services. He has sold a portion of the business to foreign investors and recieved good money in $$ for that

As Adidas say "Impossible is nothing"

BTW ideas are a dime a dozen, execution is everything.

I strongly agree that you do not need money to start a successful Biz. You can only call a bussiness successful after you have started it and not wj\hile planning it. I am yet to meet someone planning an unsuccessful business. I believe if you have a good vision and have a good way/plan of excution, your problem is minimal if there is any at all.
Let me use myself as an example. i ama trained Geologist with a BSc. I had a vision to be on my own within the shortest possible period. To achieve this, during my NYSC I saved all my money, the little allawee and with it started a small poultry. By the time I finished my NYSC the poultry was providing my income to run around as I am 'too proud' to ask parents or uncles and aunties for money after graduating.
To the next level of my plans, I started looking around for people who need borehole. Mind you, I don't know a thing about borehole drilling (at least then) other than what I learnt in a three month IT with a borehole company. When I get people, I will go and meet a borehole company and tell them I have a job with them. I collect the contract from the client, take my cut and give the change to the company to go and drill. I was doing the same for some products too, linking buyers and sellers.
That was how I raised my money and now my biz is growing. Good thing I have a job with a good company now and that will reduce the time I set for myself to be totally independent.
Brothers and sisters, you don't need money to start a biz. All the best.

Here is further proof that money is needed to start a business:

To achieve this, during my NYSC I saved all my money

That was how I raised my money and now my biz is grow

If you did not save that "little" allowee that others don't have, you won't have been able to start your businss.

[color=#770077][/color]seun thanx for that . even our basic economics back in da days told us that capital is one of the factors of production [ in this case a business]. yeah a good idea is the driving force of of every good biz, but my broda capital is the fuel on which the biz runs on. cos i can tell you i have a small candle manufacturing industry, which took some time to get of its feet for lack of capital , with its availibility, production took off smoothly .

Forgiven, with a BSc, and you still talk like you just graduated from nursery? You need a refund

You better off doing poultry than working for a company .

Radiant

Radiant:

Forgiven, with a BSc, and you still talk like you just graduated from nursery? You need a refund

You better off doing poultry than working for a company .

That's a bit of a nasty comment, don't you think? He was contributing his bit and now you say he should have remained a poultry farmer! Why? Do you know him? Why do Nigerians talk this way sometimes? That's the problem. They can never admire anyone or contribute meaningfully towards a common cause.

No wonder Nigeria is the way it is. No imagination

Radiant:

Forgiven, with a BSc, and you still talk like you just graduated from nursery? You need a refund

You better off doing poultry than working for a company .

really radiant that remark is quite rude, this is an interactive forum and people are expected to share thier opinions and convictions no matter how absurd they might sound, but in forgivens case, theres no problem with what he said . he started his poultry with his allowee, thats cool [ cos i spent mine ] any way this is naija anything can happen this is a land of the unexpecxted, people build businesses with almost nothing while some never never suceed , as sum 1 said earlier, one man's chicken feed might be another man's fortune. but a fact remains constant , capital is indispensible

I just knew my comment will cause wahala

Apologize?

ghettolove,
impressive notion. but only a few nigerians would agree with u.

I followed the iscusion andI want to say that both sides have a good arguement.
But I believe that capital is essential in any business. In these climes it takes on larger than life role because of the fact that the infrastructures are not in place. Most of the businesses that get along require some ingenuity on the part of the proprietors to raise the initial seed capital.
I kw of a business where the propritors had to organise seminars to raise the initial capital that they required- so yes they used thier ideas to get the capital.
A lot of books will tell you to start a business with no money down. What they actually refer to is that none of your own money is involved but in this country that is the not the case. No matter how good your iea is no oe is ready to finance you if you dont provide some of the funds.

Radiant:

I just knew my comment will cause wahala

this is not fuuny, just recall the statement and say you are sorry.

Everyone has his or her own orientation about doing a business, but my argument will only be appreciated by someone who
can actually see beyond his/her nose.This is because if you follow the thread religiously, then you will realise that those in favour of the topic never dismmised money in its entirity, we are only trying to say that it should not be an excuse for not starting your business, but that the driving force should be what you intend to sell (your idea).
             many examples have been given of people that started with a token but a golden idea and eventaully, what is behind the sucess isn't money. There are a lot of opportunities everywhere in nigeria here but when people already think they need millions before they can start something then we will all be expecting federal allocation before eating.
             what many people do not no is that, you don't neccesarily need to to commit your personal funds in to your business. In the course of the business,you can borrow from falmilies and friends to support the business if you cannot approach the bank because of the cost.
             Pesently i am into partnership with a friend and we have used other people's money to do business which is very lucrative, these people would not have given us their money if we had no idea of starting something at all.There are a lot of possiblities untapped.
@ onyek + forgiven
You have really shown that the world is full of abundant opportunities especially in nigeria where many of us are theorists,many are still wishing they have millions to start a business while they keep spending thousands on clothes and drinks.