₦airaland Forum

thanks my guy,i really like your post,its 4 people like me.i stay in abuja,i smell oppurtunities but i dnt catch 'em.tell me,what do u think i cn get a hold on,i seem to like all the things u like too,basically having fun,wats in it 4 me?

Dude, you really haven't given me any clue regarding the opportunities u're seeing? but Abuja is a fertile place for ideas i tell you. its so fertile that people make money there then travel all the way to lagos to come and spend it cos there are no ideas/businesses attractive enough to get these funds out of their hands, !
On a more serious note, what do u like? can u get an idea of how many people are out there like you looking for ways to engage in that activity? where are they located? will they be willing to come looking for you if u provide it cheaper or will they prefer u bring it to them with a slightly higher margin? is it a seasonal activity or a frequent thing?

Just reading through your post today,what a lovely post!,I will however be glad if you could advice on my business ideas:I have a passion for buying and selling cars and houses,though over the years i've concentrated on cars due to funds,i derive considerable energy in buying cars and people have commend my abilities in identifying good cars,the same thing applies to identifying good houses,i've had to recommend houses for friends,and the response have been overwhelming,all this i do part time,I've tried to raise funds for this businesses but all my efforts have not yielded good result,I know it's one step at a time but the beauty of the business is in volumes,do you have any ideas on how i can raise funds for this business?or any ideas that you may want to chip in for improvement in the biz

Hah, ! buying and selling my favourite passion too there Darren, ! Well i got a few ideas,
1) Try getting a sponsor, someone who's willing to tie some money down for a while in return of a % return on it in a specified period. The return must be money you're sure you can generate but also attractive to him and make the period as comfortable for you as possible cos with funds its better to have it before that date and give it later than you dont have it and start making plans to borrow again.
2) Microfinance Banks. wouldn't know how they work where u are but the idea is to support the growth of small businesses like yours. They have less stringent conditions for loans and generally give to you once there is a sellable idea that you've started.
3) Angel investors or friends. Well i usually say your network is your networth. Cos if i've got a 100 friends and on a day i need to raise money, i shd be able to get 100k at least. So see what your network can generate without much pressure on ur ties.
4) Spontaneous financing i've always liked the sound of that what i mean is try to see how much you can do without ur own money directly. Can u get someone to supply you cars on a buy and pay when you sell basis? or who can take just a little down payment? same for the houses? see how much you can do without direct funding and grow this segment of ur business as much as u can thru transparency and integrity. [tt]bankers like to see how others trust you with things before they borrow you[tt]
5) Get a personal loan from a bank and plow the money into your business. I've never been a fan of borrowing to consume, i strongly advocate a no-debt policy but if you must borrow, borrow to invest in stocks or business. So get a personal loan from any bank that'll give you and use it.

So you want to do a business? but you have no idea what to do? You've just received a lump sum from the office and you feel u have enough shares. What do you do? Let's take this from the scratch.
1) Ask yourself what are the things i like to do? the obvious ones for me are watch movies, play games ('Agbaya" u might say), read novels, travel, write, cook, etc. The idea is try and list the things you can do and enjoy doing cos the enjoyment is a major incentive to starting and staying in business.
2) That settled, ask yourself, what are my greatest strengths? r u a people person? visionary, nitty-gritty, do-all-the-dirty-work kinda person? introvert who avoids meeting people. The idea is to really know what ur type of person can do.
3) where do u want to do the business? near ur office so u can monitor it or near your house? anywhere it can work and hire good people to run it or in a particular location? some other state apart from ur current base?
4) What are the opportunities in that area? Take Marina CMS for instance, i've been working there for a while, i see a lot of young ladies who work there quickly leave the office, go buy stuff from the market during lunch against dinner at night, a delivery system could be developed as an idea. You get some young girls that have a nice looking outfit, who take orders from these ladies, go to the market and buy these things. another idea i've always fancied here is the meat mart, a coldroom you could just pass by and get meat of all kinds, goat, cow, chicken, turkey, fish, whatever already packed in kilos like in Palms and you just buy it on ur way home with delivery system right here in Marina, ! so no need to worry about dinner, ! Anyway i'm a guy what do i know? To get an idea, u have to stroll around the area, identify what businesses there are, you'll notice which ones are not available. Even if u dont at first, u will eventually if u keep searching.
5) Supply creating demand: there are some goods that when they are available people start buying them whether they needed them or not. You can identify such and supply. like suits from dubai, shoes from dubai, phones from china, laptops from korea (cheaper), some times trinkets. These are what we call luxury goods at times. Sometimes it may just be small pack of semovita flour that u got at a bargain somewhere or motivational literature (Does anyone know where i can get "Rules of Life", "Rules of Work", "Rules of Wealth" and "Rules of Management" all by Richard Templar).

have a great day today.

A good business idea requires sharpening from listening to people's views about it. Think of any idea and ask people, and you 'll be surprised the amount of feedback u'll get. often the key to getting your winning idea is to even ask people what they think is missing in their area or that they think u could do. And they'll even tell you how they think you could go about it. Take for instance, while in my final year in school, the internet had just come out and i thot of going round teaching how to use it in secondary schools for a small fee. i spoke to a friend who said i could even borrow a laptop, then download some pages. another friend mentioned a projector, another said i could even form a club that will then regularly meet and teach people how to use it. soon i had the idea all beaten into shape. i wrote to six schools. only one replied and in that one alone i made a lot of money.
No matter how ridiculous ur idea is, talk to someone, they'll give you a perspective you're probably not thinking of which could make or mar the business. If a negative view, you'll be able to recognise problems you might have so that you think of the solution as well and if a positive view then it improves the idea more. So start thinking of ideas and start talking to people about it.

Take advantage of opportunities that your area provides for you. Take for instance, a friend of mine who stays in somolu (Nigeria's printing village) decided to try his hands on printing. With no capital or business office, he went to a few schools and sold them the idea of developing their prospectus which could be funded by students fees when they are admitted. Two schools out of ten agreed and asked for a sample of his work and the idea. He got a sample from a private school and collected work samples from some printers around. Because he did his research well, he was able to give them prices and factor in his margin. He got the jobs and was asked to print some thousand copies of each. with a margin of N5 on each copy, you can imagine printing 30 to 50 thousand copies.

You only need to look around you atimes. The answer to your quest for an idea is always there around you. You might say there's no light in my area, a video club wont work, what about setting up a mini cinema with approval from the rite bodies, what about a viewing centre? what about just opening the video club, and adding a snack with drink bar and play films so that people stay to watch and buy snacks? The major key is to start looking around you and identifying what is available and what is not, !

I also think your idea is very interesting. Just yesterday a friend who works with an investment company was asking for a library where he could get books on mergers and acquisition. And there are a whole bunch of other colleagues who would like such an idea. My advice to you is to try and get like 5 to 10 companies, preferably investment, consulting and training companies and tell them you have a library they can subscribe their staff too so they can grow. Charge the companies a nice small fee and you'll have unlocked a door of opportunity to yourself

I've come across a number of people who seems to have money but no ideas of what to do with it. The question is often how do u get a good business idea? how do you know u wont throw away the money? how do u run the business? hire people u can trust? These are every entrepreneur's fears but the issue is not to allow the fear deter you from starting a business.

To develop a good business idea, you should do a couple of things:
1) Highlight your strengths, weakness, Likes and dislikes, Hobbies and interests. This will give you a picture of what you can do. Are you someone that can delay gratification and receive returns weekly, monthly or even yearly or u want something that gives returns daily?
2) survey your area or target location for the business, what is lacking? That may not be easy to answer but start by identifying the businesses in the area, salon, photo studio, club, fast food, supermarket, tailor, restaurant then you'll discover 'hey, there's no cold room, bread bakery, video club, chair rental, ice block rental, photocopy centre' etc.
3) what's the demography of the area? is the area populated by more of elderly people or young people, more of working class or schooling age or retired pensioners? this will determine what can sell?
4) Think affliation, are their halls that are used for occasions, you can develop businesses that provide services for such, generator rentals, chairs rentals, canopies. Supermarkets require suppliers, you can identify what they dont have and supply for them to display, if it moves you start supplying.

I'm sure there are more things one can do, anyone got more juice on this matter, please contribute, and let's solve each other's business interest issues, !

Relocating to another planet will have to wait.

I hear that the Police force has decided to harmonise its operations for more efficiency hence from now,
Private Cars - N50
Public buses - N100
Okada - N30
Pedestrians - N20
so hold enough money on your way home today as it takes effect from today, !

Last weekend.

when was the last time u went to see a movie at City Mall in Lagos?

A friend of mine wants to buy his first car. He's strongly inclined towards getting a Montero Sport Jeep but i told him he should pick a toyota camry first since he intends to drive a lot and fuel consumption is pretty cool with any toyota. What do you think? got any other good first car in mind?

Lamisanya, you have said it all. its not tomoro alone that counts but winning the title. Meanwhile is Dstv showing it tomoro or i have to go look for hitv again?

is DSTV going to show the Arsenal vs Man Utd clash tomoro?

check this out, its a tough one. And to be very sincere, Man U has a strong team with two wonderful wingers in Nani and Ronaldo, good strikers in Rooney and Tevez who have recently learnt how to work together and an average midfield that will be lacking its key man in scholes, but with O'shea and Carrick and Giggs, it might be just average. Defence has Ferdinand and that's all, but u shd understand they are facing the most complete team in the premiership. For ronaldo and nani, Arsenal has Clichy, Sagna and Eboue to hold them, for Rooney and Tevez (if they mistakenly cross the midfield), Toure and Gallas will be on them, but the delight will be in the midfield where the Fab and Flam twins will show them why Arsenal has the best midfield in the premiership. Fabregas and Flamini will simply make a mess of their midfield not to forget the dribbling skills of Hleb and Diaby. And just when Man U can't take it anymore, we'll give them Walcott to show them why WE ARE UNSTOPPABLE, ! Believe it or Deny it, THIS IS OUR YEAR, WE RULE, !

GUNNER FOR LIFE, I SIGN OUT, !

if i want to bring a Toyota Rav 4 in from the UK, how much would it cost me? is it better i buy from Cotonou or here in Lagos? a 2002 model.