A friend of mine in Abuja Nigeria who is into App development businesses once told me toward the end of last year that he was repositioning and realigning himself to take full advantage of the “CHANGE” in the Nigerian economy and political system.

I thought he was joking, but last week, (first week of January 2017), this guy was getting ready to employ 6 staff and rent a bigger office space for his Application development business

This made us to start asking the question: Why are some people making billions while most people are busy lamenting how bad the economy is, the recession, the change.

The result

The answers we got from many interviews shows that a good businessman or entrepreneur must always understand the business climate, and be able to make predictions in order to remain relevant. Business climate can change rapidly bringing good and bad result to different entrepreneurs depending on their ability to adjust to the changing climate and take full advantage of it, and as a result you need to constantly change your business strategies and plan to adapt effectively to the changing clime.

Several macro-economic changes in the world at large and in Nigeria in particular, will definitely have a huge impact on the economic landscape. We have done a survey to identify the changes we should expect in 2017 and especially the businesses that are expected to boom this year and make you rich.

First, let us look at the major economic, political and social changes that started in 2016, so we can easily extrapolate and identify the consequences of these changes moving forward.

Fall in oil price:

In January 2016, Oil crashed to its lowest price in 14 years. It sold for $29.01 per barrel. The only time it was lower in the past two decades was in November 1998, when it fell to a 50-year low of $16.74 per barrel. The effect of the crash of oil price last year was immediate and crushing on the Nigerian economy and quickly drove the nation into a recession, since over 90% of our GDP is based on oil export. Thankfully, Oil price is recovering gradually and now stands at above $50 per barrel with a tendency to move up to $60 per barrel if OPEC and other oil producing countries move forward on their emergency policies.

But will oil ever be what it used to be in the past, capital NO is the answer, as more and more countries discover oil in large quantity, and technology moves to discover oil alternatives, we see no future in Oil.

Fall in Naira value to dollar

Crash in oil price has led to a free fall of the naira, swiftly driving the Nation into a recession. Presently, Naira is almost hitting N500 to one dollar. We surely don’t see naira bouncing back any time soon because the demand for dollar is too high due to the fact that 80% of goods and services consumed in Nigeria are imported.

This has led to group and people , even government promoting consumption of made in Nigerian Good. Like “ buy made in Naija to grow the Naira”

Global political disruptions:

A lot of unforeseen disruptions happened in the political space both globally and locally. In Nigeria, APC managed to dislodge a sitting government. In the United States, Brash Donald trump against all odds won over the combined political machinery of the Clinton clan, Obama clan and even Republican elites. The reverberations from this victory are still felt in far-away China and all over the world. Brexit also caught the entire Europe and the world unawares.

Increase in the number of organization ready to give seed capital to African startup;

Recently, we have seen increase in the number of organization both local and foreign supporting African startup with seed capital, some of them are Seedstars Africa, African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Program just to mention a few. In fact companies like facebook, Samsung and so many of them have seen that Africa is the new destination when it comes to technology and entrepreneurship. This trend will only increase as more African youths catch the fever of having their own startup

Now let’s look at Businesses That Will Boom in 2017 and can make you rich



Agro-businesses:

The rise of oil in Nigeria, shifted the nation’s attention from agriculture, which is a strong pillar of any economy, and a mass employer of labour. The recession exposed this weaknesses, and at the same time made agriculture more attractive. In 2017 agric-related businesses is going to boom. Scarcity of dollar, will force many people to patronize our local produce. Besides, poultry eggs imported from South Africa, are not better than poultry eggs produced in Nigeria. Some species of local rice are now competing in quality with foreign rice especially after processing. The introduction of the deadly plastic rice should encourage more people to try premium local rice. However, local rice farmers should add value to their rice, by cleaning it and processing it further, to improve the quality. Agricultural research centers in Nigeria should also improve the breed of rice seedlings so we can produce similar quality of rice like Thailand.

Anyone who desires to go into farming, should identify products that are previously imported and delve into such sectors on a big scale. Rice, Tomato, Poultry, Fish etc.

Another lucrative area in agric-business for 2017, is food processing. Despite recession, Nigerians have taste. Top supermarkets like shoprite are now looking to source most of their groceries locally.

However, they will never display it, the way it is seen in local open markets. Smart entrepreneurs should seize this opportunity to package local foods properly and seek for partnership with both international and local supermarket chains.

The third aspect of agric-business that will do very well in 2017 is exportation. Some farmers have been exporting their produce for our brothers and sisters in diaspora and for the international market. However with the increase in dollar price, any export based business will be swimming in cash this year.

Furniture:

We love Italian furniture, but the price tag today, is driving even the big cats to the local market. Smart entrepreneurs, will have a windfall this year, if they invest in local furniture. Packaging is everything. Some of our highly talented carpenters, can effectively duplicate Italian furniture. Smart entrepreneurs will package it and sell in high urban areas for greater margin. Remember, the current chairman Mrs Ibukun Awosika, made her wealth on furniture, through her company SOKOA Chair centre Ltd.

Small-scale Manufacturing:

The recession hit hard on big manufactures that needed imported raw materials to produce their goods. This led to the closure of several big manufacturing firms in 2016 due to scarcity of dollar to import their essential raw materials. In 2017, this area presents a great opportunity for smart entrepreneurs. This is because the scarcity of dollars also made every imported product very expensive. Local manufactures who do not need require foreign raw materials are swimming in cash and 2017 will be a bigger year for them. Eva wine originally made in spain, is now produced in Aba. The good thing is that previously, many people will not buy drinks made in Aba, but today Aba manufacturers are proudly displaying their names on wine bottles! There are so many small things you can manufacture in this sector that will boom this year. Look around you and apply critical thinking.

Fashion Designing:

2017 will see the rise of many local fashion designers. A friend of mine, who usually buys all his shirt from USA, completely abandoned the habit in 2016, because the current cost of such foreign shirts, really makes little sense, when you discover that local fashion designers can make something similar, at a fraction of the cost.

ICT related services and app development Businesses

As naira continues its free fall to dollar, many African companies that depend on foreign technology and ICT related services are now looking inward. Our app developers now have so much work to do. The influx of seed capital from so many venture capitalist and investors will make it possible for startups in technology and agriculture to hit the ground running while smiling to the banks

It is now so glaring that 2017 is the best year for anyone to launch into entrepreneurship. The market is now ready to accept local services and products, more out of necessity than patriotism. Before the year is over, the market will be convinced that Nigerian are not lazy nor dumb, and can produce similar or even better quality of goods and services to china.

SEE MORE AT http://techpreneursafrica.com/businesses-will-boom-2017-make-rich/

Thanks for this

Currency exchangers will hit it big too.
The gap between the interbank and parallel market is so tempting

Spot on!

Thank you OP

OP WAT OF MMM BIZNESS