₦airaland Forum

NSK4U:
start up capital is the main problem in this country,
I have faith anyway
thanks @op

It's a problem that has a solution. See the solution here : http://myafribusiness.com/how-to-raise-start-up-capital-for-your-business/

theysg:
What if I'm studying the wrong course,
I have poor grades and I have a good startup idea?

I don't think there is anything like a wrong course. If you don't like the course your are doing and you have not passed year 2, you might try to get into another course.

Better still, you can just graduate in your current course and do your post graduate degree in your choice course.

But anyway, don't abandon your school because of business.

theysg:
Can i drop out of University to fully focus on Business?

No you don't need to drop out of school.

When I was in the University years back, I did several businesses part- time and still graduated in flying colours.

Nigeria needs more businesses so as to create more jobs and reduce crimes.

Here are some business ideas for intending business owners:

http://myafribusiness.com/over-200-unique-business-ideas-for-everyone/

Ebukamath:
what business can i start with 10k. I want to harmmer before 5years. I am serious

There are many legal businesses you can start with little cash, part time or full time. See them here :

http://myafribusiness.com/category/every-business-begins-with-an-idea/

One reason online businesses are good is because you can do many of them part time while keeping your day job. Thanks OP. We are following.

If you need more business ideas you can do part time or full time, see them here:

http://myafribusiness.com/category/every-business-begins-with-an-idea/

As a single lady, don't forget to seek financial knowledge and build a career, don't depend on any man for money.
Above all, don't get entangled with in bad habits that keep people poor.

See 20 of the habits here:
http://myafribusiness.com/20-money-habits-that-keep-you-poor-and-how-to-avoid-them/

Before 30 learn about business, finance and wealth creation.
There are 20 bad money habits that can prevent you from being wealthy. I regret not knowing several of them before I became 30. See them here:

http://myafribusiness.com/20-money-habits-that-keep-you-poor-and-how-to-avoid-them/

This article is top notch!

Thanks OP.

A business that doesn't have a good online presence won't achieve much in the 21st century. A good business website with good search engine optimisation, SEO helps your business to reach many people without geographical boundaries.

If you need a good business website or need some assistance in optimising your website for search engines. Reach us at : http://myafribusiness.com/contact/

Thanks OP for the ideas.

All the points you raised are great except number 10.

Would you encourage your sister or daughter to do this business?

There are many legally acceptable businesses we can do to better our lives and those of others in addition to the ones you just listed.
See them here:

http://myafribusiness.com/over-200-unique-business-ideas-for-everyone/

Well done OP.

More Nigerians should get involved in starting businesses of their own, be it part-time or full-time, as it helps in poverty alleviation, reduce unemployment in our society, boost the economy and even reduce crimes.

If you need information on how you can RAISE START-UP CAPITAL FOR YOUR BUSINESS, see them here:

http://myafribusiness.com/how-to-raise-start-up-capital-for-your-business/

OP your article is top notch!

I hope Nigerians can start to seize the numerous opportunities inherent in online business as in other parts of the world.

There are many other business ideas we can maximize. See them here:

http://myafribusiness.com/over-200-unique-business-ideas-for-everyone/

Wow! This is really great. Many people have neglected their photography skills, not knowing that they can make more money from it. Thanks OP for this.

There are many more business ideas we can maximize to yield more income. See them here:

http://myafribusiness.com/over-200-unique-business-ideas-for-everyone/

Thanks OP for the tips.

Excessive spending is one out of the 20 bad money habits that keep people poor.

See all the 20 habits here:

http://myafribusiness.com/20-money-habits-that-keep-you-poor-and-how-to-avoid-them/

Thanks OP for the insight.

The greatest challenge of Nigerian Entrepreneurs is lack of CAPITAL for business.

But there is a solution to this, see how you can raise start up capital for your business here :

http://myafribusiness.com/how-to-raise-start-up-capital-for-your-business/

Online businesses are unique and good because you can do them part time while keep your day job.

Thanks OP for the tips.

If you need more ideas about other some other businesses you can do part time or full time and earn more income, see them here:

http://myafribusiness.com/category/every-business-begins-with-an-idea/

OP you are doing really good. We need more persons like you who would start up businesses that would create more jobs for our people.

If you need more business ideas and coaching, see them here:

http://myafribusiness.com/category/every-business-begins-with-an-idea/

The stock market is one of the greatest ways you can build wealth. However, if you are not knowledgeable in it you can also lose your hard earned money.

See great tips on how you can effectively make money from the Nigerian Stock market without getting your fingers burnt:

http://myafribusiness.com/category/learn-the-best-was-to-put-your-money-to-work/stock-market/

Thanks OP for these ideas.

If you need more businesses that you can do part time and earn more income, SEE THEM HERE.

There are many good business ideas you can invest in.

See many of them here : http://myafribusiness.com/category/every-business-begins-with-an-idea/

Also see this post on nairaland: https://www.nairaland.com/4357937/over-200-unique-business-ideas

Poultry business is good and lucrative if properly set up. But it can also be risky if you are not trained on it, because of the mortality rate involved.

I will advice you to get trained before you start. Go to any existing poultry farm and learn, research online and collaborate with success poultry farmers.

Eggs production and sales is one of the best aspect of poultry farming. You can combine it with other forms like broilers sales during festive seasons.

There are other businesses you can do part- time to yield extra cash to you in addition to poultry farming.

See them here: http://myafribusiness.com/category/every-business-begins-with-an-idea/

There are many untapped business opportunities in Africa especially in Nigeria.

We need to start maximizing these opportunities so as to improve our economy and create more jobs for our people.

What other business ideas do you have ?

deso80:
Franktalk1 well done. what other advice can u give one starting up a palm oil mill?

I explained how to make money from palm oil milling business.
Read it here : http://myafribusiness.com/how-to-become-a-millionaire-and-employer-of-labour-through-palm-oil-business/

babino22:
Remove that your number 1, go and ask those successful business owners if they are working according to their business plans. Most of the times the wind of change will just change the plans for you and you get to take immediate decisions out of your business plans. Business plans most times is just to get investors or together loans or sponsors most of the times.

I get your point, but having a business plan does a lot of good to your start-up business. A business plan is more than a loan seeking tool. It is important at all stages of your business. It is the road map for your business journey. A business plan helps you to check the feasibility of your business ideas, helps you to know your mission and business objectives, helps you to surmount the discouragements encountered during business start-up stage, helps you to set and track milestones for your business, helps you to evaluate your business financial needs and help you to seek for funds needed for the business, helps you to properly understand your target market, helps you to understand your competition and how you can add uniqueness to your brand in order to beat them and a lot more.

EFGH:
Following...
OP I will really love to learn how to write a successful business plan.
I am planning on starting a production business soon, but don't know how to go about writing a business plan.
Can you please send me a demo sample of a business plan to my mail ie m2okaba@gmail.com
Tnx.

For your professional business plan support, or any other business support, you can contact us on this email : info@myafribusiness.com
You can also see more information here: www.myafribusiness.com

Doerstech:
While having business plans is good, not all business needs it...( Really? ) and many more don't even know were they left it ...but its an important doc to guide any business.


Secondly you said many things without mentioning an online presence ( websites and functioning SM channels )

Every 21st century business needs a functioning online presence ....


Another thing is knowing the extra needs of your clients creating a product around it and selling to them

Point 9 addressed this. Just read the post thoroughly.

iphenon:
Power Issue

. Let's not allow this hinder us to start and build great businesses. Even with the power issues, the Lebanese , Indians and Chinese have built factories here in our country and are making it. They are using diesel and gas engines to produce. I believe one day this problem of power will be resolved.

What are other reasons you think make businesses in Nigeria to fail? Let's discuss this so that we can avoid them and build great businesses that would create more jobs for our people.

Africa has one of the highest rates of new business start-ups. Every day someone is starting a new business somewhere In Africa because, it is quite easy to start new businesses in Africa. There are fewer regulations for new business start-ups in Africa compared to other parts of the world.  However, many of these businesses die within the first five years in existence while those that survive do not grow above the sole proprietorship level.

I have started several businesses in the past two decades. Some failed and while some succeeded. From my experience and from the experience of others, I bring you 16 reasons why many businesses fail in Africa and how you can avoid them.

 1. Failure to write a business plan before starting the business

The need to write a well-defined and comprehensive business plan before starting any business cannot be over emphasized. You are not supposed to start a business in the first place when you do not have the right capacity to start it or when the raw materials needed for that business are not within reach. When you subject your business ideas to the test of a business plan, you will know whether or not they are worth pursuing. See my previous article on how to write a unique business plan on my website.

2. Poor leadership

Your business will not grow if you don’t empower your subordinates and staff by means of training, motivation, proper communication, delegation of duties, etc. Entrepreneurs should strive to improve their managerial skills more so when the number of their staff increases. Get a good business mentors, read good books on leadership, attend seminars on leadership. According to John Maxwell, everything rises and falls on leadership. The reason for your business failed or is stagnated can be summed as: poor leadership. Every other factor emanates from this. Good leadership is the ability to always make the right decisions that will make your business venture to succeed.



3. Impatience

One common thing among entrepreneurs in Africa is that they are in haste to start taking money from a business that they just started. I know that it is not easy not to start using some profits from a business to carter for our family needs due to the environment we find ourselves. However, bear in mind that it is better to reinvest profits into the business until the business has gained some form of stability. Even when the business has gotten some form of stability, profit taking should be very minimal. Many successful entrepreneurs I know do not start taking profits from their business until after five years.

 4. Lack of determination & Persistence

To successfully start and keep a business running and profitable is not an easy task. It takes determination, courage and persistence, else you will be discouraged. There are many sacrifices you must make as an entrepreneur especially at the early days of the business. You must be determined not to give up until you see the business successful.

However, many entrepreneurs give up too easily because of their initial failure or difficulty.

 5. Lack of focus & foresight

This is one of the greatest hindrance to business success. If you are not focused as an entrepreneur, you will not succeed in business. You must shun distractions. In your mind’s eye you should always see the great future of your business. Many African entrepreneurs start one business today and the next year they see people going into another business that they perceive to be more profitable and then they abandon their earlier business to pursue the new business in town. You cannot succeed this way. You need to stay with a business for at least five years if you are to make anything meaningful from it.

6. Lack of funds

When you don’t have funds needed to keep your business running, the business your business operations will encounter a dead lock. As an entrepreneur you should be on the lookout for new sources of funds for your business. Don’t wait until you completely run out of funds before you start sourcing for funds. See how to raise start-up capital for your business.

 7. Lack of Product improvement/development

If you don’t seek and strive to continuously improve your products and services, you will be out of business soon. You should be ahead of your competitors in product improvement and development. Continually seek for news ways to improve your product quality and delivery.


8. Lack of succession plan

When a business stops to exist, people lose their jobs and the dependents of those that lose their jobs are indirectly affected. This is not good for the economy of the country and should be guarded against.  In Africa, a lot of businesses die or begin to die once the proprietor of the business dies. This is not supposed to be so. There should be a deliberate plan to training competent staff that can take over the efficient management of the business in the event of the demise of the managers of the business.

9. Inadequate marketing

Marketing is the soul of business. Marketing is one of the most important part of your business. Marketing should be consciously done. Marketing should be the responsibility of all staff including the senior management and not only for the marketing department. Market your products using all available avenues within your reach and budget. Seek for more creative ways to reach your customers and clients. Seek to get your customers to like your products more than those of your competitors. Many entrepreneurs don’t give much priority to marketing and that’s why their businesses fail. Keep a database of all your customers and send them periodic reviews of your existing products and new products. Get a website for your business. This helps you to showcase your business to the world without any geographical limitation. You can contact us to help you develop a professional website for your business.



10. Bad customer service

Customer patronage keep you in business and so you should do everything humanly and legally possible to keep your customers happy with your company and your products. Customer service and satisfaction includes seeking for customer feedback on your products and services and attending to your customer complaints. Carry out periodic customer satisfaction surveys and ensure that you close all findings and gaps identified. Do not ignore the needs of your customers. Appreciate your customers when they patronize you. Buyers are always happy and are more likely to come back when owners of grocery stores say ‘’thanks for your patronage’’.

 11. Failure to build a good team

Any organization is as strong as its team. Your team is one of your greatest assets. Your goal as an entrepreneur should be to build a great team that would take your business to greater heights. Every member of your team matters and has an impact on the success or failure of your business.  John Maxwell said that every team is as strong as the weakest member of the team. He said ‘’ Everyone on the team needs to produce at a high level of quality; otherwise, the weakest link will pull everyone down.’’ Therefore, you should consciously develop and motivate your team via training, commendation, incentives, delegation etc.


12. Poor business Location

Many entrepreneurs fail to take this into consideration before establishing their businesses and this is one of the reasons their businesses do not succeed. If you are starting a manufacturing business, your factory should be located close to the source of your raw material. If your business has to do with sales or trading, you should locate your business very close to where people who need your products can easily reach you. A business that is close to the consumers has more chance of success. Avoid locating your business at a place where there is poor security or where there are hostilities. Give deliberate consideration and thought to the security of your business when planning to start your business.

13. Poor Financial Management

Finance is arguably the life blood of your business. Many businesses have failed because the proprietors of such businesses did not draw a clear line between the business assets

and finance and their personal assets and finance. It is a very bad practice to use the company finance for your personal interests even if you are the owner of the business. There should be proper accountability and record keeping for all company assets, finance and transactions. Employ an accountant if you can. At the least make use of the basic financial record books like the ledger, journal and the petty cash book.  You can even make use of accounting software and applications to make your record keeping more easy and accurate.

14. Premature Expansion

Many entrepreneurs are in haste to expand without maximizing the potentials of their current business and markets. As an entrepreneur your aim should be to build, develop and maximize existing systems and products first before venturing into new frontiers.

15. Little or no business profitability

Your goal and efforts should be geared towards making your business to be profitable directly or indirectly.  Your business cannot survive for long if you are not making profits.

If you are not making profits, you would not be able to keep your staff and you would not be able to grow or expand.

16. Reluctance to partner

A lot of businesses in Africa do not grow beyond the sole proprietorship level because the proprietors are too reluctant to partner with other more experienced or more capable people. They don’t want to give up a part of the ownership of their business in exchange for the growth of their business. I always tell entrepreneurs that 50% or even 40% ownership of a big business is far better than 100% ownership of a small business. Imagine having 20% stack of a business worth millions of dollars. Is it not better than having 100% stack of a business worth thousands of dollars?  When you give up a part of the ownership of your business in partnership, you stand a chance of getting more finance into the business, you access more knowledge and skills, the business is more likely to expand and grow as a result of shared efforts and resources.

Just make sure that all necessary legal frameworks are established, also ensure that profit-sharing formula is agreed and all responsibilities are defined before embarking into any business partnership. Ensure that any partner you allow into your business is bringing something useful into your business like more finance, knowledge, skill, experience and expertise.


Source : http://myafribusiness.com/16-reasons-why-many-businesses-fail-and-how-to-avoid-them/

Catering business is one of the businesses that I encourage people to go into, especially those who are skilled in preparing good meals.

According to Wikipedia, Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, filming site or studio, entertainment site, or event venue and a caterer is someone who provides this service.

The need for caterers will continue to increase as people become busier and as people look for easier and better ways of doing things. Caterers are contracted in companies to provide staff lunch every working day, caterers are contracted to provide meals, cakes, and a variety of dishes at thousands of events, parties, business meetings, clubs and even weddings and occasions , caterers are contracted to provide many indoor and outdoor services that you can think about when it has to do with food, professional caterers take the stress and burden of preparing and serving the guess at events off the shoulders of the organizers of the events.

You can do your catering services part-time while keeping your day job. This can serve as a way of providing additional income to you. I know a lady who was struggling financially working as a high school teacher but when she trained to be a caterer, she was at first combining her teaching job and her catering services. But at some point, as her catering business grew, she had to resign from her teaching job to focus on her catering services business and she is doing just fine financially today.

This article explains the steps to take for all those interested in opening catering services business.

1. Write your business plan for the business.

This is always the first step before starting any business. The catering business is vast, therefore in your business plan you should identify your chosen niche and how you wish to meet the needs of your clients, the financial estimates of the materials and other costs you will need, how you will realize the funds and your marketing strategy for business.

2. Get trained.

I always recommend this step as it is very important. Catering services is a professional service and has to be done professionally if you want to really do well in the business. Go to a catering school and enroll for a 6 or 1-year course in catering. An alternative is to look for a good caterer around your locality that you can pay to work with so that you can learn the business. Even if you follow option B, I usually recommend that you periodically attend crash courses on catering as this will help you to get updated with modern trends in the business. Also, it will also help you to be addressed as a professional. I know a skilled caterer, who missed a catering contract with a state government just because she had no professional catering certificate to present during the bid for the contract.

3. Get the basic materials

This is a flexible business and so you can rent your materials when you are starting out in the business if you don’t have the required capital to purchase your own materials. However, work towards procuring you own materials as this is cheaper in the long run. The basic materials needed in this business include: cooking pots, plates, spoons, trays, bowls, knifes, catering trays and food boxes, coolers, chopping boards, oven, serving utensils, catering plate and glass racks, table decorations, table top accessories, linens and table coverings, uniforms for cooks and waitresses, hand gloves, refrigerator, garbage bags for dirty linen, micro wave, Deep freezers, mixers, delivery van, blender, cooling van, rolling carts, dispensers, foil etc.



4. Get an office space

You can start this business from home initially, but you should work towards having your own office where your clients can come to book for your services and from where you would prepare your products. Having your catering business office will advertise your business, make it more accessible to customers and make the business more professional.

The office space should well spacious so as to enable you to keep your materials and also prepare your products. It should also be accessible to your customers. A good office place should have good toilet and running water and sanitary equipment, so as to ensure good hygiene.

5. Make your product menu

Make a list of all the meals that you can prepare and the prices that you will offer them to your clients. This will help you to know your current capacity which will give room for continuous improvement. It will also help you to be focused on delivering what you can do best and also help your customers to see at a glance what your products, service and prices are without much explanation.


For more, go to : http://myafribusiness.com/start-run-catering-services-business/

It all begins with an idea. Ideas rule the world. Here is a list of unique business ideas for you. Don’t limit yourself. None of the ideas is too big for you to achieve. If you can dream it, you can achieve it. If you are passionate about any of the ideas but feel it is beyond your capacity, then seek for help. You can also partner with someone to achieve them.

To achieve your dream business, start-up funds should not be a problem as we have shown you in our article, how to raise start-up capital for your business.

Beauty Salon
Hotel & guest house
Freelance Writer
Daycare Services
Restaurant Services
Building Materials Sales
Supermarket
Grocery Store
Fitness Center
Sports Center
Bakery
Bottled Water production
Barbing Salon
Hair Dressing/ Hair Stylist
Sports Center
Unisex Salon
Transport Services
Wholesale and Major Distributor
Poultry farming
Crop farming
Cassava flour production factory
Garri processing factory
Plantain Chips Production factory
Auto Mechanic Company
Home/Office cleaning Services
Undertaker Services
Insurance Company
Safety consulting Company
Architecture Company
Pharmacy Shop
Plumbing Services
Home/Office Electrician
Airport Taxi services
Wedding/ Events planning services
Canopy and chairs Rental Services
Primary/Secondary School
Carpentry Shop
Welding and Fabrication company
P.O.P and PVC Ceiling expert
P.O.P and PVC Ceiling manufacturing company
Air conditioning/Refrigeration Expert
Tiles manufacturing company
Tiles installation expert
Textile manufacturing company
Shoes Manufacturing Company
Hand gloves manufacturing company
Aluminum Roofing Sheets manufacturing company
Graphic designing company
Computer training Institute
Home tutor business
Lawn care company
Floral Sales and management company
Waste Disposal and Management Company
Blogger
Accounting firm
Auditing firm
Courier Services Company
Errand services company
House Keeping Company
Social Media manager/ managing company
E-commerce reseller company
Website Designing company
House Painter expert / company
Makeup Artistry / Consultant
Musical band
T-shirt Designer Company
Photographer / Video Coverage Business
Car wash Services
Motivational/Public Speaking Firm
Coffee/Tea Cart operator business
Dance Instructor (Institute)
Affiliate Marketer
E-book Author
Interior Decorator Business
Proof reading firm
Furniture Maker / Company
Pool Cleaning company
Brick manufacturing factory
Resume Services
Boutique Business

See source for more : http://myafribusiness.com/over-200-unique-business-ideas-for-everyone/

In my article: 12 Reasons Why You Need a Business Plan, I said that a business plan is the road map for your business. It is the foundation of any successful business. In this article, I have explained the various components of a business plan and how to write an effective business plan that will help you to achieve your entrepreneurial objectives. This article will also guide you step-by-step on how you can write the type of business plan that would convince financial institutions to grant your request for a business loan.

There are several formats for writing a business plan, but the principles are the same. Whatever the format, the major sections of a business plan are as follows:

1. The Executive Summary

In this section you need to describe what your business is all about, why you believe in the business and why you think it would work. The executive summary is usually the first section readers of your business plan will look at because it summaries all other sections of the business plan – like the business overview/description, company profile, market analysis, your products/services, and your financial plan. Therefore, it is advised that the executive summary should be written last after you have written other sections of the business plan because you would have done the details already.

2. Company / Business Description

Here you give information about your company. Summarize what your business is into, its vision and mission statement and the company/ organizational structure. It should more importantly state the industry that your company belong, the overview of your company’s parent industry and your company’s potential role in the industry and how your new business will affect the industry.





3. Market Analysis

You should be able to state your target market for your product and why they will be buying your product, including the estimated percentage of the market share your product is expected to reach. Give a background information about the demographics and geographic location of your target market and their needs. Your target market should not be vague, but specific. Your market analysis should be based on both the market survey you have done on your own and by the surveys that other persons have done previously.

Your market analysis section should also include your findings about your competitors and your comparative advantage over your competitors. Your market analysis is very important because the result will give an idea on whether or not your business will be a success. It should contain an analysis of your business’ Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (also known as SWOT analysis).



For more, go to : http://myafribusiness.com/how-to-write-a-unique-business-plan/