₦airaland Forum

Good evening NLers, Sorry i didn't post much today; it's because of the premier league matches we had. I was watching as well as supervising my viewing centre. Now we continue.

The ban of okada in lagos and other cities is no longer news but i really don't think if there's any corps member that is thinking of using that to his or her advantage. Let other people's bad luck be your own goodluck. For many that stay in the okada banned regions, have u ever thought of buying any okada from those areas and take to your PPA to sell to the villagers. If you are in doubt, a fairly used okada in akwa ibom goes for 75k with sound engine. I was told by a colleague that one could get it in lagos for as little as 17k. Any corps member going to his PPA may decide to buy one or two and sell for the villagers. On a personal note, if i can get someone that will be supplying me, i would personally buy from such person and then bring it to my location. Little research i made, shows that there are many abandoned motorcycles in local government councils in the cities that okada was banned. A prospective corps member can meet LASTMA officials and negotiate a deal. He or she will then look for an engineer that will scatter the bike. The engine is the most costly part of the motorcycle which can easily be transported forgetting the chassis as it is cheap. Taking it to your PPA, you will discover that engineers will charge you just 500# to couple the bike and then you buy the body about 2k. You will just find out that you have assembled a bike with just 25k or so which you sell at 50k or more depending on how greedy you are. Engineers will find a buyer for you meanwhile you can use it to be transporting yourself to various places. When u are convinced that there are buyers and the profit margin was good, you can just go on and bring in one or two using two or three months allowee. That is another good business a corps member can try. Personally i'm strategizing for something like this. Even your fellow corps members could buy from you and use it to transport themselves. You can motivate them to serve as distributors. They buy from u and distribute. Currently, i don't think there's anyone thinking along this line and the faster u act the better.

mercylicious: A very nice thread.

I served in one of the villages in d north and understand d message being passed by the poster.

During my time, I was driven wit fear of wat will happen after service. I needed to save as much as I can.
I was to lecture computer in a tertiary institution. It was a first semester course for a class bt d class never came to be cos of delays in d sch. I took of a job at a computer tutorial centre. Duration was from 8 to 12. I still had spare time, so I took up another job in a hotel. Work starts by 3pm and ends by 9pm. So I had several means of income- fed govt, state, the school, d computer tutor class and d hotel. Our hotel was d best in d villa (sub city). It was owned by a former house of assembly member, so it is patronised by lots of politicians. I became familiar wit them, so when they are drinking, they ask me my brand and I say -stout. They tell me to take me own. Ill keep all d dash drinks and by d end of the day, ill take d cash equivalent. Survival tips in the hotel - I was very playful wit all of them (politicians). A lot prefer d place cos of me. When d pressure was hot, I searched among them and saw one dt was nt wayward, infact,drinking wasn't his hobby bt he must drink to be relevant in d group. I started calling him my best friend and make d others feel its him I want. Dt kept d others at bay.

Be very friendly wit d indigenes. Its thru dem u will know d secret of d land. Where I served , a goat was sold abt 2k but more than 10k in Lag. Some corpers got contacts in Lag and east, do buy the goat, send them on waybill to d location they want to sell.
Another hot biz there is beans storage, bt dt biz is cyclical. There are years d profit skyrocket and there are years d investors loose. Beans is usually bought around nov and dec when they are being harvested , treated and stored. The prices begin to rise arnd april. U either sell there in the north, or waybil it to the east and sell wit twice or thrice d profit u wuld have sold in d north. I did the beans business, bt unfortunately, it was d year of loss. D ppl dt did it d next year hit jackpot.

I left d north after NYSC wit so much much. I shared d money into 2, bought shares wit half. Used the remaining for trans during d job hunt. I searched for job for 6months before landing one. God inded didn't want me to suffer cos my cash was abt to finish b4 I found job.
I made friends during NYSC, friends dt had similar interest as mine. We motivate each other. Infact, it was a friend dt I made during Nysc dt informed me of the job opportunity of my 1st job, I was successful at d interview, bt she was nt. She later got another job and we are both doing well now.

Wow! How i wish all nigerian graduates can think and act accordily. Yo have done well really. Go ahead and invest in businesses. It's good i tell you. Personally i have not applied for any job since i left service and am not lacking anything thanks to my business in my PPA.

J12: 11. He buys you suya while he eats onions.

Can't stop laughing my lungs out!

tallfish145: Even igbo sef na lucratic busines but if they catch u.....

Hahaaaha maybe you tried it and you were caught. So are you telling us to try it or abstain from such venture

Davidohida: I see some post and ppl were saying i was collecting 9775 naira Wen i was serving.u dnt just start business,u take into consideratn of so many tinz.d cost of living of those days cant b compared to nw.i cant starve because i want to go into business.where u re determines wat u do.no one can use his or her allowance to venture into a business if there is no oda source of finance.except u re in 4 d pea nuts dat comes out of it.dis thread is nt real,i am a corps member serving in cross river state and guys believe me wen i say it is nt easy

money is not everything, take time to read the comments posted on this thread and you will see things u can do that will fetch you enough money without u going hungry. Btw i served in aKw ibm and i manage to do all these things i explained in my posts. Now i'm an ex-copa doing various businesses there. Start small ok. Read this article i wrote and see www.nairaland.com/1127338/ex-corps-member-making-it#13309013

In your respective place of primary assignments, you get to meet different kinds of people. I will talk more on the village setting because that's where I was posted to. In my PPA, there are schools where you have many students, teachers and fellow corps members teaching in schools. Aside from teaching in my PPA, i went to other schools especially private schools and offered to teach their students just an hour class and if they were impressed with how i taught, We could talk about a part time job. I was moving around teaching chemistry and integrated science. There was one school in which one of their teachers was given another subject so that i could teach chemistry in his place. I was being paid N2000 per week and i taught 3 hours in 3 days. Many corps members can try this especially if u are articulate and have passion for teaching. Many principals will find space to accommodate you if and only if you are really good. Just offer to teach a single class for free and your knowledge and professionalism can offer you a part time job in that school. In my case then, I was teaching in 3 schools. Two were private and i picked up 5k from both per week. Now there's only little capital involved here, just 700# transport per week. If you are posted to local govt councils, this is your best bet as i have discovered, council corpers are not of much use in the office.

The students that you teach in the village deserve to enjoy many previleges and u can be the one providing those at your convenient time.
While we were growing up, we played family comm game. You can also take it to your PPA and allow them to play for maybe N10 and you check time for them. You can also find one of your students around and teach him how to play it. He will teach others and you too will teach them. At a point, they will start gaining interest and you buy ps1 and ps2 and include it with the family comm. Over here i charge N30 for Pes soccer. All you need is a small gen and 17 inch tvs. If you are good in finding bargain for goods you can resell those tv's and make profit, then bring in another one to replace with your profit in your pocket. Just find an empty space outside in front of a shop, and use for that purpose. Many of d villagers will develop interest in the electronics u are using and you can make money supplying it to them. These are things i have done and i have no doubt about anything i mentioned. Experience all through.

The teachers in the school I taught then were getting enough money to live a good life. Some would buy fake products thinking they were good and then showed me. I would tell them "oh thats the refurbished one" and they paid the same money as for the original. If you are good in spotting quality products and counterfeits you can use it to your advantage and make money. Many youths know original suits, shoes, phones, computers, electronics, cars and etc. If u see that those teachers use fake products, you can introduce d original of those products to them and other teachers and the moment one of them bought, you will keep getting order for the same products. E.g If many of the teachers are fond of using china phones, you can introduce quality java, symbian and android phones to them. Make sure u love-vendor d phones with utilities. Explain to them what the phones can do in terms getting teaching materials, meeting people online, sending emails online and etc. In the city this will not work because of the level of exposure. The moment one of the teachers develop interest, other ones also will like to get theirs. These teachers have money but many corps members would just disregard them. There's one teacher in one of the schools i taught that had a computer system. He told me that he was planning to buy an mtn modem as there was no airtel network coverage with the airtel modem he bought. I told him that, if he could give me one thousand five hundred naira that i would help him to make it compatible to all his sim cards. He was impressed and gave me one thousand naira first and then the balance if i succeed. Unlocking of internet modems is found everywhere on the net but u can use peoples inability to read to make money. It's no sin. I had unlocked 5 modems for different teachers and i was handsomely rewarded on each case. Learn this trick too cuz u will come across someone that will need your service in that regard.

arbitrage: i am impressed. please do everything you can to pay back that your friend who lost his father, even if it is in bits. how much do you owe him?

by the way, are you typing with phone or computer? try and copy and save all you have typed so far. you will need this storyline in future, trust me. God bless!

Arbitrage, I will pay him soon by God's grace. To answer your question, I woundn't want to post it here. Again I've been typing this using a nokia 6680 phone. I know i would need it in future so dat atleast my children would get to know that their father was hardworking and perhaps that could be enough motivation for them.

braine: How much did u use to start the viewing centre? What were the expenses like?

I have the details of that in another thread. You can go thru it here www.nairaland.com/1127338/ex-corps-member-making-it

anonimi: exactly. this can thrive in a city and you can start with simple laundry, starch and iron before you buy machines for DRY cleaning.
way to go.
Another thing for cities- sports viewing centres seeing how we are hooked on English premier league etc.

Sport viewing centre is even more profitable in the village as i own one here in my PPA. I started with single view and 6months after dual view. You can not start this way in the city for sure. You have to show up to 3 matches to compete.

outrage: This are mostly things you can do in the village, for people serving in cities, this can't work!

If you took time to read, I had said that those corps members posted to the villages succeed faster than their counterpart in the city. There's almost everything in different forms. So it's normally hard to start on a shoestring budget especially when it comes to goods.

One of the ideals of NYSC is for corps members to get acquinted with the culture and language of the host communities. It was taught in camp and we put it into practice. I could remember we were taught how to speak the ibibio language and developed much interest in it. I would speak it to my fellow corps members and whenever i go to mammy market i speak it wit the locals. I heard d zeal to learn it because already i could speak 3 nigerian languages so i was like oh another one would be lovely. I would call those little boys in camp and start chatting wit them. It was fun but other corps members were like ''is he naught or something? Having a chat wit those haggard looking boys''. At the end i will give them N100 to share. They taught me alot in camp and by the time i left camp i could speak the language but in a comic way. While other corps members would pay for some certain services i got them free as a result of my ability to interact. Any corps member intending to go into business can use this strategy to learn the language and you will be getting favors from the indigenes while others encounter obstacles. Now with this method I market my goods in my PPA using their language. I kept a jotter that i normally write words and sentences in english and pass it to some of them to interprete for me. I crammed all of them and they are now part of me. Now to be successful you really have to be interested in them. This technique i have used and I can speak wella. The problem is just intonation and minor errors in pronunciation. Try it when u get back to your PPA.

I really didn't expect it to make frontpage so soon. Your comments have inspired me as well and I will be sharing more with you as the thread has just begun and i'm seen such voluminous comments. Now I continue...

excelsiorfarm: now that you have more,u can plan what u have to start something.This post is more essentially for corpers to benefit.It is when u had finished your service & return home that u will understand that 1Year(though i call it free time) could have been use to enhance yourself.Then what can u do-if u are a computer graduate u can be doing repairs,assembling of system & servicing(this one u might only need to print a biz card & do hand bill,at most u spend 10000 & u are in business)

You have said it all my brother. The bulk of whats said in is self employment but many are scared cuz they use lack of fund as an excuse. There are many opportunities out there that will not cost them anything to start.

bigfat: [size=15pt]what is easy nothing in this life but we gat to try ....[/size]

Try and you will be glad. I did it and now I have my shop in my PPA that i am managing. I'm done wit service last year but am still making money in the village. Now i own a viewing centre and am currently running it and with other minor businesses i'll write about.

Borlahr: Ain't u aware or have u forgotten that there are limitations to the things or properties that u're expected or allowed to take into the camp? Like in my camp then (Umudi, Imo State) unneccesary or excessive properties were not allowed. Then,the code of conduct of NYSC does not allow for anything that could bring distraction or break in concentration to the Scheme within the 3 wks orientation. Moreso, the inconveniences to extra-luggage will count on you on the day of your passing out at the Camp. I'm not contradicting you but making things clearer for intending Corps Member

excelsiorfarm: corpers it is important to know that d period of youth service isnt really a break,but a time where u have to work & envision towards your goal in future(if u have one).D skill acquisition program should be taken seriously,because it is not your credentials that count but what can you offer?Thank God allowee is 19800,when i served i got 3500+1000 from where i was posted to(kebbi agricultural & rural development authority kalgo ) kebbi state.

Borlahr: Ain't u aware or have u forgotten that there are limitations to the things or properties that u're expected or allowed to take into the camp? Like in my camp then (Umudi, Imo State) unneccesary or excessive properties were not allowed. Then,the code of conduct of NYSC does not allow for anything that could bring distraction or break in concentration to the Scheme within the 3 wks orientation. Moreso, the inconveniences to extra-luggage will count on you on the day of your passing out at the Camp. I'm not contradicting you but making things clearer for intending Corps Member

So far the things u take into camp are not harmful and do not include stove or electric iron no one will stop you from going in with it. Trust me.

seunwen2: What i can say about this is that u guys have the fear of 2morrow

The fear of tomorrow is what drives me on. I just feel secured putting my future in my hands instead of running from pillar to post looking for a job. If it comes; good, if not i have something to fall back on.

stevo4shiz: @ OP The profits to all the biz u mentioned here are too low.. Cool tho for some peeps.

You see there are many phones I had sold double their prizes. E.g Nokia N70 is no longer en vogue in cities but i sold a piece at N8000. I was given at the rate of N4500. I had sold over 5 pieces to a group of friends. How is the profit small? This is a phone that nobody will buy from u in d city but it is in hot demand in villages at the moment. Infact it is in villages that u can make the most profits from goods or services.

I had listened to her program too on radio and one other stand up commedy ridiculing ladis that wear attachments. It was very funny in my opinion. Like to see feature in more nollywood movies. Any movie she featured in, i surely buy wit my last kobo. More grease to her elbow.

Since I came with a friend to enable me move around and assess other opportunities, it means things have been alot easier and cash a little bit tight because this person i came with is getting paid monthly atleast that will keep him loyal and motivated for the task ahead. So what he does is to show matches and record the amount realized for each matches and then the expenses. So at the end of the month we remove the subscription fee and see how much profit is realized. The highest ever was 38k without deducting the subscription fee. I will pay him a token and then put 14k for subscription. At the end i myself is left with a token.

Since I have to save, take care of body and soul, it means this alone will not make me successful. So i accepted a teaching job in uru anwa area of oruk anam local government. Did i hear u ask how much? 6k. Exactly the amount i paid my friend that is managing the viewing centre for me. Because i didn't go for the salary but to see what businesses i can introduce while guaranteeing pocket money, i had happily accepted it. I was given accomodation. I was also given a space in the busy market junction to develope for the purpose of a viewing centre. I had made alot of friends there because I had some of them that do watch football in my viewing centre in ikt okoro. Out of the friends i met, one owns a phone retail outlet. His company name is Itiabros communications. He sells china mobile phones, mobile phone accessories, recharge cards and so on. I had known him since the time i came newly cuz we have transact business before. There's another friend i made who is into graphic design,photocopy, exam registrations and data download. His name is endurance!
Even as i don't have enough money to establish more businesses just yet, I have been using one or two tricks to at least get small money without tempering with the income from the viewing centre.

Since i like anything about phone, i would go to my friend that deal with phone and collect some phones from him paying over half of the total fee. Then obtain memory cards and download as many songs as possible. Whenever i go back to my viewing centre in the other village, I will move around marketing the phones telling them I sent a friend of mine to buy them for me from Lag. Trust me I sold two phones that day. Ofcourse 1k profit from each.

teeo: But u need ladies in a kind of way?

Ofcourse for the right reasons. I respect ladies alot but i want to keep them at arms lenght in 20thirteen

The environment we live encourages those that are determined to succeed. If you sit back and let circumstances determine your faith, you become more disappointed than when u actually get involved in one or two things. What happens to the saying ''heaven help those who help themselves."

First I started with owning a viewing centre with the hope that after my service year i would atleast have something that would fetch me the run around fees. My initial idea of putting in someone to manage it was not successful because the income was very low at the start. So I had to manage it personally to an extent. Then i discovered I can actually go all the way without actually bothering about job search. In the process of this i actually stumbled into more profitable businesses than I have actually started with. I had made alot of friends that support my initiative. Some of those are the local graduates in the community. There are many of them around here and it even made me look at my certificates with scorn. I decided afterall there's nothing much your certificate can do for you. I met some of the indigenes and they would tell me oh i served in Kano, ondo, katsina and so on. when i look at the level of poverty in their system at times i feel like weeping for my country. Many would come begging me to allow them watch some matches, Many times i do, but it's at my own detriment. The local business owners will come in and pay their regular money to watch. In the area my business is located, I personally know about 15 graduates rendered useless roaming the corners of the village (not even city). I see many in beer parlours perhaps whiling away their frustrations. The horrible state of poverty i see in them plus those comments and posts i read on nairaland about tooto decay and co goes to show that many are in this condition. I had advised many of them and some of them actually started something. Many of them considered themselves foolish for not been able to survive where I had. Even in their poverty they still patronize me in business.

For me it's basically to keep on progressing in business and to improve on d previous year. To read 20 business related books, Not giving ladies any of my time and to assist as many people as possible to succeed in business

Good morning and welcome back. Many corps members are at their various base enjoying their christmas and new year break while few refused to travel and stayed back and engage in one or two things that would enrich their pocket.

Many corps members would regard such colleagues as not outgoing and maybe they were jazzed by their concubines so they wouldn't be able to travel as such. That is not d case. Some were indeed jazzed but others were engaging in some lucrative businesses that some could not realize. Perhaps many will notice that the population of those posted to rural areas are far more than Those posted to urban areas.

Corps members posted to rural areas should consider themselves very lucky in that there are more wants in the rural areas than the urban because of little supply. As a young corps member, you can capitalize on this and make the supplies and making profits in the process.

Many of us have friends and families that own various businesses. Have you ever thought of taking those things to your PPA and market to the residents. I will be giving alot of examples here...

There's a friend of my dad that deals with sale of belgium phones. I explained to him to give me some phones to market. Surprisingly, he gave me about five phones. That was last year. I also met one of the guys i normally buy novels from in ikeja and bought as many as I could read.

Going back to my PPA, I always flaunt the phones and people would admire d phones in the community. Each time I will tell them "Na market o" and instantly they will start having a look. Some will prize and later come back for the one they like and make purchase.

At times, i will gain one thousand or two on each phone. Before u know, i start getting referals and request for original batteries, chargers and other brands of phones.

What i did was to pay to my dad's friend account number for some more. I will normally pay half of the total purchase and then asked the goods to be given to some of my corper friends that do travel regularly and i get it and sold to corps members in local government council during clearance and cds.

At times i will get calls to supply a kind of phone and i did. I assure you that you too can try it and see how amazed you will be. It could be anything, it's just how you go about it that matters alot.

meerah25: Great!

Thank you.

For prospective corps members, u can decide to buy some general stuff that u think you'd need in camp. It is normal that many won't come with it or don't have enough money to buy those stuff. Things like recharge cards, white socks, white tee shirts, novels, books, air freshners, mobile phones etc. While in camp i went with duplicate stuff.

In d camp, recharge card sells fast. A unit at N95. One is bound to make up to 6k profit in camp selling recharge cards to their fellow corps members. I've personally seen corps members do it. Also d issue of socks and white tee shirts especially during raining season. One will need to have as many as possible and u can make money supplying it to other corps members.

Many of us have used novels in d house that are so much. One can sell those and make profits from it. E.g those novels in ikeja are sold for N100 to 200. In camp it is sold for about 400# per book. So it is easy to make legal money from it while enjoying your service.
Corps members in the orientation camp can also make money snapping and printing digital passports and photographs. Many corps members go wit digital camera to d camp but not photograph printer. If u can invest 20k on it u can use it to make money in the camp and also during your passing out ceremony. If you are out of camp, you can visit d camp again if your PPA is not far from it. For you to perfectly succeed you need to be the social type and you'd be suprised at the outcome. What many lack is preparation but now that you are aware never u go to d camp empty handed. Next is how to make money in your PPA...

Double post

Do u know dat the community u were posted to have needs which might not necessary be available to them? Do u know that u can make money meeting those needs? Do u know that as a corps member u get more business patronage than an illiterate doing business to survive? Do u know that some of these needs can be met without spending a dime just a bit of your time and knowledge? Do u know u can use some of the advices given on technology and mobile phones from nairaland and naijaloaded to make cash? Do you know that any corps member doing business in the village tends to grow faster than one in the city? Do u know u can make money thru the desire to make money alone? Do u know that u could use your four months allowances to make money from the upcoming nations cup in south africa?

If you have been wondering how, u will find practical solution to all these questions. No ebook, no emails and no external sites. All i need is your attention and encouragements. Welcome onboard...

The best time to start any business is when one has become a corps member.

The worst challenge of youth in the area of business is capital and now that the federal allowance has been increased to N19,800, corps members must use d money for tangible investments because after your service year u may not have such opportunity of getting regular income thanks to d increased level of unemployment in the country.

The essence of this thread is to enlighten u on business opportunities one can venture into that will maximise the money collected during service and enable the corps member to expand and become financially independent while waiting for other opportunities just as I have done and it's working for me.

Now you can also try some of these tricks and see. Let's go...

that is good for them. Were they officially married?

pay before u receive goods at ur own peril. adjust ur post if u want proper reply cuz u typed the above in a hurry.