Top 18 business ideas to start in Nigeria in 2019

If you are interested in making money in Nigeria in 2019, we are glad to inform you that there is a handful of business opportunities there and they are open to everybody who has been dreaming about being an entrepreneur in Nigeria. Whether you are an unemployed, an employee with a high salary, an experienced businessman with little capital, you might consider various business ideas worth to be implemented in 2019. So, welcome on board, and you will be aware of what business to do in Nigeria to become wealthy and successful.

No need to explain that a lack of persistence, determination and hard work may result in a failure of even the most promising business ideas. As experience shows, many of potential billion dollar businesses close within the three-five first years not because of low capital but a bad attitude towards work. While in many cases the success of the startup depends on the entrepreneur, it can also depend on the type of business and product.

Nowadays, to be a successful entrepreneur, you don’t have to be a corrupt politician or bureaucrat, or be engaged in some shady scams but to be passionate about a lucrative business idea. In past, African “old school” millionaires made money extracting natural resources like copper, gold, oil, and diamonds. They became insanely rich at the expense of the common good and the natural environment. Today, a new generation of young African businessmen are not interested in natural resources as they found a much more valuable resource.

If you are one of many young entrepreneurs who are wondering what can I do to make money in Nigeria, you might be interested in making money by creating new values and improving people’s lives. You might ask what is the key to success?

Nigeria is a country overwhelmed by many problems including hunger, serious diseases, unemployment, illiteracy, inadequate electricity and other. This determines the types of businesses in Nigeria which can be divided into several groups. Here, we are going to take a closer look at online businesses (digital and social media marketing, e-commerce, programming, coding tutoring, affiliate marketing, app, and web development), businesses that move fast in Nigeria (farming and agriculture, logistics, food-related businesses, manufacturing, fashion design) and the most lucrative business ideas (startup funding, real estate, jewelry) and others.

How to make money online

The online business ideas listed below will surely be one of the hottest ones this year for many reasons. Thanks to the fast development of digital marketing strategies and tools, a lot of businessmen will be able to use new, creative ways to do their businesses. Also, many startups are expected to spring up to address a lot of health, electricity, economic, financial, agriculture, farming challenges and many more.

1. Social media marketing: Besides being tools for staying in touch with family and friends, social media platforms have proven highly invaluable in strategic marketing. Being cost effective, Facebook, Instagram, and other networks have become a great option allowing marketers to engage the new customers.

As a business owner, you don't have much time to manage your social media presence as you are focused on production. This is where social media marketers come into action. Their services include setting up social media accounts, developing marketing strategies, staying updated on tendencies. If you are acquainted with social media management, all you need is a computer and internet service.

Just like in 2018, the fight will take place on social media platforms. Social media marketing will be one of the hottest businesses in 2019 in Nigeria. A lot of businesses will be looking for professionals who will be able to give a hand in creating a business brand on social media networks and make money online.

2. Freelancing, blogging, and vlogging: Another tip on how to make money in Nigeria just like in any other country is to be a freelancer, blogger or vlogger. If you specialized in some area of knowledge, you can be a freelance writer and get paid for posts and product reviews. Blogging is also a promising and profitable niche, however, you would need to narrow down your blog to a particular focus, for example, food, fashion, education, work from home, entertainment, news, etc. Blogging is not the only way you can earn money out of your knowledge. Vlogging can be a great source of cash for those who like sharing their tips and interesting info via video.

What is important is how to drive more traffic to your blog or vlog. For this purpose, you can apply for Google AdSense and other advertising platforms to begin earning from your blog or vlog.

3. Online tutoring: The times of home tutors are probably in the past. A lot of people nowadays take online courses to get the needed knowledge without attending the classroom or hiring a home teacher. Online tutoring can save time and money for those who are interested in learning. If you are wondering about what you could teach other people, it can be any school subject, language or skill. To start your own online course, you just need to register on an online learning platform like Udemy and upload your videos. It can be a great side hustle as well as a full-time job.

When talking about programming or coding tutoring, this niche can be twice more profitable. If you know some of the programming languages, you can teach people how to write a code to create programs, applications, websites, etc.

4. Dropshipping:  Probably, everybody has already heard this word, but not everyone knows what it means. Dropshipping is a type of retail business which doesn't require keeping the products that are sold in stock. The products are delivered directly from manufacturer to the client. A person that is dealing with ordering and shipping is paid for her service. When it comes to Nigeria, dropshipping is a business that might cause some challenges that are concerned with receiving international payments. The truth is dropshipping can be a great source of passive income and lucrative side hustle business one could ever think of.

5. E-commerce: is one of the most lucrative business ideas. People are more and more getting used to making online purchases. In Nigeria, an increasing number of entrepreneurs sell their products in online stores. In 2019, e-commerce is going to expand and develop allowing businessmen to sell even without a website but on social media platforms. Nowadays, you can have a profitable brick and mortar store, but if you don’t have an online shop, you don’t have a business.

6. Web and apps development: The Nigerian digital industry is one of the top niches to take into account when choosing a future career. If you are a web developer living in Nigerian, you might hear about such award-winning apps like Find-A-Med, OkadaBooks, AfriNolly, BudgIT, etc. This industry has proved very lucrative as it allows creating useful applications and beautiful websites. Mobile smartphones, computers, and other devices are here to stay. They are highly important for every business to stay visible to the millions of customers.

7. Affiliate marketing: One more way to make money online in Nigeria in 2019 is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing consists in earning money on advertising products via websites. If you are a digital marketing professional, you can help business owners to sell their goods and services by placing advertisements on various websites and blogs. In this case, you will play a role of an affiliate marketer who promotes merchant’s products. You get a commission when a purchase is made. The commission which is a pre-agreed percentage is paid in the form of pay-per-click or pay-per-impression fee. The more sales are made, the more affiliate is paid.

Top 5 businesses that move fast in Nigeria

There are types of businesses that move fast in Nigeria. They were considered very lucrative in 2018, the situation will not change in 2019.

1. Farming and agriculture: Given the fact that Africa owns around 65 percent of the world’s unused land, the abundance of labour resources, and a suitable climate, the continent has great opportunities for farming and agriculture.

A profitable business to do in Nigeria is farming. Most farmers across the world are financially successful. And Africa is no exception. According to un.org, Africa’s agriculture business will be worth $1 trillion in a decade. The thing is, most of Africa’s food production is still based in rural areas where mostly poor people live. They use unadvanced farming methods with very limited access to capital.

One of the latest models of farming is crowdfarming which consists in pooling investors’ and the farmers’ funds together. When the investors crowd-sponsor the rural farmers, they take a share of the profits at harvest time. When talking about Nigeria, the most popular crowdfarming platforms are FarmCrowdy and ThriveAgric enabling Nigerian investors to cooperate with farmers.

The thing is most people in Africa worry so much about how to start an animal feed production business. There are surely many effective ideas of how to make an animal farm a profitable business. For example, if you visit noodles production factory, you can ask an owner to sell you the waste product of noodles to use as feed. When talking about agriculture in Nigeria, agriculture businesses are the most popular search hits on Google, especially, flour production.

2. Logistics/courier business: With a growing number of online businesses, delivery business is a good opportunity to make some money in Nigeria with little capital. More often businesses need their products to be delivered to customers. That’s why numerous delivery/courier companies emerge. If you order products from Kenya to Nigeria, some company has to deliver them. Cost of shipping can be decreased due to healthy competition, forcing down prices.

All you need to start a delivery business is a delivery machine and marketing professional. The biggest problem faced by Africa’s urban population is congestion, poorly diversified transport system which makes deliveries a nightmare for both consumers and businesses. Delivery is a good business to do in Nigeria.

3. Food vending business: Food remains one of the most important human needs. Food vending business has always been a lucrative business idea for those who are interested in this industry. Even with little capital, you can easily open a foodstuff online or brick and mortar store in Nigeria. The thing with food vending business is that you need to get peoples’ trust, that is, meals should be tasty, they should be prepared with proper hygiene, and delivery should be timely.

4. Local manufacturing: Africa expands exportation of various products like coffee, timber, crude oil, minerals, cocoa every year. Food and non-food items are delivered to a lot of countries around the world. Some of the local products have become global brands and best-sellers. For example, Shea butter is taken from the trees that only grow at the source of the Nile River and a few other countries.

One could make a long of products produced in Nigeria beginning with tissue paper and soap and finishing with drones and automobiles. By the way, drones are used not only to chase terrorists and take breathtaking altitude photos but help with logistics, farmland management, humanitarian deliveries, conservation support and many more. As this is quite a new industry, not many entrepreneurs can afford to adapt drones to solving serious problems in Nigeria. In 2019, it is expected that more smart businessmen will carve a niche for themselves by transforming rare products into national and international brands.

5. Fashion design business: Fashion design is a well-established industry that has been developed in Nigeria for many years. It is known that creative fashion designers can make a lot of money if they have enough talent to make a change in the industry.

If you have seen what African designers do with popular fabrics like Ankara, you understand what we are trying to say. Ankara fabric is going to get all the attention in 2019, the love for this fabric will only get stronger. Nigerian designers use Ankara to sew everything from underwear to cooperate wear. If you have no talent for creating fashionable clothes, you can still join the niche of Ankara distribution and retail business in Nigeria.

What is the best business to do in Nigeria?

Still, haven't find the business that meets your possibilities and expectations? You definitely should take into consideration the ideas listed below. They will be trendy in 2019 and if managed correctly can bring you good profit.

1. Waste management is a business to do to become rich in Nigeria. The efforts Africans are making to clean up the environment are worth admiring. The campaigns like #TrashHaters grow stronger on social media becoming an effective way to implement one of the most profitable business ideas. In 2019, many Nigerian entrepreneurs are expected to turn the waste into wealth.

For many years, waste management has been a huge problem in Nigeria. As for now, the waste is either buried, burned or thrown away. Around 70 percent of waste produced in Africa ends up in a landfill or gets dumped in the water. The problem is that Africa’s population continues to grow, so this problem is only going to get worse. There are many ways to manage the waste in Africa squeezing out value from it. Some of the businessmen convert waste into animal feed, electricity. The good thing is that this industry can provide many jobs for thousands of people.

2. Jewelry business: Women love jewelry and fashion for it will never die. So, why not start your jewelry business in Nigeria in 2019. The good thing about jewelry is that this is always a good idea for a present for a lady. A piece of jewelry never expires, it can be a good way to invest your money. When thinking on a larger scale, jewelry is a profitable idea for those who would like to start their own business. If you already have a store, make sure you hired a social media marketing professional to properly advertise your beautiful pieces of jewelry.

3. Real estate business: is one of the most lucrative businesses. 2019 will be no exception. You can even start your own profitable real estate business with even little capital. You can even make your real estate business an active or passive income source and still make serious money. Nigeria is experiencing one of the world’s highest rates of urbanisation. It requires building houses faster to meet the demands for accommodation. Given the fact that Nigeria is Africa’s most populated country, the housing crisis created a lot of opportunities for real estate business.

4. Startup funding: Investing activity in Nigeria is growing every year. Currently, Nigeria is one of the countries that are in the spotlight taking about 70 percent of the investment inflows. Every year, venture capital investment reaches $100 billion. The truth is the return on investment in Nigeria is one of the highest on the continent. Over the past decade, the amount of venture capital flowing to African countries has grown 1,500 percent. And these figures are going to grow in 2019. For example, Nigerian tech startups received nearly $600 million in funding from Nigerian and international investors which is 50 percent more than in 2016.

5. Cryptocurrencies: There must be nobody who hasn’t heard about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by now. A lot of people have become millionaires and billionaires trading cryptocurrencies. However, many have also become broke investing in this industry. The good thing is that cryptocurrencies are legalized in about 10 countries including the USA, Canada, Japan, Germany, Russia, France, and other.

Similar to other currencies, Bitcoin’s price keeps soaring higher not every year but every hour. It seems like cryptocurrencies have come to stay and many people are joining the industry. However, one needs to be careful when entering the niche. Beginners who have no knowledge of how the cryptocurrencies work are at risk of losing their money.

6. Private schools and hospitals:  According to the report titled “The Business of Education in Africa”, it is estimated that around 60 million African students will be enrolled in private schools by the year 2021. Poor quality of education in Africa is caused by rapid population growth, poor funding, and corruption. Because of these problems, many African parents are looking for private schools to enroll their children. The low-cost private education is one of the most profitable models.

In Nigeria, the Lekki Peninsula Affordable Schools is one of the most popular low-cost schools that charge the lowest annual fees in the country. As more and more low-cost private schools appear in Africa, the strong competition is expected to improve the quality of education, lower the school fees allowing more children to get the chance of a decent education.

When it comes to healthcare services, public hospitals are known to be poorly funded. Moreover, a rising number of Nigerians are seeking medical help outside Africa, for example, in Europe, India, the Middle East and other. It means that Africa needs more private hospitals as well as the investment of local and international entrepreneurs. In Nigeria, there recently has been Lifebank, a startup that is dealing with the problem of critical blood supplies delivery to hospitals in big cities.

In Africa, more businessmen are exploring creative ways to solving continent’s significant healthcare problems. Their efforts will surely create millions of job opportunities in Nigeria in 2019.

We hope you found this list lucrative of businesses to do in Nigeria in 2019 useful. There are many other business ideas that have not been mentioned in this article. Whichever option you like, we wish you good luck!

Culled: Naij.com