With 100,000 or less, anyone in any part of Nigeria can begin a business. Thanks to improvements in logistics and delivery, tech and social media, most businesses don’t require a physical location to begin.
Whether you’ve been looking to start a business of your own, or you’re a 9-5 worker who would like to have a business on the side, there has never been a better time than now to consider opening a business.
With rising inflation rates and the start of a global recession, increasing income streams has become a necessity in Nigeria. Even though spending power may reduce in the coming months, these businesses highlighted fall under a need-to-have category more than a nice-to-have.
Here are 10 businesses you can begin in Nigeria with #100,000 or less.
10. Ankara/Material Handbags
In recent years, fashion in Nigeria has strongly embraced print, leather, adire, aso-oke and Ankara kind of handbags. This business owner HERE started a handbag business in 2019 and has sold over 5000 bags by September 2022.
Starting a handbag business is not only profitable but easy to start. Training in learning to produce bags can be carried out in under a week and typically cost between 10,000-50,000 depending on the trainer and location. Buying basic materials to begin can fit under a 100,000 budget.
This business is also a great one to start as a pre-order model can be used if you don’t have a big budget, to begin with. With a few samples and marketing, you can begin a profitable handbag business in 1 month.
9. Thrift sales a.k.a Okirika
Okrika bale a.k.a as thrift clothes is a great business you can start with under 100k. With the advent of social media and online businesses, you don’t need a physical store to start selling.
With 100k or less, you can buy bales of either female clothing, baby wears or even shoes and start selling. You can invest in a mannequin to put the clothing on to improve your picture quality for selling online. There are hundreds of resources online to help you with selling online effectively and you can find guides for selling on INSTAGRAM and WHATSAPP.
8. Food/Restaurants
The food business can be started with low to medium-sized capital. It all depends on the kind of food you want to sell or the restaurant you want to operate. Major investments needed to begin this business are utensils for cooking and gas cookers.
The business can operate with a pre-order model in its early days to ensure that little to no amount of money is wasted. And then as it scales and grows, it can evolve into something bigger. With 100k or less, your food business can begin.
7. Phone accessories
Sales of phone accessories is a great business to start and can scale up to include phones in 2-3 years or less depending on the speed of growth.
Accessories like chargers, earpieces, selfie sticks, headphones and lots more don’t require too much funding to start compared to phones. The only downhill to this business is that it might require a physical store or stronger offline marketing compared to other businesses.
6. Perfume Business
With 100k or less, you can begin a business in scents. Most big sellers offer wholesale deals ranging from as little as 15,000.
Great scents to begin the business with include perfume oils, deodorants and body mists. With social media and an online store, handling a perfume business is easy and convenient and can even be operated with a full-time job on the side.
5. Juicing and smoothie business
With more awareness being raised concerning the need to eat and live right, the demand for natural juices and smoothies has increased over the years. And it’s not too late to capitalise on it.
With a little stretch of the 100k budget, you can begin your smoothie/juicing business. Assets needed to begin include a juicer, blender and a mini-fridge to keep drinks cool till they’re delivered. Fruit bowls and parfaits can be included in the menu as the business grows larger.
4. Make-up/Beauty business
The 4th business on the list is a beauty and makeup business. With the rise of more indigenous makeup houses, makeup products have become more accessible and cheaper than they were 5-10 years ago.
Although this business will require investment in classes if you have little or zero knowledge about makeup, with a budget of 100-120k you can take classes and purchase a medium-sized kit to attend to clients. As you earn, you can re-invest in the business and keep building.
3. Fashion Design
This is another business you can easily begin on a budget of 100k.
Offering custom/bespoke services will only require your sewing skills and a sewing machine. This business can begin from the comfort of your home with no need for a physical space.
RTW fashion will cost more compared to custom pieces as there will be a need for bulk material purchases which a slim 100k budget may not be able to cover. But the custom fashion part of the business can easily begin on a 100k budget.
2. Bakery
Running a bakery or selling baked products is another business that you can begin with a budget of 100k or more.
Plenty of attention is paid to decoration skills now, so you might need to invest in a cake decorating class to attract customers. With an affordable or second-used oven and pans, you can begin your bakery business.
1. Consultancy
And the number 1 business you can begin with a budget of 100k or less is a consultancy business. The major thing this will require from your experience in the desired field of consultancy.
Consultancy or a consulting business is simply a practice or business that gives expert advice in a particular field/industry. You can become a consultant in any industry as long as you have the knowledge and practical experience to back it up. All this business requires is your skill/knowledge and the internet/social media. Via social media or blogs, you can share expert knowledge and content to attract potential buyers and then offer paid sessions in various courses or subjects.
If you’re willing to stretch your budget, other good businesses to consider include farming businesses like fish farming, rice farming and poultry. Other businesses include event planning, cybercafes, graphic design and lots more.
These are the top 10 businesses you can start in Nigeria with 100k or less.
If you’re ready to begin your business, you will find these highlighted posts very helpful: