The number one reason a lot of ladies shy away from starting a business is due to the lack of start-up capital in Nigeria.
There are numerous low-cost startup small businesses that women can do in Nigeria to generate money for themselves
Every year, tertiary institutions churn out thousands of graduates with no commensurate job opportunities created to accommodate them and this adds to the already massive population of unemployed youths and.
As a lady, you cannot wait for the government to create a job for you before you can make money. Besides, the majority of the rich women in Nigeria are mostly into business, with most of them starting small to build a massive business empire for themselves.
If you have a job and looking for part-time business ideas you can start click here ->> 5 Part-Time Business Ideas You Can Start in Nigeria
In this blog post, I have curated a list of 7 small business ideas for ladies in Nigeria, these businesses require low start-up capital (you can start a couple of them for as low as N5,000), and they are both very profitable and scalable.
Here are the seven small business ideas for ladies in Nigeria.
- Making Liquid Soap
Liquid soap is fast becoming a household commodity in Nigeria, replacing detergents and bar soaps.
The demand for liquid soap is high, because of its effectiveness in cleaning dirt, and it is cheaper than other forms of soap.
The liquid soap market is getting bigger every day, despite the increase in the number of liquid soap company in the past year. Small-scale businesses are doing well for themselves. People wash every day, and to do that they will need soap, which makes the demand high.
The best thing about this business is that there is a ready market for it.
To start a liquid soap business is easy, with N5,000 – N10,000 you can start your business in the comfort of your room. And you can get the required ingredients from the local market.
If you don’t know how to make it, you can leverage on empowerment and skill acquisition programmes with many of them offering liquid soap making in their curriculum. Most of this you can get for as low as N1000.
For a start, you can produce just for your neighbour and immediate family, package it using recycled plastic bottles.
If the quality is good, they will come back to buy more, and they will help you advertise your product, while others will go as far as buying to give out as a gift/souvenir.
As the business grows, you can pay more attention to your packaging and branding. Using attractive containers and labels, combined with a nice fragrance, and then you can begin to charge higher for your product.
You can supply to different places like supermarkets, car wash, hotels, and so on.
2) Noodle Fast Food
Food is one of the primary need of man, and in our busy society, it is not everybody that has time to cook.
Many people spend a lot of time in the office and do not have the time to cook for themselves.
Noodles in the past years have emerged as one of the most consumed food in this decade. It is highly loved by children, teenagers and adult.
Noodles Outlet is one of the most lucrative business you can engage in as a lady. You can get very good profits on it, depending on the location and your expertise (how well you garnished it). Some noodle outlets charge between N200 to N500 for a unit of Indomie Super Pack (a brand of noodles).
For you to be successful in this business, you must be good at cooking noodles (Poorly prepared noodles will have your customers looking out for other options). Also, a good location is very paramount to the success of your business, a perfect location will be around a busy commercial area.
For a start, you can get a half cartoon of noodle, a litre of groundnut oil, portable gas cooker or stove, two or more pots, a crate of egg and other ingredients. The more you can garnish it, the more you will be able to charge.
One benefits of this business are that you can make a profit in at least three ways:
- From the sales of noodle, most customers will buy noodles from you to cook. You buy the noodles at a wholesale price and sell at retail price.
- Most customers will want to garnish it with egg, and other ingredients. You buy the egg in crates and resell at retail price.
- You charge them for cooking.
You can increase your sales by delivering to clients in their offices, some of your clients will not have time to come out. So they pay for delivery and take away.
3) Plantain and Potato Chip business
Crispy and crunchy plantain and potato chips are some of the most consumed snacks in Nigeria. The snacks are loved by both the old and the young, which make the demand high.
The plantain and potato is one lucrative business in Nigeria that doesn’t require intensive capital.
All you need at startup is just enough funds to buy the potatoes/plantain, frying oil, salt and other non-expensive material. The good part about the business is that you can start right from your kitchen, using your usual kitchens’ utensils like a knife, fry pan, gas cooker, nylon for packaging and so on.
The business outline is simple, buy the fresh potato, fry it, package it and sell. As the business grows, then you can think about buying pieces of equipment so you can produce in large quantity.
You can easily get plantain and Potato from any local market, at a good price. Unripe plantain produces the best crisp and crunchy plantain chip.
For selling, you don’t have to sell it yourself. You can supply to a supermarket, grocery shop or gives to hawkers to sell in traffic or just around the neighbourhood, and still make good profits from it.
4) Laundry Services:
Who doesn’t love the feeling of wearing washed and ironed clothes?
One of the fastest-growing business in Nigeria is laundry/dry cleaning services. Many people are too overwhelmed by work. They don’t have the time to wash their clothes and iron them.
The business is very lucrative, you can charge from N100 to N500 to wash and iron a piece of clothing, depending on the fabric and clothing size. Singlets, suit ties and socks cost less to wash, the shirt and trousers are more expensive. While bed sheet, some native, suits and agbada are way more expensive than the rest.
The most amazing thing is that you don’t have to wash them by hand, the washing machine has made life easier. Although some clothes need special attention.
The business doesn’t require much capital to start up and can start from your house. All you need is a washing machine (you can get a portable machine on Konga for N26,000) or you can hand wash the clothes at the beginning, a secure space to dry your clothes, a steady supply of clean water, a steady supply of electricity, an Iron and detergent.
Engage in word-of-mouth advertising to create awareness about your business. You can get clients from your place of worship, bank and neighbours.
5) Poultry business
Poultry business is one lucrative business that you can engage in as a woman in Nigeria. The initial capital required to start is based on how big you want to start.
Poultry business is an evergreen business in Nigeria, the demand for egg and meat is high in Nigeria, due to its high nutritional value.
You can start from your backyard on a small scale and grow from there to a large poultry farm. In poultry farming, you can start making money in 28 weeks from the day of set-up, because a chicken can be ready for the market within 28 weeks from birth.
There are two types of poultry farmers: the layers farmer and the broilers.
The layers’ farmer is primarily in the business for eggs, they buy layers and feed them till they start producing the egg. Most layers lay egg 4 -7 days in a week.
The broilers’ farmer is in for the meat. She buys broilers and feeds them to maturity for meat.
As a small scale startup, it is more advisable to start with only one type of poultry farm, then as you expand you can diversify your farm. You can even go into the production of feed.
6) Tying headgear (Gele)
A Nigerian woman can not go to an event without a properly tie gele, it must not only be properly tied but must be trendy and befitting.
A woman can spend a good amount of money just to look good. With many Owambes that happen week in and out. You can never run out of clients, most especially if you know your onions.
Every weekend, there is always something to celebrate from birthday to wedding, burial funeral and so on.
The major advantages of this business are that you don’t need a dime to start, and you can start right away from your living room.
You can either pay a professional to acquire the skill or learn from watching YouTube videos online and practice on your female friends until you are perfect.
You can make use of social media to get more clients and increase your brand reach. For a discount, you can ask your client to give you a shout-out and tag you in their picture.
7) Make-Up Artistry:
I won’t talk much about this. This one very lucrative business among the female folk right now in Nigeria. You can charge a decent amount for your service, depending on who your client is.
For a start, you can do make-up for your friends and family. Do not hesitate to introduce yourself as a make-up artist at every available opportunity.
Every lady wants to look pretty every day.
You will need to get proper training as time goes on to enable you to deliver better value and earn more.
Finally, this article presents you with a list of 7 small business ideas for ladies in Nigeria. Choose one of them and start. If you find out it’s not for you dump it and move on quickly.
Of course I know there are other businesses that are not on this list you can start, kindly share with us in the comment section below.
Photo by Carl Campbell 
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