Starting up a business in Nigeria can be quite tricky and might lead to a huge loss of your capital, which you might have funded through a loan, yields from a previous investment or funds provided by investors.
“Although everybody in Nigeria desires to become an entrepreneur, only 40 percent of the dreamers get to start, but no more than 20 per cent survive,” a statement given by a representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s Investment and Technology Promotion Office, during a United Nations training programme held in Nigeria in 2017. This simply means 80% of small businesses are most likely to fail In Nigeria.
However, there is no cause for alarm, running or starting up a business is also not as complicated as people make it seem, you just need the right mindset and a strong believe in your business.
Follow these tips we’ve provided below and you are on your way to creating a successful business:
- Brainstorm and decide on a business ideas: Before you decide on what business you will be going into, you must come up with various business idea and carried out research on it to ensure if it is viable. For your business to succeed you must be sure it is going to solve a problem. This is a common mistake with entrepreneurs in Nigeria, most of them going into business without knowing what their business intends to solve or how it would be of help to their target market.
- Research About Your Possible Competitors: Knowing your competitors gives you a scope about what the market currently looks like, it also helps you benchmark your product or service against theirs; where you need to improve or what you have to offer that they currently to do not have.
- Determine Your Target Market: After you’ve gotten adequate knowledge about your competitors, the next thing you have to do is to carry out a market research and determine your target audience properly. Know the amount they’d be willing to pay and decide on the most suitable location to establish your business or distribution channel.
- Make a Detailed Plan: Develop a detailed plan that explains how you’ll solve any challenge that may arise in the future. Your plan should also include opportunities that you’ve identified, state your mission, create measurable goals, and set deadlines for when you wish to achieve milestone these goals or milestones. As much as it is very important to have a business plan, it is also important that you are flexible when the need arises.
- Start. No matter how small: You do not have to start your business big, because the more you keep wishing you had huge funds to start your business, the more you keep procrastinating and guess what? You may never start. Start your business with whatever little you have, build on it, with time you will begin to not only make reasonable profit but you will also become more skilled and an authority in the business.
- Market Your Business: How would people know about your business if you don’t market it? Utilize every opportunity to market your business, when you meet with people, talk to them about your products or services, go big on marketing if you have the funds, use all available social media channels to advertise your products or services. Create a brand identity for your business and stick with it.
