10 Businesses You Can Start in 2018

As the fireworks colored the dark sky with bright lights upon the coming of the new year, some of us already had our sights set on making the next twelve months truly productive. Amidst the jubilant shouts and celebratory cries, a quiet, determined thought tugged at us: the desire to be better, to aim higher, and to conquer new depths. Business was already looming large in our minds. If you’re reading this article right now, you’re very likely doing so because you’re looking for a way to make the new business year work for you. You want to shed that reluctance you’ve had about starting an enterprise. Maybe you’re not sure of the businesses you should be going for. Thankfully, you’ve come upon the right content for you at this time. Here, we’ll be dropping ten great business ideas you can use this year, plus a lot of resources to help you get going on them. Happy reading!

1. Agro products exportation

As Nigeria seeks to wean itself off its long-standing dependence on crude oil exports, the country’s government is encouraging its people to take up agriculture. And beyond the farms, there’s money to be made along the agro-industrial production and supply chain. One space that guarantees significant gains for players in its sphere is agro-products exportation. If the present push for agricultural production continues, the turf for Nigerian agro-product exporters will expand even further, opening up greater opportunities for new entrepreneurs. The world’s population is growing as well, and with this comes an ever-increasing demand for agricultural products meant for various uses. Here’s a list of Nigeria’s biggest agricultural exports right now.

2. Blogging

While it’s true that many people who try their hands on blogging fail to make much of it, there’s an abundance of successful online written content creators making money from blogging today. The good news is, you can be one of them. Pick a niche that a lot of people are interested in, and churn out quality, original content on it. There are millions of blogs in cyberspace, but there are billions of people with multiple interests eager to read them. If you fancy yourself a fine wielder of written words, you can create a web-based world of wordy pleasure that rakes in cash for you too. Here are some nice blogging tips to get you started.

3. Book publishing

There’s a mini-renaissance being cooked up in the writing and publishing space by young Nigerians who are burning to get their literary works out to the world. Traditional print, though still dominated by the big publishers, is now also being propelled by small-time publishing agencies. There’s also electronic publishing; the e-book reading culture is catching on among the literature savvy, and pioneers in this line have recorded hundreds of thousands of downloads in just a few years. Find out how to start your own publishing company in this article, How To Start A Book Publishing Company.

4. Clothing store

Nigerians will always need clothes. This makes the idea of a clothing store a perennial goodie (if you’ve got the right clothes to sell, and the right location too). You could take to selling kids’ clothes, men’s wears, women’s clothes, corporate wear, or even legal regalia.

5. Creche

How about making money from your child rearing talents this year? You can open a child day care center in your area, especially if it’s populated by working couples with very young children. Economic demands have pressured households into abandoning the traditional early child care model- one superintended by a housewife -for a model that sees both parents working away from home for much of the day. As a result, child day care centers are taking the childcare role and are being paid to do so. Here’s how to start a child day care centre.

6. Digital marketing

Businesses the world over are reaching potential customers via the internet, as well as mobile text messaging and digital billboards. If you have a good knowledge of how these platforms can work for businesses, you can generate a steady income from helping SMEs and large corporations get to their target market through digital media. Find out how to become a digital marketer in our article, 5 Steps To Starting Your Digital Marketing Business.

7. Fish farming

For all the fish that’s sold in markets across the country, Nigeria still has a significant fish supply gap. This partly explains the huge success of fish farms in these parts. They don’t seem to have the dreaded problem of hitting the market glut phase. Nevertheless, you’ll still have to be sure that you have all the usual intervening factors in this business checked out. Find out how you can make it work for you, and investigate the market for fish in your area (or preferred startup location) before setting up.

8. Livestock feed business

Livestock farmers need quality feed for their farm animals, but the right kind of feed isn’t always readily available. Some livestock farmers have to buy their feed from far off locations and might incur extra costs moving them over long distances. This is an obvious but barely grasped opportunity. You can take hold of it and make it yield you a good income. This article shows you how.

9. Logistics

As more startups adopt a delivery based business model, the prominence of logistic service providers in retail product supply has grown. E-commerce platforms and brick-and-mortar stores rely on delivery people to move their products to the people who have ordered them. Your logistics service could be powered by a single motorcycle, or composed of a number of vehicles and personnel, depending on the resources at your disposal.

10. Real estate agency

Nigeria’s population is growing very fast. There aren’t enough houses for every family, and this housing deficit means that opportunities for real estate businesses won’t run out anytime soon. If you’re a great salesperson with a good knowledge of how the real estate market works in your part of the country, you may consider becoming a real estate agent.

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You might also like:

• How to Balance Work and Life as an Entrepreneur
• How to Negotiate Business Deals with Confidence
• 10 Marketing Tips from Some of the World’s Experts
• How to Become a Digital Marketer in Nigeria

This article was first published on 8th January 2018

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