There is a higher number of women in Nigeria than men and nearly all of them have something in common irrespective of age; they all have hair which needs to be washed, braided, fixed with extensions, coloured or flat ironed.
Owning a salon in Nigeria is a very lucrative business. It is a business that can be done on the side or full time depending on your availability, goals and projection. It is also a business one can start even if you do not possess hair making skills. With a good business head on your neck and great hiring skills, you may be on the way to owning a lucrative hair salon in Nigeria thus improving your life and making you an employer of labour.
With the recent GDP rebasing and the economic climate being what it is, there is no better time than now to review your life, discard what is no longer working well for you (like that job you hate so much) and find new, better ways to make your life more profitable.
To do this, it just requires taking a little time out and using that time to plan for a more profitable future. Start by making a list of what you need which will include:
- A business plan
- A unique selling proposition. What will set your salon apart from the stylists in Mushin and under bridge Ikeja? It could be customer service.
- Salon equipment. Equipment is getting cheaper by the day. You need to invest in a standard generator, hair curlers, flat irons, hair products.
- Suppliers
- Hired staff. Do you want to spend time learning how to do hair or do you want to hire someone?
- A location. Do you know you can run a salon from your home if you can’t afford to rent a shop? Ladies in the UK can attest to the numerous home salons offering affordable hair care.
Once you’ve made a note of these things, here are questions you need to ask yourself:
- Who is the target audience for your salon? This will determine the location of your shop.
- What is the pricing for your services? This is dependent on your chosen target audience.
- Do you want to cater for the rich? Students? Kids?
- What are your competitors offering your clients? How can you provide this service or more?
- What will the physical appearance of your salon look like? You need to look at it through the eyes of your prospective clients.
It is important to create realistic goals for your salon. With answers to these questions and initial capital, you then need to develop low cost client attraction strategies.
Clients will not magically appear; even magicians have to wave their waving sticks so begin to think about how you are going to market your business to gain clients and make more profit. These client attraction strategies must not cost you an arm and a leg. Your goal is to provide quality hair care services and make MONEY; it is about increasing sales and reducing expenses.
Here are some ways to market;
- Perform a survey, online and in your locality. Research your local competitors based on professional knowledge and technology.
- Are you computer savvy? Create a website. How many salons in Nigeria have online booking? How many even have websites?
- Network in your area, those are your closest customers.
- Develop an active referral program where you use your existing clients to introduce their friends to your salon thus giving them discounts on their services.
With all of these things in place, you can attract clients, develop profitable promotions, review salon services and have weekly business reviews.
Standing still in life simply means you will cease to exist. You must be either moving forward or you are actually moving backwards which is the worse direction you can be traveling in.
Get up and live your dreams whether it’s to open a hair salon or anything else your heart desires.
