Top business ideas for women

More women in Nigeria are now moving away from being just homemakers to being homemakers and an earning member of the household. Over the years, a lot of business ideas for women have been making waves in Nigeria. The internet and social media are full of online ‘celebrities’ that claim to be making millions from home. While you can easily start a business at home, it is important to be realistic about it.

How easy is it to start your business?

Regardless of what you may have heard until now, starting a business ideas for women is not all that hard.

While you may not start making a lot of money right away, you can easily start any of the various simple business for ladies and make a steady income for yourself.

If you want to be self-employed but are not sure what you should start with- then you are not alone.

Answering a few questions like the ones below will you get started:

What activities do you like?
Do you have proficiency in any area/skill?
What is your aim for starting your business?
Is there something that you would love learning?

What do you want from the business?

Before you start going over all the business ideas for women in Nigeria, you must first know why you want to start one.

If you just need to create an alternative income, then doing something like selling services/products for a brand may do it for you.

With such a business idea, you do not require a complete business plan or extensive capital.

You also get the flexibility of working as per your schedule and targets.

In case your primary aim of becoming self-employed is to spend more time at home, then it is important to find those areas where you can work around your family’s schedule.

However, entrepreneurship and being your boss is the goal.

Then you need to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses.

This will not only help your network but also become more resourceful.

Skills Required: Social media following, knowledge about the internet and social media
Investment: Low
Equipment: Internet connectivity

If you are one of those women who enjoy a large following on social media, then you are missing out on one of the most profitable ideas for women to make money.

We are not talking about using your social media to sell products or to advertise another business.

Social media management and consulting are the most profitable home business ideas for women who have a social media following and know how it works.

As Nigerian businesses learn the advantages and opportunities that the internet provides them with, many are still not using social media to its full potential.

This is where you step in.

As a social media consultant, your job would be to help brands create their online presence.

You would help brands in setting themselves apart from the competition and engaging with their audience, among other things.

The best part about this business is that you do not need to step out of your home for this.

You can also manage social media for clients who afford it.

Top Nigerian celebrities and influencers hire professional social media managers.

Their job is to maintain the social media account, interact with the public in a way that befits their image.

And use it to promote the celebrity’s partner brands and labels.

For women who are already spending a lot of time on social media, this is like a dream job.

You can easily turn it into a business and make a lot of money with this simple business for ladies.

Local Food Restaurant

Skills Required: Cooking
Investment: Varies, low-high depending on the type of establishment
Equipment: Cooking equipment, ingredients as per cuisine

Starting your local restaurant comes across as one of the best business ideas for women.

To start this, most women already have the most important skill- cooking.

Starting a restaurant business is easy once you set your mind to it.

Here is a quick stepwise guide for all that you need to do.

Decide the type of restaurant you plan to open. It could be a fast-food joint, a QSR or quick-service restaurant, or even a takeaway service.
Have a rough estimate of expenses for at least the 1st 3 months. Do not expect any profits at that time- so ensure that you can sustain it until then. A QSR or takeaway service is low-capital businesses to start if you have the kitchen area.
Purchase the cooking equipment, ingredients, and other things that you may need.
Hire 1-2 people to help you with the preparation of the food, service, delivery, or to handle the books as required. For a takeaway service, you can start on your own and scale-up employees as your order volume increases.

The above steps are only an outline of what you need to do for starting your food business.

What type of food business

Depending on what type of food business and establishment you want to set up, you will have a lot more things to do.

If there are any applications/aggregators like UberEats and Jumia near your location.

Then you can also sign up with them to start a delivery-only business.

This is generally easier; little investment is required, and you simply have to register your business with them.

Most aggregators charge a certain percentage of each order as the delivery and platform fees.

Thus, the factor that along with the running costs of your business to decide the menu prices.

Event Management/ Planning Business

Skills Required: People management, knowledge about different event types, food, décor.
Investment: Low
Equipment: No special equipment needed

If you have people skills and are looking for a business idea with little investment, then event planning is for you.

As people become increasingly busy, they have little time to prepare for the important things in life- be it birthdays, weddings, social gatherings, etc.

To ensure that everything is in place for those special days, they hire event planners or managers who take that responsibility for them.

Some of the most successful event planners are those who started in some areas and gradually expanded from thereon.

As an event manager, the most important thing that you will require is to know all the vendors for different events.

Be it a corporate event, wedding, product launch, or anything else- a lot of vendors will be needed to make it successful.

Start by building a base of well-known vendors such as caterers, rental furniture providers, transport services to bring guests to and from the venue, décor services, etc.

Many online directories list all the different vendors required for different events.

And cover everything ranging from caterers to bakers, makeup artists, taxi services, videographers, and so on.

Event management is a business that you can easily start from your home if you have the required skills.

For starting with event management, you can take a few lessons on effective planning if you do not have any prior experience.

People are trusting you with their special days, so it is important to make them as memorable as possible.

You can easily start this business from your home without any dedicated office space.

FMCG Distribution

Skills Required: Marketing/sales, communication.
Investment: Medium-high depending on goods value
Equipment: Storage space

FMCG or Fast-Moving Consumer Goods are those products that cost low and get sold quickly.

These include things like beverages, packed foods, OTC drugs, toiletries, and similar consumables.

An FMCG distribution business is lucrative as it requires little capital.

The basic idea of this business is that you buy goods from a manufacturer/producer and then resell or distribute them to smaller retailers (not the end-customers) on profit.

Once you register your business, you can contact any FMCG manufacturer and become a distributor with them.

States like Port Harcourt and Lagos have a lot of companies that are always on the lookout for distributors.

Thus, if you are living there or nearby, then you’/r task is even simpler.

Most FMCG products are regular household items that get sold quickly.

You will need some training or education on how to manage stock and sales, maintain balance sheets, and running your distribution channel.

You can easily learn all this online for there are plenty of resources for that.

It is one of the best small business ideas who like interacting with people and are into marketing.

The most important aspect of starting this business is to register it.

The majority of the manufacturers work only with corporates and not individual people.

Thus, before you reach out to any producer/manufacturer, your business must be registered with the CAC.

You will require a warehouse or storage room for keeping the goods.

In case you have limited capital, you can start with goods like cosmetics and other similar products where you do not require cold storage or other special conditions.

Rental Business

Skills Required: No special skills
Investment: Medium (above N 5,000)
Equipment: Rental furniture, the vehicle for delivery

One of the most unexplored business ideas is a rental business.

As the term suggests, it involves giving out plastic chairs and tables to people at rent.

People use this furniture for their events and ceremonies.

You simply purchase the furniture and give it on rent at a certain rate.

What makes this a lucrative venture is that it generates a steady passive income.

Once you make the initial investment, there are no other costs involved.

Simply set up and relax!

If you have little time to devote to your business, then the rental business is the right choice.

Events like weddings, birthdays, etc. are always happening.

Organizers are always on the lookout for chairs and tables available for those.

You can also invest in canopies and other items that are frequently sought for on rent as you scale up.

You must also have your vehicle to transport them.

This will allow you to provide an even better service.

Consider investing in a vehicle for your business if you do not already have one.

Put indelible marks on all your tables, chairs, and canopies.

It is not only for branding but also helps to prevent theft and makes the renter accountable.

Similarly, brand your vehicle as well- it helps a lot in marketing.

Once you have the required chairs, tables, and a way to deliver, start spreading the word.

Even word of mouth publicity goes a long way in getting clients for this business.

Talk to your friends, people in your social circle, and any event planners you may know.

You may just be surprised at the high demand for chairs and tables for rent in the market.

Catering Business

Skills Required: Culinary skills, restaurant management
Investment: High (above N 50,000)
Equipment: Cooking and catering equipment, vehicles for transport, staff

Do you incline cooking and hospitality but never explored it yet?

If not, then catering is the best of businesses that you can explore.

While it is one of the most elaborate of business ideas in the list, it is not that hard to start.

You do not have to begin by taking orders for a wedding of 500 people.

Starting as a caterer can be as simple as providing food for a birthday party of a kid in the neighbourhood.

As people become increasingly busier, the demand for caterers is only to increase.

If you are looking for small business ideas for women, then you can start by catering for small gatherings and family events- birthday parties and family get-togethers.

Next level

Instead of approaching this in a complicated manner- registering a business, creating a plan, hiring people, etc.- approach it like taking your cooking skills to the next level.

Before you begin, you will need a couple of things.

Your catering business must have a name.

Once you decide on that, register it.

Also, you should have a few sample menus that you can fully prepare on your own.

Instead of going with complex items, go with dishes that you can prepare best.

Ensure that they are items that would be ideal for festive occasions, gatherings, and celebrations.

You can start your catering business by taking responsibility for events and gatherings in your family, friends, and social circle.

This will give everyone a chance to see your skills in action.

In such events, brand as much as you can.

Have a business name, have custom-made aprons for you and your staff, and think of other ways to demonstrate that this food is from your new catering venture.

Event Management/ Planning Business

Skills Required: People management, knowledge about different event types, food, décor.
Investment: Low
Equipment: No special equipment needed