Though the economy today may seem very discouraging, money seems not to have any value again. But in this, I would still tell you that N500k is never too small to start a profitable business in Nigeria. There are still many businesses to start with N500k in Nigeria, and make the best out of it.
Raising capital for business is always a big problem faced by many entrepreneurs, but sometimes when the capital comes, the next problem would be the right business to put in the capital.
Most people had a reasonable business capital even more than N500k, but lost everything and can’t boast of any business today because they were not very careful to invest in the right business.
So if you have been able to raise up to 500k capital and are really looking for a business to start with N500k in Nigeria, I would advise you to be keen in choosing the right business so that your N500k would go well for you.
All the business ideas we are going to give you in this post are genuine, legit, trusted and profitable business you can start with N500k and achieve success. Just take a bit of your time to read through the post, as there is useful information that may be hidden in-between lines.
List Of Business To Start With 500k In Nigeria
If you are one of our readers that have been asking, what business can I start with 500k, here comes the best search result for you:
1. POS Business
POS business is a very lucrative business to start with N500k in Nigeria and make out the best from it. With N500,000, you can set up a POS shop to any standard of your choice. There is no doubt that the business is very profitable especially when in a good location like a market, school or busy place. However, it may be associated with some risks as you are dealing with money; so you may have to be very careful in the business to avoid losses.
How To Get Started
Starting a POS shop in Nigeria is very easy and doesn’t require much stress and protocols.
- Get a nice location: it would be important to know that location is the greatest determining factor of how lucrative POS business would be, this is why you should try to get the best location where there is high demand for POS service.
- Get your POS machine: the profitability of a POS business also depends on the company you are affiliated with. If your POS provider/company charges you very high on your transactions, then it would be hard to make as high a profit as you want. There are many POS companies in Nigeria that have very low charge rates; like Opay and so on.
2. Poultry Farming
Though poultry farming requires enough capital, N500k can still run a sizable poultry farm, especially if you have a structure for the birds already.
But if you don’t have a structure already, the N500k may be difficult to cover, especially now that building materials are very costly. However, there are still ways to manage the N500k, and get it done.
- You can decide to rent an already existing structure: There are people that have structures for poultry farms but they are not using them. These people always rent it out to those that want to use it for farming. You can explore this option and rent already existing space. This can be from N80K, N100k, N150k, or above per year. Depending on the size of the farm. Once rented, you know the available funds that are remaining in your pocket, then calculate how much it takes to feed a certain amount of birds for a specific period of time. Divide the money and allocate for feeding, the birds, medication, and other necessary things. Don’t put too many birds than the available fund can carry, especially in terms of feeding.
- Use affordable materials to construct your own farm. If you have the space, especially if you stay in your family home, you can even decide to use mud blocks instead of cement blocks to construct your own farm instead of renting. For the planks and zinc, if there is none in your family house there to use, you can decide to buy second hand materials that people removed from their buildings. In this way, you stand to spend less in getting the stricture. Then any amount that remains, you just use it and put just a few birds that it can carry, then increase it with time. Just gradually.
- Another alternative is to collaborate with your friend. If there is any friend of yours that you trust and will be willing to do the poultry business in partnership with you, then that may make it easier. You bring in your N500k and your friend brings their own, then join the money to do the business.
3. Laundry Business
Laundry is another business you can try with N500k. The major things you need to start a laundry are just a shop or space, pressing iron, table, a generator. Washing machine is optional, and you may leave it for the moment and use your hand to wash until you make more money to buy, because N500k may not be enough to buy all that.
A big generator also is costly but you can try looking out for a second-hand one that can serve you for the moment. Then get a shop space in a good location that is very affordable. If you follow this guide, N500k should be able to set that up for you; while you grow in the business and get other things you may need later.
4. Snail Farming
Snail farming is another lucrative business you can start with N500k. One thing about snail farming is that you may not need to be buying their feeds like in poultry farming. They eat mainly fruits, vegetables, green leaves, etc; which you can easily get for free or at a very affordable rate.
The structure to put them is not as strict and demanding as in a poultry farm. All their structure needs is just protection from escaping, source of moisture and food. Once you are able to do this, you can now get a few baby snails that you can carry for the moment.
One interesting thing about snails is that they lay large amounts of eggs. Some species like the Giant African Land snail can lay between 200 and 500 eggs per clutch, and can do so 2 to 3 times per year. This means that even if you start small, it won’t take time for your farm to grow and be filled with snails.
Snail is a big food in Nigeria. It’s one of the most special foods in some big hotels. So with your snail farm, you can’t have the problem of looking for how to sell it. There are big hotels and eateries that will be coming for you.
5. Start Making Snacks
Snacks are one of the popularly consumed foods in Nigeria. Many people like taking it especially as their lunch during the day time. You can look for a good location close to school, market, and so on; rent a shop there and start making such snacks like meat pie, egg rolls, chin-chin, and so on. With N500k, you can get some equipment you can use to preserve your snacks so they don’t always spoil if you don’t sell them all in a day. Aside from selling your snacks in the shop, you can also be supplying your snacks to other people in their shops; in this way, you make more sales.
6. Phones & Phone Accessories
Phone accessories is a very lucrative business, but usually needs a big capital. With N500k, you may not really be able to start this business in a big way. You may just decide to use a wheelbarrow and sample your goods in a busy place, or construct a batcher as your space.
7.Provision Store
Provision store would never be left aside in our discussion. With 500k, you can easily set up a standard provision store that would keep booming for you. The interesting part of the provision store is that it gives you daily income, people are always buying one provision or another. You won’t really be bothering much about getting customers as long as you are selling what people need.
8. Okrika/thrift wears
Thrift wears are fairly used wears usually imported from the UK or other places. Thrift wears move the market very well in Nigeria. People are always going for what is affordable and can serve them. With N500k, you can get a location and start selling both thrift clothes and shoes. Your patronage and profit is very sure as long as you always bring in good materials.
9. Mini Restaurant
Mini restaurant is another N500k business you can consider. N500k will go a long way in opening a mini restaurant for you. All you need is just a space or a shop in a good location. Then buy cooking materials. If you can cook nice foods, customers will be the ones to come for you.
10. Rental Business
If you have ever organized any event, then you would understand how costly it is to rent some materials like: chairs, tables, canopies, and so on. In a bigger way, N500k may not really be enough to set up a big rental business, because you may be needing all those chairs, tables, etc in a large quantity. But you can just start small, especially if you are in the village, you may not really need many protocols for the business. Just use the N500k and buy chairs and tables to the number it can carry, then put them for rent.
11. Salon
Salon business is a highly profitable business in Nigeria, but most people don’t know, and would always neglect it.
To make this business more profitable, you may decide to combine both the male and the female salon in the same place. That is, you would be rendering the services of barbering and hairdressing in the same place.
12. Metal Scrap Business
This business involves buying used/old or condemned metal irons, and selling them to companies for recycling.
Due to the lucrative nature of this business, I usually call it a blood money business, because of the kind of profit it can bring within a short period of time. All you need is just a space which may not even be up to a half plot of land. You may not even need a structure, just a space to pack the materials you bought.
Though the business requires a lot of capital, with N500k, you can just start small. Once you buy materials and exhaust your money, you can go and sell them off to start buying again.
13. Transport Business
The only kind of transport business you can do with N500k currently is Okada/bike riding. Things are now very expensive. As at the time of writing this post, the cost of a new big Topstar motorcycle is about N1.5 million naira. A new tricycle is about N3 million.
However, with N500k, you can get a second hand motorcycle that you can use and start doing okada in the meantime. With time, you can save up and get a new one. Alternatively, if you really want to go for a new bike, then you can use the N500k and get a hire purchase. Where you will bring the N500k and someone supports you to buy the new bike. You then ride and balance him an agreed amount within an agreed period of time. The amount to balance is usually higher than the normal price of the bike, but usually based on agreement.
14. Pig Farming
Pig farming is another business you can start with N500k. For the start, what will consume your money is just constructing a structure for the pig. However, you can just use mud blocks with used zinks and planks to construct a small structure since you are just starting with a few piglets.This is going to make the cost of the structure cheaper. With time you can grow and expand.
After constructing the structure, you can even start with one piglet. Pigs give birth with many piglets at once – some can even give birth up to 9 piglets at once. So even if you start with one piglet, when it grows and gives birth, you may have plenty of piglets already.
15. Palm Oil Storage
Palm oil storage would really be another great option for you if you have been searching for a lucrative business to start with 500k in Nigeria.
You know there are some parts of Nigeria that have more than enough palm oil, while there are some parts that don’t have palm trees or palm oil at all, especially some parts of northern Nigeria.
Palm oil is usually cheaper from January to around July every year. It becomes costlier from August to December. So you can buy during the season that it’s cheap and resell them when it is costlier. And with N500k, you can store a good number of 25-litre Jerrycan of palm oil.
16. Food Storage
Every food product has periods in the year when they are more available and periods when they are scarce and more expensive. With N500k, you can always look out for the best food produce to store and make money during the scarce period. Some of the kinds of food that people mostly store are: beans, yams, beniseeds, melons, and so many; depending on what is common in a particular region.
17. Goat Farming
If you stay in the village or have people that stay in a rural area, then you can buy and rear goats. It’s either you do it yourself or you buy and give them to the rear for you to compensate them in any way possible. Goats are very expensive especially during festive periods. With N500k, you can buy many small goats and rear. Within one year, many of them must have grown and given birth. Giving you many goats to sell anytime you want.
18. Rice Farming
Rice farming is another business you can start with N500k. You can go to the rural area where there is available land for rice farming, rent a sizable portion that your budget can carry and plant your rice. N500k should be able to give a sizable rice farm. Within justabout 6 months, you harvest and sell off your rice. Rice farm, if done very well, in most cases, you can make up to times 2 or above, of the amount you spend in the whole process of the farming.
19. Cassava Farming
According to a recent research, Nigeria is known to be the highest Cassava-producing Country in the World, producing about 60 million tonnes annually.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian population is estimated to be around 237 million; and according to analysis, 7 in every 10 Nigerians consume, at least, a product of cassava once in a day.
This is to show you that despite a large production of cassava in Nigeria, consumption is still higher than production. This is why a Garri paint container is sold for up to N3,000 and above in many parts of the country at the time of writing this article. This is the same quantity of Garri that was selling at a fixed price of N200 a few years ago.
Despite the high increase in the price of garri, do you think people would stop buying it? The answer is No! People don’t have an option than to continue buying garri no matter the price. This is because garri forms up to 70% of the major foods in Nigeria.
So going into this business would really be a nice move, and with your 500k, your success in the business will really be awesome. Just look for a place especially in the rural area that has free land for farming. Rent the size your budget can carry and do your cassava farm.
20. Foodstuffs Business
This business involves selling all sorts of food items or food materials like beans, rice, garri, cooking oil, and so on.
It has remained one of the most profitable businesses in Nigeria because people can never do without food. No matter how the economy may be, people must always eat at least 2 times a day.
21. Charcoal Business
Charcoal business is another business you can start with N500k. Many people now cook with charcoal, even in urban areas. Some people that cook every time usually go for charcoal sometimes to reduce the cost of using cooking gas all the time. With N500k, you can effortlessly start this charcoal business and be making good profit.
22. Sachet Water Business
Sachet water business may look like a petty business but it is actually not, and it is even very profitable. With N500k, you can rent a shop in a good location and put in a truck load of bags of sachet water. You will be selling in bags and be making your gain. People drink water everyday, especially during the dry season. So it is a business you are sure to always make a sale.
23. Frozen Foods
Frozen foods business involves the sale of different kinds of frozen food items, including meat, chicken, fish, vegetable, etc. N500k will go a long way in starting off this business, and it will do very well in a residential or school environment. All you need is just a shop and a freezer. A generator may be optional especially if there is stable light in the place.
Conclusion
Raising capital for business is really very hard, but sometimes when the capital is there, finding a nice business to put in the capital would be another challenge. Though the economy might seem very tough, 500k is still not too small to start a profitable business in Nigeria.
Many people have lost their hard earned capital because they were unable to make the right decision in investing in the right business. This is why you need to put your mind and your head together before investing your 500k in any business so that you don’t waste your time and money. So, the business ideas discussed in this post are all nice and probable business you can start with 500k and would never regret it. Just lookout for the one that goes well with your mind.
