Online Business in Nigeria: With the continuous increase in the rate of unemployment in Nigeria, a lot of people now seek what online business to start and make money with little investment.
Yes, making money online is sweet, as you have the freedom of time, and also, you can make whatever amount you wish if you can put in the work.
Starting an online business is very easy, as the only requirements are a smartphone or PC, and an internet connection. A lot of online businesses can be started for free in Nigeria, and you can start right from the comfort of your room.
Since not much is required to start operating an online business, the profits could be mind-blowing, as you could make millions of naira monthly from the internet in Nigeria. Although it depends on the type of online business you’re into.
Nairarush has researched, and come up with 21 of the best online business ideas in Nigeria. So, if you’re looking for a good one to start, let’s explore this post together!
21 Online Business Ideas in Nigeria 2023
Profitable online businesses to start and make money in Nigeria in 2023 include:
1. Blogging
The first online business idea in Nigeria on this list is blogging. If you have a hobby or have information that people can benefit from, you can start a blog, post your information and make money from it.
Blogging is by far one of the best and easiest online businesses for Nigerians. This is because you can make money from it in many ways, and receive it in your bank account in Nigeria. In case you don’t know, you’re reading a blog post now.
From posting the latest news and trending music to creating a simple guide (e.g, how to do something), you can blog about anything you like. Starting a blog is very easy, as all you need is to buy a domain name, and launch your website.
This should cost about 20,000 to 30,000 to get started. You can make money from your blog through Ad placement by Adsense and Ezoic, sponsorships, affiliate links, and so on.
Check Out: 20 Smart Ways to Make Money Online in Nigeria Right Now
2. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is one of the best online business ideas in Nigeria that you can start right now. It involves recommending other people’s products and/or services and getting paid a commission whenever the person you recommend the products to buy.
Affiliate marketing is very easy to start. You can start for free and make money. You can also promote your affiliate links on your blog to drive free sales. Also, you can use paid advertising to drive traffic to the affiliate products you’re promoting.
There are tons of affiliate programs and networks you can start within Nigeria. They include Opay, PalmPay, WarriorPlus, Shareasale, Amazon, Expertnaire, and so on. All these platforms pay well, and you can make up to N50,000 or more per product.
3. Mini Importation
Mini importation is one of the newest and untapped online business ideas to start in Nigeria and make money. This business is very profitable, as not too many people have been involved.
Mini importation business involves buying products from China for cheap prices, importing them to Nigeria, and then selling them for good profits. With this business, you can make millions of naira as a student.
The profit margin of this business is juicy. You can make up to 200% ROI per product. For example, you can buy sneakers for N2000, sort the shipping, clearing, and forwarding fee for N2000, and sell the sneakers for N10,000 in Nigeria, keeping a profit of N5,000.
You can also buy and sell other products from China in Nigeria and make a lot of money. This business is an ideal one for students, stay at home moms, and even fresh graduates looking for a job. This is because fashion products are very easy to market, and also sell fast.
Learn More: Complete Guide to Starting a Mini Importation Business in Nigeria
4. Amazon KDP
If you have very valuable information or you’re good at writing stories, you can easily turn that into a money-making online business. Amazon KDP offers you the opportunity to self-publish books online and sell them for good profits.
From writing short stories to publishing a guide, you can sell all types of e-books online as long as it contains valuable information. The amazing thing about selling ebooks online is that there is no limit to the amount of money you can make, as you can publish hundreds of books.
5. Print On Demand Business
Print-on-demand is a very lucrative online business to start in Nigeria and make a substantial amount of money. Here, you can turn your designs into cash via sites like printinvo, which allows you to upload your graphics designs and sell them as business cards, t-shirts, banners, flyers, mugs, stickers, etc.
If you can come up with a catchy design, you’ll make more sales. You can use basic design tools like Canva to create attractive designs, then upload them to POD sites and start making money. Most of these sites don’t require any upfront fee, as the revenue generated will be split after making sales
Other print-on-demand websites to explore include Teespring, Redbubble, Zazzle, and so on. On these sites, you can get paid in dollars, as they mainly get US buyers.
6. Freelancing
Freelancing is an ideal online business for those who have nothing to invest. You can make money online through websites such as Fiverr, Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Freelancer, and so on.
These sites offer you opportunities to do a variety of online jobs such as graphics design, writing, programming, proofreading, marketing, branding, and so on.
To become a freelancer, you must possess an in-demand skill, and also have time. You don’t need any upfront investment to get started, as all you need is a smartphone or PC and an internet connection.
On websites like Fiverr, freelancers make at least $5 (about ₦2500) per order. While on Upwork, you can do jobs at your rate and get paid per hour. Some people charge up to $100 (about ₦50,000) or more per hour. There are also other freelance websites where you can list your gig and make more money.
7. Sell on Jumia, Jiji, and Konga
If you’re seeking what online business can I start without anything in Nigeria, selling on websites such as Jumia, Konga, and Jiji would be the real deal for you? These websites let you list your products on their platform, and expose them to millions of their online audience helping you sell faster.
From electronics and appliances to phones, laptops, and even fashion accessories, you can sell all legal products on these ecommerce sites.
All you need to get started is to find the products to sell, then list them and start making money. With little capital, you can sell second-hand items such as phones and laptops on Jiji.
Learn More: How to Start Selling on Jumia in Nigeria
8. Become a YouTuber
In Nigeria, YouTube is popularly known as the home of funny videos, as a lot of Nigerian Youtubers are comedians. Just like blogging, you can post quality videos on YouTube and make money.
You can start a YouTube channel right from the comfort of your home and make money, as it is free. All you need to do is create good videos, post them on YouTube, and start getting views.
Ad revenue is the most popular way of making money from YouTube, but you can also do sponsorships, and even promote affiliate products on your YouTube channel to make money.
9. Become a Social Media Influencer
If you’re seeking what online business can I start on social media and make money in Nigeria, try becoming an Influencer. Social media influencers get paid by companies to advertise their products on their page of thousands of followers.
This business is becoming more and more popular in Nigeria, especially among females. From using Instagram and Twitter to Facebook, TikTok, and even WhatsApp, you can become an Influencer on any social media platform, and make money.
Influencers on Instagram get paid up to millions of naira per sponsored post. Influencers also have the opportunity of signing endorsement deals worth huge amounts of money with notable brands.
Also as an Influencer, you can create and promote your own business like a clothing line, cosmetics line, and so on. The money-making opportunities for social media Influencers are endless.
10. Create and Sell Courses
Selling courses online is one of the easiest and most lucrative online business ideas in Nigeria, as it has the potential of generating millions of naira for you passively in the long run.
If you’re skilled in any field like local stuff production (e.g bead making), or internet stuff such as programming, internet marketing, graphics design, crypto or forex trading, blogging, AI, and so on, you can earn money teaching people all these by creating a course.
You can launch your course on websites such as udemy and skillshare for free, and make money. These websites already have a lot of audiences worldwide that are ready to buy your courses.
11. Become a Social Media Manager
Whether you’re a secondary school student, university student, stay at home mom, fresh graduate, or even a job seeker, managing other people’s social media accounts is one of the easiest online businesses that you can start without any investment in Nigeria.
There are lots of small and even large businesses that are willing to pay a huge amount to get someone to help them create and post engaging content, and also reply to comments and DMs on their social media pages most especially Instagram.
This business is very easy to start. You start using just your phone and get paid up to $1000 (₦500K+) per client.
To start, you just need to create a social media page management gig on freelance websites like Upwork, and Fiverr. There are lots of companies and individuals that go there to source social media managers. Perhaps, you can dm small businesses’ social media pages and offer them your service.
Related: How to Make Money from Facebook
12. Trade Forex
Forex trading has been gaining traction lately and is one of the highly profitable online business ideas in Nigeria. You can make millions of naira per day trading foreign currencies online from Nigeria.
Forex trading requires a fairly huge investment and comes with a lot of risks. However, you can make life-changing money within a month if not a week from the forex market. All you need to get started is a smartphone or PC, and know how to trade forex.
Related: How to Make Money Fast on Your Phone in Nigeria
13. Trade Crypto
Just like trading forex, another trending online business in Nigeria is crypto trading. The rise of cryptocurrency has led to the creation of many millionaires in Nigeria, especially among the youth.
You can make a lot of money buying and selling, or even holding different types of cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, etc. Crypto trading also involves taking risks and requires an investment of both money and time.
14. Become a Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistant is just like working in an office. But instead of being there physically, you’ll be working remotely from the comfort of your home, and still carry out some office jobs for an individual or a company. In other words, providing administrative support.
The job of a virtual assistant may include: Writing emails, replying to emails, typing, receiving calls, managing social media pages, maintaining websites, and more.
There’s a lot of money to be made as a virtual assistant. You get paid per hour, weekly, or monthly depending on the agreement.
Read Also: How to Earn Money Directly to Your Bank in Nigeria
15. Flip Domain and Websites
Buying and selling digital assets such as domains and websites is another untapped online business opportunity in Nigeria. It involves buying domains and/or websites with great prospects and then reselling them for a good profit.
To do this, you can buy a good domain name from various domain registrars, or an expired/aged domain website like expireddomains.net, then sell for profit on sites like Flippa, Empireflipper, and GoDaddy’s Domain Auction.
16. Flip Social Media Pages
Flipping social media pages is another lucrative digital asset online business to start in Nigeria and make money. This business involves looking for active and engaging social media pages like Instagram accounts, Facebook pages, Facebook groups, etc, then buying, and reselling them for good profits.
You can either post those pages on forums or Facebook groups to get buyers or list them on sites like Fameswap to get quick sales.
Read Also: How Make Money from Twitter in Nigeria
17. Teach Online
Online tutoring is fairly new in Nigeria, but it is one of the high-income online businesses in Nigeria. If you’re good at a subject or a specific topic, like English speaking, you can sign up on platforms like teacheron.com, and find people seeking online teachers either for themselves or their children.
A lot of people are willing to pay as much as N5000 for an online tutor. This job is very easy especially for stay at home moms and teachers, although you can only start using a PC.
18. Start a Dropshipping Business
Just like mini importation, dropshipping is another lucrative e-commerce business that involves buying products for cheap prices online and selling for profits. What made it different from mini importation is that instead of shipping the products to your place, you’ll have the suppliers ship them to the buyers’ location.
Dropshipping is very easy to start, and you can operate the business in your free time. Although the profit margin is not that great, you can make a lot of money if you drive more sales.
Check Out: Online Businesses that Pay Daily in Nigeria
19. Sell Photos Online
If you’re seeking what online business to start in Nigeria without money, websites like IstockPhoto, Alami, Shutterstock, and Foap offer such an opportunity. If you can take some amazing photos of things like nature, and upload them on these sites, you’ll get paid royalties whenever someone downloads a copy of your image
20. Launch an App
Mobile apps on Play store and App Store make a lot of you. You too can create an app, and monetize it with display ads, to earn some good money online. If you don’t know how to code, you may feel this is not for you. Fortunately, you can hire developers from sites like Toptal, Fiverr, and Upwork, then pay them to create an app for you.
All you need is to have the capital needed, have a unique app idea, know your targeted audience, and launch the app online when it is ready. Once this is done, you can start making money through ads from Admob, or subscriptions.
The more users you get to download and use your app, the more money you will make.
21. Start a Digital Marketing Agency
Although not too popular in Nigeria, you can make a lot of money starting an internet marketing agency in Nigeria. This business involves helping businesses or individuals promote their products online through paid advertising and organic reach.
There are lots of small businesses in Nigeria that want to promote their products on the internet, but don’t know how to. You can offer them your service and get paid a reasonable amount of money.
To start this business, you must understand what internet marketing is and how to do it. You can watch YouTube videos to learn it all.
See Also: Best Web Hosting Companies in Nigeria
Online Businesses in Nigeria – FAQs
What kind of online business is most profitable in Nigeria?
The most profitable online businesses in Nigeria include blogging, affiliate marketing, e-commerce business, and vlogging on YouTube.
What business can I start with 5k online in Nigeria?
The businesses you can start with 5k online in Nigeria include freelancing, social media influencing, selling photos, blogging, teaching online, print-on-demand business, and self-publishing ebooks on Amazon.
What free online business can I start in Nigeria?
Free online businesses you can start in Nigeria include freelancing, selling photos, becoming a social media Influencer, teaching online, and publishing Ebooks on Amazon.
Conclusion
Starting an online business in Nigeria is undoubtedly the best way to quickly build wealth and become financially free. I believe this post about the best online business ideas in Nigeria has opened your eyes to multiple businesses you can start on the internet. So, now, it’s your turn to take action and get started with at least one.
Keep in mind that you can’t become an online millionaire overnight. It requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and consistency to operate an online business. With all these, you’re on your way to being financially stable.
Cheers!
Very informative article. Thanks for this.