Top 10 Business Ideas for Students in Nigeria

Are you a student in Nigeria but looking for a (legit) way to make money without any alteration to your academic life?

Let’s talk about these business ideas for students in Nigeria and from these businesses, I’m sure one out of them is going to meet your interest.

Students in Nigeria and some parts of the world need finances to power their academics or take care of their general upkeep. But having to combine academics and work may yield unfavorable results on both ends.

Bearing this in mind, it’s important I share some easy but also profitable businesses that will help you as a student make some money.

If you’re interested in making money while in school, join me as we take a look at the following profitable business ideas.

Ten (10) Business Ideas for Students in Nigeria

1. Organizing Academic Tutorials

Before you call me out that tutorials aren’t a form of business, hear me out. Truth is, there are lots of businesses out there for students to engage in. But sometimes, these businesses, though highly rewarding, tend to make students lose track of their primary goal.

But that’s not my aim with this post.

This is made up of less distracting business ideas for students in Nigeria. Ideas that are easy and do not need to be present 24/7 to make some money. And this is where organizing academic tutorials come in.

Now, if you’re well versed in a particular course or subject, or even a topic, this could fetch you some money. You can do this for course/level mates and other students in the institution.

Sometimes, you can be organizing tutorials for JAMB, Post UTME and Direct Entry students.

Are you thinking of location? Well, you can find a good spot in your school or outside the school. And also, if you have the tools, you can run this tutorial service online.

I don’t know how you will charge them, but I’ve met someone who charges N2,000 per hour regardless of how many students. And some people might charge like N5,000 per month.

You just need to experiment with what will work better for you.

The higher the number of students, the more money you stand to make. Only do this when sure of yourself about that particular field. Students attending your tutorial classes expect to get value for their money.

If you can’t offer that, then you’ll have to watch them trickle out of your classes.

Give them value, and in return, they’ll give you money!

2. Catering Service (Soft drinks, Snacks, small chops, and foodstuffs)

Wait, I’m not saying catering is an ideal business ideal for students in Nigeria, as this will take your nearly 80% time if you want to make it big.

Here, catering services for students like you, isn’t about opening a store or getting a business location. The catering service I suggest here is much of a small scale service.

Students are either busy, stressed out, or just don’t know how to cook. All students fall into any of these three as such resort to junk food or fast food.

You can take that upon yourself to provide these food materials. Items such as small chops, snacks, and soft drinks are some of the better options to start with.

You can start making sales right from your house. You’ll just need to create awareness to your neighbors and fellow students.

Since the world is now digital, you can make this known by sharing it on your social profile to reach more people.

A good thing about this business is that it isn’t capital intensive. It’s easy to set up, plus you don’t need to do it 24/7. You’ll have some time to spend with your books.

Is it easy, of course, it is. Even if you’re not the best chef who makes those lovely doughnuts, you can buy in bulk and retail to make some money. Same applies to soft drinks as well.

You can hire a sales girl to stay in your “joint” on your behalf while you face your studies and come back when you’re done at noon. Hiring a (trusted) sales girl will really help your business and simplify your life.

3. Clothing

We all love clothes. It’s one of the necessities of life. Students want to look trendy and you can help them do that. As a student, you can start making money with the clothes retail business.

No, I’m not saying you should go out there and buy a whole big chunk of clothes. Don’t do that. Instead, you buy in smaller chunks then retail at an inexpensive price. The best part about this business is that you don’t need to engage in it 24/7.

This means you still get more time to look at your books and attend classes.

Just like Jumia and Konga, you can start taking orders from your social media profile. It’s pretty easy once you’ve got a hold of social media.

Just gets lots of friends to follow you if you haven’t done that already. Then you can go ahead and start sampling your wares on your social profiles.

Once an order is received, both parties will agree on a delivery pattern. And as students, they might understand when delivery isn’t swift. With time, you can expand your business to non-students and even across the country.

4. Makeup, Decorations, Hairdressing, Barbing & Event planning

Just like clothing, looking good is one of the underrated necessities of life. Because as you must have heard from the cliché phrase, how you are dressed is how you’ll be addressed. They work in tandem with each other — clothes and makeup.

You don’t have to do this daily. Even if you do, you could do this in the evenings and make some good money. But one thing is guaranteed. Your weekend won’t be for resting as is the tradition to get a new haircut (I just did), plait a new hair, or have our events on weekends.

But you can still make good money every weekend once you know and master your craft. These skills take some time to get good at them. If you can put in the time in learning, then earning money from it isn’t far-fetched. Also, consider a good location when starting. It’s everything.

A good location will in most cases, determine how well your business performs. And we all want our businesses to perform pretty well.

5. Dropshipping

I still think dropshipping is underrated in this part of the world. It’s a viable business idea if you look at it. From the few who’re already doing dropshipping, they’ve got no regrets whatsoever.

As a student, this is the ideal business for you. All you just need is the capital to finance it at first which isn’t that big.

You don’t need a physical space to conduct your business. You don’t even need to handle your wares physically. Since it’s slowly becoming a virtual world, you just need a virtual space.

Why is this business ideal?

First things first, it’s scalable and can reach millions of people around the world, unlike your physical space where you’re limited to those around your vicinity or social circle. Also, the business of dropshipping is portable. You can run this business from anywhere.

If you’re thinking of getting started, we’ve got a whole lot of posts on dropshipping. Check the recommended articles below;

How to Start Dropshipping business

6. Start a POS Business

POS Business is very hot in the country and tapping into it now will be an advantage to your pocket.

As a student, you don’t really need to spend your 24/7 in the kiosk just to make sales, you can as well hire an attendant to handle it for you.

You may want to ask;

How can I start POS Business in Nigeria?

Well, I got you covered in one of my previous blog posts, kindly check the quoted link below:

How to Start POS Business in Nigeria

7. Become a Real Estate agent for students

I have a friend who’s a student and in real estate business. But not that big real agent you’re thinking of, here is how it works;

You look for new and vacant hostels in school area
You get in touch with the caretaker or the owner
You strike a deal to help the caretaker or owner find students who need hostel
You take commission on each student
That’s all.

But hey, real estate business is truly a profitable business idea for students in Nigeria but it requires “dedication” a lot.

You will need to trek a lot in search of hostels without an agent, speak with the caretaker and again look for students who need a hostel, show them the house and repeat every time and then.

If that’s what you can do, the two links below will help you become a successful person in this business;

8. Freelancing and Drop servicing

This should be my number one before all these profitable business ideas for students in Nigeria but here we are!

Freelancing as business is simply working (selling your skills) remotely to those who need it and in returns, you make money.

Before you can become a freelancer, you need to have a skill you’re really good at.

Check here for the hot-selling Digital skills you can learn.

And just in case you don’t have any skill but still want to make money as a freelancer, then you should start “drop servicing” business.

Drop servicing and freelancing are the best business ideas for students in Nigeria, because they’re not capital intensive, no location barrier, you determine how much you want to earn and how, when and where you want to work.

Here is how to start drop servicing business as a beginner.

9. MC and DJ Services

If you are good at anchoring an event or ceremony, or you can DJ either with deck or Virtual DJ, then you can make money from that as a student.

Also, these businesses will not disturb your academic as MC and DJ job gigs is usually available on weekends. SO, you have the rest of the week to study.

You don’t really need to buy anything as an MC than to work on your humors (i.e. Be funny enough to catch audience attention) and public speaking skill.

As a DJ, you need to have a laptop even if you can’t afford a deck yet. Also know the right songs to play at a particular ceremony.

10. FOREX and Cryptocurrency

This is not a financial advise!

I’m sure you’ve heard about FOREX and cryptocurrency before now. Well, it’s one of the lucrative business ideas you can venture into.

NOTE that FOREX and Crypto trading is very risky, you can loose lot of money and on the other hand, earn lot of profit if your analysis is correct.

I will never advise you to venture into FOREX trading as a beginner, you need to learn the nitty-gritty of how it works and how to trade it.

In the meanwhile, you can invest and make money in cryptocurrency without trading it. Yes, it is possible. If you will like to know how, check this blog post on 8 ways to make money with cryptocurrency.

Again, don’t put your money in FOREX now until you know how it works!

Conclusion: Best Business Ideas for Students in Nigeria?

That wraps it for us on this post. You’ve seen some of the easy but profitable business ideas for students in Nigeria that can fetch you some bucks.

But I’ll also like to hear from you if you are or were a student. What are you currently doing to make money? And if you’re no longer a student, what idea(s) did fetch you some money in your school days? Hit me up in the comments.

Top 10 Business Ideas for Students in Nigeria – To Make Money Easily