INTRODUCTION

Nigeria is experiencing a surge in youth entrepreneurship and as time goes by we crave for more ways to expand our businesses and lives in general. Investing in yourself with an opportunity that could elevate your life to the next level is the best choice you can make in your early youth. What’s more? It won’t just be an excuse to add to your skill set you can also make life time career choices from entrepreneurship. The digital age we live in has made it possible for us to have a wide range of business ideas to choose. From businesses that involve leveraging on tech to business that require you to just monetize on your knowledge alone no investment needed.

Note that when deciding on what business idea to venture into there are certain things to take to consideration. Such as your personal interest, and a skill you know you can have leverage over. What I mean by this is you might already have a certain personal, digital or even management skill that can help further your strengths in your selected business. As they are already a wide range to select from. You have to be certain it’s something you have deep interest for, something you will be willing to dedicate your time to and something you can be ready to get your hands dirty for.

 

 

TOP BUSINESS IDEAS FOR ASPIRING YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

 

SERVICE BASED BUSINESS:

Freelance Writing:

 

Freelance Writing is working as an independent writer without the restrictions of a 9-5 routine but rather working on a project by project basis. With the ever growing demand for online content, the demand for Freelance Writers will never run out. Be it for the sake of just writing content to entertain or writing content to persuade people’s emotions.

One of my favorite things about Freelance Writers is the flexibility it comes with, you’ll be able to decide when you want to work and how much you want to get paid depending on your level of expertise. There are several career paths involved with Freelance Writing such as Content Writing, Copywriting, Technical Writing and SEO writers. These examples are only just the surface of what Freelance Writing really entails so if you still have any questions feel free to do more research on each of them.

 

Virtual Assistant Services:

 

A Virtual Assistant is a self employed professional who provides administrative, technical or creative assistance to their clients all while working from home. Their duty is to help top professionals who already have too much on their plate perform a range of certain tasks which includes scheduling their appointments, managing their documents and even performing other creative assistance like content writing, editing, proofreading and social media content creation.

 

Social Media Management:

 

 

Social Media Management is the process of managing a company or individual’s presence on any social media platform. With the ever growing internet platform that is social media every business that wants to grow needs to have a strong presence not only in the physical world but also in the digital world. Working as a social media manager means you are responsible for the company’s entire growth on social media. You are also responsible for creating engaging content like posts, stories and to manage all paid advertisement campaigns on social media to make sure it gets as many traffic and clients as possible.

As a young entrepreneur you can get started in social media management by taking free courses on platforms such as Coursera, Udemy and even YouTube’s free courses.

There are also other ways to get started: Earning certifications from platforms such as Facebook to increase your reputability to potential clients.

Having a portfolio as you build yourself as a social media manager, so you can have evidence to show your potential clients your standard at work.

 

Graphic Designing:

 

 

I assume you’re not a stranger to Graphic Designing. As businesses grow day by day there will always be an unending need for someone to take care of all their visual needs and that’s where you can come in. Just like a social media manager is responsible for a business’s presence in the digital world you can be responsible for all the visuals required including the face of the company itself (logo), you’ll create all their flyers including all of their social media designs as well.

Unlike Freelance Writing where you work solely on project by project basis, Graphic Deisgn offers the choice of either working 9-5 or freelancing. Working as a graphic designer in a 9-5 means you could be paid monthly or even hourly depending on the organization. While freelancing means you get paid per job done while this is a good choice I would personally advice that as a graphic designer especially one that’s just starting you would be better at a 9-5. Even as new business continue to rise daily it should come to you as no suprise that the community of graphic designers have become an over saturated one. Therefore if you work as a freelancer there’s no guarantee when next you’ll get paid but if you’re at a 9-5 you gain the experience of working with a company and a steady income just make sure to look out for over exploitative companies.

 

Online Tutoring/Coaching:

What is that field you’re an expert at? That thing you know you’re so knowledgeable about more than most people? If you have one get seated this is going to blow your mind. That knowledge you have that’s just living in your head rent free doing nothing this is the time to make use of it and by that I mean you can make money with it.

If you don’t have product to sell and you don’t have any skill to offer then this is for you, why not sell that knowledge you already have.

Instead of practicing makeup as an artist why not teach people how to do it, instead of just selling baked goods why not teach people how to bake. Sell the knowledge within the skill. If you don’t have any knowledge yet don’t worry learn something valuable for a small fee and resell it. This is the same practice some of the biggest names in Nigeria are involved in take a look at Hilda Baci for instance her cooking class earned her a whooping 140 million naira and this was just one class. People will always have a thirst for knowledge and the more valuable the better.

 

Event Planning:

 

 

An event planner’s job is to cater to businesses or individuals who want a stress-free event execution. The main aim is they get paid and take away all the stress for their clients all while providing a smooth sailing event.

For an event planner the most important skill you should have is organization and attention to detail. As I already mentioned an event planner’s main aim is to take all the stress off of their clients, being keen to the slightest detail and proper organization are needed to take off that stress.

 

Dropshipping:

You might have heard about this a million times before but what is Dropshipping? Dropshipping is a business model where you list products on your online store, a customer placed order, you forward the order to your supplier then the supplier then ships the product directly to your customer. Best part about it is it has low to zero startup cost. Essentially you act as a middleman, connecting customers with suppliers and then profiting from the markup on the product price.

This is a business model practiced by some of the biggest companies in the world from Jumia to Alibaba to the trillion dollar company known as Amazon. Feel free to do more research on the business mogul that is Dropshipping and decide if it’s the right business for you.

 

Print-on-Demand Clothing:

 

 

Have you ever wanted to own a clothing line but you’re worried about the high costs? Don’t worry that’s what POD clothing is for. What it entails is you buy clothes already and then print your designs onto them, this is a business venture that tests your creativity rather than your fashion design skills. Best part about it is the minimal cost, you just buy the ready made clothes and design them according to your customer’s needs.

 

Upcycled/Resale Clothing Boutique:

 

 

Upcycled clothing involves taking pre-existing garments or textiles and transforming them into entirely new and fashionable pieces. It’s basically just giving an old cloth a second chance at life but with a creative twist. This is a business model for someone who’s eco friendly. Imagine transforming an old pair of jeans into a skirt or an old textile into a tote bag. It is important to make sure that the old textile or garments isn’t one that has suffered several wear and tears it should be practiced with only abandoned but still good clothing not torn ones.

 

Baked Goods/Food Delivery:

 

Everybody likes food right? So selecting this as your business should be a no brainer, but if you want to go even further ahead try targeting foodies or busy people who you know appreciate such delicious treats. In the business of baked goods the food delivery is just as important as the baked goods itself. It doesn’t matter how delicious that cake or that milky doughnut looks if it never gets to your customer’s doorstep it’s just a waste.

 

Subscription Box Service:

 

 

A notable example of this is the Valentine package you already know about. This business model is a cross breed between product based and service based. They curate a box of unique items following a specific theme or interest. The business centers on the theme it was created. For instance during valentine period, the packages are created to celebrate the season of love and during Christmas the packages are created to represent the season’s greetings.

There’s another part of this business which is also the pillar of the business and that is customer retention. This is all about keeping people subscribed to your service because subscription boxes rely on repeat business.

 

App Development:

 

 

Surely you must already be aware of what app development, this is basically a skill involved in that uses operating system that enables you to code apps.

If you want to get into app development here’s a tip on what might give you inspiration.

Take a look around the apps you use and target a specific need or a problem with one of them preferably a user-friendly app. Pick out that problem and be the renowned solution to it.

If you don’t know how to develop apps don’t worry there are several free courses available on platforms like Coursera and Udemy. And if you’re unable to find a course that suits you, YouTube is always ready to provide you free resources that can help you in your path to learning app development.

 

Web Development:

 

 

As the name implies web developer is someone that develops websites they use certain tools to create the websites we see on our day to day basis from the back end to the full scale web developing. If you’ve ever thought of going into web designing now it’s the time more than ever, as the growing demand for this high paying skill increases as technology progresses. Just like for App Development there is a wealth of free resources available for you to delve into this skill as a career best part just like app development you don’t need any sort of degree for you to get started.

 

 

CONCLUSION:

When choosing a business idea to delve in the most important thing is your passion for it.

If you’re really determined to become an entrepreneur you should take charge by doing further research to develop a solid business plan for yourself.

Utilize YouTube to its fullest, take online courses and even mentorship programs if you can and remem

ber that the most important thing for the business you choose is one you have deep