50 Profitable Small Businesses You Can Start with Less Than ₦200,000

Are you tired of the 8-to-5 grind? Are you out of job or retired and are looking a start a business of your own but do not know which business to start? Do you have an entrepreneurial fire in your belly but are being held back by a lack of massive capital? You are not alone. The majority of successful entrepreneurs started this way, with a simple idea and a little money and took it from there.

The truth is that you do not need millions of Naira to start a profitable small business venture. With the right idea, creativity, dedication, and planning, ₦200,000 is more than enough seed capital for you to start a business that can grow into a significant revenue stream for you over time.

At BusinessTrumpet News, we are all about empowering entrepreneurs and business owners. Here is our list of 50 profitable small businesses you can establish with less than ₦200,000.

1. Food & Beverage (A Constant Need)
Here we are referring to small-scale catering services: Specialize in offering office lunches, food at small events, or even meal subscriptions on a daily basis to people around you.

2. Home-made Snack Production: Make and package chin chin, akara, moi-moi, bunns, plantain chips, puff-puff, peanut burger or cookies for distribution and sale to shops and schools.

3. Fruit Juice & Smoothie Stand: A cool and healthy alternative with high demand especially in hot weather, e.g., providing fresh mango juice, fresh orange juice, watermelon juice, carrot juice, etc.

4. Pastry & Cake Baking: Start from home. There’s always a demand for birthday cakes, small chops, and pastries.

5. Zobo & Chapman Production: Package these refreshing Nigerian drinks chilled in bottles for sale to supermarkets, bars, and event planners.

6. Foodstuff “Thing” Business: Buy garri, rice, or beans in bulk, re-bag into smaller portions, and resell at a profit.

7. Soya Bean (Okpa) Production: One of the most popular and nutritious snacks, especially in the eastern part of Nigeria.

8. Suya/Kilishi Joint: One of the most loved Nigerian delicacies. You can start with a small grill in a strategic location.

9. Sharwarma, Barbecue and Asun. These foods have become a staple pleasure and delicacy in Nigeria. Why not start one. The start-up capital is low and all you require is a nice location and a grill, which you can make from an empty steel drum and you are in business. For the barbecue business you can buy a local grill or buy a second-hand grill and you are in business.

10. Home-made Ice Cream: A highly profitable business, especially near schools and residential neighborhoods.

11. Egg Boiling & Distribution: Supply boiled eggs to supermarkets, clubs, and bars.

12. Phone Accessories Retailing: Hire a stall and start selling phone accessories like phone cases, phone screens, earphones, power banks, and chargers from a small shop or through social media.

13. Kids’ Wear & Toys: A consistent market exists for children’s wear and apparel from months old up to five to ten year olds at reasonable prices. Parents like their kids to look great and you can make them content with the apparel

14. Beauty Supply Store: Hair attachments, creams, makeup, and other beauty products are always in demand. Sell them.

15. Soap & Detergent Production: Produce and sell liquid soaps, dish liquids, bar soaps, chemical and organic-free soap substitutes. These are all reusable and always needed.

16. Essential Oils Production: Start producing essential oils like coconut oil, avocado oil, groundnut oil, almond oil, palm kernel oil and many more. Households and families need these natural products for us.

17. Thrift Store (Okirika): Buy good conditioned second-hand clothes and shoes and resell at affordable prices.

18. Perfume & Body Spray Retail: Buy wholesale and repack for retail buyers.

19. Souvenir & Gift Items: You can supply souvenir items for wedding, anniversaries, and for other events and celebrations. You can also make customized T-Shirts & Mugs for people.

20. Plant & Seedling Sales: With more individuals gardening, sales of seeds, plants, and flowers can be profitable.

Services (Profit from Your Skills)

21. POS Business: A vital service during a cash-strapped economy. Secure a good location.

22. Laundry & Dry Cleaning Service: Offer dry cleaning and laundry services with pickup and delivery for working professionals. You can also offer ironing services for those with home washing machines but no time to iron clothes.

23. Barbing Salon: Essential service for men. A neat, clean space is essential to attract clients and to keep growing. Search fir good neighborhoods and areas with good foot traffic

24. Makeup Artist: Build a portfolio in makeup artistry and offer your services to people and women. Target those who go to and prepare for weddings, events, occasions and also those who love their appearances.

25. Event Planning: Start with children’s parties or small corporate events.

26. Home Cleaning Services: Offer your cleaning services to individuals’ homes and offices, especially extremely busy people and working class women who lack the time to perform this on their own.

27. Personal Professional Organization: In this, you can become a personal assistant to people and offer your services in organizing and decluttering their homes, offices and activities.

28. Errand Running/Concierge Service: Save time for busy people by running their errands.

30. Mobile Car Wash & Detailing: Go to the client’s home or office.

31. Social Media Management: Make an offer to help small businesses and Professionals with managing their online presence like their social media pages, LinkedIn pages, Instagram pages, thread and twitter handles and any other online media they wish to use

32. Freelance Writing/Blogging: Create content for websites and blogs. You can also start your own niche blog.

33. Graphic Design Services: Offer logo, flyer, and branding package designing services to businesses and organizations. You may also offer this to printers and fashion designers

34. Virtual Assistant Services: Offer administrative services to executives or businesses from a remote location, including those in other countries and in faraway places. The beauty of these is that you may be paid in foreign exchange.

35. Web Design with WordPress and Joomla: Design and maintain simple, professional websites for small businesses with WordPress and Joomla themes and plugins

36. Digital Marketing Consultant: This is a very broad and growing business niche. You can help businesses advertise on Google, Binge, Yahoo, and other social media platforms.

37. Cybersecurity Consultancy for SMEs: Cybersecurity is becoming a bigger threat to small businesses. Every year the cybercriminal try to find loopholes to attack and drain millions of Dollars and small businesses are worst hit because they lack the competencies. You can come in here to help these small businesses to secure their online and other digital assets.

38. Online and Home Tuition: Teach a skill or a subject you are good at to school children, exam prep students and others interested in that skill like piano and keyboard, dance, etc.

39. Start a Podcasting Service: Start a podcast on a niche topic or area of interest that is in demand and that you are conversant with and make money from digital ads and from sponsorships.

40. Content creation. Start creating content and become a Youtuber or Tiktoker. Choose a niche, or a skit/comedy skit and start creating and uploading contents. When you have reached a threshold as decided by the Youtube or Tiktok you start making money.

41. E-commerce Store: Use platforms like Jumia or open a simple Instagram store to sell goods.

Agro-Business (Back to Basics)

42. Snail Farming: Requires little space and high export value.

43. Poultry Farming (Layer Birds): Start with a few birds to sell eggs.

44. Rabbit and Grass Cutter Farming: Good for a source of lean meat that is gaining popularity and in very high demand all over Nigeria

45. Crop Farming (Vegetables): Grow vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, or peppers in bags or a small plot of land.

46. Bee Keeping and Honey Production: Natural honey is always in demand because of the health benefits and people are looking for honey as alternative to sugar. So that your honey business and meet peoples tastes and demand.

Creative & Handmade

47. Shoe & Bag Making: It’s a simple but required service. Train as a shoe maker or a cobbler and start making shoes and handbags and sell to shops, women, and workers

48. Interior Decoration: Get creative and decorate people’s homes and events on a budget.
49. Tailoring Services / Fashion Design: If you have the fashion sense and tailoring, you can start with a sewing machine and from home start stitching clothes for men and women. Fashion and tailoring are always in demand because people like to look good

50. Bead & Craft Making: Create jewelry and accessories to sell.

Key to Success in Starting Small Businesses:

It’s Not Just About the Idea. Getting the business off the ground is one thing; making a profit is another. Here are three important tips:

• Do Your Market Research: Don’t just jump in. Who are your customers? Who is your competition? Is there an actual need for your product/service?
• Start Small & Scale: Let your ₦200,000 count. Don’t buy everything all at once. Start lean, test the waters, and reinvest your profits into your business so as to grow.
• Market Your Products and Services Online: In today’s business world, online presence is essential if you want to succeed. To do this, you can utilize free online platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Thread, and WhatsApp to reach out to the public and to your potential customers

So, what is holding you back from starting your own business – money, fear, opportunities? Do not let any of these hold you back, your journey to financial independence starts with a single step. Choose your passion, pick a business from this list, and plan it out today. Which business among these gets you the most excited? Tell us in the comments below!