Upcomming Online Business Opps in Nigeria (1)

Let's examine the Opportunities as a result of these growing internet users

From the data available from NCC, the present subscriber data shows that 86m users are online in Nigeria and 80% of these online users are mobile. A little mathematical calculation shows that the figure will hit 100m plus by 2016 and that is huge indeed.

The first casualty to this growth will be the cost of shop rentals as the market place will shift dramatically.

Let us examine these opportunities one by one for the next one week

Small scale farmers

I was in Jos just some few weeks ago and I met a farmer harvesting cucumber. I asked him if he will be willing to sell to me and he said why not. Well I requested for a 500Naira cucumber and I was taken aback when he filled a bucket for me. Wow! That was a 5000Naira cucumber in Abuja.

The distance between Abuja and Jos is just less than 400km and the price disparity is unbelievable in terms of these farm produce.

Think of a situation where this farmer could sell his farm produce straight to me in Abuja without my presence in Jos. If he can go online to do his business then he will have almost 80m customers available for his market. That will turn him around within months.

How can this be done?

Well, all it will take is for the farmers to form a cooperative society of some kind create an online presence where they showcase their wares, this online presence can also be provided via a third party who collects commission from the farmers sales as a fee for the provision of the online facility, and advertise their presence, and they are in business, directly from the farm to the consumer.

The advantages are win-win; a win for the farmer where he gets a bigger bargain and a larger market and larger volume of sales, for the consumer, he is getting fresh farm vegetables at bargain prices.

What of delivery and payment

The delivery business to the consumer presents another business opportunity for entrepreneurs. It does present an opportunity for logistic companies to restructure new business model that will fit into this new market place. Delivery of the goods from the point of sale to the consumer premises is a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs. This can be on fix contract basis between the farmer’s cooperatives and the logistic company who will in turn provide the warehousing and fresh quick delivery of these fresh farm goods within specific time frames.

I have purposely started discussing these opportunities from the trivial; that is from opportunities we overlook, and then we will migrate to the great ones.

What about payments? The CBN BVN will make it very easy to dictate a fraudulent manipulation in the payment system. But again there is countless online and mobile payment opportunities present today to make payment easy and convenient. Of course you cannot rule out risks 100%, it will always be there but it is manageable and fraud very easily dateable and curtailed.

I have used the vegetable farmers as an example, but these same opportunities applies to poultry farmers producing lots of egg and any other type of farming including snail, etc.

The point is that the huge online market square will turn around the way we will be doing business from next year. The key drivers will be:

1.       Form a recognizable cooperative or union

2.       Open up an online presence

3.       Create an awareness through the traditional media as well as the social media

4.       Establish an acceptable payment methods

5.       Organize a delivery method

6.       And……. Smile to the banks

Tomorrow, we will examine how the artisans; mechanics, electricians, plumbers will benefit from these opps, as well.