Business in Nigeria - potential opportunitiesBusiness in Nigeria - The ones that thriveWith a population of over 140 million people, Nigeria has the largest population in Africa. Many business opportunities exist and many of them thrive despite economic hardships because of massive patronage they enjoy from the local market. In manufacturing, only consumer products thrive at the moment. Pharmaceutical companies, Food processing companies, Computer Assembly plants, Agro based industries plastic making and polythene products as well as chemical making, furniture making, shoe making and glass making all do very well financially. The primary challenge of most businesses in Nigeria is electricity supply which is very poor. Most businesses provide their own power supply mostly using diesel powered generators and still go the extra mile to provide their own bore holes for water supply. In addition, valuable man hours is lost in traffic owing mainly to bad road networks, vehicular congestion or sometimes during trade disputes between workers unions and government, there might be fuel scarcity too. Industries specializing in providing industrial or commercial products are very few indeed and new prospects or entrants will require assurances of a less harsh operating environment. Most business men prefer to import used or brand new Automobiles, electronics, computers and their accessories or other consumer products like cosmetics, fashion accessories, furniture, drugs, paper products and chemicals than to invest in the local manufacture of same because Nigerians prefer foreign brands to local brands. Potential opportunitiesCurrently, Nigeria is the fastest growing GSM market in the world with well over 50 million subscribers signing up in 7 years (between 2002 and 2009) mobile phone use is at an all time high. The need for foreign investors to open phone and computer factories that will make well known foreign brands will be a suitable investment as Nigeria’s demand for them is very high. These will be even more attractive after incentives such as tax breaks and industrial parks and business resorts are thrown in. At the moment we have the TINAPA business resort operating in Cross River state in southern Nigeria, while the EKO Business Resort, an ongoing project of the Lagos State Mega city project team is scheduled to be completed before 2015. It's real estate, stupid.With such harsh conditions, a business in Nigeria including lucrative ones often have high over heads but are known to have potential for quick returns. One of such businesses is real estate and properties. Properties in places like Abuja, Lagos (Victoria Island, Lekki, Ikoyi and High brow places of Ikeja like Allen Avenue, Opebi, Adeniyi Jones and GRA) and Port Harcourt are very attractive forms of investments due to the rate of returns which is quite quick. Among the most lucrative areas for real estate in Nigeria is Ikoyi. Property values have been rising steadily and astronomically in the last 10 years with valuation for some properties showing a steady growth rate of at least 30% per annum. Find out more about properties in Ikoyi Lagos. Real estate business in Nigeria New! CommentsLeave a comment. |