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20 Profitable Online Businesses to Start With 5K in Nigeria

Last updated on April 4th, 2023 at 05:53 am

What online business can I start with 5k in Nigeria?

You are reading this post most likely because you have realized that you can make money online and that is why you are in search of online business ideas you can start with 5k in Nigeria.

Do you know that about 109.2 million Nigerians were online as of January 2022?, which is about 51 percent of the Nigerian population. 

The statistics above mean that there are opportunities for more people to start an online business and make money in Nigeria.

There are a lot of ways to make money online in Nigeria but this post will focus on the top 20 online businesses you can start with 5k in Nigeria. 

Before we go deep into discussing the online business you can start with 5k you need to know the meaning of online business.

What is an online business in Nigeria?

Marketing business news defines online business as the activity of buying and selling goods and services online. 

This means whatever activity you do online that has to do with providing services or selling products can be tagged as an online business.

If you have ever sold anything to anyone online or provided a service to someone you are already an online business person.

In Nigeria, there are a lot of people, with a high percentage of them being youths doing different kinds of business online and making money.

Therefore, if it is possible for them to make money online in Nigeria, it is possible for you to also make money online in Nigeria if you are patient enough to learn the principles and apply them.

Online businesses you can start with 5k in Nigeria:

1. Information Marketing

Information marketing is the selling of information online through one or all of the available platforms on the internet.

People are selling all kinds of information online and making six figures. Some examples of information people sell online are 

  1. Skills
  2. Experience 
  3. Expertise 

If you are good at a particular skill, you can create a course or an ebook and sell it to people online. People in Nigeria are open to learning online therefore if you have a skill and know how to teach and market it, you will create a six-figure business in Nigeria before you know it.

The saying in Nigeria “that no knowledge or experience is a waste” is correct, because whatever your experience, good or bad can be used to impart to others positively. 

There are information marketers that are showing people how to overcome negative or bad experiences. For example, if you have gone through depression and come out of it, you can show others how to do the same.

Your expertise in a particular profession can be a gold mine also if you position yourself as an authority online in that field.

You don’t need to have hundreds of thousands to start selling your knowledge, all you need is knowledge, skill, knowledge, or expertise in a specific field or niche, an internet connection, a laptop or smartphone, and a marketing strategy.

Stephanie Obi, Toyin Omotosho, Sam Harvard, Triciabiz, Emeka Nobis, and Emmanuel Akpe are examples of Information marketers making six figures online in Nigeria.

2. Website Design

You can learn website design and start your online business in Nigeria with less than 5k or less. Anyone with a passion to learn, an internet connection, and a personal computer can learn website design within a few weeks.

There are easy ways to design a website, you don’t have to learn how to code, there are website builders and content management systems (CMS) available for you to use to design a website within a few hours.

A website builder is software with already made templates available for you to drag and drop. Most website builders categorize the website templates based on their purpose. If you want to design a real estate website, all you have to do is pick a template from the category and your website will be live in minutes.

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Some examples of website builders are Olitt, Wix, Weebly, and Zyro.

Another way to design a website is by using WordPress, WordPress powers 43 % of the websites in the world.

WordPress has two platforms, WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Use WordPress.org if you want to design professional websites for people. 

It is free to use but you have to buy hosting and domain for the website you want to design.

There are lots of Webhosting platforms where you can buy hosting and domain for the website you want to design but Truehost is among the most affordable Webhosting companies in the world.

After buying your hosting and domain from Truehost or any other platform, you will need to install WordPress to get started.

WordPress has thousands of free themes and plugins for you to use to design a beautiful website online. 

WordPress Themes are software with already made templates while Plugins are software that adds functionality to your WordPress website.

There are a lot of free Youtube tutorials you can use to learn WordPress website design if you don’t have money to pay for a course.

3. Freelancing 

Freelancing is the art of selling skills online. Do you know the way artisans work offline? It is the same way freelancers work online.

When you want a tailor to sew your clothes, you will tell him or her how to sew them and then pay the person for that service. In the same vein, people sell digital skills online and get paid for different clients.

Freelancers are not limited to one client, they can work for numerous clients at the same time.

If you want to be a freelancer in Nigeria, the first step is to learn a skill, because you need to use a skill to provide services to people online in exchange for money.

There are freelancing sites that connect freelancers and clients for a commission. Some popular freelancing sites are Freelancer, Upwork, and Fiverr. 

You can sell digital skills like content writing, website design, copywriting, and script writing.

4. Vlogging 

Vlogging is short for Video logging. It has to do with sharing video content online frequently. Vimeo, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube are some platforms you can use to start your vlogging business.

Even though there are a lot of platforms you can use to start vlogging, the popular one among them is YouTube. YouTube is more like a search engine for video content.

People go on YouTube to make a query and Google also brings up YouTube content when a query is made, this means YouTubing exposes your content to a lot of people online.

You can make money on YouTube through Google ads, affiliate marketing, and influencer marketing.

It costs nothing to create a YouTube page and the process is simple. However, the difficult part is in creating quality video content that people will love. 

You will need to have video editing, script writing, and marketing skills to grow your page in addition to creating quality content on a frequent basis.

Yes, it is possible for you to start a vlogging business in Nigeria with less than 5k, but you will have to invest more money as time goes on to grow the business.

Popular Nigerian comedians like Mark Angel, OGB recent, Oga Sabinus, and Mr. Macaroni make money on YouTube and other vlogging platforms through Google Adsense and advertisement.

5. SEO Content Writing

Content marketing is an important part of digital marketing that cannot be overlooked because the content is what brings visibility to a business. Therefore, businesses require content writers to help them in marketing.

For a business or a brand to gain visibility on search engines like Google and Bing, they need to create SEO-optimized content on their website’s blog. 

You can learn SEO content Writing and start selling your services online to businesses, organizations, and individuals. 

There are free courses that can teach you SEO content writing if you can take the time to research and study.

This skill requires having an internet connection, a laptop, or a phone.

6. Graphic designing

Graphic design is an online business idea in Nigeria that is evergreen, brands and organizations will need to create banners, flyers, magazines and the likes for them.

Learning this skill has been made easy by the various software now available online. You can use Pixellab, Stencil and Canva to make your designs within a few minutes. These platforms have templates you can edit to meet your needs or the needs of your clients.

There are a lot of free guides and tutorials online for you to take advantage of to start your graphic design business in Nigeria.

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7. Facebook Ad Specialist

Facebook is the social media with the highest number of users in the world and it has 36 million active users in Nigeria as of March 2022. No wonder businesses now want to advertise there because that is where their target market can be located.

You cannot just wake up one day to create Facebook and think you will do good, it requires skills and insight. You will need to learn how to craft a good copy, design a captivating image, create a campaign and even analyze and optimize a campaign.

For you to create a good Facebook campaign you will need to have an understanding of the above and even more. Most business owners or influencers will not have the time or patience to learn them, they will rather outsource the tasks to specialists.

This has created the opportunity for you to create your online business in Nigeria with 5k through Facebook advertisements.

8. Self-publish on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

Amazon is an American multinational company that focuses on eCommerce, cloud computing and others. They have an offer on their website for authors to publish books themselves online for free.

You will only be charged when a purchase is made. You can self-publish hard and soft copies on their platform. 

Whenever people buy your book or books, the money will reflect on your dashboard. However, for your books to sell, you will need to market them.

You can make much money online through Amazon self-publishing if you are willing to learn the ropes.

9. Blogging

Blogging refers to writing done frequently on a platform to engage with people. Blog posts are usually published frequently. Some examples of platforms you can use to blog for free are Medium, Blogger, WordPress.com and LinkedIn.

But if you want to make money on your blog you should use WordPress.org. You have learned previously in this post that WordPress is free to download.

However, it will cost you to buy hosting and domain. Again, if you want advanced customization and features on your blog, you will have to pay for premium themes and plugins.

When you start blogging in a particular niche, you will be able to build authority in that niche. Being an authority in a field opens doors of opportunities for you to make money online through speaking gigs, consultancy and influencing.

You can buy free hosting from Truehost to start your blog in Nigeria.

And you can also make money on your blog through affiliate marketing, Google AdSense, sponsored ads etc.

10. Social Media Marketing

Nigeria has over 30 million active social media users that can be reached online. Businesses need Social managers to post content on their social media pages and also engage with their followers.

If you have good communication and writing skills, it will be easy for you to become a social media manager in Nigeria. You need to understand how each platform works and how people engage with them to be a good social media manager.

11. Dropshipping

Here is another one of the best online businesses to start with 5K in Nigeria.

Dropshipping business idea is becoming a popular way of making money online in Nigeria, this business has to do buying and selling of goods without having the goods physically in stock.

With this business, you can have an agreement with vendors to display their products on your platform (social media accounts or e-commerce website) for people to see and order. Whenever an order is made, the vendor will then ship the goods directly to the buyer without your involvement. And you will get your commission as the middleman.

This business doesn’t cost a fortune to start in Nigeria.

12. Copywriting   

Copywriting is the art of writing with the sole purpose of selling. Copywriters are paid high because a good copy can bring in high returns.

Copywriters are called salesmen in print, for you to be a good content writer you will need to learn the art, science and psychology of selling.

This online business idea can make you a fortune if you can master the skill.

13. Sell second-hand products online

Jiji allows people to sell second-hand products. You can start an online business where you sell second-hand products on their platform.

Do you have clothes or any other products that are still in good condition that you don’t use? You can sell it online and also start buying and selling second-hand products on these platforms.

You can sell products like machine parts, cars, clothes, jewellery, and even phones and laptops. Narrowing it down to one or two products will go a long way in helping you scale your business.

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14. Offer SEO services

SEO means search engine optimization, this service involves understanding how Google works and then using the knowledge to position a website to perform well on search engine result pages.

Since many businesses in Nigeria want to create an online business, they need to optimise their websites to perform well when people make queries online through search engines.

They will need the services of SEO experts to achieve this. There are professional courses that will teach you about SEO and you can start a blog to implement the skill.

This is another one of the best online businesses to start with 5K in Nigeria.

15. Video editing

When people shoot videos they need the skill of a video editor to give life to the video being created.

Without the touch of a video editor, videos won’t be captivating as they are today. Video editors add sound, and remove unnecessary scenes and mistakes.

Video editors can also make videos for businesses to market their products and services online. 

This online business idea is still in demand and will continue to be on the increase because of the high rate of video content consumption.

Video editing business you can start online with 5k in Nigeria.

16. VTU resell business

Reselling of airtime and data, recharging of DSTV, GoTv, free TV and the likes still have a market because these services are meeting recurrent needs.

People will renew their data and TV subscription anytime it finishes, they also recharge their phones at least weekly. You now see that there will always be people out there in need of these services.

With a small amount you can pay a website designer to design a VTU reseller website for you to start your online business.

17. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is marketing the services or products of a merchant for a commission. Affiliates use their blogs, vlogs, podcasts and social media accounts to market these products and services for an agreed commission.

You need to look for merchants who have products or services in your niche, register for their affiliate programs, get your unique affiliate links from them and share them with your audience.

Some platforms have different affiliate programs that you can register with to get your commission. Some of them are the Amazon affiliate program, CJ junction and in Nigeria, we have Expertnaire and Learnoflix.

18. Sell on online marketplaces

Online marketplaces like Jumia, Konga and Jiji allow people to sell their products on their platforms.

These online marketplaces have millions of monthly visitors searching for products to buy so your products will be exposed to a lot of people when you put them there.

Each platform has a system of getting commission for its services, you need to look for the one that you love and start selling.

19. Start your e-commerce business

Instead of selling on online marketplaces, you can create your e-commerce website where you sell your products yourself without having to pay anyone commission.

And you also have control over the website, you can place your products at any position you want to on your website.

The downside to this is that you will have to market the website yourself. But if you know how to market your website effectively, you will reap the dividends.

You can create your eCommerce store using Olitt store for free, the store will allow you to sell your products online with ease.

20. Create and sell ebooks

You can create ebooks in your area of expertise and sell them online. What you do with ease is not easy for everyone. 

When people perceive you as an authority or brand in a niche, they will buy your ebooks.

With your writing skills and the right marketing strategy, you will be able to sell your books with 5k in Nigeria.

Some things you need to know before you start an online business with 5k in Nigeria.

1. You need to have a smartphone and internet connection

It is impossible for you to start an online business in Nigeria with 5k without a smartphone and an internet connection.

Therefore, you will have to get a good smartphone if you don’t have one and also have access to a good internet connection.

2. You need the patience to learn

Don’t expect to start a business newly and start making millions within 1 month or two, you will need to be patient to learn the ropes and implement the principles.

You will fail, but don’t give up, try again.

Conclusion

Starting an online business in Nigeria with 5k is not the problematic part, nurturing and growing the business is where the work comes in, however, if you have the fortitude to grow the business you won’t regret starting it.

Importantly, you need to know that the 5k you are using to start the online business is just seed capital, to grow your online business in Nigeria, you will need to spend more and invest more in your growing the online business.

Finally, don’t just stop at reading the post, pick one or two of the business ideas and learn to start making money online in Nigeria.

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