Businesses You Can Start With One Million Naira In 2024

The best businesses you can start with one million naira in 2024 are palm oil trading, mini-importation, clothing selling, and pig farming.

It’s 2024, and with the economic state of Nigeria, having a successful business is beginning to look like an impossible adventure. 

The endless upward surge in prices and the declining value of the local currency are making the cost of setting up even the smallest businesses a far-fetched idea.

This discourages a lot of young entrepreneurs who genuinely want to start businesses. If you are such a person, don’t fret because, in this article, we will explore businesses you can start with one million naira in Nigeria.

The businesses we will mention can be started and set up with an initial capital of just one million.

We will also discuss later in this article how to choose which business is best suited for you.

10 Businesses You Can Start With One Million Naira In 2024

1. Palm Oil Trading Business

Although you might not be thinking about this one because it’s not so famous, let me be the bearer of good news and tell you that this is number 1 on the list of businesses you can start with one million naira and see more than a 500% return.

The reason it’s not so popular is because the people in the business are tight-lipped about it.

So, how do you do it? There are two approaches to it,

The first one is to buy gallons of palm oil from suppliers at #6000 to #10000 per gallon and stock it (oil can stay for years without spoiling) and then sell it when the price shoots high in scarcity, as oil scarcity is frequent. You can sell a gallon for as high as #20,000 a gallon during the scarcity.

I am confident about this because some members of my extended family do this, and you would be amazed at the turnover they can get from just doing that simple thing.

The second approach is to lease palm plantations, pay people to harvest them monthly, and sell the bunches to people who process palm fruits. 

A bag of palm fruits sells for up to #8000, and 5 bunches of palm fruits can give you two bags. The lease cost can be about #200,000 per year for a plantation of 200 palm trees.

If the monthly average of tree production is five bunches, and with our estimate, you can imagine the profit that will come immediately after you start.

Regarding Businesses, you can start with one million naira; palm oil trading is easily one of the best.

2. Mini-Importation

This is another popular option; here, you buy products depending on your niche interest from China on Chinese eCommerce websites like 1688, Alibaba, and AliExpress for a much lower price than it would usually be sold in the Nigerian market, pay for their delivery to Nigeria, and then resell the products in the Nigerian market at a significantly marked up price.

For example, those fancy traveling bags that can charge your phone cost #15,000 in the Chinese market; however, after getting it in Nigeria and spending an additional #10,000 for delivery, you can easily sell it for as much as #70,000.

You can do it for shoes, clothes, bags, etc. The only downside of this business is waiting for your goods to arrive in Nigeria.

3. Buka Restaurant

Yes, food businesses are expensive in Nigeria, but no one said you must start with a big, high-end restaurant setting. 

You can start with a roadside restaurant, preferably located alongside a place with high human traffic or large population density. 

The good thing about the food business is that every price increase can be added to food prices, and people would not complain so much.

With about #200,000, you can get a place, buy canopies or tents, buy rubber tables and chairs for your customers, and then use the rest to source cooking implements and foodstuffs. 

Foodstuffs can be obtained relatively cheaply in the big markets. You can then buy your cold drinks and water from ice block stations or other shops, as those are crucial in the food business.

4. POS Business

We know many people are already doing the POS business, but that number still needs to be increased for many people who require money daily. 

The best places to station a POS are the roadside, universities, markets, and banks. These places have an almost infinite number of people requiring money daily. 

With around, #100,000, you can get a good POS terminal and use the rest as money capital. If you want to go big, you can even employ someone, pay them around #20,000 a month, and have them operate another terminal for you while you have one.

As you grow, you can expand to have multiple terminals in multiple locations.

5. Cooking Gas Business

This is another worthy mention on the list of businesses you can start with one million naira; this is because the number of people using gas cylinders is growing exponentially, and not all have the strength to reach a gas-filling station.

They prefer buying it from roadside shops like the one you will be setting up and paying extra. You can charge up to #200 extra per kg and make some cool cash daily.

The capital costs will include setting up the shop and buying equipment like large cylinders, scales, and all the other required equipment.

All costs will be at most #500,000 depending on your location, ideally near the roadside for easy access.

6. Pig Farming

Pig farming is one of those businesses you can start with one million naira, and in two years, you have made the capital back. 

Pigs are very prolific animals, meaning they can deliver up to 10 piglets per birth; they are omnivores and can eat almost anything. 

They also get fat quickly and need less feed, meaning the cost of feeding is much lower than that of the other farm animals.

The initial capital cost will go mainly to building the pig pen, installing a borehole for a steady water supply, and buying the pig feed.

The pigs will require steady care, but if you do it well, you will be rewarded for your efforts.

7. Clothing Business

Most people avoid clothing businesses because they feel the cost of setting up and maintaining a boutique is too much. Well, it’s the 21st century, and your store can be on Instagram with the clothes in your room.

As long you have a phone with a very good camera, you are set; you can buy the clothes from thrift or okrika from Aba. Aba has the best second-hand clothes in West Africa, and it’s where most boutiques get their wares. You can buy shirts for #1500 each and sell them #5000 later after ironing and starching.

The main work in this business involves marketing; before you start, study the successful ones and see what they do on their pages.

8. Poultry Business

This is one of the best businesses you can start with one million naira, but to succeed, you must be very dedicated to caring for the birds. If you “loose guard,” you’ll probably loose birds.

Broiler birds are ready for sale within eight weeks of rearing, and the cost of rearing 100 birds isn’t up to #400,000; the only part that might be additionally expensive is if you don’t have a place to set up the poultry.

You can use #500,000 to build and install the necessary equipment required; by the time you raise three batches of poultry, you will have successfully gotten your rearing capital back as long as you follow the strict set of needs that poultry birds have.

Ignore their needs, and they will all die.

9. Block Industry

The Block Industry is one of the most lucrative businesses you can start with one million naira, especially in a newly developing area.

This business involves moulding different types and sizes of bricks for buildings and then selling these blocks to people constructing buildings. 

To start this business, you only need to find a vast piece of land, buy all the required materials, and then hire some bricklayers who already know brick production to make the blocks for you.

You can then sell the blocks, pay the labourers their paltry sum, and then keep the profits,

To make this business thrive, you’ll need to build relationships with building contractors to get customers quickly.

10. Sale of Fabrics

With #1,000,000, you can start selling wholesale fabrics that tailors would now purchase. You can sell bridal material for weddings and aso-ebi clothing. 

There is also a constant demand for fabrics such as lace, animal prints, English prints, Ankara, etc. You can get a shop and the materials with half a million. 

You can advertise on social media and build relationships with tailors to get customers faster than usual.

How To Choose The Right Business

Now you have seen the Businesses you can start with one million naira, how do you choose the one that matches you? Here are some factors that would help you make a choice

• Location

Where you live is very important; if you live in a place with a scanty population, then businesses that depend on population, like food businesses, might not be the best; if you also live in a village, a high-end business like cooking gas would not be so good.

• Interest

Interest is vital; if you have any you have a prior interest in, you can consider those. Businesses you are interested in tend to be more successful than those you force yourself to do.

• Availability

Some businesses will require you to be there all the time, like POS, poultry businesses, etc.; if you have another side hustle that will take your time, either ignore those time-demanding businesses or consider hiring people to take care of the business. 

Never hire someone to take care of your poultry when starting out..

• Competition

As a new business owner, if your competition is too intense and you see no way to break in, don’t bother entering, especially if the competition has multiple years of customer trust. 

It will be hard to beat the competition and gain customer trust unless you consider using social media. However, not all businesses can advertise on social media, especially location-dependent businesses like POS.

These and more are the factors you must sit down and calculate carefully before jumping into any business.

Conclusion

That concludes the list of businesses you can start with one million naira. The businesses on this list will suit a diverse range of interests, and we hope you have a few in mind as you finish reading it.

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