I look back at my undergraduate days, and think “why didn’t I start a business back then”. I wish I knew some of the things you’re about to read now as an undergraduate. Who knows, I’d probably have blown by now (lol) …I’ll be sharing great business ideas for students in Nigeria with you - Ways to make money as a student

But, First, why should we earn as a student?

…In no specific order of importance
1. pocket money and impressing ourselves with our bank account
2. settling our unforeseen school issues like getting materials, photocopies, printings, etc
3. saving for an extracurricular e.g. hangout, party, get together, excursion, election campaigns, sports etc
4. easing the financial burden off our funders, financiers, sponsors, and parents
5. maintaining relationships …siblings/family, girlfriend/boyfriend, fiancée/fiancé, and spouse/children (hehehe)
6. saving to invest or start another business
7. saving to attend conferences, short courses, and extra trainings
8. saving to do projects

Do you think there is someone who shouldn't know how to make money as a student? Everyone should …let’s go

For the record, as much as these are ways to make money as a student, there is no one size fits all approach in here, as different ideas apply to different people. Your schedule and availability would determine which business/self-employment idea will work well for you. Let’s go

1. Printing: There is no student on campus and hostels who doesn’t print. All you need is your room, a cheap printer with easy refillable ink cartridge, and your laptop, and you’re good to go. If you like, you can choose to do typing for them too, you’ll get your money.

2. Online Registrations: See all those data that you subscribe to, how about you make some cash from it. Help do admission registrations, NYSC registrations, scholarship applications, school fees payments, etc. You’ll make your money especially in first semester when new students hit campus, and when NYSC application period approaches.

3. Bulk SMS Services: I cannot count the number of organizations and fellowships that sent me smses those days. I’m sure they patronized bulk sms service providers. You can be one …although this seem to be almost out of fashion

4. Web Design/Development: My friend back then learnt web-designing, and when he started getting clients and making money, some of us envied him. I know some others who got motivated to go learn web designing. And these days, it has become easy to learn, and the market is ever available. Organizations, fellowships, departments, even shops and personalities on campus. You can also design a blog for anyone.

5. Organizing Tutorial Classes: You can make money from organizing tutorial, solving past questions, and selling materials at the tutorials. In my 100level days, we had two guys back then, “Leo” and “BikerMan”, I can’t remember the other guy’s name. These guys would come, take us difficult courses, especially Chemistry 157, even do all-night tutorials, and of cos, for cheap rate, as low as 100Naira, and we would attend. So, you could do the same.

6. Home Tutoring: There are staff and parents within the university community who usually require the services of home tutors for their kids. Abeeb and Femi are good at excellent at tutoring. Usually, they charge these parents on an hourly basis. And from them, I learnt that as a tutor, long as you can work out a schedule for you and them, you are good to go.

7. Graphic Design: There is a steady market available for you if you are good with graphics designing applications especially Photoshop and Coreldraw. Every department and fellowship, even people with political ambitions that require your services. The better you are, the higher your chances of getting more clients and more money. With the advent of several apps that can be used in designing these days, you may have to up your game

8. Cake Making, Catering, Event Planning, and Decorations: I won’t forget those memorable dinners, the beautiful halls, and 100-course meals, lol. Most were contracted out to students, who are very good at these things. If you have the skill, you’d surely be sought-after. Cake-making is also one of the most lucrative, especially for females, although, some guys do it (I know of one). You don't need too much to start a cake making business (visit this link for morehttps://youtu.be/JEstClfc3Fc)

9. DJ services: DJ Watson and DJ Lobitz, these guys rocked every party on campus, back-to-back, with their laptops, disc jockeys, and speakers (only God knows where they get them from). Ask them for any music, they have it. That’s like the only thing you find on their laptops. You too can choose to make a business out of it if you’re willing to give the sacrifice it requires, and also get the DJ application on your laptop

10. MC / Comedian: As long as you’re funny and can talk, you can do this. Try with small birthday parties, and hangouts, and you would be considered for the bigger stages. A lot of MCs and comedians started this way. Demo Pumpin is a typical example.

11. Doing Assignments: I heard there are people who can pay any amount to anyone who is willing to help them do their assignments. I dunno them, but from my online freelance writing career, I’m sure they exist, it takes you being smart to figure who they are. Make some money out of them dear.

12. Photography: This is the rave of the moment. Just get one dope digital camera, learn how to use it, and know how to use photoshop to edit the roughness out of a person’s face, and you’re a chairman. Students will look for you anywhere. You can also take passports and jump into events on campus. Make sure you keep building your portfolio though. I’ve got my friends Demola and Steven on this.

13. House Agent: I met a guy who does this, and I was surprised at the amount he has made from it. I had no option but to pen it down. He just goes to have a collection of vacant houses in neighbouring communities around school, then he advertises his agency on the university’s Students’ Union facebook page that has virtually every student on it, 70% of who don’t reside on campus.

14. Phone/Computer Repairs/maintenance: Akinsanmi rocked phone and computer repairs and maintenance from his final year to his Masters days. Correct guy. Installing softwares, repairing and flashing phones, selling laptops etc. He has added selling of computer systems to it now.

15. Third Party Data Reselling Business: It is a fact that students subscribe on a daily basis, and cannot do without access to the internet. All you have to do is to meet the distributors, but at a certain rate, and resell at a certain rate for profit, and grow it. My friend, Phemstrong Data Services, sells his data at a cheaper rate than is sold by the networks when you want to subscribe for yourself, so which would I rather go for? - I use him.

16. Sports Trainer and Fitness Instructor: In a campus community that has sports centres, you’d find staff, students, and parents who are really interested in fitness and sports. You can make money from this by becoming a trainer for any sports you’re good at. Imagine training over five persons per session, and charging them at a standard rate per hour. My friend Femi inspired this one, he does all sports including football, tennis, volleyball, etc, except swimming, and he’s popular on UI campus for this, he therefore leverages on his sports skills for this. All you need is to build a relationship with the sports centre coordinator, or make your own alternative sports ground or gym in your area

17. Selling of Wears: Selling of trendy outfits and accessories also thrives, especially if yours aren’t that expensive. Get bulk supplies from big supplies, and sell at reduced rate, you’ll surely become popular for this and have your business grow.

18. Online Freelancing: While there’s a lot of angle to this, it’s a very popular space to sell your skills and earn really good money. You can sell any skill as a freelancer on platforms like upwork, fiverr, peopleperhour, anywork247, gurus, etc. Skills like writing, photography, web designing, legal agents, graphics designers, virtual customer service agents, etc, can all be sold on these platforms. I built a career in this, anyone can.

19. Online and Offline Marketing: This involves you promoting other companies’ or individual’s products, businesses and services, and earning some commission in form of money or more products as pay for your time and services. Usually, having a lot of friends around or online helps make this work, and the more referral you get, the more money you make. You must also be able to build relationships over time so as to make this work.

20. Get A Part-Time Job: It depends on the institutions, there are hundreds of part-time jobs flying around in different universities …like motivational speakers and co. will say …I’ll use my own alma-mater, The University of Ibadan (The first and Best, #winks), as a case-study. The school runs a “work and study scheme” that any student can partake in.
Once you’re a part of the UI work and study scheme, you get opportunities to work in the school library, the school computer training centre (I’m sure most UItes don’t know where that is), ushering and logistics in school-organized events, and recently, I know that the students under the scheme were paid to help in moving the transcripts from the old exams and records to old admissions office (new exams and records) …For postgraduates, UI has research assistants, teaching assistants (I benefitted from this), university masters scholars also do teaching assistants …those are the few things I can remember as regards University of Ibadan.
There are also other opportunities to work with NGOs that have their headquarters inside the university environment. For example, the organization I’m a part of “Building Nations Initiative”, has its national headquarters inside UI, and we run different programs and employ people on a part time scale …we pay all our French and German tutors in our language classes, we pay all our tutors in our skill acquisition classes, etc. You can also get paid for us if you do some freelance work for us, like graphics design. I strongly believe that some other organizations like BNI that gives such opportunities also exist around the country

Plus 12
Other skills that can earn you money from in school in the quickly include project analysis (using spss and excel), fashion designing, makeup artistry, gele tying, making clothing accessories (including beads, shoes, and bags), playing a musical instrument, artistic drawing, hair making and barbing, modelling. But while blogging and podcasting, making youtube videos, and investing in other people’s business will earn you money, you have to be really patient.

The list above isn’t exhaustive, but it’s a good start. I strongly believe there are many more opportunities around. I would like to reiterate that this list isn’t limited to undergraduates alone, infact, I only ventured into student-based small business as a postgraduate student, while I watched my undergraduates mate start theirs as an undergraduate student
The interesting thing is, it’s never too late to start, as long as you’re a student. (ssshhhhh, even graduates can do all of these). I must add that while some of the friends I mentioned have moved on to bigger businesses, others have grown the business they started in school.

#Scholarpreneurs #StartSomethingChallenge

I know there are lots of business ideas for university students, please share your ideas in the comment section below. You're surely helping someone

nice 1 op and a gudmawin to u

Kharol1234:
nice 1 op and a gudmawin to u

Good morning ...Thanks.

If there are other ideas, pls let people know, every student is looking for extra cash source