50 High-income Businesses To Start With 500k In Nigeria (2023 Updated)

You are reading this post because you want to launch your business, become wealthy, and support your family comfortably. You probably want to know what types of businesses you can start in Nigeria with a reasonable amount of money. In this article, I’ll provide you with a list of some of the top successful businesses you can start with 100-500k in Nigeria.

I made a lot of research on possible businesses one can start with 500k and be profitable. These days, a lot of people create businesses, but not all of them are very successful. Hence, many people are scared to start one or maybe don’t know the right one to start. There are so many businesses you can start in Nigeria with 500k or less.

If you’re looking for some of those business ideas, then you are in the right place. Listed below are some of the best businesses you can start with 500k or less in Nigeria. You might even end up picking more than one!

Businesses You Can Start With 500k or Less in Nigeria

1. Sell Cooking Gas

There is almost no house where you will not find cooking gas. There is almost no house where you will not find cooking gas. It has become a necessity for many people, which has increased its demand.

All you need to get started are a gas tank, scale, hose pipe, and dispenser. Fill the tank with gas and launch your business.

2. Establishing a Beauty Salon

Women love to look good, so they spend a lot of money for that purpose every week. You can open a beauty salon with 50-500k (depending on what you want) and make it a very profitable business. You can also stock your salon with wigs, nails and other beauty accessories to enable you to make daily income from your business.

3. Open a Barbershop

Since people in Nigeria trim and treat their hair almost every day, barbershops are among the greatest businesses to launch with 50-500k. This will be easier for you if you already know how to give a nice haircut. If you don’t already know how you can start by learning.

Even if you don’t want to learn, you can get a good barber and pay him for his services weekly or monthly. All you have to do then is to manage the business and oversee its activity.

NOTE: Your location is important for a better outcome.

4. Selling Clothing Items

Selling clothes is a tremendously lucrative business. You can even start with as little as 100k. Buy good-quality clothes in bulk and resell them at a price that will earn you some profit. If you can get your store situated close to a campus environment, you’ll make tremendous sales.

5. Cooking Business

If you love to cook, this business is perfect for you. There is a variety of food businesses to choose from, including catering services, bakeries, restaurants, food kiosks (eateries), food trucks, and even an online meal delivery service. Make certain that the type you select does not exceed your budget.

6. Opening a Boutique

Another successful venture you may launch in Nigeria with 500K is opening a boutique. You can open a store where you offer contemporary clothing like T-shirts, jeans, and shoes if you reside in a busy region like a school district.

Boutique goods sell quickly and bring in a good profit; for example, you could buy a shirt for N1500 and sell it for N4000 while still making an N3000 profit.

7. Car Wash Business

Some people don’t have the time to wash their cars themselves, so they’d rather go to a car wash. Get a space, a water supply system, and basic tools for cleaning cars, and you’re good to go. Also, make sure you get a good location as this is important to starting up any business. Imagine establishing a car wash business in a slum, it will definitely not be profitable.

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8. Home Service Barbing/Hairdressing

If you are a good hairstylist, you can start making recurring weekly or biweekly payments just by offering a home service. Your 100k can be used to get a clipper and other necessary items. You should have around 70k left over, which you can use for advertisements.

9. POS/E-Payment Business

It’s no longer news that doing POS business seems to be the oil of the moment. If you want to start such a business, you can open your POS agency with 500k. Simply apply for maybe five POS devices and choose a suitable and profitable location to begin offering your services.

10. Mini Supermarket

You can start selling things like drinks, lotions, scents, bread, etc., with 500k. You will need a good store, fill it with daily necessities goods and start selling them. Buy your goods from a wholesaler to save money.

11. Start a Jewellery Business

The jewellery business is one of the best, easiest, and most lucrative businesses anyone can start with 200k or more. There’s no need to rent a shop. You can start selling from your house. Just make sure you buy good wristwatches, necklaces, bangles, and so on so that your customers will get value for their money.

12. Selling Phones

Whether the phones are new or fairly used, selling phones is a good business that anyone can start with just 500k. Buy some good, popular, or small torchlight phones at a discounted price and sell them to make a profit.

Note: You need to have good knowledge about phones to start this business and avoid being cheated.

• CHECK OUT: 13 Profitable Businesses to Start with N100,000 or Less in Nigeria

13. Block-Making Business

Opening a block business in a developing neighbourhood is very profitable, given the rate at which houses are being built for rental and personal use.

To get started, you will first need to understand how it works before getting a location (site), gathering all the supplies required, and hiring labourers.

14. Rental Service

With 300k, you can purchase tents, seats, tables, pots, coolers, and other event-related items and begin your business. After acquiring what you need, advertise your business to people so they can patronise you whenever they’re hosting an event.

15. Sales of Phone Accessories

Phone accessories like batteries, chargers, cases, earpieces, etc., sell out quickly, especially in large stores. You can start this business with 100k. Get a shop, stock it with smartphones and other mobile accessories like headphones, power banks, selfie sticks, etc., and start selling.

16. Set Up a Cosmetics Shop

Start selling skin care products like cream, body oil, and tubes, and make-up products like powder, lipstick, eyelashes, and so forth. What you need is a medium-sized shop and a basic understanding of cosmetics. Locate a supplier and buy your goods from them.

17. Sale of Electronics

In this business, you can sell electronics like TVs, fans, DVDs, speakers, microphones, etc. Get a shop close to a market, motor park, or student neighbourhood for more income.

18. Transportation Business

You can buy a reasonably priced used motorcycle for 500K and then find a rider or driver to use it for the day and profit from it. You can earn up to N5,000 daily with just a motorcycle, but it depends on where you live. The more vehicles or motorcycles you own, the more money you’ll make.

19. Sales of Construction Materials

Another profitable business you can start with 500k in Nigeria is selling building supplies such as cement, ceilings, and roofing materials. Get a shop where you’ll store your goods, and then reach out to a supplier to get some supplies. That’s it.

20. Selling Shoes

Selling footwear like slippers, sandals, and other fashion shoes is a lucrative business in Nigeria. You can start with as little as 100k. Selling shoes is a good business that can easily scale in Nigeria.

21. Open a Gaming Shop

Get a small shop, a generator, a set of TVs, a pad, and a game player such as a PlayStation (PS) or Xbox, and you’re good to go. With just 500k, you can get this business going.

22. Selling Ice Blocks

For a successful ice block business, you only need a freezer, power, and a water supply to get started. 200k is enough to get started. Ice blocks are always in demand during the heating season. So if you’re in a good location where ice blocks are in demand, you should consider starting this business.

23. Open a Football Viewing Centre

Are you a lover of sports and still wondering what business you can start with 500k in Nigeria? Then open a football viewing centre. Many Nigerians love football, but most of them cannot watch matches in their houses for some reason, so opening a football viewing centre will fetch you money in no time.

Get a big shop or hall, benches, TVs, a generator, and a decoder, and launch your business in a lucrative environment.

24. Selling Food Items

Who doesn’t need a food item seller? Your neighbours will be glad if you bring the market to them. You can start your business and start making cool cash. If your neighbourhood isn’t good enough, then rent a shop in the market. This is a business you can start with 300k!

25. Sell Chickens

People buy chickens regularly, not only during festive seasons. You can decide to sell eggs and chickens. With 500k, you can get your big poultry business started. This is among the most popular businesses to start with 500k in Nigeria.

26. Laundry Business

Use your 500k to buy a good washing machine and start rendering laundry services from home. You can charge N1,000 and above. This business is very lucrative, as you can charge premium prices of N1000 and above per cloth washed and ironed. In places like Lekki, and Lagos, dry cleaners charge up to N3000–N7000 per cloth.

27. Printing and Distributing Recharge Card

Printing recharge cards is another profitable business that you can start with 500,000 Naira in Nigeria if you have good networking and marketing skills. The idea here is to sell recharge cards in bulk at wholesale prices to retailers and make money.

To start this business, you’ll need to find a big recharge card printing company, negotiate to become a distributor, get varieties of recharge cards in bulk at a cheap price, and distribute them at higher prices for retailers.

28. Open a Bookshop

To get started, find a book-producing company and order in bulk from them. Once you’ve found one, set up your store in a very open environment or a place where you know people there love to read books and start selling. An example of a good place to set up a bookshop is in a student environment. You can start the business yourself and hire someone when you’ve expanded it.

29. Uber Driving

One great thing about this business is that you only work when you feel like it. Wouldn’t it be great to make money from your passion for driving? Buy a nice, fairly used car and register as a driver on Uber, and you’re good to go.

30. Open a Restaurant

You don’t have to be a cook to start a restaurant business. You can hire people who can handle the cooking while you run the business.

Make sure you find a clean location to start your business. Also, ensure that you and your employees maintain good hygiene. You should be able to start your business with 500k. Rent a shop and get other things you will need.

31. Supply Soft Drinks

Order varieties of drinks at a discounted price and sell them to retailers at a wholesale price. Find the nearest drink distributor in your town where you can purchase and rent a truck to deliver drinks to your customers. 500k should get you started in this business.

32. Livestock Feed Sales

Another trending business you can start with 500K in Nigeria is livestock feed production. To start this business, you need to learn how to make livestock feed and buy all the necessary materials. You just need to print some banners to market your business.

33. Selling Spare Parts

Sales of motorcycle spare parts are another lucrative business that requires at least 500k in capital to get started. To start this business, you must make sure that you know motorcycles. Then get a shop, find a spare part wholesaler, and negotiate and purchase all the spare parts you could think of.

34. Selling Kitchen Utensils

Start a kitchen utensil business with 500K in Nigeria. It involves selling varieties of kitchen tools such as pots, knives, whistle kettles, place racks, plates, and so on. All you need to start this business is a shop and a supplier of all these products.

35. Fish Farming

Another in-demand livestock farming business in Nigeria that requires 500K or less to start is fish farming. To start this business, you need prior knowledge about fish farming, either from studying fisheries at school or enrolling in a fish farming training programme. After a few months, your fish should be mature and ready to sell.

36. Palm Oil Business

Palm oil is similar to bitcoin in that its price drops for a while before rising again. You can start buying and storing palm oils when the price is low and resell them for profits later. Palm oil is mainly produced in the southern part of Nigeria, and you can get it at cheap prices, whereas the prices are high in the north.

37. Honey Business

Venturing into the honey business is a good business to start right now as the market remains untapped. To start this business, find and buy honey from honey farmers and apiarists. You can get gallons of honey from them at an affordable price and then resell them at higher prices for good profits.

38. Cocoa Business

The cocoa business in Nigeria still makes a lot of money. It’s easy to start and generates profits. All you need is to buy bags of cocoa seed from farmers at good prices and sell them to big buyers (usually exporters) at higher prices. A kilo of cocoa can sell for up to N500.

39. Resell Fairly Used Items

Fairly used products such as cars, tricycles, and bikes sell for huge profits when a little repair is made. In Nigeria, you can get a fairly used car for as little as N450,000, do some repairs with N50,000, and resell it for N600,000 to N700,000, keeping a profit of up to N200,000.

It’s a business that makes millions of naira for those who know how to do it.

40. Open a Barbeque & Shawarma Joint

A cool business that anyone can start in Nigeria with 500K is the barbeque and shawarma business. You can start this business by first learning about it, then finding a space in a busy area close to a hotel, supermarket, or restaurant and opening a small joint where you serve barbeques.

41. Open an Agro Store

Agro shop is a lucrative business you can start with 500k anywhere in Nigeria. Ideally, your shop is located near farms to drive lots of sales. It includes finding suppliers, buying at wholesale prices, and reselling at retail prices.

42. Sales of Hair Extensions

Sales of hair extensions are another lucrative business idea you can start with $500k in Nigeria. The business usually works well when you import those hair extensions. To make this business thrive, you’ll need to have social media pages where you can post your products and possibly run paid ads to get customers fast.

43. Open a Mother Care Store

The sale of mother care products such as diapers, baby food, and so on is a profitable business that you can start with $500k. This business requires just a small shop to start. All you need to do after getting a shop is find a mother care supplier, buy products at cheap prices, and resell them for profit.

44. Become a Dispatch Rider

Becoming a dispatch rider is another business you can start with less than 500K in Nigeria. All you need to do is buy a bike, find cook-on-demand restaurants, apply to be a dispatch rider and start your business. You can register on some riders’ platforms, get your bike, and start delivering products to people’s houses to make money.

45. Food Crop Production

Another farming business to start with 200,000 naira in Nigeria is food crop production. Food crops like corn, cassava, groundnut, yam, and rice are some of the fastest-selling and most profitable crops farmers grow in Nigeria. With 200K as start-up capital, you can cultivate up to four acres of cassava farm, or three acres of groundnut or corn farm, and make huge profits.

46. Pastries/Baking Business

As a student, you can start a business selling cakes, plantain chips, doughnuts, etc. to celebrate birthdays at school. Tell friends, coursemates, lodge mates, and schoolmates about your business to create awareness about it.

47. Bead Jewelry Making & Sales

Another business to start with less than N200,000 for students in Nigeria is bead jewellery making. You can enrol in a bead-making course or watch some online tutorials and start making beaded jewellery, such as necklaces, earrings, and hand bands, for sale.

48. Sales of Native Clothing Materials

As a student, you can start selling native clothing materials like Ankara and make a profit that could cover your expenses. All you need to do is find native clothing wholesalers, negotiate and buy a collection of clothes, and market them to your friends and schoolmates.

49. Phone Charging Business

With 100k capital, you can start a phone charging business. Phone charging usually costs N100 in most places in Nigeria. If you can charge 30 phones consistently daily, you will generate a revenue of N90,000 monthly. After taking out all the fuel, maintenance, and other expenses, your profit should be around N50,000 at the end of the month.

50. Bed sheets & Pillow Case Sales

Another clothing-like business that anyone can start in Nigeria with 100K capital is the bed sheet and pillowcase business. You can buy bed sheet materials and have them sewn for you by professionals, or you can look for bed sheet wholesalers to buy from and resell at retail prices.

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