7 Ways to Generate Profitable Business Ideas in Nigeria
Ideas are the foundation of every great business. Idea generation is the starting point to creating a great, profitable business. Generating that idea that would set you on your entrepreneurship journey could be a bit difficult sometimes, not because your imagination is dampened or your thoughts halted, the ideas aren’t just coming. Idea generation is even more difficult in a place like Nigeria where it seems like there are only few options.
The fact that this aspect of business creation could be difficult doesn’t make it a natural ability that some don’t possess, it’s a skill that can be learned over and over again. Are you an individual finding it difficult generating your business idea? Here are 7 ways to generate a profitable business idea in Nigeria.
- Study your Environment
Your environment is going to be your market, and you can get enough data from it, that can inspire the idea you’ve been searching for. In analyzing your environment, identify the businesses that the situation of things in your environment can support, the electricity, government policy, population, the average age of the population etc.
You carry out this market analysis based on where you’re based in Nigeria, and if you intend to relocate, you also analyze the market space in the place you plan to relocate to. You just need to have enough data that can set the flow of the ideas.
The data you’ll get from this analysis will not only help you in idea generation, it would also help you in structuring the business after it has been created.
- Identify the Needs in Your Environment
Business is all about meeting needs, solving problems and creating value. If you take your time to study most of the businesses doing really well in Nigeria, you will realize that they are meeting a need, solving a problem, and creating value. The moment you can identify the needs in your environment, that needs to be met, your idea should be about meeting the needs. When you are meeting a need, you are solving a problem, and when you are solving a problem, you are creating value that people can pay for.
The needs could either be in form of a products or services, you just need to be sensitive enough to identify it.
- Move Out of Your Zone
Idea generation also comes with exposure. The more exposed you are, the wider the scope of your thoughts. You should not limit yourself to your environment alone, or your circle, you need to get out there and see what others are doings.
You can even travel out of your city to other commercial places in Nigeria and see what they have, that is not yet available in your own place, that can generate massive profits. You will also see products or services that you can improve on, and that people can pay for.
Idea generation doesn’t always have to come with invention, you can innovate, improve old products, or ways of doing things, thereby creating value.
- Network
Part of exposure is meeting new people, building your network. In generating ideas, you sometimes need people whose story can inspire ideas in you, and you can’t identify those people, until you connect with them and have series of conversations.
Through networking, you will meet people who would help improve the ideas that you may already have. Networking can never be wrong!
Read Also: 10 Skills To Make Success Of Your Business Venture
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Evaluate Your Strengths
As an Individual interested in starting the entrepreneurship journey, you sure must have some knowledge skills and experience, those are your strengths, as you are starting out. To generate your business idea, you can evaluate those strengths and ask yourself the question, what do I have that people can pay for? Some Entrepreneurs even believe that it’s the first process in starting the entrepreneurship journey.
Most of the great entrepreneurs of this age, got the idea for their first business, by asking themselves the aforementioned question. If you can find an answer to the question, then off you go. All you need is to identify how to market the knowledge, skill or experience.
- Experiment
To generate a profitable business idea, you will need to experiment with a lot of ideas, before you come to a conclusion. Most of the new or intending entrepreneurs are sometimes scared to do this, because of the fear of failure or rejection. But sometimes, you have to fail enough to succeed.
Experiment, explore those thoughts, ideas, try it with people, ask questions, and in the process of exploration, you will find that idea(s) that is profitable enough to be acted on. And once you find it, go for it!
- Stay Updated
Generating a profitable business idea, would require you to stay updated on current trends, events, and economic realities. Since business is about meeting needs, there would be lots of needs associated with the current situation of things and events in the country, and if you aren’t updated, you may have some difficulties identifying those needs.
In the 2000s when the internet was the gold mine, a lot of businesses were birthed based of the situation of things at that time, and are still very much relevant till now, companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, were products of that internet revolution era. If the founders of those companies weren’t conversant with the ongoing events, those companies might not have been created.
In Nigeria, for example, the POS business wasn’t in the market ten years ago, but when the ques at banks were becoming unbearable, someone came up with that idea of having outlets where people can easily pay in or withdraw their money, without any stress, using the POS. Now everyone is using it, not only the outlets, petrol stations, shopping malls, etc.
When you are updated on the current trends, you find problems that needs to be solved, and there goes your business idea!
Applying the following steps, doesn’t come off without a hitch, but generating your profitable business idea is worth the effort.
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