Are you interested in starting your own business in Nigeria? Then you need to read this article and follow it to the later. Daily, a lot of people are attracted to the idea of starting their own business because of all the good things that comes from being independent i.e, being your own boss. Sadly, many of the businesses started by these people fail. While there are a lot of reasons why businesses fail, some of these failures come as a result of not rightly starting the business. Follow the steps below to start your own business in Nigeria and grow it.
IDEA DEVELOPMENT
Ideas are the basis of a business. Without business ideas, there will be no business and as such, the first step to starting your own business is coming up with a business idea. This can either be a product you want to manufacture and sell or probably selling other people’s products. Aside products, rendering services are also great ideas.
WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN AND GET FUND
After coming up with a business idea, the next step is planning how to start, run and profit from the business. This planning is documented and known as a business plan. Without a plan, the chances of a business surviving is slim. Don’t cut corners here. From the plan you develop, you will know if this business will succeed or not. This is because it is written out of extensive research. Check online resources on how to write a business plan.
REGISTRATION
After coming up with a business plan, the next step (you can skip it now, but it is a must when the business start growing) is registering the business with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). You can either register a business as a Sole proprietorship, Private Limited Liability Company or Public Limited Liability Company.
TAX REGISTRATION
The legal process of setting up your business isn’t complete until you have registered with the Federal and State Inland Revenue services. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is where you would send all the Value Added Taxes, Company Income Taxes and Withholding taxes, while the State Inland revenue would be in charge of collecting all PAYE taxes deducted on your employees a well as other necessary taxes and levies. Depending on your location, you may also need to register with some local government agencies for payment of some taxes and levies.
OBTAIN OTHER NECESSARY LICENSE
Depending on the nature of the business, you might be required to register and obtain license from some bodies. Example, when starting a pharmacy, you are required to get a license from the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN).
GET A LOCATION
there’s hardly any serious business you can start today without getting a physical address. Even the serious online businesses now have offices. However, location is more important for offline businesses.
GET OTHER REQUIREMENTS
Aside your office, you need to get other things like the products you sell and employees before starting your business.
MANAGEMENT
After you have started the business, the next is management and you have to be good at it to stop the business from collapsing. Read management books and if possible, enrol in a training course that will develop your managerial skills.
