How to Start a Cyber Cafe Business in Nigeria

How to Start a Cyber Cafe Business in Nigeria

How to Start a Cyber Cafe Business in Nigeria – Do you have interest in starting a cyber cafe business in your area? Do you need to know what it takes and the requirements for starting a cyber cafe in Nigeria. If you answered “YES” to the above asked questions then you should keep reading because this article is solely dedicated for that purpose.

In this post we are going to look into the following features:

• What is cyber cafe?
• Is a cyber cafe still a viable business in Nigeria?
• How to set up a cyber cafe
• The equipment needed to start an internet cafe
• What is the potential profit in an internet cafe business in Nigeria?

What is a Cyber Cafe or Internet Cafe?

In Nigeria, a cyber cafe or internet cafe can be said to be a business where customers are offered access to personal computers that are connected to the internet and are made to pay a fee or charge for using those computers. Here, customers pay for using these computers for a specified amount of time. Hence, they are offered token vouchers to represent the allotted time and cash made.

Is Cyber Cafe still a viable business in Nigeria?

The answer to this question is an emphatic “YES”. Internet cafe is and will always remain a good business to venture into in this century. Here are my reasons.

It is true that the advent of smart phones has made some negative impact on the cafe business but it not totally eliminated it. Yeah, we can now browse the internet at cheaper rates from our mobile devices but that’s just about all we can do. We cannot scan, print, photo copy or take standardized photos with our devices. Now let us take a look at the services that are offered in cyber cafes that still makes them relevant in Nigeria today. They include but are not restricted to the following:

• Photocopy services
• Scanning services
• Printing services
• Graphic services
• Typing services
• Other computer services (e.g. online job applications, online visa applications, etc.)

These are computer services you cannot typically do from the four walls of your home. Even if you have a printer at home, you possibly cannot print out and photocopy a 500 paged document without having to refill your printing ink time and time again. And this will cost you more at the long run. However, if you succeed in printing out your documents, you will need to bind them, scan or laminate some of them. Another task you cannot do at home.

With these few illustrations of mine, you can see that a cyber cafe will always remain a feasible business in Nigeria for a long long time.

How to Set Up a Cyber Café in Nigeria

If you want to start a cyber cafe business in Nigeria then here are the basic factors you must consider:

Business Plan

An old adage says that “he who fails to plan has planned to fail”. As with every other business, you must do a proper feasibility study and then write a detailed business plan before starting your cyber café business in Nigeria. Do not under estimate the power of a business plan because in the course of writing your cyber café business plan you will be able to determine the following:

• Where to locate your cyber café business.
• How much capital that you need to set up your business.
• Who are your targeted audience is.
• Who your competitors are.
• How you intend to promote your business.
• And the potential profit you intend to make within a stipulated time.
• Possible pitfalls and mistake in the business.

Location

When you consider setting up a cyber café, you should situate your business in a well-known area so that people can find you easily. If your business office is swamped by other businesses, make sure you erect signposts and direction beacons so that your clients can find you. You do not want a situation where your customers will have to spend 30 minutes looking for your cyber café.  You should also consider the safety of your customers who will visit your business so do not use neighborhoods that are notorious. Ample parking space is a big plus. Potential places to site your cyber café business are: in front of university gates, government parastatals and office complexes.

Register your Cyber Cafe Business in Nigeria

You should register your internet café business with the corporate affairs commission (CAC) in Nigeria and the National Communication Commission (NCC). The NCC is the agency which is responsible for registering all communication companies in Nigeria. If you overlook this agency, your cyber café business will be seen as an illegal business and you will be shut down and persecuted by the Nigerian government. CAC registration ensures that your business is legally accepted to operate in Nigeria.

Invest in Training

Because a cyber cafe is a computer based business, people will not just come to you for the internet access you offer. They will want you to perform other services like to design a letter head for them, type their documents, scan or photocopy documents. So you will need to be versatile in desktop publishing and graphic design to satisfy your clients’ needs. Therefore you and your staff need to undergo training in relevant the field fields.

 The Equipment Needed to Start an Internet Cafe

Computers – Since computers are the major equipment you need to run a cyber café. So you can start with 15 computers. This should give you room to make good return on your investment. You can buy more depending on your capital and size of your business place. Buy dorable fairly used computer system units. But but buy flat screen monitors with high picture resolution as they are more attractive to customers.

Other equipment include

• Furniture Set (computer tables, comfy seats etc.)
• A commercial printer.
• Keyboards, Mouse, Web Cam, Mouth Piece,
• Standby Generator
• UPS/AVR
• Binding and laminating machines.
• A photocopier
• A Scanning machine.
• Modem and Router
• Fingerprint Scanner (For online registrations)
• Connectivity (LAN network settings)
• Internet Modem
• Electrical wiring and Cabling
• Software e.g. internet cyber timer, ticketing, antivirus etc.
• Internet Service Provider – All of the GSM service providers and fixed wireless networks in Nigeria now offer attractive and fast Internet services that are easy to use. All you need to do is to subscribe and buy their modems, install them in your café, then relay the network to your work stations (computers). Before you get into a contract with any of these  Internet service providers make sure you do your research very well. Make sure they gave strong internet service in the area you plan to set up your cyber café.

Profit Potentials in a Cyber Cafe Business

I will use this illustration to explain the profit potentials in starting an internet café in Nigeria

• Let’s say your business opens for 14 hours a day (8am -9pm) for 6 days a week (excluding Sundays).
• You have 14 fully functional work stations (computers).
• You charge your customers N100 to use the internet for an hour.
• Assuming your computers are occupied for 11 hours out of 14 working hours per day, you will be making N1400 per hour (i.e. N100 per hour X 14 computers) and N15,400 per day (i.e. N1400 per hour X 11 working hours per day).
• In a month you will be making about N369, 600 on a monthly bases excluding Sundays. This figure is just for internet browsing alone.

Are you now convinced that starting a cyber café business in Nigeria is highly profitable?

Also Read: CBT Center Business Plan in Nigeria

If you have more information or you want to ask a question on how to start a cyber cafe business in Nigeria, please use the comment box below. You can thank me later.

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