)
In today’s Nigeria, the cost of renting a shop can eat up your entire capital.
Before you even start doing business, you're already spending heavily. First, there’s the exorbitant rent. If you’re unlucky enough to meet a difficult landlord, you might be asked to pay two years upfront. Then comes the agent’s commission, caution fee, and damages.
The next thing is to renovate the shop and furnish it to your taste. You do all of this before you even buy your first product and make your first sale. It's a lot of sacrifice and money spent on a business you are not even sure will succeed.
If you're thinking of starting a business or looking for a way to earn extra income, it's smart to begin without renting a physical space, at least not right away. In the early stages, your focus should be on minimising expenses and maximising your capital. Renting a shop too early can tie up funds you could have used to grow the business.
Instead, start small with what you already have: your home, your phone, your skills, or your social media platforms. As your business grows and begins to generate consistent profit, you can then consider scaling up into a physical location.
Thanks to technology and the rise of service-based businesses, you can start small, scale fast, and save big on overhead costs. Here are five ways you can make money in Nigeria without renting a shop:
ALSO READ: Underrated business ideas that can make you a millionaire in no time
5 Businesses You Can Do Without Renting A Shop
1. Start an Online Store
Many of your favourite Instagram vendors started like this. They used a phone and sold from their homes. On this level, you don’t need shelves to sell products anymore. If you don't have capital, you can dropship from local suppliers or wholesalers. You can sell items like skincare, thrift clothes, wigs, gadgets, or even Ankara fabrics via WhatsApp, Instagram, or TikTok. Use platforms like Paystack Storefront, Flutterwave Store, or Selar to set up a free online shop and post videos or real customer feedback to build trust fast.
2. Become a Mobile Food Vendor or Home Cook
If people always praise your cooking, that’s a skill you shouldn’t ignore. In today’s world, many professionals and busy individuals would rather pay for delicious, home-cooked meals than spend time in the kitchen. If you can cook, start small by offering meals to workers, students, or busy professionals in your area.
You don’t need a restaurant to begin; your kitchen is enough. You can prepare and sell local dishes or popular snacks like small chops, zobo, and puff-puff. To increase your visibility online, create short cooking videos or post photos of your meals on social media. Let your followers know that the same mouthwatering dish they’re seeing is available for order, at a price. Deliveries can be handled through bike riders or ride-hailing apps, and that's how you can build a solid food business, one satisfied customer at a time.
3. Offer Skill-Based Services
If you can do hair, sew, do nails, bake, design graphics, makeup or even tutor kids, that’s money waiting to be made. Offer home service to your customers because everyone loves convenience. Use social media to showcase your work and take bookings, and charge an extra transport + service fee instead of bearing mobility costs yourself. You could do these on weekends alone if you are a student or offering this service as a side hustle.
4. Monetise Your Phone and Data
With just your phone and a skill, you can manage social media pages for businesses, design flyers or edit short videos with free apps, create digital products (ebooks, guides) and sell on Selar or Amazon and join affiliate marketing programs and earn commissions. Just pick the one you are most comfortable with, go on YouTube, watch videos to brush up on the skills and start to advertise yourself on social media. In a short while, you will land your 1st client.
RELATED: 5 businesses you can start anywhere in Nigeria with little to no capital
5. Become a Personal Shopper or Errand Runner
Busy people are the target audience for this business opportunity. If you have spare time and the ability to move around, consider starting a personal shopping or errand-running service tailored to working-class individuals. You could help them with pickups, groceries, and shop for fashion items in places or sites they don't have the time to visit.
Just create a simple brand identity and start by marketing yourself on social media. Your WhatsApp, Instagram, or TikTok pages are great places to begin. Pitch your services to close friends or mutuals and deliver excellent service. Then, ask them for honest reviews or testimonials, because in this business, social proof builds trust.
YOU MIGHT LIKE: Make 6 figures in 2025 with this ChatGPT prompt
Some of today’s biggest brands started in living rooms, kitchens, and WhatsApp DMs. Yours can too. You don’t need a shop to start a business. What you need is a valuable skill, a simple marketing strategy, and a commitment to showing up daily. Just start with what you have and grow from there.
RECENT: Create 30 days of content using ChatGPT (with prompts that work)