1. Laundry services
As technological advancement continues to disrupt all sectors of life, we will all still wear clean clothing for the foreseeable future. So, if you have a washing machine or access to a laundromat, you could offer laundry, dry cleaning and pickup/delivery services to people in your community.
- Before you get started, there are a couple of things to decide:
- Do you have access to your own washing machine, or will you need to partner with another laundry business?
- What kind of services will you offer? Washing, Dry cleaning, Pick up and delivery or all of the above?
Operational costs
- A new set of industrial washing machines would likely be over our $500 budget. However, you can get a used set for under $500.
- Laundry soap: About $1.00 for every 10 – 20 loads
- Delivery: This is entirely optional, and you can decide to offer it free to gain more customers or charge them based on their location.
2. Cooking and Food Delivery Business
Food delivery to this day remains one of the largest segments of the delivery business in Africa. No doubt, you may have to face stiff competition, but in Africa, the race for food eaters is one with a big prize as the sector’s growth will be at almost 14 per cent year on year, eventually blowing past $1.2bn in 2023. The same-day delivery market is also projected to hit $100bn by 2025 from an estimate of $82bn globally in 2018.
Before you get started, there are a couple of things to decide:
- Do you want to prepare everything from your menu and deliver the food directly from your house to your customers?
- Do you want to use an aggregator platform like Jumia Foods, Uber eats, etc.?
- Cost of selling each pack of food, per meal, and per location
Operational costs
- Kitchen equipment and cooking gas – it’s not necessary you buy everything at a time. Buy what your money can afford, and when you start making a profit, you buy the other items.
- Grocery list and cost of ingredients
- Labour expense for your dispatch rider.
3. Car Wash
A car wash business is another profitable business venture that anyone can set up quickly with as low as $500. There are many advantages to starting a car wash business; however, the most important benefit is that the business thrives at every season – Dry and Rainy Seasons. In many parts of Africa, where so many roads are bad, car owners have an enduring need for affordable, accessible vehicle cleaning and maintenance, making the business a safe investment.
Before you get started, there are a couple of things to decide:
- Location – endeavour to locate your car washing centre close to highway or popular landmarks areas. Settling for a remote spot or a place with less traffic will kill the business.
- Good water system.
- New or used cleaning equipment.
Operational costs
- Labour expense for your staff.
- Laundry soap: About $1.00 for every 10 – 20 cars.
- Electricity costs.
4. T-shirt printing
