10 Things To Know About Doing Business In Lagos

Lagos city is the commercial and financial hub of Nigeria and west africa as a whole, Lagos as the most populated city in Nigeria with a population of over an estimated figure of 21 million people located in one of the most populous black nations in the world Nigeria.

Doing business in lagos is a very interesting fact noting the fact that they will be alot of customers and the fact that it is the commercial centre of the country Nigeria is also a point to note but doing business in this city has its downside, advantages and dissadvantages. in this topic today, we are going to be discussing in details things you should know before trying to start up a business in lagos, even if you are already running a business in Lagos, you still have to note this things.

1.HIGH COMPETITION

Doing business in lagos is faced with a high competition because they are vividly are type of business in lagos and the population of stores, companies and businesses in the mega city of Nigeria lagos is on a high side as you will likely sell businesses in almost all corners of the city. Lagos has one of the largest computer and phone centres in Nigeria which is computer village. Lagos is populated with the headquarters of vividly almost the largest companies in Nigeria with branches scattered every where in the city. Lagos is very competitive, before you can think of starting business in Lagos, you should be ready for the competition but the good thing is that, they is always some thing for an hustler in this city.

2. TAX

Tax is always an issue in Lagos as a business man or woman especially the larges and medium scale business, the small scale business is not left aside as you will likely notice local government agents at you store always requesting for tax. Lagos major source of revenue is on tax from businesses and commerce, the great city is not an oil producing state neither do they have any major mineral resources in Nigeria but its still boost of being one of the richest states i n Nigeria every year, how do they achieve this, the city has the largest and highest number of industries, companies and businesses ranging from small scale to large scale, so what this state does is to level tax on every business in the state. i heard small stores do pay 5k every year at the time of writing this post but this may change any time. so if you want to do business in lagos, be ready to face tax from government and unions

3. INSECURITY

well, this does not apply to every part of the state, but certain areas of lagos is very unsecured to do business especially the mainland areas and ghettos like ajegunle, mushin etc. This areas have the most rugged and dangerous street boys in lagos as the cost of living in this areas is very low compared to other parts of the state. setting up a business in this areas will attract thieves and robbery. you store, business or others may be broken into at Night and all your goods stolen, some people even use fetish powers to buy things from you and go away without paying you or you will end up giving them excess change, so be carefull of certain areas and streets before setting up your business in lagos.

4. COST OF RENT

This is a major issue in the city of lagos because rent and office/ store space is very expensive considering the included and compulsory agent and agreement fees you have to pay which most times its around 40% to 50% of the total store rent paid. some areas, small and average stores will cost you around 150k to 300k per year and in the island areas, you have to pay between 500k to millions depending on the store location, size and quality, note that you have to pay an additional agent and agreement fee which is not specified among the rent, it could range from 40k or 50k to 200k depending on the area and store rent and size. so if you wanna start up a business in lagos, you should be financially prepared for the rents.

5. COST OF TRANSPORT AND TRAFFIC

Doing business in lagos some times or most times can be very fraustrating especially when your business location is very far from your house, the stress of being locked up in a long lagos traffic for hours making you arrive late at store or business place will make you loss alot of customers, the cost of transport is also on a high side as most lagos transport is short distance drops, you may enter 4 to 5 buses before getting to your business place and some some case, you may be compared to use bike, oride or gokada which will cost you alot of money for transport. so if atall you want to do business in lagos, i will advise you to live around the location of your business place unless you have your personal car which you will still consider fuel burning and traffic. Thesame thing also involves workers and employees.

6. YOU NEED TO GO ONLINE

Lagos is a modern and civilized Nigeria city as most of its residence especially on the island areas are rich and very civilized, most businesses done in Lagos are online also because they is no way you can cover the large size and population offline alone.
Lagos being the headquarters of big offline and online firms like jumia and the rest will be a great treat to you if you dont operate an active website where people can see what you do and order online through phone call or through the website if possible. You can also chose to stay offline if you want, that doesnt mean you wont sell, you will see but your business will be limited to only you area and its residence.

7. ADVERTISEMNT

Doing business in lagos especially on a large scale, requires alot of advertisement, you have to spend alot of money on advertisement especailly with the use of banners, fryers, bill boards, tv/ radio stations such as wazobia fm, lagos fm , city fm etc, tv stations like lagos tv, hiptv, siverbird, africa magic, NTA and others will attract alot of fame and customers to you business. you have tp print banners and boards in front of your store or around your store to specify what you do and attract passer byes to buy from you. so if you want to do business in Lagos, you should be ready for advertisement and promotion especially the large scale business but the good thing is that, you can promote it the little you can, offer excellent service and wait for customers to troop in especially when you have an excellent and good customer care system

8. PACKAGING

Packaging as alot to do with your business growth in lagos, Lagos as a modern and civilized city is in high love of tasteful and flashy things especially when you are into beauty and salon business. your store have to be very neat and well organised, do this does not apply for all type of business but for a beauty, cosmetics, electronic and computer, and salon business, this is very essential in Lagos as no one will love to go to a store without AC, nice tv, mirrors and standard clipper to barb his/ her hair or similar for an hair dressing salon and the truth is, your packaging determines the kind of customers you will have, whether poor or the rich as most rich people love neat, organised and flashy places and business centre.

9. STAY AWAY FROM OVER CROWDED MARKETS

Doing business in an over crowded market will attrack alot of competition and struggle for customers, i wont advise any one who wants to go into computers and phones to stet up stores in computer village because almost thousand of large stores and small computer and phone stores are located in that places, you will see cheap product and stores who are ready to sell out theirb product at a very cheap rate because of their size and you as a starter will be left with very little or no gain thesame applies gto other business types and their market. it is better to start up a business in area which is not a market than to start up in a market.

10. YOU MUST HAVE AN EXCELLENT AND GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE

As a business owner in Lagos, you must have a very cheerful smiling and neat customer service, even if your business is not up to the size of employing some one as a customer care rep, you as the owner and seller should always put on a smiling face and welcoming approach to you customers, try to act always happy, dont try to be sad or down face on your customers, dont try to argue with customers or insult them, customers are always right, always try to make your customers fee welcomed and happy and always try to make them feel at home and appreciated, make them believe they are the one who are making you still remain in business, always admit when you are wrong and if you are right, always make them see reasons with you with the calmest and coolest manner of approach. Try to make your prices and sales pattern very clear to your customers as to avoid arguement and feeling of them being cheated, this point will make you stand out very well among the competition and you will see people rushing to your strore always. still also try to always relate well with people around you, dont keep enermies, greet people around and watch and see the magic, people will be rushing your store like never before.
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