Living and studying in Nigeria, you can agree with me, isn’t an easy thing to do considering the worsening state of the nation, economy, government and their continued lack of vision to bring about change to the nation and enabling environment for the youths to prosper. While students often combine study and work in other developed nations without getting weighed down, doing the same in Nigeria will almost bring a bad impact on your academic performance. However, the idea of making money or having a source of income while in the higher institution is a smart idea and students are encouraged to take up various opportunities which will bring finances/income to them as they face the challenges of academic life.
While the idea of making money while studying is very interesting, a lot of factors hinder the possibility of this. One is the tight nature of our higher institutions. Our higher educational schedules and nature almost don’t give students enough time to engage in other valuable activities. The school system lacks a proper time management pattern. Other factors include lack of finance by the students to start up businesses or create entrepreneurial opportunities for themselves. Another factor is that some students don’t even know or have any idea of what they can do to make money while in school or how they can go about it. But don’t worry, this post is to expose you to some of the opportunities which await you as a student. While some need starting capitals, some don’t or only require minimal starting investment. You and I know that we live in a country where you have only 2% chance of landing your dream job or any good paying job at all after graduation. So, why don’t you start building your future even before graduating? Some of these opportunities can eventually turn out to earn you real income and become your major or huge source of income in school and after graduation that the idea of those unavailable dream jobs will become a mere imagination. Some of these sources of income are listed below:
1. Blogging: See the idea of blogging as this article or post you are reading now. You write your passions on your website/blog for people to read and as you do, you begin to build your audience and grow traffic and you can earn from blogging by monetizing your blog, affiliate marketing, placing adverts for people or companies and by selling e-books. Blogging is a real source of income that can turn you into a millionaire and a billionaire if you are passionate about it and serious. Think of Linda Ikeji, Yabaleft, naij.com/legit.ng, etc, these are millionaires and billionaires who made their money through blogging. However, aside passion, blogging requires income. It’s a serious business. But if you want to own a blog and start earning or growing, then you can get in touch with me to put you through. Chat me on Facebook
For a starter who is also studying, I’ll suggest you go with niche-blogging. That is, blogging on a particular topic you can write about or you are passionate about. In niche-blogging you only write a few articles. Blogging on news and entertainment like Linda Ikeji does really requires a lot of your time to be able to write and update many articles in a day. This blog you are reading is a niche-blog. I only update on education related articles.
2. Freelancing: Freelancing requires almost no capital to do. Just your passion, creativity or intelligence and your preparedness. In freelancing you do works for others online. It could be writing jobs, virtual assistance, transcription and translation, graphic designs, etc. There are websites you can register to launch your freelancing career. Websites like Fiverr, Freeeup, Upwork, PeoplePerHour, Guru, Freelancer, etc. Registration and getting started on these websites are very simple and withdrawing your funds is always easy and most common method is using Payoneer. To learn more, feel free to get in touch
3. Take Paid Online Surveys: There are websites/companies willing to pay for your little time which you can spend surveying on their goods and services on their websites. There are available survey websites like:
You can spare yourself some time to check out these websites and register. I am sure if you are interested and committed you can be making some money from the survey websites without interrupting your studies.
4. Start Printing And Photocopy Business: This definitely needs some cash to start up, including capital to buy a generator due to the erratic nature of our electricity and you will need to rent a small shop too. But if you can afford to get these, I can assure you that this is a profitable business in any area where there is a higher institution.
5. Start Recharge And Get Paid (RAGP) and Recharge Card or VTU Business. This is equally a good source of income for any student and the starting capital won’t be too difficult to get. You can go to RAGP website to begin
And also if you like buying and selling recharge cards, it’s equally profitable too especially when you buy in bulks.
6. Build a mobile application: If you are a developer or you are studying computer science or anything related, you should be able to build a mobile app you can publish on Google play store and monetize your app with Google admob.
7. Become a photographer: If you have the skill and passion, this should earn you some bucks in school because students like taking pictures. And during some occasions in school you will make a hit. Just be good in the job!
8. Engage in Social and entertainment Activities: Singing, Comedy, MC, dancing, make up artist, etc. can earn you money while in school. Also getting involved in students unions like SUG, etc, will earn you money in school.
9. Make use of Instagram and YouTube: If you have a talent or you have any area of life you are talented in and can draw attention to by doing short videos, you can get started with building an audience on Instagram or YouTube or both. On Instagram you can make money when you have a large base of followers by getting contracts to place adverts on your posts. Same goes with YouTube and you can monetize your YouTube account with Google Adsense and make a lot of money.
Other business ideas or opportunities you can think of trying out while in school without getting them conflict with your studies are: Taking private home lessons, selling past questions and answers, text books and course materials, organize lessons for students if you are very intelligent, sell articles or stories to media outlets/houses, start a football viewing centre if you have enough capital to. You can also do menial jobs like working in fast foods, car washes, etc. depending on the nature of your studies and time. If you have enough capital you can start a hands-off business like buying motorcycle, tricycle or bus or taxi and have someone drive them for you. You can engage in creative works like Fashion and design, manicure, pedicure, hair dressing, barbing, etc. There are more opportunities you can grab and make some good bucks while in school which are not listed here.
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