POS Business in Nigeria: How to Start in 2021.
Being an entrepreneur is all about providing services or selling products that people around you are in dire need of. In other words, solve their problems. For you to be an entrepreneur with relevance for a long time, you must absolutely be business savvy or enthusiastic commercially, ready to give what people do not have in exchange for money.
In Nigeria, there are many businesses to venture into in 2021 if you can critically analyze situations ahead of you. This will trigger you to look at all problems from every aspect, especially the major ones, and move to solve them.
In the many businesses you can start in Nigeria this year 2021 is the POS business. Although, this year is running out, being the last quarter of the year, it is not too late to start a POS business in Nigeria. It isn’t a saturated business just yet. Because POS business outlets are daily financial need problems solvers of the people (who have bank accounts).
The POS business in Nigeria, although quite common across the country is still a lucrative way for you to earn a living, either as a side hustle (part-time) or a full-time operator. Proving its lucrativeness, hence the reason for its popularity.
Establishing a POS business in Nigeria in 2021 is essentially for you to meet the financial needs of the people, especially where ATMs or banks do not exist, are scarce, do not work, or are miles away from the residential area.
In simple definition from the average Nigerian’s perspective, a business is anything you do, whether legit or criminal that fetches you money despite difficult economic conditions. Any business established, like the POS business for instance, is purposely to make profit. In this article, Nigeria Insider will provide you a detailed guide on how to start a POS business in Nigeria in 2021.
Reasons to Start a POS business in Nigeria in 2021
Considering the fact that you’re starting a business to solve a problem or provide what people do not have, especially in terms of finance, here bare some reasons to start a POS business in 2021.
Meet the Financial Needs of the People.
Like I mentioned earlier in this article, I said that the essential service you need to render as a POS operator in Nigeria is to meet the financial needs of the people. You’re only assisting the bank by decongesting the crowd in the banking hall. The service you provide includes basic banking activities like: deposit, cash transfer, cash withdrawal, payment, etc. Also, bill payments like: TV subscription (DSTV, GOTV, Startimes, etc), phone recharge, and data subscription.
Bringing the bank closer to the people.
By starting a POS business in Nigeria, you’re bringing the bank closer to the people, thereby easing things for them, especially senior citizens, weak citizens, or pregnant women who need cash immediately to do something urgent.
Also, anyone can just walk into a POS shop or outlet nearby to withdraw cash, transfer cash, or deposit cash, or even a open a bank account. You’ve eased the stress of the people by bringing basic bank activities to their residential area.
Security.
Having a POS business around relieves your customers of the risky duty of having to walk around with physical cash all the time.
Also, the vendor can now credit your account directly at the POS outlet.
Benefits of Starting a POS business in 2021.
The sole aim of starting POS business is to earn money and make a living from it. Either as a side hustle or a full time operator, the benefits of starting a POS business is that you’ll certainly make money from it, establish good customer relationships, and if you’re smart enough, you can also network.
How to Start POS business in Nigeria in 2021.
Main article
This section is to give you the procedure on how to start a POS business.
POS, also known as agent banking emerged in 2013 and became a popular business in 2015. Young aspiring business enthusiasts started venturing into this business in a bid to break a way from sapa. They started acting as a retail bank in almost every community across the country.
The POS business involves a bank agent who runs a retail outlet, and is allowed to do basic bank transactions like cash transfer, cash withdrawal, cash deposit, and other bill payments including examination fees or school fees, i.e if accredited with their affiliates.
Starting a POS business in Nigeria requires you to have the following:
- An active bank account
- A shop or kiosk
- CAC Registration, and
- A POS machine.
An Active Bank Account
Having an active bank account with the bank you wish to so agent banking for is the primary requirement for you to start this business. This is because all transactions would be financial related to the bank transactions in banks.
Have a Shop or Kiosk
Having a shop or kiosk is a very important thing you should have for this business. Your shop must be designed in such a manner that it looks like a mini bank.
Register your POS business with the CAC.
For a business to be legally recognised in Nigeria, it must’ve been duly registered and signed by the Corporate Affairs Commission CAC. Major requirements of registering with the CAC includes:
- Business Name
- Passport Photographs
- Valid means of identification (e.g: National ID, International Passport, Voter’s card, etc)
- Full Nama/Biodata
- Nature of business.
How to get your POS machine.
The POS machine is basically what makes you a POS operator. You can’t start the POS business in Nigeria without the machine.
Getting the POS machine is free, especially with the commercial bank you agent for. All you have to do is walk into the the commercial bank you have an active account with and make your request as well as other enquiries. Also, you’ll have to fill in documents as instructed by the bank. Some documents are fundamental for proper filing and you’ll have to provide them. Visit your bank for more enquiries to know what you’ll provide to get a machine. However, here are basic documents you’ll provide to get a POS machine from the bank.
- Valid means of identification
- 2 passport photographs
- BVN
- Current account references
- CAC certificate
- Tax ID (TIN)
- Memorandum and article of association
- Minimum capital: ₦50,000-₦60,000.
You can also purchase a POS machine from POS Vending Companies in Nigeria. Some of these vendord are:
- OPay
- Quickteller
- Paga
- Paycentre
- Firstmonie
These vendors sell their POS Machines to you, their prices are usually different, contact them to know more, or visit their websites.
Factors to consider before starting a POS business in Nigeria in 2021.
Now that you’ve decided to start a POS business in Nigeria, there are certain factory you need to consider before starting out fully:
- Location
- Societal behaviour
- Capital for transactions
Location.
The location where your POS kiosk or shoot will be situated should be of great considerations. You won’t want to start a business where your customers already have what you’re providing— a bank close to them or a uncrowded ATM machine. So, you would start a business where your potential customers are in dire need of it. Rural areas, bus-stops, motor parks, markets, shopping plazas, and tertiary institution areas are the best places to start a POS business in Nigeria.
Societal Behaviour.
Another factor you would want to look at is the behaviour of the society you want to set your business in. You ask yourself the following questions:
- How do people react to POS outlets?
- Would they patronise me?
- How would I market my service to the people?
- What category of people reside here?
- Do they even have bank accounts?
Once these questions are answered then you can move to establish a POS business. Also you should look out for security of the environment as POS business operators usually get robbed.
Enough Capital for transactions.
When you’re fully established, you should also have enough capital to keep your transactions with customers going on.