Who can sell a service? The answer is simple anyone. At this present age of entrepreneurship, everybody wants to be self-employ. Anybody with a need and desire to have an extra source of income, work from home, or start and operate a full-time business can sell a service, regardless of age, business experience, education or current financial resources. Let discuss how you will start a transportation system and be successful.
Transportation business is one of the growing business ideas in Nigeria today because everyone needs service in Nigeria. It is growing big with the increase in population which is estimated at about 180,000 million as of 2018. Try to imagine the number of people using road transport each day in order to commute between their home and their place of work while some transport to move their goods from one place to another spend a lot of time on the road. When you look at all these, you understand why this business is a hotcake.
The four different and common methods of running a transport business in Nigeria are vehicle hiring services, hire purchase, personal driving services and owning a transport line. Nevertheless, there are other unexploited transport business opportunities in Nigeria that are highly profitable.
Know that before you become successful in this business you must be ready to give your time, money. You must be on ground 24/7 to supervise your business, why? Since you will most likely hire the services of a professional driver and you need to be well informed about the daily cost of running a transport business so that you won’t run at a loss.
Here are the types of transport services you can offer. It is either you go into human transport or transportation of goods. Human transport includes the following:
Intercity transport service (car, buses or luxury buses)
Commercial intra-city transport (buses or taxis)
Commercial motorcycle
Commercial tricycles
How to start a transportation business in Nigeria?
Prepare a business plan
The first thing you do is to prepare a good business plan. A good plan can be well prepared when you conducted market research to understand the following
* What type of transport service you want to offer.
* What is the size of the market in need of the service?
* You need to study your environment including transportation in and out of your region.
* How much profit you expect to make per week.
* What you will need to provide the services to people and how you can do it in a better way.
* How many vehicles to start with.
A business plan tells your investors and prospective funders whether or not they can trust you with their money and weighed your options
When you have been able to figure all these things out then you are ready to start your business. Remember, the hard work you put into planning will determine your success in this business. If you rush into it without proper planning, you will have a high risk of failing or running at a loss from the start.
Level of capital
The best way to start any good business start small, not starting big. Most transport businesses have the potential to be multi-million or billion-dollar businesses but not all transport business start out with large capital funding.
You can start with one or two vehicles. Don’t try to start with many vehicles at a time. If you don’t have the money to buy a brand new vehicle, go for a second-hand vehicle. Note that the initial scale of business depends on the finances you are able to gather and the experience you have, let this be in your mind it will help you to minimize your risk. When you start with small, you gain experience quickly and become smart in the business. So, remember this, do not be eager to make a big start so that you might not lose a lot of money, just start small, and work towards something bigger so you can build a big business in a short period of time. Don’t get discouraged in case anything happens; know that a Rome was not built a day.
Commercial bank loans, investors, and partnerships are options to consider while sourcing for capital.
Register your business
After getting your vehicle, pick out a unique business name and make sure you get all the necessary documents and license you to need from the Corporate Affairs Commission for transportation ready for you to register your transport business.
Join a Union
It’s mandatory for you to register your business with appropriate bodies to avoid problems to and become a member of a transport union in Nigeria ¬(the National Union of Road Transport Workers if you are into commercial transport), like most other businesses. And you must always pay your dues or levies.
Employ qualified personnel
After getting a vehicle and registering it, you should engage professional drivers from reliable driver management like driversng. Drivers and workers you employ as the business expands should be skilled, level-headed and they must have experience and good knowledge of vehicles. This will save you a lot of running cost in the long run. Many transport companies have failed because their employees lack such qualities. Ensure the drivers you are hiring are well informed about the goal and vision of your business to avoid any miss management of the vehicle. Remember to be nice and fair with your drivers too. Respect is a very important aspect of any business.
In transporting people or goods, safety is paramount. When a transport business hires reckless drivers and has a poor customer relation service, progress is hindered.
Insure a vehicle
Make sure you insure your transport business and vehicle before you put it on the road. Go to the best insurance company to obtain your vehicle so that your vehicle can be cover with comprehensive motor insurance and 3 party motor insurance. Ensuring your transport business against possible risks is a significant step towards the prosperous outcome of your efforts. Visit us to obtain comprehensive insurance for your vehicle
The right marketing strategy will expose your transport business and bring in more customers. So promote your growing business not only through word of mouth but by sponsoring and advertising on television, radio, and social media.
Provide excellent services, and customers will flock in, generating the capital needed to buy more vehicles, hiring skilled drivers, and branching out in many more locations.
Any business requires a lot of planning, patience, and hard work. Transport business is not an exception.
Note that nothing in this world is easy to handle, not even transportation business, especially when you want to be successful and expand quickly. Be prudent and careful: avoid the problems with the police by obtaining the right vehicle license, renew it together with the insurance certificate and other dues and levies when they are due.
