Obstacles to Conducting Internet Business in Nigeria
Doing business in Nigeria is a challenging prospect, but the rewards far outweigh the challenges, for those who are bold to venture out. If you are going on a road trip, you don't wait for all the traffic lights to go green all the way. You take one junction at a time. If you keep your eyes on the challenges, you will not muster enough courage to venture forth and conquer
Listed below are some of the common challenges in doing internet/online business in Nigeria, and how to overcome them
Power Problem
This is unarguably the number one challenge. To go online, you need power for your computer. Power supply has been on a progressive decline in the last few months of the last administration, and there are no signs it will get better sometime soon. To successfully run an online business, you need to have a primary source of power, and PHCN aka NEPA as back-up.
You have the option of a generator, inverter or solar power options. Depending on your landlord and where you stay, you can get a small 2KV petrol generating set. Not that running a petrol generator comes with great risk due to the volatility of petrol. I would advise you go for a diesel generator if you can afford it. Diesel is safe to store. Most people have generator anyway, so continue to use what you have been using, only now you will need to run it longer as you spend time learning the ropes about the exciting world of online business.
Inverters are a bit tricky. Vendors promise you it will carry heaven an earch for 8-12 hours, but in reality, most give up after two hours. Getting a good one is not easy. Again, even with the best inverter, you need about 12 hours of good quality electricity to charge it to full strength, depending on the number of 200AH batteries you are using. I would advise you forget about inverter is your power situation is not predictable. You still need a generator, to charge the batteries.
Solar is the best option, if you can afford it. You will need at least 500K to install a 2KW system. The quality of the inverter and batteries are critical, as basically solar is to charge the batteries for use in the night when the sun is out. If you don�€™t have enough power stored, you will run out of power before the night is out.
For a starter without much cash to throw about, get a tiger generator, and make sure you don't store fuel. Take the tank to the station for refilling.
Payment Systems
In an online business, the normal way of accepting payment is through Paypal, credit and debit cards/bank cards. Integrating a payment system in your site should be free, as the payment processor charges commission on your sales. In Nigeria, foreign payment processors like Paypal, Visa etc are not comfortable enough to do business with Nigerian merchants. Visa and MasterCard currently only does business with banks. Consequently, it is virtually impossible to accept payment from a foreign visitor directly on your site without passing through a third party like naira2u.com etc, unless you a Paypal account by virtue of having lived abroad and have a foreign bank account and credit card.
Nigerian payment processors like Interswitch ask for a cool 160K to give you a merchant account so that Nigerians can shop with debit cards on your site. For a beginner, that is money you can ill afford. As a way out, most sites give you their account number to pay the money into, and then confirm you have paid, before the render the service you paid for. That is cumbersome, and can loose you some customers, but you don't have much of a choice currently, until merchant accounts are affordable, or free.
If you plan to sell on your site, or render services, the way to go depends on whether you will be dealing with Nigerian residents only, globally. If you plan to deal with Nigerian residents only, having them pay money into your account is your best bet for now. For global customers, you may consider using e-gold, or third party payment processor like naira2u.com, but warn your customers that you are using a third party for payment processing, and it will take up to 48hrs to get what they paid for. It will dent your credibility and lose you customers, but those familiar with the Nigerian situation will understand and endure, if they really need the product or service, and have no other options. Your best bet is to get a Paypal account if you have a relative abroad who can register in their name for you, and are trustworthy to repatriate your funds through Western Union etc when it builds up to a reasonable amount.
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