Cyber Café Is A Lazy Man’s Business In Nigeria Today.

Cybercafé, where people go to use the Internet, was a popular business in Nigeria several years ago. The business boomed in Nigeria between the late 90s and early 2000s.

The cybercafé business emerged in Nigeria in the late 90s, with the coming of the Internet. At that time, the number of such cafes was very low and most Nigerian Internet users could not access the Net because of the high cost of doing so.

I remember paying N700 (seven hundred naira) or more, to browse the Internet, for just an hour, at one of those cybercafes at Olajuwon House on Opebi Road, Ikeja, Lagos. The only places I paid less than this amount were at the cybercafes located at the University of Lagos premises, Akoka-Yaba, Lagos; maybe because they were within the students’ community.

Things began to look up for Nigeria and Nigerians when the General System of Mobile communication, GSM, phones, was introduced into Nigeria by the government of Chief Olusegun Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo in 2001. Only a few Nigerians were able to afford a GSM phone at that time, but now many do.

GSM has made it possible for millions of Nigerians to gain access to the Internet. As you read this story, Nigeria is and has been within the first twelve countries of the world on the list of countries by number of Internet users.  In other words, Nigerians are among the countries of the world that have the highest number of Internet users.

Since almost every Dick, Tom, and Harry can now access the Internet on their mobile phones, the establishment of cybercafes has become of no use. This explains why there are very few cybercafes around today, compared to before when there used to be cybercafes on almost every nook and cranny of Nigeria.

I want to use this opportunity, therefore, to advise anybody planning to establish a cybercafe to discard the idea. It is no longer a viable business. In short, it is now a lazy man’s business.

If you have passion for a computer business, please, do not go into cybercafe business. Spend the money in establishing a computer-based training business.

Running a computer-based training business is more rewarding, call it lucrative, than running a cybercafe. Would you mind if I prove this to you? Yes? I’ll do that!

Let’s do it together.

Let’s assume you have a one-room cybercafe with only five systems; five computers. Let us also assume that your fee for browsing the Internet for one hour is N300 (one hundred naira) and that you’re open for business between the hours of 9 A.M and 6 P.M.

The number of hours between 9 A.M. and 6 P.M. is nine (9) hours. If each of your five computers work for the nine hours, it would make a total of N2,700 a day, that is 9 hours x N300. Your five computers would therefore be making a total of N13,500 (thirteen thousand five hundred naira) every day and a total of N405,000 (four hundred and five thousand naira) (N13,500 x 30) for 30 days; a month.

If you run a computer-based training with the same five Internet-connected computers, you can make as a minimum of N1,400,000 (one million four hundred thousand naira) a month.

How?

I’ll tell you. Let’s do the calculation together.

Let’s assume you are like me, with the knowledge to teach the following professional courses: Digital Marketing, Web Design for Digital Marketers, Web Graphics for Digital Marketing, Web Graphics for Graphic Artists, YouTube Creation Mastery (Creating & managing YouTube channels for self and clients), Writing for the Web, APPs Development/Design. Let us also assume that you may not have the time to teach any of the above courses and that you would employ other people to do the teaching for you.

The least anybody can charge for one-month training on any of the above courses is N20,000 (twenty-thousand naira). If you have only ten students on each of the seven course, that you gross you N20,000 x 10 x 7.

What did that give you on your own calculator? Mine says N1,400,000 (one million four hundred thousand naira).

So, if you’re planning of going into a cybercafe business, please, have a rethink. If you’re still not convinced with what you’ve just read here, feel to give me a buzz or drop me a line via our contact page.

Cyber Café Is A Lazy Man’s Business In Nigeria Today.