30+ Ways You can Make Money as a Student in Nigeria while on Campus

Have you been thinking of how to make money in any Nigerian university and other higher institutions? Always wanted to make passive income as a student on campus without affecting your studies? Today, we will be sharing with you over 30 great business ideas for students in Nigeria.

Why will students want to make money while in school? It’s simple, students living away from their family have to spend money for their personal upkeep including feeding and accommodation. They also have to take care of planned and unplanned daily expenses in school which includes photocopying of school materials and payment of membership dues of student bodies to belong to.
Making extra money in addition to what was given to them by parents/sponsors will help lessen the burden on their sponsors, and most importantly help the students keep savings. In a future post, we will be writing on the importance of imbibing the culture of savings by student. Be sure to always check back here for the exciting article.

Let us state here that this post is not for those students that are just looking for extra money to buy 72 Inch plasma tv for a one room apartment or waste money on other frivolities in the name of living lavish lifestyle on campus. We will soon write another article exposing the various ways students waste money on campus and how it can be saved. Don’t fail to bookmark this site and always visit for interesting articles.

Back to the topic, aside applying for scholarships and grants, students can legitimately make money on campus using any of the following ideas.

• Photography

Students love to take photographs especially the newbies. There is also an almost constant demand for passport photographs in many higher institutions in Nigeria. The photography business is a very profitable one and all you basically need is a digital camera, no matter how small it is, to get started. You can even sell beautifully captured  random pictures of places and events online.

• Graphic Design.

If you are very good with Coreldraw, Photoshop or other graphic design softwares, this is big business opportunity for you as there are always activities/events on campuses which require posters and fliers for promotion. Your work will speak for you and you will continue to get clients from far and near.
You can also be contracted to design yearbooks and basically anything that require great designs.

• Online Registrations.

If you have a laptop with internet access, you can assist fellow students with online registrations (Scholarship applications, School fees payment, admission regularization, course registration etc.) and charge a token for the services. This is quite lucrative especially at the beginning of semesters and when there are prospective/new students on campus.

• Printing.

Students do a lot of printing work. You can start up this business by getting any of the cheap deskjet printers whose inks can easily be refilled without completely changing the cartridge. You can start this up in any students’ hostel and from your room, that way you won’t have to pay for any space. All you need is disciplined and cooperative roommates.
If you have the time, you can also typeset students projects and assignments at your own rates.

• Organizing Tutorial Classes.

If you are good in any particular course or courses, you can start a tutoring business targetting your junior colleagues especially first year students in your department/faculty. You may choose to hold the classes on weekends only and charge per class attended. You can also hold this tutorial classes for secondary school students in your area.
In addition, you may solve past questions papers and sell to students who are always eager to buy great materials.

• Home Tutoring.

You can hold private classes for secondary school students / staff kids. Parents in the university community and its environs value education a lot and are always willing to pay a good teacher who could properly coach their wards on subjects of interest at home. Private classes are usually billed on hourly basis. You just have to workout a timetable that will be suitable for you and your client.
You can also record video of you teaching various topics and sell to the students.

• Do Assignments for Lazy Students on Campus.

Believe it or not, there are students on campus that are so lazy they are willing to pay any amount of money for their assignments to be done for them. You can take advantage of this and make cool cash while also learning new things. Double win for you!
However, you don’t have to be doing much of what is outside your discipline no matter how intelligent you are as you will spend much time on researching new materials which could affect your studies.

• Laundry Services.

Students on campuses love to look good, but mostly feel tired to do their laundry. If you are diligent and hardworking, you can make good money from this. It just takes doing the laundry for few of your friends and they will keep bringing others for you.
You can hire a trusted local resident to assist you when the work load becomes much.

• House Cleaning and Painting.

Students moving into new apartments sometimes require help with cleaning and painting of the new place. You can offer these services and make money doing them. If you are also good with special wall pattern designs using paints, it will be an added advantage as students who can afford it and love to live in beautiful looking apartments will surely pay for it.

• Real Estate/House Agent.

If you are very conversant with your locality, you can use your spare time to search for accommodation for fellow students, especially freshers in the school environment. You can make money here via commissions/agent fees.

• Fitness Instructor.

If you are the type that is enthusiastic about body building, you can become a Gym Instructor and Personal Trainer while still doing your regular workouts. You can make good money from this as many young people love to look good and fit. Being a body builder yourself, you will always attract people that wish to look like you. If you have up to 20 persons requiring your service, you could be making N2000 to N4000 each time you go to the gym while charging N100 to N200 per session of training.
You don’t even have to own a standard gym to do this, you can just negotiate with a gym owner or just arrange a makeshift gym with irons joined together in your area.
Don’t forget to always follow safety precautions.

• Event Planner.

If you know your onions about event planning, you can make cool money from this as you will always be called upon by departments and organizations looking to organize memorable events.

• Music DJ services.

If you have passion for music, you can download any music DJ application on your laptop, learn how to use it and you are in business. There is always demand for DJs for the almost regular parties and events in school.

• MC / Comedian.

If you can make people laugh and can also speak eloquently, just learn the rudiments of being a Master of Ceremony via the internet and you are good to go. Just like DJs, MCs are always requested for in events. Your first successful hosting of an event, may be at a friend’s birthday party, is enough to get you referrals.

• Modelling.

This is one opportunity that does not require much from you other than to show up for photo shoots to promote particular brands and get paid. However, this is an industry that has been so bastardized lately. Many people has been exploited and taken advantage of in the process of trying to be a model. We advise you “shine your eyes” or find something else.

• Search for on-campus Jobs.

Periodically, there are part time job openings for students on campus. For instance, some school libraries offer and opportunities for “shelve keepers” – their job is to go to the library every evening and re-arrange accordingly the books used earlier in the day by students in the library. There are also opportunities for Students Journalists. In the Records departments, students are periodically employed to help sort old students records. Even the security department can have jobs for Student Informants.
You just need to have few staff friends to inform you whenever such opportunities comes up.

• Search for After School hours Jobs.

If you can manage your time very well, you can apply for job at places that require you working only in the evenings when you must have finished your daily activities in school. E.g. Bar, Car wash etc.

• Driving School Services.

If you have access to a car, you can teach people how to drive with it and make cool cash from that.

• Branding Services.

You can design Customised T-shirts, wristbands, mufflers and other trendy fashionable wears for Classes, Departments, Faculties, Associations, group of friends etc. If you can’t personally do the branding, find someone who can and strike a deal with them, then act as a contractor/middleman. Be sure to always deliver what you promised and at the agreed time. Reputation is everything in business. With good reputation, you get loyal clients and new referred ones.

• Production of Soaps and Disinfectants.

Especially for Home Economics students, they can apply practical knowledge of what they learn in school to make money. They can make and sell liquid, powdered or bar soaps. They can also make and sell disinfectants, air fresheners, perfumes, body lotions etc.

• Baking/Pastries Making.

Again for home economics and dietetics students, they can make cakes, buns, doughnuts, Fish/Meat pie, even popcorn.
They can also make Yoghurt/Ice cream, Juice drinks, Zobo, Soya Milk, Custard powders etc. and sell to fellow students in the hostels from their room or supply to canteens and stores in their vicinity. The products can also be sold at event venues especially on Saturdays and even within Church premises on Sundays.

• Catering Services.

If you are skilled in cooking various dishes, you can offer catering services to event organizers in your area. With the frequent events/celebrations on campuses, there is surely a market for you.

• Poultry Business.

Especially for Agric students, with the so much time you spend on practicals in the school farm and elsewhere, you could set up a small poultry farm or any other Agricultural business nearby and attend to it while you attend to your academic work. If you can mange your time well, this could be a gold mine for you.

• Cable Tv installation and Maintenance.

Almost everyone now enjoy cable television but very few persons know how to make little adjustments or maintenance on it. There is surely a big market here and the good news is it doesn’t take much to learn and costs next to nothing to start up.

• Phone/Computer Repairs/maintenance.

Though complete/full time repairs could take your time, simple software maintenance/upgrades and application installs could fetch you quick money.

• Recharge Card Business.

It is a fact that people with mobile phones cannot live without airtime on their device. Recharge cards are arguably the fastest selling commodity, outside food and drinks, in Nigeria.
If you live in an area where people have to walk a distance to get recharge cards, you can make money by buying in bricks/bulk and reselling to them.
You can even venture into recharge card printing business and make better profits reselling to retailers elsewhere.

• Learn a Craft.

Here are things you can learn how to do that can fetch you good money while in school.
Hair dressing, Facial Make Up, Jewellery making with beads, bags and shoes making with beautiful Ankara materials etc. If you have interest in any skill set at all, just learn it and it could fetch you money. The internet has made most things easier. Google and Youtube will be of great resource for your learning.

• Sell your Skill.

What ever skill set you have can be a source of income for you. Whether you can play Musical Instruments or you are good in artistic drawing or you are a great writer etc. You just have to market yourself. A simple notice printed on an A4 paper with details of the services you offer and how you could be contacted is enough to get you clients when pasted in strategic positions around campus.
You can as well sell your services online on sites like fiverr, olx etc.

• Football Viewing Centre.

With what you see and notice around you about people’s interest in football, I am sure you can imagine how profitable a football viewing centre business can be. However, this kind of business is better done by students who are natives or long time residents in the particular area for obvious reasons.

• Business Centre Management.

Running business centres like Food canteen, Provision store, Computer services centre, Beauty/Barbing saloon, Cooking gas refill centre etc. can be a great source of income.
Note that running a full time business centre will definitely distract you from studies unless you get a trustworthy person who could manage the place effectively while you are away.

• Selling of Wears.

Students on campus love to look trendy and therefore buy cloths, foot wears, handbags, jewelries and other body accessories quite often.
If you could get these wears in bulk at reduced price from big suppliers, you will surely make much money from the trade.

• Selling Used Products.

You can sell your fairly used and no-longer-needed properties and make money from it. You can also help people sell their used properties and make money in the form of commission. Students love to buy cheap things and also sell things quickly when they need quick cash. If you are the type that keep a lot of friends, you can make money by finding out what they are willing to buy and what they are willing to sell at any time. Make yourself their go-to-guy for any merchandise, and you will have a constant cash flow.
You can also do the buying and selling online via clssified sites like Olx, Jiji etc.

• Find out what People around you want and sell it to them.

You can sell virtually anything on campus and make money. However, you have to find out students’ most important wants. This has to be things they can’t do without but probably have to go out of campus to get them. Things like books (major medical, engineering, economics textbooks etc.), Suits for law students in schools where it is the uniform, Electronic gadgets, fashion items etc.
All you have to do is negotiate better prices with major suppliers of the products, then bring it to the students door steps and you are in business.

• Online Affiliate Marketing.

This involves you promoting other people’s (or company’s) products and earning a commission for each sale that you make. You mustn’t even have a website to do this, you can make use of social media.
For those of you with thousands of virtual friends on Facebook whose only benefit to you is the likes you get on your photos that make you feel “important”, you can actually sell things to your large number of followers and make money which will make real positive impact in your life.
Please, do not venture into ponzi schemes! More on affiliate marketing in a future post.

• Offline Marketing.

Apply for marketing staff positions at companies offering such opportunity. Apply to the ones that will allow you work at your free time. Some of them will give you their products which you will sell, take your commission and return the remaining proceed to the company. Beverage companies especially, employ undergraduates to these positions. You just have to keep your ears on the ground or reach out to major product distributors in a nearby market to know when these opportunities come up.

• Organize Seminars.

You can organize few hours or days seminars anywhere and teach any interesting thing you are conversant with, especially things that can help people make money, then charge the attendees a fee.
You can bring in guest lectures to help you cover areas you are not very knowledgeable about. There is also opportunity to sell products including video recordings of your classes to your audience.

• Bulk SMS Services.

Many groups, organization, fellowship and departmental associations etc. regularly need to stay in touch with their members. You can offer to send bulk sms to their members for a fee. You can also own a bulk sms website where users can send sms messages by themselves while you charge them subscription fees.

• Web Design/Development.

You can learn how to build websites or blogs and make money offering the service.
There is market for you both in the campus and beyond. You can reach out to departments, student associations, fellowships groups etc. and offer your services to them.

• Blogging.

Last but not the list, Blogging. You must have heard about blogging and how lucrative it can be. You must have also heard about bloggers like Linda Ikeji and the millions she is making from her blog.
It is actually no longer that very easy to make money from blogging, but with the right guide, you too can tap from the ever evolving blogging gold mine. Our next post will be on blogging and how you can successfully make money through it. 

So there you have it, but the list is not exhaustive, there are many more other money making opportunities for students. Just find opportunities around you, and take advantage of it. Find a problem in your locality and provide a solution.

How To Successfully Handle Business As a Student.

– Planning: Before you venture into any business, you have to plan very well not fail. Firstly, choose the business wisely. In as much as you would want a business that produces the most profit, do not venture into something that has too many competition. If you choose a business that require capital, consider how much you have and if you could raise the rest. Basically, do a feasibility study and have a business plan, whether formal or informal.
Be sure to put time for your academics into consideration while planning any business. If you decide to get a job, make sure it will give you enough time for your studies.

– Promotion: You will need a good promotion for your business to thrive. It doesn’t have to cost you much. You can simply use cheap posters and fliers, words of mouth through friends, the internet (Forums, Social media, Facebook groups) to promote your business.
You may also go straight to people who might need the service you offer and present a proposal to them.

– Money Mangement: A Nigerian musician once sang, “.. money slow to enter, money quick to go…” and it is true. Without good money management skill, you can make as much money as you want and still loose it faster than you can imagine.
Also, in as much as you need to pamper your clients to get them patronize your products, you need to be smart with your money, otherwise they will owe you till you no longer make enough returns to run your business. For online businesses, you have to be very careful as there are scammers everywhere.

– Focus: You have to be humble, patient, jovial and courteous to everybody. That way, you make your clients fall helplessly in love with your services and always come back for more while bringing along new clients. Don’t get distracted by students who appear to have it all. Don’t ever feel inferior, work on your self esteem, set your targets and keep your eyes on the price.
Finally and most importantly, don’t loose focus on your studies which is the ultimate price and the main reason you are in school.

Note: Freshers or first year students are not advised to involve in campus business. They need to completely focus on studies and learning their new environment unless they are already familiar with the environment. Also, we do not encourage betting, gambling or any High Yield Investment Program.