16 Lucrative Business Ideas for Ladies

Last updated on August 10th, 2024 at 11:59 pm

Discovering new business ideas for ladies and how to get started should be a top priority for women, considering the work-related harassment that many have to face to earn a living.

In this post, you will discover over 15+ profitable business ideas (Online and Offline), starting with the simplest to the most technical that you can start immediately, either with a tiny budget or a large one.

As you proceed, your personality and drive will determine your success rate over time with the list of business ideas that I’ll be sharing with you. Still, I’ll do my best to make the business idea selection easy and worthwhile.

So this list will be starting with the Offline business ideas and how to get started.

1. Ice Block Making Business

Ice block making business is a business you can start with very little capital considering that other factors needed to get you started are in place like;

stable electricity
deep freezer
a backup power generator
portable running tap water

With all of the above already available, what’s left is to get a durable polythene bag to package your soon-to-be iced blocks.

The average cost for each block sold ranges between 100 to 500 Naira, depending on the size. And you’re guaranteed to sell at least up to 50 blocks every week.

2. Frozen Food Business

Running this type of business is complementary to the first business listed above but should not be kept in the same storage unit due to the strong smell of frozen foods (Meat, Fish, etc.)

This business is a bit capital intensive. And also, Considering the border restrictions and general ban of certain food items into the country, it would require more influence from people in positions that matter if you intend to start on a large scale.

But fear not, you can start small by sourcing from existing large-scale importers of frozen food items. This way, you buy at wholesale price and sell at retail price to earn your profit.

On average, doing this business can earn you between N100,000 to N200,000 monthly.

3. Fried Bean Cake And Yam Business

This particular business is a silent Gold Mine, but many people shy away from it. Yet, I know a woman with five kids (2boys, 3girls) who could send all her kids through school and build herself a house just doing this business alone.

The urban lifestyle is fast-paced, and many have little time to spare to cook since they leave home early and return late at night. So the majority are left to patronize fried edibles like (puff-puff, fried yam, fried plantain, bean cake, etc.), and that’s where you come in.

To get started, you don’t need much in terms of food and ingredients compared to having a strategically busy location to offer your fried yam and bean cake edibles to the ever-busy working-class population. For continued growth in success doing this business, LOCATION IS KEY.

On average, doing this business can earn you between N10,000 to N15,000 daily after all purchase expense deductions.

4. Fried Plantain Chips Business

Tell me, who doesn’t like fried plantain? This business is a no-brainer for someone looking to start with as little as N5000 and then watch it grow over time.

A colleague of mine, married with 2 kids, runs this very business from the comfort of her home. She started back in the university and now distributes to over 100 small supermarkets scattered across the state. Not to mention that she also has street vendors who come to buy in bulk.

To get started, here are the things you’ll need;

A direct source for sourcing for a bunch of plantains
Two big plastic basins for cutting and sorting the plantain
A big frying pan or pot
A gallon of groundnut oil for frying
Ginger, Garlic, and Spices (optional)
One or two addition help to aid in slicing the plantain and packaging
Transparent nylon to bag your chips with your printed brand sticker once frying and cooling.

The above-listed steps are for those looking to start on a large scale, but you can begin by yourself and scale over time with a small budget.

On a small scale, doing this business can earn you between N100,000 to N250,000 monthly.

5. Daycare Business

This particular business might not be for everyone because not so many are good with kids. But if you know you’re good with kids and relatively tolerant, you should consider this a solid option.

Working-class parents would give almost anything to have their kids watched over by a capable hand, and if that’s you, they are willing to pay handsomely too.

Getting started with this business can be a bit expensive due to the things that need to be in place to keep the kids engaged and comfortable. Things like;

A playpen (depending on the age)
Educational toys and Videos
Mosquito nets, toiletries, and safety kits
Ample space for accessible accommodation of all the kids
if kids are more than five infants, an extra hand is needed (Professionally)
As the business scales, you’ll have to register it legally and soon begin to pay tax.

Let me bring you in on a bit of a secret that will guarantee the success of this business that most overlook, which is LOCATION. Citing this business in an estate rather than in a remote part of town would offer you more hit with parents looking to keep their kids closer to home while they go off to work.

My candid advice to you is this,

when starting, don’t take more than the number of kids that you can cater to
Focus more on building a bond and laying a firm foundation for the kids than focusing on the profits or revenue the business is generating.
Please consult and give feedback to parents on observations about their kids. This act will further increase the trust they have for you and your business, which will, in turn, increase referrals.
Above all, show that you genuinely care.

The average cost of taking in a child on a small-scale home-based daycare per month is between N10,000 to N25,000 per month, and on an established hierarchy, it is between N50,000 to N150,000.

6. House Cleaning Business

Survival, it’s said it’s the fittest. So if all else fails, getting started with tools you naturally own is a great place to start. And if you’re good at using them (your hands), this business is one that you would get customers looking to enlist and pay for your service readily.

Getting started with a house cleaning business won’t cost much, and you can even get all your cleaning utensils at your client’s home. The most required qualification is the needed strength and thorough attention to offering a top service every time.

On a small scale, doing this business can earn you between more than N40,000 monthly, and you can have up to as many clients as your strength and agility can handle.

7. Laundry And Dry Cleaning Business

This business is as old as time itself, and it has remained profitable over the years and will continue to remain so depending on your list of clientele.

Many have the wrong mindset about doing the laundry business, and that’s the belief that the more customers, the more money you make.

WRONG!!!

You could have as little as 20 customers with top taste in fashion and are ready to enter into a monthly contract to handle all their laundry and dry cleaning and those of their known relatives (considering they have a few).

But, this can only happen when you’ve proven over time to be able to handle all types of fabric and deliver on time every time.

So to be able to achieve such a feat, it would require a bit of capital investment into high-end dry cleaning tools like;

A washing Machine
A spin dryer
a steam iron
a dry iron
Cleaning and stain removing agents
Backup Generator

All these would cost quite a sum, but you’re sure to make your capital back with adequate expense management against revenue made.

But if cash is limited, don’t let the list above scare you away. You can start small with the manual dry cleaning method and scale as you grow your revenue and have enough capital to begin on a premium scale.

On a small scale, doing this business can earn you between N75,000 to N150,000 monthly, and you can have up to as many clients as your strength and agility can handle if you’re using the manual dry cleaning method. And remember, charges are per cloth or fabric.

8. Food Vendor Business

Everyone has to pay to eat at some point, so why not make them pay you to have their hunger satisfied?

Just as the laundry business, the food vendor business can never go out of fashion or stop bringing in steady cash because not everyone can cook, but everyone has to eat.

You can operate your food vendor business offline or online, or both, and even from the comfort of your home. All that matters is how well you can deliver on the number of orders you get and how tasty your meals entice your customers.

Getting started with the food vending business doesn’t require colossal cash and much formal paperwork jumping. But as you grow and the number of customers too, the need to register and create a brand is most advisable (that’s how Tantalizers fast food and Bukka local cuisine started).

Here’s the list of items you’ll be needing to get started;

Deep freezer to store all perishable vegetables, dairy products, and meats
A large cooking stove or Gas cook with an Oven (in case you need to grill anything)
A standard cooking menu
At least one cooking assistant
Backup generator to electrical power devices in case of a blackout.
Disposable plastic containers for meal packaging
And a heart filled with love for cooking tasty meals.

On a small scale, doing this business can earn you between N150,000 to N450,000 monthly (expenses included), because in a day you make between N15,000 to N25,000. But remember, this is not for the weak and undisciplined.

9. Pastry And Baking Business

Show me who doesn’t love cake, and I’ll show you a grumpy old human.

Pastry and baking come with a particular type of personality that gives the final piece a jolly good feeling when eaten by sweet-toothed loving customers.

This business has to do with more creativity than technique because that’s how bakers create new pastries.

So if you intend to go with this business, you’ll be needing to have a mentorship with someone already into the line of business which might cost you a few Naira.

But if you are short of cash, you can start by watching “get started videos on Youtube on how to bake” and all that has to do with baking and pastries.

The budget to get started is a bit on the high side (if you intend to take the mentorship). But getting started on a low budget is entirely possible, considering you’ve acquired self-taught knowledge.

On a small scale, doing this business can earn you between N75,000 to N150,000 monthly, but remember that if you don’t mix things up and build your network of customers, you’d be stuck with seasonal orders.

10. Bookkeeping Business

It would help if you had a bit of formal knowledge of this business. However, it can be reasonably a bit tasking mentally, making this business quite profitable if well packaged and offered as a service to existing small business owners.

A few retired accountants are already offering this service as a business online despite initially offering it offline, and here’s why. Offering such a service online allows you to grow a community of business owners earnestly searching and needing professional assistance in putting their business sales book in order.

The bookkeeping business is largely untapped yet, and the few already into it are making a lot of money by offering it as a service. Some even go further by putting together DIY training.

To get started, all that’s needed is the knowledge, and then you can begin offering your service within your circle of friends who own small businesses of their own.

On average, doing this business can earn you between N100,000 to N250,000 monthly doing it offline, while online, the possibilities of your earnings can be doubled, tripled, or even more.

11. Online Business Ideas For Ladies

If you are still with me, I’m sure you’ve found the ten offline business ideas that you can start immediately as a lady helpful. Now prepare yourself for the online business ideas for ladies in this 2nd part of this post.

I hope you’re excited?! Here we go.

12. Start Blogging

Do you have a passion for something? Are you ready to research in-depth and then write about what you have a love for so you can educate and reach more people out there on the internet?

Well, you can do so with blogging. And the best part is, you can also start monetizing your content to begin bringing in passive income straight to your bank account. But taking this blogging route of writing based on your passion might take a while before seeing significant earnings, and here’s why.

What if not many people online are searching for or interested in your blogging niche (Passion)?

When it comes to making money with blogging, you want to be writing about what people are interested in and searching for online. Because this way, you know you already have a large audience ready to come to your blog once your post gets ranked on search engines.

With blogging, you have two options with getting started, which are;

Free Blog hosting platforms, e.g., Wix, WordPress.org, etc
Paid Web Hosting and unique domain name ownership.

The choice is yours to make, but I’d advise you to own your blog domain name and rental hosting for future reasons.

An average and consistent blogger with a monetized website earns between $250 to $30,000 or more monthly. So you can be sure that this will set you up for life if done right.

13. Online Tutoring Business

Since the pandemic, the world has settled for the online, distant, remote, and virtual means of learning. While the majority lost their jobs during this period, a handful found new ways of making money other than their physical means of earning.

Online tutoring was one of those lucrative businesses.

To get the proper attention as an online tutor, you’d have to have deep knowledge, understanding, and a relatively straightforward process of passing on your ability to others online. In short, you’ll need to establish your authority in your field.

Due to the ever-increasing reduction in the attention span of online users, getting your message across has to be achieved sooner than later. To accomplish this every time; then you’re sure to grow and own a community of loyal followers and be ready to pay customers for the knowledge you have.

The earning potential in this business is limitless, and the uniqueness of your area of tutoring will determine how much you charge.

14. Freelancing

If you’re looking to earn independently and dictate your own time, then freelancing is the way to go.

But for you to be most sought after, then you must be an expert or at least most reliable to deliver whatever you’re offering as a service in record time in exchange for cash.

The freelancing lifestyle is a global lifestyle, where you can travel and offer your service to anyone, anywhere in the world. The best part is, you get paid in foreign currencies depending on your client’s location.

To start as a freelancer, here are eight steps you should consider;

1. Why do you want to freelance?

2. Which primary skill are you offering as a freelancer?

3. Who are those looking for your skill and ready to pay for it?

4. Package your skills and make them marketable as a service.

5. Build your brand and portfolio

6. Start with your existing network

7. Develop a strategy for getting clients

8. Get reviews from satisfied clients

Here are a few skills that you can transform into a service;

Writing skills = Copywriting Service/Content Writing service
Coding = Mobile Apps development service
Graphic design = Product branding service, etc.

On average, doing this business can earn you between $500 or more every month, depending on the kind of service you’re offering and your list of clients.

15. Local Dropshipping Business

I’m sure there’s that one friend on your WhatsApp list that readily updates their status with one product, fashion wear or accessories, etc., every day in a bid to sell to you without directly selling you, right?

Well, if you’ve got such a person, they may be into local dropshipping of the products you readily see on their status. And the best part is, they don’t even have to have those products in stock but will make them available once you make payment for the purchase.

As a lady, local dropshipping as a business can even be done without having a STARTUP CAPITAL.

All you need is to advertise the products on behalf of the leading supplier who offers them to you at wholesale prices with your profit added and logistics. And once a purchase is made from you, the supplier makes a delivery to the buyer.

This business’s earning potential depends on your buying network and loyalty based on your product quality, service delivery, and customer satisfaction after purchase. On average, you can be making between N50,000 to over N1,000,000 monthly.

16. Skincare Business

Looking good, they say it’s good business. And now that we live in a superficial world where the majority want to look great for social media followers online, this is a significant market in need of all the help it can get from an expert.

According to Google, the beauty industry is worth a whopping $511 billion and will hit $717 billion by 2025. So ask yourself, wouldn’t you like to have a share of this cash cow?

Going into this business requires a bit of cash, if not much, depending on your area of focus. This list of skincare practices are under the name “Esthetician Programs,” which are;

Skincare Therapist
Medical Esthetician
Spa therapist
Facial training
Waxing specialist

The least cost of this training online is about $200 and can go as high as $1000 for physical class training.

Talking about how much earning capacity this business has to offer, I trust you already know how much can be made in this industry based on its current global worth? So the sky is definitely enough to take all skincare experts.

BONUS: As a bonus to the current list, here are some other business ideas for ladies that offer financial freedom at minimal to average cost to get started;

Online Dropshipping store
Proofreading Business
Interior Decorator
Personal Shopper
Online Travel or Real Estate Agent.

In summary, I’d say no matter how many lists of business ideas for ladies are shared on here or elsewhere, the decision to take action afterward is left with you. So my question is,

Are you pumped enough to get started with building your way to financial freedom with at least one of these businesses shared in this post?

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