How To Start Cement Business In Nigeria

Nigeria is one country that cherished real estate business, that is why Nigerians like to build buildings, own properties, by that, I mean landed properties like houses, because if you do not have one, you are not considered successful in life.

Hence, cement business in view of this is a lucrative business in Nigeria because it is the most important material used in building houses.

Therefore, the high demand of cement in building construction has made cement business a profitable business in Nigeria.

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If you want to start cement business in Nigeria, you have to make up your mind on which aspect of cement business you want to embark on, because there are about two scales of operation in cement business. Below are the two ways of which, you can start your own cement business in Nigeria:

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Distribution

If you are interested in starting cement business in Nigeria, one of the possible way is starting as a cement distributor, though this scale of operation would mean a lot of investment in the business, you have to ensure that you are registered with cement manufacturing company in Nigeria, and one of such company in Nigeria today is Dangote cement.

Before embarking on the registration however, there are necessary requirement that should be made available, and these include; Start-up Capital to buy at least 650 bags of cement, at least for a start, others are Letter of Application, Certificate of Incorporation.

You should also secure a Bank Reference Letter and Passport Photograph of the company or company’s director, as well as company representative. All these requirements are of necessity, if you want to register your cement business in Nigeria. The second one is:

Retailer

If you do not want all the stress of going for registration with the cement manufacturing industry, and sometime, you do not have all the money to go through the process of being a cement distributor, you can then decide on the alternative, which is, becoming cement retailer.

As a cement retailer, what you do is buying your cement from the wholesaler directly. The advantage a cement retailer has over a cement distributor is that, a cement retailer does not need any requirement or some sort of documents to go into cement business in Nigeria.

As a cement retailer, having sailed through and know how to buy your cement at good prices, the next thing you do is to do what I listed below.

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The next steps as a retailer:

a. Open your store

You will need a place to store your cement once you buy them from the wholesaler. Either a warehouse or a store is necessary in order to prevent your cement from damaging or theft incident.

Your store is important because that is where your customers will come to buy your cement from you. Your business should have an address.

b. Secure a vehicle

You also need to have a vehicle that will help facilitate your success as a business man. In cement business, vehicle is necessary for the conveying of cement from where you buy them to your store or warehouse.

The purpose for vehicle is for the supply and distribution of your products, and you should note that not every of your customers, who come to your shop to buy cement will come with vehicle, therefore, to have edge over your competitors, and to attract more customers, you should be able to have a vehicle, in case your customers have not come with vehicle, so you can help transport the cement to your customers’ residents after purchase. This is one of the secret of success in cement business.

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c. Look for customers

The location of your business can always account for your business success. For you to succeed however, in cement business, you have to look for the buyers, you customers.

With a proper approach of setting up your cement business, putting the necessary logistics in place, as well as sourcing for your customers, you will not have any problem succeeding in your cement business, or problem of getting customers to patronize your business.

More so, in every business, marketing and advertisement are very crucial to the business success. So as the owner of the business, you are duty bound to market your business.

Marketing, I repeat, is very crucial if you must break even in your cement business in Nigeria. Your attention should always be on those areas or places you think can patronize your business, example are: you need to source for individuals who need cement to build their houses, go to estate, especially a new constructed estate; again, there are companies around, whose business are to build and develop properties.

These companies are regular in making use of cement, some of them are building contractors, and a good example of your customers should be construction companies.

Others, who can still patronize you, are those, who are into block molding business and they use cement on daily basis in molding building blocks.

Accordingly, having taking your decision and determined to start your cement business, there are some challenges that you are likely to encounter in the cause of doing your business, and most of these challenges should be seen as a stepping stone if you must succeed as a business man, you ought to think outside the box alright!

You will encounter problems like inflation in prices, you should understand this, and pay attention to price inflation. You never can tell, business environment is dynamic, so changes are constant.

The prices of cement changes from time to time, but that is why you should be sensitive not to hold too much stock in your store or warehouse.

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Keeping your eyes on this particular challenge will serve as an edge to having a full return in investment (ROI). Let me quickly add here that business is business, irrespective of what kind of business it is, whether it is cement business or otherwise, there is approach to it.

Punctuality, honesty, transparency, accountability, as well as managerial ‘know-how’ are few things you should incorporate into your cement business, should you want to break through in Nigeria, business wise.

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