How can you start a dispatch rider business in Nigeria? With the continuous growth of e-commerce businesses in Nigeria, the logistics business is also on a growth path as it is in high demand. Furthermore, everyone now has the privilege of shopping for all their favorite items online, from shoes to clothes to home appliances and many more.
With this advantage of customers easily shopping online, they are also looking out for the fastest way that they can get their purchased items delivered to them quickly. This is where the use of a reliable logistics or dispatch company comes into the picture. You could offer your dispatch services to these customers who want to get their logistics sorted out.
Additionally, you could open a dispatch business in Nigeria and also offer your services to business owners and companies. Moreover, serious business owners all want to get their orders fulfilled and delivered to all their customers. So, opening a dispatch business gives you leverage to offer you services, solve their problems, and make profits from it as well. In this article, steps and guidelines on how to start a dispatch rider business in Nigeria will be outlined.
Can I Start My Dispatch Business in Nigeria?
Logistics is a pretty big gig in Nigeria, and there are tons of business owners and customers who are looking for dispatch riders that can help deliver goods to and fro. Without any further delay, you can start your dispatch business in Nigeria, and you should begin with haste.
How To Start A Dispatch Rider Business In Nigeria
Here are the simple procedures you should follow to sucessfully start a dispatch rider business In Nigeria;
Get a Business Plan
Just like any other business, large or small, it is very important that you map out what your business plans are. The purpose of a business plan is that it helps you list out your clear goals and objectives for your business. What’s more, drafting out a business plan gives you an edge in knowing just what it is you want for your dispatch business.Furthermore, these are factors that you have to consider when drafting out your business plan:
- Vision statement/business mission
- A legal plan
- SWOT analysis
- The marketing and business growth strategies
- Employees or labor costs
- What your competitive advantage will be, i.e., the factor that will make you stand out
- Revenue projection for at least 3 years
When you are writing out your plan, you have to ensure that it is simple enough for you to understand your purpose and passion for the business.
A Start-Up Capital for the Dispatch Business
Before you can fully dispatch your business, you will need enough money to cover the cost of so many things needed for the business. This is why it is important to consider startup capital for your dispatch business. Anything from over N 300,000 and above should be able to help you get so many things covered.
Acquiring the Necessary Logistics Business Permits
In the process of launching your dispatch business, you will need dispatch motorcycles that will run in your company. However, you will need to get your dispatch vehicles inspected by the VIO. Also known as the Vehicle Inspection Officers, they will inspect your dispatch vehicles before they get approved by the State Ministry of Transportation. Furthermore, you can reach out to the VIO office, and after the inspection, you can get your permits.
Also, you could register your vehicles at any other vehicle registration center near you.
Register Your Business with the CAC
You could follow the process before or after the inspection of your dispatch vehicles. Nevertheless, you will need to register your dispatch business with the Corporate Affairs Commission, as they are the ones responsible for registering new businesses in Nigeria. What’s more, you cannot run a business legally unless you begin your business registration with the CAC. The process of registering your business goes like this:
- Check if the business name you want is available, and then reserve the name if it is still available. If it isn’t, reserve a new name.
- Proceed to complete the pre-registration by uploading all the relevant registration documents online.
- Next, pay the filing fee required.
With all that done, the registration is now all through on the company registration portal, along with the electronic certificate of registration and certified extract of registration information.
Purchase the necessary Equipment
Since the process of launching your dispatch company is underway, you can start buying all the other required equipment to run your business. Some of the important features you need are:
Office Space
It will do you good to start looking for a space that you can buy or convert into your office space for this business. If you have a garage, you could easily convert that into an office space. If you don’t, you could go out and look for an office space to rent. However, many will advise that starting with a home office space is a great idea, as this will help you save money early on.
Office Phone
It is also very important that you get a mobile phone where your customers can easily reach you. Furthermore, this can also be an important tool, as it will help you keep in touch with your dispatch riders as well. There could also be easy phones that your dispatch riders can also use for other purposes. Such as downloading Google Maps for navigation. In addition, an office phone helps you with other apps like Whatsapp or Facebook Messenger for communication.
Work Computer
The use of a work computer for your business is that it helps you keep records of all your dispatch and delivery business. The records you could keep will involve payment records, delivery orders, tracking sheets, customer contact records, expense records, and more.
Dispatch Riders
Well, frankly, you can’t run a dispatch business without dispatch riders, as they are even the backbone of the business in a way. So, you will need to be quite efficient in screening and checking the backgrounds of the riders before you hire them.
Delivery Box
In this dispatch business, the delivery box is a large box that is usually placed at the back of the bike to keep the goods to be delivered. For this type of purchase, it is very important that you buy a delivery box that is of high quality so it can last for a long time. Also, you must ensure that the box you are buying is weather-resistant as well.
Branding
To be able to stand out from your competitors, it all boils down to how well-spoken your brand is. This is why it is very important that you take the branding of your business very seriously. To succeed, hire a very good graphic designer to help you create a professional logo, fliers, and many more. What’s more, you must ensure that your dispatch riders, bikes, and delivery boxes are all well-branded.
As soon as you conclude most of the items on this list. You can proceed to create a very powerful marketing plan and strategy to promote your business. Additionally, you can utilize the path of offline and online marketing to create more awareness for your dispatch business in Nigeria.
Conclusion
In conclusion, starting a dispatch rider business in Nigeria is very lucrative, and this business can yield a huge return on investment, especially if you put in the hard work and commitment it needs to grow. So, if you aren’t sure whether or not to start this business or if you do not know what business to start as a Nigerian, then you should consider this business.
