Introduction |
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In Nigeria, because of the large population density in the city, the banks find it quite difficult to meet up the demands of their customers in terms of giving and receiving cash due to lack of ATM machines, long queues in banks, alongside other little financial services.
In other to cover this gaps, people had to liaise with the bank to be an agent that will not only be an intermediary with customers but also cover some of this little transactions. That was how this POS Vendors came about and it has been one of the most profitable and cheap business ventures to partake in.
Point of sales (POS) Business. |
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In Nigeria, POS business is one of the most saturated businesses in Nigeria because of how easy it is to startup. It is stress free and profitable business that doesn’t require any serious skills, just know your basic mathematics of “addition and subtraction”, then you are good to go. You can’t run out of loss except someone tries to play a smart one on you or having poor network connection from the bank you’re operating with.
As a POS vendor, several business you can offer with the machine include:
- Selling of Airtime and data
- Withdrawal and transfer of funds
- Payment of light bills
- Cash deposit
Which location would suit them best -for the business and how much money can they start with? |
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The best place to operate this business is in a populated area where you know there are no ATM machines close by. A friend of mine does her business in a market and the least she makes in a day is about 10,000 naira. A lot of people will rather go to a POS vendor to do their financial transactions and pay the charge the agent take as profit than to go to a bank to stand long queues at ATM machines.
Speaking about the startup money, it depends on the bank. Some banks will say you need to have up at least #100,000 while some will say #150,000 in your account before they can give you the POS machine to be their agent.
How the business works. |
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Once you have done all your necessary paperwork and whatever connections the bank do with the POS machines, you can kick off from anywhere of your choice.
When a customer comes with his ATM card to initiate a transaction, the POS device relates the information with the customer’s bank to authorize withdrawal or payment.
The POS vendor or agent then charges a fee for whatever transaction you do with the POS.
Benefits |
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- It’s easy to start
- You determine the price of your choice for each transaction you make.
- For those in the rural areas that don’t have access to banks, this POS agent covers those places.
- The POS agent offers a convenient way to access cash and other financial transactions rather than staying all day in the banks
- You don’t need serious skill just have your basic mathematical knowledge.
Challenges |
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- they are always target to robbers because of the amount of cash they always have on them.
- Like I mentioned earlier, poor network from the various banks can disrupt free flow of transactions
- Sometimes, due to fear of been attacked by thieves, the operator don’t come out with a lot of money in there hand to meet customers withdrawal needs. They will rather go to the bank 10 times to collect cash than to have a very large chunk of cash on them.
If you have already seen this business, share it with a picture of what it might look like |
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Like I said earlier, you don’t need much as shop. Just find a cool place that has lots of traffic, mount your umbrellas and see customers trooping in to patronize you!!
I will be inviting @bossj23, @dave-hanny and @simonnwigwe for the contest.