10 Top Business Ideas For a Stay-at-home Mom In Nigeria

What are the available business opportunities for a stay-at-home mom?

I was thirty-nine years old and pregnant with my third child when I was told by the doctors that it was best for me to quit my job. I cried like a five-year-old kid who had just gotten her candy taken away from her by her classmates.

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Yes, I complained about using the toilet frequently, getting tired easily, headaches and having blurred vision, but I thought all these were just signs. That night before going to bed, I could still hear the doctor’s voice in my head saying, “Madam, you have PREECLAMPSIA and I think it is best you quit your job for the safety of the baby and yourself.” At that point, I felt like I had failed; I had dream, big dreams.

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I knew bouncing back after giving birth was going to be hard. There were friends I know who automatically became full-time housewives because they couldn’t get a job or because they found it hard switching back to their normal career lifestyles… I didn’t want that. My career was looking good. I was already a manager at my present place of work and letting go was hard. The decision had to be made.

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It’s been three years now since I quit my job and I am proud to say that even as a stay-at-home mom, I get to make my own money by working from home. It is amazing. I am sure you are wondering how possible this is. Well, just go ahead and read this article as it answers everything a stay-at-home mom would possibly want to know.

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How do you describe a stay-at-home mom? It is simply, just as the name implies, a woman whose job is managing her home and family, taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, buying groceries, and doing any other domestic duty with, maybe, the exception of heavy duties traditionally reserved for male handling.

What most people fail to understand is that this is one of the hardest jobs any individual can take up. It is time-consuming, tests your patience, changes you, brings out another side of your being you never thought existed.

In this kind of job, you are dealing with a strange class of humans – children. You have to understand their way of thinking and the meaning behind every tear in addition to household chores.

I could go on about how tasking it is to be a stay-at-home mom, but that’s not our purpose here.

Every stay-at-home mom dreads these four words: “What do you do?” because it begins to question their identity. Yes, you can easily say, “Oh, I am a stay-at-home mom,” but many times the real quest for the questioner is to know what you do asides staying home and taking care of the kids. I am sure you don’t want to run into having an identity crisis.

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Such questions make you remember when you used to be so good at something. But now you are seated at home trying to figure out what your three kids would eat when they get back from school.

Darling, do not be fazed. Becoming a stay-at-home mom doesn’t put an end to your career.

You are still cool, waking up early in the morning, preparing your kids for school and heading to the office. The only difference is, your home is your office. Thanks to telecommuting and technology, you can still work from your own convenience.

As a stay-at-home mom, you need to be very creative and find a business opportunity where others do not see one. Discover something you are good at, prepare a business plan and make money out of it or build a skill.

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Business ideas For The Stay-At-Home Mom

1) Day Care Centre

I can still remember as a kid, my mum would drop me off at a particular woman’s place and pick me up on her way back from work. She had her own kids and staying there was fun because I got to mingle with my age mates. I later discovered that this was her own medium of making a living because she was paid for her services.

As a stay-at-home mom, have you ever thought of starting your own day care centre? I think this is easily one of the best jobs any stay-at-home mom can possibly do. Imagine you put up a poster or distribute flyers, saying career mums could drop off their kids at your place with a monthly fee of 20,000 naira.

So let’s imagine five mums are interested in your services. This means you have made a sum of 100,000 naira for that month by looking after kids. Running a day care allows you spend a great deal of time with your kids while looking after other people’s children as well. This business idea is a good choice for women who already have experience in caring for kids.

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2) Transport Business 

I am sure you are wondering what I’m up to talking about the transport business. We are in a world where most people still find it difficult to move from one location to another. As a stay-at-home mom, saving up and buying two or three motorbikes (also known as okada) is something you should think of doing. You give these bikes out to individuals you trust and they come back to you every day with the total amount made from the day’s job. You then decide on the percentage they take. By doing this, you have automatically become an employer of labour.

3) Medical Consulting Services

If by chance you studied medicine in school, then starting your own consulting service is a business idea you should consider. I have been to a hospital where people pay 25,000 naira as a consultancy fee. You could also advertise and offer your services online and get paid for it.

4) Business Plan Writing

Writing a business plan can be very stressful and most entrepreneurs do not enjoy the task. If you are good in drawing up a comprehensive business plan, then you should consider it as a form of business. Most entrepreneurs need convincing business plans to help them get sponsorships from corporate organisations. If you are good at creating convincing business plans then turn it into a form of business.

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5) Writing

You could be an excellent creative writer, or you write about trends or happenings in a particular field. There are many platforms that have been created to help authors sell their books online. On Okadabooks, a Nigerian self-publishing app, authors make money from the sales of their own books. There are other self-publishing platforms like Amazon that you can self-publish your books on.  Keying into this to keep you busy as a stay-at-home mom is another way of making a profit.

6) Skincare and Makeup Artistry

As a beautician, you can learn how to make soaps using natural products. You could even decide to diversify into different areas like cream making and makeup artistry.

Learning how to be a make-up artist and training others is now considered one of the fastest ways of creating wealth and generating income in Nigeria.

The skincare industry has been described as a fast-growing business sector and it is highly competitive. In Nigeria, the beauty and skincare sector in 2016 was valued at 620.2 million USD, according to a Euromonitor International report.

7) Jewellery Making 

If you love making clothing accessories, then jewellery making is a job you should consider. You could make jewellery from pearls, beads and even wood.

Putting up your finished work online is a way of getting people to see what you do. Another way is creating a website for the business where people get to place orders. You can even begin to make custom jewellery for some of your customers and charge a little premium for that.

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8) Knitting

This is one skill I know most women learn and know how to do. For a stay-at-home mom, you could start by knitting wears like sweaters, for your kids. Then putting your knitted wears online especially on Instagram. Knitting can be time-consuming and it is advisable that as the business grows you employ more hands.

9) Proof Reading/Editing 

There are lots of authors who are in search of proof readers and editors, to help them go through their manuscript and boost their writing. You have to be skilled and have an eye for detail to take on this.

With this kind of job, you do not need to leave your house as virtually everything is done through email. From research, a very good editor charges up to 150,000 naira to proofread and edit a manuscript. Imagine if you get two manuscripts in a month.

10) Internet Research Business 

Some people are very good at conducting research. It is a very good business opportunity for stay-at-home moms. Starting your own internet research company, helping people conduct online research, and getting paid for it is another way of making money without leaving your home.

Being a stay-at-home mom is not the end of your working life. It is surprising to see how many stay-at-home moms still provide for the family. Get up, push yourself and be productive.

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