In the 2023 budget, out of the total N21.83 billion, N1.08 trillion was allocated to the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) and it’s agencies. This is 4.72% of the total budget compared with 5.4% of the budget of previous 2022. This means that funding for education in Nigeria has continued to drop and this is wonderful news for private sector investors.
Viable business opportunities in Nigeria’s educational sector.
- Schools from elementary to tertiary levels: The huge population of the youth in Nigeria today presents an equally huge opportunity for the establishment of schools at all levels from kindergarten to primary, secondary and tertiary. Due to the profile of funding education in Nigeria, which according to survey record, is about 75% in the hands of private citizens, the room for the establishment of private schools is inelastic which means that Nigeria can accommodate nearly double the number of universities, polytechnics, secondary and primary schools presently in existence. Any serious minded entrepreneur still has so much room at whatever level one may want to come in.
- Textbooks and other educational accessories: Production and sales of school textbooks and other accessories will continue to be an attractive business opportunity in Nigeria as the population increases and the need for those in school to still buy textbooks increases. Development of textbooks starts with looking at the curriculum of each type of school one wants to focus on. Rather than focus on textbooks that are very popular, it is better to start with textbooks focused at specialized aspects of school subjects and curriculum, particularly the ones that aid students to pass examinations.
- School kits: There is a wide range of kits regularly required by students across all age brackets. The list includes shoes, socks, lunch packs, sweaters, bags, etc. One can either do this business either by mass producing them for open market sales or via customized production after procuring orders from individual schools.
- Exam preparation: This involves all activities in helping students to take and pass examinations. Exam preparation schools are established to conduct after-school classes for students preparing to take the examinations. It’s also done for students who want to retake examinations. Exam preparation classes represent a good business opportunity. It is a business opportunity that has potential for extension to many other dimensions. For example, it can be extended to cover even professional courses, i.e., ICAN, CIBN and foreign examinations.
- School Transportation: This is a service that schools are now willing to outsource to private service providers. Vehicles like buses can be procured under vehicle leasing arrangement from financial institutions. The arrangement can be done in such a way that the vehicle/s are dedicated to the use of just one school and in some cases for taking care of several schools within a geographical area rather than concentrating on individual schools.
- Continuous development for teaching staff: The need for training and retraining of teaching staff of schools has never been so apparent due to high level of advancement in technology and virtually in knowledge in all areas of human endeavour. The training for teachers should be structured to address current developments in each of the fields or subject areas in the curriculum of our educational institutions, particularly the ones that are not presently covered but are necessary in the job market and the knowledge economy at large. Examples are the use of current technology like online training, video instruction, artificial intelligence, etc. This business can be done either on in-plant arrangement, that is going to individual schools or open programmes, where teachers are sourced as participants from several schools at the same time.
- Teaching staff recruitment: This is a business opportunity that will succeed for those who are already in consulting or existing teachers as a retirement business (when they eventually retire). It can be done in two ways. Firstly, by assisting schools to recruit qualified teachers with specific skilled sets, i.e., science, technology, commercial, etc. On the other hand the business can also help graduates of teacher training institutions to secure employment by matching them with existing jobs.
- Research assistance: This is a business opportunity needed mostly in tetiary institutions particularly in universities where higher degrees are obtained. This is helping to conduct surveys which will help the students in writing their research and term papers and dissertations. This is a very sensitive job, and so, a research assistant will limit himself to what students are allowed to ask others to undertake for them.
- Guidance/counseling: This is a business opportunity where one will work hand in hand with schools and educational institutions. One should be ready to render value added services in addition to pure guidance and counseling like career choice, school placement and admission assistance both for foreign and local institutions. The service can also include quality assurance and monitoring of compliance of educational institutions with regulator standards.
- Oversees admissions and placement: Unprecedent number of Nigerians are seeking admission in foreign institutions at all levels today. This service will assist the students not only in identifying the opportunities available to study abroad but to also to assist to process the admission exercise from the beginning to the end. Additional service for this business opportunity is helping to locate funding and scholarships for students worldwide.
Source: Independent
