Are you an entrepreneur and want to know the business ideas in South Africa? Whatever your situation, if you are entering the job market for the first time, your business is a great idea!
10 Business Ideas for Entrepreneurs in South Africa
SPECIALTY COFFEE SHOP
Mexico and Latin America continue to grow in coffee consumption. And millennials are revolutionizing beverage and cafeteria concepts.
WHO IS THIS BUSINESS FOR?
- Entrepreneurial families
- Entrepreneurial couples
- Recent graduates
- People who have already worked in a cafeteria
What do you think of a coffee bike ? A mobile cafeteria? Or a Harry Potter or Avengers- themed coffee shop ? You can innovate with several concepts, it is believed that there will be a growth of 10-12% each year in specialty coffee shops in the next 10 years.
But let’s talk a little more about specialty cafes, these are currently those that are innovating not only in the quality of their coffee beans and their extraction methods (which is also very important) but also trying to innovate in their image.
The image of a cafeteria is important for a reason, it totally changes the customer experience. It is a fact that it does not matter how good coffee you sell in your cafeteria if you do not know how to apply a good concept to sell it.
An example of this is Starbucks, one of the most important coffee franchises that currently invests a lot of money in its image and in improving the customer experience, because they know that they have to offer something different to others.
For this same reason, specialty cafes are the best to start a new business, since they do not require a large amount of capital to start and offer something new for coffee lovers.
To start this business you just need to decide and start training in the world of coffee, this type of business is much easier to start when you associate with someone else. For this reason, it is the perfect business to start it with your partner or a colleague from the university.
MOBILE CREPERIE
If you want a business for weekends or a few hours a day, the creperie is an excellent option. Also the investment is small!
Creperie is a business where you sell sweet crepes (also known as crepes), salty crepes, and cold drinks, such as frappés, milkshakes, and slushies.
WHO IS THIS BUSINESS FOR?
- College boyfriends
- Young couples
- Entrepreneur with limited budget
HOW MUCH DOES THIS BUSINESS COST?
You can invest in a simple concept about $ 10,000 pesos (500 USD) and in a more innovative concept about $ 120,000 pesos ($ 6,000 USD).
If you want to undertake individually, you should opt for a simple concept, if you want to start this business with someone else, it is best to choose an innovative concept.
This business is wonderful for several reasons, the first is that compared to other businesses the initial investment is really very small.
Making a crepe costs only 10 pesos and depending on your concept you can sell it for up to 50 pesos. Which makes it one of the best businesses because it can generate up to 70% profit on your earnings.
It is also a business that allows you to offer drinks, drinks in any establishment represent a strong income inflow . The drinks that can be sold are both hot and cold, so, you can end up putting together two brilliant ideas: Creperie and Cafeteria, of course this would require a greater investment, but the entries would increase considerably compared to that you only sold crepes.
INTERNET BUSINESS
The digital age has also reached business, it is known that, at least on mobile, there are 3.9 billion active Internet users around the world.
This “small” number is only a representation of the great opportunity that arises to generate your new income, because of the aforementioned percentage, 1.16 billion people have purchased online.
So that’s why it’s important to promote your products or services. In what way? There are several ways to announce to the world that you have a digital presence in which you offer something:
- Online store (ecommerce)
- Business website
- Blog
- Social networks to post what is sold
- Platforms like MercadoLibre or Amazon
By these means you can start doing business. For this it is important that you convince and give confidence to the potential buyer with images about your product or service, your offices (if you have them), evidence of your previous satisfied customers, etc.
RESTAURANT BETWEEN UNIVERSITY PARTNERS
If you have something bigger planned, hang out with the partners. 1 or 2 can contribute capital and another can provide administration. There are very innovative concepts: regional restaurants, international restaurants, fusion cuisine, pub-style bars, flavored beers and much more.
If you want to innovate or go for something more traditional, restaurants are for you!
WHO IS THIS BUSINESS FOR?
-Friends or university colleagues who want to work together
-Families that want to invest in something together
HOW MUCH MONEY ARE YOU GOING TO INVEST?
The restaurant business can be very expensive. But plan your project well to avoid extra costs. A restaurant can cost you from $ 250,000 pesos (12,500 USD) to $ 2,000,000 pesos (100,000 USD) or more. That is why everything must be prepared : your market research, your business plan, finances and administration.
But … you should know that the most difficult thing in a restaurant is not the recipes. It is the financial part and the human resources. If you want to start your restaurant correctly, I recommend the following:
Work on your concept, (in the type of restaurant you want to open). This will help you know more broadly what you need to get started. This is not always an easy task since it can depend on many factors, from the locality, the competition, the capital to start, among many other things.
For this step it is always good to necessarily seek advice on how to start your restaurant, since it is common to make many mistakes when starting a new business.
There are cases where the concept can be good, the prices are attractive but unfortunately the location is not correct, the service is bad or another factor that influences the restaurant to not grow.
IMPORT AND SELL CHINESE PRODUCTS
There are many factories in China that sell innovative products that you can sell: clothing, shoes, pet toys, video games, drones. Anything you can imagine.
If you are going to start a business with little investment, import from China is at the top. You can start with 1 dollar on Alibaba . But … be careful with customs. You must know how to import correctly to avoid customs taking your merchandise from you.
WHO IS THIS BUSINESS FOR?
Solopreneurs: If you are going to start a business by yourself, you are a solopreneur.
- Entrepreneurs from home
- Office workers with free time
- Young mothers
This business is especially recommended for those students who are still in college, because it is not a business that requires a lot of time and the initial investment can be adapted to your budget. o For young mothers since this type of products can be easily sold through social networks , without the need to have a local, this business can be started from home.
HOW MUCH MONEY ARE YOU GOING TO INVEST?
The import business from China can be started with less than 10 USD. Order a piece of a product and try to sell it. The important issue is to get customers and know how to sell, set up your store or market online.
Among the most profitable products are: the import of clothing, footwear, makeup, technology such as computers and cell phone accessories.
The advantages of importing any of these products from China are many. Firstly, they are products that can be easily sold in South Africa and Mexico and are very popular.
The second is that these types of platforms like Alibaba allow you to make direct deals with factories, which means that the prices are really low and you can make a bigger profit by selling them.
More and more businesses are choosing to import products from China for low prices and because the quality is not bad, which makes them profitable, safe and easy to sell products, the investment depends on the product, so your You can decide how much you want to start your business with.
You can import other types of products to those already mentioned, but it is recommended that they be small and cheap to start with, preferably not exceeding 5 kilos per piece.
It is important to keep this in mind because customs has certain restrictions with many products, some that exceed 5 kilos need certain documentation so that they can receive them without any problem.
CREATIVE DRINKS (MIXOLOGY, SHAKES, SMOOTHIES)
The world of drinks is very exciting. Thousands of modern recipes can be created. For example, marzipan shakes, organic smoothies, healing juices, mocktails (flavored cocktails), flamed cocktails, etc.
Put your creativity to work with the exciting flavors and eye-catching decorations!
WHO IS THIS BUSINESS FOR?
This business is perfect for many entrepreneurs, but above all for:
- -Entrepreneur boyfriends
- -Entrepreneur weekend
- -Multi-entrepreneurs
HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU HAVE TO INVEST?
The basics are a blender, a bar and a local. This can be achieved with $ 15,000 pesos (750 USD), but a more reasonable investment would be $ 50,000 pesos (2,500 USD) or more.
This business can be done at events such as: weddings, fifteen years, sweet sixteen, parties, etc. But you can also put in a local of chocolates or milkshakes.
This business apart from being very profitable is also a lot of fun, you can choose to choose a specialization and based on that start your beverage business.
You can choose to be a professional Bartender and know the variety of drinks that can be prepared with alcohol or you can also choose to be a Barista and learn to prepare a variety of hot and cold drinks, with coffee, with chocolate, among others.
Either of these two specializations also allow you greater job opportunities, the bartender job is currently very popular and very well paid.
Therefore, at parties such as weddings, fifteen years or more, they always look for a bartender to be in charge of the cocktail and drinks table.
FASHION OR SPECIALIZED CLOTHING BUSINESS
If you have worked in a clothing store, you know the business and about fashion, you meet almost all the requirements to create your own boutique. However, you can also start in this business even if you don’t know much about the fashion world.
The first thing is to choose the form of marketing that best suits your possibilities. Franchising can be a good choice because there is an image already defined and known by the client, but all this requires a very high investment.
Some houses offer the alternative of establishing yourself as a unique brand, that is, offering exclusively their products, or that a very high percentage of the clothes you sell are from their brand, but without the need to franchise yourself. This way you benefit from selling a well-known line, but without the ties of a franchise (you don’t pay for an entrance fee or percentage for advertising).
HOW MUCH SHOULD I INVEST IN THIS BUSINESS?
It is very difficult for you to start setting up a boutique with recognized brand clothing and in a shopping center, the investment would be more than $ 200,000 MXN.
For this, it is better to start with a simpler stock, so counting at least the first three months of rent from a prudent premises, sufficient dressers, an employee, saving for emergencies, etc. The investment for a clothing store of this level can be $ 70,000 MXN.
Another option is to get cheap clothes by importing from China, but don’t panic! For small importers, customs filters are not as demanding. In addition, the prices offered by the Chinese are very affordable for you to build your stock.
GROCERY STORE BUSINESS
Have you ever heard the phrase: “On the way I will buy something”?
All students or people who work have a fixed schedule, so this happens very often. That’s to name a few safe customers when opening a grocery store.
It may sound over the top, but almost everyone buys from a store at least once a day.
Kantar Worldpanel (Mexico), a global network that studies consumer behavior, states the following:
The traditional shops (such as grocery and minisúperes) represent 35% of the expenditure of 31.5 million households in the country. Of this number, 58% is used for soft drinks, water, and juices.
Therefore, it can be one of the best ideas to invest and start making money.
VIDEO GAME RENTAL BUSINESS
Recall the fury with which the world received consoles: an unprecedented technological revolution for entertainment. However, like everything new at the beginning, it turns out that consoles were not something that any family could acquire; so centers that rented arcade machines became frequent .
They quickly became a gathering place for young people looking to try out the video game experience for themselves. So one of the most attractive youth business ideas is starting your own video game rental place.
Over time, the number of users grew larger and larger to form the large gamer community . And although consoles, games and generations have changed, the taste and fervor for the increasingly varied and best video game designs remains.
BUSINESS WITH YOUR PARTNER
It is common to start a business with partners, but it is also common to see that these partners are the couple. In this sense, you may start your project with your boyfriend or girlfriend.
But what business do couples choose to undertake? That depends on the profile and taste of the two. You can start a craft business, an electronics business, etc.
If you don’t know what business to start, think about the skills that each one has, such as taking advantage of their studies; for example, a regularization school can be started where she (who studied biology) teaches natural science and chemistry; while he teaches writing, literature and linguistics; Or start a law firm where he studied law and she accounts, and therefore, they pool their knowledge.
Another option, more for married or living together, is to start an online store. Thus one of the parties attends to it from home, whether he or she is dedicated to being at home and the other party is in charge of investing and ensuring that there is always sufficient stock. In this sense, it is important to know where the products will be obtained, so a good option is to import from China, and in fact it is easier than you think.
