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Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday April 20, 2012 9:53:8:

I mentioned dry cleaning as one of the businesses one can do in Nigeria and it is really an easy one to do. You can start big or small and you could offer your customers a variety of services and there is opportunity for everyone to get involved in the business. It is really hard to offer dry cleaning services in the city and not be successful at it.

Why this business rocks
- It can cope with inefficient power supply as you don't need 24 hr electricity
- There is a large market with relatively low competition
- Income far outweighs the expenses
- There is not much govt restriction on operators of this business

If you are going to do this for business, then you should:

- Register your company
- Open an office
- Setup a payment process for clients
- Do Book keeping for your customers
- Get some washing machines(eg 2) and labour
- Have a procedure for collecting and returning clothes to your clients
- You may need a generator for some quick jobs
- Get capital of about N500,000 to N1 million

If you are not ready to incorporate yet, but want to do small start up:
- You may not need to have an office
- Your client base may be limited to people that really trust you
- You would have to do pickups and delivery
- You let the client know your fees and collect payment on delivery
- You would charge lesser than registered corporate Dry cleaners.

The ready market
In Nigeria, population is not a problem and there are more people living in the cities rather than in the villages. Your market comprises of people such as Old but rich people, young but busy, working mother, comfortable bachelor and the general middle class. Many people don't really have time to wash their own clothes even if they have the machines and for others, they prefer professional dry cleaning rather than having their wives or housemaid do the washing for them. So there will always be a market for people in this business and the best place to start one in in the city such as Lagos, Abuja, PH, Kaduna and other places where there is a growing number of people.

How to get more clients
If you already have setup a dry cleaning business but not getting clients or jobs are you would have wanted, then there is still opportunity for you to do so by simply marketing your services. You can do this with the internet by posting classified ads about your services. You may also get Nigerian bloggers to do a review of your business and this can help bring physical traffic to your office. You could as well go offline marketing by using workd of mouth, friends, religious affiliations, social clubs, peer groups and so on to bring more clients to your business.

Dry cleaning tips
- Don't wash colours with whites. Seperate them
- You will need hangers and nylons for packaging washed and ironed clothes
- Some stains need to be removed differently before general washing

How much can a Dry cleaning business make in Nigeria?
Well it really depends on the economy, cost of doing business and expenses involved. With Nigerian being an inflationary economy, things keep rising yearly. In 2012 however, the average price for dropping your clothes at a dry cleaning shop ranges from N250 to N500 per piece, so do the maths. Some corporate dry cleaners say they make between N300,000 to N500,000 per month from their business. So it is really profitable and besides, you could use newer technologies to increase your profit.

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Comments:
Re: Dry Cleaning Business Reply by John Popoola on Thursday May 31, 2012 at 15:47:20:

Where can someone train as a drycleaner or launderer?Please supply me addresses

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Re: Dry Cleaning Business Reply by Emma on Wednesday June 27, 2012 at 9:14:8:

I'm a student and i'm really interested in running a dry cleaning business. Please, can you tell me the cost of getting the necessary equipment and the required skill. Please... I'm really interested. My email is energieman86@gmail.com my phone is 08067947766. Emmanuel

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Re: Dry Cleaning Business Reply by orenuga sunday on Monday October 29, 2012 at 14:26:11:

please what is the cost of buying a dry cleaning machine contact me through this
07051065167,s.orenuga@yahoo.com

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