Recall in earlier parts we have shed light on the difference between laundry and dry cleaning, we have suggested a list of expenses/equipment you will need to run the laundry business, we have also shared the must have skills you need to possess to start a laundry business. So let’s dive straight into ‘Set up’. We are certain that by the end of this series, you should have learnt a lot about laundry business, and conclude if it’s the business for you.
Set up Steps to start a laundry business in Nigeria
- CAC Registration
- Open a Corporate Account
- Enrol your business under FiRS
- Obtain operational licenses and permits in your local area
- Open a blog/website
- Open social media page
- Design a Delivery System/Partner with a delivery company
- Design a payment System
CAC Registration
The first setup in your pursuit to start a laundry business in Nigeria is to get your business registered under the Corporate Affairs Commission. Check out our previous blog on how to start a business in Nigeria. Here you would get to see steps to take to get your business registered in Nigeria.
Open a Corporate Account
To give credence and authenticity to your business, one of those things you must do is to open a corporate account with your registered business name at any bank of your choice. This action/step gives customers assurance/confidence that they are dealing with a business with a good structure. With this, you would even find it a bit easier to access loans too. To learn about the requirements to open a corporate account in Nigeria. Check out our previous blog where we shared details on how to open a corporate account in Nigeria.
Open a blog/website for your laundry business
The world has gone digital, these days, business owners and clients are connected together via virtual space. Your business cannot afford not to join this digital movement. You will need to set up a website where clients can request your service (pick up their laundry), get a price quotation, find out about the services you offer, testimonies about your business and any other information they desire to have about your business. To have a website, hire a competent web designer to develop a functioning and easy to navigate website for your laundry business.
If you cannot afford to hire, then build one yourself. Using Shopify, WordPress, Wix and many more, there are ways to go about this and there are lots of tutorials online. Furnish this website with blogs and information about your business, offer tips to attract people to your website, use interlinks and backlinks, keyword and search engine optimization to get people to your website and inspire patronage, hence increasing revenue. And your website can serve as a payment gateway too. But if you do not have a website, no worries. Just start.
Open social media page
Opening and running a social media page is something that every business that wants to connect with existing customers and potential customers cannot afford not to do. These days that people live half of their day on social media, you have to tap into this by including it in your setup. Create a social media page; Instagram page, Facebook page. But make sure to know which of these social media platforms actually targets your target audience. Do not waste so much of your time on social media. Remember work for mouth and other offline advertising is key! Anyway, we will discuss more in part 5 and in our Joadre Tribe App.
Design a Delivery System/Partner with a delivery company
This in fact is one of the most important things you must do in your setup. You have to decide whether you want to partner with an external logistics/delivery company to get laundered clothes to clients and also pick up their dirty laundry. If you are partnering, you must ensure that it is with a company that will always be on standby to make delivery for you. Otherwise, you can include getting a delivery bike in your budget.
We said bike because, one, it is more affordable than a car, two, because here in Lagos for example, there is always traffic, and time is of utmost importance, you don’t want to spend 5 hours delivering clothes to just one client. With a motorcycle, you can serve as many clients as possible in a day. If you have the resources you can get up to three dispatch riders to make delivery and pickup laundry daily or based on a schedule.
Design a payment system for your laundry business
For a business like laundry, it is necessary to create an easy payment system that makes things easy for your clients and also easy for you to track your financial record. You can either make your payment structure such that it includes but is not limited to, cash, card, monthly subscription. You could include a link in your blog or website that offers price quotations and takes people to the payment page.
Check out our previous blog on how to start a business in Nigeria, where we discussed extensively tips on how to enrol your business under FiRS, Obtain operational licenses and permits in your local area, and other relevant steps to start a business in Nigeria
In part 5 of this blog series, we will explore questions like – How do I market my laundry business? How much do I charge Customers if I start a laundry business? Subscribe to our newsletter so as to be the first to receive amazing business insights from us As in dey hot! Get our App for future business ideas and partnerships opportunities.
Cheers
Joadre Editorial Team