- Entrepreneurs take advantage of poor supply
- Begin phone charging business
- Charge as much as ₦50 per phone
Entrepreneurs in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have taken advantage of poor supply in the nation’s capital to kickstart phone charging businesses. As a result, the business of charging phones has been on the increase, with individuals investing as much as ₦100,000 as start-up capital.
The charging centre owners charge as high as ₦50 per phone and make as much as N3,000 per day. Once a customer collects their phone, whether fully charged or not, he pays the charging fee. The owner of the charging centre is, however, responsible for all phones left in his care.
According to one of the entrepreneurs, Godwin Ebere, who spoke with the Daily Sun, he invested ₦100,000 and, in the space of six months, had recouped his investment. ”I discovered that the problem in my area is power. When I put on my generating set, I found out that many people came to my house to charge their phones. I thought that if I commercialise it, I would have enough patronage.”
Also, a polytechnic graduate, Abuchi, who started the business, says he decided to take advantage of the power situation seven years after graduating from school due to the lack of employment opportunities. ”After graduating from Okopoly, I stayed at home for seven years and then I got the idea to start this business. I gathered money, rented this shop and bought a generating set and multiple chargers.” Abuchi said.
Despite the quick turnaround of the business, there are risks involved. ”There is a great risk in charging phones. You can see that this (business premises) has burglary proof. Nobody enters here. Transactions are executed through the burglary proof. The environment must be secured; otherwise, you lose or misplace peoples’ phones.” Precious said.