Complete Guide: How to Start Makeup Business in Nigeria

Bagging a degree certificate is no longer adequate; one learns a skill or dies of poverty. Many Nigerians today earn a living by acquiring skills that now serve as the primary and only source of income.

Makeup is a current trend and has a booming market. You will likely find as many makeup studios as saloons, fashion stores, and supermarkets in every significant Nigerian city and even rural areas.

Starting a makeup business might as well mean putting your artistic and creative self to work to survive the competitive crowd.

How Lucrative Is The Makeup Business in Nigeria?

Running a makeup studio is equivalent to investing in or starting any other business. I am trying to imply that the criteria for creating a makeup business are similar to any other business; you will need to research and come up with relevant data to help you plan effectively for a productive investment. 

Understanding Makeup Business

Makeup in the cosmetic or beauty industry is thriving as the women folk who mainly use makeup still believe they are not beautiful until they apply makeup.

Starting a makeup business in Nigeria is more accessible than some writers would make us believe. As a matter of fact, as an individual, you can begin to makeup a business anywhere you find yourself in the country. Nothing should hinder you from starting a makeup business as you are passionate about it.

The good thing about this business is that you only require a small amount of capital before you go into the makeup business. With as low as ₦10,000, you can start this business in Nigeria. Just a tiny amount of money is needed if you are struggling to raise capital before embarking on the project. In this write-up, I will take you step by step on how to go into this business and contribute to the economic development of Nigeria.

Steps to starting a makeup business

Target Market

No business can be all things to all people or attack and effectively satisfy a broad market. We must define the market boundaries we want to operate and tailor our marketing programs for each target market.

You should segment your market into identifiable groups of female folk—young, middle-class, and older people.

Market segmentation is the process of identifying and dividing a total heterogeneous market for a product into several sub-groups of buyers with distinct buying desires or requirements, and any sub-group may be selected as a market target to be reached with different marketing mix – product, price, Promotion, and distribution. In our case, here – makeup. Makeup products can be divided into mainly six product lines:

1. Foundation
2. Concealer
3. Lip gloss
4. Lipstick
5. Eye shadow
6. Mascara
7. Conduct a survey

This may be a formal and informal interaction with potential buyers to know if the target market will be profitable and how to plan to attack the demands you will target. Equally important is to determine whether your product will pass the regulatory agency’s requirements, NAFDAC.

The product

You must choose not only any of the products where your experience lies but, more importantly, the product that is likely to have adequate demand. Therefore the product selected to be produced must go through the process of a new product development sequence, i.e.

1. Availability of adequate demand
2. Can the company make a good profit?
3. Is the market large enough – for sustainable growth
4. Any legal restrictions, can the makeup pass the NAFDAC test?
5. Is good management time available?
6. Any environmental/social standards to be met, e.g., SON
7. Resource implication – cash, equipment, and expertise availability

Location decision

Any location is good so far. It has access roads, power supply, proximity to the market, and adequate security.

Business plan

A business plan for a small business enterprise can be seen as an entrepreneur’s business ‘resume’ and its growth strategy. Since investors and venture capitalists usually want to consider investing based on a business plan, a small business enterprise should document its objectives and directions. Business plans perform the following managerial functions for a small business enterprise:-

1. It assists the entrepreneur crystallizes and directs his business ideas.
2. It can help the entrepreneur set goals, objectives, strategies, and control measures.
3. It can act as a means of attracting any form of funding for the business.
4. It can convince capitalists and other investors that the entrepreneur has isolated some beneficial growth business opportunities in all aspects possible.

Business strategy

The ultimate measure of the success of any business venture is whether or not it generates profit. The business analysis required at this stage is to estimate the new product viability in three areas:

1. Sales
2. Costs
3. Margins, profits, return on investment, and cash flow
4. Marketing strategy development

Aspects covered by this would include;

1. Preliminary marketing objectives – what you want to achieve
2. Decisions on the possible market targets – the market to target
3. Product positioning strategies and branding
4. Preliminary marketing mix decisions
5. Preliminary budget estimates
6. Product development

If business analysis points to a favorable decision, the next major step is product development. Once a physical product – for example, a prototype – has been developed, further technical and consumer testing should be carried out.

At this stage, the new product idea is translated into a technically and commercially feasible product. The new product is manufactured in small quantities to allow for test marketing.

Market testing and Promotion

The product should be tested among friends to determine their reaction and, beyond that, to sample people who use makeup. The following promotional tools should be used to generate publicity.

• Events Marketing: Event marketing consists of marketing activities undertaken by organizations to achieve a measurable level of product exposure during a special event organized by the organization or others. An example is a large organization’s annual conference.
• Social media: The use of Facebook and Instagram to generate traffic must be balanced. You should advertise on Facebook and Instagram and invite your friends to like your page. It would help if you also formed groups.
• You should try to join groups such as beauty and hairdressing groups, and try to obtain the cooperation of the group executives. (It is assumed the entrepreneur is a woman)
• Demonstration – you can organize product demonstrations with others or during a trade fair.

Create a brand name and a memorable logo.

The purpose is to stand your brand out from competitors and to give the brand an identifiable name

Production

Launch the makeup business commercially if the test market is thriving, and the result is positive.

**This is just a guide; to obtain the investment amount and product line to choose in a makeup business, comprehensive research must be conducted.