The Point Of Sale(POS) business has become a rapidly increasing venture in Nigeria. It’s very hard for you to go anywhere in the country that you will not find POS shop or vendor.
In fact, some businesses have incorporated it into their customer’s transaction option for people that may not like to pay with cash or may not have cash readily available. It has become such a lucrative business that people who ventured into it are already opening branches and outlets in different locations of their choice.
In a country where unemployment and bad economy are crippleling lives and businesses, the Point Of Sale business has stood tall against all odds. A very good friend of mine called me last month to ask me for business ideas that he can start with the 200k in his account. Starting a Point Of Sale business was one of the business ideas I told him.
Steps On How To Start A POS Job In Nigeria
Step one: Have a means of identification. It’s usually first thing first. It all start from you. Put your house in order. You will need a valid Identity card. It could be National Identification Number (NIN), Permanent Voter’s Card(PVC), International Passport, Driver’s license or any other valid and officially recognized means of identification. The reason is because to start POS Business is just like starting any legal enterprise. It requires a traceable name and address. If you have your valid Identity card ready, you can proceed to the next step.
Step two: Formal registration. This is the point where you approach a bank, Fintech company or their authorized agents for the formal registration of your POS machine. Remember that you will pay a certain amount of money for the procurement of the machine. The most popular one now is Moniepoint and their machine goes for Twenty-four thousand naira (24000) only.
Some commercial banks like Zenith Bank, UBA, First bank etc also issue this POS machine but they usually deduct it from the customer’s account. There are also some Fintech companies like Opay, Palmpay etc which gives you an array of good options and it’s left for you to know which one to go for depending on your location and interest. After getting the POS machine, it’s now time to move to the next step
Step three: Finding a good location. This is the part where you have to look for where people are passing mostly on foot. It’s wrong to start a POS Business on a major highway as it’s very unlikely that travelers will stop there just to do transaction except in rare cases. It also has a high risk factor as armed robbers may rob the POS stand and zoom off without help or trace. So, it’s advisable to look for a place where help can come through for you at the slightest scream for help. It’s also important to choose a place where you’re visible. Don’t go and stay where you’re being covered or hidden by other shops or buildings.
Getting a good location is very important because POS Business is a business of numbers and the profit is in the quantity of the numbers. So, to get more profit, you need more people to locate your location and do transaction with your POS machine. Once you’ve gotten a good place, it’s then important to move to the next step.
Step four: Legal aspect. The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a directive for all POS business owners to get registered with CAC before operation and it’s a step in the right direction. Disobeying the directive means you’re operating illegally. It should be noted that before one could even start thinking of starting any business, there are already legal framework already on ground to guide its operation.
POS Business is no different. Hence, it’s important to register your business with the Corporate Affairs Commission ( CAC) and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria ( SMEDAN). This is also to give your business a name and solid foundation in the business world. Businesses without legal coverage always sink as soon as it started.
To start a POS Business involves understanding the laid down procedures for financial transactions and services made available by the Central Bank of Nigeria and obeying other extant laws applicable to POS business of which one of them is the prohibition of issuing fake currency note as it’s a jailable offence.
Step five: Procurement of cash. Where to get cash easily and steadily will probably be a hard nut to crack by anybody going into POS business. It’s advisable that one should put that into consideration looking at the fact that some banks don’t give out large sum of money again except in special cases. This is mostly due to the fact that money is no longer going to bank following the influx of POS machine in different areas and quarters of the country.
It’s therefore instructive to have a new viable option. One of them is having the contact of a staff in the bank that will help you to get cash in the bulk room easily. Another option is going to any petroleum filling station and entering a deal with them to sell their physical cash to you for a token instead of taking it to the bank everytime. They will readily accept your offer as this is also a business for them.
Step Six: Getting chair, table and banner. This is the last part where the POS business is ready to take off. It’s wrong to be standing by the roadside as people will prefer someone on a particular spot in case anything should happen to their ATM card or the transaction. The banner serves as an advert and a way of passing the information to people that are passing across the spot that such business is existing there.
It must be noted that the Point Of Sale machine runs different financial services such as withdrawal of money, depositing of money, bills payment, airtime recharge etc.
In summary, it’s good to know that starting a POS Business in Nigeria is one of the few businesses that you can start without owning a shop or with huge capital and the most amazing part is it has daily profit on each transaction and the accumulation of such profits is awesome.
