The love of sports, soccer to be precised in Nigeria is something else, a football lover in Nigeria can go extra miles to watch their favourite team play.
Another thing is the hanging around with soccer fans, bettings and lots of arguements, this is what makes sport viewing centres a lucrative business.
imagine how much you will make in a day in semi finals and final matches of Worldcup competitions, UEFA Champions league others? especially if the most popular team gets to the final stage, you will find both fans and anti-fans rushing to watch the game, some might even come with their lovers, friends or relative just to have fun.
Table of Contents
SOME OF THE REASONS WHY PEOPLE PREFER FOOTBALL VIEWING CENTRES
- unable to afford a dstv/gotv decorder
- unable to subscribe
- poor power supply
- loneliness and little or no gingering spirit
- and sometimes bad weather/poor signal
BENEFITS OF STARTING A FOOTBALL VIEWING CENTRE BUSINESS.
• It creates employment
• The business is profitable
• Promotes peace
• Reduces unemployment
• It can serve as an alternative source of income.
CHALLENGES OF A FOOTBALL VIEWING CENTRE BUSINESS IN 2023.
- Lack of customers at the introductory stage of the business.
• Cost or capital to start the business
• Poor service or connections
• Lack of power supply
• Expenses – money spent on generator maintenance, fuel, subscription, transportation etc.
How to Start Football Viewing Centre Business in Nigeria
1. Do Your Market Survey
Asides all I have said so far, one still need to do your market survey what we also call feasibility study on the football viewing centers in the area that you are staying or the area you want the business to be located.
Feasibility Study on Football Viewing Center Business
Market survey is very important because asides from it letting you know whether a business is lucrative in Nigeria or not.
It also lets you know many other things like the selling points of the average football viewing centers, how much it is going to cost you in terms of how much capital you will need to start this business in your area, how much you will charge customers for your viewing center service, what equipment you will need to bring the business to life and so on.
A detailed market survey exposes everything you need to know about a business – upgrading you from an amateur or novice in the business world to a well-experienced businessman in a short while.
So do your football viewing center business survey particularly in the area you want this business to be located and see how business at these viewing centers are run on a regular basis.
This is what I did before writing the article.
I visited some in my area, checked out what some are doing that is making some making more profits and what some viewing centers are doing that is ruining their businesses to the ground.
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2. Get Your Capital
The capital you need to start a football viewing center in Nigeria varies and it depends on so many factors.
Cost of Setting Up Football Viewing Center
The capital you will need if you’re starting this business in a rural area in Nigeria will be totally different from the capital you will need in starting the business in an urban area.
Another thing you need to consider in starting this business is how much it will also cost you in buying or renting the requirements for this business and these are:
Requirements for Football Viewing Center
1. Space or Shop
2. 2 or 3 Sets of Plasma televisions
3. DSTV subscriptions
4. Ceiling fans
5. Air Conditioner
6. Chairs
7. Tables
8. Fridges
9. Generator
10. Home theaters
And many more – depending on how much of these equipment you can afford.
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3. Rent a Suitable Space
the greatest challenge of setting up a football viewing center is space. Those who have the opportunity of space have an edge over others. If you have such a space, all you need is to set it up adequately, primarily to shelter match viewers. Planks and trampoline are better options, depending on the number of viewers you anticipate.
Try to take your time in looking for the perfect location with a space or shop that is very spacious. Remember it’s not only about now but what you intend doing in the future – how you want to expand the business later on.
Asides future plans, you also need to consider your customers – those that will be coming for the first time you will want to create a good impression of your football viewing center by making it spacious enough.
I’ll talk more about the other benefits of having a spacious viewing center as I move on in this article.
When getting a space for this service rendering business consider getting the space in a populated area. This is because in football viewing center business in Nigeria is all about the crowd.
The more crowds you can attract to your football viewing center business the more profits you can make from it.
Also, the cost of renting this space or shop should not be ignored either. As one of my friends will say “when it comes to paying rent the first payment is always easy to pay but the renewal is always hard”.
Make sure the space you are renting is not expensive and easy for you to renew.
4. Buy Equipment
When it comes to buying the equipment for your football viewing centre business in Nigeria, it is not necessary you buy brand new equipment remember you are trying to economize your capital.
However, if you can afford new sets of equipment you can buy them. Like I said earlier, the equipment for the business varies and it depends on how many of them you can buy.
The most important thing here is to buy standard ones anytime it is time to buy so they can last you well.
If you want to buy tokunbo equipment, you buy can these equipment from a tokunbo market near you and if you prefer buying the new ones you can buy them from trusted sellers in your neighborhood.
Make up a list of these equipment, buy them and take them to your shop or space for installment. If these installments cannot be done by you – if you don’t have the technical know-how on how to install these equipment, you can employ technicians that can do this for you at small pay.
5. Furnish Space
Furnishing the space is not only about the installment of the equipment, but it is also about making sure the environment – where your customers will be staying is conducive enough.
Many of these customers will be spending a minimum of 2 hours in your football viewing center so comfort is not something you can afford to joke with.
You cannot afford to also joke with how to space smells whether it’s crowded or not. I have gone to some football viewing centers in the past and I must say most of them are not comforting when it comes to breathing freely.
Foul smells of different kinds in some cases forcefully make me leave even when I don’t want to.
Some of these bad smells could be due to the fact that different people are coming together in one place and there’s no cross ventilation to take air in and out.
So my best advice here is that you should be a good air freshener for the center to make it smell nice every time.
6. Start Business
The first day of any business in Nigeria is very important and it must not be looked down upon for any reason.
On this first day, you might want to open your viewing center in the afternoon or evening rather than at night when it is dark.
The reason for this is for football enthusiasts to be able to spot your shop easily from afar. Also that day, you’ll need to place your loudspeakers outside instead of inside to attract passersby with sounds of football matches that there is a new sport viewing center close.
On this first day, I know you will also want to start making your money as soon as possible charging fees to those that want to watch football matches but I’ll strongly advise here that you should not charge a single dime.
Rather do the opposite which is allowing all customers to watch their football matches for free. If possible (if you can afford it) you can also entertain them with cold drinks.
Let your first-time customers enjoy themselves and when there are leaving you can ask them what they have enjoyed about your viewing center and if there will visit again.
These questions are not be asked out of desperation rather they are being asked just to show them that you care about them and their needs.
After this day, you can now charge a minimum of N200 – N1,000 (depending on the location of your shop) as an entry fee for customers.
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Bonus Points
A. Employ a Manager
Employing a manager for your football viewing center business is very important so that your business will not suffer any day you are not around or if you will not be around most of the time.
You can employ this manager and pay him depending on how much you can afford for a start. You can employ the manager and pay him in wages (hourly or daily), placing him salary (monthly), or on commission bases.
This manager will help you to oversee everything about your viewing centre like posting games on the notice board to be watched, putting on the generator, changing TV stations to football games, regulating the temperature of the football viewing center, collecting entrance fees and so on.
B. Diversify Your Business
This is one of the mistakes I saw so many football viewing centers in my area make over and over again – not diversifying their business (offering other services).
As a football viewing center business in Nigeria, you know you can also combine your business with the selling of drinks and snacks?
Yes, many of your customers like I said earlier will not be spending not less than 2 hours in your space.
These people at some point will either be thirsty or hungry instead of them going outside to buy drinks and food to eat, in your viewing center you can simply refresh them while they watch their sports and make extra profits alongside.
You can also add a relaxation center to your football viewing center business in Nigeria depending on how much space you have.
Adding games like pool (snooker), table tennis, ludo, chess and more.
C. Open on Weekdays
Although viewing centers in Nigeria make most of the money on weekends, you can make money on weekdays if you open.
Weekdays are short because customers have to go to work before coming at evenings to watch matches but you can still make a good amount of money especially when the money is added to the money the business make on weekends.
It goes a long way.
D. Give Discounts
Discounts cannot be ignored in this business especially if the viewing center is located in an urban area. It makes you customer know that it not always about you making money that you care about them but in the long run it is not so.
…If you know what I mean.
Lastly,
E. Create Rules for Your Viewing Center
Fights are common in viewing centers and this is because certain people are always against some people in sports.
You need to create rules and regulations for your viewing center business so that you can enable people to be relaxed.
Security is also a form of relation.
Conclusion
Seek counsel; believe in yourself and your dreams. Never see your environment as a form of discouragement.
And it is not necessary you start big you can start small and as time goes by grow the business and grow with the business.
Aliko Dangote started small but look at where he is today. He is one of the richest men in Africa.
Please share this article to help those you feel want to start their own football viewing center business in Nigeria to make them do this successfully.
