Cheap Business Ideas in Kenya: More often than not, I see people stating that they have a certain amount of money and would love to know what business they can invest in. Away from the popular view that starting a business will require hundreds of thousands, sometimes it is just as easy and low investment as it can get. Here are some cheap business ideas for you if you are thinking of starting a business;

1. Start selling online

In the wake of the social media era, you have no excuse if you have the product that you want to sell out there. The world of business is slowly moving from the brick and mortar traditional methods of selling and buying. There are very straightforward and easy to use social media platforms that have ready customers looking for your product. Platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube are ideal for you to start with.

Business Ideas Kenya: 6 crops that will make you a millionaire quickly

It is free to open these accounts, and it will be a great advantage for you if you already have following on these handles. All you need to do is package your product well in terms of getting good photographs to post and the mode of delivering when you finally get people ordering. A tip for this approach is however that you should be big on customer service and quality of what you are selling, do not defraud people of their money by selling fake, counterfeit or overly generic products, be genuine, and you will keep a client base.

2. Become a vendor on these major online franchises

These include platforms such as Jumia and Kilimall. Contrary to what you may think, these platforms do not have industries where they manufacture products to sell to their customers online they need vendors that can supply the product to them. That said, you could make plans to supply the much-needed products and earn you a profit after every sale. All you need to do is visit their website and sign up to be a vendor, after sign up usually there are a series of tests to verify your ability to supply goods and your grasp of how the system works.

Once that is done you will have your very own online shop under the platform, and it will be moments before you begin receiving orders. A great tip for this one is that you need to be vigilant and look out for places you can get better deals as you purchase the products to supply. You do not have to begin with much cash, usually as low as KES 5,000 you can buy simple products like cups and cutlery, and supply at a profit from the platform. For more information on this, visit the websites for the said platforms.

3.   Event and party planning

It’s a great idea to begin this kind of a business and more importantly because it can be very low cost and does not necessarily require prior training. If you are an outgoing person who loves to plan and create well thought out party themes and idea, why not make that a business.

There lots of people who would want to have a good time in a party or events but are not able because of their busy schedules. For starters, you need to get an operating license from the local county offices for operation and begin seeking your first client. You might be lucky to land one and begin operations from the down payment that they give you for the job.

John Karugu, a Kenyan entrepreneur, who runs a Nairobi based Events Company called Kidsmile-Kenya, says that his initial capital was a down payment from a first client. If that is how he began operations, then this shows that it can be done. For this business again, be very honest and open to your clients, you do not want to defraud them by purporting to an expert if you cannot meet their requirements.

At the moment, this business might be a little challenging, given that there is curfew and the country is still focussed on flattering the coronavirus curve. However, there are options such as webinars whereby people can be part of events and fellowship from the comfort of their home.

4. The hand’s craft

While some people complain, others get things done. The famous poet, Dante Alighieri once said, “the secret to getting things done is to act on them”, and he was right. There are so many ways to learn handcraft if you are interested in making handmade items for sale. Usually, the cost of this investment is the time you spend learning the act and the amount of fee you might be required to pay if you are attending the training.

In this day and age, however, there are so many DIY( Do it Yourself) content that you can access online and learn you can pick on crafts such as making mats, decorating bottles for flower vases, making packaging materials, making sandals and many more. Once you are able to get the raw material for these products, you can sell the final product online or to your contacts and earn enough to buy you the next raw materials. Most of these DIY materials can be access from places like Kamukunji and kariokor in Nairobi. You can also order them online if you so wish. The options are limitless.

5. Affiliate marketing

Again affiliate marketing is a low investment form of business that you can leverage on and make money online. Affiliate marketing refers to creating online links usually for a high traffic blog or website to sell items. All you need to do is start a blog or create a website and the popularise it. Once there is enough traffic of people on it, you can collaborate with brands to sell items online for the people that visit your blog. You can monitor the kind of traffic using Google and other SEO analytics tools available on the internet.

Again be very careful to verify the brands that you agree to collaborate with for your affiliate selling, do not defraud people by selling fake items. On the other hand, make it clear on the mode of payment and the frequency that your commission will be paid out to avoid losses. You should be able to agree with your brand collaborators on how to track the sales that have been made through your created links. Cheap Business Ideas in Kenya.

This feature on Cheap Business Ideas Kenya was first published in The Standard by Grace Kianira.