Can Nigerians Really Make Legit Money Online? 
Posted by MK Akan on March - 12 - 2010
Photo Credit: Danny McL
This is a guest post by fellow Nigerian blogger: Mr Akan
Before you start, let me warn you, this is a very long post. But you will enjoy it.
A lot of Nigerians (some people I know) wonder and even argue with me. They don’t really believe Nigerians can make money online. “There are too many negatives working against us” they say.
But you, yes you reading this post now. What do you believe?
What People Think
Some foreigners may think we only scam people (when I mention that I am a Nigerian on yahoo chat, people scram like I’m some demon not knowing if I have something that may change their lives forever). They are scared of being scammed (not knowing that Nigeria is just 3rd after the US and UK on the scam list).
But that is not the issue.
The issue is you, what do you believe?
I know the usual excuse.
We can’t register
· On PayPal
· On ClickBank
· On Amazon
· On eBay
· We can’t buy online
· we can’t do this, we can’t do that
Blah, blah, blah…
NOTE: Nigerians can actually register @ Amazon and can shop online;)
These are all genuine excuses to those who don’t know otherwise. These are all constraints we all face but it is nothing compared to what this lady, Ladan Lashkari faced. She succeeded against all odds.
Read her story and be inspired.
And guess what?
We don’t really need all these companies "who are booting us out" to succeed
We can do just fine without them?
In fact if registering with these companies guaranteed success online, every American with a PayPal account and access to all other services would be millionaires, but we all know this is not the case.
My Absolute Belief Is …
Nigerians (and anyone living anywhere on this earth) can make money online.
We will make money online if we can create value. Value creation is a must.
So How Can Nigerians Make Legit Money Online & Offline?
Like I said, it starts with creating value for others. Have you heard the saying "value begets value" ?
So what the hell is value?
My personal definition of value is …something other people consider important and useful enough to trade something in exchange for it (it doesn’t always have to be money; value is not only measured in cash).
Here is one of the definitions of value in Wikipedia.
So the question is – what something can you create or do that someone else can exchange for something? Something people can pay for.
A.KA. What product or service can you provide?
And don’t think you have no product or service…it is right there, you may not be seeing it yet.
NOTE: If you read this blog consistently, you are exchanging your time for the value of the knowledge gotten from the posts on this blog? This blog is creating value for you. This is an example.
The basic truth is, for you to make any form of income online (and even offline), you have to create value, something someone else considers important and useful, which is usually a product or service.
Just take a cue from the biggest names online. The A-list bloggers, the online companies etc all have only one secret-
‘They create products and services people consider valuable and would exchange their time or money to get or use”.
That is the koko… 
If you get nothing else from this post…just remember that last point.
Now let’s take it back home.
What value can we “Nigerians” create for other Nigerians or for the world at large?
This is the question we should ask ourselves when we get online. This is what will bring in the money. This is how we can "hammer without the fear of EFCC". (Hammer = Hit big time)
And guess what, there are so many products and services Nigerians can provide to the world.
Let’s do a brainstorm.
Services and Products Nigerians Can Provide the World
First, let’s ask some questions that will spring up some ideas.
1. What do people want to learn about Nigeria and Nigerians?
2. What do you know that other people want to learn in other lands?
3. What are Nigerians known for?
4. What do people love about Nigeria or Nigerians?
5. What do people hate about Nigeria or Nigerians?
Here Are Some Ideas?
1. Do people want to learn how to cook Nigerians dishes?
Can you package a product or service that can help people with this?
2. Do people want to learn how to speak Pidgin English?
Can you help them with that, an e-book or service that creates learning value?
3. Do people want to know Nigerian names and their meanings?
Can you produce a manual for that?
4. Do people want to learn how to dress like Nigerians?
Can you create a product or service from this?
5. Can you produce something valuable on how people can make Nigerian fashion designs and style?
Just think about it, there are hundreds of things people want, like or hate already about Nigeria that we as Nigerians can make a product or start a service around.
These ideas can come in the form of a blog or website.
Please, the above points are just random ideas…you need to do research to know the actual demand, competitions and other business related stuffs for every idea you come up with.
Okay, this post is running long. Make I stop here .
Summary /Conclusion
1. Change your believes, Nigerians and anyone can make money online
2. You don’t really need PayPal and the rest to succeed (believe me)
3. Value creation is the starting point of making money online
4. People make money online by selling products and services (Google Adsense is very slow and requires too much traffic)
5. Nigeria has so many things liked and hated by people that can bring ideas for products and services
6. You may need research and business analysis to finally decide on an idea
Finally, I will be very frank with you, making legit money online is not magic. It takes knowledge, smart work and hard work . Sometimes, hard work similar to the 9-5 jobs (at least at the beginning).
You will need to learn, learn some more, practice, and fail a lot. There is too much to learn.
I personally don’t even know 1/20th of what I need to know yet. I still learn practice and fail everyday.
I have to stop here.
Please let’s discuss
1. Do you think Nigerians can make real legit money online?
2. What ideas, or where could we(Nigerians or anyone for that matter) get ideas for products and services online?
Thanks for all your comments in advance.
This article was written by MK Akan who is a keen lover of business and books about business. He shares entrepreneurship tips, blogging tips, online and offline business ideas @ his blog. You can learn more about him @ MK Akan
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That is so true. Its vital to create value to and exchanging something valuable is what creates wealth. Treasure in its truest sense is something you desperately want.
All the best to you in your venture.
@Selurus…value begets value and people always exchange something valuable for something valuable ..thanks for dropping by…
I totally agree with you in everything
you said. Since paypal doesnt do business
with us I see no reason why we should be
forcing ourselves to use it.
The truth is that people are already making
money in Nigeria as internet marketers. either
selling there own products online or promoting
other people’s products for a commission
This is good read. I wonder how I missed it before now. I quite agree with your points. The main challenge an entrepreneur who wants to make legitimate money online will need to overcome is the fear of castigation for being a Nigerian.
I remembered when I first started as a blogger, a fellow blogger who is non-Nigerian visited my blog and then went back to write a blog-post describing me as another “Nigerian Scammer who is Daydreaming”
When I first saw a new link in my dashboard showing someone has linked to me, I was excited, but on getting to the site, I discovered that the post was meant to ridicule me.
Did I get upset? Yes, but instead of getting angry and saying things I will later regret, I dropped a comment on the post telling the blogger to watch out because I will never quit blogging nor announcing to anyone that cares to listen that I’m PROUDLY NIGERIAN.
To the Glory of God, nobody can afford to ignore my blog anymore, it has gained its own reputation among bloggers both in Nigeria and internationally. It is another evidence that indeed a Nigerian can make legitimate money online irrespective of the hurdles. Cheers.
.-= Nigerian Entrepreneur hopes you will read…Cost Effectiveness Of Internet Advertisement =-.
Thank God, I was never in your shoes. Lord knows what kinda rage I would have been in. Quite amazing that you took the challenge and proved him wrong. Now if only God could grant you one more favor and raise you to the ranks of top dollar earning bloggers so you could go back to that blogger’s post and rub it in his face. LOL
Some folks just hear Nigeria and their mouths begin to have diarrhea as they proceed to say all sort of trash. Thank God for the few non-Nigerian bloggers who know and believe in my brand and work here @ StrictlyOnlineBiz.
Keep up the good work BRO.
I would have liked this post to be more practical and tell it’s potential readers what methods they can use in place of Paypal, as you seem convinced it is not needed. Plus I don’t know what you mean by ‘Google Adsense being very slow and requires a lot of traffic.’ What is wrong with working hard to make that traffic?
However I do like your suggestions about finding what people might like to know about the much maligned Nigeria and using that to create value that could be sold, plus your writing style is very warm.
Thanks for the tip, Rosie. I’ve been working on a post about PayPal alternatives for a while now but I just can’t find the time to complete it
Google Adsense is quite slow I must admit but once you’ve worked hard and the traffic starts rolling in, you bet you’ll notice an increase in earnings.
This words of yours are quite good for newbies like u and your commentaries. I will help you as a nigerian fellow. Welcome to the world of riches Mr akpan. Visit ezeejobs.net and ur life won’t be the same again. My facebook id is naphtimms@yahoo.com if u need any information.
This is one informative article I must say Mr Chukwudi
In addition, the simplest way a Nigerian can make money is “simple find a problem and get the solution”
For example, Nigerians are looking for ways to get cheap laptops. All one has to do is find where laptops are sold for affordable prices, package it in for of product or seminar and that is it.
Nigerian dont need a paypal or liberty reserve account to achieve this little task.
I wish Nigerians who run after PayPal like hungry dogs would read this article.
Desmond
This was very nicely written. I will say, though, that there’s nothing saying people have to own up immediately that they’re Nigerian, American, whatever. When I first saw Chuks commenting on my blog, I had no idea where he was from. Trust me, most Americans have no idea where Nigeria is, but we have heard the stories about the scams on news stories. So, just do good stuff, and people will come and buy and read and all will be right with the world.
Trust me, most Americans have no idea where Nigeria is LOL. I’ve experienced that a lot. Some EDUCATED folks even think Africa is a COUNTRY! Sad stuff
.
The only reason why I revealed my nationality was because I wanted to create some level of comfort/familiarity right from the beginning. I didn’t want to grow the blog then one day reveal I was Nigerian and have folks “abandoning the boat” in a flash. lol
Every Nigerian can make money online but it would demand more than just writing an article and waiting for the dollars to roll in, you have to be ready for work!
Tell that to the likes of Kenneth Ifeanyi and Austin Azubuike that offer to setup blogs that can make money on autopilot without the client ever lifting a finger.
They are simply working on our greed and impatience to have all our dreams come to pass with one move but life ain’t that easy, bro!
So, you decided to be proactive and let them abandon you up front, eh? lol
Well, the first thing you guys need to do is setup some kind of an organization that will certify your online business as legitimate. “The Nigerian Association of Online Professional Companies” or whatever… Come up with a seal and a certification process, get a major bank and a reputable chamber of commerce or something similar behind it, police yourselves, be strict and earn a good reputation.
If your legitimate company doesn’t appear on this website then one should really question whether to do business with them or not. You can even then approach international companies like paypal and ask them to accept your merchants/members.
Only Nigerians can know what’s going on in Nigeria, build a trustworthy partner for the world to deal with and you will have a achieved quite a lot for your country and created opportunities for true online entrepreneurs!
For now there are some things like that, so many are really springing-up making the whole thing become a mess but I am so certain with our Nigeria spirit of never give-up, we would become a force to reckon with just like we do always…
This is indeed a well thought out article. This stigma has paralysed many nigerian from achieving their aim online. But the fact is as a nigerian who wants to make a living on the net, you just have to come out plain from the begining. Playing the hide and seek gain with your business by hiding your identity is only creating failure from the start. Better still I thank God that the terrain is becoming more conducive for us.
Thanks for the information. I love it here.
Sir, I appreciate your work of encouragement. I am working on updating Nigerians on different things. I hav limitations in blogging which include creating forms and adding links to my blog on blogger.com. How do I do that؟
Those are some of the reasons I don’t like Blogger @ all. Sorry when it comes to Blogger tricks, I can’t really help. You might want to try OgbongeBlog.com.
Gud work bro!I believe one day we nigerians will create many opportunites online but how exactly do you get the money you worked for without paypal or clickbank?Please enlighten me,tanx a million
Check, Bank Wire Transfer or Payoneer Matercard.
heaven knows you are a God sent, cos for years i’ve been opening all site just to get online jobs but all are been scarterd by the absent of paypal, my dream is to be a medical doctor, go to school and work online but i can’t cos i have to work for twelve hour a day as a security gaurd which only option for me is to run for part time but with the way i see things here i think i can still achieve my dream tru blog if only i can get a tutor. pls link me to anyone that can help me cos am ready to learn. i need ur reply. frm akinyara
You should download my free reports http://bit.ly/eyvUvb and start learning right away though it would be difficult to get someone who can mentor you one on one @ the moment without wanting to make a quick buck off you and then move along to the next victim.
I like this. The most important i can say i picked out is that you dont need a PayPal account to make money online. Nigerians have gone ‘gaga’ about PayPal and it seriously hindering peoples progress
Mr Akan good job here
You are so correct. We are earning income online. I am. That’s the koko. Lol
So true. I earn income online.
This post is one of the most informative blog post i have a ever read, it hits the hammer at the nail head instaed of running around. keep it up Mr Chukwudi.
[...] have written 3 guest posts on his blog. They include can Nigerians really make money online also 2 ways to make money online from Nigeria and finally truth about making money from [...]
Bob~ u 2 much ~ minds such as urs is wat nigeria nidz~ oshei!
Thanks
Mk Akan, I am really interested in making legit money online doing business. But I have difficulties wit these paypal. And clickbank folks I tend to feel they wouldn’t want to do business with me cos I am a nigerian living in nigeria. I have registered as an affiliate marketer for some sites hoping to advertise their products and their services on my site as soon as I can develop and get it hosted.. Honestly I am confused and don’t know what to do but I am determined to succeed against all odds.
The truth remains that for now Clickbank and PayPal don’t accept Nigerians at all so you’re better off, dealing with other companies that do accept Nigerians.