How to Start Nursery and Primary School in Nigeria

Do you want to start a school in Nigeria? And you want to know how you can run a school business whether a nursery and primary or secondary school to make profits? Read this article to the end. At the end of the article, you will be able to start a successful private school in Nigeria. 

In this article, we will be talking about whether the school business is profitable enough for you to invest capital (money) into it, the requirements to start a private school in a country like Nigeria, the cost of capital needed in starting, and every other thing you need to know. School business is a lucrative business but many people do not know this and this is because they are not in the education sector.

You can only know how profitable it is if you are a teacher, headteacher, school secretary, or staff working in a school. Luckily, I am currently a teacher in a private school so I am not going to leave anything behind especially the different ways schools make money and how you can make money from these streams as a school owner.

Is School Business Profitable?

This is a major question for many Nigerians that want to go into nursery and primary school or even secondary school business. They want to know if the profits returns in school business are high. I can tell you that running a private school whether a nursery and primary or secondary or tutorial center is profitable.

It is even more profitable if you are using your own building or structure. Many people feel that when they own a building they should give out this structure for rent and rent a different building to start a school but this is not good. In fact, owning a building is more reason why you should go into a school business.

Needless to say, if you do not own a structure you can still start a school and make good profits. The main reason why this business is lucrative in Nigeria is because of the quality of education in Nigeria. Many schools in Nigeria seem to have bad teaching schemes and under-equipped utilities.

In fact, even government-owned schools (public schools) are not left out of this. This is where you come in as a prospective school owner providing quality education and providing a conducive environment for learning. If you are able to stand out from other schools by providing Nigerian and British curriculum you will be able to smile at the bank continuously.

How to Start a Nursery and Primary School Business in Nigeria

Here are steps on how to start a nursery and primary school business in Nigeria.

1. Decide on the School to Start

When it comes to starting a school in Nigeria it is important to decide on the type of school you really want to start. Part of this decision is derived from the kind of school you believe you can handle or manage while the second decision is based on the kind of educational demands in your area.

In some areas, the educational demand there is preschool while in some areas it is nursery and primary school and in some places it is secondary. You need to do your market survey to really find out and discover which of these types of school your environment need most. It is from the concluded results you will start your school. 

2. Get the Capital Needed

The next is sorting out the capital needed to start your private school. Capital is very important in starting a school anywhere. So how can you get the needed capital for your business? There are three different ways you can get capital to start any business. The first way is to self-fund the business. This is when the capital used to start the business is your money.

The second way is crowdfunding the business. This is when you seek the assistance of family and friends financially to start the business. The third way is to get a loan from any financial lending institution to start.

From my findings, I have discovered that businesses that are started with crowdfunding or loans do not survive their first three years easily. However, if you feel that you are brave enough to handle this you can go ahead.

3. Get the School Requirements

Starting a school in Nigeria or any other part of the world is a serious business. You cannot just start because you are passionate enough or because you have the capital. You have to register the private school under the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and you have to register the school under the Ministry of Education. 

Registering under the CAC makes your school recognized as a business while the registration under the Ministry of Education makes your school to be recognized as a government-approved school. The registration of these two does not really take too much time. Especially if you have people to hasten it in these government agencies.

Read our article on how to register your business name in Nigeria for more guidance on this.

4. Rent a Building or Apartment

Like I said earlier if you do not own a building that you can use to start your school business you will need to rent one. The cost of rent depends on the area you want to start the school. When it comes to rent it is not a must to rent a whole building. You can rent an apartment for a start since you are just starting.

For a start, you can rent a three-bedroom flat and as the school grows you can rent a bigger apartment. There are many things to be noted down when renting an apartment or building for a school. You need to make sure that the building is rightly located. You need to avoid renting or using a building that is hidden from major roads.

The second thing you need to consider is the roads that lead to the school. You need to make sure that the roads that lead to the school are tilled or better still manageable. Bad roads will discourage intending parents from bringing their children to your school. The third thing to make sure of is the standard of the building is good.

You need to check the building to know if it is conducive enough for children.

5. Get your Tools and Equipment

After getting an apartment or building you need to get the tools needed for your school. You need to buy teaching aids for your classrooms to make them equipped. Teaching aids (stationary) like blackboards, marker boards, markers, dusters, pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners, tables, chairs, desks, clocks, shelves, and more.

You also need to buy some electronic gadgets for the entertainment of the children and parents.

6. Install School Equipment

Some equipment is to be installed so you might need the services of a carpenter and electrician. The carpenter will install the furniture while the electrician will install all gadgets and electronics.

7. Employ Teaching and Non-teaching Staff

Teachers are very important in schools, in fact, they are the most important. You need to recruit teachers and employ them. When starting a school business as a newbie it is best you employ experienced teachers. At least for the first 5 years, these experienced teachers will take your school far.

To start with you can employ entrance level teachers and as time goes by increase your staff. For example, if it is a nursery and primary school you can employ the playgroup – basic 2 teachers and later employ basic 3 – 6 teachers.

8. Profits in School Business

Now let us talk about profits. There are different ways you can make money from your school. As a person who is in the education system, I will share different ways I have seen schools make money.

1. As a school owner you can make money from the tuition fees your pupils pay. This is a major way all schools make money.

2. You can make money from the stationery and other things you provide for your pupils or students. All you need is to add your profits and charge your pupils for it.

3. As a school owner you can make money providing extracurricular activities for the children. For example, parents will pay for extracurriculars like music, art, ballet, taekwondo, stem, and more.

4. You can make more money as a school owner by renting your space for ceremonies like birthdays, anniversaries, wedding receptions, and more.

Conclusion

School business is a lucrative business but it takes a period of 2 – 3 years before you can start making huge profits from it. Remember, even Rome was not built in a day. You need to work on branding to be able to attract parents and convince them to bring their children.

When you are able to get all this easily you will not need to do too much again as your parents will bring their friends too.

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