What is VTU Student Business Nigeria?
Virtual Top Up (VTU), most popular as cheap data business. You might hear people say "data vendor" – they are simply referring to themselves as VTU business owners.
It is a simple-to-manage business in which a student gets bulk and cheap data from network providers like MTN, Airtel, Glo, etc., at very cheap rates and then sells it at a profitable price on their platform (website or mobile app).
Why Should You Start VTU Business as a Student?
There are thousands of reasons to become a data vendor, which include:
1. No Big Capital Involvement
From my experience as a data vendor – as you may know, I own two big data selling platforms: VTUPoint and FreshData – I can boldly tell you that the cost of having your own data platform is less than ₦30,000. With less than ₦30,000, you can create your own cheap data app and website even without any coding knowledge. You don't have to be a tech expert to create a simple website and Android app and publish on app stores to get started.
2. Highly Profitable
Another reason this business is good for students is its profitability. You can make up to ₦10,000 while the person who opens their physical shop has yet to earn ₦5,000 profit from sales. How profitable is it? Assuming you get cheap data from providers at ₦300/GB and sell it at ₦500, what is your gain? That's ₦200.
Remember, you don't have to buy this data and stock it for your customers to come. No, it's not a buy-and-stock business, so you don't have to manage any inventory.
I recommend the no-inventory method in which you connect your customers' accounts to the providers' API, set the price higher than that of the API, and then you earn the price difference. For example, your customer deposits ₦X into your app/website, and you allow direct access to API with price adjustment.
If the provider sells 1GB at ₦300 and you adjust to ₦500, your customers will buy it at the price you set (₦500), and the system will debit ₦500 from your customer's account to your wallet, and the provider's API will debit ₦300 from your wallet, leaving you with ₦200 as profit.
How profitable is data business for students? Is it worth your time? Each time you dial *USSD# to buy data, what are the price ranges you always see? Something like 100MB for ₦100, 200MB for ₦200 with a validity of 1 day. For weekly plans, you will see 500MB for ₦500 (14 days); monthly, you have 1GB for ₦1,000 (30 days).
What is the Profit Margin in Data and Recharge Selling Business?
You know how costly these data plans are today when buying directly from networks like MTN, Airtel, etc. Customers get 1GB at the rate of ₦1,000. But as a vendor, if the price of 1GB is ₦300 from the provider and you sell it for ₦500 to your customers, keeping a profit of ₦200, your customers will keep buying from you because it's cheaper.
So if you sell this to 500 people and they keep buying repeatedly, you will earn ₦200 × 500 = ₦100,000. So the profit margin for data is about 80%.
Remember, this is not a one-time profit; it's repeated. Why? People buy data more than three times a month. Think about yourself – how much or how many times do you subscribe your phone in a month? So the profit is very high.
Profit Margin Calculator for VTU Business Nigeria
The beauty? People buy data repeatedly. Your ₦200 profit per customer becomes ₦600-₦1000 monthly per customer.
3. It's 100% Automatic & Flexible
This business will not conflict with your studies because everything is carried out 100% automatically. For instance, you have a bank app or cheap data app on your phone – do you have to call or contact the app owner before patronizing them? No. That is because the system handles your request without human assistance. The same applies here.
I am not saying that you don't have a part to play; you have to provide effective customer care. If you're using a reliable VTU service provider, you won't have much to do. Because from my experience, the only time you will receive more messages/complaints from your users is when there is network downtime or if your service provider is facing some bugs.
There are two severely frustrating times in this business:
When there is network downtime in either your bank (platform wallet) or the customer's bank. That is because the money they send will not reflect in their account immediately, and they must come to your inbox with a question:
"I sent X naira to my wallet since X hours ago, but I have not seen the money." Here, your good customer service is needed. You have to be careful in your response because at this point, the customer is frustrated. The response is not far-fetched. It could be something like: "We're sorry to hear this. Please kindly wait in the next X minutes; it might be caused by interbank network downtime."
If this issue takes longer than it should, advise the customer to contact their bank while you also contact your bank service provider.
Another frustration time is when there is network downtime on your server or at the provider's end. In this case, customers will purchase data, but it will take time to be delivered to their lines, and they will definitely contact you with a complaint: "I purchased X data since X hour(s) ago, but I have not received it." A simple response is needed, e.g., "Our tech team is aware and they are working to resolve this as soon as possible. We're sorry for the inconvenience."
So what I am saying is, the only time you will have to work a bit harder is when the above issues arise. Imagine you have up to 5,000 users or you have more than one platform – you will receive more than 50 messages within an hour!
Except for this, the business is very flexible to manage and gives you time to focus on your studies.
Materials for Starting New Business as a Student
I am going to highlight the materials needed for this business in case you want to do it yourself. However, there are some done-for-you/white label (ready-made) VTU platforms which I will share with you below.
These requirements are paramount to some VTU services and optional to some companies. So it all depends on where you land to kickstart your business. But notwithstanding, the business model remains the same.
Capital
The capital ranges from ₦5,000 to ₦2 million! You may be shocked why I mention ₦5,000 – yes, you can start with that. Let me break it down.
There are 3 ways of starting:
First method: By downloading a cheap data app and starting to subscribe people manually (that is, as an affiliate). Here, you don't actually own it, but you're making money with it. You can sign up on platform like VPoint and start subbing your colleagues.This is an affiliated VTU business with a free website.
Second method: This involves buying an already-made VTU business. Techswitch company offers an already-made VTU business at a one-time cost of ₦19,990 -29,900 So you buy this business and become the full owner. The business comes with a free website, host, and Android app. So you will have a full-blown business website with an app which you can publish on the app store or share.
Third method: These are big VTU services dealers; they integrate this into their existing business app like your bank app, Moniepoint, Opay, Billpoint, etc. The startup capital for this can hit ₦2 million.
Additional Requirements
✔ The Script: This script is packed with all features and logic that your platform needs to function. If you're buying an already-made VTU (done-for-you), you don't have to look for a script.
✔ Host: This is a service that would allow you to upload your script and manage your website. Several companies like Namecheap, DomainKing, etc., sell affordable hosting. For already-made VTU, this is provided free.
✔ Domain: A domain is like a street that leads to your shop, which people use to locate your business. E.g., www.freshnote.com.ng is a pathway to my website, "freshnote." So you could get your own domain like www.yourname.com
Step-by-Step Guide to Implement
The simple truth here is, if you are not a developer, there is no way I will explain these steps to your understanding by just writing/reading this post. However, I have a video course that will guide you step by step. The course is available on demand so you can contact me for it.
Students Marketing guide for VTU Business
Building a VTU business is not enough; getting customers matters most. Here are my most effective proven promotional strategies that secured me 5,000+ users on my VTU app within 3 months:
WhatsApp + Waclient
The combination of these two apps on your phone can give you 5,000 customers in 3 months if you put in the work. Some people will say "post on WhatsApp groups, post on Instagram, Facebook groups." This works, but it takes time. Sometimes, group admins will not let you post ("only admin can post").
Because of this, I created a tool/app that lets me find customers on WhatsApp without posting to the groups or saving their contacts to my phone.
This app is called Waclient. Don't look for it on Play Store because I have not published for some reasons but only for myself and students have access to it.
What is Waclient and how does it helps promote your VTU business
It is an application that lets you get all WhatsApp group contacts for marketing. Any WhatsApp group you join, the tool allows you to import members' phone numbers and save them within the app so that you can later start sending them your offers. You can send them SMS or WhatsApp messages in bulk.
What are the Steps in making up to 100,0000 selling cheap Data:
Join as many WhatsApp groups as possible.
Launch the Waclient on your phone.
Scroll through the group members.
Click on the Waclient at the top of your screen to collect the contacts.
Copy the numbers or save to your Waclient.
Compose a message on the Waclient and start sending them to the contacts through your normal business WhatsApp app
Use the contacts from there for bulk SMS Marketing.
Join as many WhatsApp groups as possible.
Launch the Waclient on your phone.
Scroll through the group members.
Click on the Waclient at the top of your screen to collect the contacts.
Copy the numbers or save to your Waclient.
Compose a message on the Waclient and start sending them to the contacts through your normal business WhatsApp app
Use the contacts from there for bulk SMS Marketing.
Pro tip: Install up to two or more WhatsApp Business Apps on your phone to enable you to send more messages per day. One WhatsApp Business limits you to 250 messages per day. So if you have up to 10 WhatsApp apps, you can send up to 2,500 messages. I have a course on how to install more than one WhatsApp Business app on your phone. Or alternatively, register for WhatsApp API; this will let you send up to 10,000 messages daily.
Use Bulk SMS
Another way to promote your VTU business is via sending bulk SMS. There are several services that let you send even 100,000 messages to people without using your phone number but your business name. It costs about ₦5 per message. So to send to 10,000 people, it will cost you just ₦50,000 compared to other platforms like Facebook, which costs up to ₦250,000 to reach 10,000 customers.
Important: Ensure you're only sending to people who will be interested in your product. Be sure that the group is within the niche of your product. For example, if I am a data vendor, I will join many student groups because students would be more interested in buying cheap data. Someone who is selling clothes will join WhatsApp groups about clothes or fashion-related topics. This will increase your conversion rate.
You can apply this to any business, even as an affiliate marketer. Join any affiliate program and apply the same method, but don't spam people's inboxes.
This is how I got more than 5,000 customers on my data app without paying a dime or spamming groups with links. If you need the Waclient app I used, contact me. I will send it with a free user guide. It works for any other type of business.
Conclusion
You can start your own VTU business ASAP and start making huge money. As I mentioned above, you can contact me for a done-for-you VTU app and website, you can contact me for any of my business courses, or any tool I have mentioned in this guide.