Nigeria is a very populous country with approximately 100 million youths. One of the problems Nigeria is suffering from is unemployment. Every year, thousands of young Nigerians graduate from the university without securing any job because they don’t exist. This has forced many to take to self-employment or what Nigerians would locally call “hand-work”.
For some who secure jobs, they do prefer to focus on their handwork, as a side job, if their main job isn’t paying very well. Whichever the case may be, it’s obvious that you can survive in present Nigeria without any handwork. If you’re a lady, here are 7 best handwork for ladies in Nigeria that you can learn.
1. Hair Making
Hair making is generating serious income for a lot of Nigerian ladies. You might find local hairdressers on the streets, at junctions, market places, etc. There are also professional ones that you’ll find in popular malls and classic saloons. The truth is, all of them are making money.
The field is relatively broad as it involves hair plaiting, styling, and dressing to name but a few. Therefore, you have to be very serious if you want to be a hair maker and you need to be creative as well.
When you learn how to make hair; you can start earning from your handwork almost immediately. You might not even need a shop; your home will do for a start.
2. Fashion Designing
You’ll agree with this – ladies have more fashionable designs in Nigeria than men when it comes to traditional wear. This is a vast niche that you can click in and make passive income. Fashion designing is very different from tailoring; you need creativity because your designs must be unique.
This handwork is not a local one. African wears like Ankara are now being worn all over the world so there’s a need for new designs at global fashion shows. Many Nigerian women have gone global via fashion designing – Tiffany Amber is a notable example.
To learn fashion designing, you can register with a renowned fashion designing school. It’s the best option as you’ll get a certificate upon completion.
3. Baking
Baking involves preparing eatables using an oven and most of the time flour amongst other things. If you learn how to make, there’s a lot of ways for you to market your handwork. This is because there’s a lot of things you can bake and sell.
For example, you can bake bread, meat pie, egg roll, buns, puff puff, pancake, and the list is endless. Nigerian eat these things a lot as quick snacks so getting customers to purchase your baked snacks won’t be a problem.
You can even sell online. Nowadays, people advertise small chops – packages of different baked items amongst others – on social media for sale.
4. Graphics Designing
In this digital age, graphics design is one of the best handwork for ladies in Nigeria. If you have a laptop, you can begin your journey to becoming a skilled graphics designer at once. Many people also create designs with their phones using graphics apps.
Nevertheless, to learn graphics, you need to be conversant with tools like Corel Draw, Photoshop, Adobe illustrator, and Adobe InDesign to name but a few. This is why you need a computer. Fortunately, there are lots of affordable systems you can go for.
You can learn graphics designing from computer training centers at relatively affordable rates. If you have data, it’s best that you learn at your own pace using online tutorials.
5. Bead Making
Nigeria has very rich and diverse cultures. However, almost all cultures in Nigeria make use of bead jewelry. Therefore, the bead making business is a relatively lucrative one. Bead making might seem like something very easy. While that is debatable, you do require intense training to make your work perfect.
As a bead maker, you can easily source for the materials you work with. Furthermore, you can easily sell them. The rate at which you sell and how much profit you make will depend on how unique your beads are.
Learning bead making like most other handwork for ladies requires internship training. Many of such bead making programs are available.
6. Content Writing
If you’re a lady and a student, content writing is one of the best skills you can learn. Nowadays, content is needed everywhere. Websites, blogs, newspapers, magazines, research works, and many more all require content writing.
Content writing mostly has to do with experience. The more you write, the more skilled you’ll become. However, the basic thing you need to start with is the ability to write English with good grammar which you can learn.
You can either create fictional stories or write commercially for online websites. Although a digital skill, you can write conveniently with your mobile phone. A computer is an advantage but not a must.
7. Web Designing
The Nigerian web designing industry is dominated by men. This is why more women must be encouraged to learn how to code. Web designing is one of the best handworks you can learn. As a web designer, you can build and customize websites for businesses and individuals and earn six figures – in Naira.
Becoming a web designer requires intelligence. This is because you’ll have to learn multiple programming languages like HTML, CSS, JAVA, and Python. It’ll also take you a relatively long time – years – to become a professional web designer. Nevertheless, it’s totally worth it.
You can learn web designing for free online or you register for training offline. Whichever one, it’s still ideal to follow up online tutorials.
Bottom Line
This article lists both physical and digital skills you can learn and make extra money as a Nigerian lady. Most of these handworks are very easy to learn and for some, you could be born with the skill. Also, they aren’t very expensive to learn. You can learn most of the digital skills for free online.