How to start a laundry business in Nigeria (Dry cleaning business)

Laundry business sometimes referred to as dry cleaning business involves the washing, drying and ironing of clothes and other textile materials for individuals or companies. It is a very profitable low risk business anyone can do for profit. You can start small and grow. You can do it as a part time business or full time business. With low budget, you can start a successful laundry business and grow.

With the population of Nigeria growing bigger every year and most people getting very busy at work, laundry business is very important. The average person leaves home very early in the morning and return late at night. Most work on Saturdays and Sunday is the only day available. But even on Sunday there are different matters to attend to. The tight schedule makes it very difficult to create a enough time to wash clothes. That is where laundry business comes to the rescue.

Everyone loves to wear clean and well ironed clothes. Especially going out to work and occasions, it is very important. For this reason, a dry cleaner will always be needed. It is a very important business.

The good thing about laundry business is you can start with no money! I mean even if you don’t have a kobo! You can start with home service. We will talk about that later and also look at how to set up your own laundry business.

Why you should start a laundry business

1. You can start with no money (just doing home service)

2. There are always customers if you market your business well

3. The cost to set up is not much. You can start small and grow

4. It is very profitable. You cam make a lot of money from laundry business

5. You can start from your home if you can’t afford a shop

6. You become a boss and stay in control of your time

7. You can run it as a part time job in addition to your main job to raise extra income

How much can you make from a laundry business

You can make a lot of money from Laundry business depending on how you set up and the scale. But for the purpose of this article, let’s see how much you can make from running your own laundry business.

Let’s assume you charge N500 to wash and iron a shirt. You can charge more or less, it all depends on the location of your business. In a day, you wash about 20 shirts. That is 20 x 500 = N10, 000.

Assuming you also wash suits and you charge N1500 for that. In a day, you wash up to 10 suits. That is 10 X 1500 = N15, 000

From the above, washing shirts and suits can make you N25, 500 every day. That will be N175,000 in a week and N700, 000 a month.

But this is just a peek into it. You can make ten times of that or even lower. It all depends on how you run your business. You can make millions a month.

Steps to starting a laundry business

You can follow the following steps to start a laundry business in Nigeria:

1. Find a good location

A good location is very important to your laundry business. Where your business is located can help it tremendously. It is advisable to find a location with less competition. If you can find a place where there is no much competition of big players, it will be good. However, it should not be a write off as you can win over customers with your good service.

Consider locations in open places. Places that are close to the road where people can see and notice your business when passing. That means the place should be a busy place where people coming from work or going pass through.

It should be in a residential areas, that is places where people are living. An estate is a good place but it should be at a place where people pass through a lot.

Also note that the geographical location can influence how much you charge. If your location is in a high income neigbourhood, then you will charge more money. However, your rent will be higher.

2. Register your business and get all important receipt

Operating a dry cleaning business may require that you register your business and get some permits. But this will depend a lot on location. While regulation of dry cleaning business is common in the western world, in Nigeria is it not so. But you may still have to get registered.

Depending on your location, you may have to pay some levies. Like local government levy and all that. Find out and make sure you settle it all to avoid any sort of interference in the running of your laundry business.

3. Buy equipment needed to start a laundry business

Your next step is to acquire the equipment you will need to get your laundry business started. The equipment you buy will depend on the scale you want to operate. If you do not have the money to buy the big equipment you can buy the ones you can and start small. If you cannot afford a washing machine, you can decide to wash with hand and then buy iron, soaps and other items.

Here the equipment needed to start a laundry business:

• Laundry detergent: Don’t just buy any the detergent, buy the ones used by dry cleaners
• Washing machines: There are different grades, look for the one you can afford that is quality
• Washing Basins: You will need it to soak clothes and for other uses
• Pressing Iron: A quality iron that has good customization features for different materials
• Ironing table: Where you can comfortable iron clothes
• Garment Conveyor: This is what you use to hang cloths. Get a carpenter to make one
• Starch: A lot of customers will request for it to add beauty to their cloth
• Water: You will need a source of water. If there is no water supply, you can buy a thank and store water
• Power Generator: As electricity is not reliable, you will need a good generator that can carry your equipment just in case
• Nylon and tags: You will need nylon to package the ironed cloths. You will also need tags to tag the clothes so you don’t mix things up
• Shelves: You will need shelves to keep the ironed and packaged cloth in order.

There are other items you may need. These are the basics.

4. Offer additional services

Apart from washing clothes, you can decide to offer additional services such as washing bed sheets, curtains, rug carpets and other household items to maximize your profit.

5. Market your business

At this point your business is all set and ready. You should focus on marketing your business. This is what will bring customers to you and ultimately help you make money. Don’t over look it, put a lot of energy into marketing.

Here are ways you can market you laundry business:

• Put a sign post outside the shop to let people know what you do
• Use social media. People spend most of their time these days on social media, why not use it to promote your business?
• Offer promotions and discount. People love discounts, offer a discount like 20% off.
• Print flyers and share in your neigbourhood
• Word of mouth. Tell people you know and urge them to help you tell their friends
• Do home delivery and pick up. You can offer to go pick up clothes and deliver them after washing, all your customers need to do is call you
• Go to offices and inform the workers of your services
• Be fair in your prices.

Running a laundry business without money

As mentioned earlier, you can start a laundry business with no money! If you are looking at the cost of starting a laundry business in Nigeria and the equipment needed to start a laundry business but your account balance cannot carry it, you can still start with no money.

You can start small then save up and run a proper laundry business. Starting a dry cleaning business with no money is all about moving from house to house and doing the washing and ironing.  Your customers provides everything from water to soap and the basins you need.

This used to be very common in wealthy areas. In Lagos, it is common in premium places. People go weekends to wash and iron for people and get paid handsomely. But it has spread everywhere.

Where I live currently, there is a woman who comes around weekends. Wash cloths for some neigbours. Of course, they provide her water and everything. After she has completed her duty, gets paid handsomely.

All you have to do is package yourself. Approach people. Your target should be families whose both parents are working. Offer to come to the house weekend or any day to wash and iron their clothes.  As you find customers, they will tell others.

A lot of people actually prefer this, since it happens in their home and their cloths won’t get lost in the laundry shop.

Conclusion

Laundry business is a very lucrative business that you can make money from. You need a good location and a good marketing approach, you can make a lot of money from it. Decide the scale you want to start. Do your feasibility studies and know the cost of things in the environment you want to set up.

For other business ideas, go here: Business Ideas