In this blog post, you'll learn all the methods, ways
and alternatives through which you can start your very own data selling or
reselling business in Nigeria at little cost while outlining the benefits and
shortcomings of each of the methods discussed.
Factors to be considered before
starting a data reselling business in Nigeria
Before I introduce you to this business, there are
some factors you need to consider in making the right decision on which method
is best for you to get started with.
The following are the factors that you should consider
before venturing into data reselling business in Nigeria:
1. Market availability:
Before starting data reselling business in Nigeria,
you need to consider who will buy them. Do you have an established customers
who are ready and willing to patronise you? This factor is very crucial in
ensuring that you are able to share your data completely before it expires. If
you are just starting and you do not have enough customers to market your
business to, it's advisable you make use of a wholesale data reseller who you
can always pay to deliver data to your customers.
2. Capital:
Do you possess enough capital to buy bulk airtime and
data for each of the major networks we have in Nigeria? Buying the least MTN
SME data plan alone requires a minimum of N10K. If your answer to this question
is no, then you should start reselling data through a wholesale data reseller.
3. Availability of each network SIM:
To start sharing and reselling data for each network,
you need to consider the availability of these networks' SIMs and the phones to
power them with. If you do not have adequate access to these SIMs and the
networks itself, it would be advisable you start reselling through a wholesale
data reseller.
4. Risks:
The risks involved in running a data reselling
business in Nigeria depends on the chosen methods. Some of the risks include:
data expiring before you sell the data finish, inability to share MTN SME data
on your SIM because of MTN SME data share limit reached, some issues with
customers complaining that they are unable to browse with 9mobile SME data
(this issue is only peculiar to 9mobile SME data and it affects few 9mobile
numbers), inability to share 9mobile SME data to a customer because their number
is sponsored by another reseller's data wallet, unavailability of your data
supplier to deliver data when you have customer that needs data urgently, data
delivering more than once because of network issues, and so many others not
mentioned. Prospective data resellers should be aware of these risks and employ
solutions to managing them.
5. Network availability in your area:
Is there any good network coverage in your area for
the network you intend reselling. If the network of the company you plan
reselling its data is poor in your area, you may end up disappointing
customers, risk encountering sharing errors and loss of data due to network
errors.
6. Availability of internet access:
You need constant access to the internet so as to
enable smooth communication and maintenance of good relationship with your data
supplier through online massagers such as WhatsApp if you are reselling data
through a wholesale data reseller.
7. Accessibility to (internet or
mobile) banking services:
Before you start reselling data through a wholesale
data reseller, you need to consider how you are going to pay him to deliver
data to your customers. Easy and quick access to 24/7 banking services will
make it possible to pay your data supplier at anytime without the need for
physical contact.
Who's a data reseller?
A data reseller in Nigeria is one whose business
involves buying of telecommunication network's data in bulk for later reselling
to customers (end users) or another data reseller (a retail data reseller) who
acts as a middle man between a supplier (a wholesale data reseller) and the end
users. In this definition, you can see we have two major types of data
resellers in Nigeria, viz. Wholesale data reseller and retail data reseller.
What is data Reselling business in
Nigeria?
Data
reselling business in Nigeria involves the sales and reselling of mobile data
plans through purchase of telecommunication network SME bundles in bulk. These
bulk data purchased directly from the network at low cost are then reshared
with end users or data retailers who resell to the final users. There are
different ways of starting or setting up your own data selling business in
Nigeria. You can become a wholesale data vendor who buys data directly from
network operators at low cost. Wholesalers of data resellers require high
capital investment to buy bulk data large enough to reduce cost. You can become
a data retailer by reselling data from wholesalers. Data retailers can start up
with as little as the cost of purchasing a unit product. All they need is
redirecting each and every requests from their customers to a wholesaler who
then complete the order on their behalf. Thus, a retailer is like a middle man
in the business. Now, we know what a wholesaler and a retailer is, the question
that comes to the mind is how do a retailer find a wholesaler that offers data
at cheap prices? This is where platforms comes in. The platform is a setup or
enabling environment which can be used by retailers to resell wholesaler(s)
products. This can be in form of a market, WhatsApp group or websites provided
for this purpose.
How to resell MTN data
MTN
data reselling is by far the most popular, easiest and cheapest. In order to
resell MTN data, you need to migrate to a special plan for it. The plan was
actually created for small and medium-sized enterprises to buy data bundle and
share with their staff in order to reduce internet costs for SME businesses.
The introduction of this plan opened way for shrewd Nigerians who quickly
discovered a business opportunity in it. Due to the low cost per unit of
purchasing internet or mobile data in bulk from MTN using this plan, data
reseller are able to share their SME data at a reduced price compare to the
normal data plan offered by MTN.
Steps to get started with MTN SME data share business
Step 1: Migrate your tariff plan to mtn SME plus
To get
started, you are required to migrate your current tariff plan to the MTN SME
plus tariff plan by sending 460 to 131.
Step 2: Purchase data
After
migrating to MTN SME plus tariff plan, you can now purchase data from the
available data plan. Note that the more data purchased the lesser the cost. To
purchase data, dial *461# and follow the on-screen prompt to purchase data.
Ensure you have enough airtime in your balance to do this.
Step 3: Register MTN SME data
To
start data reselling after purchasing SME data plan, the next step is to
register SME data by dialling *461# and choosing the option to register SME
data.
Step 4: Change your MTN security key (PIN)
To be
able to share your data with customers, you need to change your default PIN. To
change this PIN, send this message without quote to 131: "SMPIN 0000
1234". Your default PIN is 0000 and your new PIN is 1234. Kindly replace
1234 with your desired PIN.
Step 5: Start sharing or reselling SME data
This
is the point at which the data reselling business start. In order to share or
sell data to your clients, SMS the following to 131 for corresponding value of
data you want to sell.
|
SMS
Format to send to 131 to share data
|
Comment
|
|
SMEA
<PhoneNumber> 250 <PIN> to 131
|
SMS to
transfer 250MB
|
|
SMEB
<PhoneNumber> 500 <PIN> to 131
|
SMS to
transfer 500MB
|
|
SMEC
<PhoneNumber> 1000 <PIN> to 131
|
SMS to
transfer 1GB
|
|
SMED
<PhoneNumber> 2000 <PIN> to 131
|
SMS to
transfer 2GB
|
|
SMEE
<PhoneNumber> 5000 <PIN> to 131
|
SMS to
transfer 5GB
|
Important
points to note about MTN SME data
 |
|
Table showing the maximum number of share, validity and
cost of each SME data plan
|
- Your client's expiry data is determined by your current SME data validity as at the time data is being shared. In order words, to ensure your client always get the right validity you are required to always renew your SME data validity by purchasing an SME data plan. As you purchase data your validity period is extended.
- Buying SME data requires high capital to start. This is because you are buying data in bulk so you need high amount of capital to start up to be able to reseller at a cheaper rate. Costs of SME data plan ranges between N7500 to N30,000.
- There's a maximum number of share you can make for each plan as shown in the table above. 10 gb has 10 shares, 20 gb has 20 shares and 50 gb has 25 shares. So, you need to take this into consideration in determining your data price and the amount of data to share to cover up with the cost of data.
As a
result of the inherent problem and risks associated with buying data directly
from MTN and other network. I have written a post on how you can circumvent
this risk by buying data cheaply from an SME data whole seller who bears all
the challenges and calculations associated with managing your SME data
business.
How to resell Etisalat or 9mobile data
Just
like MTN SME data share, Etisalat data share has SME data plan which can be
used to sell data but in addition to this, one can make use of Etisalat/9mobile
data gifting to share or sell data.
Method 1: Reselling Etisalat/9mobile data using the
data gifting method
Load
your line with sufficient airtime. By cheap airtime to further bring down
price.
With
Etisalat/9mobile data gifting method, you are gifting data directly from your
phone using your airtime to your customers and as such you are advised to
always check your airtime before gifting to avoid gifting twice in cases of bad
network or late notification from the network provider.
Etisalat/9mobile data gifting code for different data
size
Gift
1gb (N1000) * 229*2*7*phone no#
Gift
1.5gb (N1200) * 229*2*25*phone no#
Gift
2.5gb (N2000) * 229*2*8*phone no#
Gift
4gb (N3000) * 229*2*35*phone no#
Gift
5.5gb (N4000)* 229*2*36*phone no#
The
'phone no' should be the number of your customer. To get better price buy
airtime at a cheaper rate or use the etisalat/9mobile SME data share
method which will be explained next.
Method 2: Etisalat/9mobile SME data share
This
method is just like the MTN SME data plan for business users.
Step 1: Migrate to more business compact on your
Etisalat/9mobile SIM
Dial
*246*4*3# to migrate to More Business Compact, the access fee is N500
Step 2: Subscribe to any SME plan you want
Subscribe
to any of the SME DATA plan you wish via this draft below
11.5
GB - N8,000 - N*917*9*1#
15
GB - N10,000 - *917*9*2#
27.5
GB - N18,000 - *917*9*4#
30
GB - N27,000 - *917*9*5#
40
GB - N36,000 - *917*9*6#
50
GB - N45,000 - *917*9*7#
All
valid for 33 days.
Step 3: Sell data to customers
To
assign Data to beneficiaries
Dial
*917*9*pin*data volume*beneficiary's number*3#
Your
default PIN is 1234. Your beneficiary's number is your customer's number (the
person you are selling data to). Data volume is the amount of data you are
sharing or selling.
Tips for Etisalat/9mobile SME data share method
- To check SME data balance dial *917*9#
- To delete beneficiary from your group dial *917*9*pin*number*2#
- To view your beneficiaries dial *917*9*9#
- Your default PIN is 1234
- To change your PIN, dial *247*new pin*old pin#
How to resell Glo data
Glo
does not have a direct Data Share like MTN and etisalat/9mobile do but
there is a way around this. We use Glo data gifting as a substitute for Glo
Data Share since they have none for now.
To
resell Glo data, it's advisable to buy cheap airtime from Airtime exchanges to
further reduce cost of your data and crash the price of your data plans to make
you stand out from other data resellers.
Steps on Glo data gifting Weekly plans
Step 1: Dial *777# (ensure you have
airtime as this is what you are using to gift data to your customers).
Step 2: Select option for buy data which
is option 1.
Step 3: Select option for gift data which
is option 2 (Don't select buy 3G-4G data plan as you will be buying data for
yourself instead).
Step 4: Select 1 for mini plans. Select
option 4 for 1 gb @ N500 for 14 days (weekly plans).
Step 5: Enter your customers number.
That's all you don't need to enter any PIN.
Monthly plans
Step 1: Dial *777# (ensure you have
airtime as this is what you are using to gift data to your customers).
Step 2: Select option for buy data which
is option 1.
Step 3: Select option for gift data which
is option 2 (Don't select buy 3G-4G data plan as you will be buying data for
yourself instead).
Step 4: Select option 2. Choose any of the
options for data plans that you want.
Step 5: Enter your customers number.
That's all you don't need to enter any PIN.
