How to start data reselling business in Nigeria 2019

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.