How to start POS Business
POS business is one of the easy businesses anyone can start in Nigeria as of today. Despite being easy to start, it is still one of the most lucrative small businesses anyone can own with small capital.
The word POS means point of sale. POS outlet is where anyone can withdraw or deposit money, do fund transfer etc. It can be referred to as a small bank. The difference is that POS cashiers will charge a commission for every business transaction done with them.
Starting a successful POS business requires you raise a business capital, get a POS machine and a good business location. The location where you will site your business will determine the success of the business. Some locations might not be progressive as others. If you site your POS business in a densely populated area, you will transact more than a business located in a low density area.
If you site POS outlet in area mostly occupied by rich people, like government reserved area (GRA) your business might not perform like the one sited in areas where low income earners live. Rich people often prefer making payments with their ATM card while the poor people always transact with cash. Which makes them always in need of physical cash for transactions.
How to Get POS Machine
POS machines are very easy to get now unlike before, when the big banks will ask you to start transacting with your phone before they could consider you for a machine. Nowadays, once you have a capital and location you can apply for a machine and get it the same day. Things are faster now unlike before.
To get a POS machine from a company like moniepoint is very easy, fast and one of the best in terms of customer support. To get moniepoint pos machine, you can apply through their website,
Moniepoint.com or contact an aggregator. But as a fresher, i wouldn’t believe you know who is an aggregator. An aggregator is simply a business relationship manager, a representative of moniepoint microfinance bank, whose function is to distribute Moniepoint POS terminals to aspiring agents.
Am an agent with moniepoint that why am able to share first hand knowledge about how to get moniepoint machine very fast. I believe other companies are doing good but to be frank with you, moniepoint has taken over the market when it comes to agency banking in Nigeria.
If you’re interested in joining moniepoint, fill out the form on their website and they will match you with an aggregator near you to assign a POS machine to you. The price of getting POS machine is #25,000. The payment doesn’t make you a sole owner of the machine. If you’re assigned a machine and you went and dumped it, it’s most likely that the machine would be retrieved from you. You’re expected to start transacting with the machine once you get it.
Another thing you have to know about moniepoint is that they have a daily target you have to meet as an agent. You’re expected to make a withdrawal of #100k daily.
Wait! The target should not deter you because at first I thought it would be very hard to meet. But the first day i started officially, i mean the day I brought out my umbrella, i did #86,000 on withdrawal alone, the second day I hit #250k on withdrawal alone.
The third day I wasn’t thinking about my target again, my concern was to transact more to earn more. Once you are determined to go into POS business, start work early, be punctual and sincere, customers will embrace you.
Capital for POS Business.
You can start a POS business with any amount but you need more money to transact more. After you’ve gotten your umbrella or kiosks, and a POS machine, you need around #100k-#500k to run the business.
The reason why I don’t encourage people to start POS business with #50k is that one customer can come and collect all the money in one transaction.
But anyway, any amount you have start with it, when it finishes rush to the bank and make a withdrawal. With time you build up your capital.
How to protect your POS business from fraudsters and armed robbers.
POS business owners are in constant attack from fraudsters and armed robbers. As a POS operator you must always be careful. Keep the issue of trust aside and do your business with diligence. Once a customer gives you money to deposit, always count it. If the customer collects the money from you to recount and hand it back to you, do recount it again. There are people called money changers. What they do when they come to your shop to defraud you; they will give you like 200k to count, after counting, they will ask you the amount you will charge to deposit 200k. If you tell them your price, they will contend that the amount is too much. There next step is to ask you to give them the money back, once you hand over the money to them, he will leave your presence and come back immediately under the guise that he is in a heist, that he doesn’t have much time to go to another customer to start wasting his time counting the money again, that since you have counted, you should go ahead and deposit it, little did you know that as soon as he left your presence he has changed the money. If you fail to recount it, you’re doomed already. Always be careful of customers that put pressure on you when they visit your shop.
Bank transfers have landed many POS operators to the police net, be on guard when accepting transfers especially ussd code transfer. Preferably, accept transfers only from mobile App.
