How To Start A Cyber Café Business

by Samuel · 27 comments

Do you have an interest in cyber café business? Cyber café business is a good and lucrative business. If you really have passion for this business and you are innovative, you will take it to a greater height.

A cyber café business can be very profitable in an area or state that are lacking the internet. Most especially in my country Nigeria where Internet is part of the major problem people are lacking. To win big in this business, you just have to be different; I mean you have to make a difference in order to stay ahead of your game.

How To Start:

Before starting a cyber café business, you will need to find an ideal location for your business. Make sure that, the place where you want to base your business on, must be spacious so that there will be enough space for computers and people who will patronize you.

Never make the mistake of renting or buying a business location (shop or store) that’s not spacious because most people who start this business do make this mistake. If you really want to enter the cyber café business with full spirit, you must be ready to give it all what it will take to turn it into a successful business.

Things You Need: You will have to get desktop computers like Pentium 4 desktop computers or laptops, depending on your budget. Make sure you get computers that are fast and not computers that will make customers feel sad when using it.

You will need a fast ISP (Internet Service Provider) that will give you access to the internet. Consider getting access from a fast and reliable ISP that will give you the best you want. So that people who are patronizing you will have the guts to come back for your services.

The fact is that an ISP is the soul of a cyber café business, because if you don’t get access from a fast and reliable ISP provider, your cyber café business will not grow. After getting the ISP you want to get access from, you will have to find a plan that will suit you. Because there are different internet plans that will be shown to you, all you have to do is to find the one that will suits you.

You will have to set up the business location (store or shop) that you bought or rent. Get a carpenter that will help you with the furniture that will be needed in the cyber café. Also you will need a computer networker who will help you crimp cables that will be slot into the computers so that they can be access from the main computer (domain). And it will be able for customers to surf the internet.

Connect all the power supply (electricity) in a neat way in order to avoid any hazard. If your cyber café is in an area where you don’t have sufficient power supply. Make sure you get a good generator that will serve you. Not generators that won’t last long. So make sure you get a good generator.

You should setup up your business location ( shop or store) in a way that, it will attract customers. Your cyber café environment must be clean and neat. If you have the money, you can fix air condition in it so that people will feel relaxed when surfing the net. All this things are what attract people to patronize you. I’m sure you will want your cyber café store or shop to look attractive? So you must give it a good look.

Offering of services:

Now, you will decide on how you will offer your services to customers. To do this, you will have to think on how it will help you and your customers. I’m sure you will want to reap the fruits of your labour? So sit down and plan how you will render your services to customers in a way that it will help you and your customers.

Planning how you will charge your customers for the services rendered depends on you. You might want to charge per hour or per minutes. You can charge $2 per hour or more. But you must make sure that each have segment. Take for instance, You charge $2 per hour, the next charges will be $4 per 2hours, $5 per 4hours etc depending on how you want to offer your services.

Remember to create space for people who might want to use their personal computers and not your computers to surf the internet. Many customers don’t like the idea of using the cyber café computers to surf the internet. So create space for people like that. And charge them for the services that will be rendered to them.

You might also want to expand your services to people who want to browse from home, people who will not love to come down to your cyber café to browse due to one thing or the other. But to do this, you need a wireless hub that will give them access to surf the internet. Find Internet engineers who can help you with it. You just have to discuss the matter with them and they will tell you how they can be of help.

Note: To offer the services of browsing from home, you must watch the area you want to offer this type of services to because the people who are living in the area where your business is based might be illiterate. I mean people who don’t know the use of the internet.

The best is to ask people who are living in that area if they would love to patronize this offer and know how much they are willing to pay for it. Most people might be waiting for someone who will bring up this idea, so if you are ready for this business, you must be ready to relate with people in order to know if they would love the idea or not.

Promotion Of Services:

To notify people that you are around, I mean to notify people about your business, you can create a banner and handbills that will help speak about your business. You should also tell people you know, about your new business. Also tell them to inform their friends to come around if they want to surf the internet.

Make sure you try to satisfy every customer that come around so as to fight for the word of mouth from them. If the speed of the internet connection is fast and the price you charge for it is a reasonable amount, customers will help you spread the word about your business.

The three things you should always fight for is:

  1. Fast internet connection
  2. Reasonable price
  3. Satisfy your customers.

If you are able to do that, believe me, your business will grow.

Speak Your Mind:

Are you willing to start a cyber café business or what do you think about the business idea? Feel free to share your opinion by commenting below. Thanks so much.

P:S I will be releasing my first free report by next week. Subscribe to my blog in order to be among the people who will get the updates first. Have fun :D

Image Credit: Watblog

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{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }

Akhilesh January 15, 2011 at 1:30 pm

Hi!
Nice post but it’ll not work everywhere……like in India if you charge even $1 an hour then , surely you’ll have to close the cafe before it can be opened.
I like you r way of presentation and language…….Keep writing more interesting posts on entrepreneurship………..

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Samuel January 18, 2011 at 5:04 pm

Oh I see. Sure, this post does not apply to everyone. Thanks so much bro. Have fun :)

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anup April 27, 2011 at 12:08 pm

hi !
u wrote all the thing is very well, APPRECIATING
bt im confuse,
bcoz u said-” Never make the mistake of renting or buying a business location (shop or store)”
so wat i do, nd y u say, wats nagetive efect in my cafe ??

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Patricia@lavenderuses January 15, 2011 at 2:03 pm

Hi Samuel

Very informative post for your fellow entrepreneurs in your country. We are very blessed in Australia in that most people have or could have if they want either a laptop or computer. However, tourists and young people back packing round the country use cyber cafes so they are available here.

What an excellent business start-up explanation. You have thoroughly researched it. Well done Samuel.

Patricia Perth Australia
Patricia@lavenderuses recently posted..Are You Lurking Behind The Lavender Bush

Reply

Samuel January 18, 2011 at 5:06 pm

Hi Momma,
So Sad that my Country- Nigeria is missing out. Thanks so much for the comment. Have fun :)
Samuel recently posted..Ultimate Business Flakes

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J January 15, 2011 at 2:36 pm

This post is very informative.

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Brenda Freeman January 15, 2011 at 9:03 pm

Samual – thank you for this post. As Patricia said in an earlier post, living in a country where everyone has a laptop or desktop computer, you don’t understand the difficulty of communication without one.
Recently due to storms we were without internet for a period of a few weeks, and I frequented the local cybercafe to get on line whenever I could.

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Samuel January 18, 2011 at 5:11 pm

Hi Brenda,
You guys are really enjoying :) Thanks so much for the comment. Have fun

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Stuart January 16, 2011 at 6:02 pm

You know, people in countries such as UK, USA, Australia, and generally the Western world, should really count their blessings when it comes to technology.

If more people took their opportunities like you Samuel, then we’d see a huge leap in advancement. I wish Nigeria would follow your example :-)
Stuart recently posted..How Do Successful People Think

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Samuel January 18, 2011 at 5:14 pm

Hi Stuart,
You guys are rocking in a big way! Lol I should have taken that steps but due to my education I can’t at the moment. Quitting school for a startup like this can make them get mad :) But I will look into it in the future! Thanks so much!

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Dia January 16, 2011 at 7:30 pm

Hi Samuel,

This post will help many people in countries who don’t have internet and computers in every house such as Africa. Thanks for sharing these tips Samuel :)
Dia recently posted..You are responsible for your happiness

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Samuel January 18, 2011 at 5:15 pm

Sure Dia, Thanks for the comment. Have fun :)

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Shailender @ Valentine Vacation January 17, 2011 at 1:02 pm

Really good option, But you have to invest first to expect any return.This is where you must be prepared.
Shailender @ Valentine Vacation recently posted..Merry Christmas &amp Happy Holidays from India Darshan

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Samuel January 18, 2011 at 5:16 pm

Sure, you must be ready to invest. Thanks so much bro!

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John January 19, 2011 at 10:07 pm

Samuel – A cyber café business definitely sounds like a good business to get involved with. As a matter of fact, looking back I have actually ran into a few cyber cafés before I just didn’t know what you call them.

I think the best advice you gave for someone interested in starting a cyber cafe is to pick a good location. Because without a good location I can’t imagine how this business model can be effective.

I think this is a great business idea, and if I had more time and money I would definitely be interested in starting my own cyber café business. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, and I’m sure the tips you’ve provided here will help someone.
John recently posted..Treat Eczema Naturally

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Cool Boy@Bollywood Gossips January 22, 2011 at 9:49 am

I liked this post a lot as i always keep thinking of having money and starting a own cyber cafe.If the cyber cafe is located in a good area then the cyber cafe owner can earn lot of money daily .Cyber cafe business requires investment and thats the only thing i worry about.

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bernalee May 3, 2011 at 3:50 pm

hi samuel..

this will be a big help for us, wants to start i-cafe. location and good performance of Pcs so that cus will come back to your shop. most of our cusomers here like online games.by the way i am located here in the phillipines, keep it up.

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moses olorunfemi August 5, 2011 at 1:21 pm

i want to no more about this business

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samar dhital August 15, 2011 at 4:53 am

It is an good idea of the business i really like it . It is just fantastic . it can solve our problem .

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kassim jimoh August 31, 2011 at 8:06 am

hi samuel,
I love your explanation on the busines. I want to start this business in kaduna before december. I really want you to tell me the top 3 best ISP that i can use. More so, i have 250thousand naira for now. Wil it start the business in kaduna? Thanks a lot.

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Lebo December 16, 2011 at 2:50 pm

Hi Samuel, i need ur advice, i want to open my own cyber cafe but i have financial problems, how do i get computers and printers maybe ? where do i go ?

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Kumaran January 12, 2012 at 5:12 am

Really helpful. My location is a developed one. Thinking of starting one. Thanks..

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Arun spartan January 17, 2012 at 6:31 pm

Thanks bro for your post this will realy halp me alot…..

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josh February 4, 2012 at 5:40 am

currently I’m working hard to setup my cafe now, i will be glad if you can give me some info on how to give customers incentive and some management principles.

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Chidi February 11, 2012 at 11:45 am

Quite an interesting and informative post…let me also add that having enterpreneural skill is also very inportant in the management of any business, cybercafe inclusive. I’ve been setting up cybercfe’s for about 9 years now and with my experience, i know that most entreprenuers lack the needed drive and skill to maintain the cafe’s when they are setup. For a cafe to be successful, in house technical personel should be trained for quick response to problems that may arise in the daily use of the computers and network. Proper user education should also be pursued so that customers get value for money without compromising on quality of services rendered. For a standard cyber cafe, speed is very inportant just as a very comfortable environment is also nessesry, this is where most cybercafe’s get it wrong. To succeed in the cybercafe business, consult widely and make sure to talk to experienced experts.

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Oduokpe Ujiro March 24, 2012 at 10:55 am

I love your post. It is educative and inspiring. Pls inform us about the various ISPs in Nigeria and their packages and their prices as well. Thanks in advance.

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Darpan March 30, 2012 at 6:29 am

your post was awesome that’s what iam talking about really thanks for this post but one topic you should post the minus points of our business so from starting only we want to work on it or fixed on it which type of problem we are going to face and in which matters we should be alert

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