Small Business Ideas In South Africa (For 2023)
Small Business Ideas
Best Business To Start In South Africa
These small business ideas in South Africa are ideal for both women and men alike.
And the great thing is, you can use the skills you already have to convert one of these practical ideas into a money-making reality.
12 Unique Business Ideas
For the best business to start in South Africa, these viable small business ideas cover a wide range of skills and qualifications that should include many fields for both employed & unemployed South African entrepreneurs.
Whilst not all of them will suit everyone, I’m hoping that at least one of these small business ideas will inspire you to start your own business enterprise.
Furthermore, most of these 12 unique business ideas can be run from your home in South Africa which will ensure that startup costs are kept to a bare minimum.
1. Courier & Messenger Service
Want the best business to start with little money?
This could be the one for you.
To start a small courier delivery service from home you don’t need much money at all.
What you will need is the following:
- A vehicle of some sort (a motorcar, a van, a motorcycle, or even a bicycle)
- A cell phone
- Waybills which you’ll need to have printed for your customers to fill out, which will also serve as your PODs (Proofs of delivery)
- If you can’t afford the cost of getting Waybills printed, buy a generic delivery note or invoice book from a stationer. You can use these slips to get PODs (Proofs of Delivery) which you’ll need to bill your clients with.
- Get some flyers made to hand out in your neighbourhood to advertise your new courier business.
- Do the above and you’ll have a versatile asset that you can use to start a small business and make loads of money.
Lastly, keep your cell phone with you at all times as you don’t want to miss those after-hours jobs for which you can charge premium rates.
2. Baby Sitting Day Care Service
There’s always a huge demand for a babysitting service in most areas with tired parents just wanting to have a night to go out & relax on their own.
Due to the strong need for reliable & trustworthy babysitters, there are parents willing to pay premium rates just to have peace of mind whilst out enjoying themselves without having to worry about their kids.
By starting with friends & family you’ll be able to build a good reputation which will hopefully spread creating a decent client base of parents who’ll keep on coming back to you to babysit their children.
3. Woodworking Business
A woodworking business has to be one of the best ideas for home businesses.
Not only is it profitable, but it can be immensely rewarding and easy to set up as well.
Furthermore, the quality & range of household items a good carpenter can make is truly awesome.
So much so that tables, cabinets & chairs often get sold for top dollar on Gumtree or just to family & friends.
So if you love DIY, think seriously about starting a woodworking business.
A woodworking business is not only easy to set up, but you’re also your own boss and can work whenever you want.
Ready to Start:
Get This Free Step-By-Step Guide To Starting a Woodworking Business Today!
4. Tutoring Business
After-school tutoring is a big business for school children of all ages.
Mathematics is always a subject that kids struggle with so if you have a decent matric maths grade you’ll probably be fine to tutor maths to grade 8 and up.
You’ll usually be required to transport yourself to the learner’s home where you will tutor him.
You will normally be able to charge per hour and for your travel cost although this could change according to whether you recruit your own students or work through an agency.
For South Africans, here’s just one agency where you can apply to be a tutor (this does not come with any recommendations so I advise you to compare it with others beforehand).
5. House Cleaning Business
I’ve used house cleaning services extensively and find that the advantages of using them (over employing your own staff) are numerous, for instance;
- You don’t have to manage and deal with staff issues.
- No reliability issues
- No admin in terms of submitting monthly UIF & PAYE returns.
- No worries about feeding them
- No live-in staff issues
- Most services use their own cleaning materials
There aren’t that many of them so with the growing demand in South Africa, it’s a viable business opportunity with low start-up costs.
Just as an example, I was quoted to have an empty 3-bedroom flat in Rosebank cleaned recently for R2,500.
Furthermore, it wouldn’t have taken more than an hour to clean properly.
All you need is 3 to 4 jobs paying that every day and you’ll be on your way to making R200,000 per month.
You’ll have to employ reliable staff who live in or around the area you will be targetting.
You won’t want to service too wide an area as this would mean too much downtime while travelling between jobs.
Lastly, in my opinion, this is a great business to start as there’s such a huge demand for hassle-free, reliable house cleaning services.
Read how this lady set up her house cleaning business to make over $2,000 a day»
6. Daycare Business
You’ll probably need to get registered as a child care service with the appropriate authority in your area, but once this is done you shouldn’t have a problem finding parents eager to use your services for their kids while they are at work.
You’ll also have to consider having facilities for infants, toddlers as well as children up to their early teens so it could involve a bit of investment.
You’ll also need qualified staff with solid references to create a secure & educational environment for the children.
You should probably start with friends & family just to build up a reputation that will hopefully spread, creating a huge client base in your area.
7. Photography Business
If you can take some decent pics and upload them onto your Instagram or blog (set up a free blog here), you can easily sell them.
People are always looking for quality shots for their blogs or social media feeds.
This is therefore a great option for anyone interested in photography or video.
There’s a huge demand from people wanting their weddings and other occasions recorded on video or in pictures.
This can be developed into a fully-fledged photographic business where you can even have self-operated photo booths installed at weddings for a hefty fee.
Start-up costs for a home-based photography business are also relatively cheap.
8. Rent a Room Out On Airbnb
If you have a spare room in your house or a flat you could make some really good money by AirBnB’ing it.
The rates at which rooms & flats go for are staggering although it does vary drastically from area to area.
Before you signup find out exactly how Airbnb works and how you can ensure you only get high-quality tenants.
9. Garden Service
Reliable garden services are hard to find, so if you can provide a quality, reliable garden service you will never be short of clients.
Once you’ve created a demand, you can charge higher rates to make it profitable.
You would have to recruit reliable staff who know how to deliver a quality garden service and look after the machinery.
Furthermore, it is a seasonal business in some ways, but you can always structure your plans to include a garden maintenance plan for the winter months when the grass doesn’t grow much.
10. Handyman Service
If you are a good DIY person then you’ll always be in demand and have no shortage of work.
Get some flyers printed & distribute them in your neighbourhood, do a few jobs well and your name will spread like wildfire.
If your work’s good you’ll be able to charge premium rates and employ someone to help you too.
11. Candle Making Business
For hobbyists, a candle-making business is a viable option as fancy candles are so darned expensive.
Once you’ve got some good ones made you can sell them to family & friends who’ll hopefully spread the word for you.
This business was made for social media.
People love this kind of thing, and I can just see the popularity of posting your candle creations on Instagram.
Instagram provides you with a powerful marketing tool for a product like homemade candles.
For instance, posting pics on Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter will have buyers flooding you with orders.
12. House Sitting
House sitting can be a great way to earn an income especially if you love pets as they’ll generally need to be taken care of with the home.
It’s quite a responsibility to look after someone’s house so you’ll need to create an impressive profile that you can present to prospective clients.
If you can start by house-sitting for friends & family that will help get you some decent references to add to your profile.
Start Your House Sitting Search Here…
- Click the following link to get started with offering your services.
- Once the page opens, click “Browse houses to sit”.
- Then select your “Country”
- And then select the dates you are wanting to house sit for.
- You’ll then be presented with a list of house owners that are looking for house sitters all over the world.
- There are currently masses available all over South Africa.
Converting These Small Business Ideas Into a Reality
None of these 12 unique business ideas mean anything unless they’re implemented and start pumping out money.
Furthermore, whichever of these small business ideas you choose to earn an income from, they all have the potential to be scaled to create more income and profit.
Interestingly, many of these are ideal business ideas for women in South Africa as well.
Moreover, small business opportunities in Gauteng and other provinces in South Africa are what’s desperately needed to boost business entrepreneurship and alleviate unemployment.
Committing to one of these 12 unique business ideas could be a game-changing decision for you
Once you’ve chosen your best business to start in South Africa from these small business ideas, make sure you commit the time & effort to make it a success and you’ll never look back.
Lastly, having an effective online presence will give your business idea a massive boost as almost everyone “Googles” the services they need.
So by setting up a blog, for instance, you can upload images of your work, testimonials, your contact details and so much more for people to view your offerings and contact you for work.
You can learn how to set up your own free blog here and turn your small business idea into a reality.
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