Furniture making is an act of turning woods, metals, and plastics into pieces of furniture. It involves taking these raw or semi-processed materials and carefully crafting them into beautiful arts of furniture. The market is wide and entry requirements are lower in terms of quality and finishing etc. Furniture making business is a profession like other profession, it is the class you put on it that will distinguish you.
The furniture industry has so much improved in Nigeria. From just the roadside carpentry, it has grown to become a billionaire industry. The market for the furniture industry would always be in demand because everyone needs furniture for countless reasons.The furniture market globally is a huge market which is estimated to be about $360 billion markets, with the most prominent players been the United States and the Chna market.
Nigerian furniture market is a vast market, which is estimated at 70 billion Naira, with an annual growth rate of about 2.35%, which is due to the massive increase in urbanization and population growth.
Despite the massive rise of the locally produced furniture in Nigeria, the furniture-making business is still much hampered by the high demand for imported furniture. In 2004 the Nigeria Government bind the importation of furnitures thereby creating opportunity for investors to push in capital into furniture business.
Why Furniture Making Business
● The availability of raw materials for construction and their relatively affordable price make the business less capital intensive and access for investors in the business
● How profitable is furniture business: The furniture business has a very high-profit margin, making it a very high profitable business to venture into.
● The ever increasing demand in the Nigeria furniture market, due to its very large market and also due to improved quality of the locally produced furniture, which is said to be of almost the quality of the more expensive imported furniture
How To Start Furniture Making Business In Nigeria
Note to start a furniture business in Nigeria, you don’t require an expert furniture making skills, you can hire the services of skilled furniture- makers to help make the furniture while you run and own the business, you can keep them on your payroll and source for your customers.
1. Learn Furniture making skills:
Although it is not very necessary to become an expert in the skills, for you to run the business successfully, we need a level of essential, basic skills in the manufacturing.
2. Search Out and Hire the Services of a Competent Furniture-maker:
This is an essential and integral part of the business, as the quality and the level of artistry on your furniture would go a long way to determine how far your business would grow. So it’s of ought most importance that only competent experience furniture makers are hired.
3. Draw up a Well-structured Furniture Business Plan:
Once you have sorted out the workforce to take care of creating pieces of furniture for your proposed furniture business, the next step would be to draft a proper business plan. Your business plan would cover what type of furniture you intend to go into and which is suitable for your environment. It could be home, office, event hosting furniture, and so much more. Before you draw of your plans there a market survey, to understand your customer and your competition and what you plan to do differently to surpass your competitions.
4. Register your Furniture-Making Business with the CAC:
To get legally covered, your furniture business must get registered. To register your business officially in Nigeria, to Cooperate Affair Commission of Nigeria (CAC).
5. Establish Contacts And Partnership:
This is a very important part of the business because you would have to establish contacts with vendors for your raw materials and also experienced furniture makes as well as marketer for your new company.
6. Acquire A Suitable Space For Your Furniture Show Room:
This showroom should be reasonably close to your production house for smooth conveying to the showroom, but at the same time, it should be very accessible and very visible and attractive in other to attract customers.
7. Transportation Logistics:
It is important to put in place logistics to help transport the costumer’s furniture from your showroom to the costumer’s house.
8. Follow The Trend:
It is important to stay abreast of the latest designs and trends in the furniture-making industry in other to succeed in the market. Local furniture manufacturing has taken another dimension, upgrade as it grows.
Challenges In The Furniture Making Business In Nigeria
● Despite the massive rise of the locally produced furniture in Nigeria, the industry is still greatly hampered by the high demand for imported furniture.
● Poor infrastructure in Nigeria, such as bad road networks and insufficient power supply has led to a massive increase in the cost of production, which in turn has also greatly hampered the growth of the industry.
Furniture business in Nigeria with small capital
You don’t have to wait until you have millions before you can start furniture business. Like Mrs. Awosika you can start furniture making with small capital and grow into a multi-level shop.
If you don’t have carpentry knowledge or have not gone to furniture manufacturing school, you can higher carpenters, sprayers and tailors to do the work for you while you pay them. Furniture business ideas, is one venture you should tread on.
As already said you can venture into furniture business in different ways. Get a catalogue of show rooms with classic chairs take it around offices and market the business. When anybody makes order you go to where those furniture are manufactured, purchase and supply to the person at your own price that you agreed with the buyer. You can enter into agreement with a furniture manufacturer to be selling his products for a fee. Design a website and advertise your show room very soon now every product will have online store.
Tips To furniture Making business
● Most customers would like a furniture maker that is well-grounded in the business and makes beautiful high-quality furniture. As much as location matters, most customers would go any length to find beautiful high-quality furniture at the right price. Also important to note that if you produce the best quality furniture in an area, you have an autonomy of price.
● A minimum of about 450,000, Naira is required to start up a small scale furniture business. But the profitability of the business is mainly anchored on the area of location of the business, the bargaining power of the furniture maker, and the level of experience in the business.
● This business requires extreme attention to details and lots of dedication, consistent learning, and also always improving and be up to dates in the latest trends.
Your location will determine which line of furniture to go into. For instance if your shop is around homes then house furniture will favour you more.
Conclusion
The furniture business continues to boom as the demand for home and office accommodation grows across Nigeria.
When people move into a new home, they need a sitting room or parlour chairs to welcome visitors, bed to put mattress to sleep on, wardrobes for their clothes, a dining table and chairs, cupboard for books storage, kitchen cabinets, and all kinds of furniture. Like households, offices also buy much furniture too in fact office furniture are now a show can of thing. Many people want to follow the trend.
Nigeria growing economy and its large and rapidly growing urban population are some of the reasons why the business is experiencing good times in Nigeria.
This makes the furniture-making industry which is still a very young but thriving industry a very lucrative and very productive money-spinner.
We now have world class manufacturers in Nigeria check out Furniture manufacturers in Abuja, furniture makers in Lagos etc.
