Since March 2020 we have been living under lockdown restrictions. It is almost hard to picture how life used to be because human experience has drastically changed. COVID-19 has caused effects and changes, some of which are temporal. However, for the most part, some things are never going to be the same again. Many have been floored by the pandemic and its effects. Yet some have spotted and acted upon remarkable opportunities. I have comprehensively looked at business opportunities for now given this COVID-19. Today I want to discuss long term business opportunities from COVID-19.
E-Commerce Services
In Zimbabwe people used to be sceptical about buying things online but that has significantly changed. More and more people are buying literally anything online. This means starting a business that sells goods or services online will be very much relevant moving forward. This means starting a new business or redefining an existing one. You can also venture into dropshipping, affiliate marketing, or starting an online marketplace where users pay to advertise or sell. Those into runner businesses should now enhance their services into structured online businesses.
Digital Marketing Services
Since business is now abuzz online, marketing online is imperative. If you learn and master the dynamics of marketing online i.e. digital marketing you can offer your services. Very few businesses understand how digital marketing works. Things like SEO or content marketing eludes most of them so they will most likely be willing to pay someone to assist them. Major platforms used in Zimbabwe are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, websites, and Twitter. You can set up a business centred on offering digital marketing for businesses on those platforms.
Online Consultancy Services
This is a broad and far-reaching area of business prospects. It applies to literally anyone who is an authority or expert in a particular field. Are you an expert in health issues, agriculture, business management, counselling, or motor mechanics? If you are and you can offer consultancy services online then you are in business. It is not as complex as you think – you can make money doing consultancy through WhatsApp.
Online Teaching, Tutoring Or Training Services
If you can teach anything in a physical setup then you most definitely can teach it online. It can be for anything from academic to any knowledge area. If a church service can be conducted online then it means you can teach, tutor, or train on anything online. Last year I did two professional certified courses in Digital Marketing and Entrepreneurship wholly online. I always advise people to start thinking of the simplest platform to use – WhatsApp. You can deliver courses using short video clips, pre-recorded audio clips, group calls, voice notes, images, PDF, slides, and so on all through WhatsApp.
Courier Or Delivery Services
Most of the businesses that have stayed afloat adopted the deliveries model. They made it possible for customers to place orders online and introduced deliveries. So any business that can come up with a service that brings the convenience of bringing stuff to people’s doorsteps will make money. In Zimbabwe I know there is considerable activity in this domain but I personally feel we have not even scratched the surface, there is more!
Copywriting Services
As a writer, I know how immense the prospects in this area are. Do you know that you can get to a point where you get hired to do copywriting working and charging by the hour? Yes, it is possible – globally some professional copywriters can charge US$50 or more per hour. Right now the demanding appetite is perpetually surging. Businesses even know they now have to churn out blogs to lure consumers to their sites. There are also huge prospects in authoring e-books, accredited courses and the like. Content is king!
Home-Based Horticulture Or Small Livestock Production
One of my personal favourites and thanks to cutting-edge farming methods anyone can do this now. You can set up a small greenhouse and start growing vegetables and herbs for sale. You can even tag team this with hydroponics, which I recently discussed in one of my articles. You get to then realize high yields, faster and without needing soil plus requiring limited amounts of water. On the small livestock side, there is poultry, piggery, bees farming, and rabbits amongst others. Of special mention is tilapia fish farming – I highly recommend it. All these will continue to be big-bucks businesses to do moving forward.
Herbal Products
We all have seen the proliferation of home solutions to this pandemic. Things like ginger, Zumbani, lemons, honey, and several other herbs have become highly sought after. This means you can make money from selling concoctions of these things. Already we have seen some packaging Zumbani into teas and the like. Earlier today I saw the news about how Africa University students have made headway in developing medicinal cough drops from Zumbani. This is the kind of thinking I want you to focus on. Even before the pandemic, the interest in herbal products e.g. for flat tummies, fuller figures were rising. So businesses working on coming up with herbal products are a great undertaking now and forever.
Content Creation
This is yet another broad area of business opportunities. A simple example is making YouTube videos on engaging topics – Zimbabweans have caught on and I am sure we are en route to seeing local YouTube millionaires. We can get there! Video production businesses should now emerge; people are hungry for short films, movies, and so on. E-books are also big money – you can come up with engaging e-books and sell for just a dollar each. I am just floating around ideas to paint a picture for you regarding content creation.
The inevitable reality is that most of the lucrative businesses moving forward will require an online model. It might be wholly, partially, directly, or indirectly but in some form or fashion the best businesses will be those operating online.
