Being active online is vital for entrepreneurs to enhance operational efficiency. Not only that though, getting online actually presents numerous business opportunities. There is a wide array of online services that one can offer in Zimbabwe. In this article, I shall be discussing them for your consideration.

Software As A Service – SaaS

Due to the increased use of cloud computing, it is now much easier to develop services that are accessible online. People will have to subscribe or make some form of payment to access them. That is the basic business model here. I can also mention things like PaaS – platform as a service. Let me highlight cite some examples to put this into perspective. If you have ever heard of or used Dropbox or Windows Azure – those are examples of SaaS and PaaS respectively.  You can come up with online software or an online platform that people pay to access. If you have what it takes you can take the route of web hosting, which is another example. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having you develop home-grown services in this domain. Most of the available services so far are foreign.

Online Affiliate Marketing

By definition, affiliate marketing entails earning commissions by advertising other people’s products. It is a common thing nowadays with global brands such as Amazon having affiliate marketing programs. One can actually develop an Amazon affiliate website where they promote products being sold on the Amazon site. Locally there is a way you can do this as a service of your own that you will be offering.

You develop a website where you find ways of attracting traffic – one possible way is to create content that you post on the site. You will then embed links to other people’s products online. Obviously you will have to enter working agreements with those whose products you want to promote. Even just by including the links on social media posts is another way that can be used in online affiliate marketing. I believe there is vast potential in making money doing this here in Zimbabwe.

Online Tutoring

Academically there are many of you that have notable skillsets. Now is the perfect time to take your expertise online. I have noticed that there are so many people looking for tutors online. It could be for primary, secondary or tertiary education, there are so many people needing assistance. The challenge with most people is that they think you have to come up with sophisticated systems for this. Well, there are two platforms that you can use to roll out your online tutoring services. These are Zoom and WhatsApp – there are some people already making effective use of these platforms for tutoring.

Virtual Assistance

I am a huge fan of virtual assistance because of the low overheads. If you have a reliable internet connection, a PC and a mobile smartphone you are good to go. The question to ask yourself is, what expertise do I wield that I can offer as a service online? For instance, you are a Veterinary Doctor, did you know you can offer virtual assistance services? You can make effective use of online platforms to offer assistance to animal farmers online.

Typically farmers have to walk-in at physical veterinary shops or surgeries to seek assistance. You can offer greater convenience by making it easy for people to get assistance online from anywhere. I have just used that example to paint a picture for you that you can use with respect to your area of expertise. Virtually anyone can offer such services if they are enterprising enough.

Online Courses

Earlier I spoke of online tutoring; do not think I am referring to the same concept here, it is slightly different. Here I am talking of you crafting courses that you get to offer online. The ideal approach is to identify sought-after skills and develop courses for them. For example, digital marketing is highly sought-after these days. You can come up with an online course that you can offer either through a website, Zoom, WhatsApp or any other workable platform. There is no limit to the courses that can be developed; anything can be developed into an online course. I at times wonder why some people with notable skillsets languish in unemployment and the like. Try out online courses – if you need help in how to develop one, kindly get in touch.

Digital Marketing

I mentioned digital marketing earlier as an example of an online course one can offer. Here I am referring to digital marketing as a service. What I mean is that you offer digital marketing services to people who need help in marketing their products digitally. I am referring to things like Facebook Marketing, WhatsApp Marketing, Content Marketing, and so on. If you master these areas you can start offering this service package online. Digital marketing agencies are not yet a thing in Zimbabwe so it is high time we see more and more people offering digital marketing services.

So there you go, 6 online services you that you can offer in Zimbabwe. There is so much untapped potential in these domains. I bet you if you venture into any one of these you will make lots of money.