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Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Sample Event Center Business Plan in Nigeria

Starting an event center in Nigeria is a good long term investment. The business comes with a solid model with potentials for huge long term profits. Firstly, the property itself appreciates in value over time even without patronage. Secondly there is high demand for events hosting in Nigeria which means with good marketing and planning an event center can be a major source of passive income to its owners.

What is an Event Center?

An event center is a place designed to host events and provide support and hospitality for guests, visitors and people who the event is meant for. It could be located within a single building or over an expansive land area. They can vary in size, design, location and with or without in-built facilities.

While a typical event center should host at least 400 people at a time, most event centers actually host much more than that. There are event centers such as the Muson center in Lagos or the Thisday Dome in Abuja that can host up to 5,000 people at a time whereas others such as halls located in hotels and botanical gardens may host 400 to 1000 people. We also have mega event centers such as the Tafawa Balewa square that can host more than 30,000 people at time.

The Business Opportunity

Nigeria is a bubbling, 'groovy' country known for numerous social and corporate events. Typical events usually pull a large number of people starting from 200 to as much as 40,000 people at times. At least every major city in Nigeria holds events regularly that attract large crowds. A look at the market size -  limiting this to just event centers in Abuja which can pull off over 6 billion naira a year from venue hall rentals from 300 event venues. Lagos and Port harcourt which have larger markets pull off much more than these figures.

Some examples of the most common events include; parties, house warming, graduation ceremonies, kids birthday parties, church services, music concerts, comedy shows, reunions, seminars, workshops and weddings to name a few. The biggest opportunity for hosting events comes from Nigerians loving to socialize and celebrate – our people can be very extravagant when spending to host their social events.

Since we are a very accommodating, entertainment seeking and sociable society with a large number of people who are obligated to share their special moments with family and friends, you will expect a lot of spending to accompany. When you hear about events pulling crowds with VIP tables or table for 10 going for 5 million naira or more for an event that will last just 4 or 5 hours or sold out events (10,000 or more people in attendance) with cheapest tickets going for 5,000 naira we can begin to see the potential market size.

The typical Nigerian would have a network of more than 100 friends and acquaintances and is an unspoken rule to invite as many of your friends as possible for your child naming ceremony, funeral, weddings or parties. You could lose some friends when you fail to do this.

Even in hard times, somehow there are still hundreds of social events being hosted in Nigeria on a weekly basis. Take weddings for instance, more than 24,000 weddings happen every week in different parts of the country, and hosting a reception is always part of that wedding budget. Event centers are part of the reasons weddings in Nigeria are very expensive. Renting space can come as low as 100,000 naira per day to as much as 1,500,000 naira per day depending on the event center and location.

Challenges of Faced by Event Center Businesses in Nigeria

But it is not all rosy in this business. Large social events tend to attract miscreants and lousy people who may cause unpleasant experiences for your guests at your events center. So that means spending heavily on security is a must. You would also have to worry about high startup capital required for this business. You should be looking at 80,000,000 naira or more for an event center as land is not cheap to buy in places like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. Land prices are also going up in other cities.

Where is the best place to locate my Event Center Business?

Since events typically tend to be of a social nature, an ideal event center should be located in a very accessible part of town that is well known to many people. This will make it easier for people to visit such centers when events are holding. You would also have to consider parking space as event centers lacking parking space along busy roads can cause nightmares for motorists if they are hosting major events. Security is another factor. Places with high incidence of crime and insecurity are not ideal locations for event centers to name a few among other critical factors not mentioned in this blog post.

How to Market your event center and Finding Clients

Event centers are very easy to market and promote. Networking, referrals and use of strategic partnerships are the main source of new business for event center owners. Others such as SEO and directory listing can also provide additional sources among a list of other marketing tactics.

How Profitable is Event Center Business in Nigeria?

Imagine an event center that hosts 2 events weekly and charging 200,000 naira each, that will be 1,600,000 naira monthly which is an impressive revenue considering that you only rented out space (not equipment or machines) and besides spending money on generating sets to power the events venue and providing security which are based on demand, other running costs are low. Then event centers can also profit from high number of social events which can mean steady supply of clients.

How much does it cost to setup an Event Center in Nigeria?

That would depend on how expansive the land area would be and the size and quality of the building. For instance if you are using a marquee tent for instance as your event venue, it would cost you less than if you erect a building for the same venue. Also the area the land is located can also play a part in deciding how much it would cost you to set one up. But here is a breakdown of startup costs. In this breakdown I am assuming use of marquee tent as event center venue. The event venue is this sample plan is assumed to be located in Bwari, Abuja and will have parking space for at least 40 cars.

  Startup Requirements

Item                                                                       Cost

Land (80m by 50m)                                                  40,000,000

Full Option Marquee Tent (2,000 capacity)           1,500,000

Generator house                                                       800,000

Generating set (15 kva)                                            1,900,000

Banquet Chairs (2,100)                                            8,400,000

Other furniture                                                          3,000,000

Marketing Budget                                                     900,000

6 months Expenses                                                   1,200,000

Other costs                                                                 2,300,000

Total                                                                          60,000,000

 

First Year Financial Projections

Total sales                                           19,200,000

Gross Profit                                         16,200,000

Operating costs                                   7,200,000

Profit before tax                                  9,000,000

Taxation                                              2,700,000

Profit after tax                                     6,300,000

Break even Period                               6 months

Yearly Land Appreciation                   2,100,000 (assumed)

Payback period                                    5 years (appreciation + retained profits)

ROI                                                      14%

NB: While the return from profit and retained cash is an assumed 10% of total investments, yearly asset appreciation would make up for the low ROI.

Are you looking to setup an event center in Nigeria and need a bankable business plan for it? Then send me an email: paulonwueme@gmail.com or call 08032064106

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