HOW TO START PRINTING GSM RECHARGE VOUCHERS (MTN, GLO, ZAIN/ AIRTEL, STARCOMMS AND ETISALAT)

Recharge card printing business on small scale in Nigeria

Before now, printing and selling of GSM Vouchers has been a business reserved exclusively for the big distributors. But now all that have changed, it’s all about who is interested. Just considering that recharge card consumption in the country is expected to reach over 50 million each month would make any one who may never have been interested in recharge card business to consider making an investment. And getting to know that you can actually control your own market (no matter how small) by printing vouchers on your own and distributing them to clique of outlets, makes the business even more interesting. The recharge card market is so lucrative that banks are jostling for market share.

According to a survey conducted in 2004, recharge cards are the fastest selling product in the country-only second to pure water; imagine how lucrative investing in the business could be-with an insatiable demand for more and more cards.

THE PROJECT

With deregulation of telecom industry, comes an assortment of options for Nigeria telecom consumers –pre-paid phone cards represents a convenient way of placing local & international calls and provides a big saving over traditional telephone lines.

1. WHAT DO I NEED TO START?

The things you need to start with are:

i. A Computer (You can buy any computer of your choice)

ii. A Printer (Colored or black & white)

iii. Software that generates the pin numbers (this will be installed in your computer)

iv. Bulk pin (this you will be buying to generate your pin numbers)

WHERE DO I GET THE SOFT WARES AND BULK PINS AND AT WHAT PRICES

I am going to give you three sources from where you can get them. It is then left for you to choose anyone of your choice. Also note that their prices may change with time, so you have to contact them directly for their current price.

RINGO TELECOMS

Address: 117 Allen Avenue Ikeja (Tantalizer Building)

Tel: 08032030771, 08060079090, 08054505959

Their software and installation price is N15, 000

THEIR PRICES (note that the prices here fluctuate &hence negotiable)

MTN 100 - 93

MTN 200 - 189

ZAIN 50 - 44

ZAIN 100 - 90

ZAIN 200 - 180

ZAIN 500 - 450

GLO 100 - 93

GLO 150 - 138

You can order for your pin from any part of Nigeria through E-mail. With a minimum of N95, 000, you will be taught at the point of purchase on how to use software to print GSM Vouchers.

2. PREPAID NIGERIA

Penth House, 5th floor 6 – 8 New Isheri Road, Ikeja, Lagos

Tel: 01-7914279 or 08032036770

Web: ww.ngrgsm.com

THEIR PRICES

ZAIN: 100 – 93

ZAIN: 200 – 185

ZAIN: 500 – 460

GLO: 100 – 94

GLO: 150 – 139

GLO: 300 – 278

GLO: 500 – 450

MTN: 100 – 92

MTN: 200 - 190

N.B The software is free and you can download it from their website: www.ngrgsm.com or www.prepaidnigeria.com

You can get your PIN from any part of Nigeria through E-mail. You can order for any amount of PIN you want.

3. CITISERVE NETWORK

If you are using this system, you do not need computers, software or printers. You will only need a small machine called orange box which they will sell to you at N15,000. You will need to order for the PIN with a minimum of N5, 000. you can get your orange box at No. 368 Ikorodu

Road, Maryland , Lagos or call 08033604265,08055633648

THEIR PRICES

ZAIN: 100 – 92

ZAIN: 200 – 188

ZAIN: 500 – 455

ZAIN: 1000 – 920

GLO: 100 – 94

GLO: 150 – 141

GLO: 300 – 280

GLO: 500 – 457

GLO: 1000 – 883.5

MTN: 100 – 94

MTN: 200 – 190

MTN: 400 – 385

MTN: 750 – 720

STARCOMMS: 500 – 468

STARCOMMS: 1000 – 931

MTEL: 250 – 225

MTEL: 400 – 358

COOL TALK: 200 – 174

COOL TALK: 300 – 265

COOL TALK: 500 – 425

WHO AM I SELLING TO ( Where is the TARGET MARKET)

Your target market is divided into GSM call centers

1. GSM call centers

2. Road Side Recharge Card Vendors

3. Individuals

OPPORTUNITY FOR BIG TIME INVESTOR

Even though we have almost brought down the cost of voucher printing to the lowest entry cost, it holds more profit advantage for a big time investor. Almost all Airtel (Celtel) N500 vouchers are printed by third parties or Airtel (Celtel) distributors. Imagine where a distributor can print and distribute just 5,000 of those fast selling N500 vouchers on a daily basis. Even at a profit say N10 per cards that company would be making profit of about N1.5million a month just selling recharge cards. Then imagine where you sell more, which of course you can. And even if you decide to invest only in recharge card as your core business, making a profit of N18 million is not “bad at all” like the Americans would say, for a company in its first year of operation.

OPPORTUNITY FOR SMALL – SCALE INVESTMENT

You can start small with as little as N10,000 by working with any computer center that you trust before you acquire your own system, all you need to do it to discuss with any of sources stated below how much you would like to start with, then, you will be on your way to making over N200,000 profit on a monthly basis.

HOW TO AVOID PITFALLS THAT MAY CAUSE YOU TO LOOSE YOUR INVESTMENT

Just like every other business in life, it’s not devoid of its challenges that may even lead to losing your investment. However, the most challenging aspect of voucher business is not the printing but the marketing. You can print 100,000 vouchers in a day if you have the resources, but how many vouchers are you capable of selling on a daily basis.

This is where marketing plan comes in. you need great ideas to take vouchers right down to those who need them when they need them. That means being everywhere that you may be needed. And only great marketing plans can help you achieve that. You may need to discover new GSM marketing ideas that work.