Your detailed guide to profitable and untapped business ideas in Kenya that you ca start today. One of the craziest headaches in starting a business is choosing one. As many as there exist tons of business ideas, so do they tend to be commonplace among ‘business sharks.’
It’s not easy to plunge right into the mix of this fierce competition. You have to think deeper and wiser.
Up to this front. This is what I think:
You are probably stuck which business ideas can work for you, aren’t you? Do you already feel the bigwigs have taken total control of the industry, and you have no chance to have your stake?
Never mind.
I thought that too. But I am going to help you discover some excellent untapped business ideas in Kenyawith the potential of catapulting your ambition to the enviable success. These are either inadequately explored by businessmen or are entirely overlooked.
However, there is no guaranteed success if you are not going to be brave, risk-take, and demonstrate patience right through the whole business life.
Without further ado, check out what’s in store.
20 Untapped Business Ideas in Kenya
1. Start Making And Selling Bone Soup
Yes, beef bone soup, chicken bone soup. That’s where I begin. It’s quite interesting that many people know so much about the benefits of bone soup.
From soothing the gut to supporting a healthy skin and joints development to raising flattened libido in men, there’s every reason to consume this recipe. I haven’t even mentioned how tasty this thing is!
Startlingly, very few people are willing to start a serious bone soup business. But I think you can see the hidden potential in this idea.
To start off, you need to find a good slaughter for the supply of bony meat. Get a handful of cooking equipment.
Do a bit of research on how to cook this soup like a pro chef. And sooner, you will be an influencer on the local streets with just a cup or jar of soup!
On a serious note, this hustle should earn you a minimum of Ksh.500 for a start. Keep improving your product, and sooner than later, you can achieve profits ranging in thousands per day.
2. Conduct Paid Online Surveys
Conducting paid surveys can be a great online business in Kenya that doesn’t require a lot of effort and time. Most of these surveys may take between 5-20 minutes of your time.
All you need is to be serious, intelligent, and patient when taking on the questions.
Examples of popular survey companies in Kenya include Paid Surveys Kenya, Opinion Space, iPoll, Triaba, among others. You can sign up with different companies to consolidate your income.
Some of these companies require that you hit a certain minimum number of points before you can be rewarded in monetary terms. Some reward in terms of the number of successfully completed surveys.
3. Carve Jewelry From Bones
Other than holding meat for a sumptuous bone soup, how else could you use bones? I won’t be surprised to learn you have no idea.
That was me a couple of years ago. Until I saw a set of beautiful necklaces and grabbed them for my fiancée on a certain bustling Nairobi street.
Then as if that was planned coincidence, I bump into a jewelry-making center. On observation, I am told the main material was a bunch of bones!
To cut short, the waste bones are collected, I am told. They are cleaned and dried before being cut and shaped into desired units.
Sandpapering and candle wax painting works follow. Boom! The necklace, bracelet, earring, etc. are ready for the market.
If you are talented in artwork, this can be quite a kill.
4. Start Forex Trading In Kenya
One of the emerging businesses to start in Kenya is forex trading. By far, this is the world’s largest traded financial market, and it packs handsome rewards for the hardworking.
As long as you are willing to learn about successful trading, nothing stops you from stealing the show. This market deals with trading of different currency pairs and precious commodities.
For example, Olymp Trade is a great platform to try your fortunes. There are hundreds of netizens in Kenya who are making a good living out of this site.
You can invest small, at $10, and start rising up the ladder as you grow in both expertise and confidence.
5. Start Selling Kienyeji Eggs
A few bold kienyeji poultry farmers are reaping the big benefits of going unique. But if you think being hands-on with the chicken would be a lot of work, just ‘hunt’ for eggs from smallholder farmers and buy from them.
Then contact eateries, households, hotels, and even hospitals to sell to them. Nowadays, physicians are highly recommending these eggs for a healthy diet.
You can even start boiling some as fast snacks to sell in your local market. Quite underrated idea, but it can definitely pay.
6. Health And Fitness Trainer
Health and fitness trainer comes as one of the best business opportunities in Kenya for youth.It’s pretty annoying that not many people are taking workout and exercise that seriously.
But for those who’ve discovered the essence of body exercise, you can offer to take them through these sessions. Of course, at a reasonable fee and you must be really good in this field to win the trust of many customers.
Make sure that you raise the state of your gym facility a notch above the ordinary lot.
7. Video Production
Does the term sound all that overwhelming? Well, it could be.
However, if you are passionate about videos, films, and sort of things, you can hone up your skills and turn the hobby into a serious profession.
As part of the project, ensure you buy yourself a smart camera, laptop, and get a good video editing software. Or you can hire a camera – although I have once gone the ‘hire’ way and the costs can really ramp up.
When you are good on equipment, it’s time for lights, camera, and action! Seek to cover weddings, parties, get together events, among others.
8. Start A Mikokoteni Business
Mkokoteni is Swahili for a handcart.
Personally, I never thought this was anything meaningful to put your hands on. But as it turns out, it’s a hidden gem.
According to those who’ve rooted in this venture, it can bring thousands per day. Just how?
Here’s how.
Many people need transport to move their luggage from place to place. And they need cheap transport.
Go buy these handcarts and start renting them out for a fee per day or trip or something. Depending on the location and the number of carts, you could earn thousands per day.
9. Provide Virtual Assistance Services
The world is a global village and right from your home, you could be an assistant to a certain company boss far away from your physical location or overseas.
If you are hardworking, hands-on, and good in organization, there are plenty of opportunities online. Simply create a professional profile on all social media accounts, register with sites like UpWork, Fiverr. Display your portfolio and start pitching for jobs.
10. Create Your Own Educational Learning Material And Sell
Is this potent? Sure it is. And for a good reason, one of the brilliant untapped business ideas in Kenya.
I’ll tell you why.
The education sector is arguably the most vibrant among many sectors in the country. If you are a trained teacher or expert, sit down and create complete educational materials on particular subjects.
Do it expertly, as to help the pupils or students to understand concepts with ease. Then you can print copies and sell out the materials at a fair price.
11. Landscaping
If you are a skilled landscaping professional, you can market your skills and start making a kill out of the hustle.
Landscaping opportunities were rare in the past, happening in only major cities and towns of Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, and Eldoret.
With devolution, came more opportunities for landscapers. More towns, even smaller ones need landscapers to design their physical outlook.
The middle-class population has really grown, and they also need professional landscaping services for their homes. The need for landscaping will keep growing as time moves on.
12. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is not new, especially if your daily bread is produced on internet chambers. But even so, there are far too low affiliate marketers in Kenya.
In this field, you are paid for advertising a given brand’s product.
You can reap big from this program if you are a great social media influencer on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Simply present the products to your fans via product links.
If they love them and proceed to buy them, yours is commission on each sale made successfully.
In Kenya, Jumia and Kilimall are good companies to strike deals with.
13. Process And Sell Natural Oils
We both know that oils are becoming essential to humans in many respects. People need them for nourishing their skins, hair, or for culinary purposes.
Invest in an oil press machine. It may cost you about Ksh. 50,000 – process every reasonable raw material for high-quality organic oil e.g., avocado, sim sim, sunflower, chia seeds, etc.
Do proper packaging of the oil products for sale.
14. Garbage Collection
Thinking about starting a business in Kenya with absolutely very little competition? Well. How about collecting garbage and keeping the environment in your neighborhood and beyond clean?
That’s the catch.
Virtually all garbage collection activities have been spared for the municipals. But clearly, there is a huge strain on these government services.
So you can take advantage of the gap and start something. To start off, get a Nema license or county permit, and with the landlord’s cooperation, including local authorities’, you will be good to go.
Also, brace up with the right collection of equipment and labor.
15. Lend Out Soft Loans
Everyone else knows that money is hard to get. But how the heck could I have saved even to accumulate enough to loan out to other people?
But let’s face it: this niche is arguably the most profitable business in Kenya. This case can be argued, I must stress.
You can start by giving out soft loans to colleagues at affordable interest. Just manually and casually at first, then expand into a formal small scale lender as you grow.
16. Take Freelance Printing Jobs
You can take printing orders for documents such as receipt books, delivery books, brochures, business cards, and more and outsource the job to cyber and printers.
You don’t need to own a printer to be on the go. Simply quote a higher amount of service fee and pay your subcontractors while you enjoy your profits.
17. Do Errand Jobs
You can take advantage of the busy urban population. People have amazingly so many responsibilities that they don’t know what to do first and what not to.
If you can come to the fore and offer a helping hand with some errand-running service for some pay, you could make huge leaps in the long term. It is possible to create a brand of your own in the community.
Just deliver exceptionally, demonstrate a greater sense of trust, and you’ll love the customer response.
18. Start An Adult Education Center
Starting an adult school is one of the top businesses to start in Kenya today. There is a bunch of mature people and school dropouts who still wish they had more education.
Some want to know how to crunch numbers. Others want to speak better English or Swahili.
While a fraction is passionate about upscaling their vocational skills. Look for a good center and teach them at a fee, and you’ll definitely earn some money.
19. Offer Music Lessons
If you are a talented musician with a passion for piano, guitar, drum sets, and cymbals, etc., you can offer to train interested learners at a fee.
Start music classes, and for sure, you can get a good number of students willing to pay money and learn about these godsend skills.
With quality training, the sky is the limit to your success.
20. Be an event organizer
Specializing as an event organizer has a special place among new business ideas in Kenya.It is not a commonplace venture for all and sundry.
This position requires a very charismatic yet well-organized person with adept learning and planning skills. Remember, you will be dealing with all types of clients, including companies and organizations.
You have to understand their clientele, products, market, among other vital details. Until then, it might not be easy arranging for meetings such as launch parties, general meetings, seminars, or conferences.
But before you get that far, start with small events first. Help family and friends with planning birthday parties, funerals, weddings, etc.
In Conclusion
The untapped business ideas in Kenya presented in this guide are some of the best available out there. Most of them are gems or what I would call diamonds in the rough.
Study with keenness. Find out which one contains the magic press for you. Once you are good, implement stepwise, with patience and great ambition.