In Nigeria, where smartphones are a necessity to people, the repair of these devices is still costly. As such, phone repair is not a niche anymore but a necessity, as the Nigerian Electronic Equipment Repair Market was worth $785.84 million in 2024. It is expected to reach $1,126.04 million by 2030 at a CAGR of 6.02% during the forecast period. This market is seeing stable growth due to the increasing reliance of customers on these electronic devices, the high cost of new devices, and the need for eco-friendly practices such as refurbishment of devices.
Millions of Nigerians every day are enduring cracked screens, malfunctioning charging ports, outdated software, or even battling with obstinate batteries and instead of getting a new phone that is absurdly expensive in 2025, they run to the nearest repairer. If you can combine the right skills, smart planning, and service differentiation, you can turn a small investment into a successful business.
So, you should be wondering, how can you too start a phone repair business in the correct way and turn it into a profitable brand in 2025, this article will guide you to start the correct way.
1. Master the Craft
This is through training and skill acquisition. This is necessary because your reputation as a phone repair business is built on the outcomes you provide to customer satisfaction for them to return. A single poor repair has the potential to ruin your reputation since there are phone repairmen customers will never go back to.
You must;
Get hands-on training by enrolling in apprenticeship under experienced technicians, vocational repair training schools, or you can just enroll in online hands-on courses.
Specialize early i.e., you need to start with the common problems people face with their devices like screen replacement, battery replacement, charging port repair, software problems, etc., then you can start performing advanced logic board work or micro soldering.
Keep learning by staying up to date with new phone models, firmware, and evolving chipsets. Participate in repair forums, YouTube, and colleague groups as well to stay updated with current knowledge.
Practice on defective devices by sourcing defective devices at minimal costs or collecting from friends and families, scrap dealers, etc to practice without fear of destroying a client’s device. This is for your reputation.
Your technical competence is the most important thing you need to worry about before you worry about shop image or location because your customers need to leave with their phones working reliably.
2. Research and Verify Your Market
You need to know your market before you invest capital. That is you need to;
Discover local demand like which phone brands are most used in your area? Is it Tecno, Infinix, Samsung, or Apple? What are the most frequent failures? Which services are underserved?
Survey your competition by taking a walk around your area, nearby markets like Computer Village in Lagos and take note of what existing phone repair shops charge, how fast their turnaround time is, and what warranty they offer.
Perform customer interviews by talking to people who have broken phones. What are they frustrated about e.g waiting time, use of counterfeit spare parts, overcharging, etc? What would they pay for, e.g same-day repair?
Verify minimum demand by offering repair services informally through social media or to friends and family before investing much, by doing so, if you are getting constant inquiries then that’s a sign to scale.
3. Choose Your Business Model
Your model will guide your investment, operations, and marketing. Models to consider;
Home-based or home workshop
Its advantages are that it has low overhead (no shop rent), flexible, and easier to start with less capital but its disadvantages are that it has less visibility, less walk-ins, and more reliant on delivery or referrals.
Shop in a mall, market, or tech hub
Its pros include having foot traffic, credibility, and impulse customers. Its cons include rents, utilities, security, and additional fixed cost risk.
Mobile or on-site repair
Taking tools to the customer’s site is suitable for some services. It needs logistics, trust, and claim mitigation (you might break parts in transit).
Online booking plus pick-up and delivery
Customers book drop-offs via apps or messaging plus you manage logistics.
You can merge models like home plus online plus on-site occasionally at the beginning, then scale to a shop once income becomes consistent.
4. Register and Legalize Your Business
This is overlooked by most entrepreneurs but this is necessary for trust, access to funds, and partnership.
You can do this by;
Choosing a structure for your business: choosing a business through CAC then later you can upgrade to a limited liability company.
Register with CAC
Get the necessary local permits by asking your local government for trade, sign, environmental, and fire safety approvals where required.
Tax registration through registration with FIRS or the state revenue authorities.
Possession of a warranty or service policy that duly documents service warranties with 30-day, 90-day guarantees.
Being legal gets you clients on your side.
5. Get Strategic Location or Workspace
Where you repair is significant. You need to have;
Visibility like working near busy areas, near markets, near institutions, or technology hubs.
Security and power for safe wiring, a constant power supply, and sufficient lighting.
Rent vs. cost tradeoff: that is you can start small, you don’t have to have a large shop, some repairers say you can start with N20,000 or even less if you work from home in a small area.
A Backup location in case your store is down (power outage, flooding, etc).
6. Procure Equipment, Tools, and Spare Parts
A repair business is only as good as its toolset and quality of parts. You need to have basic tools and equipment like the precision screwdriver sets, soldering iron (temperature controlled). Multimeter and voltage testers, Hot air rework station or heat gun, suction cup, plastic prying tools, tweezers, magnifier or digital microscope, anti-static mat and wrist strap, battery tester. Ultrasonic cleaner (for later stages), spare parts organizers, storage, bins, etc.
You do not need to overstock, start with the basic tools to fix the common issues with devices.
7. Price Strategically and Revenue Streams
Pricing appropriately is very important as too low pricing will cost you dearly and too high pricing will scare clients away. You should have;
Cost plus markup approach by projecting the cost of parts, labor, and overhead totaled then adding a margin.
Tiered pricing by offering standard repair, priority repair, and premium with warranty to cater to different clients.
Bundling and upsells by selling accessories e.g tempered glass, cases, etc, offering cleaning services, data recovery, software upgrades, etc.
Subscription or maintenance plans by offering customers regular service checkups at a small cost.
Corporate and bulk clients by entering into contracts with schools, small businesses, and shops to service multiple devices on a recurring basis.
8. Build Your Brand and Online Business
You can do this through simple websites or landing pages, social media, local listings like registering for Google maps, content marketing, referrals, offline marketing by dropping fliers over areas, and partnerships.
This will get you noticed.
9. Overcoming Challenges
Issues like usage of duplicate or fake components, power issues, competition or price wars, technological obsolescence, bargaining by customers, disruption in the supply chain of parts, and expanding too early.
Because profitability depends on your location and competition. High margin seems feasible if you get volume.
Conclusion
Starting a successful phone repair business in Nigeria in 2025 is very possible by integrating good skills, smart positioning, efficient operations, excellent service, and tenacity
While the majority of guides indicate that repair businesses are straightforward, the uniqueness lies in launching the business. Most of the phone repairers are price and minimal service competitors but you can differentiate with reliability, turnaround speed, paperwork, and aftercare.
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