26 Comments on Bulk SMS Resellers in Nigeria

Paul Onwueme on Wed, 14th Oct 2009 2:21 am


@ Naija enterpreneur,

I remember as far back as 2004 someone was trying to introduce bulk sms business to me as a money spinning venture back then I was even too inexperienced to start and manage a business not to even mention coming up with funds to invest, however over the years many people have been involved in this ‘business’ and I am yet to come across any success stories except for those who market viable products and services like the sports marketing guys of the 2006 Nations cup and world cup (I mean those AIT/BON sports guys). I know they made so much money around that time but they instead patronized premium services from GSM service porviders.

Now for this post I quite agree that the bulk sms can be hijacked by scammers to swindle unsuspecting members of the public but even at that they are likely to waste their time and resources doing so as many naija guys are not as prone as before to sms scams. Your analysis of the business also shows that it is not as lucrative as people make it sound (50 kobo out of 4 Naira) since they would have to resell millions of units to make the so called millions they are out to get.

Nice post overall, but sms bulk reselling is just like every other business what really makes the difference is how you handle competition.

Polprav on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 1:23 pm


Hello from Russia!
Can I quote a post in your blog with the link to you?

Udegbunam Chukwudi on Fri, 16th Oct 2009 6:46 pm


A year back, I tried signing up for one of these bulk sms services through Betamax SMS and Clickatell. I was clearly notified that they can’t guarantee that the SMS will be delivered which is why I dropped the whole bulk sms thing.

Besides, the profit margin I’m seeing here doesn’t look wowing @ 50 naira per 200 units sold just as Paul has already pointed out.

Surprisingly, last week an email correspondent notified me he had an account and that if I had friends interested in buying bulk sms, I should refer them to him.

NaijaEcash on Mon, 19th Oct 2009 4:25 pm


@ Chukwudi & Paul
You guys don’t want any snail like return on investment Well that is what Bulk SMS has to offer. It is not a fast revenue online business. It is profitable, but then, the return cannot sustain you except you become a big SMS reseller who sells to smaller SMS reseller. That means, you engage it it at the wholesale level. Of course that will mean getting connected to an international company that has its own SMS gateway and offers SMS reseller packages.
But then, there is another challenge one will have to combat. You can easily run into some serious loss because of the incosistent exchange value of Nigerian naira. At the rate the naira is presently fluctuating, the entire profit you expect can be wiped out and you start selling SMS at a loss to your distributors.
So, I advise that any Nigerian newbie entrepreneur should stick to using Nigerian major Bulk SMS distributor. Even though the profit at that level is small, so also the risk.

Chinedu David on Tue, 20th Oct 2009 8:11 pm


This bulksms reseller business as you may have thought has not really boomed in Nigeria. You have your views based on your exposure to the internet, but ask yourself, how many Nigerians are really exposed to the Internet? Bulk sms reseller business in Nigeria is yet to flourish and it will flourish, making millionaires in the process. After which we also expect it to bust. It will for sure make many millionaires in the country. Fastwebsms.com is a Nigeria bulksms gateway hosted in Croatia in partnership with GSM association. Some of our resellers are currently doing above 100,000 sms monthly. By 2010 we expect them to do above 500,000 monthly, and later upto 1million sms monthly. That means that a reseller can make as much as N1 million profit on a monthly basis. But i’m not saying this to impress an aspiring entrepreneur.
One thing we do at fastwebsms.com is that we first expose interested entrepreneurs to an intensive training seasion which we cconduct twice in a month. see fastwebsms.com/practicalseminar.htm
At the training one can be able to learn thee truth about the business and then make the right decision on his or her investment. We have ladies who have attended our training and are doing well now in the business. That is not to say that everyone will do well in this business, but the chances are high now. Thank you for using your plateform to express my opinion even though I chipped in my website links. Check out pastorchrisonline.com/blog

forex_noobtrader on Sun, 8th Nov 2009 1:13 pm


I’ve been using BBN bulk SMS. There service is pretty fast, and I’ve had no reason to complain. You can schedule your SMS messages, you can keep a contact diary online and you can group your contacts so that your SMS messages can be sent to the group with a click of the button
Among the different Nigerian bulk SMS reseller, I think they are still the cheapest at N3.50k for 1,000units and above.

Bulk SMS India on Mon, 9th Nov 2009 6:11 pm


Bulk SMS’es are the most efficient and cost effective direct marketing solution through which one can easily reach the targeted audience. The use of mobiles is increasing in India and it really helps marketers to market their products and services.

Chinedu David on Tue, 10th Nov 2009 11:35 am


Recently fastwebsms.com conducted a research on banks using sms alert services, our discovery was amazing. Soe banks are making over N6million daily from sms alert. Imagine how much more other companies can gain from sms services. Major industries like airlines, retail stores, manufacturers, etc., should get into the bandwagon of text messaging revolution before it could too late.

The future of bulk messaging service for entrepreneurs is big and can only be tapped into now so that when everyone would wake up from their ignorance of the huge potential of bulk sms your business would have been so big and can withstand any competition.

you can get our free consultation for you sms business from our website fastwebsms.com

Udegbunam Chukwudi on Fri, 13th Nov 2009 5:52 pm


@forex_noobtrader: Could you please leave a link to this BBN bulk SMS? Thanks

ADAMA J. ADAMA on Sat, 14th Nov 2009 2:10 pm


I made some fortune last year from it. But some of the adverts are not reliable, and prompt in service delivery as you may expect.

After disappointing my big shot clients several times, I decided to give my self a break from it. I may bounce back soon if I get a reliable super fast bulk SMS company. The ones right now are not it!

Its a good business but don’t invest your money into it. Use your clients money to run it. Its better that way.

NaijaEcash on Mon, 16th Nov 2009 12:58 pm


@Chukwudi
I’ll give you an invite I use them also. If you go with my invite then I’ll earn 2credit, lol.

NaijaEcash on Mon, 16th Nov 2009 1:11 pm


@Adama
This article wasn’t about reviewing any particular BULK SMS RESELLER, that’s why I didn’t provide any link. However, just like forex_noobtrader, I use BBN bulk SMS. Their service has been fantastic. If you want, I can send you an invite. Cheers.

NaijaEcash on Mon, 16th Nov 2009 1:21 pm


@Chinedu
I’m not proud of what the Nigerian banks are doing. It is called rip-off. It is ridiculous that they are now using SMS alert as a revenue generating tool. That is not suppose to be so. In normal situation, the SMS is meant to be free since we already pay for the services they are rendering via all those numerous charges they post into customers accounts. I personally consider it cheating, using SMS to generate revenue from unsuspecting customers. Last week, I received an SMS from my banker that they will henceforth charge 10naira per SMS. That means, they are generating about 6.5naira per SMS they send out. Depending on how busy your account is, you can receive as much as 100 SMS alert per month. That means you will pay 1,000naira beside whatever other charges you are already paying. It is quite unfair.

Udegbunam Chukwudi on Mon, 16th Nov 2009 8:18 pm


@NaijaEcash: Which bank be that oh?

Udegbunam Chukwudi on Mon, 16th Nov 2009 8:26 pm


Thanks for the invite. I was only looking to see what their services was like. I’m yet to receive my activation code though.

BTW do they offer a java application for phones with which these sms can be sent or is it just a pc platform thing?

NaijaEcash on Tue, 17th Nov 2009 9:00 am


@Chuks
Well, I should thank you for using my invite That earns me 10credits. Really their service is ok, but then, like you pointed out I wish they will incorporate a java script that will enable their subscribers send bulk SMS from their phone.
For now, one is limited to the computer platform.

Concerning my banker. It is against my blog-policy to print name of offenders, individual or corporate bodies. Print such name can really create bad publicity. Afterall they are still my banker, if I give them bad publicity and they go under, then I won’t be complain about the charges they force on me for SMS alert, I will be crying about my life savings that is in their coffers, lol. So bear with me, however, I can send their name to you offline if you still wish to know.

Chinedu David on Tue, 17th Nov 2009 6:01 pm


Hey guys! I just want to clarify some things said about bulksms business in this blog. As an investor, I may sound defensive but I will like to be close to the truth as much as possible, and with facts where necessary. I’m defending some issues raised in some comments by some members regarding profitability of bulksms business and using customers money to run the business.

Nobody can deny the fact that bulksms like most other businesses is a profitable one. For someone to say that the profit is a piece meal sounds too weak to be true. What the commentor fails to note is that he never considered marketing. Most Nigerian entrepreneurs do the same mistake and never take marketing to heart. Their understanding of marketing is a bit shallow. They seem to know what to do about marketing but never get it right. That is what my friend should have considered.

Also, bulksms business must be considered as a subscriber based service that requires a long time investment to build, and not an overnight investment. Although, a short time profitability may not be totally overlooked. Its possible, because some bulksms resellers have hit gold in a short time winning a big client with hundreds of thousands in sms volume from a single client. making it possible for them to turn in good profit from the beginning of their business.

It can take good 6 to 12 months to build a profitable bulksms business that can guarantee over N1 million profitability. But the question is how many entrepreneurs wait for such time to start earning good money. They are in a hurry and so never make it. At fastwebsms.com we have trained many successful bulksms entrepreneurs on our platform. Its based on the same idealogy of being able to endure and build a viable bulksms business.

However, for the idea of using customers money to run your bulksms business is not really a good idea. But if you must do so, then you must be very careful. I recommend you work with a gateway here in Nigeria so you can place your order and get it same day. But using clients money to serve him can only work with a big client. Remember that bulksms price advantage is from bulk purchase.

I rest my case. But finally, let us just ask ourselves, what business doesn’t have potentials? It only depend solely on the one who does the business. And if you can do it, get the right knowledge so you can do it much better and faster enough to gain the better advantage that it has to offer.

NaijaEcash on Wed, 18th Nov 2009 2:35 pm


@Chinedu
Man you rock! I guess your comment is one of the longest I’ve ever seen on this blog. At first I thought it was one of those copy and paste comment from the freebie naija brothers. But after reading through, I was happy that it was a sincere personal view of the topic.

Back to the topic of bulk SMS reseller. I agree with you that it is possible to make good return from bulk SMS. However, it requires coughing out a huge investment. For example, The cheapest I’ve seen since I started picking interest in bulk SMS reselling is 2.96naira per unit. However, to get that, the SMS reseller will need to buy at least 50,000 units. My basic arithmetics tells me that is a whooping 148,000naira (about $987) investment.

To non-nigerians, that is a chicken change. But bros, let’s be realistic, too many naija brothers and sisters are still scare of the yahoo-yahoo story about internet business (no thanks to all the scammers peddling fake info-products in Nigeria). So convincing any of them to part with such amount of money will require more than marketing skill

Nonetheless, with the little experience that I’ve had as a bulk SMS user, I must agree that it is about the cheapest means of communicating in Nigeria for now. It is cheap, fast and it covers a wider market. When I get my acts together, I will surely start a bulk SMS reseller business. So consider me a convert already won!

Otunba Jide Omiyale on Fri, 20th Nov 2009 12:06 pm


@ Chinedu’
I think you are right. With effort one can make money in the biz. Posters have forgotten tha N1 profit on N3 is more than 30% and that is not bad. No deterioration of raw materials, and your finished product cannot get bad. To me it is a safe business. Either of Fastweb and BBN will soon hear from me soon.

@ NaijaEcash

Write a memo to your bank today and tell them you do not need sms alert especially little transactions. You can give them limit. Tell them to send email as you are on the net daily you will not lose anything. If a big withdrawal gets to your acct, your relationship manager should confirm with you on phone.

These bankers are leeches.

Keep up the job. I love it.

Emmanuel on Sun, 29th Nov 2009 1:14 pm


@forex_noobtrader
Thanks I just checked on BBN. those are the rates that the publish on their website bbnsms.com. I called the BBN bulk sms coy and I discovered that I can buy the service at the rate of N2.65 which allows me to make up to N1 per sms if I am reselling.

Doctor Fox on Tue, 15th Dec 2009 10:10 pm


Using 5okobo.com Seems pretty fast and easy to use.
Haven’t seen their reseller platform yet but I’ll give them a call to see.

Seems like Bulk SMS definitely will make sense as a part time business.

onufran6 on Wed, 20th Jan 2010 2:53 pm


men! the post here have really being enlightening. bulk sms is truely one money maker. you may think the returns are small with the 50k/N1 profit on each sms but i tell you. do u marketing well (like chinedu david said) and God help u just get those big clients, just get one of those politicians to buy sms units from you and you are made.

angel@nigerian movie industry on Sat, 23rd Jan 2010 4:55 pm


This sounds promising here since election is coming this may here. I would continue researching on this and might start selling bulk SMS for campaigning politicians.

NaijaEcash on Sat, 23rd Jan 2010 8:49 pm


@Angel
That sure sounds like a fantastic idea for making money from Bulk SMS reselling. Thanks for contributing. Cheers.

Ashutosh Kumar Singh on Tue, 2nd Feb 2010 7:06 pm


Leaders in Bulk SMS Solutions, Software’s and APIs – In India & World

SMSCountry is a leading provider of Bulk SMS solutions in a personalized and customized form, having direct connectivity with telecom operators. SMSCountry is a leading SMS gateway service provider, delivering to over 200 countries and 550 networks all around the world.

SMSCountry Networks incorporated in the year 2003, has its headquarters in Hyderabad (India), its sales offices in Mumbai, Delhi and its Subsidiary companies in Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

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Peter Damian on Sun, 21st Feb 2010 1:54 pm


The truth about making money is that you must have the ability to attract enough paying customers. Many people pay lipservice to marketing. No business online or offline can thrive without a marketing plan to attract and keep paying customers. How many people in bulksms business go in there with a well thought out business and marketing plan. Business skills need to be developed by anyone venturing into any business, bulksms inclusive. Most Nigerians think in seven figures, but you cant run if you have not learnt to walk. There is a lot of money to be made in Bulksms,but you have to start from the hundreds to the thousands of Naira before you think of the millions. The challenge is that most people have a get rich quick mindset and they dont see the potential in any business that does not promise seven figures in 30 days. With over 70 million Nigerians with mobile phones its a huge market. Churches, small businesses, etc need this services, You only need to think and ideas will come. With the coming of mobile phone autoresponders the market is enlarging. I enjoyed the post and comments. We need a new mindset on wealth vreation , lets drop the get rich quick mindset, you must not drive an escalade or Rangerover sport in your first year of Bulksms business

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