Exposed-Secrets of Successful Cyber Cafes

getachus · December 2012

INTRODUCTION With the exponential increase in the demand for internet access Nationwide, the need for internet cafes to cater for those who cannot afford personal computers and internet access in their homes and offices cannot be over emphasized. Most schools, universities, examination bodies and Government institutions are going online. Most school Entrance and examination forms in Nigeria today are filled online. All these have greatly increased the need for Cyber cafes nationwide. Cyber cafes are spread in every nook and cranny of the country, but not very many of them are being run profitably. The average cyber café owner faces numerous challenges which forces them to run their cyber cafes unprofitable or shut them down. I am going to address these challenges and proffer solutions to them. The main challenges and their solutions are as follows; 1). Internet Service Provider By far the most daunting challenge a cyber café owner will face is his internet service provider (ISP). Many ISP’s do not have the experience of how to provision bandwidth for cyber cafes, from our experience; cyber cafes have specific needs in terms of bandwidth. Bandwidth for cyber cafes should be fast, steady and uncompromised. Also issues that arise should be resolved quickly. Cyber café owners should be provided with means of monitoring their bandwidth and provisioning if possible. Most times ISP’S provide services that are either not available or painfully slow, this eventually leads to lose of customers and money for the café owner. The most profitable bandwidth provisioning style for a cyber café is the pay as you go solution. Here the ISP provisions his bandwidth in such a way that if the café is not working the café owner pays noting to the provider. So café owners save money during his off peak periods and weekend. Ensure you go with an Internet Service Provider who is experienced in bandwidth provisioning for cyber cafes, not all ISP know how to do this. The success of your Cyber Café business depends on your Internet Service. Make sure your ISP is dependable and reliable. Click Here for Details of our FREE Pay As You Go Vsat Internet offer for cyber cafes.http://paygservice.blogspot.com/ 2). Bandwidth Provisioning One size fits all bandwidth provisioning is an issue with most cafes. You do not expect a car that moves at 100kilometers per hour and a car that moves at 20 kilometers per hour to use the same quantity of fuel for a one hour journey. The car that moves at 100 kilometers per hour will use up more fuel and should be charged more. Your bandwidth should be provisioned from your server in such a way that heavy users are charged more than non heavy users in the same one hour bracket. If your internet café management software is not capable of doing this, your café will die a very slow painful death. Click Here for Details of our FREE Pay As You Go Vsat Internet offer for cyber cafes.http://paygservice.blogspot.com/ 3). Power Supply With the erratic nature of electricity supply in Nigeria and the high cost of diesel, there is no gain saying it that power supply is a major challenge to any cyber café owner. Power will constitute the single largest expenditure you will have in the running of your café. A good solution to this problems means your café will immediately become profitable. Our recommendation is co-location, by this i mean you can co-locate your cyber café in a place where 24 hours electricity is already provided, e.g. fast food chains or petrol stations. Your arrangement with them can be such that you share revenue with them, or you pay a monthly fee that covers both premises and power supply. This arrangement is a win win solution for both parties. Click Here for Details of our FREE Pay As You Go Vsat Internet offer for cyber cafes.http://paygservice.blogspot.com/ 4. Location A cyber café should be set up at a location where you will get maximum patronage. Secondary schools, higher institutions and study centers where we have a very high flow of students are always a winner. Students constitute the largest market there is for this business. Also areas where we have a very high flow of human traffic will do. The main constraint is that this type of location does not come cheap. Even if you manage to get one, taking into consideration the average cost of one hour browsing, you will not find it easy to break even. The solution to this challenge is also co-location. If you do your survey, you will find out that most fast food joints are strategically located where there is high human traffic flow. You can approach them for co-location deals. You can also approach owners of petrol stations that are strategically located. Click Here for Details of our FREE Pay As You Go Vsat Internet offer for cyber cafes.http://paygservice.blogspot.com/ 5. Computers Most café owners go for fairly used or computer village assembled computers. Your computers are the major instruments of your business and should be rugged and good. Your customers will put them to utmost test. Fairly used and locally assembled computers soon go bad and you have to contend with constant repairs and waste of money. You should go for branded new systems with at least 3 years warranty. By so doing, you transfer the issues that may arise to a competent and professional company. Click Here for Details of our FREE Pay As You Go Vsat Internet offer for cyber cafes.http://paygservice.blogspot.com/ 6). Financial Discipline You must also ensure strict financial discipline at all times. All incomes from the café should be paid directly to the bank and no expenditure made directly from it. Ensure that your staff comes out with weekly budgets and their expenditures are met from petty cash which is provided by you on a weekly or monthly basis. This makes for good accounting. Lodging all your sales on a daily basis in the bank also enables you establish a good relationship with the bank and hence be able to borrow money from them when you need it. 7). Diversification Most café owners think that internet browsing is the only thing there is to running a café. Web browsing is a small part of what you can do in you internet café. You can sell recharge cards and GSM phones, bulk SMS, register students for different examinations, train people on how to use the internet, sell snacks and drinks, provide secretarial services, provide telephone/fax services, provide hotspot services, website designing and hosting, games etc. You only have to use your imagination. Click Here for Details of our FREE Pay As You Go Vsat Internet offer for cyber cafes.http://paygservice.blogspot.com/ To Your Success, Nduka Dagbue Getachus Nigeria Ltd, 6B Bendel Close off Bishop Aboyade Cole St, Victoria Island, Lagos Tel; 2348020575565,2347035008707 E-mail; nduka@getachus.net Website; www.getachus.com