The Central Bank of Nigeria recently unveiled the redesign of Naira notes denominations 1,000 Naira, 500 Naira, and 200 Naira.
The old Naira notes for these denominations will be invalid in just two months, so there’s a rush for naira holders to cash in.
Not only does this change in design reshuffle the amount of Naira in circulation, but it also represents an opportunity for savvy business-minded people to make money.
Even though the CBN has mandated banks to open on weekends so as to accommodate customers rushing to deposit the old notes, the 2-month window is just too short for customers to swap the old Naira notes.
There’s a need for businesses to fill the gap by providing supplementary financial services for bank customers.
If you’re one of those savvy people looking to make money with the new Naira notes, then here are a few ideas.
Naira Deposit Network
A currency deposit network is a legal business that you can create to receive fund deposits in a distributed way.
This Naira deposit network would be targeted to people who have large deposits of old Naira but who prefer not to go to the bank.
You can create a network of trusted friends and associates who can receive fund deposits and pay customers via digital transfers.
Here’s how it works.
A customer deposits the old Naira notes in cash and then you make a transfer of the deposit amount minus your charges.
To keep the service secure, you’ll have to create a distributed operation or fund deposit clusters in different locations.
You’ll only have to charge a small fee for this kind of service, and help people swap their old Naira notes for new ones.
Small Denomination Swaps
Because the Naira redesign is targeted to larger denominations like the 1,000, 500, and 200, this creates opportunities for denomination swaps.
You don’t necessarily have to change your old 1,000, 500 or 200 Naira to the new Naira notes.
You can simply swap it for the smaller notes such as 100 Naira and 50 Naira.
That is where you come in.
You can create a service for quick denomination swaps that helps people trade in larger denominations of the naira to lower ones.
This service already exists even before the Naira redesign, where vendors cater for customers looking for Naira of lower denomination for occasions and events, and it is quite a profitable business.
Old Naira to eNaira Swaps
If you’re already active on the eNaira platform, then this would be a good way to make some money.
You could help people convert their old Naira notes to eNaira.
Here’s how it works.
You simply receive cash of old Naira notes and then transfer the equivalent to the customer’s eNaira wallet minus your charges.
This works just like the naira deposit network, but for a smaller volume of deposits.
Naira to Crypto Exchange
This kind of service is great for people looking to keep their funds discreet and away from Nigeria’s banking system.
You could create a service that helps people exchange their naira to US dollar-backed cryptocurrency such as USDT or BUSD.
All they have to do is deposit cash of old Naira notes and receive cryptocurrency in exchange.
This way you could make money by charging a fee and also by charging on the Naira to USD exchange rates.
Naira to Digital Assets
If you’re investment savvy, you could help people turn their old Naira notes into digital assets yielding ROIs for them.
This service would be targeted to customers who don’t just want their money to sit in the bank but would like some form of returns.
You could help them spread their money in liquid digital assets that bear reasonable returns and that have flexible tenures.
You could make money by charging on every deposit and withdrawal, or take a cut from any profit made from the investments.