500k a month from dropshipping as passive income, Read How

[Blessing]

Everyone wants to “make money while they sleep,” but for many Nigerians, passive income can feel like a distant dream. Between rising living costs, unstable jobs, and the pressure of daily expenses, finding a way to earn money without the grind of a 9–5 seems almost impossible.

But some Nigerians are proving it’s possible. From agritech investments and affiliate marketing to real estate, dropshipping, and dividend stocks, people are finding creative ways to earn beyond their salaries. And while the returns vary — and it’s never truly effortless — these side hustles show what’s possible with strategy, patience, and risk-taking.

Here’s how five Nigerians built passive income streams, how much they make, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

Agritech: Profiting from Farms Without Farming
Tunde*, a 29-year-old bank executive, had always been fascinated by agriculture but couldn’t imagine farming full-time. His opportunity came in 2023, when a friend introduced him to an Agritech platform that pooled investor funds into farms and paid returns after harvest.

Encouraged by his friend’s 30% return, Tunde started with ₦300,000, spreading it across poultry, maize, and plantain to reduce risk. By harvest, he’d earned a 25% profit overall. He reinvested his gains, and today, his ₦1.5 million portfolio in two crops brings in around 20%–25% annually — roughly ₦300,000 a year, or ₦25,000/month on average. Payments don’t come in monthly but at harvest cycles, usually quarterly or yearly.

It’s not without risk. In 2024, Tunde lost nearly ₦400,000 on a failed fish farming investment after most of the stock died. Now, he carefully studies farmers’ track records and risk levels before committing. For him, Agritech is rewarding, but only if approached with caution.

Affiliate Marketing: Waking Up to Money
For Diane*, a 28-year-old digital marketer, the journey into passive income began with curiosity. Fresh out of university in 2019, she worked in digital marketing but spent hours reading about affiliate programs — systems where you earn commissions by promoting links.

By 2022, she decided to dive in, focusing on a niche she knew well: beauty and skincare. She transformed her personal blog into a product review hub, added affiliate links, and built an Instagram and TikTok audience. Jumia and Selar’s programs were her starting points, and though she initially earned random ₦10k amounts, things shifted when Temu reached out in 2023.

Through Temu’s influencer referral program and Selar’s digital product marketplace, Diane now earns ₦30,000 to ₦150,000 per month. Much of her Selar revenue comes from old posts that continue to drive clicks, while her Temu work blends naturally with the beauty content she already enjoys creating.

“I literally wake up and see money in my account,” she says. While she still produces some videos, she doesn’t consider it active work since content creation is part of her lifestyle anyway.

Shortlets: Turning Property into a Cash Flow Machine
Sean*, a 33-year-old music producer, inherited a two-bedroom apartment in Lagos in 2018. Renting it out yearly proved frustrating — troublesome tenants, late payments, endless repair requests. But in 2023, a casual conversation about daycations changed everything.

Friends revealed they’d paid ₦50k per night for a stay in a similar apartment. Sean realised he was underutilising his property by charging ₦1.2 million annually. He evicted his tenant, invested ₦1.8 million into renovations and furnishings, and listed the property online at ₦45k/day.

The transition wasn’t smooth. Early on, he barely had bookings and discovered how destructive guests could be — from stolen pillowcases to damaged furniture. Over time, however, the business stabilised. With a manager now handling cleaning and guest relations, the shortlet operates with minimal involvement.

Today, Sean charges ₦55k/day and averages about 12 nights per month — ₦660,000 in gross income. After expenses (staff salaries, utilities, platform fees, and maintenance), he nets around ₦310,000 monthly. It may not be completely stress-free, but it pays most of his bills.

Dropshipping: Selling Without Stocking
For Ebere*, a 32-year-old teacher, dropshipping offered a no-capital entry into online business. Inspired by a friend’s success, she launched her own store in 2022. The model was simple: suppliers handled shipping while she focused on marketing and customer service.

Ebere started small, testing trendy products on Instagram. Fashion and home décor quickly became her bestsellers. She ran ads, kept her margins slim for competitiveness, and expanded to TikTok and declutter pages (which charge a 10%–15% commission per sale).

Her strategy worked. Today, she earns between ₦200k and ₦500k monthly. To free herself further, she hired a virtual assistant for ₦85k/month to handle messages and supplier coordination. Ebere now steps in only to monitor ads and oversee operations.

It’s not entirely hands-off, but compared to her teaching job, the extra income feels like a lifeline.

Dividend Investing: Money for Holding On
Sotayo*, a 33-year-old product designer, built his passive income through the stock market. A natural saver, he realised in 2020 that keeping all his money in the bank was limiting his financial growth. With advice from finance-savvy colleagues, he opened a brokerage account and began buying dividend-paying stocks in sectors like banking, telecoms, and consumer goods.

He started with ₦1.5 million spread across four to five companies, steadily investing at least 20% of his income every month. Over five years, his portfolio has grown to ₦16 million. With an average dividend yield of 10%, he now earns about ₦1.6 million annually in returns — without selling any shares.

For him, the stock market isn’t about quick wins. He reinvests most of his dividends and relies on professional advice to balance risk. “It feels like earning money just for holding onto it,” he says.

The Bigger Picture
Passive income isn’t a one-size-fits-all journey. Whether through farming investments, affiliate marketing, real estate, e-commerce, or stocks, each path demands upfront effort, risk, and patience before the money begins to flow.

For Nigerians like Tunde, Diane, Sean, Ebere, and Sotayo, the rewards are clear: extra income, financial security, and sometimes even a complete shift in how they approach money. But the reality is also sobering — “passive” doesn’t mean “effortless.” It often takes capital, time, and trial-and-error before things settle into something that runs on its own.

Still, the dream of making money in your sleep isn’t just fantasy. For these Nigerians, it’s becoming a reality — one calculated risk at a time.

[Author]

Posts