Introduction

In this post, you’re going to get an idea of how to make money online from Africa. Africa has come along with the rest of the world, being welcomed into this opportunistic time on the internet.

With the advancement of multiple online tools, we’re all given the chance to make a new online career for ourselves. Others have created platforms for us to thrive, and build online businesses for the future.

Although I’m more or less targeting this article to Africans, because I’d like to see a more diverse selection of people achieve online success, the opportunities that I’ll present here are available to just about anyone worldwide.

The main exception here is those from Nigeria, but who still do have the opportunity to make a living online. It’s just that some of the platforms will not accept those from Nigeria due to fraudulent activity in this country. It’s such a shame, but it is what it is.

So let’s run through the best 5 ways to make money online from Africa in my opinion.

Promotion Through Affiliate Marketing

I’m sure you’ve seen products reviewed on websites before. You may even go searching for them yourself, if you’re considering making a purchase. Well guess what. People creating those product reviews don’t only do it for your benefit, they write reviews to make commissions.

That’s exactly what affiliate marketing is. Affiliate marketing is when you promote other people’s products, and they offer you a commission in return, should you initiate a sale from your promotion.

This is an ideal method to make money online, if you want less stress in your life. Because you direct your visitors to the online merchant store, you don’t need to deal with them after that. The whole purchasing process is taken care of by others, not you.

This means no invoices, no customer service, no payment gateways required, no returned items and no stocked inventory. All you do is create a website, and learn how to sell other people’s products via your blog.

Affiliate Marketing Training

Believe me, attempting to achieve this, or any other online venture mentioned in this article, by yourself, is tough. It can be done, but you can make it so much easier on yourself if you get educated.

I tried for a year before I found the most comprehensive affiliate marketing training platform online. Not only that, they are also the best value for money.

It’s possible to build your own website within the platform, and you’ll be taught all aspects of website creation, affiliate techniques and how the whole process comes together. I swear by this platform so much that I’m still a current active member, and can’t see that changing.

You can read all about this place in my Wealthy Affiliate review.

Begin Your Own Dropshipping eCommerce Store

Selling online is the best possible way to make money online. Whether it be selling other people’s goods or services as an affiliate marketer, selling digital courses, creating your own products to sell or dropshipping. Selling online makes money.

Larger profits can be made by setting up your own online store and selling your own products. This doesn’t have to be as difficult as it sounds, but it does still take some effort.

In fact all these options take a fair amount of effort on your part. Nothing good comes easy, so if you see an opportunity that seems too good to be true, it is. I’ll only provide worthwhile online opportunities here, no scams.

Anyway, I digress. Dropshipping is where you can organise products to be shipped directly to a customer, without you having any contact with inventory. For instance, let’s say you advertise ‘cheer bows’ on your website. My daughter is a cheer leader, which is why this came to mind!

Somebody comes to your online store and makes a purchase. You then get in touch with the supplier (who sells it to you much cheaper than you advertise), and they send it directly to the customer. You then profit the difference between your sale price and then supplier price.

The downside to an ecommerce store is the added stress that some may feel in regards to customer service and complaints. These are part and parcel of this business, and so are invoices and receipts.

ECommerce Training

Yep, you’re going to require training to learn all the aspects of ecommerce. There is a lot to learn but all this knowledge is priceless.

It’s best to get a leg up by researching the best training, so it’s a good thing you’ve found this article. I’ve taken and reviewed the courses on this website, so they are not just a guess. I started off gaining third party access to courses, but now I have course creators coming to me asking for a review of their course.

So, with that said, here are my preferred eCom courses. I’ve always said that eCom Success Academy is my favourite course because it covers absolutely everything. By that I mean all the administration and online store management tasks. You can read about eCom Success Academy here.

ECom Success Academy can be quite expensive, so I do have a brilliant alternative. In fact because this article is targeted towards Africans, or anyone outside of the US for that matter, I think this next course would be a better choice.

It’s called ECom Lifestyle University, and is run by an Aussie guy named Ricky Hayes. The great thing about eCom Lifestyle University is that Ricky details various aspects that are geared towards those outside of the USA. This includes payment, tax and shipping details. You can read my review of eCom Lifestyle University here. The other advantage of the eCom Lifestyle University course, is that it comes at a fraction of the cost of eCom Success Academy.

Sell Items on Amazon

As I mentioned at the start of this article, some geniuses have created platforms for us to build a business. This is exactly what Jeff Bezos has done by creating Amazon. Not only do people make purchases from Amazon, others use this platform to sell their own products.

A great way to do this is to buy PLR products (Private Label Rights), and brand these products as your own. You can purchase products in bulk to get a cheaper price, have your branding and logo printed on these products, and sold on Amazon. Not only that, it can all be done externally so you don’t have contact with inventory.

I believe it would be extremely rare for somebody to work out exactly how this is done without training, because the process has been streamlined over recent years. Being streamlined means certain factors have come into play, which help with processing. Unless you are knowledgeable with these processes, you just wouldn’t know about them.

One of the major components being the FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) Center. This allows Amazon to pick, pack and ship your orders for you. So how do you know about the Amazon selling business? You get training of course.

Amazon Selling Training

The best course I’ve taken and reviewed is called Search.Find.Buy by a guy named Ben Cummings. He’ll teach you everything you need to know, even if you’re starting out as a beginner.

Apart from understanding the fulfilment and processing procedures, you will also get a handle on what products to sell that will earn a profit, where to find these products and how to get the products found on Amazon when potential customers do a search.

This is by far my favourite course on selling products on Amazon.

Become a Freelancer

Freelance work comes in many different forms, from freelance writing, graphic design, photography, data entry, content marketing and many other disciplines. Even acting and being a spokesperson can be freelanced. If you’re talented in anything at all that can be done online, then it can be freelanced out.

There are loads of freelance platforms online that you can sign up to. Some of these are directly targeted towards specific disciplines such as freelance writing, but most platforms accommodate various fields of work.

Some of the more well known freelance platforms are Airtasker, Upwork, Simply Hired, Freelancer, FlexJobs and PeoplePerHour. These are all global freelance websites where you can work for anyone in the world.

It may pay to use some of the lesser known freelance platforms such as Nexxt, Skyword, Guru or Crowded, as you may find the work is more inclusive and diverse.

I won’t give you a training section here. If you’re good at any of these career fields then you know more than me!

Survey and Task Completing Sites

I’m going to include surveys here because they are still popular. Although I do want to make you aware that the income, in my opinion, is not aligned with the time and effort you put in.

Surveys do take some time to fill out, often between 30-60 minutes. A survey this long will usually only pay $1-$3US, which is not much. Having said that, there are people that actually like filling out surveys because they don’t have to use much brain power.

I want to make you aware that there are plenty of scams around claiming to pay you good bucks for completing surveys and tasks, along with recruiting your friends as referrals. These sites will not pay out when you attempt to make a withdrawal. I’ve reviewed a few of these, so check them out so you know what to look for. Viral Dollars, Clout Bucks and Paycate are 3 scams you’ll want to stay away from.

Some of the more reputable companies to complete surveys or tasks are Qmee, Swagbucks and Inbox Dollars.

Wrapping Up

The potential for capitalizing on the African market is huge, so why not be the one to cash in. Although there are options above such as freelance writing or filling out surveys, I truly believe that creating a blog or running your own store, is where good money can be made.

African countries have so much to offer, with unique garments and merchandise. This is currently more untapped that other cultures, so there is still huge potential to take advantage of the African way of life through blogging.

I hope I’ve captured your attention to the possibilities out there.

If you have any questions or thoughts on how to make money online from Africa, please do not hesitate to leave me a comment below. I will reply as soon as I can!