Home Business Ideas How to start an Event Planning business in Nigeria in 2023

How to start an Event Planning business in Nigeria in 2023


Event planning is the process of planning a party, wedding, ceremony, festival, promotion, commemoration, fundraiser, or conference. 
Event planners handle the details of location, budget, lodging, decorations, entertainment, food, beverages, transportation, activities, invitations and the like. 


Event planning is becoming a huge industry in the nigeria market, the expectations before you go into the business is different from when you are already in the business.

Just imagined that someone could make a living by planning party for others? Isn’t that weird? Well lots of entrepreneur are making money from it already.

Now let’s ask this question “WHY WOULD SOMEONE HIRE AN EVENT PLANNER WHEN THEY CAN ORGANIZE AND MANAGE SUCH EVENT THEMSELVES?

People hire event planners solely for 2 reasons.
REASON ONE : It saves them time from getting the best event, the event planner sole’s aim is to organize and coordinate while you sleep

REASON 2 : It saves cost. It is the responsibility of the event planner to not only get the best vendors but also negotiate price on your behalf.

In Summary : event planner is experienced and knows in and out of the business. If your planner cannot get you the best deal, then you should fire at once.

Well truth be told, there is nothing like someone been perfect. You know why?

Events involve people, weather and technology; these three things that have a mind of their own. An experienced planner knows how to solve problems under pressure and remain calm under stress. So just ask whoever you are hiring to share a couple of “behind the scenes” stories with you and how they handled them. (If they claim not to have any, they are not being truthful).

1. Assess Your Skills 
Before you quit your day job to become an event planner, take the time to honestly assess your current skills to ensure you have what it takes to succeed as an event planner. Event planners must be creative and well organized, but they must also have excellent interpersonal skills. Events are about people, so successful event planners must be able to effectively listen to what clients want, develop relationships and negotiate with vendors (companies that supply products and services for events).

TIP: If you’re creative and have great people skills, but could use some help getting organized, event planning software is available to help you keep track of event details.


2. Learn How to Plan Events
Almost all events have common components such as some type of meal or refreshment, a form of entertainment or speaker, invitations or registrations, etc. The event planner is the person who pulls all of the components together. There are excellent resources available to help you learn how to plan events and assist with each stage of event planning including how to: choose a date, decide who to invite, budget, create timeline schedules, work with vendors, and market events. If you want a formal education, many colleges offer degrees or certificates in event planning. If you would rather break into event planning without a formal education, you can quickly learn how to plan events with books online


3. Get Hands-On Experience
The easiest way to learn about the steps involved is through personal experience (i.e. planning events for family and friends). Non-profit groups are always looking for help with their fundraisers and galas, and you’ll get the double benefit of helping a worthy cause while you hone your skills. This is also an excellent way to make contacts in the community to help you land a paying job when you are ready. You could also volunteer to organize events at your own workplace, if you have one. For example, if your company has a public relations department that is notoriously short-staffed, offer to help them out. The beauty of this plan is that you will be learning a new career while still being paid at your old job!


4. Create a Portfolio
A portfolio is a collection of samples of your work, plus any other documents that can show people why they should hire you. A portfolio helps you stand out from other applicants, and prove that you have the skills to do the job. Your portfolio might include pictures, recommendation letters and anything else that shows prospective clients and/or employers what you have done or can do. Material for your portfolio can come from any event you have organized (such as a family reunion, birthday bash, etc.) or from ideas and themes you have for future events. Show your best work and don’t worry about giving away your great ideas. People will believe you have many more brilliant ideas that you haven’t yet divulged. 



5. Get Hired as an Event Planner 
Getting hired as an event planner (even if you plan on opening your own event planning business) will give you invaluable contacts and referrals for the future. Meeting and convention planners are projected to have faster than average job growth in the coming years. This is good news for the industry and for you. Companies that hire event planners include hotels or resorts, non-profit organizations, convention centers, country clubs, and even fun destinations like theme parks! Some people work their way into a position as their company’s event planner just by volunteering to organize internal events such as company picnics and meetings. 



6. Start Your Own Event Planning Business 
If the idea of being your own boss and earning up to N15,000,000 or more per year as an event planner sound appealing, it may be time to take the plunge and set up an event planning business. Many event planners have home-based businesses, which makes this type of business inexpensive to start. With the wealth of information available on starting a business you should be able to get your own event planning business off the ground quite easily. When starting your own business, you should consider what types of events you want to plan. If you have a flair for the spectacular you may want to tackle proms, charity events and galas. If you prefer planning corporate events, you may choose to plan meetings, conventions, and the like.





7. Develop Relationships with Vendors
You’ve probably heard the adage “it’s not what you know but who you know”. The most important relationships you will build as an event planner are with the vendors for your events. These are companies that supply products and services for events, such as caterers, florists, equipment rental companies, hotels, photographers, etc. Learn about each one’s business by conducting informational interviews and ask about discounts they can offer you. Be polite and courteous with the owners and their staff and always follow up after wards with some sort of acknowledgement or thank you. You can also arrange to have vendors refer clients to your event planning business.

How to Get Your Event Planning Certification Online.
Event planners are making money all over the world and in order to join the group of big time event planners who handle event planning contracts for multinationals and even governments of countries,
then you must strive hard to acquire relevant trainings and professional certifications. Obtaining certification in your profession puts you ahead of others who don’t have any certification; it gives you advantage in the market place.
If you want to be among the elites in your field of business or profession, then you should ensure that you write and pass all the available certification exams in that field and also in other related field. If you intend writing and obtaining an event planning certification, you have the option of attending a lecture in a school and writing the exams or the option of enrolling in an online school and also writing online exams. Busy executives chose the later to get their certifications in most fields of studies.
You have various events planning schools online where you can become a certified event planner. Becoming a
Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP), a Certified Wedding and Event Planner (CWEP) or any area of event planning is not a difficult task to accomplish especially if you are passionate about event planning. With little effort and concentration, you are likely to pass your event planning certification exams in one sitting.
Now let us consider some tips that will help you in preparing for and getting your event planning certifications online;
Steps to Getting Your Event Planning Certification Online
1. Study Your Options
The first tip you would need if you want to become a certified event planner is to study the options that you have around you. Since you have decided to obtain your certification via an online platform, it makes it easier for you to narrow your studies only on event planning schools that offer online trainings and exams. Once you are able to get a listing of the options you have, it is left to you to study them properly to know the one that best suit your career part cum niche.
 
2. Make Your Choice
Once you are able to list and study the various online events planning school that offer certification courses, it is your responsibility to make your choice based on what you want. If you are interested in wedding planning, then you should choose a certification that is meant for wedding planning professionals.
There are various areas that you can specialize in as an event planner that is why it is important to study the options you have properly before making your choice. You can as well choose to obtain certification in various aspects of events planning especially if you want to run a complete events planning company that can handle weddings, corporate events and social events as well.
 
3. Acquire Relevant Experience on the Job
There are some events planning certification exams that require hands on the job as part of the requirements that will qualify you to write the exam. So once you are able to choose an area of events planning that you want to specialize on, then you should endeavor to gather relevant experience in that aspect of event planning. You can understudy someone who is already running his or her own event planning company. The truth is that if you are able to gather reasonable experience, it will make it easier for you to pass your event planning certification exams without stress.
 
4. Make Enquiries and Apply for a Certification Course
If you have chosen an aspect of event planning to pursue and you are able to pencil down the ideal event planning school that can help you achieve your aim, then the next step to take is to make enquiries to know the fee and other requirements before you can enroll in the school and write the certification exams. If that is sorted out, then you can apply for the appropriate certification exams.
 
5. Purchase the Required Materials
In preparing for events planning certification exams, you would need to purchase the required materials. Since you have made the choice to get your certification online, then you would need tutorials in video or audio format; it makes it easier for you to study and understand. You can as well order for books both in softcopies and hardcopies format. The bottom line is to ensure that you get all the materials that will aid you in writing and passing the certification exams in one sitting. Apart from on the job experience, you can also read up all you could lay your hands on as regard event planning online.
 
6. Create Time for Personal study and Group Reading
In preparing for and obtaining your event planning certification, you would need to create time for personal study. It is not enough to purchase the required materials for event planning certification exams, you are expected to read and understand the materials if you must pass the exams.
So ensure that you choose suitable time and location to do your private studies. Another thing that will help you when preparing for your event planning certification exams is to look for people who are also studying for the exams and form a study group with them. The essence of this group is to help everyone involved to share knowledge. The truth is that some people find it easier to grasp what they are studying if they are doing it with other people.
 
7. Write the Exams When You are Ready
There is no point rushing to write event planning certification exams when you know deep down within you that you are not prepared for it. So before enrolling to write the exams, ensure that you have treated past questions and you are able to answer the questions with little or no stress. Of course if you are not prepared when the exams is scheduled, you can always wait for the next diet.
There you have it; the tips that will guide you in preparing and passing your event planning certification exams



Thanks for reading I hope , with the above you can fully go ahead with your event planning business.

Leave a Reply