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6 Small Business Ideas with Promising Prospects


Becoming an entrepreneur or businessman is the big picture for everyone these days, especially among people of productive age. Apart from getting additional income, starting a business can also create new fields of jobs for other people. Many also have dreams of achieving financial freedom before their age and accumulating savings for the future. In a survey conducted by Herbalife Nutrition on millennials and Generation Z, it was found that 47% of respondents saw the start-up costs of starting their own business as a major challenge to face before starting. In fact, with the development of technology and the incessant digital world today, we are given the convenience of finding new information and ideas in starting a small business that suits our personal abilities.


Opportunities are already laid before our eyes so make sure you start as soon as possible. If you are still unsure, we will break down six small business ideas with lower startup cost and promising prospects that you can try.


Snack business

ide bisnis modal kecil makanan ringan
Indonesian snacks

The snack business such as packaged snacks or small snacks has always been a prima donna for small business from time to time. Everyone always needs food no matter their age or gender. You could say this one small capital business is a very promising long-term business.


Suppose we want to sell a snack of nuts or chips. We sometimes find it difficult to put a price and set the amount of profit per product because this small capital business is basically cheap in the market and people view these snacks as cheap snacks. But if you combine it with innovations such as interesting spices – for example, chips with rendang or soto flavours, your food brand will surely attract people's attention. Plus, if you increase your interest by focusing on how to sell, which is a small capital business strategy, you can even turn low-cost flour-based snacks into luxurious ones. You can get this method by maximising the packaging design or product branding, such as selling using a smart vending machine.


Frozen food business

Ide bisnis modal kecil frozen food
Frozen food (source: Laukita's Instagram)

Today's fast-paced and busy life has given new innovations in the form of a small frozen food business in packaging. Frozen food nowadays is not only in the form of chicken nuggets, chicken pieces, or french fries. Currently, there are many heavier forms of frozen foods such as rice dishes complete with selected side dishes, recreating homemade foods.


These days with how life has returned to normal and people are returning to the office, the market demand for frozen food is increasing. They don't have time to cook and often don't have enough time to order deliveries. The cooking process is also easy, you only need to heat it for at least a minute - two minutes in the microwave or stove and you can enjoy nutritious warm dishes. The startup cost that needs to be spent for a small frozen food business is not as large as selling food in general, but the price can be more expensive. You just need to pay attention to the packaging and the place of sale so that the food doesn't go bad.


Fun fact, in Indonesia there are already brands that sell frozen foods like this that are equipped with home-made side dishes such as rendang, stir-fried firecrackers, chicken kecombrang, and many other types. Uniquely, this brand named Laukita sells its products using Smartven so it requires a small capital for the place of sale, but can still be placed in a strategic location. Currently, smart vending machines are equipped with a cold temperature controller that makes frozen food last for a long time.


Small bottled drink business

bisnis modal kecil minuman ringan
Bottled drink

For those who have been in the world of the beverage business, you must know that this small business has big advantages. This is also one of the reasons why many beverage brands even though they look like ordinary drinks, their business can last a long time and even open many branches. Let’s take an example of one flavoured drink that is most popular among young people today, which is the red velvet drink. The price of ingredients using powdered drinks does not take a lot of cost, it is sold at a price of Rp. 100,000 per 1 kilogram (price depends on the brand you choose). Meanwhile, one drink usually only consumes less than 50 grams of powder. Most of the price of drinks can be sold for about Rp. 20,000 to Rp. 30,000 rupiah per glass. Low cost business with big profits, right?


However, this beverage business has hundreds or even thousands of competitors. You need the right strategy to make your products unique from others. Most importantly, of course, the taste of the drink. In addition, there are also other important points that need to be considered such as ease of access. It is a big expense if you have to open a shop in many locations. However, there is one unique trick used by one of the well-known brands, Kopi Kalyan. They sell bottled coffee using Smartven and sold at the venues of the 2022 IBL sports matches. Also, having a smaller capital than opening a stand, features such as touch screens also attract match-goers who pass around the machine to stop by and have coffee.



Idol merchandise business

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Korean pop merchandise (source: myseoulbox)

Who doesn't have an idol? Everyone must have an idol and love to collect objects related to their idol. No need for expensive things like albums, even stickers or earrings have become the target of fans. The idol world market is so wide that many businessmen sell non-official merchandise that they produce themselves.


The expenditure for a small capital business like this is quite small, but it can be sold at a high price as long as you are creative and the marketing strategy is right. Let's take the example of stickers or greeting cards with paper only. If you find the right place for printing, you can make one product with a startup cost of less than Rp. 5,000. However, if you add pictures of famous idols such as BTS or Taylor Swift, you can sell them for up to at least around Rp. 20,000 rupiah. Plus, if you sell it in packages containing several items, the selling price can go higher. The entertainment world that will never die makes this small capital business have good prospects.



Daily products or handicrafts business

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Example of handicrafts business

Products that people use daily or handicrafts in this way are of course small-sized items, because selling large equipment such as furniture certainly does not cost a small amount of money. Ideas for small capital business goods that you can sell:

  • Mask

  • Clothing accessories

  • Mini accessories

  • Keychains of your own design

  • Trendy printed t-shirts

  • Notebook with beautiful illustrations

If you are still not sure that this business has a small cost with a lot of profit, we can take one example: the picture t-shirt business. When you are good at design or illustration, you don't even need capital to buy designs from other people. Currently, there are many t-shirt printings that provide packages for printing dozens of t-shirts at low prices. There are those who provide t-shirt sales for only a wholesale price of Rp. 3,000,000 for 60 t-shirts. In fact, nowadays trendy t-shirts like this can be sold for up to hundreds of thousands of rupiah in the market. Seems very profitable, isn’t it?


Franchise business with vending machine

For those of you who don't want to do research and develop products from scratch, this small capital business is the right choice. You can work with well-known brands that currently provide many franchise packages and can get even fortunate if in your area there are no competitors selling the same product. You don't have to open an expensive offline store to do so. Generally, when you want to open a store you need to rent a place which may take up to 50 millions Rupiahs per year. This doesn’t include the renovation and other additions to make your store look decent.


However, with a smart vending machine, you can get an offline store at an economical cost. You can get all the benefits such as being able to be placed anywhere even in very crowded locations, getting a touch screen for branding, a storefront that is already installed in the machine, even an automatic payment process. You can relax at home doing other things while the machine will work for you. There is no need to hire additional employees to maintain the shop. You also have the option to open a small capital offline shop by renting a vending machine which in a few months only costs less than 10 millions Rupiahs.


Time to start your business

Certainly, the many ideas and small capital business opportunities mentioned here will certainly encourage your interest in starting a business right away, right? If we can get big profits with minimal capital, why not start immediately. You also have the opportunity to open a small capital business with a smart vending machine right away through Smartven. You can schedule a consultation and discuss your ideas directly with the Smartven team via the button below. Also, you can check our website and Instagram page. Stay healthy and see you soon!

English translation by: Nadhiya Pradhanitasari

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