By Regina Iliya
For many university students across Nigeria, campus life is no longer limited to lectures, assignments, examinations and social activities.
Increasingly, students are turning their phones and social media platforms into business tools, using them to sell clothes, shoes, bags, perfumes, accessories, food, cosmetics and other products while pursuing their degrees.
For students like Beatrice Amos Bala, a Mass Communication student, entrepreneurship has become a way of gaining financial independence while still in school.
Beatrice runs Beatrice Lux Collection, a brand that focuses on female and male wears, bags, shoes, perfumes and accessories. What started as a desire to make her own money has gradually become a business operated alongside her academic responsibilities.
“I started my business because I wanted to make my own money instead of relying entirely on my parents,” Beatrice explained.
Like many student entrepreneurs, Beatrice has taken her business beyond the physical campus environment. She uses several social media platforms, including WhatsApp, TikTok and Instagram, to advertise her products and reach potential customers. However, TikTok has become her strongest platform for attracting customers.
The growing use of social media has changed the way young entrepreneurs market their products. Instead of paying for traditional advertising or renting a physical shop, students can display their products online, communicate directly with customers and receive orders using only a smartphone and an internet connection.
Across Nigerian universities, this has created opportunities for students to turn their skills, interests and small investments into sources of income. A student can attend a lecture in the morning, respond to customers during a break and process orders later in the day.
But behind the convenience of online business is another challenge: finding enough time to manage a business without allowing it to interfere with academic work.
For Beatrice, balancing both responsibilities requires discipline and careful planning.
“Balancing academics and business requires good time management and discipline,” she said.
She prioritizes attending lectures, completing assignments and studying while using her free periods, evenings, weekends and holidays to attend to her business.
Her experience reflects a challenge faced by many student entrepreneurs. Running an online business may appear flexible because there is no fixed shop or traditional working schedule, but customers can send messages at any time. Orders have to be answered, products advertised and deliveries coordinated, sometimes while students are preparing for tests or completing assignments.
For some students, the pressure becomes greater during examination periods. While their classmates may concentrate entirely on academic activities, student entrepreneurs still have customers waiting for responses and orders that need to be fulfilled.
This makes time management an important part of student entrepreneurship.
Beatrice says planning her schedule ahead helps her ensure that neither her studies nor her business suffers.
Although the combination can be challenging, she believes staying organized and focused allows her to manage both successfully.
The rise of student-owned online businesses also reflects a broader change in how young Nigerians view entrepreneurship. For many students, starting a business is not necessarily about abandoning education for profit. Instead, it is about finding a way to earn income while acquiring practical skills that may remain useful after graduation.
Social media has made this even easier. Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and WhatsApp allow students to market their products directly to potential buyers, build relationships with customers and promote their brands without necessarily having a physical store.
For students studying Mass Communication, Business Administration, Computer Science, Fashion Design and other disciplines, these businesses can also provide opportunities to apply classroom knowledge in real-life situations. Students learn about communication, marketing, customer relations, branding and digital promotion through running their own businesses.
However, student entrepreneurship is not without difficulties. Apart from managing time, students may have to deal with limited capital, rising costs, unreliable internet access, delivery challenges, competition and the pressure of maintaining an online presence.
Despite these challenges, the growing number of students venturing into online businesses shows that the university experience is changing. The classroom remains important, but for many young Nigerians, learning also takes place through the businesses they build outside it.
For Beatrice, Beatrice Lux Collection represents more than an online store. It is an attempt to become financially independent while completing her education.
Her story is similar to that of many students across Nigerian universities who are discovering that entrepreneurship can fit alongside academic life—provided they are willing to plan, stay disciplined and learn how to balance the demands of both worlds.
Between lectures, assignments and examinations, their smartphones have become more than communication devices. For some, they are now shops, advertising platforms, customer-service desks and the starting point of businesses they hope will continue long after university.
