Every Nigerian living in Nigeria already knows this: inflation is eating deep every day, and the value of the naira is on a never-ending slide. In December 2024, for example, the naira traded at 1,549 per dollar—a 104.38% depreciation compared to its value at the end of 2023. Given the rapid depreciation of the naira, a wise personal financial decision is to prioritise earning in dollars for improved economic stability.
To achieve this, you need skills and jobs to attract international clients willing to pay in dollars for your services. I wrote this piece to enlighten you about the top skills and jobs that will get you the “greens” 💵💸
How to earn in dollars in Nigeria
1. Freelancing
I started freelancing in 2020 at the peak of the pandemic, and I can tell you this for free: there aren’t many legal ways to work for international companies other than freelancing.
Organizations prioritize freelancers because they bring specific, in-demand skills and innovation to the job market. In fact, 76% of executives—and 78% of CEOs—said freelancers contribute more value than degree-holding employees, as over 4 in 10 CEOs plan to increase freelance hiring in the next 12 months.
To increase your earning potential as a freelancer, specialise in any of the five coveted skills listed in any of the job categories below:
| Accounting & consulting | Coding and web development | customer service & admin support | Data science & analytics | Design & creative | Sales & marketing |
| Accounting | Full-stack development | General virtual assistance | Data analytics | Graphic design | Social media/marketing |
| Bookkeeping | Front-end development | Data entry | Machine learning | Video editing | SEO |
| Recruiting & talent sourcing | Web design | Digital project management | Data visualisation | Presentation design | Sales & business development |
| Financial analysis and modelling | Mobile app development | General research services | Data extraction | Image editing | Lead generation |
| Management consulting | Back-end development | Executive virtual assistant | Data engineering | Illustration | Search engine marketing |
2. Set up an e-commerce business
You can hardly go wrong with trading—it’s as old as time. Think of e-commerce stores as the online version of traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Unlike brick-and-mortar shops, e-commerce shops are significantly cheaper to set up and not limited to a particular location, making it easier to sell your products to international consumers and earn in dollars.
In 2024, Bumpa, a business management tool for developing customised websites, recorded a 38% increase in online stores created on its platform. Bumpa’s report suggests that you’ll leave money on the table if your business isn’t online. The 2023 Selar report backs this sentiment. In 2023, its creators made over $4.4 million (₦4 billion)—twice the amount they made in 2022.
Selar also revealed that over 150,000 creators sold courses, books, and tickets—this is your cue, in case you’re wondering what to sell online in Nigeria. Other coveted items you can sell online in Nigeria to earn dollars are listed below:
- Hobby and leisure products
- Electronics
- Fashion items
- Furniture and homeware
- Groceries
- Care products
The table below highlights handpicked platforms that enable e-commerce in Nigeria.
| Platform | Description | Ideal for |
| Selar | An all-in-one store for selling digital products and services | Creators, entrepreneurs, and consultants. |
| Jumia | An online shopping marketplace. | Entrepreneurs, wholesalers, and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) |
| Konga | Online e-market platform. | Entrepreneurs, wholesalers, and SMEs. |
| Bumpa | Business management platform for managing sales, building customised websites, and managing customers. | SMEs and solopreneurs. |
3. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is a collaboration between businesses and individuals, preferably experts in their respective fields. It’s a social media marketing approach used to deepen brand awareness and generate revenue.
The collaboration between content creator Hauwa and Chicken Republic in 2024 is a fitting example of how brands leverage the reach and public goodwill of social media personas to drive revenue, sales, and buzz around their services. Read more about the partnership here.
Multiple factors (expertise level, location, engagement rate, follower count, etc.) dictate the revenue of influencers. However, on average, their rate card looked like this in 2024:
The value of the influencer marketing industry is expected to reach $47.8 billion in 2027, suggesting that partnerships between brands and influencers are unlikely to cease. To corroborate this, Aspire revealed that 50% of companies plan to spend up to $50k on influencer marketing in 2025, as the infographic below shows:
If you’re looking to kickstart a career in influencer marketing, these tips from Shopify will come in handy:
- Identify your niche
- Choose a platform
- Develop a brand
- Create high-quality content
- Engage your followers
- Explore partnerships and networking
- Monetize your content and ideas
Which app should I use to receive dollars in Nigeria?
If you desire to work and get paid in Benjamins 💵, you definitely need to sort out the platform to collect your dollars from international clients. One option for receiving USD in Nigeria is to use dollar-pegged stablecoins, such as USDT and USDC. If you prefer this, Crane is what you need!
Crane is a blockchain-powered fintech company for receiving payments from international clients. We enable freelancers, creators, and pretty much anyone interested in receiving payments in dollar-backed currencies.
You can get started with us by clicking the image below to download the app:
What will you get from using our services? Here are five benefits of using our service:
- Ultra-fast transaction speed: we’re built on the blockchain, so your transactions complete at the speed of light, literally.
- No charges for incoming payments: Unlike traditional payment systems, receiving payments into your Crane account is free of charge.
- Discount cards galore: We provide discount cards that take away 25%–100% of your conversion fees. That means you get to keep the bulk of your earnings, yayyy!
- Automatic conversion: Constantly checking dollar/crypto rates to know the best time to get maximum value is stressful. That’s why we introduced Auto-Convert to help you convert your dollar-pegged currencies to naira at a predefined rate. Once the currency reaches the market rate you already set, we’ll initiate conversion and send it to your wallet. No market watching, just profit on steroids.
- Best rates on the market: It’s unfair to lose your hard-earned money to poor rates. Our rates are among the best on the market. Don’t believe me? Here’s a comparison with another competitor (see for yourself!):
Now you may ask, “How do I receive dollars on Crane?” You can do so with the three options listed below:
- Regular Crypto Deposit: You should be all over this if you want a digital wallet to store the dollars you receive in stablecoins. It’ll be in the wallet, untouched until you need it. How cool is that, eh?
- Bank Direct: What if I told you that you can receive crypto in your local bank account? It’s possible with Bank Direct, which lets you receive dollar-backed stablecoins and other cryptocurrencies as naira in your local account. With Bank Direct, you don’t need to perform any manual conversions; we’ll handle that part and send the naira equivalent to your linked bank account.
- Request Payroll: No one likes delayed payments. You can avoid delayed payments using Request Payroll. It helps you send invoices to clients accompanied by your payment details to get paid as and when due.
