Woods are classified into two, the hard wood and the soft wood.
A type of hardwood is the Mahogany, there are different grades and species under this name which vary widely in quality and price. Mahogany is the hardest, strongest, and the best quality type of hard wood. It has a reddish brown color. It is a perfect wood for furnishing, mostly used in crafting furniture.
A type of softwood is the Cedar wood, it has a red-brown color. Its repellent qualities have made it a popular wood for lining drawers.
Wood business in Nigeria is a lucrative one. While it is capital intensive, the demand and rate of turnover is high in the market. Wood business can enrich you quickly, all it requires of you is to be focused. Are you interested in threading the path of success in wood business? Please read on carefully.
Locate a sawmill
As soon as you locate a sawmill (i.e. plank selling market), join their association. There is an automatic and immediate network of potential clients and vendors that will be needed to run the wood/ plank business. Be active immediately and find out issues about the business and how you can get involved positively.
Inquire on how to buy wood
Inquiring on how to buy different types of woods means you have to carefully learn about where to buy your logs of wood from. The most popular place in Nigeria where logs of wood are gotten is J4 forest/bush, Ogun State or the Ondo forest, in Akure, Ondo State.
Cost of Starting The Business
Wood/plank business is a lucrative business. As a small scale investor, you need 200,000 Naira to start with. As a medium scale investor you need between 700,000 Naira to 1,500,000 Naira to start with and as a large scale investor your start up capital should not be less than 400,000,000 naira.
Where to Market The Products
Sourcing for market means inquiring where and how to supply your wood/planks. Network with other suppliers and become a part of them immediately. Search for industries in need of wood products they will appreciate to find the best suppliers for the lowest costs, so always make sure your woods are affordable.
How to Invest Your Capital
As a large scale wood merchant, you will have to invest your capital wisely by
i. Locating the Ministry of Forestry to be apportioned a portion in the forest/bush where you can directly cut down your logs of wood, and then become a hammer holder. This will cost N1,000,000.
ii. Employ an experienced operator whose job is to cut down logs of wood.
iii. Buy a tractor to drag logs of wood out of the bush which cost about N650,000.

iv. Buy a 6-tyre truck for transporting the logs of woods from the forest to your sawmill. This costs N1,500,000
v. Buy a sawmill operating machine to saw your wood into different sizes. This cost N1,200,000
vi. Most importantly buy a generator of about 30 k.va N750,00
Other Expenses
Transporting your wood from the forest is not free of charge though you have all your instruments to work with. Remember the ministry of forestry will still charge you for moving the woods out of its boundaries. Learn state and federal freight rules and all taxation required. As a business owner, you need to know running cost in order to know what to charge for a finished product.