Key Takeaways
- Nigeria is a top VA hub offering skilled, affordable, English-speaking talent.
- Average cost: $4–$10/hour, depending on skill and role.
- Betternship helps you skip the noise, connecting you to pre-vetted, job-ready Nigerian VAs in days, not weeks.
Introduction: Hire Virtual Assistants in Nigeria
Running a business is a full-time job. Running a startup? That’s two.
Between product meetings, client follow-ups, and endless admin work, you can easily lose sight of what actually moves your business forward, and that is growth.
That’s why smart founders are hiring virtual assistants (VAs). And not just anywhere, they’re increasingly choosing Nigeria.
Nigerian virtual assistants have become the secret weapon for founders who want to save time, scale faster, and stay lean. Whether you’re in London, New York, or Berlin, hiring a VA in Nigeria gives you reliable support at a fraction of the cost, without compromising quality.
Here’s how to hire virtual assistants in Nigeria and actually get results!
Why Hire Virtual Assistants in Nigeria
There’s a reason Nigeria has become one of the fastest-growing VA markets in the world.
1. Skilled, English-speaking professionals
Nigeria’s workforce is young, educated, and globally oriented. With a strong command of English and exposure to international work culture, Nigerian VAs can communicate seamlessly with Western teams.
2. Cost-effective without being “cheap”
Hiring a virtual assistant in Nigeria costs 40–70% less than hiring locally in the US or UK. But what businesses love most is that the quality doesn’t drop with the price.
A mid-level VA with 2–3 years of experience typically earns between $5–$10/hour, depending on skill set and workload.
3. Cultural compatibility and reliability
Nigerian professionals are adaptable, resilient, and result-driven: qualities that matter when you’re working remotely across time zones. You get talent that values accountability and understands deliverables.
4. Time zone advantage
Nigeria’s time zone overlaps perfectly with Europe and partially with the US. So whether you need daily check-ins or overlapping hours for team syncs, you’ll rarely face communication lag.
Types of Virtual Assistants You Can Hire in Nigeria
The VA landscape in Nigeria is broad and diverse. Depending on your business size and needs, here are some roles you can easily hire:
- Administrative Assistants: Inbox management, scheduling, data entry, invoicing.
- Executive Assistants: Supporting founders or CEOs with high-level coordination.
- Customer Support VAs: Email, chat, or social media-based customer communication.
- Marketing Assistants: Managing social media, content uploads, and campaign reports.
- Sales & Lead Generation VAs: CRM updates, outreach, and data scraping.
- E-commerce Support: Order management, listing updates, and inventory coordination.
- Operations & Project VAs: Workflow management, reporting, and internal coordination.
Platforms like Betternship make it easy to find trained, pre-vetted Nigerian VAs across these categories, so you’re not wasting time sorting through unqualified freelancers.
How to Hire Virtual Assistants in Nigeria (Step-by-Step Process)
Hiring a VA can either save your business or drain it; it all depends on your process. Here’s how to do it right:
Step 1: Define what you actually need
Before you start looking, be brutally clear on what you need help with. Write out every repetitive or time-draining task you handle weekly: emails, scheduling, reports, follow-ups.
Group them by category. This helps you decide if you need one generalist or multiple specialized VAs.
Example:
If you’re a marketing agency founder, you might need help with client reports, scheduling posts, and maintaining your CRM. That’s one VA.
If you’re an e-commerce owner handling customer queries and inventory updates, that’s two.
Step 2: Decide where to hire
You’ve got options:
- Freelance sites like Upwork or Fiverr have a broad reach, but lots of unverified talent.
- Referrals or social media: slower, but can work for trusted recommendations.
- Talent platforms like Betternship, where candidates are vetted, trained, and matched to your needs in days, not weeks.
If your time is valuable (and it is), start with a platform that does the heavy lifting: interviews, assessments, and background checks.
Step 3: Screen for more than skills
Skills can be trained. Attitude and communication can’t.
When interviewing Nigerian VAs, pay attention to:
- Responsiveness (how quickly do they reply?)
- Communication clarity (can they explain their work process?)
- Reliability (do they show initiative or wait for instructions?)
You’re not hiring just for tasks. You’re hiring for trust.
Step 4: Clarify pay, expectations, and tools
Once you’ve found the right VA, set clear boundaries and tools early.
- Use Slack or Teams for communication.
- Use ClickUp, Asana, or Trello for task tracking.
- Define work hours and update cadence.
- Agree on payment frequency (weekly, biweekly, or monthly).
For context: most Nigerian VAs are paid via Payoneer, Deel, or Wise, and expect consistent payment schedules.
Step 5: Onboard properly
The first week is everything. Don’t assume they’ll “figure it out.”
- Share SOPs or recorded Loom videos explaining your workflow.
- Set up a recurring weekly check-in.
- Introduce them to team members and tools.
- Give feedback early and clearly.
A structured onboarding saves you weeks of frustration.
PS: You can download our free onboarding kit here
How Much Does It Cost to Hire Virtual Assistants in Nigeria?
Costs vary based on skill, role, and experience. Here’s a general guide:
| Role | Experience Level | Typical Range (USD/hour) |
| General Admin VA | 1–2 years | $4–6 |
| Executive Assistant | 3–5 years | $6–10 |
| Marketing VA | 2–4 years | $5–9 |
| Customer Support VA | 2–3 years | $4–7 |
| Operations VA | 3–5 years | $6–10 |
If you hire through a freelance marketplace, you’ll handle vetting and coordination yourself.
If you hire through Betternship, you’re paying for a fully vetted VA screened for communication, technical ability, and reliability.
So while it may be slightly higher than the freelancer average, the time and cost saved from mis-hires easily outweighs it.
Common Mistakes Founders Make When Hiring Virtual Assistants
- Hiring too fast.
You get excited, find someone who replies fast, and skip due diligence. Bad move. Always test communication and availability first. - Not defining deliverables.
If “manage my email” means something different to both of you, it’ll fail. Be specific. - Skipping onboarding.
Even experienced VAs need context. Share SOPs, goals, and your company culture. - Micromanaging.
If you’re constantly checking what they’re doing, you’re defeating the purpose of having a VA. Trust the process. - Ignoring cultural onboarding.
Explain how your team communicates and how feedback is given. Nigerian VAs appreciate clarity and transparency, it builds long-term loyalty.
Where to Find the Best Virtual Assistants in Nigeria
If you’re hiring for the first time, the “where” matters more than you think.
Option 1: Freelance marketplaces
Upwork, Fiverr, and LinkedIn give you access to thousands of Nigerian VAs. But the challenge is filtering through them. Expect to spend time reviewing profiles, scheduling tests, and chasing responses.
Option 2: Recruitment agencies
Some Nigerian staffing firms specialize in VA placements. They’ll shortlist for you, but usually take longer and charge higher fees.
Option 3: Betternship
The fastest route for startups and SMEs.
Betternship connects you directly to vetted, trained, and pre-assessed Nigerian VAs who are ready to start immediately, with no guesswork, no interviews that go nowhere.
Whether you need one VA or a small remote team, you’ll get matched with candidates who’ve already passed skill and reliability checks.
Don’t Just Hire. Build Leverage.
Every founder reaches that point where their to-do list starts running the business instead of them. Hiring a VA isn’t a luxury. It’s leverage.
If you’ve been juggling everything yourself, it’s time to change that.
Hire through Betternship and get matched with a vetted Nigerian virtual assistant who can start helping you this week, not next quarter.
Work less on admin. Grow faster.