“A
pitch is a presentation an entrepreneur makes about his or her product/service
to a possible investor or group of investors. A normal pitch is averagely 30
minutes while an elevator pitch is less than a minute.” _ Hanafi
Olanrewaju Rabiu
 |
| Cross-section of Participants during the BSS |
KICK-STARTING THE 2018 COINKWARA PROGRAMME’S BUSINESS STRATEGY SESSION (BSS) TO SOLVE THE NUMBER ONE PROBLEM FACED BY ENTREPRENEURS IN NIGERIA- FINANCIAL PROBLEM
Ten (10) entrepreneurs took part in our poll taken between
24th of January and 2nd of February, 2018, on ‘the hardest part of starting up/ running a business
in Nigeria’. All of them said, it was ‘obtaining financial capital’. The
number of respondents may be small but the implication of the response is
enormous. It shows the extent at which entrepreneurs rate financial problem
among many problems they face.
It was based on this background among others that we directed
our first BSS in 2018 towards tackling this financial problem by training
entrepreneurs on how to win the $5, 000 Tony Elumelu Foundation’s grant. Thus,
on Saturday, 10th of February, 2018, entrepreneurs from diverse
industries gathered in the Knowledge Platform to participate in our BSS to
learn about the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s application procedure and the proper
responses required for successful application. The industries represented
include agriculture, food processing, fashion designing, shoe-manufacturing and laundry
among others.
 |
| Participants after the BSS |
The application which was grouped into 10 sections has questions that are personal in nature and some fundamental business questions that any entrepreneur must have solutions for to become successful in his or her entrepreneurship career.
Ten (10) of these questions which I consider very important to any
entrepreneur and aspiring entrepreneur have been selected and discussed here.
Apart from competing for this grant, as an entrepreneur, your successful
entrepreneurship journey is also dependent on these questions among others. I
will therefore advise you to read this post to the end and pick your writing
materials to note down the salient points given.
- About Me *
Tell us about
yourself, personal bio and what led you to become an entrepreneur (200 words)
(As an
entrepreneur, you must know how to sell yourself by telling a compelling story
about yourself especially when relating your knowledge, your skills or
experience to your present entrepreneurship endeavour)
2. Elevator Pitch *
In 50 words or
less, describe your current business or idea
(A pitch is a presentation an
entrepreneur makes about his or her product/service to a possible investor or
group of investors. A normal pitch is averagely 30 minutes while an elevator
pitch is less than a minute.
For a successful elevator
pitch, think about what is special about your business that you can tell
someone within 30 seconds and he will say, ‘wow! See me tomorrow.’)
Watch Amirah Hassan (CEO Bole Place) wowing everyone during the BSS
3. Wow Us *
What is new,
interesting or different about your product or service? (list 3 things)
(Did you see that? Wow us! If
you offer a product or service that is not special then there is no way you can
wow any one. For instance, if you own a barbing salon, you don’t have to do
things the way all barbing salon do them. You could add special services like
treating hair after barbing someone, having Air condition in your shop,
excellent waiting room, massaging chair, home service etc. It all depends on
how innovative you are and you don’t have to break the bank to do this).
4. Problem Solved *
What problem does
your product or service solve? (50 words)
(Your
product/service must solve a problem of your target market. It is from the
solution that entrepreneurs make their money and that is where your money is.
Think about the solution you are offering, is it the best solution? Can you
improve on it? Will your target market be willing to pay you for solving that
problem?)
5. Employees *
How many contractual, part-time, and full-time
employees do you have?
(Full time employees work in your enterprise every
day. Part-time employees work only when there is a job to do. Contractual staff
are employees that work for you but are not your staff. They are posted from
another company with which you have a contractual agreement. e.g Security
guards posted to your company by a security outfit which you hire).
6. Addressable Market *
How
big is the addressable market for your product or service? (50 words)
(According
to divestopedia.com, Total Addressable Market is the overall revenue
opportunity available or forseen for a specific product or service, taking into
account the future expansion scenarios.
You
could explain this way, for instance,
“Considering
the age structure, interest and other personal reasons, 80 out of every 100
Nigerians consume my product. With the present estimated population of
195,155,423, our addressable market is 80% of the entire population which
amount to 156, 124,338 people.”)
7. Marketing Strategy *
Explain how you
intend to (or already do) market your products or services to your target
market (50 words)?
(As an entrepreneur, you must
have a strategy through which you want people to know about your product or
services as the best product or service they should opt for in its category.
This is marketing and in this 21st century, it must be inclusive of
both online strategies and offline strategies.)
8. Competitors *
Who
are your competitors/benchmark organisations? List your top 3.
(The people or companies that
make it hard for you to control the market are your competitors. So in order to
be able to survive as a company, you must know your competitors and know how to
beat them.
The below video is a video of
Jack Ma explaining his Alibaba and how it is different from Amazon and Ebay
during an event in Stanford. This will help you in defining your competitors,
pitching, etc (Highly recommended).
9. Lifetime
revenue *
How much revenue has your startup generated since
inception (in local currency)?
(A business exists to sell
items (products and services). Those items are sold to customers or clients. At
the point when a client purchases an item, that transaction turns into a sale
for the business. This is what companies do– they sell. The amount of sales
made is the revenue (income) of the business. Total revenue can be calculated
by this formula:
Total revenue = quantity sold (x)
average selling price
[Note that profit is different from revenue.
10. Business Impact *
Describe what
impact your business will have within your community, country for job creation,
revenue generation or social development? (200 words)
(The lesson to be learnt here is that your business
must have positive effect on your community, and that is what entrepreneurship
is all about. You must also have it at the back of your mind that you will give
back to the society at one time or the other, that is the principle of Corporate
Social Responsibility.
To answer this section, pick each of what they
listed above and state how your business impact positively on it. E.g. You
should be able to explain number of direct jobs and indirect jobs that your
business has created or will create if you have not launch. Remember to count
yourself among those employed too).
Written by: Hanafi Olanrewaju Rabiu
Acknowledgement
All Coinkwara Team members are duly acknowledged for the successful hosting of this BSS. Special regards goes to Habeeb Salaudeen Abdullahi for his commitment.
You can also follow us on:
facebook: @coinkwaraprogramme
Wats App Group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/97PQF7jpyAh16VLnPVbtHh
Twitter: @coinkwara
Comments
Post a Comment