How To

How Start-ups can Conduct Business Pitching for Solid Closing

What does Business Pitching Entail? Business pitching means presenting a company’s concepts to another person. As an illustration, you might introduce your fledgling company to possible investors or your items to prospective clients. To get buy-in, a business pitch must clearly explain your strategy or objectives to the audience. Your goods and business are the subjects of your pitch. It is important to note that sharing your concept is never too early. You must always be prepared to make a pitch that’ll make potential stakeholders (investors or customers) interested your company. A pitch is a speech intended to persuade an audience to take a certain action. Your idea dictates its purpose and likely outcomes to anticipate. So the following reasons for a pitch are: To attract early adopters that will use your service To attract investors and/or partners who can help grow your company To request funding Types of Pitches Today, it is not uncommon that investors lack the patience and time to listen to traditional pitches where you reel off all the benefits of your product and then make a “great deal” to close. Here are the various types of business pitches: One-word Pitch: It is important that a word reflects your brand. It is a keyword that summarises the concept of your product or business. It can also give clarity to a first-time hearer about your products/services. This keyword is often coined from the mission, vision, goals, unique point or even the solution offered. Elevator Pitch: This is your go-to pitch for networking events, social media, and elevator rides with potential clients. Every salesperson is expected to have an elevator pitch, allowing you to discuss your product and company’s fundamentals within 30 to 60 seconds. In your speech, you should focus more on the why of your solution. This presents the concept of your product and company more persuasively. Investor Pitch: Here is a speech that describes the issues you hope to address as part of your investor pitch. You should not use industry jargon when presenting; it is exclusively for your pitch deck. In an investor pitch, you describe what you do, the level of business maturity, the size of the market, and your partners. If you can create a large company, investors will be interested. Customer Pitch: In contrast to investors, customers are looking for the problems that your product and business can help them solve. Get them to talk more about the issue than you do, and only then can you determine the appropriate remedy. Presentations can contain industry terminologies because it is considered that the audience is aware of the market. Follow-up Pitch: Here’s a reminder of a concept you’ve already pitched to a listener who hasn’t yet lived up to your expectations. This needs to be handled respectfully and with courtesy. A postal pitch or a cold phone pitch can be used to follow up with an investor or a client. Presenting a Pitch Firstly, when giving a pitch, begin with a short, friendly introduction and a memorable slogan to pique the audience’s interest. Note that you should keep your opening slide above to capture the investors’ attention. In an investor pitch, you should discuss a problem your business or idea addresses, whereas in a customer pitch, you should allow the customer explain their issue. Tell a story to raise thoughts, and then use pertinent data and facts to convince them of your plan (s) to resolve the issue. Furthermore, explain your approach to the audience, outlining the functions of your concept and testing processes. Use visuals to depict your product/service. These could be videos, images, or screenshots. Remember that businesses are not without rivals, but your unique selling point offers you an advantage in convincing your listener that your solution is the best one. Moreover, when making a pitch to an investor, describe your business model to demonstrate that you have a sound strategy for generating income. Your traction is a crucial component of your pitch because it details your past successes. Telling your investor how you intend to expand goes a step further. This demonstrates your maturity and where you see your firm going in terms of attracting customers. Conclusion You definitely do not want to waste your opportunity to close by being unprepared. Before pitching your business to prospective stakeholders, it is critical that you assess your level of readiness. Here’s what you should do below: ➢ Examine your pitch pattern to make sure it’s standard ➢ Improve your confidence level ➢ Memorise and practice your pitch ➢ Learn to focus on keywords to manage your time ➢ Have short versions of your pitch. ➢ Pair your story with a visual document called a pitch deck In your pitch session, sell your solution evidently to potential customers, investors and/or partners.

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How to Become an Emotionally Intelligent Entrepreneur

You see, entrepreneurship isn’t only about selling your products or services, it’s also about being emotionally intelligent; effectively managing your team, customers and partners. However, this isn’t possible by just wishful thinking, you must be determined to do one thing right to achieve this. That is building Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Emotional Intelligence ​is the ability to understand your emotions and those of other people and to behave appropriately in different situations (Oxford’s Learners Dictionaries). It entails building structures that help you, your staff and other stakeholders communicate seamlessly across board. To help you build this soft skill, we spoke to Adesola Balogun (FATE Alumni, EEP 29), Creative Lead, Outspok’n Clothiers on his strategies for strengthening this in his company. Here are his tips: Express your emotions appropriately and encourage stakeholders to do so: Be the leader that everyone isn’t afraid to open up to. In Adesola’s company, they have a staff strength of 15 people: admin staff and tailors. He expresses his emotions and encourages his team members to do so through his open-door policy and during weekly Monday meetings. They do a review of the previous week, including operations, and give room for everybody to say what they feel can improve their jobs. So, people use the opportunity to settle grievances and scores. A lot of the staff have said they’ve never had that opportunity to speak their mind. Listen and implement suggested ideas: Don’t be the guy who goes ‘his way or the highway.’ Consider proposed ideas, evaluate their pros and cons, and then implement valuable ideas. That’s how you become emotionally intelligent. While at this, explain to those whose ideas cannot be implemented your reason (s) for doing so. According to Adesola, he hears his staff, customers and partners, listens to them and gives everybody a platform to speak. “We’ve had staff tell us how they feel. We don’t just hear that, we implement that. And so, it’s very heartwarming when they see that they made suggestions and the company implemented them. It spurs people to do more and speak up more.” Unify your team: Emotionally intelligent leaders have learned to unify their teams. They achieve this through different activities, including but not limited to buddy systems and hangouts. Adesola Balogun started this buddy system at Outspok’n Clothiers where he says that each person is responsible for at least one of their colleagues. “For instance, let’s say one of my staff, Qudus isn’t available, and I ask Ope, where is Qudus? It is not for him to say I don’t know. He has to find out what Qudus is up to and have Qudus’s address. If Qudus isn’t feeling well, Ope has to go visit him. I tell them that we’re not just a company, we’re a family.” From Adesola’s emotional intelligence journey, we can see that excellently managing your emotions and that of others doesn’t happen in a day. Becoming emotionally intelligent requires consistent efforts and building intentional structures. Nevertheless, today is a good day to begin making these efforts.

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Funding Opportunities for African Entrepreneurs

African Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) face many challenges, including access to funding opportunities. This, in turn, makes growing and scaling businesses difficult for entrepreneurs. While MSMEs are often drivers of growth, especially in developing countries, 51% of these businesses need more capital than they can access (Center for Strategic & International Studies, 2021). To support the capacities of MSMEs to create numerous jobs and sporadically improve the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of African countries, below are some available funding opportunities: 2022 Africa’s Business Heroes Prize Competition Win up to $300,000 in grant funds from Africa’s Business Heroes Prize (ABH) Competition. ABH is open to African entrepreneurs making a difference in their local communities. Your business must be providing a solution to the most important problems in the world. It must also be sustainable and inclusive. Formally registered African businesses from all sectors, with a three-year track record, are eligible to apply.  The application deadline is June 20, 2022. D-Prize Seed Capital Do you have a new, proven idea capable of solving poverty? If yes, you’re the entrepreneur D-prize is looking for. You stand a chance to get up to $20,000 to fund an intervention that is capable of eradicating poverty.  Your idea can fall into any of these categories- health access, water, education, agriculture, livelihoods, energy and public services. Similarly, you can propose a custom intervention. Every entrepreneur is eligible to apply as there are no geographical, age or background restrictions. The extended application deadline is June 26, 2022. Copernicus Masters Challenge A total of EUR 531,000 is available for individuals using Earth observation data to tackle global challenges. Innovators above 18 years are eligible to apply. More so, Applications are welcome from start-ups, SMEs, universities and corporations, as long as you’re utilizing Earth Observation (EO) data to solve a problem. If you decide to apply, make sure you do so on or before 11 July 2022. Cartier Women’s Initiative Annually, the Cartier Women’s Initiative empowers impact entrepreneurs, especially women with funding and networking opportunities. Women with solid, sustainable, social or environmental impact from any country or sector can apply. Funding from the Cartier Women’s Initiative is divided into three categories: The Regional Award Science and Technology Pioneer Award- for women entrepreneurs innovating scientific and technological solutions to problems. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award- for any entrepreneur (male or female) designing solutions that seek to provide opportunities for communities that have been underserved. The deadline for all categories is Thursday, June 30, 2022, at 2 p.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST). Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation Is your business mission-driven? Have you been addressing critical social or environmental issues for about three years? The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation might be the right opportunity for you. The foundation accepts applications for social impact ideas all year, so you never have to worry about a deadline. Impact-focused, data-driven businesses at post-pilot stages, with the willingness to expand, are eligible to apply. Know an entrepreneur that needs this? Share and prompt them to check out these opportunities to start, grow or scale their businesses.  

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How to Create a Prototype

“A prototype is not an end in itself but a means to an end – the validation of your idea.” – Professor Karl T. Ulrich, Harvard Business School   Creating Physical Goods According to Professors Karl T. Ulrich and Steven D. Eppinger, in their 2015 book “Product Design and Development” there are two focused and comprehensive prototypes. A focused prototype reflects just one or a few dimensions of the performance of the product being developed. It can be referred to as a test rig or a mock-up. A comprehensive prototypes are fully functioning products, which goes through successive refinement and often goes by the term ‘’proof of concept, alpha, beta, pre-production, etc.’’ They go through cycles that help the team achieve milestones and demonstrate progress. Prototypes of physical goods are useful for the following reasons: A tool for learning Solving problems Answering the question “do you have product-market fit?” Proof that the solution works technically Proof of user acceptance and customer adoption Visual communication of your idea Demonstration of your ability to implement the solution Creating Software Practical steps for building a software prototype include: Gather user requirements: Interact with the user and discover his needs and demands Develop an initial prototype that is static and of low/medium fidelity: An example of this initial prototype could be a hand-drawn sketch or a visual tool such as Microsoft Word, Photoshop, Visio, or PowerPoint Get initial feedback: Share this prototype with users and get feedback Develop an interactive prototype of medium to high fidelity: An example of this interactive prototype could be produced from wireframing tools like Azure, Balsamiq, and OmniGraffle Get feedback and iterate: Continue to get feedback on the product and pivot or change the prototype in line with the user’s requirements Proceed to development Creating Services The approach for creating a prototype for a service business is often called the “Wizard of Oz” approach. This entails providing the front-end of the service digitally and delivering the back-end of the service manually. This is not usually very capital-intensive. There is usually no need to work with third parties to develop the full product, as the delivery of the service can be done in-house. An example could be a landing page, or a blog post describing the product. It could be used to test user responses through sign-ups, expressions of interest, etc. Action Steps Test your idea by creating a prototype in any of the following forms: Physical Goods Software Services

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How to Create a Brand Identity

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett, Investor Identify the essence of your brand and position your company appropriately in the marketplace. Karen Kang, a renowned brand strategist, in her book “Branding Pays” defined the following five-step system to reinvent your brand. Positioning Define your unique value. Positioning provides the rational foundation for branding. It makes your brand credible. It articulates your unique value and provides meaningful differentiation. Messages Develop the key messages that support your value. You may wish to revisit the elevator pitch we defined in the previous step and flesh it out into a set of talking points that help you articulate your positioning in a clear and concise way. Brand strategy Define an authentic, 360-degree brand by combining your rational and emotional value. The key elements you will need to create are your core values, strengths, brand personality, brand image, and brand promise. It helps you to deliver on your brand in thought, image, word, and deed. Ecosystem Develop a strategy for relationship building and management. In the end, it’s not what you say but what others say about you that determines your reputation. Your ecosystem acts as a marketing and sales team that can catapult your brand from unknown to desired. Action Steps Develop an action plan that includes brand improvement and brand communication so your brand can be known and recognized. Write your top three priority actions for building your brand over the next 30 days.

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How to Leverage Networking to grow Your Startup

The idea of networking contributes to the growth and relevance of a start-up. We are familiar with the saying “no man is an island”. Running your business on a solo mode might retain the focus or vision of the business but it shuts the owner from the real experiences of other business owners. In this article, we would look at how building a solid network can maintain a start-up business. Success in business especially for a start-up trying to gain traction is not only dependent on how much the business is able to control financially, neither is it by the size of the team. There are other activities that not only boost a start-up but ensures its sustainability. Research has shown that many successful start-ups developed meaningful partnerships, which enabled them to achieve success quickly and sustainably. This is known as networking. What is Networking? Networking in business involves building relationships with potential partners for your business. It should not be mistaken for just hosting business meetings, exchanging business cards, joining business communities and organizing pitch parties. Notwithstanding, these are processes of networking that may get people to be interested in your business, trust what you do and desire to partner with you. These connections, if optimized, can boost a start-up business and expose it to more opportunities. What can networking do for your start-up business? Networking attracts excellent skills: Networking offers a large range of skills to make selections from. A start-up business with strong connections cannot lack top skills in its decisions. It cannot be limited to just the available but have the option of picking its desired. Networking helps you through competition: One can hardly talk about a business and its sustenance without recognizing the place of competitors – how they charge and what they do to stay as market leaders. Exposure through your business network gives insights to what you can do to stand out and also face competition in the industry without wearing out. In simple terms, networking breaks down the bulk of handling competitors as by others experiences, one is guided on essential approaches for effective results. Networking provides you with more negotiating power with potential investors: Investors seek to support a business that not only promises good return on their investment but will deliver rightly and on time. A strong network gives a business credibility and gives investors the assurance they need before they invest in your business. Also, your network can introduce you to other potential investors. Wider customer reach: Customers of a business are spread abroad. Networking links the business with its potential clients who in turn advocates on behalf of the business. The effect of this is a wider reach to the right customers thereby, increasing the business customer base. This connection is beyond boundaries; could be online or offline reach. Impact on business strategy: By exposure through networking, a start-up business gets to improve its strategies in communication, financing, operations and other aspects. Networking influences positively from the structure of the start-up business through its publicity even to the personal brand of the founders.

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How to Bridge the Skill Gap in Nigeria

What is Skill Gap? Skills Gap Analysis is a method of determining which skills and knowledge gaps exist between the workforce system in Nigeria and its students of higher learning. On a general note, the disparity in skills of a job candidate and what employers demand takes its root from primary through the secondary and higher education system. It is obvious that students are not armed with the skills for real-life experiences but are made to focus on a memorization learning technique which most times is disappointing as they seem to be taken unawares when plunged into the workforce. Such a technique is insufficient as oftentimes they seek to memorize excellently in order to get desired grades rather than getting armed with the knowledge for practical application. It is obvious that from this technique, hands-on activities, brainstorming and other real experiences are obstructed. There is no doubt that this divergence has been in existence for years but it is becoming alarming, Hence, the pressure on employers to do more with the little they can get from employees. Higher education, according to data, is not effectively preparing students for work situations. Therefore, research has proven the need for an upskill in educational contents, concepts and curricular activities. Why is there a Skill Gap? It is understandable that the school system is a primary determinant of the skills gap in Nigeria by expensive fees, discrepancies in curriculum and deficiency in skills acquired in relation to what is required – other systems contribute to this gap such as the government, immediate society and direction of the economy. Advancement is inevitable, therefore, new fields have been created, technology has advanced in the society meanwhile, learning paths have not been upgraded. The administrative economy has a role to play in the increased rate of unemployment due to lack of jobs created in relevant fields. Increase in skilled jobs has also contributed to the skill gap in Nigeria where a high skill is required for a role not necessarily requiring the qualifications and abilities demanded for. How to bridge the Skill Gap? Skills commonly lacking include verbal communication, writing, problem solving, critical thinking, human relation, and time management, teamwork, good judgment, financial management, leadership, decision making and intelligence quotient. In bridging skill gaps in higher institutions in Nigeria, the above skills will need to be integrated in the system. It is important this be done to bring the realness of the workforce system even while still in school. Other ways of bridging skill gap include: Training on general and specific fields. Skill prediction and workforce insights through job fairs and exhibitions. Redesigning outdated curriculums to flow with advancement in the workforce system. Goodness of bridging Skill Gap Projected insight into the job markets. Increased chances of excelling in employment Individual development for a greater good and beyond job environments. Innovation

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Why You Need to Invest in Women-Owned Startups

Irrespective of the industry, establishing a new business is not an easy feat as it comes with a lot of challenges ranging from hiring the right team to maintaining the right customer base. Forming the right team is critical in business, especially for start-ups. Over the years, most businesses have been prejudiced in their workforce selection as they fit only men in  management and relegate women to menial and insignificant roles. However, in recent times women have risen to occupy managerial roles and they have been very effective at it. We now have women-owned start-ups rising except for some constraints which affect their growth. Most times, these constraints depend on the region of the start-up, hence, its is advisable to set up women owned businesses in environments favorable to it. In 2020, during the covid-19 outbreak, several firms incurred losses, the female owned businesses were hit hard and consequently there was a significant drop in financing. Though not everyone’s firm suffered equally, the share of “dollar to women founders” fell drastically by 0.5% from 2019 to 2020. Investors generally have more faith in men-owned businesses than women because they believe men have been in the business of managing enterprises and so they are skilled. Also, there’s an unfounded belief that women are prone to exaggerate their estimates when given opportunity to start a business. But we believe that female financing would get better if there is an increase in female investors. Entrepreneurs typically do not start a business until they are in their late 20s, about the same time as women begin their families, and combining both responsibilities can be a challenging feat. Regardless of the possible constraints to supporting women, there are still tangible reasons to invest in women-owned start-ups and they include: Start-ups are delicate, they need vigour fuelled into the business to keep through the growing stage which is usually not an easy one. By nature, the emotional IQ of women is such that it is resilient. Women are meticulous beings and have the ability to multitask. These qualities keep businesses going and productive; investors are usually drawn to progressive start-ups. As the business progresses, operations begin to level up, ideas start to take root, some even take a new turn. This calls for flexibility and women are wired to be adaptable. Apparently, it fits the gender personality and such business would thrive in their Women are good at yielding returns for a business as researches have proved it that female founding businesses turn in more revenue than male founding businesses. According to research, women have better understanding of unmet needs and so know how to channel the products and services to the right target of a business opening up huge business prospects. Other researches back this up that women-owned businesses return twice as much as the dollar invested, companies with female leadership have a nearly 3% greater return on equity. On the argument of balancing work and family life, most women entrepreneurs have found solutions to balancing the responsibilities from these ends. And they tend to give their best to ensure a great return on investment. In conclusion, gender disparity should not be a barrier to harnessing the best a business can while in operation because when a business thrives, it contributes to the development of the economy.  

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How to Build Your 60-Second Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is an introductory summary of you and your business goals. It is one of the most effective methods to promote your personal brand and get listeners wanting to know more, be it with potential investors, employees, co-founders, etc. Build your own, outstanding pitch quickly and easily with any of the following positive ‘action’ words: Achieve Assess Broaden Capture Centralize Change Compile Complete Coordinate Create Design Develop Diversify Enforce Enhance Establish Evaluate Exceed Forecast Guide Identify Increase Initiate Inspire Investigate Launch Maintain Manage Who You Are Your success depends on the strength of your first few words, so your opening line is important. You need to engage the listeners and draw them in, by making them eager to learn more. This means providing context to make the pitch relevant to them, before talking about you. Present the problem that you and your solution solve and provide context. Here’s an example: Many entrepreneurs struggle to attract new customers, as they are so busy bringing in revenue by delivering value. Often they only grow through referrals. We specialize in creating marketing systems for successful entrepreneurs in the education industry. What You Do This speaks about your experience and builds on the initial section. You may reference recent projects you have been involved in or interesting opportunities you have had. Pay attention to the context by keeping it relevant to the listener and free from jargon. Here’s an example: We are focused on delivering marketing results for clients in the education industry. I have worked in this industry for ten years and I am very aware of the common business development challenges as well as effective solutions. Your Unique Selling Proposition You should show the unique qualities you have that can benefit the listener. The intention should be to clarify the points that differentiate you from competitors and similar companies in your industry. These differences should not be superficial but focused on delivering unique value. Here’s an example: We have developed a proprietary system for business development called the ASAP Marketing system and have used this system successfully with several clients in West Africa. We serve six of the top 10 schools in the Lagos district and have helped them achieve 20% increase in new business sales revenue over the last three years. Your Goals This section should also include ‘’What’s in it for them?’’ Be clear about what you want and align it to what the listener is looking for. Find out exactly what the listener wants so that your pitch can show how you can fulfill their needs. Use gentle, effective persuasion to avoid causing offense. Here’s an example: We would be interested in speaking to you to see if there is an opportunity for us to help you win more customers. Action Steps Write the first part of your elevator pitch by answering the question ‘’Who am I?’’ Write the second part of your elevator pitch by answering the question ‘’What do I do?’’ Write the third part of your elevator pitch by answering the question ‘’Why am I unique? What are my unique selling points?’’ Write the final part of your elevator pitch by answering the question ‘’What are your goals?’’ For more posts from this author, visit: www.gloryenyinnaya.com ‘’Your audience is waiting for your stories.’’ – Steve Woodruff, Author of Clarity Wins.

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