blink182: magazine is a bad idea, the competition is too steep and magazine is a luxury item that people won't beg you to purchase, it is something only people with spare cash pay attention to and that is quite rare in Nigeria. Please be innovative and write a plan based on a product or service that people need. You can talk with me in private so we can fine tune your present plan, that is if you do not want to share your plan here which I strongly kick against.

j.tenna:
Thanks so much blink n sportfeva for those wonderful contribution. Printing press is a great idea. I will look into it. I am sure i could find a mechine dat would maybe be less dan 10m. And pls is publishing books eco-friendly?

Preciouskc: Pls guys, when and how do a biz reach profitability and what is minimum capital equipment cost?

favour ume: Please for most of us outside the country, is there any hope for us?

utimatedes:

I don't agree with you on that, Magazine is never a bad idea, don't scare her, it just that she did not convince youwin that she understand the idea and she is able to carve a niche for herself. In this kind of idea, your background matters, your experience matters, your understanding of the local market maters as well and if you can prove to them and show to them that you can survive.

I bet you, if I am to write on this magazine production business, I will write and it will make it. It is not mouth, is understanding the secret and technique and using it right. You can make things complicated for your investor and in youwin, some idea will never make it if submitted as a new business because there are capital intensive and even when you try to lie that you can manage it successful with N10m being the maximum you can get, YouWIN will know because your idea is reviewed by seasoned and well acquainted entrepreneurs in the field, so they know what is obtainable in the industry. That is why when some people asked for N7m, they are awarded with N10m and when you asked for N10m, you are given N5m. If you asked for 10m and you did not get it, 2 things happen- either you were unable to justify that 10m with your cash-flow or you over blow it with bogus figure and they know when you tell lies.

Like I told you if I was the one writing on that idea, this is how I will go about it to make it.
1) I will never go as a new business even when I have not started; I will go as an existing business.
2) I will make sure I have a website preferable a magazine site built on wordpress or joomla
3) I will post articles and make sure some of the articles posted back-dated to like 2years ago.
4) I will post adverts on my site whether paid or free.
5) I will invest like 10k on google advert and facebook ads to generate traffic and also get a firm to help me get facebook page like of at least 10k fan to show that I have readership already.
6) I will let YouWIN know my background as someone that has worked for a magazine firm for some years before starting mine and I have online platform where I have been making money from advertisement. Whether you make N10k or N1m, it does matter, what matters is demonstrating that you're well-acquainted as well as prove that the business is profitable and also will create employment opportunities.
7) Let youwin know that you have been running the business for some times but now you need fund to scale it up and broaden your horizon by coming up with the hard up of the online magazine and create wealth, employment opportunity and also fulfil your dream of owning one of the biggest magazine firm in Nigeria which led to you starting your business.
You don't need to tell youwin that you want to purchase printing machine because the cost of a good printing machine is above N5.5m and by the time you finish everything, you should be talking of more than 10m, so you tell them that you are going to be printing it somewhere.

With less than N2m, you can conveniently print 10,000 copies of your magazine. The only way you will have problem is subscription and circulation, that is where your marketing skills come in or you get someone who have worked as a circulation manager to take care of that. You need to liaison with all agents in your business environment. Much of your fund goes into marketing, looking for advert, circulation etc. Your first month just have it in mind that you must provide free advert. go to those companies who really want to build brand and have money to pump into promotion and branding and offer them free advert, when your magazine is out, you send free copies to them. From 2nd edition you will start getting interest. You can provide free advert for MTN, Diamond Bank, Etisalat, First Bank, Slot Limited and those firm who really have the money to pump into marketing/branding, but most of these firms have their agent and you need to meet their agent.

I am into ICT and I also into business consulting. I’m proud to tell you that I am one of the youwin1 awardees. So I am talking from experience.

blink182, I know you are into web design and my idea that won youwin1 was on web design, computer training, software etc. All things being equally, if they are to choose between your idea and that of magazine idea, they will choose magazine because magazine has more tendency to create sustainable employment than web design. And YouWIN main objective is creating employment opportunities.

Let her go and do her homework well, she will make it.

Tmany: Have any of you taken time to read those testimonies of past winners on the YOUWIN site i sincerely don't see anything innovative abt the biz there.

Tmany: Have any of you taken time to read those testimonies of past winners on the YOUWIN site i sincerely don't see anything innovative abt the biz there.

utimatedes:
For the fact that you wrote last year and you did not win doesn't mean that the idea is a bad one. Magazine production is never and will never be a bad idea. Is just that it is capital intensive and I guess you where unable to demonstrate your ability and capacity to succeed in the business. There are many people that wrote on agro base idea and never made it and agro base idea get top priority, it doesn't mean that because the person was not selected, the idea is a bad one.

For you to be success with this idea, your background matters a lot, what you have achieve matters a lot and your understanding of the market which is very competitive also matters alot.

Someone in YouWIN! 1 submitted an idea on football coaching and to scout Nigeria talents abroad. During the validation in Abuja, the guy was drilled by the lady was reviewing his document asked him is this what you submitted and they approved N10m for you, the guy said yes. The lady was so curious that she invited the YouWIN project coordinator and the guy told the lady if YouWIN sees sense in his idea and awarded him the maximum amount and all his documents are complete, please clear him.

I myself I was curious and after my validation, I made him and since he was from my state, Akwa Ibom, but based in Lagos, he was so delighted and happy to share with me. At the end what I realized and what helped him was that his sport was registered with Lagos State and other necessary agencies and he has being in business for a long time and was able to convince them that the idea will create employment opportunity and further develop the economy.

As bad as that idea may sound, demonstrating that you under what objective of the programme and your idea is inline with this objective will take you there.

For me, you did not demonstrate you understand what you re doing and it wasn't convincing enough. If you choose another business, if you can demonstrate you understand what you are doing, you will still fail.

Good Luck.

j.tenna:

thanks dear for taking time to respond. I think i wasnt vast in knwledge enough for them to approve my biz. I think another thing they look out for is if the biz is ecofriendly. Truth be said magazine is a luxury good n its competition is high. Anyway i hv decided to go for another which is small-scall sausage manufacturing but i dont have a clue about it. I just know it will have a ready market. I hope its a good idea or i shouldnt waste my time? Been surfing the net to gather more info and men there is a lot to know! Pls what is the deadline for submission? I really do need more time.

Tayeni: lol@ ecofriendly. This is África! The least of our immediate problems is being "friendly to the eco" .damnn! We r not even friendly to our fellow citizens. We never chop belle full , no employment no money, boys are not smiling. Lol. Seriously now, there are other good ideas that can win on account of being novel and ecofriendly too....recycling biz(plastic, rubber, can, paper, wood etc). I dont know much about these. But if u do, u can consider them. If u were serious about applying, u would have visited the youwin website to know the deadline or even googling it sef.

blink182: You made a lot of sense but I still think magazine business is a bad business especially in Nigeria, it is a luxury item and N10m is not enough to sustain a good magazine unless she wants to produce those funny magazines with glossy coloured outside and paper one colour inside. those magazines are just hideous. One good point you made though is that she should know her business very and she can sell any business plan.

Finally, my business is a web application not a website building firm, I see no future for website building companies, you can't survive and have a workforce based on just building websites except you want to augment income from other sources, I speak from experience.

j.tenna:

my brother i did oh. Nothin came up And since i am using a quack phone i saw sometin like jan 24. But earlier on this thread i saw dec 27. Which one be truth? Abeg tell me.

stagger: May I also add that this ECO-FRIENDLY stuff being pandered around is nothing but a load of BS.

In the early days of some of my businesses, there were times I paid salaries from my personal money when the businesses were struggling. I once took a bank loan that almost sunk me and when I paid, the interest I paid was almost 50% of the facility.

At such times when the cashflow is in trouble and your staff and their families have to eat, are you gonna tell them "HEY MAKE UNA NO WORRY. AT LEAST WE ARE SAVING THE PLANET..." Try am see whether one of them with big head no go nod all your teeth comot!

stagger: May I also add that this ECO-FRIENDLY stuff being pandered around is nothing but a load of BS.

In the early days of some of my businesses, there were times I paid salaries from my personal money when the businesses were struggling. I once took a bank loan that almost sunk me and when I paid, the interest I paid was almost 50% of the facility.

At such times when the cashflow is in trouble and your staff and their families have to eat, are you gonna tell them "HEY MAKE UNA NO WORRY. AT LEAST WE ARE SAVING THE PLANET..." Try am see whether one of them with big head no go nod all your teeth comot!

Tayeni: dec 27 it is nigbayen. I wish the results will be announced that day....i need a chrismas/newyear gift from the Government. Wetin do ur fone?

j.tenna:

which one is nigbayen again? My brother my phone na wan old nokia wey nor they show well.

stagger:

Anyone who has done a business in the Nigerian environment (like me from my teenage hustling of the late 80s till date) will tell you that Mr Utibe's contribution makes w whole lot of sense. Printing business is a very viable business capable of creating employment for many people (just come to Murg plaza in Area 10 Abuja to see for yourself).

But the fact is that in the hands of a newbie, a printing business will fail. That is my take, knowing how Nigerians are more adept at copying ideas and other people's businesses than taking the pains to do a proper business research.

stagger:

Anyone who has done a business in the Nigerian environment (like me from my teenage hustling of the late 80s till date) will tell you that Mr Utibe's contribution makes w whole lot of sense. Printing business is a very viable business capable of creating employment for many people (just come to Murg plaza in Area 10 Abuja to see for yourself).

But the fact is that in the hands of a newbie, a printing business will fail. That is my take, knowing how Nigerians are more adept at copying ideas and other people's businesses than taking the pains to do a proper business research.

stagger:

Anyone who has done a business in the Nigerian environment (like me from my teenage hustling of the late 80s till date) will tell you that Mr Utibe's contribution makes w whole lot of sense. Printing business is a very viable business capable of creating employment for many people (just come to Murg plaza in Area 10 Abuja to see for yourself).

But the fact is that in the hands of a newbie, a printing business will fail. That is my take, knowing how Nigerians are more adept at copying ideas and other people's businesses than taking the pains to do a proper business research.

j.tenna:

thanks dear for taking time to respond. I think i wasnt vast in knwledge enough for them to approve my biz. I dnt think at this stage i can start building a website and paying for advert. Truth be said magazine is a luxury good n its competition is high. In my own time, i will still go into it wen i have the money and Anyway i hv decided to go for another which is small-scale sausage manufacturing but i dont have a clue about it. I just know it will have a ready market. I hope its a good idea or i shouldnt waste my time? Been surfing the net to gather more info and men there is a lot to know! Pls what is the deadline for submission? I really do need more time.

utimatedes:
I also share tips and technique to use and impress youwin. Get it here http://www.utibeetim.com/youwin. You can contact me on info(@)utibeetim.com

blink182: I do not want to discourage you but you sound like you are not ready for this at all.

Let me tell you a little secret of mine, my first plan was an autocare shop. I've seen the market and know its huge. The shop will do wheel balancing, wheel alignment and others, these things I do not know how to do but I downloaded video manuals from youtube and if I describe to you how to do wheel balancing based on the videos, you will think I've been doing it practically for years.

If you love producing sausages and believe you can run the business then research your equipment, raw material, marketing channels and everything needed.

My current business plan doesn't exist in Nigeria yet despite how gravely Nigerians need it. I got friends in the USA to help me research the system over there and I refined it. If I describe the process for you, you will think I just copied an existing nigerian system.

Just believe in yourself and you will achieve much by the grace of God.

j.tenna:

yes i agree with you. I was really not prepared.now i am. Putting everytin aside for now including my job and am plunging in2 it full time. Thanks

blink182: good to hear, we will surely make it in Jesus name.

Energieman: WHEN YOU PROPOSE AN ICT FIRM, THE FINANCIAL STORY IS ALWAYS EXTRAVAGANTLY DIFFERENT.

newacca:
You are expected to write the kind of people that will need ur product/services mostly. For instance,you produce biro n books, ur expected customers are Students,Schools,Corporate organizations,NGO ,Government etc Those dat mostly need ur product or service and those that will definetely patronize u.