Competition for grants has never been more intense.
When I won the Tony Elumelu Grant in 2017, over 150,000 people applied!
Now, imagine I’m a tired, grumpy and hungry reviewer. I’ve got 100 grant applications to get through. How can you as an applicant, make it as easy as possible for me to pick you?
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1. Right Solutions
All money is not created equal. Different grant giving organizations have different mandates and a different focus. While there are some that cover multiple industries like the Tony Elumelu Foundation, they are the exception. Ensure that your business is proffering a solution to the kind of problem the organization seeks to solve. Applying for a solar grant with a bio-gas business is going to end in tears.
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2. Radical Pitches
Grants are extremely competitive. To win a grant, you better be building a brand and not a commodity. A brand is any product or service that is easy to identify and hard to substitute. Think iPhones, Indomie Noodles, Dangote Cement or Paystack. A commodity is any product or service that is hard to identify and easy to substitute. Think razor blade, sachet water or Nokia phones. You have to narrow your focus, solve a specific problem and find a differentiating factor. For instance, a friend of mine is making recommended eye wear frames from bamboo and She is giving out one pair for every pair sold. That is a strong selling point.
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How can you cook a radical elevator pitch? Use FAQS
Facts: Something known to be true based on evidence. For instance, Nigeria’s population is 200M.
Analogies: Comparison between one thing & another. For instance, Brazil with a near identical population as Nigeria has an installed energy capacity of 137Giga Watts. Meanwhile, Nigeria has an installed capacity of only 12,000Megawatts and struggles to generate 4,000 Megawatts. This is a brilliant way to prove Nigeria is suffering from chronic energy poverty.
Quotes: A short sentence drawn from long experience. If you were pitching a solution that had to do with eradicating poverty, you could end with the words of Kofi Annan “poverty anywhere is a threat to security everywhere”
Stories: A narrative of a true or imagined event. Stories are powerful because they convey emotions. They help the listener/investor/judges connect to your solution. And lastly, stories move us because transportation leads to persuasion.
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3. Resourceful entrepreneurs
If you can’t do anything without money, you won’t do something with money.
Even if you are pitching an idea, you must have done something. Maybe a prototype or a website or land. Your current milestone cannot be “we are waiting for this grant”.
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4. Real scalability
“In the end though, the best reason to need capital is speed… Not to fix a sales or technology problem”
Scalable businesses have a large addressable market. They usually leverage technology too. To scale, you also need to know your numbers. What is the total amount of cash invested to date? What are your current monthly cash expenses ? How much revenue has your startup generated since inception?
No funder will give you money if you cant clearly articulate why you need it. Don’t say
“I will start my own cosmetic line the way Tara did. Go to china and produce my brand of lipsticks and body cream. Also start a standard beauty school with accredited certification”
Break it down. For instance, this will increase your production from what to what? And profit will increase from what to what?
Let’s rephrase
With $10,000 we will launch a beauty school that will train about 2,000 aspiring skin care specialists over the next 3 years, equipping them with skills that will make them skilled beauticians and employers of labour.
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I shared these tips at Hope Business Forum (HBF) in Abeokuta over the weekend. I also shared tips on how to win the Tony Elumelu Grant (www./tefguide). Thanks to the organizer’s for honoring me with an award in business excellence.
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If you’re interested in winning grants, I have written an ebook aptly titled “How to win Grants”. It costs just N1,000 ($3) and It comes with 1 month of free coaching. WhatsApp me on +2348037285780 for more info.
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I hope you found this useful!