Seeing the volume of small businesses and start-ups that surface in Nigeria almost on a daily basis, it’s pretty surprising even to the casual observer that there are not a lot of Nigerian small businesses that make the transition into truly successful businesses. Let’s look around us at most of the biggest firms in Nigeria. Most of them are foreign or owned by foreigners. No matter how many Nigerians work in those firms, it doesn’t change the fact that most of the big players in the Nigerian corporate sector are foreign owned.

So what’s the problem? Is it that we don’t own businesses? Is it that Nigerians aren’t interested in starting up and running successful businesses? Or that there just isn’t enough capital for the businesses to flourish. Or is the government stifling the growth of businesses in the country?

Well, notwithstanding the fact that the last two are real concerns, the fact is that there are Nigerians with enough capital, in niches that are favoured by the government and are interested in actually running something bigger than corner shop stores. So how come almost none of them make the break from small business to established conglomerate?

Well one major reason is this: Lack Of A Business Plan. Here’s the thing. Most Nigerian entrepreneurs, startup-owners and business owners tend to run their businesses like small traders. Most of them don’t look at the bigger picture, choosing instead to focus on immediate costs and returns and failing to plan how to take their business to the next level.

Thing is, it’s not enough to say you want to be the next Bill Gates or Aliko Dangote or Mark Zuckerberg (or Nsukabag as I like to think of him now, hehe) and dream of your business becoming the next big thing in the corporate world. That’s just an end point. What will you do to get your business from the start point where it’s all brand new and not yet a success to that point you have in your imagination? That’s what your business plan does for you.

Growing a business into a success is a step-by-step process. Forget all those start-ups that seem to have become overnight successes. Ask the owners how much work it took before they got their business to where it is. It’s a level at a time and your business plan is what details what levels your business wants to attain on the way to becoming a success and what you as the owner and your staff have to do to get the business to achieve each milestone.

A detailed business plan doesn’t just say what. It also says how. It’s like a blueprint for your future successful business. And here’s another benefit of having a business plan: it helps you determine what levels your business has reached and what milestones you’ve reached. One problem a lot of people have is that their business may be making progress but because they don’t have a business plan, they can’t see this progress. So lots of people give up on their business, even though it’s slowly gaining traction. Think of it. If your business plan says “By the end of 2016, we should be making at least 10 sales everyday”, then at the end of the year, you could look at the stats on ground and figure out if you’ve reached that benchmark and, if you have, tells you your business is on it’s way to the next checkpoint or if you’ve not reached it, tells you you need to make changes. But if you don’t have a business plan, at the end of the year, you may look at your 12 sales per day and feel it’s not enough and given up even if it would have been a mark of success if you had had a plan. That’s the thing about business plans – they help you encourage yourself when things go according to plans and help you figure out that you need to do things differently if they don’t.

Which brings me to another point: your business plan is not something set in stone and can’t be changed. The realities of the corporate and entrepreneurial scene change on a daily basis. Your business plan should change to reflect changing realities. If your business plan is no longer feasible for whatever eventualities come up, do change them. Don’t just create on business plan, then pour wet cement on it and forget about it. Keep assessing how social, economic and political realities affect the present and future of your business and modify your plan so your business still stays feasible regardless.

Here’s another thing: you don’t necessarily have to be the only one to come up with a plan for your business. Not everyone comes up with great plans and you shouldn’t be ashamed to admit you don’t know everything. If you can’t come up with a cogent plan for your business by yourself, you might need to engage someone that knows how to. Sometimes, even if you can come up with a good plan, you might not be able to properly weigh the risks and liabilities that might come up. Which is why even if you draft your plan yourself, try to get one or two people, usually people who run/have run successful businesses to take a look at it. They might see something you’ve overlooked and that might might be extremely important down the line

So, Nigerian businessman/entrepreneur, it’s time to get planning. Good luck!

https://completelytier./2016/11/30/nigerian-small-businesses-and-the-no-plan-plan/

RosaConsidine:
Seeing the volume of small businesses and start-ups that surface in Nigeria almost on a daily basis, it’s pretty surprising even to the casual observer that there are not a lot of Nigerian small businesses that make the transition into truly successful businesses. Let’s look around us at most of the biggest firms in Nigeria. Most of them are foreign or owned by foreigners. No matter how many Nigerians work in those firms, it doesn’t change the fact that most of the big players in the Nigerian corporate sector are foreign owned.

So what’s the problem? Is it that we don’t own businesses? Is it that Nigerians aren’t interested in starting up and running successful businesses? Or that there just isn’t enough capital for the businesses to flourish. Or is the government stifling the growth of businesses in the country?

Well, notwithstanding the fact that the last two are real concerns, the fact is that there are Nigerians with enough capital, in niches that are favoured by the government and are interested in actually running something bigger than corner shop stores. So how come almost none of them make the break from small business to established conglomerate?

Well one major reason is this: Lack Of A Business Plan. Here’s the thing. Most Nigerian entrepreneurs, startup-owners and business owners tend to run their businesses like small traders. Most of them don’t look at the bigger picture, choosing instead to focus on immediate costs and returns and failing to plan how to take their business to the next level.

Thing is, it’s not enough to say you want to be the next Bill Gates or Aliko Dangote or Mark Zuckerberg (or Nsukabag as I like to think of him now, hehe) and dream of your business becoming the next big thing in the corporate world. That’s just an end point. What will you do to get your business from the start point where it’s all brand new and not yet a success to that point you have in your imagination? That’s what your business plan does for you.

Growing a business into a success is a step-by-step process. Forget all those start-ups that seem to have become overnight successes. Ask the owners how much work it took before they got their business to where it is. It’s a level at a time and your business plan is what details what levels your business wants to attain on the way to becoming a success and what you as the owner and your staff have to do to get the business to achieve each milestone.

A detailed business plan doesn’t just say what. It also says how. It’s like a blueprint for your future successful business. And here’s another benefit of having a business plan: it helps you determine what levels your business has reached and what milestones you’ve reached. One problem a lot of people have is that their business may be making progress but because they don’t have a business plan, they can’t see this progress. So lots of people give up on their business, even though it’s slowly gaining traction. Think of it. If your business plan says “By the end of 2016, we should be making at least 10 sales everyday”, then at the end of the year, you could look at the stats on ground and figure out if you’ve reached that benchmark and, if you have, tells you your business is on it’s way to the next checkpoint or if you’ve not reached it, tells you you need to make changes. But if you don’t have a business plan, at the end of the year, you may look at your 12 sales per day and feel it’s not enough and given up even if it would have been a mark of success if you had had a plan. That’s the thing about business plans – they help you encourage yourself when things go according to plans and help you figure out that you need to do things differently if they don’t.

Which brings me to another point: your business plan is not something set in stone and can’t be changed. The realities of the corporate and entrepreneurial scene change on a daily basis. Your business plan should change to reflect changing realities. If your business plan is no longer feasible for whatever eventualities come up, do change them. Don’t just create on business plan, then pour wet cement on it and forget about it. Keep assessing how social, economic and political realities affect the present and future of your business and modify your plan so your business still stays feasible regardless.

Here’s another thing: you don’t necessarily have to be the only one to come up with a plan for your business. Not everyone comes up with great plans and you shouldn’t be ashamed to admit you don’t know everything. If you can’t come up with a cogent plan for your business by yourself, you might need to engage someone that knows how to. Sometimes, even if you can come up with a good plan, you might not be able to properly weigh the risks and liabilities that might come up. Which is why even if you draft your plan yourself, try to get one or two people, usually people who run/have run successful businesses to take a look at it. They might see something you’ve overlooked and that might might be extremely important down the line

So, Nigerian businessman/entrepreneur, it’s time to get planning. Good luck!

https://completelytier./2016/11/30/nigerian-small-businesses-and-the-no-plan-plan/

How much does it cost to get pro business plan writers

jose556:

How much does it cost to get pro business plan writers

To be honest, I'm not sure. I don't think there's even a fixed price for those. Still I did a bit of Googling and came up with the following links:

https://www.liveplan.com/business-plan-consulting

http://www.business-plans.com/

http://www.businessontop.com.ng/business-plan-proposals-lagos-nigeria/

The first two are foreign while the last one is Nigerian based. Of course, I cannot vouch for any of them so if you would like to use them you would have to be careful.

Also, before you use pro business plan writers, you have to:
1) Be clear about what your business is about and what you want it to achieve.
2) Be able to transmit those ideas to whoever will be writing your plan for you.

You can look up online for draft business plans and use them to come up with a sort of rough sketch of what your eventual business plan will be so it can guide whoever would do the actual work. Don't just give the business plan writer a vague idea of what your business is about and expect him/her to come up with one magical, detailed document. Give projected stats, dates and timelines, essential references and any other thing that would help the person do a good job for you. You're not just helping them do their job; you're helping yourself in the long run.

Good luck!