₦airaland Forum

Hello friends. Another thing you ought to know about our mental capability is that the more you engage it in a task, the better you get at the task.

Let us task our brain with this mind game: within 10 seconds, think of 5 uses of a paper.

Join me tomorrow on pricing. Thanks.

Hello friends.

The challenge: I live in a student environment - I asked myself what would I have done if I had to raise fund. These are raw ideas which I didn't filter.
1. Write term papers at a fee.
2. Write student projects.
3. Do research for a write-up.
4. Seminar presentation slides.
5. Note writing.
6. Errand services which includes cleaning, laundry and cooking.
7. Run date-matching service.
8. Run a bus charter service for the numerous associations, clubs and organizations for outings. This will be done with a bus chartering service.
9. Provide website/blog content for associations, clubs and organizations on a continuos basis.
10. Provide information on education abroad, scholarship opportunties and how to go about it - trust the youths, they all want to go for greener pasture.

Whaow! I 've gotten to number ten, can't believe it - took me roughly thirty minutes.
The point is, wealth comes from thought; the solution to your fund problem will come from your thought.
The brain is well equipped for this task, stretch it.

Anyone who needs to generate fund? let's looks through it. Thanks.

Hello friends, quite late today.
I put myself up to the challenge of searching out ways to raise money; assuming I was short on business start-up fund.

Recall that today's post ought to look into practical approach to raising fund. I did come up with some ideas which I will share tomorrow.

Hoever, it is important to know this fact; we 've got to involve our mental capability in getting what we want; if not, most of our business ideas or dreams would be lost. The brain is the centre for wealth generation - its ability for this is quite enormous, as said by neuropsychologist.

Let's get to read the challenge tomorrow. Thanks.
Good night.

Hi woma123.
My piece:
1. Since you have a lot of experience in corporate event planning - that is your comfort zone, stay there.
Dont go into poultry business out of what else can I do, or I dont have a choice; it could lead to frustration. You will be switching from people to animals - the question is which do you prefer to work with? I leave that to you.
3. Connections for getting corporate event account seems tasking to you.
If it is so, I would suggest you take your corporate event knowledge to another height. Why not service other corporate event planners who are ahead of you in the race in Nigeria?

Servicing means providing consultancy and/or training services. Sub-niches to address can include:
corporate event billing.
Use of technology in corporate planning.
Lastest trends and vogue in corporate event planning.
Understanding your client needs for an event.
Etiquettes for service personnel during corporate events.
Designs for event places.
Finance for the corporate event planner.
Honestly, I can go on and on - but the most important is that the land is green for you.

Finally, before you pack your bag and baggage home, test the market by scheduling a training program on your sub-niche topic here in Nigeria. Take a full or half paper advert in a national daily paper; invite a notable name in corporate event planning as a fellow resource person - it gives crediblity to the program and helps you launch your career.
Flaunt the fact you are coming and bringing your expertise from UK. Let a graphic designer/ad copy writer help you bring out the training message.
Let's get to hear the outcome.

I hope it helps. Wish you success.

Hi woma123.
My piece:
1. Since you have a lot of experience in corporate event planning - that is your comfort zone, stay there.
Dont go into poultry business out of what else can I do, or I dont have a choice; it could lead to frustration. You will be switching from people to animals - the question is which do you prefer to work with? I leave that to you.
3. Connections for getting corporate event account seems tasking to you.
If it is so, I would suggest you take your corporate event knowledge to another height. Why not service other corporate event planners who are ahead of you in the race in Nigeria?

Servicing means providing consultancy and/or training services. Sub-niches to address can include:
corporate event billing.
Use of technology in corporate planning.
Lastest trends and vogue in corporate event planning.
Understanding your client needs for an event.
Etiquettes for service personnel during corporate events.
Designs for event places.
Finance for the corporate event planner.
Honestly, I can go on and on - but the most important is that the land is green for you.

Finally, before you pack your bag and baggage home, test the market by scheduling a training program on your sub-niche topic here in Nigeria. Take a full or half paper advert in a national daily paper; invite a notable name in corporate event planning as a fellow resource person - it gives crediblity to the program and helps you launch your career.
Flaunt the fact you are coming and bringing your expertise from UK. Let a graphic designer/ad copy writer help you bring out the training message.
Let's get to hear the outcome.

I hope it helps. Wish you success.

Hello diasporan friends. Hope you had a nice weekend.

Let us continue; how do I determine the problems inherent in the business I hope to do in Nigeria?
Nairaland will offer you this opportunity - it is presumed to be a fair representative of the population of the entity called Nigeria. I bet you, you will get an insight into expected problems or risks if posted here. Moreover, it is a free tool - you are paying nothing to use it.

You may ask, why not leave this work to a business planning company? Good question! May I ask, would it be bad if you are double sure of your facts before you make a life-changing decision?

Once you can identify these risks or problems, how do you grade them? There are high risks and low risks.
High risks are those you have no control over and think would have a devastating effect on your business if it happens.
E.g lesuire/hospitality business near Kuramo beach or bed of river Niger. You have no power over the ocean surge - what do you do with such an idea, discard or retain it? I hear someone say, I will take an insurance cover - be ready for a very high premium pay-out.
Health issues would also make the list of high risks - a business idea that will endanger you or your employees health due to hazardous agents or chemicals should not be taken with levity; avoid law-suits at all cost.
Low risks are vice-versa of high risks. Putting in some form of business control will lower or completely eliminate such risks.

The risk is yours to evaluate; it gives you the inkling to continue with such an idea or not.

What next? Join me in 2 days. Thanks.

Hello friends. I hope our present topic is not too technical; or better still, too mathematical.
Friends, the truth is you can't start or do serious business without talking figures and numbers - afterall you will continue naira in numbers when it starts rolling in.

From the previous post: what do you do when the required business capital seems beyond your reach?
1. Go back to your estimations and see where cost reduction can be effected. The tendency is to over-estimate in a plan where estimation is required. However, be careful not to under-estimate.
2. Must you buy a brand new furniture, laptop or freezer to start-off your business? Must you rent an office space in a high-brow area?
Question your expenses and seek alternatives.
3. Is there a way to access micro-loan from family members or friends?

Let us meet on Monday for more practical approaches. Have a nice weekend.
Thanks.

Good evening friends. I did a post yesterday - as it is my practice to review the previous post before doing a new post; but to my dismay I did not find the post.
Anyway, I will do a repeat of the content.

To have a fair estimate of what will be needed to begin the business, you add up the start-up costs; starting assets and starting expense costs, followed by the running costs and finally the variable costs.

What if you add up the costs and it seems you have to break the bank to get the money to start; what can you do to solve this problem?
Make it a date tomorrow. Thanks.

Hello diasporan friends, ought to continue yesterday but forgot - I am sorry.
Let us continue from where we stopped.

Now that you have filtered out the myriad of ideas to choose the suitable idea, the next thing is to anticipate the problems and risks that are inherent in your idea.

It is important you think risk or problems before reward; the business environment in Nigeria calls for this action.
Problems ranging from manpower, utility, sabotaging, theft, availability of technology to corrupt practices. These are some of the business mammoths you will face in Nigeria.
Should you then stay back in diaspora to avoid them?

No, we ain't quitters. Life is a risk; so business is too. Life acknowledges those who make a way through the thorns of life; likewise in business too.
How do I then ascertain the problems while I am still abroad?
How do I grade the risk? Join me tomorrow.
Thanks.

My sense of humor? Oh! Should reside in my medulla oblangata - forgot it there b'cos of the shoking humor.

Ops! another question; which is better multiple domain names on a single or multiple hosting?
Which books do you recommend?
Thanks.

@ dual core thanks very much for the swift response. It is well appreciated.

However, I was shocked to my bone marrow and embarassed with the last question you answered. It did not emanate from me.
Please check my post to confirm if such a request was made by me.
Thanks and have a nice day.

@ dual core thanks very much for the swift response. It is well appreciated.

However, I was shocked to my bone marrow with the last question you answered. It did not emanate from me.
Please check my post to confirm if such a request was made by me.
Thanks and have a nice day.

Good morning my highly esteemed webmasters.

I did pay for monthly hosting plan with hostagor and domain name registration with Godaddy. I am yet to use them.
One month have elapse - are the subscriptions valid since I am yet to use them?
Would the domain name be lost or I could pay up to reclaim it?
Is it possible to have multiple domain names on a single host plan?
Apart from w3schools, can you please suggest a good link for in depth lessons in HTML 4 & 5.

Helpers and not sellers please. Thanks.

Good morning friends. I hope your needs are being met as we journey together to build a multi million naira brand.

The final cost you need to add to start-up and running costs is the cost of raw materials for the next two months. Remember, we did include the cost of raw materials in the start-up costs to perhaps meet the first month production. We need to plan and include its costs for the next 2 months to have a good estimate of the 3 month running costs; remember we are doing it to avoid being cash-strapped before we can generate sufficient income from the business.
Why can't we put it as a fixed item cost like rent, utilities e.t.c? Raw material costs will vary with how many product can be made and sold; hence, why it is called a variable cost.
Costs will vary for a seminar involving 20 people and 5 people.
A raw material is what you use to produce a product or service a customer.

What would be my capital requirement for transforming my business idea into a reality?
You will know tomorrow.
Thanks.

Good morning friends. I hope your needs are being met as we journey together to build a multi million naira brand.

The final cost you need to add to start-up and running costs is the cost of raw materials for the next two months. Remember, we did include the cost of raw materials in the start-up costs to perhaps meet the first month production. We need to plan and include its costs for the next 2 months to have a good estimate of the 3 month running costs; remember we are doing it to avoid being cash-strapped before we can generate sufficient income from the business.
Why can't we put it as a fixed item cost like rent, utilities e.t.c? Raw material costs will vary with how many product can be made and sold; hence, why it is called a variable cost.
Costs will vary for a seminar involving 20 people and 5 people.
A raw material is what you use to produce a product or service a customer.

What would be my capital requirement for transforming my business idea into a reality?
You will know tomorrow.
Thanks.

Good morning friends. I hope your needs are being met as we journey together to build a multi million naira brand.

The final cost you need to add to start-up and running costs is the cost of raw materials for the next two months. Remember, we did include the cost of raw materials in the start-up costs to perhaps meet the first month production. We need to plan and include its costs for the next 2 months to have a good estimate of the 3 month running costs; remember we are doing it to avoid being cash-strapped before we can generate sufficient income from the business.
Why can't we put it as a fixed item cost like rent, utilities e.t.c? Raw material costs will vary with how many product can be made and sold; hence, why it is called a variable cost.
Costs will vary for a seminar involving 20 people and 5 people.
A raw material is what you use to produce a product or service a customer.

What would be my capital requirement for transforming my business idea into a reality?
You will know tomorrow.
Thanks.

Good morning friends. I hope your needs are being met as we journey together to build a multi million naira brand.

The final cost you need to add to start-up and running costs is the cost of raw materials for the next two months. Remember, we did include the cost of raw materials in the start-up costs to perhaps meet the first month production. We need to plan and include its costs for the next 2 months to have a good estimate of the 3 month running costs; remember we are doing it to avoid being cash-strapped before we can generate sufficient income from the business.
Why can't we put it as a fixed item cost like rent, utilities e.t.c? Raw material costs will vary with how many product can be made and sold; hence, why it is called a variable cost.
Costs will vary for a seminar involving 20 people and 5 people.
A raw material is what you use to produce a product or service a customer.

What would be my capital requirement for transforming my business idea into a reality?
You will know tomorrow.
Thanks.

Good morning friends. I hope your needs are being met as we journey together to build a multi million naira brand.

The final cost you need to add to start-up and running costs is the cost of raw materials for the next two months. Remember, we did include the cost of raw materials in the start-up costs to perhaps meet the first month production. We need to plan and include its costs for the next 2 months to have a good estimate of the 3 month running costs; remember we are doing it to avoid being cash-strapped before we can generate sufficient income from the business.
Why can't we put it as a fixed item cost like rent, utilities e.t.c? Raw material costs will vary with how many product can be made and sold; hence, why it is called a variable cost.
Costs will vary for a seminar involving 20 people and 5 people.
A raw material is what you use to produce a product or service a customer.

What would be my capital requirement for transforming my business idea into a reality?
You will know tomorrow.
Thanks.

Good evening friends. Two others things to consider in the choice of a business idea are:
1. It should not be in a highly regulated market or a market where the government is a player. Refinery business in Nigeria is a no-go-area for private investors, because of interventions, regulations and policies that are inimical to profiting in the sector.

2. The fact that a business idea or trend or technology works well in a foreign land does not mean it will here.
To be on a safe side, test the opinion of people regarding such ideas. You can actually open a discussion thread on such idea to feel the pulse of the people.
Ease of entry, technical ability, capital requirement are also worth your consideration.

Please take your time to come to a suitable business idea.
Now that you have an idea, what next?
Let's meet in 2 days. Thanks.

Hello friends, I hope you had a nice weekend. This thread remains your information bus stop on business start-up leading to the ultimate multi-million naira brand.

Last week, we looked at how to calculate start-up costs - costs of items required to open a business concern.
Costs were attached to each of the required item; the costs were summed up to obtain the total start-up costs.

The next step is to calculate how you need to make the business run for at least 3 months before you have any size-able income to plough back to meet the running costs.

What does your running cost entail? These are costs that, whether you sell or not, you must pay for. E.g. Rent, utilities - water, electricity, fuel, internet access subscription, administration - stationeries, niche magazine/newsletter; quarterly seminars, capital expenditure, salary, wages e.t.c.
What you have as running costs would be a function of your business type.
Remember you have calculate the running cost for a minimum of 3 months so you don't find yourself out of business because of inadequate fund.

Now that you know your start-up costs and running costs, what other cost of doing business must you add to determine the required capital for your business?

Join me tomorrow. Thanks.

Hello friends, I hope you had a nice weekend. This thread remains your information bus stop on business start-up leading to the ultimate multi-million naira brand.

Last week, we looked at how to calculate start-up costs - costs of items required to open a business concern.
Costs were attached to each of the required item; the costs were summed up to obtain the total start-up costs.

The next step is to calculate how you need to make the business run for at least 3 months before you have any size-able income to plough back to meet the running costs.

What does your running cost entail? These are costs that, whether you sell or not, you must pay for. E.g. Rent, utilities - water, electricity, fuel, internet access subscription, administration - stationeries, niche magazine/newsletter; quarterly seminars, capital expenditure, salary, wages e.t.c.
What you have as running costs would be a function of your business type.
Remember you have calculate the running cost for a minimum of 3 months so you don't find yourself out of business because of inadequate fund.

Now that you know your start-up costs and running costs, what other cost of doing business must you add to determine the required capital for your business?

Join me tomorrow. Thanks.

Hello friends, I hope you had a nice weekend. This thread remains your information bus stop on business start-up leading to the ultimate multi-million naira brand.

Last week, we looked at how to calculate start-up costs - costs of items required to open a business concern.
Costs were attached to each of the required item; the costs were summed up to obtain the total start-up costs.

The next step is to calculate how you need to make the business run for at least 3 months before you have any size-able income to plough back to meet the running costs.

What does your running cost entail? These are costs that, whether you sell or not, you must pay for. E.g. Rent, utilities - water, electricity, fuel, internet access subscription, administration - stationeries, niche magazine/newsletter; quarterly seminars, capital expenditure, salary, wages e.t.c.
What you have as running costs would be a function of your business type.
Remember you have calculate the running cost for a minimum of 3 months so you don't find yourself out of business because of inadequate fund.

Now that you know your start-up costs and running costs, what other cost of doing business must you add to determine the required capital for your business?

Join me tomorrow. Thanks.

Hello friends, sorry for being offline yesterday. @Dr Eva, thanks. Please start with this gift; the link is on post 37 of the thread. I am sorry, I do not know how to refer to a link on a phone.

Friends, the table I made to demonstrate the start-up costs did not layout well. I will try and get around that this weekend since we still have some tables to look through.

The sum total of N60,700 we calculated in previous post represents the start-up cost.
Is it all we need to start a business? No!

We 've got to estimate what it will take to 'run the business' after start-up.
Non-inclusion of running cost to business capital is recorded as a major reason for business failure.

No business makes profit(don't confuse profit with sales, the fact that you sell does not mean you've made profit) from day one, rather it will start, continue to run before it makes profit. Profit don't come for some until months or even a year. Hence, this cost will help you anticpate what you need to run during the 'profit-less' period and thereafter.

On Monday, we will look into the rudiments of calculating the cost of running a business.
Thanks and have a nice weekend.

Hello friends. Now that you have your list of materials and resources, what next?

Attach the price at which you will buy each of the item, calculate the
the total cost and sum it up to get the start up cost.
E.g
Item Qty Unit Total cost cost
1.Generator 2 30000 60000
2.Broom 1 50 50
3.Marketing
(Flyers) 500 0.50 250
4. License 1 100 100
5. Sugar(bag) 1 300 300

Qty = quantity of item needed.
Unit cost= cost of one item.
Total cost = Qty * unit cost

Sum up the total cost from above
60000+250+100+50+300= N60700.
What does this sum total represent? Meet me tomorrow.
Thanks.

Hello friends. In the last post before the network break, the question I asked was; what do you do within the months and years before the target date for homecoming?

You have no other thing to do than:
1. identify steps you need to take to own and do a business back at home.

2. Assigning a timeframe to accomplish the itemized steps.

3. Accomplishing the tasks. This is where the achievers and the dreamers are set apart. You have to make things happen at this stage or else it means the 'wish-genie' still resides within you.

What are some of the tasks you must set out to do?
A. You must identify a probable business service or product idea you would want to take up back at home.
Business ideas can easily be gotten from your profession, franchise, government parastatals with the mandate for industralization and commerce activity, Chambers of Commerces online business idea fora, websites and blogs e.t.c

What criteria must your choice of idea meet?
Let us meet on Friday. Thanks.

Hello friends. Be reminded that we intended defining some terms under start-up costs before the break.
As we pencil our start-up cost, we will get to understand the terms.

In determing the start-up cost, you need to list out materials or resources you need to turn your idea into reality.
For example, if you intend setting up an online business - what materials comes to mind? A laptop, a modem, and a generator among others.
In order not to discourage yourself, owning these items isn't a necessity for starting, the use of a cybercafe can start your business. However, the amount you spend will represent a cost which will be recurring or re-occuring as often as you visit the cafe - we will visit it later.

Other things which can make up your start-up list includes : advertising, packaging, expert services, labour, transportation, stock e.t.c
Note that startup needs differ for different businesses.

After itemising what I need to start my business, what next?
Let us meet tomorrow. Thanks.

I say a big sorry to all my dear diaspora friends. I would not go off NL without prior notice. My absence was due to the airtel - opera mini imbroglio. I am working on alternatives. Thanks for your understanding.

@ pacemaker thanks. A seminar with the theme 'Business Prospects and Opportunities of Intellectual Properties' for the diasporan is in the offing. It is being slated for first week in December.
Full details will be out soonest.

I am glad to be back. Let us continue our discussion tomorrow. Thanks.

With great apology and gratitude, I say good morning friends.
I got caught in the face-off between opera-mini and airtel. My ovi browser refused to cooperate with me.
The last option was to download uc browser, but I have found it hard downloading any phone application on my phone. Please the gurus in the house should help me with this. It is a Nokia X2-01.

I am glad to be back. We shall continue tomorrow in full force. Thanks.

Dear friends sorry for being offline yesterday. I had an urgent issue that took the better part of my time.

In ascertaining the cost of starting and running a business; what questions must be answered?
1. How much is it going to cost to start?
2. How much will the business need to continue to run despite not making profit yet?
3. At what point will I breakeven(expenditure=income)?
4. How and who will finance the business?

To determine the costs above, an understanding of fixed and variable costs is of neccessity.
Let us look into it tomorrow. Thanks.

Hello friends. I hope your weekend was great .

Straight to today's topic; why the need for financial analysis in the business plan?
It helps you to:
1. Ascertain the cost implication of starting and running a business.
2. Price your service/product.
3. Financial data projections/
forecast. e.g. profit/loss, sales.
4. Put in place records to monitor the business.

External funding will require information on how to utilize and make returns on investor's fund.

Join me tomorrow to begin the analysis. Sharpen your arithmetics and business study skill for the analysis.
Thanks.

Hello friends. I hope we administered the home-coming readyness test as proposed.
Remember, be sincere with yourself.

The next step is to set a time deadline to accomplish your goal. Coming home to start a business is the goal. If you don't attach a time to your dream of coming back, then you have only a wish.
May the wish genie help you with this.

What time frame would be most appropiate to achieve the goal at hand? It depends on you, which is tied to other factors e.g cash availability, available time to work on sub-goal e.t.c - set the most convenient time that seems realistic to you .
However, the time span must not be too short or tight, so you are not under any undue pressure. Likewise, don't give yourself a 20 year time frame to accomplish the goal.
A period of 11/2 - 5 years should be reasonable.

What should you do within the chosen timeframe? Let us meet on Monday. Thanks.