Different types of business plans

The structure, content and depth of a business plans depends on many factors, such as:

• The main objective of the business plan;
• The stage of the business (start-up or existing company or spin-off);
• Type of business/industry;
• Financing situation;
• Size of the company, etc.

 
The brief discussion below gives some examples of relevant factors.
 
Type of business/industry:
If you are in trade, your business plan will not be dealing with issues such as manufacturing process or investments in machinery. You will put more emphasis on obtaining funds to finance the building up of your procurement and sales network and pre-financing the goods you will be trading with. The mix of products and services to be offered can also affect the content of a plan. Issues relating to inventory, storage and so forth become less significant as the product/service mix moves towards a pure service business. In any case, your business plan should cover standard issues such as development of human resources and marketing.


Sole ownership:
 If you are a sole proprietor of a small business, perhaps you will be drafting the entire business plan yourself. For a small business, the size, complexity and effort spent in producing the business plan have to be kept within limits. In such a case the business plan has to put emphasis on your own person. Personal financial information may be required in order to support your statement that you will be allocating a certain part of your own funds as an investment in the business. You should also provide specific details regarding any personal non-financial assets that you plan to use in your business.


Transnational corporation:
The corporate business plan of a transnational corporation with an annual sales volume of several billion Naira does not put emphasis on the same issues as an average medium-size company with an annual turnover of a few million dollars. Issues covered in the business plans of transnational corporations are:
 

• Global image promotion strategies;
• Expansion through acquisition of other companies/mergers, etc.;
• Analysis of global macroeconomic developments and international politics that are likely to influence the business;
• Prediction of long-term trends and developments in demographic, social and consumer behaviour;
• Long-term product development (5 to10 years or beyond);
• Government relations and lobbying policies.

Issues of less significance for corporate business plans are perhaps the following:

• Production techniques (such corporations have many different types of products);
• Sales tactics (these could vary in different continents/countries);
• Staff policy (with perhaps the exception of top management in the different countries, etc.).
   

Divisional business plan:
The plan of a business division (unit) of a large corporation does not differ much from the business plan of an independent company. However, in addition to the standard issues covered in the business plan (production, sales, resources, etc.), it has to cover all issues of interfaces and synergies with the other units of the corporation.


Start-up business:
If you are just starting, you face a special challenge because you do not have an established track record. Instead, you must concentrate heavily on your ability to sell yourself and the partners that you may have as potentially successful businesspersons. It does not matter whether you are using your business plan in an effort to obtain financing or to convince prospective employees to come to work for you. You need to convince whoever reads your plan that your business idea is going to be a success. In essence, your ability to sell yourself is a substitute for the historical information that does not exist. Therefore, your plan should include personal information about all persons involved in the start-up venture (previous occupation, experience, business achievements, etc.), instead of the historical information that an ongoing business would be able to provide.
 
 
As is the case of an established business, you also need to provide projected profit and loss statements and a cash flow plan. These documents quantify the results you expect to achieve through your operations. Be sure to include any start-up costs that will be incurred prior to the opening of your business. While your business will probably involve certain expenses that are unique to your industry, do not forget some of the more common start-up expenses such as:

• Professional fees (legal or accounting);
• Regulatory charges (licensing, company registration costs, etc.);
• Deposits for rented space;
• Market study.

Credit: Utibe Etim

Agho P. Blessing, the farmer sowing the seed of entrepreneurship in young Nigerians

AfricanCheetahs.org met with Agho Princess Blessing during the Global Entrepreneurship Week (#GEW) to share with us her entrepreneurship story, how she started, her challenges, her YALI journey and many more.

Tell us a little about yourself….

My name is Agho Blessing, a social entrepreneur and a farmer. Currently, I’m a student studying entrepreneurship at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). I grew up in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. I am an expert professional agriculture practitioner with an experience of four years in farming. I am the founder of EarthTab Services, an initiative that trains and educates women and youth on the need to engage in entrepreneurial activities as it can be a sustainable means of livelihood.

What’s your Aha moment?

On this day last year,

I believed that I could create a service based social enterprise that will train and empower women and youths to enable them flourish and grow. I realized most youths in Edo State do not have entrepreneurship spirit. I decided to organize programs and seminars to spark that spirit in them. In my state, most of the youths are into internet fraud, sales of community lands and other unproductive activities, while some are into petty businesses. Some of the girls think the easiest ways they can make money is through prostitution.

At that point I knew I needed to build up myself to enable me impact greatness to the youths in my community. I decided to create an organization to educate, train and empower women and youths on the needs to engage in entrepreneurial activities. That was what gave birth to EARTHTAB SERVICES.

How it started

Why EarthTab?

Earth – meaning the world we are living in, Tab – shorthand forTablet, which means; If you give the earth the right tablet it needs, you would get the wellness of earth in return, just as the bible says; you reap what you sow. So far I have been able to transform the lives of more than 200 people in my state with over 30 people presently doing great things. One them designed a robot. He came to one of my workshops and said he was inspired by what he heard so he went home to think of what he can do to impact his society.  I also have a partner whom I sometimes work with DESTINY FREDERICK, who also has strong passion for developing the youths in Edo State. She is into recycling of waste and that’s something I and I’m proud of.

But why farming?

I have always had a passion for processing of agricultural products since in Africa, most of our products are just exported without adding any value. But I realized that to be successful in post-harvest technology, I need to understand how the cultivation of the crops is done and how the crops respond to various weather conditions. So I intended to start a farm in order to equip myself with knowledge on these. In the end, I’m helping ensure food security in Africa, whiles providing employment opportunities to youths in my community and helping reduce poverty. In essence, agriculture can be a gold mine for youth entrepreneurs.

Section of Blessing’s farm
“Agriculture can be a gold mine for youth entrepreneurs”

As a young female farmer tell us your challenges

Few girls of my age range are into farming, I will not say I have faced challenges because I am a lady, I will rather say I have faced challenges just like every other farmer has. Fact is, a lot of men, women and youth are now engaged in the practice as a result of the progress I have sustained over the years. Some young boys in my State see what I’m doing and are inspired by that.

Why do you think entrepreneurship is the way out poverty in Africa?

Entrepreneurship is a means of creating wealth, with all the natural resources available in Africa. If entrepreneurs are invested upon, Africa will become the greatest continent in the world. Most of the youths are into illegal activities for money; so I think entrepreneurship gives them the opportunity to make money legally.

View of entrepreneurship in the Nigeria

Entrepreneurial activities is increasing in Nigeria as different private organizations are investing greatly in entrepreneurs but the government should do more and create policies that will benefit entrepreneurs.

As an entrepreneur, to what do you attribute your success?

Hard work, persistence, focus and most importantly, mentorship. My mentor Pastor James O. Bodunrin has contributed greatly to my success as he has been a mentor and a father, he taught me how to grow the seed of greatness in me.

Credit: AfricanCheetahs

Road To Women's Business Growth

The Road to Women’s Business Growth project is a unique initiative which will build the business skills of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria.

The project aims to increase women's access to financial services and markets and empower them to grow profitable and sustanable business, ultimately promoting their long-term economic independence.

There is no registration fee. However, please note that particioants are requested to cover travel/transportation costs to the project's training centres located in three cities: Lagos, Abuja or Uyo.

Project Structure

The project will focus on providing support to women entrepreneurs through its two phased approach:

Phase I

• 500 small business owners will be trained in financial literacy and investment readiness over six (6) weeks, including two classroom workshops and four weeks of e-learning (January - March 2016).

Phase II

• 100 top performing women entrepreneurs (out of the 500) will receive intensive business support in the form of tailored business training and services and ongoing mentoring over six months (from May 2016).

Click to apply: Women Road To Growth

Change in Government Affects Our Chance to Access N220 Billion MSMEs Funds' By Olayemi John-Mensah and Latifat Opoola

Felicia Chika Okafor is the President of Certificate in Entrepreneur Management (CEM) set 11, a woman empowerment group. She spoke to our reporters on the important of joining a cooperative and other issues relating to women in business.

What does your group stand for and in what way are you helping the women?

It is a women empowerment group that lends a voice to any issue relating to women in agriculture businesses. We also look at policies that can drive the women forward and also how to access fund for our businesses.

We started with 15 membership as students of Enterprise Development Center (EDC) and we have been growing since then. Our aim is to have a voice that will drive policies that will affect agriculture generally, funding and the like for women in agriculture businesses.

Who are your major target?

Women in farming businesses are our focus but we have few people that are registered with us even men because the courses we are taking are beneficial to everybody. Anybody that aspires to be an entrepreneur is expected to attend.Though those of us that are registered members are on scholarship while others pay for it.

The scholarship is mainly for women because the sponsors have a target. The target is not only to make agriculture beneficial but we are looking at making agric a lucrative business. This is because we have been told even by those that studied agric to the tertiary institutions that if you want to be an agriculturist you cannot be rich. We want to proof that wrong because we know that so long as people eat food they must spend money on it and those in the business must be rich.

You cannot be producing food everyday and selling them to people and still be poor then something is wrong somewhere. These are the challenges we are trying to address. We want to see how we can plug the holes and make agric business more lucrative especially for women.

In what way are you supporting the women through this cooperative?

The support we are giving now is basically training. Whatever we know we teach them. We have people among us that are into fishery, poultry, veterinary medicine, integrated farming, marketing and so on. They lend their support in teaching others in their area of specialisation.

And with the exposure we have had so far in school we also know that there are places we can access funds for our businesses and we make such information available for women because it is not all that is bleak. There are funds that are accessible. Though some could be very cumbersome.

Has any of your members been able to access loan facility?

Not yet because we were trying to access the N220 billion loan for entrepreneur but the trouble of election stopped us and we have been at a standstill since then because there was change of government and waiting for the minister appointment. Now it has come we don't know if that will continue.

From inquiry we learnt that Bank of Agriculture (BOA) gives N1 million naira loan to women in farming business and it is without collateral and any one that wants above will have to provide collateral.

For the Bank of Industry (BOI) they support with only equipment but there is certain amount also without collateral but then they deal with registered company that have operated minimum of three years with current tax clearance for the company, current tax clearance for at least two directors and annual returns.

What are some of the challenges you face?

The main challenge in growing businesses is lack of facilities and funding. There are lots of businesses that if you just google you get support but what about status? A lot of the facilities are not available for starters, if you do not have family and friends that will build you up to a certain level then you cannot access it. I was the secretary to the Lagos State Fish Farmers Association for two years and then you see lots of Microfinance Banks coming to us and some agric friendly banks come and access their funds but the interest rate is not agric friendly because by the time you are through you are paying interest rate of between 25 to 30 per cent.

And then, agric fund that Nigeria is bringing out, they did not sit with the farmers to determine them. If they do they will realise that the terms and conditions are not good.There is no agric friendly facility in the country, the closest is that of BOA which is 9 per cent per annum but the moratorium is not friendly.

What advice do you have for the Nigerian women?

Nigeria women are hardworking people. As a woman, you find out what value you can add to the society, discover it and pursue it with every energy that you have. Some of us may not be too lucky to have a husband who will support. And for some that are asked to be a full time house wife, even from the house there are value you can add, nurture it and study on how best you can do it to generate income.

In the process let your family know the support they can give. Women should not give up for lack of resources.

Credit: Daily Trust

Nigeria hopes to reach rice mill deal with China by year-end

Nov 20 Nigeria hopes to reach a deal with China within weeks to set up 40 rice mills, its new agriculture minister said, as part of plans to eliminate the need for any imports of the grain within two years.

Audu Ogbeh said in his first interview since taking office last week that Africa's top oil exporter wants to boost production of tomatoes, soy beans, nuts and plant two million cocoa trees to reduce an annual food import bill of $20 billion and create jobs for its impoverished youth.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in May on a campaign to usher in a new era for a country hit by corruption and mismanagement, wants to boost the agricultural sector and end reliance on oil exports after a plunge in crude prices.

That will be an uphill challenge as pot-holed roads hamper the transport of goods. Nigeria has tens of millions of farmers but the vast majority of them work on a subsistence basis and live on less than $2 a day.

As a first step, the new government hopes to reach by year end a deal with China to import equipment to build rice mills, Ogbeh said late on Thursday.

"The federal government plans 40 mills with the Chinese spread across the country, each capable of milling 100 tonnes per day," Ogbeh said.

He declined to give more details on the talks, which began under the previous administration led by President Jonathan. Chinese state media and a Nigerian government document obtained by Reuters have said the oil producer was talking to China's state Import and Export Bank.

CHALLENGES

Ogbeh said Nigeria wanted to be self-sufficient in wheat in three years, confirming a Reuters report earlier this month citing a confidential government paper.

He said Africa's biggest economy had a similar goal for cashew and cocoa, while the government also wanted to ramp up farming of soy beans, groundnuts, bananas and tomatoes within the next three years.

Nigeria produced 3 million tonnes of rice last year, along with 64,000 tonnes of wheat, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures show.

But it still needed to import 2.3 million tonnes of rice in 2012 -- a record high, according to the latest U.N. statistics which also show some 4.1 million tonnes of wheat was brought into Nigeria in the same year - nearly double the amount imported in 2000.

Ogbeh said he also had plans to improve Nigeria's position as the world's fourth largest cocoa producer by planting at least two million cocoa trees - in 27 of the country's 36 states - annually for the next three years. The minister said the same number of cashew trees will be planted over that period.

To attract more young people into farming, the new government plans to retain a policy it inherited, through which farmers could receive central bank loans at a rate of 9 percent, as opposed to borrowing from commercial banks at around 18 per cent.

The prospect of little financial reward has led to the average age of a Nigerian farmer rising to around 65, said Ogbeh, since many young people find the work unappealing.

He also said he was in talks with the minister of education to allocate at least an acre of land to each of some 12,000 students at the country's three agriculture universities during their studies to gain farming experience. (Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Ulf Laessing and William Hardy)

Source: Reuter

Business Plan writing Tips: Continuation... By Utibe Etim

Major expansion of existing business:

If your business plan is produced with the main aim of raising finance to expand your business, the two following issues have to be properly covered:

That the market of the business sector you are targeting has potential for further growth; and

That your entity, on the basis of its history and competitive strengths, is well positioned to win a substantial share of this market.

Regularly continuing business:

There are also business plans that do not anticipate significant growth or major investments and therefore are not concerned with the issue of raising additional funds. In such cases, business plans are produced to inform or get approval from the decision-making bodies and existing investors and/or the team of managers write themselves in order to reach a common understanding of their goals and to determine their future priorities and activities. Obviously, in such business plans, less emphasis is put on justifying the market potential to accommodate growth. Many firms produce such business plans every year.

Financing stage:

As has often been mentioned, one of the primary purposes of producing a business plan is to inform your lenders and investors. If you are not seeking new money but only intend to keep your present financiers informed, you need to put less emphasis on the background of the business (which is already known), but to emphasize more new developments in the business.

However, if you are approaching new lenders/investors (so-called second and third round and/or the stock market), your plan has to contain a more detailed description of the background of your business (including markets and products).

Specific project:

Perhaps you are drawing up a business plan not for the entire business of your entity, but only for an isolated one-time investment project such as:

Opening a subsidiary/profit centre in a specific country abroad;

Starting a new business unit for a set of new products or services.

For such business plans you need only to provide general information about the entire group. Your business plan should be concentrating on the new specific business you are planning. However, lenders or investors will be interested in having a wider picture of your company’s finances in order to assess the overall financial risks. If your company has financial difficulties, obviously this will reflect on the project as well.

Farmers set agenda for new agric minister

Chief Audu Ogbeh

Nigerian farmers have set agenda for the new agriculture minister, calling on the current administration to pay adequate attention to their most pressing needs.
Investigations revealed that the top three needs of the farmers that require urgent intervention are access to inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and agrochemicals; provision of microcredit; and provision of extension services to help them on modern farming techniques.
Findings showed that the farmers are also in dire need of good market and guaranteed minimum price for their produce.
Other needs of the farmers which they want the federal government to quickly address are access to land, mechanized farming and provision of access roads to evacuate their produce from the remote farms to the markets.
A recent farmers’ needs assessment by the Agricultural Services External Monitoring Group (ASEMG) corroborated the position of farmers as findings from 335 farmers across 29 states of the country and the FCT showed their priority needs to include access to inputs, provision of microcredit, extension services, good market and guaranteed minimum price, among others.
Presenting the report of the survey to the Director, Farm Inputs Services Department of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Osho, last week in Abuja, Mrs. Rose D. Gyar, Vice Chair of the group and FCT Coordinator of the Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), urged the government to consider the topmost needs of the Nigerian farmers as a priority to boost their income and ensure economic diversification.
Responding, Mr. Osho hailed the report and advised the group to present it to higher authority in the ministry for consideration.
Speaking on Nigerian farmers’ needs, a large-scale poultry and fish farmer in Katsina State, Architect Kabir Ibrahim, who is the President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), told our reporter: “The greatest need of the Nigerian farmer is seed; high quality crop seeds and seedlings, day-old-chicks, fingerlings and animal breeds, followed by access to credit, extension services, marketing, processing and storage, among others. The government should address these issues adequately to help the farmers.”
A woman farmer and member of All Women Farmers Association of Nigeria (AWFAN) in Nasarawa state, Mrs.Aishatu Mbaka, who specializes in yam, maize and vegetable farming and another crop farmer, Mr.Adamu Danladi, from Karshi in the FCT agreed with the views of their colleagues, listing seeds, fertilizer, microcredit, extension services, marketing, transportation etc. as their top ranking needs.
A cattle rearer in the FCT, Mallam Abdullahi Maishanu, said his most pressing need was grazing reserve for his animals to ensure that they don’t roam the streets and also forestall the incessant farmer/herder clashes. 
Reacting to the development, the FCT Director of Agriculture at the Agriculture and Rural Development Secretariat, Alhaji Ovurevu Isah Ademoh, who also agreed with the topmost needs of the farmers, told our reporter that the FCT administration has been providing good quality seeds, fertilizer and extension services, among others to the farmers and will continue to assist them to improve their livelihoods.

Source: Dailytrust

Who Should Read The Business Plan?

Well, as a smart business owner, you will regularly read and review your plan to help keep your small business on track. Your business plan should contain goals, objectives and measurements that set the course for your business. Regularly measuring the real-life progress of your business against your business plan goals will help you determine what parts of your operation need to be tweaked. For example, if revenues are not as strong as anticipated, revisit the marketing plan and review the factors you based your initial projections on. Ask yourself if the market has changed or if there are internal measures to take to redirect the business's course.
 
Apart from the business owner, those that will also read your business plan or section of the business plan will most probably be key employees, the board of directors and shareholders, selected business partners, and current or prospective lenders and investors. Which parts of your business plan should be distributed to which persons depends on its confidentiality and on the particular responsibility of the persons concerned. If you include in your business plan confidential strategic decisions or secrets, you should be restrictive in distributing copies of it. Give it only to persons who you are confident will not pass on information without your consent. In some cases, you may request the recipient to sign a confidentiality declaration.
 
Some of the most important target readers may well be potential lenders or investors. If you are looking for outside financing to develop your business, there are many possible sources you can approach with your business plan. The most important of these are the following:
 
Commercial banks: Commercial banks provide loans to viable businesses on standard market terms and conditions. They are normally very risk-conscious and require adequate coverage by means of collateral. This may consist of, in the order of preference of the banks, cash accounts, precious metals, tradable securities, infrastructure (land, buildings, machinery), accounts receivable and inventory. If some of these assets are accepted as collateral, the bank may require the loan to be covered with 200 per cent or more of their value. The interest rate depends on the prevailing macroeconomic conditions in a country, but also on the risk the bank attributes to a project. Experience has shown that interest rates demanded by commercial banks in some countries can often be too high to be really supportive of the development of a business.
 
Private investment funds: Recent years have seen a rapid increase in the number of private venture capital funds that operate on a commercial basis. The objective of these funds is to make a profit, and they will scrutinize your business until they are convinced that they can get substantial return on their equity at a calculable risk. A particular advantage of such funds, as compared with bank loans, is that they can finance your business by placing equity without requiring collateral. On the other hand, they will expect a good share of the profit and will demand a control function in your business, for example through appointing one of their staff members to the board of directors of your company.
 
Development funds: Such venture capital funds are established and supported primarily by Governments or governmental institutions and have a social and macroeconomic development objective. Particular characteristics of these funds are:
 

• They are willing to take more risks than commercial/private venture capital funds.
• They participate in the business only for a limited period of time. They exit when the business is financially self-sufficient.
• They particularly favour businesses with special social and environmental benefits (creating many jobs, including a strong value-added component, transferring a substantial amount of know-how, being friendly to the environment, etc.). Therefore, if you address yourself to such a fund you have to cover these issues well in your business plan.

 
Nevertheless, most development funds, like all other funding institutions, are only ready to finance a project if the business plan shows the viability and profitability of the business.
 
Multilateral development institutions: Among the most prominent multilateral development institutions are:

• Bank of Industry (BOI);
• Bank of Agriculture;
• Central Bank of Nigeria;
• The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is part of the World Bank Group located in Washington, DC, United States;
• The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), located in London, United Kingdom;
• The African Development Bank (ADB), located in Abidjan, Côte d´Ivoire.

 
The share capital of these institutions is held by many Governments. Their common goal is to assist the social and economic development of the regions they cover. Their philosophy and their objective are similar to those of the development funds mentioned above. They tend to finance directly large projects (with equity and/or loans) and they also cover smaller investment projects through intermediaries such as local commercial banks and leasing companies.
 
Private investors: Private investors are usually independent and wealthy individuals who are seeking opportunities to put money in promising businesses.
Their incentive is to get a higher return on investment than on marketable securities or investing in a fund. Quite often they allocate a percentage of their fortunes for start-up or expansion projects. Placing money in diverse businesses reduces the overall risk in their investment portfolio.
Technical assistance credits/grants: Depending upon the type and location of your business, there may be some possibilities to access government funds that provide soft loans or grants. Typical examples of applications for such soft loans or grants are for training your personnel, preparing a feasibility study, implementing a pilot project prior to an investment, and making environmental protection-related improvements.
Nevertheless, even for a grant, the donor will most probably assess your business plan before taking a decision. Donors wish their grants to be given only to well-planned and viable ventures. They rightly believe that these are the ones that can have a substantial social, microeconomic and macroeconomic impact.

Credit: Utibe Etim

WHY A BUSINESS PLAN?

There are many important reasons for drawing up a business plan. Some of the most significant are the following:

Getting an integrated view of your business

By preparing your business plan, you get an integrated view of all issues regarding your business. For example, it helps you to identify better your target clients, outline your market segment, shape your pricing strategy and define the competitive conditions under which you must operate in order to succeed. Business planning ensures that all these considerations are consistent and properly harmonized. Also, the business plan process often leads to the discovery of a competitive advantage or new opportunities as well as deficiencies in the plan. Committing your plans to paper, ensures that your overall ability to manage the business will improve. You will be able to concentrate your efforts on any deviations from the plan before conditions become critical. You will also have time to look ahead and avoid problems before they arise.

Mutual understanding within the management team:

Reaching mutual understanding among the members of the management of the firm is particularly important in cases in which the recommended policy of engaging as many managers as practically possible is applied in the preparation of the business plan.

Determining financial needs and applying for funds:

Your business plan will help you determine the amount, type and sources of financing and when it is required. Using the business plan in the process of application for funds.

Informing employees:

Using it as a means of informing/motivating employees about the objectives of the company.

Informing lenders:

Giving it to banks/investment funds that have financed your business in the past and require periodical information for monitoring purposes.

Informing partners:

Using the business plan in informing business partners and other relevant organizations.

These are just few reasons why you need to develop your business plan for your business. More tips in subsequent emails.

Credit: Utibe Etim

Apply for the BOI and EDC Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) programme

The Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) programme is an ambitious programme by the Bank of Industry (BOI) aimed at addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria which is currently over 50%. According to a 2013 survey by the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), most of the capacity building programmes aimed at addressing youth unemployment, have concentrated more on training without any tie-in to the provision of small business loans, which is a critical success factor to the establishment of small businesses. In addition, they hardly take care of the entire training value chain in terms of Entrepreneurship, Business Management and Technical Skills.

The YES Programme

BOI’s approach to tackling the youth capacity building challenge is to focus on young aspiring entrepreneurs within the age bracket of 18 – 35 years that have viable business ideas by developing a Product Program – Youth Enterprise Support Programme (YES Programme), for empowering them. This crop of Nigerians forms a significant proportion of unemployed youth in the country.

Components of the YES Programme

The YES Programme comprises the following:

• Eight (8) weeks intensive online Entrepreneurship and Business Management training which has the ability to test participants’ understanding and track their progress.
• Five (5) days in-class Entrepreneurship and Business Management training
• Technical skills training in partnership with the various technical training and vocational institutes in the country.
• Financing the businesses by BOI under its SME Cluster initiative in consonance with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s Commodity-based Industrialisation Strategy.

Programme Objectives

The YES Programme has the following broad objectives:

• To create an interactive learning platform to train young aspiring entrepreneurs in entrepreneurship and business management that will ultimately translate into improved efficiency and productivity.
• To kindle the entrepreneurial spirit of the youths.
• To act as an incubation center where business ideas are nurtured to their full potential as well as entrenching global best practices by inculcating a culture of innovation-driven entrepreneurship and ethics in the programme participants.
• Promotion of self-employment among graduates of institutions of higher learning, thereby changing their job-seeking mindset.
• To deepen financial inclusion by de-risking the young aspiring entrepreneurs and making them eligible for small business loans to be provided by BOI.

Step 1 – Check Your Eligibility

Check that you are qualified to apply. See the section “Who can apply?” below.
Step 2 – Register

Click here to register if you have not already done so

You will receive a confirmation email from YES Programme with all the details you will need to log in.
Step 3 – Complete Application

Once you have successfully registered, log in and click the “Start Application” button on the Start Application Tab on this page. To return to your application, click the “save and continue” button and come back to it at any time. Once you are done with your application, click on the “Submit” button at the end of the form to send it to us. You can submit only ONE application per “application cycle” (typically 3-4 months).
Step 4 – Keep Informed

After the closing date you will be notified if you have been shortlisted for the next stage of the competition. Constantly check the YES Programme homepage for regular updates.
Who Can Apply?

To be eligible for the Competition you must satisfy the following criteria:

1. The applicant must be a Nigerian.

2. Must have a viable business idea within the 34 identified clusters that is operated, or will operate in Nigeria.

3. Must be within the age limits of 18 and 35. (proof of identity: International passport/Drivers License/National ID/Voters card required).

4. Must possess a minimum educational qualification of Ordinary National Diploma (OND).

5. Applicant must be able to carry out the application process online.

Click here to apply