How to Answer Bank of Industry Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) Programme.

Bank of Industry 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%. You can read more about the programme here.

The 2016 edition is closing on the 30th April 2016.

I decided to help my esteemed followers that are interested but they are finding it difficult to answer some of the questions.

Below are the questions and how you can answer them.

Section 1: Personal Information
This section has to do with your personal details like your names, date of birth, address, phone numbers.
The questions that some people may find them difficult to answer in this section are:
No of Household Members– A household includes all the people who occupy a housing unit.

No of Dependants– means people who depend upon you for their support and welfare.

Annual Household Income– Household income is a measure of the combined incomes of all people sharing a particular household or place of residence.

Section 2: Educational Details
You need to add your educational details here. Note that the minimum qualification is ND- National Diploma.

Section 3: Business Information
* DESCRIBE YOUR IDEA OR BUSINESS IN DETAIL, INCLUDING A DESCRIPTION OF YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES (Not more than 250 words)

When describing your business, you need to provide your business’s legal name, operating name e.g Etimate Global Services or Utibe Etim Nigeria is a Lagos-based business development company… You need to state the structure. By structure I mean the type of operation, i.e. wholesale, retail, food service, manufacturing, or service-oriented. State this right away in the description, along with whether the business is new or already established.

If you work in partnership with other company, you need to state that. You need to state legal form whether the business is a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation.

You need to mention your products and write about what makes your products the best. The product description statement should be complete enough to give the reader a clear idea of your intentions. You may want to emphasize any unique features or variations from concepts that can typically be found in the industry.

You should also mention who you will sell to, how the product is distributed, and the business’s support systems.

You should also mention your target customers and the value the get by using your product or services. Your unique selling point should be clearly stated in your business description.

The address including your online presence should be mention. You can mention when your company started, your reach, the channel  you have built so far, the number of customers you have among other things.

It should be nice to also mention that your company is registered and state the number. If you or your business is a member of any institution, state it there. The award that your business or product have received, mention it there.

When and how was your company formed? Provide a brief history of your company, lay out how your business is operated and outline its key players.

Have it in mind is just 250 words and you should be precise and concise.

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Business Sector: Choose the business sector you are in.

Is the Business Registered?
Choose yes if your business is registered or no if your business is not registered.

Years in Business
Select the one that best suits you.

Are you still in paid employment?
If you are still working somewhere and receiving salaries, mention it there.

State of Business Location
Geo Political Zone
Designation: example MD/CEO

Total Number of Employees
How many people do you currently employed? State it there.

Seed Capital: How much did you start your business with? Mention it there.

Sources of Seed Capital: Where did you get the money from? Personal savings or grant?

Annual Turn Over Last Year
State how much revenue you make every year. If you are just starting and you haven’t made any sales, mention zero.

Annual Profit Last Year
How much profit do you make every year? Mention it here.
Note that Profit = Total Revenue – Total Cost.
That is your profit is total sales/revenue in a year minus total cost.

Section 4: Additional Information

WHAT IS UNIQUE OR INNOVATIVE ABOUT YOUR IDEA OR BUSINESS? WHAT IS NEW OR DIFFERENT ABOUT YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES? 

Are you bringing a  new idea or trying to innovate on an existing idea or product? Have you discovered something that is very unique that makes your idea, product or service better than what is already in the market? If the answer is yes, this where to sell yourself.

Let’s assume you are a baker and you bake bread or cake or biscuit.  Others used wheat flour to bake their bread but you now discover how to use cassava flour to bake bread or biscuit. You can tell them about it here.

It can be a software that helps farmers to plan well. Know when to apply fertilizer, determine yield etc.

DESCRIBE YOUR MARKET – WHO WILL YOU BE SELLING YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES TO (INCLUDING SIZE OF THE MARKET)?

To describe your market effectively, you need to first of all define your target market by segmenting it. How you will position your products or services compared to your competition, what your pricing strategy will be, and how you will effectively reach and influence your customers.

So how do you segment your target market?

Your target market is a group of customers that has a similar need for a product or service, money to purchase the product or service, and willingness and ability to buy it. Segmenting your market help you to identify your customers. Everyone cannot be your customer.

To identify your target market and best serve your market, you need to:

• Know your customers
• Understand what your customers need
• Why they buy

You can use the following factors to segment:

• Demographic: Who are your customers? Include information such as:
  • Age, gender, family size, family life cycle (single, married with or without kids, divorced), income, occupation, education, religion, nationality, Ethnicity
• Geographic: Where do they live? Include information such as:
  Their country
  Region (e.g. Lagos, South West)
  City and density (rural, urban)

• Psychographic: Why do they buy? Include information such as:

• Social class (lower, middle, upper)
• Lifestyle
• Personality.

Example:

For a software development company

Utibe Etim Software Ltd, after carrying out market research and analysis, has ostentatiously defined and segmented its target market into:

• Privately owned schools: there are over 5000 privately owned schools and out this numbers, only 70% are well managed and positioned with needs for our software, but 50% of this 70% well-managed schools have already established a cordial relationship with other established ICT firms like NIIT, APTECH etc. We would be targeting 21% of this market

• Small businesses with special focus on supermarkets, fashion house, and restaurant: this market is the largest with special needs for both computer base software that can automate their daily activities and online presence for them to sell more. They make up 65% of our target markets.
• Corporate organization:
• Hotel and real estate
• Churches

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WHO ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS AND HOW WILL YOU REACH THEM?

From my example above, secondary schools in Lagos (Mackel Secondary School, Ikeja), hotels etc.

We would reach them by identifying them using business directories, google map and submit our brochure that shows the what we offer our portfolio, our different packages and very important, the benefit they would derive from using our services.

We would also give our product demo and free project to attract them.

MENTION YOUR TOP FIVE COMPETITORS

Don’t just mention your competitors, if you can, do a comparison. Show their strength, weakness, their price among others. Show why you are better.

WHAT MAKES YOUR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES BETTER THAN YOUR COMPETITORS (YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES, IF ANY)?

For you to be successful and compete well with your competitors, your business or idea or product or service must be unique and different from your competitors. I want to look into some factors and traits that can make a product or service unique and make you stand out from the competition:

1. Unique product attributes: This can be in form of packaging, design, customer experience, technology among others. This makes it difficult for your competitors to copy.

2. Differentiated capabilities that create coherence in your company. That is everything fit together in a natural or reasonable way.

Top traits you should use to describe your business are:

Save Time and Money: With Konga or Jumia home delivery will help a customer save time and money.

Convenience: Easy in, easy out. Customers love how easy it is to buy your product or use your service. The pay on delivery makes it convenience for customers to shop online with being worried if they would be a scam.

Quality: Your product is luxurious. Your service is top notch.

Reliability/Dependability: Your product or service never fails.

Superior Customer Service: You are always there for your customers. You give them peace of mind. They know they can count on you and your staff.

Creativity: Your product or service inspires people to think outside the box.

WHAT SKILLS AND / OR EXPERIENCES DO YOU HAVE TO ENABLE YOU SUCCESSFULLY MANAGE THE BUSINESS?

Do you have any skill that is relevant to the business and can add value to the business? Can help you grow your business? Write about it. The skills can be:

Management skills, marketing skills, programming skills, presentation skills among others

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WHAT RISKS DO YOU ANTICIPATE THAT MAY AFFECT THE SUCCESS OF YOUR BUSINESS AND HOW CAN YOU MITIGATE THESE RISKS?

What are they risks that can affect the success of your business?

Risks in business are happenings or changes or incidence that can make you lose profit or take you out of business. There are many risk factors that can affect your business adversely. It depends on the kind of business you are doing, location, state among others. Risks like changes in tastes, preferences of consumers, strikes, increased competition, change in government policy, obsolescence etc .Every business organization contains various risk elements while doing the business.

Business risks can be grouped into two: Internal and External

Internal risks are risks arising from the events taking place within the organization. Internal risks are risks that can be easily controlled. Example are (talent management, strikes), technological factors (emerging technologies), physical factors (failure of machines, fire or theft), operational factors (access to credit, cost cutting, advertisement).

External Risks are risks arising from the events taking place outside the organization. External risks cannot be easily controlled. Factors  such as economic factors (market risks, pricing pressure), natural factors (floods, earthquakes), political factors (compliance and regulations of government).

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU INVESTED IN YOUR BUSINESS, IF ANY?

Here you are to state how much you have invested in your business so far.

HOW MUCH FINANCING ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? DESCRIBE WHAT YOU WILL DO WITH IT.

Have you done your cost analysis and have you determined the total amount needed for your business? You need to state it here.

Take note that the maximum amount you can access is N5m.

IF YOU PROJECT YOUR COMPANY IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS, WHERE DO YOU SEE IT?

Where do you see your company in he next 5 years? Are you going to expand to other cities, region or state? Are you targeting sales in xxx value? Do you want to become number one?

You need to clearly state your vision here.

HAVE YOU ACCESSED ANY LOAN?

The answer is either yes or no.

ANY PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION OR TRAINING ATTENDED? (GIVE DETAILS)

Do you have any professional qualification? If yes please state it there and if no mention it there no.

ANY PREVIOUS SCHOLARSHIP? (GIVE DETAILS)

HOW DID YOU OBTAIN INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRAM?

Do you have Computer/Internet Skills? What software application can you use?

The question is very straight forward. Do you have computer skills or internet skills? If you have, it’s highly advisable you  add it.

Some skills are:

Microsoft Wordprocessing

Powerpoints

Spreadsheet

Computer programming

That is all the questions for Bank of Industry Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) Programme.

I hope the tips above help. You can use it for other competitions.

If you need sample business plans, visit here

If you want to source for grant, visit here

You can contact me on 07031542324 or [email protected]

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