Next Steps to the 2021 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme!

Tony Elumelu Foundation recently announced the timeline and activities for the 2021 TEF Entrepreneurship programme.

In the mail that was sent to those that have successfully submitted their applications or revalidated their applications, it was stated that the next step for the programme is training and coaching and the date is between May 3rd – July 29th.

You can read below to see the outlined timelines for the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme activities.

Dear Applicant,

Congratulations on successfully completing your application to the 2021 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme and progressing to the training stage. 

As you know, you have been placed in a specified category to receive contextualised, tailor-made training for your business. This training will take place on tefconnect.net. 

Please see the outlined timelines for the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme activities in the coming months:

Timelines

·        Training & Coaching: May 3rd – July 29th

·        Pitching Competition: Aug 23rd – Sep 24th

·        Shortlisting & Selection: Sep 27th – Oct 8th

·        Selection Announcement: Oct 11th 

Congratulations once again. See you in a few weeks!

As the next steps draw near, how are you preparing ahead?

This is not the time to sit back and wait for things to unfold, you need to put on your thinking cap and prepare ahead.

According to Benjamin Franklin, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”.

You don’t need to wait until the training starts before you start, you might get overwhelmed with the training activities and couple with other activities in the office, school or at home.

So the best time to start preparing is now. “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” ― Abraham Lincoln.

I can hear someone says, How do I Prepare for TEF2021 Next Steps? What should I work on?

Well, what you should work on is your business idea and the financial projections.

Start with your captivating elevator speech because it will come in handy when you get to the pitching stage. So you need to draft it out now and master it.

Let me list out what to work on now for you.

1. Draft an elevator speech
2. Develop your business plan because it would be required
3. Work on your financial plan very important.
4. Start developing your products or services because this goes to show how serious and determine you are.
5. Create an online presence for your business. Get a website done, create your social media presence. Post about your products, services etc.
6. Keep records of sales because you will need them.
7. Create a minimum viable product(MVP), MVP is a version of your product with quite a number of features to attract early-adopter customers or users to validate and give feedback. It is more or less a beta version of your products or services.
8. Try to understand every aspect of your business including mission statement, vision statement, short and long-term goals, market analysis, industry analysis, SWOT analysis, external environmental factors, competition, market and sales strategies, financial analysis among others.

As an expert in business plan writing and having worked with many TEF entrepreneurship programme awardees, I am acquainted with their template and I will like to share with you the TEF business plan and financial template so that you can take a look at what would be required from you and prepare ahead.

1. Click here to download TEF Business Plan Template
2. Click here to download TEF Financial Projections Template

This is the same template TEF used for previous editions of the programme. Perhaps, the same template would be used for TEF2021 Entrepreneurship Programme.

DON’T WAIT for the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme grant to get your business off the ground, if you have decided to follow the path of entrepreneurship, do what you can outside TEF2021 to achieve your business goals. In the end, you may not get the funds, but the knowledge from the training and coaching is invaluable!

If you need help or support on how to prepare your business plan, I am readily available to work with you to plan, start and grow your business and also develop your business plan to enable secure funds for your business growth.

This is Utibe Etim and I hope this helps.

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