In the last episode, I talked about how I struggled to get funding for my café business in Kano and how frustrating it was and how it almost ruined my relationship with a few persons.
You see, it’s practically hard to bootstrap a business from personal savings and scale to become a giant enterprise. Even Aliko Dangote had to borrow N500, 000 (about $3000 in today’s value) from his uncle to import and sell agricultural commodities and when starting out before he built a business worth over US$8.9 billion.
If you are a small business owner or you have that big, billion-dollar idea for a start-up or company roaring in your head, it will most likely be difficult and you can’t always rely on family and friends, except if you are from a rich family like Dangote.
While they can help, and some actually do, often they don’t have the capacity to give you the kind of money you need to scale your business.
The Good News is that there are numerous funding opportunities for SMEs and entrepreneurs.
But the BIG question is,
“Is Your Business Viable for a Grant?” and “How Do You Position Your Business To Win Grants”
This evening on the GrantMaster Africa PODCAST show. Rilwan Akeyewale (CEO TechPlan Africa) will be taking us through the ‘5 Strategies to make Your Business viable for Grants.
Rilwan Akeyewale is a business strategist and financial analyst. With an experience working with KPMG, he's a World Economic Forum's Agenda contributor, a World Youth Forum delegate, a mentor at the African Entrepreneurship Awards, an African Presidential Leadership Program alumnus, and a Tony Elumelu Foundation's alumnus.
He has worked with over 100 small businesses and startups in the past one year, helping them raise over $5million.
