DILLIONWORLD: April 2015

How SMEs In Nigeria Can Raise Fund For There Business

Small and medium-scale enterprises need financing to fund operating needs, short- and long-run investment objectives, expansion projects and capital structure adjustments. They also may need funding for working capital requirements and merger or acquisition transactions. These entities usually are unable to finance projects with internal funds because their turnover and profit levels are limited.

After conceiving a business idea, an entrepreneur needs money to commence his or her business.

The expenses incurred include;

a. Pre-operation expenses which include payment for legal/registration of business, payment for consultancy services as well as payment for running around. In some cases this may also include payment for training.

b. Initial working capital, this is used to pay for consumable factors/inputs, a venture can not be functional even after installing the fixed assets until these expenses are incurred.

c. Operating cash flow. Business needs minimum level of cash to run.

d. Payment for fixed assets which may include land, land development, furniture, financial management software, equipments etc.

All these expenses highlighted above are to be met; the value however, depends on the sophistication of operation. Starting a business can be tricky, but with the help of an eProcurement service you can achieve greatness.

Related article: How To Prepare Business Plan That Attracts Loan

How does entrepreneur source for funding in Nigeria?

An entrepreneur can source for fund through

1. Owner’s Equity

2. Loans

3. Grants

a. Owners Equity: This is the owner’s fund contribution in business. It is also called risk capital. This is the most reliable source of funding in business. For it put less pressure on the entrepreneur even if the business failed. This money is raised from past savings of the entrepreneur. It may be contribution from friends, relations etc. The important thing is that there is no commitment of repayment on the entrepreneur.

b. Loans: This is a facility given to the entrepreneur with obligation to pay the sum and accrued interest at an agreed date, This can be sourced from the private sources or financial institutions such as microfinance houses or commercial banks, It is not the best source of financing new business, because the payment put pressure on the entrepreneur and the business, Where it could not be totally avoided entrepreneur should be careful in taken it. As alternative to this option, a starter is advisee to take up apprenticeship to gather knowledge as well as money to start business,

Types Of Loans And Facilities

1. Short term loan: This is the type of loans with repayment period of less than six calendar months. This is the popular type offered by micro banks and venture capitalist.

They are usually sourced to finance working capital and ventures with short term gestation. They usually attract payment of interest at high rate.

2. Medium term loan: The duration of payment for this facility does not exceed twelve months. Both commercial banks and micro finance institutions are reluctant to grant this type of facility because they need fund to run their own businesses. They avoid anything that will tie down their article of trade (money).

3. Long term loan: This type of facility is repaid after two years or more. It is sourced for capital projects, it is usually provided by specialized banks such as Bank of Industry, NEXIM etc; small scale business entrepreneur may not be able to access this type of loan because of stringent conditions attached to it.

4. Overdraft: This is a facility that allows an entrepreneur to withdraw more than what he/she has in his account. It is an arrangement between the bank and it customers to withdraw above the balance in the account. It is approved from the appropriate authority in the bank. It is usually for few days or weeks. Micro finance and commercial banks offer this type of facility which is subject to renewal.

5. Syndicated Loan: This is a practice whereby two or more lending financial institutions agreed to provide fund to finance large project, usually a consortium of banks as creditors package such loan with one of the banks as the leading bank.

6. Trade Credit: This refers to different trade arrangement between sellers and buyers whereby payment for goods purchased is postponed till agreed date.

7. Loan from Credit/Thrift cooperative societies
These associations/organizations are formed to provide credit to their members at affordable/concessionary interest rate compared to what obtained at the money market.

Small scale entrepreneurs are encouraged to belong to their associations to enjoy this facility.

8. Equipment Leasing: This involve arrangement between the financial institution and its clients, whereby the institution agreed to purchase fixed asset such as equipment/machine for its client who repay the cost of this equipment and interest accrued on it over an agreed period of time. This arrangement checkmate diversion of credit to other uses.

c. Grants

Government and non-government organizations sometimes give grants to potential entrepreneurs to start small businesses. This is an allowance that a government or an organization gives to support small business creation in the country. Examples include grants given by EcoBank, GTB, state and local governments through their different youth empowerment programmes.
Examples are:
** Bank Of Agriculture Free Collateral Loan For Youth

** YouWin

** Nigeria Entrepreneurship Platform

How does an Entrepreneur Access Institutional Loan Facility?

Since loan is to be repaid, financial institutions are very careful to part with the fund put in their trust by the shareholders. The prospective borrower is expected to come up with convincing business plan or feasibility plan. This is a comprehensive, detailed document that will show the viability of the project for which the loan is being sourced for. The document will show among other things.

i. The profile of the entrepreneur

ii. Description of the product or services being rendered

iii. Technical profile of the business

iv. Marketing profile

v. Manpower Structure/Organogram

vi. Accounting/profitability index etc.

ALSO READ THESE RELATED ARTICLES

How To Get Bank To Finance Your LPO

How To Register Your Company Online With CAC

How To Become Independent Oil And Gas Marketer With Little Or No Cash

Learn How To Create Infographics And Earn Money From It

First, let me start by telling you that you can create Infographics with your smart phone or your laptop and tablets. And currently, Infographics designs are on high demand. So learn how to create Infographics and make money (upto N45k monthly) from this lucrative art work.

Since internet has become a tool to convey information to millions of people worldwide, it also becomes a challenge on how you can effectively communicate to the people with your contents. Making one’s content eye-catching and easy to understand is not an easy task. You need to dig deeper into a topic and look for ways to present it in a manner that you could outshine your competitors.

It is not just you who have thought of writing or presenting a particular topic. There are thousands of people who are also posting the same.
The challenge is for you to make it unique and more attractive. This is where infographics come in.

Infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge. It is an important tool in teaching, in business, in giving inspiration and in presenting information. It is one of the most powerful ways to communicate with complex data.

But some people haven’t really realized how beneficial infographics are; thinking that they can work on good data presentation with mere graphs and charts. Some are even confused if graphs, charts and infographics are just the same. Of course, they are different. Infographics may contain graphs to present some figures. Now, let us take a look on the reasons we have listed here that makes infographics important in a business and in marketing.

Simplify communication and clarify messages

Let’s be honest, most people will turn away when they see pages and pages of words. The phrases you will constantly hear are “I hated reading it, there’s too many words!” or “I see these and I fall asleep” or “What are they trying to say actually?”

To paint the picture better for you, consider the following comparison:

Image credit: myturnstone.com

Simplify business communications with infographics

Compelling and attractive.

Information overload is a real problem in today’s world. Information design is the key to an entry barrier. Effectively designed information invites readerships.

Make a compelling pitch using infographics

Answer specific business questions.

Entering a business pitch, the question on top of your audience’s head is definitely “Why should I root for you?” Besides delivering it in your speech, a good visual presentation helps to bring your point home.

Engage your clients with infographics

Facilitate management decision-making:

Often times, making a business decision needs to be fast. Hence, tons of reports that are all words and no key data obvious to the eye simply don’t work. With effective information design, your reports can make key data apparent.

Visual data that shows the growth or a new product, or the number of unique visits after a marketing campaign, or
the population of your target audience in various social network channels,
provide you an instantaneous key information that are easy to interpret and enable you to make decisions fast and accurately.

Use infographics to make business decisions

In conclusion, design is more than just aesthetic. It creates value for businesses. Business communication should leverage the eminence of information design. Infographic is great to break down big numbers or a large chunk of data into coherent and eloquent content, yet concurrently tells the “big picture”.

We create Infographics and also train those that want to learn how to create Infographics. In addition, we also provide training materials and softwares(for pc) .

If you need us to teach you how to create Infographics, if you want us to create Infographics for you(or your company), contact:

Emails:
tochukwudike@gmail.com
tdillion@yahoo.com
customercare.dillionworld@gmail.com
sales@dillionworld.com

Phones:
+2348035217265
+2348138373847

You Can Now Sponsor Post On DillionWorld Blog

If you don’t know already, you can become a sponsor on this blog. This is because you or your business have the opportunity to sponsor a post on Dillionworld blog. The “Sponsor a Post” is also referred to as “Sponsored Post”. This allows you to have your products/services to be made available to the right target market and large numbers of daily visitors.

Individuals and companies can get their website, blog, products, service etc featured on this blog as a sponsored post. The sponsored post will include everything the individual or company wants to share with the right target market that we have visiting this blog daily. Accepted sponsored posts are those that are relevant and offer value to reader on our blog.

Sponsoring a post will get your stuff to be permanently available on this blog. It will also be optimized for email subscribers, search engines and social media sites. These means that as soon as your post (about your website, blog, products, service etc) gets published on this blog, thousands of people will get to see it easily via emails (subscribers email), search engines (based on your choice keywords) and social media sites- facebook, twitter, BBM channel. etc (based on this blog’s large community). In addition, your post will get to our subscribers via their email address.

The sponsored posts can be in any form you choose – press releases, videos, articles, interviews, reviews as long as it is related to what people who read this blog can make good use of.

In addition to this, we can also make your sponsored post stick to the homepage (on top right) for a minimum of 14days if you pay a little extra to the cost of sponsoring a post on DillionWorld Blog.

Who Writes the Post?
If the sponsor (you or your company) wants us to write the post, then we'll need a review copy of the product or services to be sponsored. If the sponsored post is about a website, we’ll need to personally review the site/blog again so we can add our personal touch to the sponsored post. However, you can submit your own high quality and original post/article to use. We will review it, edit it, if required, and make it available on this blog.

Ready to get started?

Please, send a mail using the contact form(click here), or call +2348035217265; +2348138373847.
Once we get your mail, we'll reply you with the pricing for the two options (1. sponsored post and 2. a sponsored post with 14-days sticking on the homepage).

We look forward to promoting you or your business!

How To Choose A Good Location For Your Business And Its Importance

Knowing your customers is a key factor in choosing the right location. If you are opening a business that can only draw its customers from the immediate area, and you are catering to an upscale market, you will not want to locate your business in a middle or low-income neighborhood.

One of the most important considerations of a good location for a commercial enterprise is the composition of the surrounding community. Some communities are great for retail operations but totally inappropriate for industrial use.

Business owners and managers should always perform due diligence including a study of the community’s demographics before deciding on a location.

Related article: How To Write A Business Plan That Attracts Loan

Factors you need to consider when choosing the best location:

**Costs = entrepreneurs may be forced to go where they can afford the rent or where they can operate more efficiently.

**Security = the quality of the neighborhood also greatly affects the decision of where to put your business.

**Availability = many entrepreneurs locate where there is available space at the time when they are planning to open.

**Infrastructure = sometimes location decisions are based on selecting an area where there are many business professionals to support entrepreneurs

**Personal considerations = the location of a business may depend on how far you want to drive each day

**Taxes = choosing a location oftentimes is a compromise between tax relief and potential for profit generation.

Ask the following questions when looking for the best location for your business:

1. Is the area zoned for the type business you want to open?

2. Will you be able to establish a good working relationship with the landlord?

3. Is the neighborhood safe?

4. Is the facility itself in good condition? Will repair work be necessary?

5. Does the facility have the right layout? If you need to expand, will you be able to?

6. Will there be enough parking for your customers? Is public transportation nearby?

7. Are there any local business organizations that will help with marketing?

Knowing your primary location needs is critical to making the correct decision. Too often, business owners like the space and price and make bad decisions for the operation. Retail operations need visibility, parking, etc. Office space needs parking, food service and areas for walking and jogging. Distribution centres need easy access to highways, rail and plane transportation

Every business type needs certain core amenities. Do not compromise on these needs. You always have to make some choices but stay true to your core requirements. If you do, your location selection will serve you, your customers and employees the right way, the most profitable way.

tochukwudike@gmail.com; customercare.dillionworld@gmail.com;
tdillion@yahoo.com; support@Dillionworld.com

How To Successfully Pass Bank Interviews And Aptitude Test In Nigeria

DILLIONWORLD: How To Successfully Pass Bank Interviews And Aptit...: AD: The biggest problem facing graduates today is the problem of unemployment. This, in most cases, is not because there are no jobs, but ...

How To Write And Give A Good Motivational Speech

A motivational speech is part content and part delivery. I believe delivery is even more important than information. Content is an abundant commodity easily accessible through Google or other search engine of choice. It is your ability to deliver the information with charisma that makes your inspirational speech impactful.

When giving an inspirational speech, focus on increasing your energy level, pausing after important points and speaking to the audience not at them.

When preparing for motivational speech, consider these:

1. What is your life experience?

If you want to learn to be a motivational speaker, you first must figure out what you are going to speak about. The best place to start looking is your own life. Make a list of goals you have met and achievements you have earned. For example, graduating from college, landing your first job, overcoming drugs, or even achieving lifelong dreams. If you just so happen to be a best selling author or an Olympic Medalist then that would definitely add to your credibility; however, it is not necessary to provide material for speeches.

2. What do you have to offer?

Second you must identify what you have to offer. Lucky enough, everyday goals can be used in providing material, such as quitting smoking, overcoming an addiction, finally getting your anger under control, losing weight. On the negative side maybe you have been in a drunk driving accident. Talk about how that changed your life and the struggles you had to endure. Talk about how you overcame adversity and how you pushed hard to get through it. Pour your heart out on the table to the audience; they love to connect to the emotion that you offer.

3. Head to the base!

“It is really difficult for people to believe you when you say, ‘I can solve every one of your problems’. “ This is the step where you need to get serious. It is time to find your “niche”. You need to figure out your specialty, whether it is leadership or perserverance, etc., because people tend to be more willing to listen if the speaker (you) has an expertise property about them. In other words, if you know what you are talking about and you show your intelligence, people are more willing to listen to what you say.

4. Know what to say before they hear it.

You need to know your audience. Depending on what type of niche you chose, you can characterize your audience depending on: age, gender, location, interests, or any other traits like religion and culture. Once that is organized you can then figure out how to aim your efforts to where the audience feels as if your speech talks to them individually. Motivation comes from believing, and believing comes from the heart. Make sure you touch their heart.

5. Build a structure.

It is time to start writing your speech. The best way to organize a speech is to first make an outline of your speech. Then, label key points in your speech and make sure you stay on topic.

6. Fill in the ________ (gaps).

Once you make the skeleton of your outline for your speech, it is time to fill in the gaps within different sections of your speech with supporting ideas and details. What ideas do you have that you can tell the audience to support your main points in the speech? Also make sure you have examples and anecdotes you can share with the audience to prove your struggles. If your speech is particularly long, do not be afraid to use humor! Throw in a few jokes and make the audience smile because comedic relief is the best way for the audience to forget their problems. Last but not least make sure you have visuals before, during, and after your speech to give the audience a better understanding of what you went through. A great example of a visual could be a homemade video of yourself, or even pictures to show where you came from and what you have accomplished (before and after).

7. Memorize and shake the cobwebs off.

Once you have finished your speech, memorize it. Once you have it memorized, there is no need for you look at notecards or the screen, which gives you the ability to have eye contact with your audience. This is extremely beneficial to your speech because not only can you make the audience feel like you are talking to them one-on-one, but at the same time gives you the boost you need to be exciting and bring personality to the stage. It is ok to feel nervous at the beginning, but as a motivational speaker it is your job not to show it.

For new speakers:
If you do need help learning how to speak, you can find your local Toastmasters nearest to your area. Toastmasters is an international non-profit organization that helps people practice speaking skills at weekly meetings. Once you feel comfortable with your abilities and the speech you have prepared, do not be afraid to start booking gigs. While practicing at home is great, there is no comparison to putting on a REAL show for REAL people. There is no substitute for experience, so get out there and give the power of motivation to people who need it.

Now THAT is how you write a speech.

Useful Tips:

· Own the Stage.
You must realize you are not a "sage on a stage." You are a performer and if you wish to speak with motivational success you must put on a great show, otherwise the audience is going to feel as if you wasted their time. You are the star of the show, so you must practice, practice, and practice.

· Keep it simple – When you speak to the audience, do not attempt to develop a brain trust. Keep your message simple and strong.

· Never let your audiences forget your niche.

Need a motivational speaker or need someone to coach/teach you to be a motivational speaker? Contact:

tochukwudike@gmail.com, tdillion@yahoo.com, customercare.dillionworld@gmail.com
+2348035217265; +2348138373847.

How To Maximise The Sale Potential Of Your Company And Products

Today, many brands are at the beginning of their journey as marketers or e-commerce retailers. And many brands are stuck in limbo as the shifting sands of traditional product distribution have given way to a new brand-customer dynamic, and they haven’t yet figured out their next move.

No matter what phase you’re in, the bottom line is that you want to ensure that you maximise the sales opportunities for your many products, whether it’s offline, online, on your own site or those of your preferred resellers.

Related article: How To Render Excellent Customer Service

Maximising sales revenue is an alternative to profit maximisation and occurs when the marginal revenue, MR, from selling an extra unit is zero.

The most important sale you will make in your lifetime is the one you make to yourself. Make sure you market yourself first before the products. You can do this by building trust. You should make you customers to trust you and your brand. Build credibility and strong positive reputation around your brand. And always be available to your customers, especially online.

Next, Target your customers. Use promotional information, offers and seasonal bulk discounts. Use your database to contact your customers. Listen to your customer to understand their needs and wants. Then educate him/her about the products. Create a mailing list by asking for contact information from each customer.

Always advertise your products/services. Increase marketing efforts during slower sales periods because there is more competition. Include early advertising, offer discounts for early orders or purchases. Consider most importantly social media advertising, then newspaper ads, magazines, special publications and other forms of marketing.

Related article: How To Write Business Plan That Attracts Loan

To Maximise profit/sales, follow this guideline:
**Understand your clients needs and wants, sell products that they want, or make them want what you have to sell.
**Keep your promises and earn your clients trust.
**Look for opportunities to sell additional services and products.
**Offer good value and service.
**Get testimonials, recommendations and referrals.
**Use your contacts and social media and tell them your success stories.
**Credit Check your clients, a clients isn’t a client if they don’t pay and you aren’t running a charity.
**Bad Debt Insurance could help reduce your risk but its not appropriate for all businesses.
**Set up a customer rewards program and offer incentives.
**Follow up leads within 24 hours.

For consultation, email us:
tochukwudike@gmail.com; customercare.dillionworld@gmail.com;

dillionworldresources@gmail.com

support@digitalmarket.com.ng

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