How can I complete the application form of The Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme with just a business idea?
This question has come up in several forms among the thousands of applicants since the application portal opened on January 1st 2015. TEEP is open to applicants with existing businesses which have been in operation for 3 years or less, as well as business ideas. It is clear that this question comes up because often, it is easier to answer questions about your business at present, than to talk about the future prospects of a business which is still at idea stage and not a reality.
It’s not easy to take an idea and work on it, not to mention writing it out and/or sharing it to the world online; which is what is being asked of our African entrepreneurs with business ideas who wish to join TEEP. Luckily, our application form was designed to help bring your business idea to life so you can really be on your way to turning it into a tangible business. Here are some of the sections that have our start-up applicants stuck:
Business profile: here we want to know about your business idea in detail. These are questions you would be asked by anyone – friends, family and potential investors
Revenues and Market Potential: Who are you planning to sell your products/services to and how well do you know the industry you want to get into?
Team and company structure: is this idea yours alone, or do you have partners and people with the same vision?
Financials: here is where it may get tricky, but if you’ve done your thorough research, you will be able to answer these questions – realistically. Don’t make up fancy numbers to try to boost your application. Be honest – your business is still an idea, we do not expect you to have all your cash-flow figured out, we want to know how financially savvy you are and if you will be able to attract the investment you need as well as make good use of the funds we give you.
So if you have an idea, go ahead and apply. Figure out what you want to call your business, plan how many employees you will have, how much revenue you will generate and how much market potential there is for your product/service. Don’t cringe at the difficulty in answering questions about your idea, relish the chance to bring it to reality and you are on your way from Idea to IPO.
Culled from http://www.tonyelumelufoundation.org/
