DECIDED ON A BUSINESS

IF YOU HAVE NOT DECIDED ON A BUSINESS, DO THIS:
On the top of a blank sheet of paper, write an activity you like to do (make this the heading). Do a separate page for each activity or interest you have.
On those same sheets list as many businesses you can think of that are related to that activity.
On the same sheets list all the products or services you can think of that are related to that activity. Use your imagination and think of every possible product or service you could do.
Make a list of businesses that do better in bad times (one may be appropriate for you). Some examples might be pawnshops, auto repairs and fabric stores.
EXAMPLE
Let's assume you end up with three potential businesses: towing service, selling used cars and auto repairs. You can now make a comparative evaluation using the following check-list (or better still your own checklist) with a 1-10 scoring system:

Objective	Towing Service	Selling Used Cars	Auto Repair
Can I do what I love to do?	6	3	10
Will I fill an expanding need?	8	5	10
Can I specialize?	7	8	10
Can I learn it and test it first?	9	8	9

This kind of analysis can help you gain objectivity in selecting your business.
How to Evaluate a Specific Business you have in mind.
Here are some questions to help clarify your thoughts:

• Is it something I will enjoy doing?
  My favorite activities are:
  I like to serve people by:
• Will it serve an expanding need for which there is no close substitute?
• Can I be so good at a specialized, targeted need that customers will think there is no close substitute?
• Can I handle the capital requirements?
• Can I learn the business by working for someone else first?
• Could I operate as a hollow corporation, without a factory and with a minimum number of employees? ("Hollow corporation" refers to a business where everything is "outsourced," meaning you would subcontract manufacturing and packaging to outside sources. )
• Is this a product or service that I can test first?
• Should I consider a partner who has complementary skills to mine or who could help finance the business?

Message to Small Business

 The future of Britain’s economy depends on Britain’s small businesses - on those with the courage to strike out and start their own thing, who work all hours to succeed, who through love, sweat and tears make their business grow.
These people are the embodiment of British pluck and enterprise, and we need you. We need you to keep on creating good private sector jobs, so that more people can earn a living for their families and have financial security for the future. We need you to help get Britain exporting more, because in this competitive world our success will lie in making things and selling them to the world. We need you to help rebalance our economy away from too much debt, borrowing and spending and towards private enterprise, dynamism, ideas and innovation.
That’s why I spoke today at the FSB’s first Policy Conference - and it’s why this government is pulling every lever possible to back small business.

BOOST MICROFINANCE IN NIGERIA

IFC SET TO BOOST MICROFINANCE IN NIGERIA

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has expressed willingness  to mobilise microfinance banks to boost financial services, to under-served SMEs in the country. The Country Manager of IFC Nigeria, Solomon Adegbie-Quaynor has said that the development unit of the IFC is going to finance market leaders and those who can set the right standard and have other microfinance institutions understand what it means to operate well.

He added that the non-performing loans and high interest loans provided by Nigerian financial institutions have created credit scarcity in the economy which is strongly impeding the growth of small businesses, the largest employer of labour in the oil-rich country.

TRADE BOOST IN NIGERIA

TRADE BOOST IN NIGERIA

The European Union (EU) Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Michael Arrion, has announced that the EU is giving Nigeria an additional N4.2 billion grant, in order to boost trade and improve productive capacity in Nigeria. The EU recently launched a programme, the Nigerian Competitiveness Support Programme (NCSP) which is aimed at improving the competitiveness of the Nigerian economy in the non-oil related sectors. This will thereby, create jobs and reduce poverty through trade support institutions and improved business and investment environment.

According to the Minister for Industry, Trade and Development, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, the programme targets three components of trade policy, investment climate and the issues of standard and metrology. The Minister noted that the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has made some progress in the last two years as the level of certified products have improved from 10 to 40 per cent, while the substandard product level has fallen from 80 to 45 per cent. The EU Ambassador noted that the EU attached a great importance to its relations with Nigeria as an important political and economic force in West Africa and a key player in the African continent.

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