THE NORTHERN BLOG: BUSINESS

THE FIFTH EDITION OF THE SOUK TRADEFAIR SET TO HOLD IN KANO

THE FIFTH EDITION OF THE SOUK TRADEFTHE FIFTH EDITION OF THE SOUK TRADEFAIR SET HOLD IN KANOAIR SET HOLD IN KANO

Souk Trade Fair is a medium that aims to aid businesses meet their consumers and marketing needs in a unique way. The Souk Trade Fair works closely together with vendors that want to expand their market share and enjoy higher profits by deploying inventive, and disruptive means of marketing and networking.

It is an event that is hosted four times all through the year with lots of other values that are derived by participants and exhibitors such as seminars and talks tailored to help entrepreneurs in growth and development.

The souk was founded by an economist, who seeks to innovate the process of bringing the suppliers and customers together in a coordinated manner. By creating a market conducive for the vendor to realize profit, and the customers value through a collective and collaborative effort in creating convenience for trade to occur in the short, medium and long term.

Supported by entrepreneurs ecosystem Startup Kano, the fifth edition includes a bundled package of food, fun and fashion. Due to its popularity among the populace, the number of businesses and vendors patronizing the trade-fair usually exceeds that of any other event of same manner in Kano. The details of the trade-fair is as follows:

Time: 10am - 7pm Daily

Date: 20th - 21st May, 2017

Venue: The Afficent, No 74 Sultan Road Nassarawa GRA, Kano.

For stall reservation and inquiries call 09069717181 or 08034538435

No Gate Fee as Admission is Free!!!

Watch Video Promo Here:

READ ABOUT THE LAST THE SOUK TRADE FAIR HERE

STARTUPS: HOW TO WRITE A JOB DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT

As startups, it is always difficult to develop business documents, this is credited to the lack of experience in the field. Today we will show you how to write a job description document. The job description document is ideally defines the scope, responsibilities and accountabilities of employees in any organization. It states why the role exists and what contribution the holder is expected to make to the organization. This is a dynamic document which should be reviewed regularly as the company and job roles change and new performance targets are agreed.

At its most basic these are the fields that should be included;-

Job Title:

Current job holder: Name

Department:

Reports to: job title of their line manager

Direct reports managed: who reports to them

Purpose of job: this should be a couple of sentences that summarizes the unique role, and how it contributes to organizational objectives.

Responsibilities: list the main requirements of the job

Key performance targets: list the Key areas where results must be achieved. Include standards of performance.

Think SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic. Time bound)

Agreed :Jobholder …………………………… date ………………………………
Agreed :manager …………………………… date ………………………………
Review date ……………………………………….

The responsibilities section will list everything the jobholder is expected to carry out. The best style is to begin with an action verb, and use the present tense. For example “Handles all incoming emails to the customer service account”. It is important to distinguish between tasks the jobholder will carry out, and those they have responsibility for. E.g.“Select a range of merchandise for sale in xyz to achieve budgeted sales and other KPI’s” or “Ensure contracts with suppliers are placed in a timely fashion” Standards of performance should also be included where possible, such as “in a timely fashion “and “to achieve budgeted sales and other KPI’s” like above. If you need any help developing a business description for your company, you can contact us.

STARTING YOUR BLOG PART THREE

In the second part of starting your blog we covered how to design and improve your blog readability. Today we will continue how to increase your blog popularity using search engine optimization and other techniques.

Proofread and edit your posts

Sloppy writing and obvious errors can undermine your credibility and distract readers from what you have to say. Before you publish any post, you should check it for spelling and grammar errors. All blog services include a spell check feature. You should use it every time you post.

You should also reread posts before you publish them. Once you've finished writing a post, take a break, then return to it later with fresh eyes. When you reread a post, check your writing to make sure it's clear and enjoyable to read.

Connecting with a blogging community

No matter what you write about in your blog, there's bound to be other people out there who are blogging about the same or similar subject. Becoming part of this community of bloggers is a good way to get more people to read your blog. People who know you and who share your interests are likely to read your blog posts and even recommend them to others.

Being part of a blogging community can also make writing your blog more enjoyable. When you're not sure who's reading your blog, writing can feel a little bit like shouting into a void. In contrast, when you're part of a community, you may feel like you're participating in an established discussion. Many bloggers like the feeling of writing for an audience of friends. How can you do that?

Find Similar Blogs

Comment on other blogs

Reach out with social media

Promote blogs you like.

MAKING YOUR BLOG EASY TO FIND

Even if you write the best blog posts on the Internet, you'll never get many readers unless people can easily find your blog. The internet is a big place, and making your blog stand out from millions of others is a challenge. Still, there are a few things you can do to make it more likely that new readers will visit your blog.

Help search engines find your blog with SEO

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a set of techniques you can use to make your blog more visible to people who are using search engines. The more visible your blog is, the more likely it will show up in search results.

Most SEO strategies are based on the way you write your blog. For example, including keywords in your posts can influence the search results your blog shows up in.

Link to your blog elsewhere

A simple way to let people know about your blog is to link to it. For instance, you could send the link to your blog to people you think would enjoy it. To reach more people, you can use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. You can post a link to your blog in your profile on these sites.

You can also use the networks' sharing tools to post links to individual blog entries which you think your online friends will find particularly interesting. You can create social networking accounts specifically for your blog— your blog's own Facebook Fan Page or Twitter feed. For people who want to keep their personal life separate from their blog, this can be a better choice than using your own Facebook or Twitter account. You can learn more about social networking sites on the internet.

Make your blog easy to navigate

When people visit your blog, they should be able to easily find the posts they're interested in. There are a few things you can do with your blog posts that will make them easier for visitors to find.

Give posts descriptive titles, so that people can skim your blog and find what they're looking for.
Organize your posts by subject with tools like categories, tags, and labels.

Your blog's design will also influence how easy your blog is to navigate. Design elements like layout, color scheme, and text size will all affect your readers' experience, so you should consider these things carefully.

This is the end of our blogging series, if you want us to help you setup your blog feel free to contact us.

WHY YOU SHOULD SIGN UP FOR THE OUTPERFORM ONE ON ONE BUSINESS COACHING SESSION

Outperform is an agency that identify lapses in productivity among startups, companies, organizations and entrepreneurs. The agency specializes in improving the overall performance of businesses and corporate organizations. The Northern Blog had an interesting conversation with the lead strategists for Outperform agency. Mr Maxwell Ukueje, he took us on an extensive talk on how their strategy for productivity and results far outranks any other services in the area.

During the conversation, he quoted that " In the past 6 months I have worked with some Startups and entrepreneurs as well and I have noticed the tremendous work that they do. Some work almost round the clock and when you ask "hey how is business going" they reply with so much enthusiasm "yeyy!!! Great men! You know how we do . Sadly enough, after having some deep talk I found out that a good number of them are doing so much work with little to show forth. They invest so much time and resources but are finding it hard to get the big break. Simply put, they go out everyday to hustle but are finding it difficult to make money, or even run their businesses. I also noticed another group that have something valuable they are trying to push out but don't know how to go about it. They know they have a good product or service but are yet to hit the kind of sales they desire. They know they can do the job but they don't just have the right network. They don't know who to sell to and how to sell."

While also quoting Les Brown, Mr Maxwell said " There is no secret to success, there is a system to success". He mentioned that " via a One-on-one session they sit with entrepreneurs and business owners and help them build a system for their business, passions and skills. He cited example with people who already launched a startup but 1 year down the line don't have the market they always wanted and are bedeviled by low patronage because business isn't working for them. And also those who already launched a startup but don't have a proper business model and lastly those in business but things are not just working for them and are even considering closing up."

This is a guaranteed method of building skills especially in the areas of people management, time management, resources management, financial management, risk management etc. If you're interested in signing up for this one-on-one business mastermind program, call any of these numbers: 08025854796 or 09056759441

The requirements for joining the outperform one on one session are that:

This program is only for serious minded individuals. It's a one on one session so participant is open to choosing a favorable meet up point. The highlights include:
-Within 2 weeks, you must finish 2 books
- One-on-One sessions are Zero Device Session (ZDS), that is there will be no use of mobile devices.
- If a participant miss her/his schedule with the coach, there is a fine of NGN15,000.00
-Any assignment not submitted within due date attracts a fine of NGN20,000.00.

WOMEN FOUNDERS GROUP IS ORGANIZING SOCIAL WEDNESDAY TO TEACH WOMEN DIGITAL SKILLS

Women Founders Group will be hosting its first edition of Social Wednesday. An event that brings women in business together to train them on digital and social media skills that will assist them to boosts sales and productivity. Women Founders Group held a conference last year to celebrate women in business and in the professional world.

Social Wednesday is a medium for women especially those without any form of the tech skills to learn the various strategies and techniques and use these new skills to build a better business and re-enforce their digital marketing.

The event will be held at Startup Kano hub. The hub has being influential in bringing a lot of initiatives that are geared towards creating awareness on technology and entrepreneurship in Kano.

This is a unique opportunity for women entrepreneurs and techies to arm themselves with valuable knowledge which is no doubt essential in today’s world. Interested participants should send name to 08038088515 to register.

The event is scheduled to take place as follows:

Venue: No S268 Maiduguri Road, Opposite Oasis Bakery Kano.

Date: 26^th April, 2017

Time: 11:00am Prompt.

HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS SALES FORECAST

A sales forecast is a projection of the performance of sales for the organization for a defined period. This is usually a year, broken down into months and quarters. The one thing you can be certain of with a sales forecast is that it will be wrong. But a business must have planning built into it, and a professionally organized sales forecast will be less wrong than a wild guess! Sales forecasting is important for any company’s planning purposes, it is key to budgeting, staff and resource planning, and management of all aspects of the business. Forecasts should be reviewed and revised regularly, in the light of actual sales figures, competitor activity and other market factors.

Forecasting is about assumptions and statistics. There are sophisticated forecasting models available, and consultants who will produce forecasts for you, but the people best placed to estimate sales are the sales management team. They know the business, competitors and markets, (ideally!), and if they produce the forecasts, they own and manage them. Forecasting in great detail is tricky, it is probably best to look at the overall figures rather than product by product, but this will depend on the individual company and your business needs.

Points to consider

It is good to have your forecasting and accounting integrated, so that actual sales can be taken from the accounts department figures. And the forecasts can feed into the company forecast. Consider a rolling 12 month forecast, with individual months (or even weeks) having their own forecast figure. It is usually best to forecast units multiplied by selling price, to show a forecast cash figure. This way you can track changes in selling price in the actual figures. You can also forecast and track direct costs, allowing you to forecast margin too.

What do you base your forecast on?

If you are an existing business, you can take past data (look at a couple of recent years to smooth out anomalies) and project forward , making assumptions based on your knowledge of the market ,your sales team , competition, new market entrants. If you are a new business, this is much more difficult, but will be required as part of a business plan. You have to consider your sales drivers and make some assumptions, use your judgement. Your sales drivers are the factors that influence the likelihood of a sale. For a hotel, the predicted number of guests; for a store, it will be predicted visitors.

Sales Funnel or Sales Pipeline

A sale is only a sale when it is closed, but one way of forecasting is track the potential business in the “sales funnel “ or pipeline . That is to say, is at various stages in the pre-sales process, various stages in the opportunity process.

The stages might be;-

Quote requested and sent
Sample sent or trial begun
Price in negotiation
Business closed

The sales person allocates a probability of sales closure to each opportunity, and the forecast sales are multiplied by that percentage. Each opportunity is itemized and moves through the funnel, with the probability of closure often increasing as it does, this will vary by opportunity obviously. Equally if there are many companies negotiating for a product the probability at that stage might be lower than suggested in the table below.

For more on how to come up with a sales funnel/pipeline contact us.

STARTUPS: PROFESSIONALS YOU WILL NEED IN YOUR EARLY DAYS

STARTUPS: PROFESSIONALS YOU MAY NEED IN THE EARLY DAYS IN NORTHERN NIGERIA

Unless you are operating from your home, with no office and no staff, you will need to engage some professional services, and these all come with a cost attached. As soon as you are dealing with clients and or have an office, you may need advice, expertise and support from a range of people including:

IT support to establish an IT infrastructure, broadband, printers, networks, cloud apps.

A telecoms provider for your landline and mobile phones.

Website developers, to build, maintain the site, and drive traffic to it. They may also offer digital marketing.

Marketing and advertising advisers. Depending on your market you may need to advertise in local, regional, or national print. Or online advertising may work for you.

Legal advice for company structure, leases, terms and conditions, contracts, employment law. etc

Accountants will also advise on company structure, complete statutory accounts and give tax advice.

Banks will provide banking facilities, possibly funding, credit and debit cards, perhaps payment collection facilities.

Pension provider. Again, this will vary but may be mandatory if you have any staff.

Insurer. To cover equipment, premises, perhaps professional indemnity, employer’s liability, perhaps income and business continuity, maybe key man insurance.

Energy suppliers. to provide electricity and gas.

Other things you will need to budget for include, local authority taxes, Water rates, Purchase of hardware, Purchase of Software licenses etc. So depending on the type of company you are starting and the number of people involved, you may have to sit with all these professionals. If you are looking to start a business but don’t want the hassles of getting all this people you can contact these guys. They offer incubation and acceleration, which means you do not have to worry in the early days to get all the people listed above.

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