THE LOOP, SOLVING THE CAPITAL CHALLENGE
We have resolved all kinds of challenges for the various businesses and organizations that we have worked with, but one challenge that always defeated us was raising capital for our clients who needed it to execute our awesome strategies.
We have deferred that challenge for a long time but finally decided to take the bull by the horn.
About one month ago, we silently created a network of investors called THE LOOP, which currently has sixteen members. The group was set up as a strategic crowdfunding model called “closed-loop capital” where investors pull funds together to finance viable small businesses and startups. Mapemond takes on the responsibility of preliminary due diligence and brokerage.
Within the last three weeks after the quiet launch, the group has already raised the sum of fifteen million naira for a farm startup, a restaurant, and a limestone quarry. At Mapemond, we believe that the end goal of brand development is to improve bottomline and that is why capital is a major component of growth.
We shall be working to grow THE LOOP into a full-scale investment management arm of our mission to build reputable, profitable, and sustainable brands.
You can reach us through our email or phone number below if you have any inquiries.
WHEN WILL YOUR SMALL BUSINESS STOP BEING SMALL?
Do you look forward to seeing your business exit the small business stage?
What needs to happen for your business to stop being a small business?
Can you handle your business becoming a company?
Look at your business, do you really have other executive officers?
THE SIAMESE TWIN: INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BRANDING.
Getting it right with your brand is a function of how well you get it with internal and external branding.
For any brand to stand out, these two must be in place. Irrespective of the size, nature, and location of your business, the effect of branding will always set you apart.
Small and local businesses may think that they do not need branding but in a training session we had, we demonstrated how small businesses can leverage branding. Using a Bole vendor in Port Harcourt, we opened the minds of the trainees to help them see the connection between internal and external branding.
We highlighted some things to do as follows:
EXTERNAL BRANDING
– A yellow basin for the roasting
– A yellow table as the stand
– A yellow bench or stool
– A yellow parasol (beach umbrella)
– A yellow apron and cap
– Yellow nylon bags
– Takeaway plates with yellow covers only
– Etc
Everyone agreed that these will make the vendor stand out and get known as ‘Yellow Bole’. That is even an awesome brand name 👌
However, there were other things we all agreed on as well…
INTERNAL BRANDING
– The bole must be tasty and delicious.
– The vendor must be hygienic.
– The vendor must be courteous. with good service delivery.
– The vendor must have the right assistants at hand.
– The vendor must ensure food is ready at the right hours.
– The surrounding environment must be sparkling neat at all times.
– Etc
This exercise was just to buttress the point that branding is both internal and external.
How well are you leveraging the power of branding for your business?
Mapemond can change the game for you. Call or chat with us at 0816 560 8119 or just click CHAT
You can find some resources for both business and personal brands at https://mapemond.com/academy/
#DoBusinessBetter
- Published in Branding
INSIGHTS ON STRUCTURING YOUR BUSINESS.
We came across a Facebook post suggesting that certain businesses perform better when they are unstructured compared to when they are structured. The person asserted that a renowned Nigerian blogger, Linda Ikeji, is struggling ever since she became structured, but that is quite a baseless assertion without specific indices or metrics to measure the performance of her business. The argument had so many holes in it, we didn’t even know which one to address or ignore, but our take away was that many people do not understand what structure means.
Here are some insights on structuring your business:
1. Structuring does not mean leaving your product-market fit. If you were doing very well by selling food to Tricycle Drivers and then you go build a gigantic edifice with air conditioners in the name of structuring, you are just burying your business alive. The drivers won’t follow you but will switch to another option.
2. Structuring does not mean leaving what is working and going to experiment with the unknown. If Linda Ikeji leaves what has been working for her to new terrain, she may struggle before getting it right again, if she does.
3. Structuring does not mean you stop innovating. If you become relaxed simply because you got structured, you will lose out. The more structured you become, the more you have to be on your toes innovating.
4. Structuring does not mean fancy offices and glam. It is not about “I have arrived”, you will be pushed over to the sideline.
5. Structuring is about becoming BETTER ORGANIZED as the business grows gradually. When a bukka woman teaches her daughter to cook the meals as well, it is structuring. When she teaches her Son how to go buy foodstuff from the market, it is structuring. When she keeps proper inventory of the foodstuff to check them against daily sales to ensure there is no theft or unrecorded debts to customers, it is structuring. When she can take a break and business is still ongoing, it is structuring. The list goes on.
6. Structuring is about creating systems and processes, no matter how basic. You cannot seek a serious business loan with your personal account, you need to open a business bank account and that requires BVN, a registered business, Tax identification, etc.
Our investor at Mapemond asked us, “what if I die, what will happen to my investment in your company?” our answer was all around systems, processes and ultimately, structuring.
You cannot desire to be another Dangote, Otedola, Elumelu, Jason Njoku, Ibukun Awosika, and all these people and not be thinking in terms of structure over time.
Davido and WizKid will direct you to their managers if you want to do business with them, even personal brands have their own approach to structuring. That is why they create DMW, Mavin Records, and the likes.
We have to break the fetters and manacles holding us spellbound to the hustle and survival mentality while thinking that we can build a big business by staying unstructured and evading FIRS and the rest perpetually.
Conglomerate this…,
Global Ventures that…
International Empire…
All the fancy desires will not happen by mere wishes, you have to build structures diligently and consistently for several years.
If your clients’ work will be on hold because you have malaria, your business is an endangered specie.
We don’t like to think about it, but what if you die? What happens to the monies you collected from people? Pending salaries? Etc?
Please share this, let’s empower more entrepreneurs with the right knowledge.
If you think otherwise, then this post is not for you.
We wish you well in your endeavors.
YOU CAN BRAND YOUR BUSINESS WITHOUT PLENTY MONEY
Some people say that branding is for big companies with deep pockets, but there are so many big companies with little or no branding.
You can have money and still not get branding right. In fact, there are so many businesses that are making serious money but pay too little attention to branding.
If you are thinking your business is too small or you don’t have money for branding, here’s the story of a ‘poor’ roadside business that has created a good brand image and has been maintaining it since the last time we checked.
There is a bukka sited beside a fence somewhere in Trans Amadi in Port Harcourt. Many decent office workers around that axis eat at her bukka.
We nicknamed her bukka “Clean Pot” because the pots are always sparkling, the environment too and the food processing is so hygienic – she cooks in an open space where customers see everything going on in the kitchen.
This is to paint a very basic picture of someone who doesn’t even have a brand name and is not on social media.
How much does she spend in building and maintaining this brand image?
Waiting until you are big before branding is actually a big mistake. You can start now and keep upgrading as the business grows.
Imagine building on the brand “Clean Pot” and gaining steady visibility to deliver food packs to offices in Trans Amadi using logistics companies.
Imagine the ‘Clean Pot” brand expanding to other strategic locations. As that happens, the branding game goes deeper because systems would have to be in place to maintain the brand image across board.
Relate “Clean Pot” to “Starbucks” or even “Chicken Republic”, can you see the prospect for the brand as it focuses on its own strata of the market. Of course, there will be limiting factors and challenges but they are firstly cultural problems, before economic.
We can go deeper in analysing Clean Pot, but the point is that branding actually begins with your orientation and mindset regardless of your financial status.
#DoBusinessBetter