“This money is cursed…..! The Government has given us cursed money!!!”
Some jeered, some were quiet, some sober and some simply ignored him as Jacob blurted out on the online platform.
As the discussion continued on the platform created for entrepreneurs who were recipients of grants by the Federal government trying to forge ahead with plans to grow the economy; Opinions differed.
The monies were disbursed in four tranches and evidence of achieved milestones must be presented before the next tranch of payment was approved.
There was follow up and support services to ensure the businesses stabilized hence the discussion.
“The money fizzled out the same way it came in! As if there is a basket of holes in the business. I even struggle to pay rent and salaries, and we are making sales. Where is all the money going? I’ve done everything. I’ve prayed. Haba…..! It’s cursed money!! ” The frustrated entrepreneur blurted out again.
This time, Jacob was not ignored. A good percentage of his colleagues were feeling the same heat. The business plans looked good, but reality was putting ugly patches on their businesses.
The discussion on the platform took a new turn with different ideas and suggestions being shared but there was the constraint of established structure.
Were they to downsize or move to smaller offices? What about their social status? Were they to cut down on their standard of living? How will they explain this to their supervisors?
Dear Entrepreneur, grow at your own pace and structure your business based on your capacity.
What is the size of your business? Make business decisions based on your size, not on societal expectations.
The National policy on MSMEs adopts business classification based on employment and assets.
Micro Enterprise is a business that employs less than 10 staff and has assets valued less than 5million Naira.
Small enterprise is a business scale that employs 10-49 staff with assets valued between 5million -49 million Naira.
Medium Entreprise is a business scale that employs 50-199 staff with assets valued between 50million -499million Naira.
What is the size of your business? Identifying what scale your business is will help to make informed decisions about how to spend money in your business.
Business funding is good. However, if a Micro scale business begins to take the financial decisions that a small business should take; it will crush the business. Growth will be like the fruitless effort of trying to move with an oversized shoe.
True growth will come when we make financial decisions based on the true capacity of our business.
To be continued.
As always, your comments are treasured.
-the starry-eyed entrepreneur.
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