Greetings. Welcome to another brief from Tekedia Institute. Our lesson today is on the mission of firms and why we need to have companies. In this video, I explain deeper.
Raising Funds Early in Startups
The general thought about raising funds is that the founder has to be sufficiently impressed before he can raise funds. Most founders think you need to have an excellent product that already has market acceptability. Some others think it is impossible to raise funds if you do not have a credit score, financial records, or tangible assets. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
I recently prepared a course on a reverse funding strategy for startup founders, and the course summarizes that you can raise funds for your business, from day 1. Yes, it is possible to raise funds from your business even without any credit score, financial records, or tangible assets.
To access funds from day 1 of your business, you are trying to get your investors to believe that the business will be worth their money even though you have not even gotten the product into the market. Product or no product, the first thing you want your investors to know is that you have access to demands.
Demand here is the number of goods that customers are willing and able to buy, and for you to use the reverse funding strategy, you need to be able to harness the demand. You should create a market, or at least establish before potential investors that you have a market for the product, and use that market to raise money.
Another thing that will be very important for you if you are trying to raise funds from day 1 is your brand and network. You need to have a good brand online and offline. Also, have a good social network and network with the right people.
Let people who need your product know what you are doing (this is part of your market demand by the way). Offline, get to relate and associate with people that matter in your industry. Identify the clusters where the demand for the product or solution you have is. Use the relationship and brand visibility you have built to communicate with them. Get your demand to a point where you can convert it to a financial instrument.
You are also going to need a lot of goodwill and this comes from networking with the right circle. Being able to convince the financier that you have the capability and capacity to deliver the service or product, is a function of the brand you have built online and offline. Every post, every interaction, every engagement online matters and is part of your brand. As you veer further into the waters of entrepreneurship, you will come to see that in fact, your reputation and brand is the first basis on which your business proposition will be considered before it gets a reputation of its own.
If the startup has been around for some months, it is also helpful if you have delivered a product that matches your customer needs and is already being adopted at a steadily increasing rate. It does not matter how small the growth is, provided that it is steady. Say for instance, if your customer, client, or users are increasing by 5% weekly consistently for more than 12 weeks. This is impressive, if for nothing else, for its consistency.
If your startup has had some months of operation before you seek to raise the funds, a big plus on your side would be a possible contract or partnership with established and big brands. For instance, if you are about to, or have just launched your solution and can get an established brand to join your waiting list or your first customers, you will enjoy some stretch of their reputation. This in itself can become a financial instrument.
There are more details of this funding strategy in the course.
Rising Unauthorized Use of Sensitive Vehicular Devices In Nigeria
The last time I holistically checked, the unauthorized use of emergency-vehicle equipment like siren among other sensitive vehicular devices including tinted glass and customized number plate was on the increase in the contemporary Nigerian society that forbade the use of a partisan measure toward its holistic eradication.
Illicit indiscriminate use of the aforementioned gadgets by unauthorized motorists is, to say the least, mainly responsible for most traffic embarrassments and anomalies experienced in recent times on Nigeria’s various major roads that if severe and rigorous approach isn’t taken towards addressing it, I’m afraid one may wake one morning to hear that such traffic authorities in the country as the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), among others, have been taken over by a group of ‘bloody’ civilians.
Siren, which is a popularly used emergency device in most countries across the globe, could be described as an instrument fitted to or carried by an emergency-vehicle other than the devices that a standard non-emergency vehicle is fitted with such as headlights, steering wheels, windshield, and windscreens. It is generally an acoustic device that concurrently exhibits coloured lights in the process.
Siren was invented solely to be used by emergency vehicles to include the fire truck, ambulance, and the police car, because they are usually involved in hazardous situations including relatively not uncommon incidents like a road traffic collision.
This set of vehicles – owing to its unique mode of operations – is required to gain access to incidents as quickly as possible, thus in many countries likewise Nigeria, it’s given a preference as regards obeying certain traffic rules.
For instance, suchlike vehicles may, or possess the immunity to, treat a red traffic light, or stop sign, as a give way rather than the reverse; it can also be permitted to break the speed limit, as the case may be.
Notwithstanding, emergency vehicles may not be able to equally treat a railroad crossing as a give way, because a train cannot be warned in time to stop before the crossing to let the vehicle through. Hence, an emergency vehicle might not enjoy its usual privileges when heavy land freight or passenger trains are involved.
Thus, due to the inevitable role of emergency vehicles in several countries including Nigeria, they are fitted with visual warnings to alert members of the public, particularly other motorists and road users, either as they approach the said vehicle or vice-versa. Visual warnings are generally classified into passive and active.
The passive visual warnings are usually inherently linked to the design of the vehicle, and involve the use of high contrast patterns such as striking or unusual paintings, retro-reflective designs, flamboyant stickers, and what have you, directly on the vehicle.
Another method of passive visual warnings is the inscription of the name or purpose of the emergency service organization such as Fire Service, Ambulance, Red Cross et al, boldly on the front of the vehicle. This enables drivers of other vehicles to easily identify an approaching emergency vehicle via their rear-view mirrors.
On the other hand, active visual warnings are usually in the form of flashing coloured lights known as beacons or light-bars which are often accompanied by a variety of sounds. The flashing coupled with sound attracts the attention of other road users including pedestrians as the emergency vehicle approaches. It equally provides warning to motorists approaching a stopped vehicle in a dangerous position on the road.
On its part, tinted glass, which refers to any glass that has been specially treated with a material such as a film or coating that reduces the transmission of light ray through it, is purposely meant to block and/or reflect different kinds of light based on the needs as well as preferences of the consumers.
One of the most common ways in which tinted glass is used is in automobile windows. Almost all vehicles come with tinting at the top of the windshield to reduce solar glare when the sun is low in the sky.
Aside from the above reason, the windows of many vehicles, particularly cars, are tinted either at the factory or as an aftermarket add-on by the consumer, to provide privacy for the vehicle’s occupants as well as to reduce the build-up of heat in the vehicle while it is parked outside.
As regards the functions of a vehicular tinted glass, apart from regulation of light or heat, the most rampant reason a tinted glass is used especially in a society like Nigeria is provision of privacy for the vehicle’s occupants.
Nevertheless, it’s paramount to acknowledge that, contrary to the wholesome attributes of tinted glasses, they prevent timely identification of the actual look of the vehicle’s driver alongside other occupants of the car, thereby creating room for various fraudulent or dubious acts.
Nnamdi Kanu Won N1billion Monetary Compensation
Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous people of Biafra (IPOB) dragged the federal government of Nigeria to court over the unlawful invasion of his father’s residence by the Nigerian military personnels sent by the federal government on the 10th of September, 2017 on the infamous military operation in Abia state tagged “operation python dance”.
The famous Biafran supreme leader through his counsels prayed the High court of Abia state to declare the military invasion of his father’s residence illegal, unlawful and infringement of his fundamental human rights. He also asked the court to award him the sum of 5 billion Naira monetary compensation for the havoc melted on him and his family by the federal government of Nigeria through the military personnels.
The court on Wednesday, 19th of January, 2022 ruled in the favour of the applicant; Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. The presiding Judge, Justice Benson Anya of the Abia state High court held that the invasion of the family residence of the applicant is illegal, unwarranted, unlawful and breaches his fundamental human rights. The court in her wisdom also awarded the sum of 1 billion Naira monetary compensation for the damages suffered by Nnamdi Kanu and his family in the hands of the Nigerian Military personnels.
The Judge in his ruling, further declared that the abduction and extradition of the leader of the proscribed Biafra group and his forced return to Nigeria from Kenya where he was seeking refuge is illegal under both local laws and international treaties.
Nnamdi Kanu is still in the custody of the Department of State Security Services (DSS) and facing charges relating to terrorism and incitement at the federal high court, FCT Judicial division.
The Positive Impact of Technology on Marketing
There have been so many advancements in almost every sector in our world today. Indeed, it is safe to say that we live in a constantly evolving world with limitless possibilities. The area of technology has been greatly transformed, with so many groundbreaking achievements in the tech industry lately.
When it comes to marketing, technology has really transformed marketing by making campaigns more personalized and immersive for people. There has been a significant rise in social media marketing.
The focus of marketing has shifted from competitive advertising to the collection and distribution of data. New technology for marketing has revealed hundreds of ways to understand businesses and consumers, and even more ways to reach them. Technology has been pivotal to the growth of a lot of businesses, where it has helped them create relationships, strengthen the effectiveness of the company, and allows people to know about the company which has greatly affected the way companies communicate with their prospective customers.
Every marketer/ organization has started to view technology as a very important factor when it comes to marketing. It has changed how data is analyzed and used in business. With almost everyone on the internet using different social media platforms, technology has brought about innovations in marketing giving businesses a new shape. Many businesses/people who do not have a physical store have created businesses online and also used marketing to get their target audience.
Some businesses deploy the use of social media marketers and influencers to market their products. These people are paid to promote and advertise the product on social media to drive traffic that will later generate sales.
Most organizations/individuals have seen the importance of technology as a strategic tool to increase overall efficiency to stay ahead of competitors. Although, the role of marketing has not changed due to technology which is the dynamic power in buyers and seller relationships.
By just using the Internet, consumers can gain access to a lot of data from anywhere in the world. Not talking about any type of data, but data that is timeless and verifiable. With just a click, consumers can get to see meaningful insights about companies and their products. With so many companies putting out their products online and the prices, consumers can get to find a product they want, compare the products, read reviews and compare the prices before they go ahead to purchase.
They can even get to ask direct questions where a representative of the company can respond to them where they can inquire more about the product, to ensure they get buyer satisfaction. The internet allows a lot of information to be obtained easily by consumers.
With technology, marketing has been made easy. According to Malcolm McDonald, he provides a useful summary of the positive impact of technology on marketing which are;
- Integration: Marketers get to know their clients
- Interactivity: Beyond addressability to dialogue
- Individualization – Information enables talking
- Independent of location – This talks about the death of distance. Marketers can get patronage and also interact with consumers from anywhere in the world
Conclusion
Indeed, there has been a paradigm shift in marketing courtesy of technology. Marketing has now been made easier than before. With just a post on the internet, so many people around the world can be reached.