Business Plan vs. Statement of Intent: Your Roadmap to Startup Success

Hello and welcome to the show. I'm taking today's episode from the living room and it's a full house. You know, kids are home, wifey is home. So I expect to hear some interruptions in the background. In fact, some colourful interruptions because we just bought a new keyboard and my son is learning how to play chords and scales. I mean, the older one, at least the little one is still running around. He can't be interested, at least for now anyway.

The goal of this show is free business education. You're not here to learn about my family. So this is the first time of listening to the podcast. Don't worry, you're in the right place. And if you get value from this, please share, promote and talk about it so that your friends and family members in Nigeria and abroad can benefit from the questions that we tackle over here. They can do that by subscribing on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or any player of their choice.

And if you in particular have any sales or marketing questions, bring them to me. You can call SMS or WhatsApp 108064662140. Today on the show we're going to be looking at another question. Someone who called in from my radio show on radio Maria person called in on the 15th of April and we tackled a few things about business plans, statement of intent. So excuse me, you know, all those sorts of things. So that's what we're going to be tackling today.

What is the business plan? What is the statement of intent? When do you need one? When do you need the other? Which one is better? What's the benefit of these things, you know, apart from raising finance? Does a statement of intent or does a business plan help you in any other way? Oh, by the way, just in case, you know, like I said, the noise bleeds and, you know, that's my son hammering away on the keyboard. So I hope you guys find it melodious, if nothing else.

OK, So like I said on the radio show that was on the 15th of April, a chap called in engineer, Engineer Peter Celestine. And the question was on how to use his business plan to raise finance for his construction company, which he started in 2025. So after the date of this recording, it's still, you know, a young thing because I'm recording this in May of 2025 or yes, I have. So this was a caller that I called in last month.

So, you know, when most people call me over the air, we start talking about a few things. Sometimes I need a little bit more detail. So I've got into the habit of telling people to just send me a WhatsApp message so we can talk in more detail. And so like in engineer's case, Engineer Peter's case, so I can have a look at the business plan because I want to make sure that whenever I'm giving advice to anyone, whether those of you who reach out to me through the podcast or reach out to me from the radio show, I want to make sure that the advice I'm giving is relevant, is practical, and it's targeted to your particular context.

Because in my opinion is a waste of time to be answering questions in the general, general, because as in who's it going to help? So it's best when we can sit down and say, look, based on what you've said, based on where you're coming from, based on where you're heading to, you know, do it like this, do it like this, you know, not like this would run, you know, stuff like that. So let's see. OK, so he said I had a business plan.

I'm like, Oh yeah, cool, send me the business plan. Let me have a look. Now, the thing that he sent, even though he thinks it's a business plan, actually is what some people would call a statement of intent. Because the statement of intent is when you put some things down in writing that shows your aspirations. Like this is me, this is where I'm heading. This is what I want to build. You know, some paragraphs like that, short, short, short, you know, one page.

So that is not what we typically would consider to be a business plan. That is just a statement of intent. So based on his well, as you'll find later on, because I'm also going to talk about the kind of things that should be included in a business plan, you see that a business plan is more detailed. The business plan goes beyond just saying this is me, this is where I'm from, this is what I want to build, you know, so any so let me go into what he had in his statement of intent.

So for his statement of intent he has here that he wants to build, he wants to supply reliable construction solutions. Let's see what else he wants to focus on Rd. building and bridges. Then he also mentioned that he has ambitions in oil and gas. And then let's see, OK, They also want to leverage new technologies in making concrete for Rd. paving. And that was one thing that I asked Eric, because, you know, I don't have a technical side when it comes to these things.

You know, I'm not an architect, I'm not an engineer. So, you know, I know nothing about this. But I just always assume that when people make roads, we make roads with tar for a reason, especially since we make roads with tar all over the world. So I just put an asterisk there. Like there's something he needs to do his homework on if making roads out of concrete is a viable option, You know, I'm surprised that people aren't doing it.

But anyway, you never know, sometimes these are, what are they called innovations and things that you can use to make your make yourself stand out. You know, you're doing new methods, new ways, new technologies that other people are not doing. But I just put an Asterix on that. So that's something that we ought to look at. So that's what he just said in statement of intent. Now you can see that just writing out these sorts of things, you know, this is me,

this is my company. I want to supply construction solutions. I want to build roads and bridge. I have ambitions in oil and gas, and I want to leverage concrete for Rd. paving. You give that kind of thing to an investor or to a bank, it's hard for the investors who are no problem. Come and take, you know, 5 billion. Yeah, there's not enough there to for an investor to go on or for a bank to go on or even for your rich uncle who wants to give you money.

There's not enough meat there for your rich uncle, for a rich auntie to say, OK, based on what I'm seeing, I'll come and take like 5-5 billion once. That's your construction company. So you should have a business plan. And what should be included in the business plan? Well, mostly put an executive summary. The summary just says, you know, welcome to the document. If you read this document, this is everything that you can hope to find here.

And then it will summarize everything that is in the document. Then there is also sometimes a section about company description. You know who you are, when was the company founded, who is the executive director, who is the this, who is the that, what does the company do? You know, all those sorts of things. Then there usually is some sort of segment that does market analysis. The market analysis is the part of the business.

Business plan. Yeah. So the market analysis is the part of the business plan that answers the question, can we make money on this thing? Who is the target market and is their demand? So like now back to this construction thing, market analysis is going to be the part of the document where you're now going to answer, can you make money by using concrete to pave roads? You know, is it going to be cheaper or is it going to be much more efficient?

Who is the target market? Municipals, local governments in Nigeria willing to try that as an alternative to using TA? Maybe communities in the east where they have serious erosion, maybe concrete might be the solution. You know, then of course, looking at the whole thing of market demand, you know, have countries been trying this? Have countries been trying this kind of technology? You know, all those kind of questions basically because in the market analysis segment, the bank who you're asking for money, your rich uncle and auntie who you're asking for money, the investor who you're asking for money.

They just want to see, you know, if there's some meat here, is there something we can kill? And by the time we share it, you know, there's, there's money for all of us. So that's just what the market analysis section is. Then a section on products and services. That's where you talk about exactly what you're selling. And of course, I mentioned to my guy, Engineer Peter that, you know, is kind of, you understand this. It's kind of plenty, you know,

construction supplies, building roads and bridges or that one makes sense. But then now ambitions in oil and gas, that's a bit, you know, stretching then anyway, maybe because I'm a layman, so maybe I don't understand, but that whole leveraging concrete for Rd. paving, I to be honest, I'm also sure. But yeah, so products and services will be nice to have a concise statement of what it is that you do. It helps when people look at your business plan and they can see clearly that this is what you do, that.

Oh, OK, this my niece, she wants to do fashion design full stop. But if you put it there and the uncle is reading, the uncle says, OK, my niece wants to do fashion design, but then she also wants to trade forex. But then she also wants to do crypto and but then she also wants to do lifestyle influencing business. But now she also wants to, I mean, you know, it's a bit much. After a while, your uncle or your auntie will just think this baby is not serious.

Let me just keep my money, you know. So if you can clearly define the products and the service, you know, the better. Then my favorite part of the business plan is where you go into marketing and sales strategy. Very, very important. That is how you say, OK, those people that we identified in the market analysis, the people that we're going to run after, this is the plan for going after them. So back to this whole thing about using concrete to pave roads.

Let us assume, by the way, I'm not a technically minded person, I'm not an engineer, so I'm just freestyling here. So let's assume now that concrete can actually solve the erosion problems in the east instead of using Kuruta to, to, to build roads. Sorry, those of you who are not Nigerians, I would say Kuruta, we mean coal tar. It's just if I used to say that a lot in primary school, so I mean, I'll shock it on to find out that people are actually saying coal tax.

I'm like, why not just say coal tax? What is Kuruta? So if truly, truly the way to solve the problem of erosion in the east is to stop using Kuruta and then to use concrete, then there should be a plan. OK. The states in Nigeria are most affected by erosion. Anambra Abia, you know, blah blah, blah. And the plan is to go and meet, you know, the governors or the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and, you know, just some plan, sure that this is how we're going to tackle the market.

Step one will approaches people. Step 2. Step three-step, you know, whatever, you know, but some sort of plan. It also gives people confidence. Let the bank see that, OK, you have a plan. You're not just for meeting ideas anyhow, like there's something that makes sense. Let your uncle or your auntie see now, OK, you'd be like, say this boy don't get sense or be like, say you know, this baby is maturing. So you know, there's a plan here I can drop some money.

So that's the reason why that is my favorite part of a business plan. It should be your favorite part too. And by the way, even if you don't get any money from the business plan, even if nobody drops bar for you by the time you're done, this is the best part of the business plan. So excuse me because you can always look at it from time to time. Anything would guide your thinking. You remember that oh, back in oh, sorry, hold on call coming through.

OK, All right, I will return the call later. So you can now look at the segment. You can now look at that particular segment and then say, can I look at the segment? And then what was I, I lost my train of thought and you'll now be able to look at the segment and then remember that, OK, back in the day when I wanted to start this business, these were the strategies that we have for sales and marketing, you know, blah, blah, blah.

You can look at that and they think can serve as a road map and guide you forward, you know, so you don't forget that these were the main things that we're going to try out. And this was going to be the thrust of sales and marketing for the business. So that's a useful part of the document. And that's one of the reasons why I say, you know, if you want to set up a business plan, it's not a bad idea. If nothing else, it's a reference document that will help you to.

It's a reference reference document. They'll help. They'll help you to bring you back on track because as you're going forward, you know, business is hard. People forget, you know, all kinds of things. So in one moment, one of my children has come. Let me settle him and then I'll get back to you. OK, Sorry about that. You know, fighting over computers as children wants to do some of the wonderful things to look forward.

That's for those of you who don't have kids yet. I mean, it's fun. We're waiting for you guys. So, yeah. So then most of the people that have been sending me business plans, as per the radio show, they don't have a funding request in the plan. Now the funding request is the part of the document where you tell the investor, where you tell the bank, where you tell your rich uncle or auntie that, look, this money that I'm raising for you, raising from you this, I'm going to use it.

I'll buy this, I'll buy this, I'll invest in this, and hopefully we'll bring this kind of returns. And from these returns is how much I'm going to pay you back. So the example that I gave, As for those of you who've been listening for a while, if you remember the episode about Elijah from Sulija who wanted, who had a business plan to raise money for his sesame seed processing business. So he had it clear in his document that this is how much in total I need for the business.

I can't remember the figures. I'm just going to mix stuff up. Even if I remember, I don't use the real figures to protect the gas privacy. So he said, OK, there's how much I need. I need like that kind 30 M from the 30 M, I've been able to drop like 6 M by myself. So what I'm looking for is 24 M. And I thought that was particularly good for Elijah because lots of people in Niger, when there is business plan and even even have the funding segment, usually you can see that they want to raise everything from the other person.

You want your uncle, your auntie to drop everything 100%. You want the bank to drop everything 100%. You want the investor to drop everything 100%. Sometimes people are looking for someone. Sometimes we just like the fact that somebody has skin in the game like you might. You've done something. So you need 50 M for this thing. You've been able to raise like, you know, 5-6, that kind of thing. You give somebody confidence that you're doing something.

So that would also be nice. So, yeah, so that that was just it. So of course the problem with the statement of intent now Engineer Peter submitted is, you know, there are plenty of gaps, you know, so why are you raising money for the business? You know, why do you need financing? Is there any particular specific project that you're working on? What do you need the money for? Do you want it for office space? Do you want it for equipment?

Do you want it for marketing? Do you want it to finance a government contract? You know, stuff like that. So basically whatever it is that you're going to submit, it has to have answers. You need answers to these big questions in whatever document it is that you're raising for finance. But please just know that there's a difference between statement of intent and the business plan. Statement of intent, no too pure when it comes to raising finance, business plan is what you actually should be aiming for.

So that's all for today, folks. If you have any questions that are sales and marketing related, then bring them to me. You can call you can SMS or WhatsApp on 08064662140. Thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys at the next episode.