Funding Solutions vs. Funding Skills: The Key to Business Growth

Hello and welcome to the show. Today I'm out and about South. Expect to hear some interruptions in the background today on the podcast. I'm going to be speaking in code to Wonder Woman. Now, when I say Wonder Woman, I don't mean the real Wonder Woman. I mean not the DC character and not Gal Gadot who actually played Wonder Woman, at least the last iteration of Wonder Woman. I'm just doing the same thing that I normally do on the podcast.

I'm going to be speaking in code to a podcast listener. I'm not going to use a real name. So I'm just going to be calling her Wonder Woman in this episode and in the next series of episodes that follow because Wonder Woman and I, you know, been chatting about a couple of things. And let me just put it this way. There's some things that I'd like to say, but I didn't quite say. So I'm just going to speak in code over here.

So Wonder Woman, not the real Wonder Woman, of course, if you suspect it's you. Yeah, it's actually you. I'm just speaking in code. And for the rest of you who are listening, even though this episode is addressed to someone in particular, please hang around because you're going to hear some things that might apply in your business, and also because we're going to address some universal questions as well. Also, another reason for you to hang out is because I've been saying since last year that I'm going to make a podcast episode about why if you're a young woman, you shouldn't go into business with your boyfriend.

And I figured the time has come for me to make that podcast episode. Well, at least to address that question. So Wonder Woman is not in business with her boyfriend, but there is some guy who is hanging around who wants to finance the business, but she doesn't want to go into business with him because of his, you know, some questionable work choices he has made or business choices that he has made. And so I figured now is the time for me to go ahead and make that podcast episode just in case you're a female listener of the show and you're like Wonder Woman, trying to do your thing,

trying to do your hustle. And there's one guy around that is kind of cutting out for you. Maybe he is, maybe he is not, but he's thinking of dropping money in your business. Maybe he is, maybe he's not. You guys go into business together. Maybe you do, maybe you don't. Yeah, I'm going to finally start addressing some of those issues, but it will be in today's episode. So you have to hang around, go past today's episode, you know,

and eventually we'll get to that part of the story. So Wonder Woman, again, not the DC character and not Gal Gadot. In fact, my wife wouldn't even allow me to see Gaga dot because I think Gaga dot. I think she's a fine bee, but I think she needs to eat up sharp because I think she's too, she's too Bony. She needs to drop off small. So if you know any Hollywood person who knows Gaga dot or if you know Gaga dot, tell her that she has a friend over here in Niger who says that she needs to eat up that she's too.

She's too Bony. She's too like, but she needs to puff up small. So Wonder Woman, the listener of the podcast, is a Spotify follower of mine who is based in Makudi in Benroy State. So I consider her my home girl. Well, of course, she's not from Benroy State. She just attends the university which is based there. There's a State University there which has been around since the Sixties, 60s or 70s, I can't remember. Anyway, so she attends that university, She's into catering and all fine things, cuisine.

She's been in the cooking business since 2023. And one of the things that she's complained about is that she has had a lack of funds to actualize her business. Yeah, I have. This is the main thing I wanted to talk about today because there are lots of you who are stepping into the new year and who are thinking that the reason why our business is not moving is because of a lack of funds or thinking, or if only I could raise funds, the business would move and blah, blah, blah.

So that's going to be one of the central questions that I'm going to address over here today. So for her, she says a lack of funds won't allow her to actualize her business because when she says she wants to actualize her business, now pay attention to this. She wants to deliver large quantities of food. She wants to deliver large quantities of soups or rice or peppered meat or pasta, you know, all those kind of things.

You know, in fact, I think I should become good friends with Wonder Woman so that when I am in Makudi, I can eat for free because this sounds like a good menu. And then so lots of stuff anyway that she wants to, that she wants to do. And so she needs funds to actualize her business. And that's the reason why I'm tackling this today, because there's some of you who want to actualize your business. You want to move things to the next level.

You want to move to the permanent sites. You want to know whatever it is you want to do. And you think now lack of funds is the problem? So the central question for today is, is lack of funds the real issue? Some of you will say, yes, American universities agree with you because they keep on putting out this report year after year after year. You know, like Harvard, you know, all those type of schools saying that finance and lack of funds is the main reason why people go out of business.

But the main reason why people go out of business is not a lack of funds. The main reason why people go out of business is an inability to sell. And this if you're not convinced anyway, let me just go ahead and explain my thesis. So again, yes, Harvard says that the reason why people go out of business is because of lack of finance and poor funds. Average Nigerians on the street said that the reason why businesses fail is because of lack of funds.

No finance. I say and a couple of other people say that the main reason why businesses go out of business is because or why they're Hanford from growing is because of a lack of sales skills. And This is why because if you want to finance your business from the beginning of time up until now, that's from the time of Cain and Abel. OK, we don't know what Adam and Eve did, but at least we know that Cain and Abel, they had their own hustle.

So Cain was hunting and Abel was a farmer. So they're doing their own hustle. So since the time of Cain and Abel, if you wanted to raise finance for a business, you had to do a couple of things. You had to do some bootstrapping. Bootstrapping just means you are running this business from your savings. So when Abel decided that, oh, sorry for those of you who are Muslims, I'm sorry, I don't know the Arabic versions of of those names, so I can't use the Arabic versions.

But what I'm referring to, or rather the the names I'm playing with basically are just the children of Adam, Adam and Eve. So when Abel wanted to start his farming business, he ever had to look at his savings, you know, look into his lion cloth and say, OK, how many calories shells do I have to go and buy land? Or how many calories shells do I have to go and buy seedlings, yam seedlings, maize seedlings, you know, stuff like that.

That is bootstrapping. You check your bank accounts. You look at your pocket. Maybe you even go and talk to Mom. See, Popsy, you know, so Abel would have called Adam his father and say, hey, Popsy, how far Now Say I'm good, I'm good. Where are you doing? I'm just chilling. Which side? I'm around that Garden of Eden side. OK. Are they come? Are they come? And then you go and then have the conversation. And I say, look, Pops, I beg.

I want to start farming. Just raise me some cash. Let me buy land, let me buy seedlings, that sort of thing. All that that is bootstrapping. You're looking at your savings, look inside your pockets. Go and talk to mom, see talk to your brother, talk to your sister, talk to your cousins, all that. All that is bootstrapping. So from time immemorial up to now, that is one way that you finance your business. Go on bootstrap.

Then the second way is by sales or revenue. This is what sales or revenue means. It means you actually go out and try and sell something to someone. The goal is that when you sell something to someone, you make a small profit. You take that small profit and throw it back into the business. You're trying to achieve positive cash flow, and then from there you'll be growing your business small small. This week you sell one unit, you make 2 Nair profits.

Next week you sell 2 units, You make 4 naira profits next month. Maybe by then you started selling 50 units and now you're making 50 * 2. It was 100 naira profit if my math is correct. And then that's how it goes on and on and on and on. So that's an opportunity that was also open to Abel. You know, you managed to bootstrap, get one small piece of land and maybe to buy like 5 heads of yam. You plant the yam, the yam grows, you harvested, maybe the yam grows 10 tubers, You sell the 10 tubers, You sell each tubers for 6 calorie shells or something.

You use 4, four or three calories shells to eat the remaining 2 reinvested back into the business. They're doing positive cash flows. So that is sales and revenue. We're aiming for positive cash flows. So that's number two. Number one, bootstrapping, saving the money #2 sales. Sell something, take the profit, throw it back, grow that way. Then another way to grow to finance the business is equity. Equity just means you go and meet somebody, collect money from the person.

The money that you collect for the person, the person now wants a share in your business. In other words, the person is investing in you and investing in the future of the business. So that you guys are now partners whether 5050 or 7030 more from now until the business dies, any money you make, you be sharing with that person. That is equity. Now let me switch to Kane. So let's say Kane on the other hand decides to go to his mumsy and says, ah Eve, I beg, I want to do animal husbandry but I

need some help. And then Eve says sure, no problem, I'll give you the money. But this money that I'm giving you, we have to be partners 5050 in this business. And then Kane says mommy now are you not my mommy? And you know that whole emotional blackmail and everything and then maybe you says OK, OK, no problem. I'll give you the I'll give you the carry shows. But then I will now own 20% of the business and it's OK, no problem.

They shake hands, deal is done. That is equity. So Eve now owns 20% of the business that her son Kane has started for Animal Husbandry. And of course they have agreed on what the distributions are going to be and you know, stuff like that. So that is equity. You collected money from someone, they now own a share in your business. Then after equity is a loan. A loan is when you want to meet somebody, the person gives you the money, but then the person says this money or I'm giving you 6 calories shells, you're going to pay me back 8 calories shells.

So 2 calories shells is interest. So in this case, OK, back to the beginning, we say Abel approached the Adam for for money. So in the first example that I gave, I just assumed that Adam will give the money to Abel as per you know, you're my son, you So just take now dash, I dash, I'm just dashing you. That one is a grant. That's also another opportunity to get somebody to dash your money. Well, let's pretend now that Adam didn't dash him and Adam said was a loan.

So the loan will now be that, look, I'm giving you this money, but you know me, I'm near retirement age. So I need to be able to, I need to be able to live off of something. So this money that I'm giving you, I want it back in one year. You have to pay me back those interest. So I'm giving you the 6 calories shells to one start your business, but you have to pay me back next year. You have to pay me back 8 calories shells so that at least I can support myself in old age because I know that you and your brother you will marry and people will move far away.

So I need to take care of myself in my old age, me and my wife. So that is a loan. The person gives you money you have to pay back. You have to pay with interest but the person does not own a share in your business. So that is a loan. Now the bad news about a loan is that you have to pay the loan back any which way. If the business succeeds, you pay the loan back. If the business fails, you pay the loan back equity. Now forgive me because I've been in legal practice for a very long time, but in actual practice is beginning to look as if equity everything just messes up.

Everybody would just ally put it, you know, to attend to Israel. OK, the thing didn't work, the thing didn't work. And then everybody goes goes a separate ways. But if it's a loan, you must pay that money. And if you've taken a loan from a Nigerian bank before or a Nigerian loan shark or whatever, you know for sure that if you take a loan, you must pay that money. In fact, loan shacks, they will do that, as in they will harass the life out of you.

I've received those messages before to say that social social took a loan of social amount he has not paid, you know, basically trying to harass you by sending messages to everybody in your in your social network just to embarrass you to pay the money. So if it's a loan, you must pay the money. So this is how business has been financed from the beginning of the world up until now. Grant Yes, the first one I didn't add.

Grant let's get somebody to dash your money and #2 bootstrapping, save your own money #3 go out and sell something, take the revenue and then throw it back trying to get positive cash flows. So that's sales #3 #4 equity. Collect money from somebody, give them a share in your business. The person is investing in you #5 go out and take a loan, collect money from someone. The person gives you the money, but the person says you must pay back with interest at so so so so time.

So if you are like Wonder Woman, you want to actualize your business as she says you want to start increasing the large audit quantities of soups or rice or peppered meats or pasta or peppered goat of pounded yam of fisherman soup of you know everything. These are the options that are available to you. Go and look for a grant or bootstrap increase sales. Go and get equity or go and get a loan. Those are the options available to you.

Unfortunately for you, sales skills are involved in doing every single thing here. If you want a grant, you need sales skills. If you want to bootstrap, OK, now you don't need sales skills. You know you're fine, but you need sales skills to grow the business. But let's just remove bootstrapping there. If you want to grow revenue, you need sales skills. If you want to attract equity, you need sales skills. If you want to get a loan, you need sales skills.

Some of you are going to ask what is the correlation? No problem, we will get to that. Tomorrow we'll start seeing how sales skills can help you solve all these problems and hope you guys are beginning to see the connection that lack of finance now is not really the problem. Because OK, look, for the sake of argument, yes, let me admit, yes, there are some people that are so down on their luck or not sophisticated enough or not educated enough or have the wrong connections or whatever,

or maybe the devil is against them. So they will not be able to attract a grant. They will not be able to get do not be able to bootstrap, they will not be able to increase revenue. They will not be able to secure equity. They will not be able to get a loan. So yes, for the sake of argument, yes, that is possible. But now let me just assume that we're talking about the average person now you know, average Nigeria. Now I'm not talking about those people who are sleeping under the bridge because those people are here.

It's unfortunate, but they are amongst us, the those of us who those of the pond downtrodden. But let me just assume now that we're talking of typical average person because Wonder Woman, she's in school, so you can afford to pay school fees. She doesn't live in Markudy, so she comes from someplace else. Your parents can afford to pay out of state accommodation, pay for transport, you know, pay for, you know, stuff like that.

And obviously she uses a nice Android phone. In fact, based on the screenshot she sent me, the phone that she uses is one of those Folds types, you know, the ones that open up real nice. So if you can afford the phone that is, you know, one point, something million. I really think you're not one of these people who cannot get a grant, cannot bootstrap, cannot grow revenue, cannot get equity or cannot get a loan. So in tomorrow's episode and beyond, we will now look into how sales skills can help you raise finance through these channels.

And hopefully by the time we're done, all you'll be able to see that is not actually lack of finance that is causing businesses to businesses to die. So in a sense, yes, lack of finance is the problem, but the problem is because there is a dearth, there is a lack of a fundamental skill which is needed to secure that financing. So it's after we have done all this fundamental stuff that I'll now enter into the Part B of the story, which is why if you're a young woman in 2024 in Nigeria,

so this advice doesn't apply to those of you in the UK and America and whatever, because, you know, cultural dynamics can be different. But you're a young woman in 2025 in Nigeria, in Ghana, in Cameroon. Let me see what else? OK, Well, those people are Nigerian enough. South Africa, all I can speak about Gabon and Sudan and Algeria and all those other countries. I'm not sure what the cultural makeup is like. Liberia, yes.

So Niger, Ghana, Liberia, South Africa, Yeah. After that, after we have looked at these fundamental issues, we're now going to why if you're a young woman starting a business in 2025 or whatever year you're starting this business, you're listening to this podcast in 3057, OK, maybe in 3057 things have changed. You know, I don't know. But the reason why you should not go into business with your boyfriend or if you're going to go into business with your boyfriend or you're maybe toaster, maybe not toaster,

maybe he likes me, maybe he doesn't like me. We'll look at the circumstances under which you should go into business with this person or not. And even for those of us who are married, it's still going to be an OK episode to listen to because in order to decide whether you should go into business with someone under these circumstances enough or not, at the end of the day, it all boils down to what the business terms are, what the partnership terms are and how clear the partnership terms are.

So only if you're not, you know, in any emotional entanglement and maybe you're trying to get a loan from Access Bank or something or be in partnership with, you know, your rich uncle or rich auntie, you know, there are going to be some business lessons there that still apply. So that's it for today. If you'd love to connect with me, the phone number to reach me on is 08064662140. The country code is +234. For those of you who are not Nigerian and it's my WhatsApp number, you can reach me there.

Then connect with me on socials. I'm on YouTube and I am on LinkedIn. The name to look for is Tavi Shima Aidi. So thank you very much for your time and attention. And remember that this episode is just me speaking in code, so it's not an actual conversation. I'm just trying to stylishly pass across a message so that the Wonder Woman listens to the episode. She's going to learn a couple of things apart from the things that we've really been chatting about.

So thank you very much for your time and attention. I'll catch you guys tomorrow.