Tradeline Consult to create 1,000 jobs in Ghana

Microentrepreneurs in Osu, Accra. © EnterpriseAfrik

   

Tradeline Consult (TLC), Ghana, a registered liability company, aims to create 1,000 jobs in three years for degree and diploma holders as well as school leavers with the potential to develop their entrepreneurial skills and competencies.

This was made known during the TLC’s second in the series of Business Seminars for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Accra, which highlighted the significance of goal-setting with a practical demonstration, which challenged the businessmen and women in attendance to set personal and business goals in order to grow their businesses.

Mr Sam Zeph Atiemo, Lead Partner of TLCt, who took the participants through the basics of goal-setting on the theme: Goal Setting for Business Growth said it was the key obstacle to business development and growth in Ghana.

He noted that setting personal and business goals enhance the growth of the business as well as the quality of service and products delivered by the business.

“The essence of setting goals is to have a sense of fulfillment and achievement. It helps you to increase production and quality of service with a sense of urgency. One of the greatest drawbacks of a business without set goals is procrastination due to fear,” he said.

Underscoring the importance of goal setting, Mr Atiemo said: “Fear prevents us from setting goals,” and urged the participants not to “set goals for other people but for yourselves and your businesses as this is a display of the fear of goal-setting. Be clear with yourself and everything that you want to achieve in life will be made possible,” he said.

As a concrete example of goal setting and the clarity it brought to businesses, groups and individuals, Mr Atiemo outlined TLC’s goals for the next three years as the desire to reach out to 10,000 SMEs; create jobs for 1,000 young graduates with degrees and diplomas as well as school leavers with business development potential and create 10 Regional SME Associations.

In addition, Tradeline intends to graduate 30 per cent of its clients from micro to small scale enterprises; 20 per cent of clients into medium scale enterprises; 10 per cent of clients into large scale business enterprises with a further goal to provide training to 1,000 professionals in diverse business sectors of the economy.

A total of 35 participants benefitted from the training, which also had a consultant, Mr Eric Agyare, of SNV (Netherlands Developments Organisation) as a resource person to talk about available funds from the Business Development Services Fund (BDSF), which provides matching grants to qualified businesses for growth and service improvement.

Mr Agyare explained that the BDSF is a business assistance fund set up by Government with support from the World Bank with three windows of support opened to clients seeking support - micro, small and medium scale enterprises.

The fund, according to Mr Agyare, has a total outlay of $2,800,000 to disburse over its lifetime.

Mr Agyare said only few businesses could access the facility due to the challenge of mobilising the 50 per cent matching fund requirement.

To qualify, Mr Agyare said “a business must have wider impact on employment generation and skills training for members of the community”.

Additionally, he said individuals and business entities that had difficulty raising the required 50 per cent could form business groups to access funding by pooling their resources together.

TLC therefore intends to facilitate access to funds by leveraging the partnership with SNV and BDSF for the growth and development of its clients.

Other areas of training covered during the seminar were - Importance of goal-setting; Common mistakes of goal-setting and Principles of goal-setting.

The participants, many of whom had never been privileged to attend any business development training were grateful to TLC and urged the organisers to continue with the programme and open it up for potential business entrepreneurs and unemployed youth in the other regions.

TLC which is based in Ghana and Malawi provide services to SMEs in Business Planning/Business Plan Development, Strategic Planning, Financial Management, Training in Customer Care, Sales and Marketing, Agribusiness and Entrepreneurship, Business and Management Coaching, Motivational Business Seminars and Feasibility Studies.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The 11 Step Business Action Plan

Many people don’t like planning. But in business, your action plan is the key to focusing on the right information in the right order—much like the combination to a safe—and it helps measure progress toward your goals.

Here's how you should use an action plan to accelerate growth and increase your revenues and income.

1. Create a revenue plan

Identify your sources of revenues, the product or services that you offer, how many you plan on selling, and the price you will charge. This will let you know if it’s possible to achieve your financial goals.

2. Map your gap

This is the distance from where you are to where you want to be. This includes your financial, non-financial and personal goals—revenues, profits, volume of sales, number of customers etc. It’s a snapshot for you to decide if it’s the journey you want to take, or change it.

3. Know your customer

Make sure you know who your ideal customer is, because it’s often not who you think it is, or who you are currently selling too. Knowing the profile of your customer will help you save time and money when it comes to acquiring them. This is the foundation for every business.

4. Document how your prospects/customers think and behave

Specifically, you should think about why customers decide to purchase—which is the key to making the sale. Every decision starts with a desire created by internal emotion or external influence. If you follow the way they think and act then you can place your product or service right in front of them at the point of decision.

5. Create a unique positioning in your market

In a world of clutter, what gets heard is a simple message. Identify the biggest problem in your marketplace and then tell people how you solve that problem and say it in less than 1 minute.

6. Know what sets you apart

Write down the biggest benefit that you offer your customers (a benefit that your competition doesn't offer). It doesn’t have to be a coherent statement, it just has to have impact.

7. Take action

This is what is missing from the book The Secret which talks about using The Law of Attraction to bring abundance into your life. You cannot attract abundance without taking action. Affirmations, visualizations and meditation all work together when you add action to the formula.

8. Success starts with the belief that it’s possible

Your current belief system may not be helping you achieve your goals. Old paradigms (beliefs) are the number one reason for holding us back from achieving what’s possible. Click here for a copy of Chapter 7 from my book The Answer to help you change your paradigm.

9. Determine which distribution channels you will use for your business

A distribution channel is simply the place where the transaction takes place between you and your customer—otherwise known as the Point of Sale. The seven distribution channels to choose from are: retail, online, direct sales, events, mail order, phone sales or agents.

10. Select the right strategies

These should get people to the Point of Sale identified in step No. 4, and there are about 130 strategies and tactics to choose from (i.e., advertising, direct mail, copywriting, tele-marketing, Internet marketing, etc.).

11. Create a 90 day sales and marketing schedule

This will help you plan the strategies, tactics, timing and who will be responsible for implementation. Once you get your thoughts on paper (or excel spread sheet) you will feel less overwhelmed that you now have some direction to follow or action items to delegate.

These 11 steps are not intended to represent a complete guide to creating a detailed Action Plan—they are intended to help you get started. Now you have something to measure against and you can review things periodically to see if you are on track. Ask yourself every day if you are on track or if something needs to be adjusted.

Source: Murray Smith, Open Forum, American Express

Elements of a Business Plan Outline

1.  Introduction

Give a detailed description of the business and its goals.

2.  Marketing

Discuss the products/services offered.

3.  Financial Management

Explain your source and the amount of initial equity capital.

4. Operations

Explain how the business will be managed on a day-to-day basis.

5.  Concluding Statement

Summarize your business goals and objectives and express your commitment to the success of your business.