Starting a small business in Nigeria is not always easy. Most times, it is because you don't know what to do, or you don't have the skills set to kick start your journey as an entrepreneur. The first thing you need to do before starting a small business is to be sure that you are ready to do what it takes to be successful in whatever business you choose. Once you decide, the next thing is to research to identify problems (what you want to solve).

What do you need to start a small business?

• Capital/ Funding: Finance is important when starting a business, without it there is no way you can start your business easily. Before starting a business it is important to know how much you need to start.

• Business plan: This is a detailed document containing your business goals and how you plan on achieving every one of them. Having a business plan helps you stay focused on growing your business.

• Business identity: A business name is very vital. People can easily identify you when you have a unique name for your brand or business.

• A good location: Finding the right place where your business is on-demand will go a long way in helping your business grow. Do not set up your business where there is little or no demand for your goods or services. 

The Importance of Funding and Finance in Growing a Business

Finance is the core of any business, without it, businesses will die or suffer. Finances allow you to take advantage of opportunities to grow. Money is important to run the day-to-day operations of a business in order to meet customers' requirements and achieve certain goals. However, it is not the only thing that can help you successfully run your business even if you have a tight budget, financial management is also important, knowing how to make decisions on when to spend money, how to spend it, and where to spend it is very important in the growth of a business.

The importance of funding and finance includes:

1. Generate money: Every business needs money to grow. After launching your business idea, funding is required to start, grow, get materials, and carry out marketing.

1. To organize operations:  funding is used to organize the day-to-day operations of the business for example paying bills, investing, paying taxes, getting new products, and other things needed.

1. For Expansion: When a business is growing well, the thought of expansion to new locations may come into mind, and funding is required to achieve this goal.

Challenges in getting funding for a business.

Even though there are a lot of available sources of finance for small-scale businesses in Nigeria, there are still challenges people face in the process of getting funding for their businesses. Some of these challenges are:

• Lack of adequate funding for the SMEs.
• The reluctance of banks to give out loans due to weak demand for products of SMEs, undercapitalization, lack of collateral security, and poor management practices.
• Questionable integrity.
• Use of unrealistic financial projection.

5 ways to get your business going on a low budget

The major aim of running a business is to make profits and sometimes many entrepreneurs strive to do so. It might interest you to know that as much as you can make profits through sales, you can also make a profit by identifying the necessary and unnecessary, identifying the necessary things to do in your business will give you an insight into things you should focus more on. This article will show you five ways to get your business going even on a low budget. 

1. Use Technology:

With technology, you could spend less by doing things you can do online. These things include advertising online, holding meetings via social media platforms like zoom instead of spending money on face-to-face meetings, and sending messages online or via text about your product or services. By doing this, you have not only saved cost but also time.

2. Budget: 

Creating a budget plan for your business is as important as the business plan itself. A budget helps you control your spending.

3. Location: 

If your business does not require an office, there is no need to get one. The money for renting a space can be used to do something better for your business. Most small-scale businesses can be handled from home.

4. Value your customers:

Ensure that you value and please your existing customers, these are the people who can refer you to new customers without you even doing anything extra. Just make sure you deliver your goods and services well and communicate with your customer, this way your business grows because of the quality of your work and not how much you spend on advertising.

5. Use modern marketing strategies:

This marketing strategy provides you with cheaper opportunities like building your social media presence which helps you extend your networks and establish your online presence.

SmartSMSSolutions provides business owners with business tips on how to effectively market your small scale business at low cost and how to use bulk SMS to grow your business. You can learn more about bulk here.

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