Why don't I get funding for my business (1)

WHY IS MY BUSINESS NOT GETTING FUNDING 1?

I have been in the business of drawing up business plans for over two decades now, I have done very basic and short business plans and very long and complex business plans. I have drawn up business plans for business funding and business plans for project execution. I have done curated business plans and bespoke business plans; most successful business plans have been the bespoke ones which are usually more difficult to produce; they are tailored to fit your business only.

Many people are familiar with business plans basically to source funding for their business. And so many people have equally drawn up so many business plans for their various needs. We write so many business plans and funding proposals daily but still do not get funding.

For this write-up, we will be focusing on business plans usually for project/business funding in asking the question; “why am I not getting funded?”. There is a myriad of reasons for not getting funded in your business, some of these we will try to address in this series and the rest in subsequent editions.

1.   Have a bankable business plan.

For many people, they don’t even have a business plan (written down). Most of their plans are in their head which they basically share with prospects and expect such prospects to provide the funding without scrutinizing their investment proposal. In some cases, this is what happens, but in many cases, no one will give you a dime without a business plan. In some cases, all you need is to provide a simple business model canvas (BMC). The BMC is more like the key framework for the business plan so it will pass too for this. But note that the BMC is not a business plan, neither is a business plan a BMC, but they can go together or individually depending on requirement and use.

Your business plan should be able to walk your financier through the business/project completely. It should answer all key questions and douse all major worries without you being there to defend it. Deviation from this template is usually when there are some key items requested to be addressed only by the financier.

A basic business plan is expected to have the following key items addressed for it to be successful.

a.  The idea: what is the idea behind the business, what problems are you solving or what cause are you reaching?

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Ayo Emakhiomhe.