Being a full house wife, there seems to be little or no business I could do within the confines of my home, until I thought of Goat rearing. I started the business with a meager sum of #6,500. Then I enrolled for the training. Thanks to EDC, have been able to keep my records, track my profit, pay myself and develop a strong marketing skill. My business is now worth #150,000, and hopefully if I get a larger space I will have more goats to rear and employ more hands.
With a B.Sc in Microbiology I was still unemploymed. After 3 years of Post NYSC Graduation I decided to follow my dream and passion. Having learnt Fashion Design immediately after school, I gathered funds to start my own fashion outlet though with the greatest fear of failure, failure was real to me than success until I enrolled for the six weeks Entrepreneurship training. Through EDC, I realized am on the right track but moving at a slow pace, it has also helped me make deliberate efforts to grow the business. I now have three other female designers working directly with me.
I started my Vegetable Oil distribution business in 2014, my major challenge then was record keeping, networking and customer relation. I didn’t know these were my challenges until I was privileged to take this training last year. EDC has helped shaped my business insight, I was able to source for the sum of #50,000 loan to expand my business after the training. Now my business is worth #300,000 and I have a partner that we work together.
I inherited this Printing business from my uncle, 10 years ago, and I have been running its day to day activities conventionally until I heard about EDC. I was deeply convinced that things could be done better and easier so I gave the training a trial and have never regretted taking that step. I now treat my customers better and they also refer clients to me. I treat my employees too better and I give incentives. EDC has added to my business knowledge and I now know how to plan better.
I cannot thank EDC enough for making my long awaited dream a reality. I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur, I want to be an employer of labour and also help others build their dreams. After the EDC training, I was able to use the networking skills I gained to mobilize the sum of #4,000,000 from friends and family to start my own rental business. Within six months my business is worth #6,000,000. EDC enlightened me on financial management, record keeping and how to be creative. I am deeply grateful.
I started whole sales of building materials at Idi-Ose Area in Ibadan after attending the EDC training in 2015. EDC imparted me with knowledge on how to get a business location and focusing on the choice of business venture. It is the passion that makes you go into the type of business. I started the business with N900,000 that I sourced from my family. At EDC I learned how to handle business operations, accounting and sales records as well as how to market my business and create awareness in my catchment area. I sell whole sales of building materials, which makes me different from other people in the area, as they mostly sell in retails. EDC made me different from other people in the same trade. My advice to other emerging entrepreneurs is that it is better to attend EDC training before starting a business or after starting a business because EDC helps you to care about things you would have overlooked.
I never believed I could use what I have. I was looking at getting one million or five hundred thousand Naira before starting but at EDC, I learned to start with what I have so that any other income that comes afterwards will be additional to improve what I already have. I started Bova Fashion with N100,000 in July 2015 after attending the EDC training. I opened the fashion design outfit and also diversified into selling tailoring materials to help me have multiple streams of income. The knowledge of marketing also helped me to explore and expand my market sphere, which eventually included home delivery of tailoring materials; as well as mentioning my business in every conversation and the social media. I have this as encouragement for emerging entrepreneurs that there is no small amount you can use to start your business. Anything your hand finds to do; always try to do it well.
I have been offering management business consulting services quite informally before coming to EDC after which Grace Edge Business Consult was launched in Ibadan, having seen the opportunities that abound in running the business formally. Grace Edge Business Consult was set-up with N400,000 personal funds; and the business helps entrepreneurs trying to start a business to know what they need to know and do about setting up their businesses. Training at EDC equipped us beyond what we could get at a business school and expanded the scope of our business. EDC informed me to do things right and meet the challenges in the market. There are a lot of things I did not know before EDC and I got to know them. EDC helped us to do in-depth feasibility study. We did not have a detailed business plan before EDC and we have been able to put one together. I am now proud to guide others. EDC is a must! In Ibadan, EDC is the only program to attend first before you start especially when you don’t know what to do and how to go about it.
The greatest impact that the EDC had on me was my mindset reengineering. I started the business, Snowball Driving School, in 2015 after attending the EDC program. The EDC has contributed to my business immensely. My horizon was opened and the way of my thinking deeply to see things in a practical sense rather than myths. It enabled me to show my potential to the full. Apart from what we learned in the conventional university, EDC made it practical to know that it works; how to start business and build it. It enables us know that if someone obtains a loan, the loan is meant for the business not any other things. Out practical classes helped us to focus on the businesses. More than 20 persons have benefited from my driving school since inception.
I started the fashion business before attending the EDC program. It was actually my elder sister that had been to the program that introduced me to the training. The EDC training made a significant impact on my business, as after the training, I expanded into training people in fashion design, which necessitated employing more hands for the business. After the EDC training, I had to employ an equally good stylist to train people in the morning batch of the training while I take the afternoon batches. I have employed 3 persons, two ladies and one man, so far after the training. I am currently using reaching students in higher institutions in Ibadan to partake in the training program.
I have been undergoing training at the Technology Incubation Center before coming to EDC where my approach to business start-up changed completely. I used N300,000 to start the business of making plantain flour and guinea corn products, which is very rich in fibre. I normally take these products to hospitals because they are rich in fibre. When I finished school in 2013 I travelled to Bayelsa where I saw plantain flour in a supermarket. There I took the contact on the product package and contacted the manufacturer. Although she told me that they don’t really teach people but I was given a chance because I was a fresh graduate. Hence, I used the money I garnered from my Youth Service and another job I took at a hotel for the training. EDC taught me aggressive marketing via social media and door-to-door sales and now I can knock on anyone’s door to sell. I was initially overwhelmed with the amount of money it would take to buy big machines but here at EDC I learned that I could start with whatever I have. That is how I started selling plantain flour. In January 2016 alone, I sold 1000 packs, which took a lot of aggressive marketing.
Based on what I learnt at EDC I now operate more than one business. The training was an eye opener for me to identify more business opportunities.
I learnt tactical approach to business. The training changed my mindset and I acquired managerial skill that increased my horizon.
I registered for the training after I resigned my Job and through the training I registered my own business. I now have business confidence and direction. The first consultancy I did after the training fetched me over #200,000.
I learnt a lot at the training and the facilitators have really helped. The internship too has helped in perfecting my vocational skill. I am really grateful.
I was looking for a huge amount of money to start my business, but at the training, I learnt I could start small. Truly, I started small and I am now a business owner. Thank you, EDC!
EDC training gave me the orientation, skill and mental capacity to succeed in my business. I learnt how to be more organized and coordinate my activities.
The training helped me in my marketing skills. Before, I force my goods on customers, but after I got the training, my approach changed and I sell more. Also, my record keeping skills has improved.
EDC training opened my eyes to legal issues relating to business, I also, learnt the required strategy and character that makes a business prosper.
I got to learn a lot more on how to run my business in terms of customer relations and record keeping. I also learnt about other business ventures that has to do with my business area. I was able to build a priceless network of relationship that would in the long run be beneficial to my business.
EDC training has equipped me with that great skill of developing a bankable business plan. It is indeed a place for molding great entrepreneurs.
The training facilitators are experienced and seasoned, the training environment is very conducive and what I learnt is unquantifiable.
12. This training influenced my perception to business greatly. Through EDC, I got a loan that has helped in expanding my Business. God bless EDC.
The EDC program has enhanced my business management skills Although, I came to EDC with a mindset: that I can access loan to start up on my own. The experience gained from the centre has greatly influenced me to know how to write business plans, register my business, more equipped for proper business negotiation and agreement documentation and my leadership skills have been sharpened
TI have not regretted coming to EDC, the first session was an eye opening, it was waoo; mindset re-engineering. EDC program gave me the drive to start and own my business. Iam now the promoter of Mercia Foods, we are into groceries. This was after EDC intervention.
Few months after the EDC training, through the Leadership, Innovative, Creative and financial literacy gained, I was able to resuscitate my father’s business, start my own NGO (HOPEL-Goodness) and presently, am a UNITED-NATIONS 2017 EMPOWERWOMEN CHAMPION FOR CHANGE..
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