The NSSF Hi-Innovator Pre-selection Bootcamp: Supporting Entrepreneurs to Pitch Better.
Mkazipreneur is one of the NSSF Hi-Innovator Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (ESOs) that play a significant role in supporting growing and emerging entrepreneurs by managing innovation processes and providing resources and technical support services at different stages of growth. Mkazipreneur is one of the ESOs that will be implementing the decentralized model of the NSSF Hi-Innovator Programme.??
The NSSF Hi-Innovator holds a pre-selection bootcamp that prepares entrepreneurs to pitch to an experienced Investment Committee which evaluates their readiness to receive financing from the Programme to scale their business operations.?It further helps participants to understand areas of concern to address before the investment committee, hone their ability to communicate their revenue drivers and growth plans and gain a better understanding of equity investment.?
During the cohort 3 Pitch Day, Christina Lunkuse, a member of the Investment Committee noted that the quality of entrepreneurs getting into the Hi-Innovator accelerators were?doing transformational things, and there is clear alignment between market needs and the solutions that entrepreneurs are innovating. ?
She hinted that the feedback from the Investment Committee for any entrepreneur is geared towards helping them understand the parts of their business that they might have ignored and need to improve to have the competitive advantage.??
Speaking to entrepreneurs looking forward to joining the Women Accelerator Window 3, Betty Kaddu, the founder of Best for Waste, a participant in the Women Accelerator Window 2, shared her Hi-Innovator Journey right from when she joined the academy to when she received financing from the Programme.??
Oftentimes, entrepreneurs may not be forward-looking as they just stumble into business. This is because they?usually have no guidance and so?make mistakes as they are trying to make a life for themselves out of the businesses they have created.?
Going through the NSSF Hi-Innovator Programme helped me realize that all the various accelerator programmes I had been part of in the past were not practical and did not handhold me through their different processes.??The Programme’s accountability helped me stay in check about actualizing the goals I had set in my business plan.???
"I used to always think a business plan was just another document until one of the next steps of completing the NSSF Hi-Innovator business academy required that I submit one. It was a true test of whether I had gained value from the business foundational course and was willing to chart it forward" she added. ??
Tip: A good business plan not only helps entrepreneurs focus on the specific steps necessary for them to make business ideas succeed, but it also helps them to achieve short-term and long-term objectives.?
On preparing to pitch their business to the Investment Committee, Betty encouraged the entrepreneurs?to master and do their practice as guided by their ESO partners.??
With her first pitch, she wasted all the time given to her introducing herself than what her business was doing differently to solve a challenge. She shared these tips below;
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Betty says she practiced with her son who was in S1 at the time. His role was to help her manage time and ensure that she said everything that would get her in the door.?With every try, she either did not do well with time or skipped an important aspect of her business story. ?
On addressing the gaps in their investment committee memos, Kayiziaki Josyline, founder of Goldie Coatings limited, shared a tip that understanding the Problem an entrepreneur is solving will help them draw their business plans faster as they know who the target audience is, and how big the problem is.??
My experience being part of the Hi-Innovator programme helped me understand that attitude is key. Every single day I came for the bootcamp, I was open to learning, relearning and unlearning. I have gone on to realize that this concept has helped me succeed in my business now than I ever did before - Kayiziaki Josyline.
Tip: Don’t always assume that just because you are few in number, you will automatically receive financing.?Knowing your business is what gets you financing. You don't get money by chance, you get money because you have built a muscle of innovation.
Most entrepreneurs love money more than their business. They will?have all the work-plans in place but once they?get financing, they?forget their business mandate.?It is therefore important to focus on what you said you would do with the money you got from the Programme.??
From the testimonials from both entrepreneurs, pitching before an Investment Committee can be a daunting task but the odds are usually in favor of the entrepreneur that prepares beforehand on how to articulate their value preposition and growth plans.?
Entrepreneurs like Betty and Josyline have grown within their industries, become thought leaders and can get invited to speak to other entrepreneurs about what a successful business looks like. This is because they have put order and systems in place regardless of whether they operate in a garage, warehouse or air-conditioned office.??
For Betty, whereas the Programme helped her purchase a recycling machine and a delivery van which have brought down her?costs of production, her greatest joy is that she is creating change in her community and introduced her children to what meaningful work looks like.??
From now to May 7th, entrepreneurs will work with their ESO partners to build their pitch decks and practice their pitch. This pitch practice period builds the confidence of most entrepreneurs and reassures them that they are on the right track.
The Hi-innovator is an initiative of the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) supported by the Mastercard Foundation and implemented by Outbox.