The Treasure House Blog

  If you are applying for the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) Entrepreneurship program this year, then you must read this article to the end.  In the following paragraphs, I have outlined 10 tips I strongly believe will help you throughout the different stages on your way to access the $5000 grant from the TEF.  As you may already know, the TEF has significantly modified the process of accessing this grant. There are now 4 stages in the process; Application Stage, Training & Mentorship Stage, Business Plan Submission Stage, Pitching Stage, and Seed Capital Stage. Click here to read every detail about what to expect from the TEF 2021 edition. The information in this article will be very useful to you throughout this process, especially if you are successful in the application stage.   And if you are yet to submit your application for the TEF 2021, maybe because you are short in confidence, or you really don't have time to figure it all out,  get my ...

Have you wondered why only a few people succeed in life, while the majority become their fans? Have you wondered why thousands of students would be admitted to a university but only a few will make the best results? Because they were smarter, right? Ok, how about NYSC? There’s certainly no academic work there, so why is it that of the many that go for national service, only a few receive presidential awards? Have you bothered to ask yourself? Or you simply assume that they were lucky? Well, it is neither luck no smartness. I wasn’t one of the best students in my school, neither did I receive the presidential award after NYSC.  Actually, I used to also think that those guys were smarter than I was, or were luckier. But ever since I read about the Pareto principle, my thinking has changed and I know better how to be among the best. It’s called the 80/20 rule. Also known as the Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule states that 80% of peas in a pea garden are produced by only 20% of...

I have received lots of inquiries from applicants especially since the successful ones were shortlisted. Participants keep asking, ‘will YouWiN give money?’ ‘How much is YouWiN going to give us?’ ‘…I cannot see anywhere they have mentioned how much they are giving in this YouWiN.’ And a whole lot of similar questions. These are real concerns and they appear to be true. All the communication from YouWiN so far has not mentioned any monetary benefit, and that is deliberate from them. YouWiN was established to encourage the springing up of new businesses. Under the previous administration, YouWiN provided business training and skills development for 6000 semifinalists, after which they are required to submit business plans and submit other some specified documents like land titles. About 1200 selected from all the geopolitical zones are then shortlisted as finalist and winners and given between N1million to N10 million depending on their business needs. However, one of the bigg...

YouWiN Connect Online Training, what participants must know If you have just been shortlisted for the next stage of the YouWiN! Connect 2017, I want to congratulate you once more. I am sure one of the things topmost in your minds right now amidst the joys of being successful in this stage is "what would the online training look like? never mind, I have a solution for you. This is probably the first time the YouWiN is adopting an online training method, but it certainly isn't the first time online training is being used to train entrepreneurs in Nigeria. But never mind I got you covered on this one.  Here is what to expect in the upcoming online training;  (NOTE: These are not official information or instructions from the YouWiN Connect team. They are only my opinion based on the previous competitive online training I have been involved in and online courses I have taken. Consider these as some intelligent guess from an experience) 1. The training wi...

YouWiN! Connect 2017, what participants need to know Congratulations and welcome to the next stage of the YouWiN! Connect 2017. YouWiN! Stands for Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria, a federal government project started in 2011 by the then federal government of Nigeria under President Jonathan. The programme gave a grant of between 1 million to 10 million naira each to 1200 youth enterprises (existing and new) every year from 2012 to and 2014. But the programme was rebranded and re-organized to YouWiN! Connect in 2016 by the current President Buhari-led administration, to a multi-media  However, it is not yet clear to many applicants what this re-branded programme will offer them and how exactly it will run.  This article is an attempt to answer some of these questions in the minds of applicants especially those that have been shortlisted into the next stage of the competition.  First; according to information from the YouWiN! Connect team, th...

Recent figures form the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that unemployment increased in Nigeria by 1.5 million to stand at 13.9% with youth unemployment at 25% percent. In real numbers, this translates to 11.2 million Nigerians are unemployed as at the end of 2016. Majority of these are graduates, who continue to roam the streets for jobs after many toils to obtain a degree. Whereas the government and private sectors continue to say they are doing their best, there seem to be no end in sight to youth unemployment in Nigeria. This articles focuses on how young graduates can help themselves through agricultural cooperatives integrated with smart farming to liberate themselves from the shackles of unemployment. Cooperatives are known to many as an association of people with similar interests, and rightly so. But this same concept is the reason many people neglect it or consider it as something for rural dwellers or market women and farmers. Again due to the limited know...

FUNDAMENTAL & PRACTICAL ELEMENTS OF AN IDEA THAT WOULD MAKE A GOOD& SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS START UP. Nigerians are so gifted in ideation that every year, over 1 million businesses are started in the various parts of the country. These businesses are in varied scale, nano, micro, small and medium sized businesses.  However and sadly too, research has shown that more than 90% of start ups in Nigeria die before their 5th birthday. In fact up to half attain the failure status in the first year. The following three are among the biggest reasons for these abysmal record. And these three are what I have called the fundamental and practical elements of business start up and sustainability. You probably know them,  but I want to briefly tell you why they are so important in your choice of business. 1. Need The only reason every good business exists is to provide solution(s) to the needs of the people. If a business doesn't solve a real  problem, that business is d...