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Background
Q. How did the Adopt a Business Project Endorsement arise?
The Adopt a small Business
Project Endorsement arises from the
Emerging Nigerian Dream Meeting convened in Lagos, Nigeria in February
2008. The
aim is to increase the capital
available to high-growth SMEs by tackling some of the root causes that limit
their growth prospects
Convened by the Innerveil
Business Institute and the MicroFinance banks, the meeting gathered participants
with many points of view from various parts of the country.
The group found out that the
lower-income segments of Nigeria benefit when SMEs have better access to
finances because they alleviate poverty by creating more jobs and better wages.
Q. What is Adopt a Business Project Endorsement?
Adopt a business initiative
calls on big organizations, philanthropists, NGO's, individuals, Government and
existsting businesses to participate in SMEfunding in Nigeria through
public-private partnership (PPP) model at all levels thereby strengthening the
provision of required supports needed to grow and develop the sector. By signing
our endorsement form online or on the street, you are already supporting the
emerging Nigerian dream.
Q. Is this an Innerveil initiative?
No. It is a nationwide
initiative. Since there will always be a forerunner for every successful
prophecy, Innerveil business institute have been committed to developing key
strategies and links that promotes the empowerment of the small and medium sized
enterprise industry. Adopt a small business is the emerging Nigerian dream that
is supported by every one through a meeting that spawned its Endorsement.
Q. What has Adopt a Business Initiative got to do with
SME funding
Over 70 million
people — half the nation’s population — live on less than N100 per day, unable
to meet their basic human needs. A subset, approximately 38million people, or
10.9 million families, live in “absolute poverty”, on less than the equivalent
of US $1 per day. Malnutrition, lack of health care, substandard housing and
illiteracy breed desperation, disease and daily suffering. Poverty traps future
generations in a vicious cycle without hope or opportunity. In an increasingly
globalize world, no one is immune to these problems.
Most of the
world’s poor are self-employed. Each day, without the security of formal jobs,
they eke out livings, whether it is by raising chickens, selling farm produce in
markets or weaving baskets. Despite working from dawn to dusk, there is no money
left over to improve their quality of life or expand their businesses. All they
earn goes toward basic survival.Q. Does
this Endorsement concern everybody?
Yes. This endorsement is for every Nigerian to
sign. An history is in the making and it involve your cooperation and
partnership in order to make it work. we must all say 'yes' the emerging
Nigerian Dream where Big companies will reach out to save a dying small business
on the street. Every citizen is shouldered with the responsibility to support
this dream to develop 1million new small businesses by 2010. Endorsement will ultimately benefit everyone involved, regardless of variation in some of the details.
Q. Why Adopt a business?
The lower-income
segments of Nigeria benefit when SMEs have better access to finances because
they alleviate poverty by creating more jobs and better wages. And as a recent
World Bank report noted, “The bulk of evidence suggests that developing the
financial sector and improving access to finance are likely not only to
accelerate economic growth, but also to reduce inequality and poverty.” Adopting
small busineses will encourage the development of SMEs in Nigeria through
support and provision of loans to start up busibeses.
Q. What strategy is in place to achieve Adopt a
business Goal?
Adoptasme.com
aspires to combine innovation, partnership, collaboration, information, and
technology in an effort to transform the way SMEs are linked to sources of
finance. We will bring a combination of loan fund, grant money, investment
capital, and hands-on engagement to attempt new approaches. Your loan or grant
for a small business is perceived to be the business ADOPTION. Imagine a nation
where every Big business will loan a tiny fund to kick - start a Small business!
We are set to pursue a simple bi-lateral approach to increase the flow of
finance to the 'missing middle'.
Q. What qualifies an access to Adopt a business resource?
We hope to
focus on investing in technology that create contact platform where
entrepreneurs with small businesses could meet with potential investors that
might be interested in providing the required capital or loan to start such
ventures, making it easier and cheaper for investors to find and make
investments in SMEs. Because most investors lack the information they need to
make investments, and where information does exist, it is often difficult to get
or in a non-standardized format. Since investments in SMEs are so costly to
source, make and monitor, investors often put their money elsewhere. We shall
strive to improve business deal structures, so that each deal is, on average,
lower cost and higher return. Largely, with the cooperation of our partners – we
hope to develop and invest in the tools and systems that make it easier for
growth capital to flow to SMEs. We will look for opportunities to enable
investors to find entrepreneurs and with the partnership of Microfinance Banks,
we hope to reach every local government and markets.
Benefits
Q. Who benefits from Adopt a Business Project?
All of us are touched by
improved economy and access to basic infrastructures, and likewise microfinance is something that benefits everyone.
Of course, entrepreneurs and
investors are the people who can benefit most immediately. Traders,
sole-proprietors, Banks, investors, business owners, business academies,
retailers, Televisions, unions, professional societies, policymakers, governments,
NGO & foundations and other stakeholders of SME development initiatives across
the country.
Q. Do you need access to the Internet to benefit from
Adopt a business project?
No. Adopt a business project offers tremendous potential even without the Internet.
Adopt a business initiatives can be accessed and benefited anywhere with
internet or not, sparking the process of creativity and collaboration. The Adopt
a business resources can also be distributed in print or on compact disk as a
way to offer some of the cost saving and access benefits to the communities who
most need them. This technology can also offer the benefits of business
development to
Microfinance Institutions and entrepreneurs who do not yet have access to the Internet.
Q. What about microfinance banks? Will they also benefit from
Adopt a business initiative?
Yes, we believe that Adopt a business
components caters for the microfinance institutions in the society and are very much compatible with the business of
small and medium sized enterprises. The Endorsement clearly states that the
Adopt a business movement should "...engage entrepreneurs and
microfinance banks who are developing innovative business models that are both open and financially sustainable." We have already seen the dramatic success of
Adopt a business models in some developing countries like Bangladesh, India, and
some part of very impoverished Asian countries. Of course, greater experimentation and collaboration in the development of models like this is still needed.
Q. What am I committing to when I sign?
For an individual, signing indicates a commitment to pursue the Endorsement's
goal by which you choose to be part of the change agent; you could be the one
that will need a capital for starting a business tomorrow!. For an organization, signing means a commitment to
set aside a tiny percentage of your profit to assist the 'missing middle' or
grant a loan to a starving small business, all through this Endorsement.
Q. What consequences do you foresee from this Endorsement?
As the vanguard,
We hope to focus on investing in technology that create contact platform where
entrepreneurs with small businesses could meet with potential investors that
might be interested in providing the required capital or loan to start such
ventures, making it easier and cheaper for investors to find and make
investments in SMEs. Because most investors lack the information they need to
make investments, and where information does exist, it is often difficult to get
or in a non-standardized format. Since investments in SMEs are so costly to
source, make and monitor, investors often put their money elsewhere. We shall
strive to improve business deal structures, so that each deal is, on average,
lower cost and higher return. Largely, with the cooperation of our partners – we
hope to develop and invest in the tools and systems that make it easier for
growth capital to flow to SMEs. We will look for opportunities to enable
investors to find entrepreneurs and with the partnership of Microfinance Banks,
we hope to reach every local government and markets.
Secondly, we
will invest in the SME market ourselves. By becoming active participants,
Developer of SMEfunds.com will also become a user of the tools we are creating
and refining, and will work to improve them and more accessible. We want to
demonstrate that it is possible to make a profit by investing in SMEs. We also
want to foster new investment mechanisms. These might include peer-to-peer
investment club tools, Campus outreach and aggregator or other network models.
We will partner on Adopt a Business Projects in this area. This will happen
nationwide where SMEfunds.com partnership and technical expertise can play a
role in helping to grow the missing middle. 
