Learn to Write Executive Summary
Learn to Write Executive Summary
Writing executive summary in a business plan is very important. As they say, first impressions are usually the last impression and the best place to get the right impression about a business plan is the executive summary. If you decide to search on google, you will find millions of resources on business plans and executive summary but you need to be cautious because not every glittering thing is gold. Besides, you need to develop your executive summary in a way that meets the objectives of your business. Participants in our online business plan training session were taught that every business plan has a purpose and such purpose needs to reflect in the way the plan is structured.
Let us start with the structure. Your executive summary can be a combination of three to four paragraphs or a range of subsections with headings such as the problem, the solution etc. We are focusing here on something simple, effective and professional. An executive summary of three paragraphs including an introductory overview of the market, the plans of the business and the technical competence of the team. Now, let’s shoot with an example of an executive summary for a poultry farm.
NG Poultry Farm is a fast-growing farm that rares poultry birds, produces processed chicken and eggs for the teaming population. Last year, 8.3 million tons of poultry meat was consumed in Nigeria and the demand is projected to grow by 20% in the next 2 years. With more individuals, restaurants and hotels consuming poultry products, NG Poultry plans to expand its current farms to increase production and meet increasing local demand.
The expansion is focused on increasing the current capacity of 1,000 poultry birds to 10,000 birds. This requires an additional investment of N10,000,000 which we plan to finance through a loan from the bank. The loan will be used to procure additional land, more poultry birds and other facilities. We are projecting an initial revenue of N18 million in the first year and our return on investment is pegged at 23%.
NG Poultry Farms has a dedicated management team and strong administrative structure that guarantees that everyone performs their roles effectively. The team includes seasoned poultry farmers with over 10 years of experience in managing successful business operations relating to agriculture.
The sample executive summary above contains some statistical and strategic information such as the quantity of poultry meat consumed, the return on investment and the capacity of the team. These are the information you can only get when you have finished other sections of the business plan. This is why experts recommend that the executive summary should be written at the end of the business plan. What is your business plan? You should not miss out on a captivating executive summary because this is the major point of attraction in your business plan.
Box Office Hub Brand Reviews: Agrecourse Limited
General Information
Agrecourse is a truly Nigerian but global inclined organisation. The company has a gig for becoming a global leader in empowering smallholder farmers across Africa. Trusting on its unique skills, methodologies and wealth of experience, Agrecourse has been at the forefront of facilitating the transition of smallholder farmers from the shackles of subsistence farming to the enviable height of commercial and large scale agriculture. The company leaders bank on the goodwill of partners and its vast network of global sponsors to ensure food security, youth inclusion in agriculture and economic growth.
Agrecourse is responding to a critical challenge of agricultural productivity and food security in the continent. In Nigeria, a country with the largest population in Africa, more than 80% of farmers are smallholder farmers who also account for 99% of total crop output in the country. With a knack for accountability, compassion, integrity, diligence and excellence which are the hallmarks of the Agrecourse core values, the organisation continues to set the pace in transforming the agricultural sector of Nigeria.
The Agrecourse Project, Product and Services
Since the commencement of operations in 2018, Agrecourse earned a reputation for providing innovative services that meet the needs of agricultural entrepreneurs in Nigeria. A review of the company’s Instagram page shows hundreds of graphic branded contents that projects the juicy value proposition of the Agrecourse brand.
The Agrecourse solution cuts across different segments of the agricultural sectors. This includes;
- AgriTech Solutions
- AgriBusiness Services.
- Agriculture and Farm Operations.
- Agriculture Sponsorships and Investments.
- Agricultural Commodity Trading
- Alternative Investment Sourcing.
These diverse solutions address the pain points of stakeholders in Agriculture thereby leading to food security and agricultural development in Africa. Implicitly, the Agrecourse believes that improving the capacity of smallholder farmers is crucial to achieving food security and has demonstrated a strong commitment to achieving its corporate vision over the years.
The Success Stories
In a space of 2 years, Agrecourse has made some remarkable achievement which underlines the success stories of the brand as mentioned on the website of the organisation. The journey of Agrecourse has been characterised by over 14 sponsorship cycles and over 8142 plots cultivated. Over 1,000 farmers have been empowered through the various interventionary programs to scale their crude operations. Interventions in the area of livestock farming have also been successful; about half a million fishes have been reared and nearly 50,000 poultry birds have been reared through the innovative support program of the brand. In total, Agrecourse has surpassed the expectation of nearly 3000 clients who trust the organisation’s approach to revolutionise the agricultural sector.
Agrecourse in Media Spotlight
Agrecourse has been in the news for its innovative approach to transforming agricultural productivity in Nigeria.
- In June 2020, This Day Live provided a vital resource showing Agrecourse contributions to policy development in the Agricultural sector.
- The organisation also got a feather on its cap when a reputable cybersecurity platform, Emycyber rated Agrecourse online business model as safe, secured and trustworthy.
- Agrecourse has also been celebrated as having one of the top 5 farming investment applications in Nigeria as indicated by investsmall.co.
- The CEO of Agrecourse, Ayoola Oluga was featured on Pressreader due to his outstanding contributions and leadership which has been the backbone of the organisation success.
- Crowdfunding is a relatively new model in the Nigerian agricultural sector and thanks to Agrecourse, a feature was included in the Guardian Newspaper to clarify a crowdfunding approach in the agricultural sector of Nigeria.
- The brand was also featured on the popular Linda Ikeji Blog as part of promotional effort to create awareness about the business model of the organisation.
- ng recognised that the Agrecourse Solution provides a veritable tool for ending hunger and poverty in Nigeria. An insightful feature was published on the platform to advance these results.
- Punch Newspaper has also been prompt in publishing information regarding the investment and sponsorship initiatives of Agrecourse in Kano, Kaduna and other parts of Nigeria.
Connect with Agrecourse Limited
Address: Box Office Hub, Discovery Mall, 215 Konoko Crescent, Off Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja.
Phone Number(s): 08066098896/08088128876.
Email: info@agrecourse.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/Agrecourse.
Twitter: @Agrecourse.
Instagram: @Agrecourse
How Well is Your Business Adapting to The Coronavirus Pandemic?
Coronavirus pandemic is impacting the world, changing what we use to know and redefining business conduct. At this time, businesses are learning to cope with the risks and explore the opportunities that the pandemic presents. Whether your business is a startup or an established enterprise, the coronavirus pandemic leaves you with three options.
You can either reinvent your business, adapt to the new normal or watch as your business is left behind. The easiest option for businesses to take is to watch their business go into extinction. This will happen when business owners fail to leverage research, intelligence and market trends to reposition their business. For most businesses, however, external shocks such as the coronavirus pandemic provide an avenue for growth. Growth is the result of research, careful planning and strategizing. This is the secret of most successful enterprises including Pfizer, Amazon, Walmart and the global reputable brands that have withstood difficult times and seasons.
The current pandemic continues to affect businesses around the world and the best bet for businesses at this time is to adapt. Adaptation to the risk of the coronavirus pandemic goes beyond ensuring that visitors to your organisation wear a face mask. It is far more complicated than installing a hand sanitizer dispenser in your reception area. Unfortunately, most businesses get stuck at this level of adaptation and this could affect the bottom-line of such businesses in the medium to long term.
As business owners come to terms with the ‘sink or swim’ dichotomy, the following strategic alternatives provide a strong basis for improving the capacity of businesses to effectively adapt to the new normal. Imperatively, business owners need to learn, revisit the core framework of their business and veer into digitization. These focal points are herein expatiated for implementation.
Learn, Learn and Learn: Every crisis comes with its ordeals and there is no business with mastery of crises. As such, it becomes imperative to learn everything from changing customer expectation to new market realities. Learning becomes the personal responsibility of every business. The starting point to learning could be a simple SWOT Analysis to evaluate the strengths of the business which has been elevated by the pandemic, the weakness, opportunities and threats. This is a very good time to collect data, analyse such data and make deductions that will drive strategic decision-making processes in the organisation.
Revisit existing business plans and processes: Business crises usually call for an evaluation of the business process, structure and models. By taking a look at the business plan, business owners can reposition their business to take advantage of the opportunities that such crises present. It is imperative to identify what product or services need to be upgraded and which ones need to be removed from the list.
Find ways of going digital: Before the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of businesses were
comfortable with their traditional business models. Even if they were planning to move towards digitization, it was a long term plan. With the current pandemic, it is imperative to accelerate the digital transition of businesses. Today, business owners are realising the ease of doing business online and this includes having employees to work from home. Platforms such as Zoom, Skype and WhatsApp have made it possible for businesses to communicate in very unique ways. This is just a little compared to the huge benefits of digitalisation on business operations.
There is a tendency for business owners to think they have done enough but it is not over until it is. The researchers and medical practitioners continue to find a cure to the coronavirus disease but by the time a cure or vaccine is found, the pandemic would have changed the world the way we know it. Smart businesses see crises as an avenue for growth and this is why effective adaptation to crises is very essential.
Most Nigerians Love the Idea of Working From Home – Box Office Hub Work From Home Survey
Working from home has never made it to the front burner in the Nigerian corporate setting, perhaps, the situation never called for it. Depending on the nature of the job role and the type of organisation, employees had to do some aspect of their job at home. This did not replace the need to clock in by 8:00 am from Monday to Friday every week. As the coronavirus pandemic penetrated the fabrics of the Nigerian economy, it became imperative for corporate organisations to switch. Despite the lockdown, operations had
to continue and working from home became the new model. Very few organisations had dreamt of a time where their staff could work from home but they had limited options for
adaptation.
Related Article: Doing business in the wake of remote work: is your organization positioned?
On the other divide, employees who were fortunate to retain their jobs had to cope with the ordeal of working from home amidst poor quality of internet services and unstable power supply.
The era of lockdown is almost over but the option of working from home must not evaporate. Employers tend to save some cost and achieve improved productivity. The employees will also become masters of their work schedule and there is a tendency for
efficiency to improve. This does not usurp the role of developing an efficient digital platform and putting the right policies in place.
Box Office Hub is one organisation that is at the forefront of promoting work from home in Africa. During the coronavirus pandemic, the company launched the home office
package; a unique service that enables individuals to set up a convenient home office with high-speed internet, power bank and other support services.
In furtherance of its corporate objective of empowering entrepreneurs, freelancers and
businesses to work from home, Box Office Hub conducted a social media survey to assess the perception of social media users on the idea of continuous work from home. The survey result showed that 64.3% of respondents thought that the idea of working
from home was great. 37.7% of the employees were indifferent due to lack of relevant work from home experience but none of the respondents saw it as a bad idea.
Related Article: How Your Home Office Can Become a Crystal Palace?
The survey report clearly shows that most Nigerians love the idea of working from home. It follows that providing employees with the right home office solution will have a positive impact on employee satisfaction, commitment, performance, innovativeness and productivity. It is wise to ‘put your money where your mouth is’ and investing in developing work from home capabilities is a step in the right direction.
Doing business in the wake of remote work: is your organization positioned?
Every year, thousands of businesses across Africa continue to expand their business model by incorporating digital technologies. The creation of a corporate website and hosts of social media page is fast becoming a norm as more African businesses continue to jostle for the opportunities provided in the digital space.
Beyond this impressive trend, coronavirus pandemic which has gotten to over 700,000 infections became the trigger for discourse surrounding remote work, virtual office and work from home.
A look at the Statistics on Remote Work
Prior to the coronavirus era, about 3.4% of people in the United States were working remotely on a full-time basis while 43% of U.S employees have had to work remotely at some point.
Some recent statistics around Africa shows the extent to which remote work, virtual work and work from home is sweeping across Africa.
- More than 50% of South African employees have some remote work experience.
- Over 500 million Africans (including employees) now have access to the internet.
- Remote work has seen a persistent growth of 44% over the last couple of years.
Everything seems to have Improved
Coronavirus has not only made working from home, remote work and virtual business a reality but a new normal.
Businesses are now compelled to optimise their back-end to give employees a nice digital environment to work and this also has its cost-saving benefits. Some organisations may be able to save rent, reduce energy expenses and achieve high productivity.
Remote work, therefore, presents that opportunity for individuals and corporate organisations to “kill multiple birds with one stone”. More employees are opting for remote work because of its flexibility and the huge potentials for managing their time efficiently.
It is apparent that the business environment has changed. Whether it will return to what it used to be prior to the coronavirus remains a subject for extensive debate. However, doing business in the wake of remote work suggests the following:
- Every business needs robust and efficient customer support digital architecture.
- The architecture must provide space for virtual, remote or online work by employees.
- Activities must be able to run seamlessly from start to finish on the digital space.
- Physical infrastructures such as traditional offices must be webbed into the operational flowchart of the remote work.
- The business or organisation must be digitally attentive, active and interactive to exploit opportunities that present.
Is your organisation positioned to lead?
For some business owners, the answer to this question could just be a simple Yes or No but that is a multi-billion dollar question that cannot be toyed with.
Failure to take advantage of the new trend could begin the slow process of market extinction. Technological revolution cannot be stopped, neither will it stop. This means businesses are left with three option, adapt, lead or die.
To position your organisation to lead, you need to have the right digital architecture in place. This includes a mix of software and hardware solution to power remote work. Also, capacity building must be at the forefront of the digital journey.
Processes need to be put in place. Reviewing your current business operations to incorporate protocols for online work is not a bad idea. Very importantly, you must not forget to make smart office adjustment. This is where having a remote office comes in.
With a remote office, you can carry out your business in any location while your remote office service provider handles all your correspondence management. There will be times where you still need a meeting room and these facilities are provided as required by your remote office service provider.
Box Office Hub provides a broad range of support service to power remote work. Subscribers are assigned a registered business address with efficient correspondence management, meeting rooms and loads of business development services. This is one of many innovative remote office service providers you can find in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.
How Your Home Office Can Become a Crystal Palace?
The idea of a home office has become the new norm and statistics show some very interesting facts. More than 55% of organisations around the world are developing capacity for their staff to work from home and 77% of people working from home reported an improvement in their productivity. Employees around Africa are not also left out of the growing trend which is further accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Before the pandemic, most entrepreneurs have leveraged the increasing digital technologies to work from home. This means that they market their services online, provide support services to clients and organise logistics from their home. What is usually missing is a home office because productivity could be adversely affected when people have to sit on their sofa or bed to work. Apart from the health implication of poor sitting position during work, the challenge of poor internet connectivity and unstable power supply all make it difficult for people to work from home.
Responding to the trend of working from home, Box Office Hub developed the home office package which offers a broad spectrum of support to corporate organisations whose staff have to work from home. It also provides flexible solutions for entrepreneurs who need to do business at home. With such a unique service now in the marketplace, a home can no longer be defined as a place where people live but rather, a place where people live and do business. The idea of making your home a crystal palace means that you have everything required to work comfortably.
Migrating from home to home office requires some customisation which gives your home a crystal palace status. Before you start querying search engines with questions regarding work from home tips, work from home meaning, list of work from home companies and work from home jobs, you need to have your home office setup to be ready. Drawing on the modalities for deploying on the home office solution of Box Office Hub, a team of technicians inspect your home to determine a suitable solution for your home.
The solution deployed by Box Office Hubs’ team of technicians is flexible. They have to check the quality of internet speed in the area, the electricity supply situation and your working preference which is a function of your type of business. Depending on the assessment, subscribers enjoy up to 15GB of data for browsing, 100Watts Power Bank, workspace setup and loads of business support services to enhance productivity and keep you spot on.
Guess you cannot ask for more when working from home. There is nothing you cannot do at home when you have supportive internet service to keep you online and having a workspace means that you can cut distraction to a large extent when you work from home. A lot of individuals and corporate organisations are making the most of the coronavirus pandemic by working from home and you should not make an exception.
You Do Not Need a Hagia Sophia Building to Have a Comfortable Office Space
Hagia Sophia is one of the most prominent historical sites in Istanbul Turkey that made it to the list of the UNESCO World Heritage list. The architectural masterpiece of Hagia Sophia remains a unique source of attraction and over the years, it earned a reputation for providing aesthetic satisfaction to locals and tourists around the world.
The demand for office space and coworking facilities around the world share some similarities with the Hagia Sophia reality. Organisations want their office to be topnotch with cutting edge architectural designs. This awesome fact motivated Josh Dunlop ranking of the top 20 most awesome company offices around the world. The likes of Selgas Cano of Madrid, Google Office in Zurich and Red Bull Office in Soho, London are just some of the most comfortable offices you can read about.
It is amazing to note how much people and businesses spend to achieve the office space of their dreams but beyond spending, having the right work facilities and achieving a work environment that correlates with the business goals is more important. Inability to build or rent an office space such as the likes of Hagia Sophia is not a drawback so long as you have an office that provides you with everything to do the job.
Today, you cannot do without having high-speed internet in your office and it does not matter whether it is a Hagia Sophia office or a rented office space by the side of the road. Businesses also need a broad spectrum of support services such as reception management and document management support. Besides, more businesses are leveraging measures towards expanding their business network and this is why having an office in a hub offers unlimited opportunity for growth.
Box Office Hub and a host of other office space providers in Nigeria are taking the lead in providing startups and existing firms with flexible office space that suits the nature of business and working preference of clients. At one of the annexes in Central Business District, Box Office Hub provides office space for small to medium scale enterprises and coworking spaces for freelancers. This adds up to the broad spectrum of fully-furnished offices in the Wuse II area of Abuja. Hub members are provided with loads of business support services including ultramodern training and meeting rooms.
Working in such a convenient and supportive work environment is what most businesses need to excel. The peculiarities of the business environment which are further compounded by the threat posed by coronavirus pandemic means that organisations should be smart in investing in their office. A smart office investment means that you have to find an office that suits your budget, working preference and business activity.
A growing number of innovative Nigerian firms including BudgiT, NINE, Solar Nigeria, Kimberly Ryan, Agrecourse and Appzone have taken advantage of the unique, flexible and convenient office space provided by Box Office Hub to pilot their business to excellence. Imagine the huge cost implication of paying for an office space you do not need because the available space does not resonate with your type of business.
Freelancers are not left out of the trending conversation on finding a suitable place to work. Gone are the days when freelancers have to make a reservation at a hotel to do their private jobs and end up battling with sleep because a hotel may not be designed for work. Nigerian coworking space service providers have upped their game by providing highly flexible and efficient shared facilities to enable freelancers to work as a Chief Executive Officer with all the loads of support facilities.
You need to quit the rat race of searching for a Hagia Sophia office because you will agree that ‘you do not need a Hagia Sophia building to have a comfortable office space’.
Looking for a professional service? Visit the Box Office Hubs’ Marketplace.
Looking for a professional to provide quality, reliable and efficient solutions to
meet your business needs can be very tedious. There are alot of platforms out there
where people can search for professionals but there is no guarantee that the service
provider is truly a professional. It could be a sad experience to pay for a business
plan from a business development service provider and end up getting a business
article.
It has been observed by industry watchers that the use of online platforms is central
to finding the right professional to deliver on the task at hand. Beyond this, the
need to ensure value for money becomes paramount and this means that an
intermediary needs to exist between customers and providers of online service for
the purpose of quality assurance.
What we have done at Box Office Hub is to marry all three components, the
professionals, the platform and intermediary services in launching the online
marketplace. The online marketplace which is available on our company website
provides options for service providers and customers to create a free account
online. With this, service providers can update their profile while a dedicated team
ensures that such information is verified. Similarly, customers create accounts on
the profile and this has to be verified to enhance the efficiency of matching service
providers and customers on the platform.
All you need to access a large pool of professionals is to visit the Box Office Hub
website and on the homepage, you will find a search tool which is your window to
a world of possibilities. Signing up on the platform is quite easy on the website.
Guests have to click on the login toolbar to access the login page after which they
can choose from the option of signing up as a service provider or customer if they
do not have an existing account.
The internet has become the new marketplace for diverse products and services
around the world. Nigeria is fast catching up due to the activities of innovative
firms who are able to scale digital innovation to create a seamless service system.
Consumers of professional service online now have the pleasure of choosing an
online marketplace that offers value and invariably satisfies their need.
5 benefits of setting up your home office
A couple of months ago, most Nigerians did not understand what is meant by
working from home. We were used to the usual hustle and bustle of waking up by
4:00am or earlier for those who live and work in Lagos just to get to the office on
time. However, the new norm created by the coronavirus pandemic is that your
corporate office can be just where you want it, your home.
So long as you have the need to work from home, you need home office facilities.
A home office is even better for freelancers and entrepreneurs with a great deal for
a dependable workstation that can enable them meetup with the demand of their
clients.
Drawing on our home office customer testimonials, we have identified 5 benefits
of setting up your home office.
1. Become more organised: working from home can be very distracting and
because people tend to lose sense of being official, they may find it hard to
organise their task. With a home office, you get the feeling of being in a work
environment and that feeling keeps you organised.
2. Save cost on energy: the problem of power supply remains one of the biggest
barriers to working from home. Most people who work from home have to spend
money on fuel, diesel and such. With a dedicated home office solution, you get a
100 watts capacity PowerBox which means you can power your laptop and other
office devices. To achieve your target, you need energy and with a home office,
you can do more.
3. Improve your personal security: cybercrimes and other forms of criminal
activities such as kidnapping are on the rise. You cannot afford to put your home
address online just because you want your business to appear as a credible brand.
A good home office package provides you with a corporate business address which
means, you can meet your client at a different location while you work at home.
For instance, Box Office Hub’s home office package provides such features which
boost the corporate outlook of your brand and enhances your security.
4. Join a strategic support network: by subscribing to the home office package,
you get to join a network of professionals within and outside your industry who
also work from home. This means you get access to community events, business
training, learning platforms and other strategic support solutions that can add more
value to your organisation.
5. Get support staff: most times, people tend to work "solo" when they work from
home but having a home office delivers much more. With the home office package
of Box Office Hub, you can now work from home and still enjoy correspondence
management by a team of dedicated professionals. The team received your letter at
the office, provides you with updates and supports you in maintaining an effective
correspondence management system.
You do not need to waste productive hours in traffic because your home office
helps you to manage your corporate business effectively. Staying productively safe
has become the new norm and the home office setup is strategically designed to
give you more for less. Being organised, saving cost on energy, enhancing
personal security, joining professional networks and linking up with support
networks, you position your brand on the pedestal of unlimited growth.
Freelancers are joining the Box Office Marketplace for more jobs in Nigeria
The demand for Freelance jobs in Nigeria is growing. Thanks to the coronavirus
pandemic and the bubbling internet platforms for business, work and learning, the
number of persons and organisations in need of Freelancers have rapidly grown.
Despite the growing demand, Freelancers find it difficult to get freelance jobs and the
reasons are not far fetched. Most Nigerians do not trust the quality of service proposed
by freelancers and the Freelancers on the other hand market their services on
unprofessional platforms.
To break this jinx, Box Office Hub launched its online platform for Freelancers, Service
Providers and General Professionals to market, promote and sell their services. Box
Office Hub, a leading coworking space provider in Nigeria developed the platform to
enhance the credibility of general online service business.
The marketplace of Box Office Hub which is free and open to all service providers is a
game changer in the service industry. The online marketplace is unique because for the
first time in Nigeria, an online professional service platform has been created to protect
the interest of the buyers and also service providers.
With the online marketplace, Box Office Hub has reaffirmed its interest in supporting
business growth in Nigeria.