Launch Your Start-up & Scale Your Early-Stage Business
For a long time you have had a strong desire to become an entrepreneur but you don’t have that “big idea” yet. Or, you have a good idea, friends are wiling to pay for it. But you are still left wondering how to turn your passion into a business.
You may already owned a small business, its doing alright but your dream of earning real money on the side has proven more difficult to realize.
You may never realize millions in profits from your venture but regardless of your background, if you have the passion and are willing to work hard and smart you too can achieve your dream of creating income and security for you, your family and community.
You may already owned a small business, its doing alright but your dream of earning real money on the side has proven more difficult to realize.
You may never realize millions in profits from your venture but regardless of your background, if you have the passion and are willing to work hard and smart you too can achieve your dream of creating income and security for you, your family and community.
Learning business is like learning an art, a craft, a sport, a game, a trade or anything else – It’s learning a process. To learn, all you need is SEE, PRACTICE and DO – of course; you also need to be willing to work hard to implement your business idea, to be strong and determined, to be open-minded and be ready to pivot as your customers need change. Is that you? If it is, and if you are an Indigenous woman 17 years or older, you are probably a candidate to become a recipient of a "Grand Mother Moon Fellowship." In the next four years, 100 Indigenous women will be selected and supported in launching and scaling their businesses for up to 36 months.
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To be eligible to apply for a Granmother Moon Fellowship, you must be:
An Indigenous woman, 17 years or older
A member of NIWEE
Learn more about our Application process:
Two courses are available to selected Indigenous women, plus two support modules.
Module 1: Basic Business Course
This course is designed for start-up and early-stage entrepreneurs.
Start-up Entrepreneurs
Learn to test the building blocks of their business model to avoid wasting their time, energy, and money. In short, you will learn to test your business model and produce strong evidence that shows you are on the right track. And, based on that evidence, you will be able to make better decisions, lower your risks and enjoy better sleep.
Early-Stage Entrepreneurs
You own a small business or an idea that isn’t quite yet a business. You may have read a few books on entrepreneurship. You may be making some money from your hard work but your gut tells you that you may be exchanging four quarters for a dollar. You have a good idea, customers appear to be satisfied with your service or product samples, but they are unwilling to pay for it. Your dream is to devote your full time to your business, but it all seems risky.
Learning Goals:
You are encouraged to:
Design and explore your path into entrepreneurship. Build knowledge, skills/competencies as a novice entrepreneur.
Develop a validated business proposal. Gain confidence in presenting the business to potential partners, customers, and founders.
You will learn the basics of business processes, such as: "in business, it's not what you put into it, but what the customer gets out of it. "
Find your definition of success and find joy in lifelong learning and self-development.
Module 2: Building Your Business Architecture
The goal of this module is for you to turn unsolved prospective customer problems into your business breakthrough success. But we all know that it is not as simple as that. Doing so requires having a hard look at yourself as the leader and at the market.
The Leader
Being an entrepreneur means running a business and performing activities at your own risk. From our very own experience as entrepreneurs, we know how vital receiving personal feedback can be. We have arranged for the course participants to receive personal feedback by standing in front of the proverbial mirror to gain insight into the competencies vital to being a successful business person. After you have shared your thoughts online on a 14-minute series of questions, you will receive a report of some 50-page. It will affirm areas where you are very strong or weak and explain the consequences for your own business. With your NIWEE personal coach, you will customize your business skills development plan.
The Market
You have identified and validated your business idea.
You know your customers' needs and their willingness to pay for your product or service. And,
Up your sleeve, you know what your trustworthy source of competitive advantage is. If you do, that needs to be clearly identified on paper. If not, answers must be found before any solutions can be proposed to clients, and you can start generating revenues through sales as you build your business foundation.
Building Essentials
Workshops focused on:
Doing your books
Your Website
Building a Marketing Plan
Workshops focused on:
Generating and nurturing leads and converting leads into sales
Deliver world-class experience
Increase customers' lifetime value. And,
Orchestrate and stimulate lifetime value
Building a Communication Plan
Workshops focused on:
Developing a communication plan
Building your audience persona(s)
Create a powerful message; and
Produce your promo material
Simulations
Finding the triggers that will make your prospective customers buy
Marketing and Communication in a simulation exercise using case studies
Exhibit & Marketing
Define your objectives, your design and activites
Define your pore-show promo and implement your e-promo-campaign
Create a 3-dimensional marketing experience
Making effective show presentation
Turning leads into business
Developing rapport with potentional clients
Participation in an online Exhibit
In module two each course participant is encouraged to achieve 3 or 4 sales of her product or services while on course
Post Course
Two support models will be available
Module 3
Nurturing and Scaling your Business
Over the next 68 weeks, your focus is on building your business and firming up your processes. You’ll prepare for orderly growth and scale your revenues without incurring high costs and sustaining them. You will also prepare your business plan, due diligence package and investor pitch
Module 4
Prepare your Business for Acceleration
In this last period of 32 weeks, you’ll learn to avoid common fundraising mistakes; market evaluation, wasting time by investors, determining the right ask, reaching and selecting investors and closing the deal.
Note: We have designed the NIWEE knowledge transfer and coaching to take place over a maximum of 36 months. The average period it takes to generate a business idea, bring it to market and have your business ready for growth. It doesn’t have to take 36 months, depending on your skill set and experience. Let’s talk and see what a custom program based on your needs would look like.
