How to Pitch Your Idea to Investors in Nigeria

How to Pitch Your Idea to Investors in Nigeria

First publication: Okon Joseph:

Are you an entrepreneur in Nigeria with a business idea that you want to pitch to investors? But you don’t have the finance to invest in the business and the only option left is to look for investors in Nigeria who would love to invest?

Nigeria is a country where you have people with money that don’t know what to do with it but will be very happy to invest the money in places that will profit them especially this era of information technology has changed the way business is done. Having the opportunity to meet these class of people to share your business idea with, is one problem. One thing is to have a business idea, another thing is to know how to pitch it to potential investors, How to convince them in some minutes to invest in you, because if you don’t know how, investors won’t be able to understand what you’re trying to relate with them.

The importance of rehearsing your pitch is one thing I can’t stress enough in pitching potential investors in Nigeria. Entrepreneurs think they know too much of their business in and out, and when it comes to pitching it to investors, it will be easy just like singing the National anthem (is that even easy?). I have seen entrepreneurs freeze in front of investors while pitching, and ramble on and on. Many entrepreneurs don’t put the same effort they used in preparing their business plan to pitching their plan to investors.

 5 Mistake Entrepreneurs Make When Pitching Their Idea to Investors
1. Having no data for backup
Entrepreneurs make the mistake of not having market data to backup their assumptions. What most investors are looking for is a business that can scale up and become profitable with time. As a Nigerian entrepreneur, you should know your data so as to avoid this mistake. Make sure you relate with your investors on why you think the business will be successful in the long run.

If I am an investor, I would want to know the actual percentage of the market you plan to win with time.

2. Not knowing your investors
Entrepreneurs most times are too excited pitching their idea to investors and not doing some research on the investors first. They don’t do their home work to check how these investors will be a good fit for their business startup.

Entrepreneurs needs to ask themselves questions such as;

What sector of business does these investors primarily invest in?
What is their background?
Have they made an investment in your sector before?
How much money do they usually invest?
Knowing your investors before hand, can relief you some sort of unnecessary stress and time in trying to pitch and convince them.

3. Not preparing a detailed executive summary
Investors in Nigeria don’t have time to start going through some 50-100 pages of your business plan just to learn about your business. 2-3 page summary and maybe a PowerPoint presentation will serve. Try as much as possible to summarize your business plan for easy read for investors.

4. Not having an exit strategy
You don’t just pitch your business idea to investors expecting them to just pull out large sum of money for the business. It doesn’t work that way. Investors want to know how much they will be investing, how long it will take to start getting back their invested money.

5. Not doing a demo
A prototype or a working demo of your product or service will give the investor a better sense of what you’re trying to pass across plainly.

How to Pitch your Idea to Investors in Nigeria.
1. Start with a story
If you can relate your story to the problem you’re solving in the market place, then do it. Nothing engages people better than a good captivating story. Start your pitch with a story that will catch your audience attention, the complaint and address it to how your business idea will be the solution to the problem in your story.

2. Prepare yourself thoroughly
The first thing investors see is the
entrepreneurship spirit in you.
3. Pitch your solution
Don’t just pitch your idea, show potential investors how your product or service will solve a hungry market problem. Make it easy for the investor to understand.

4. Show your target market
Every product, service or business idea has a specific market it is made for. Don’t lie to investors saying that your product or services is for everybody on earth. It is too broad. Everybody is no market. Tell your investors the market needs your idea is meeting.

5. Analyze competitors
A quick analyses of your potential competitors as every business has a competitor even if the competitor is located far away in another continent. Tell the investors how different your business model is or approach from your competitors  and how much market share you are likely to take.

6. Spell out your fund needs
Don’t beat around the bush about the exact amount of money you need to fund this idea. Tell investors the exact amount of money that will be required, how much have been invested (if any). Also, spell out why you need the exact amount, and the intended outcome of the money too.

These are few tips to know on how one can pitch a business idea to investors in Nigeria. I hope with this little information, you have been informed and now have clarity on how you can pitch your idea to investors in Nigeria.

I wish you good luck on your business pitch!