(EAJC) Program 

Entrepreneur Pre-Qualification

(Pre-project assessment)

                Motivation and determination

·         What is the primary motivation for the entrepreneur to start a business?

·         Did the entrepreneur make any effort to start a business before this?

Does the entrepreneur have family support to start this business?

Ability and experience

·         Does entrepreneur have previous experience in running a small business?

·         Does the entrepreneur have experience in this new business?

·         Does entrepreneur have experience in managing a similar business? If not, can a person able to manage the business be hired locally?

Idea with market

·         What is the product or service that the entrepreneur will sell?

·         Who are the customers?

·         What customer need does it meet?

·         Is the product developed, tested if necessary, and does it meet the specified standards? Is it ready for the customers?

·         What quantity of the product will be produced and sold?

·         Is it known if the customers will buy it? Has a market survey been conducted, even if informal?

·         Why will customers prefer this product/service to that supplied by competitors?

Resources needed and availability

Physical requirements

·         What is the minimum scale of production for starting the business?

·         Will that production level ensure enough income for entrepreneur?

·         What resources are needed for this? For example:
- Premises
- Machinery
- Equipment
- Stock of raw material
- Employees that the entrepreneur may need

·         Does the entrepreneur have any other special training needs and resources to pay for additional training on packaging or for design development?

Financial requirements

·         What are the cash needs for the first year?

·         The profit and balance sheet projections?

·         What will be the unit cost and how has it been calculated?

·         What targets/standards are built into the proposal?

·         Utilization of resources?

·         Efficiency?

·         Wastage?

·         Quality maintenance factors

Other Factors to consider

Organizational management

All legal and organizational requirements must be understood and addressed before starting a business. The following checklist will be useful: 

·         Most grassroots entrepreneurs are informal and unregistered. However in order to qualify for government support in several locations, they have to be registered or become members of registered co-operative.

·         Are there any other legal requirements to be met? Such as registrations, food quality marks, etc.

·         Will the business need an accountant?

·         What record keeping systems will be used?

·         Is insurance needed and has it been arranged?

Business planning

A business plan must be prepared at the initial stage of starting an enterprise. When large amounts of money are involved, and the success of a business is at stake, it is definitely worthwhile investing time in business planning. Preparing a business plan is the most important step before starting any enterprise.

Entrepreneur Assistance for Jobs Creation Fund (EAJCF)