In a groundbreaking initiative to boost entrepreneurship in Ondo State, SalesPlat and The Growth Hub joined forces with Sponsors and Partners to tackle the challenges of financial access, expensive entrepreneurship education, digital illiteracy and much more.
This massive collaborative effort that brought in over over 3,100 businesses in Ondo State, involved Sterling Bank, Peppa, TradeFlow, UAC Foods, Fez, Scrella, The SME Mall, Spurt group, BlackCrest, Acelera Law, AfriHealth, Boolean Labs, Sycamore, Phronesis Foods, and other amazing partners and the program unfolded through a series of events designed to empower entrepreneurs with essential skills, resources, and funding opportunities.
The program publicly launched with the Ondo Entrepreneurs Virtual Summit on June 15th, drawing industry leaders to share insights with aspiring and established business owners.
Building on this momentum, a comprehensive 5-day virtual accelerator program ran from June 18th to 22nd.
This intensive training covered crucial areas such as sales strategies, marketing techniques, pitch and business plan development, financial management and so on, laying a strong foundation for participants.
In the weeks following the accelerator, hundreds of SMEs received invaluable support in the form of pitch deck templates, business plan proposal frameworks as well as business development associates who guided them to put their businesses in great presentation format
This phase of the initiative concluded on July 10th with the closing of pitch submissions, marking a pivotal moment for many entrepreneurs hoping to take their businesses to the next level.
Olatunde Victor, founder of SalesPlat, emphasised the company’s role in this initiative:
“SalesPlat was designed to provide infrastructural support for growth, beginning right here in Ondo State. It’s very pleasing for us to see that over 60% of the businesses were going through investment readiness, and experiencing business growth frameworks for the first time”
The program’s competitive aspect intensified on July 20th with the announcement of the Top 40 Finalists out of which the best 20 would be having a demo day and pitches at the Grand Finalle on the 10th August, 2024
Here are the Top 40 Businesses;
- Sol Uniq [Charcoal Briquettes],
- Blessxd Stitches,
- NiO Agro,
- Tlr Organics [Skincare],
- Terra Nova,
- Tamopei [Currency P2P Trading],
- Creative Reuse [Nylon Recycling],
- Mz Jewel,
- Rehoboth Agro,
- ShopRhyme,
- LogisticKingz,
- SethKay [fashion measurement app],
- Zepama [trekk to coins app],
- Masterpiece ICT,
- Ayaba creations,
- GreenPad [Degradable Sanitary Pads],
- Highway Food & Grains,
- BusyBissy Animation,
- Tobwaz Feeds,
- Comfot,
- Baabs Agro,
- DigifySTEM,
- Dabar Farms,
- Darmochie,
- Evolution foods,
- Agentons,
- Hand D,
- SAK Wears,
- DO Foods,
- Godday Cleans,
- AgroHighway,
- Fiz Systems,
- Aligned Steps Schools,
- Heabron,
- NN Foods,
- Starkenny,
- La Belle Francaise,
- Rohifield School,
- Bessie Creative, and
- Hannadex
As the initiative progresses, anticipation builds for the announcement of the top 20 finalists, who will advance to the grand finals demo day scheduled for Saturday August 10th.
These finalists will present their decks and business plans to a distinguished panel of judges, experts who will make the final announcement in correlation with earlier judges scores.
The stakes are high, with 10 exceptional businesses set to receive grants ranging from ₦125,000 to ₦1 million.
This financial boost, coupled with the knowledge and connections gained throughout the program, promises to catalyse significant growth for the winning enterprises.
Through this comprehensive program, SalesPlat and The Growth Hub have demonstrated their commitment to fostering entrepreneurial growth in Ondo State.
By providing access to finance, premium business growth trainings, e-commerce tools, finance tools business support services, and potential funding, they’ve created a robust ecosystem for business development.
The The Growth Hub initiative not only addressed immediate challenges faced by local entrepreneurs but also laid the groundwork for sustainable economic growth in the region.
