REPORT ON YALI MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

Date: Wednesday, 24th September 2014

Venue: Lagos Business School, Ajah, Lagos
Time: 3:15- 8 pm (including presentations, question and answers and
personalized advisory)
Audience: First Year, Full-Time MBAs
Attendance: 58 people
Age Range: 20-35 years
Work experience: At least one year in various professions
Partners: MBA Department of the Lagos Business School.
Overview:
On returning back from the US-based portion of the YALI program, I made a
plan to organize mentorship and experience sharing events in Ibadan and
Lagos respectively. Two schools were earmarked in Lagos- Lagos Business
School (LBS) and the Ajah campus of Lagos State University. I held a similar
event in Ibadan at the Lead City University early in August.
In organizing the LBS event I reached out to the MBA department early in
August to ask for a time slot to speak with the new MBA students. I was
particularly interested in discussing with the new students because I
believe my story would inspire them to start off a social business early in
their studies while leveraging off the LBS network and the resources I share
with them from my YALI experience.
Summary of presentation:
I shared my experience in starting up my drug distribution business as soon
as I started my MBA studies and the benefits of running a socially minded
business. I discussed the cross-subsidy model of my distribution businessusing profits generated selling in urban health centres to supply subsidized
medicines in health centers in rural communities. I emphasized on how this
helped in getting me on the YALI program and also how it enabled me get
selected to represent the school at the HULT prize competition that was
focused on creating social healthcare ventures to improve healthcare
management for chronic non-communicable diseases in slums. I highlighted
the benefits that accrue when one serves his community.

REPORT ON YALI MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

I then shared some theoretical learning points from the academic portion of
the YALI training in Yale as follows-

I.

Theory of change conceptI described the distribution model I employed in my business and
asked the audience what they could deduce as the reason I was
running my business. A member of the audience said I was doing it to
improve healthcare. Someone else said I was doing it to improve
healthcare for the poor and those in rural areas. I said I liked the
latter as it was more specific and that infact was the key learning
point in defining ones business theory of change which is meant to be
specific as possible. I stated that my theory of change was to improve
the livelihoods of the rural population by enabling them have access
to affordable high quality healthcare so that they can stay productive.
I said that every entrepreneur must clearly articulate their theory of
change and that this when clearly articulated in any business plan will
distinguish them from the mass of people who are solely interested in
declaring how much profit they will generate.

II.

Funding sourcesUsing my personal example of running a toast making business selling

to the business school community, I asked the audience as to how they
would go about fund raising to start the business. Answers ranged
from borrowing the toaster from friends, to taking a loan and
fundraising from friends and family, to seeking funding from investors
and customers.
I then categorized these responses under the following funding
sources-

Funds-raised from personal savings, friends, family and fools.

I emphasized that this should be the first funding
alternative to pursue as it is easy to access, cheap and offers the
best flexibility especially with repayment and control of the
business.
In response to a question, I clarified the meaning of
fools as those who invest in your venture even though they know
little about you or about the potential of success of the venture. We
highlighted some examples of successful ventures that attracted

REPORT ON YALI MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

fool-investors because these investors had the gut feeling that the
entrepreneurs will succeed.
As with the example of borrowing a toaster from
friends, I emphasized that this sort of funding is not just restricted
to cash but could also be in kind whicj=h in this case could be the
toaster machine.
-

Funds raised from debt

I emphasized that banks are very much willing to
fund small businesses; however that the application process takes
time and the banks demands on repayment may reduce flexibility
especially in tough times for the entrepreneur.

Funds raised from investors

I categorized this type under the following stages
a) Seed funding for proof of concept
I stated that after initially running the business at a micro-scale,
to show proof of concept, entrepreneurs can fund raise from
angel investors who would provide seed funding to prove the
hypothesis around the business model.
I said all startup entrepreneurs have hypothesis around how
they expect to generate value and that this usually changes
when the business meets the market place. I said that angel
investment helps to refine the entrepreneurs objectives and
gives him credibility when sourcing for larger investments.
b) Funding for scale
I stated that after proof of concept, that entrepreneurs can fund
raise from venture capitalists to achieve scale. I highlighted that
this may lead to significant loss of control for the entrepreneur
especially if he does not lock in sales channels upfront or grow
the valuation of the venture tangibly before accessing this
funding type. I emphasized that the entrepreneur may end up
ceding control to venture capitalists who typically have
ambitious exit multiple objectives within tight timelines.
A member of the audience contended that in fact many tech
start-ups seek this type of funding first in order to quickly
secure the market space and that the risk of losing control is

REPORT ON YALI MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

much better to take for a stake in a larger and much more
valuable company as against a smaller firm without prospects.
-

Funds raised from the customer

Here I emphasized another key learning point- the concept of the
minimum viable product.
Using the example of the toast business, I acted out a scene with a
member of the audience. He played the role of buyer for a
supermarket while I played the role of the entrepreneur. I asked
him that assuming I had asked him to buy my toast bread for
weeks and if he was to answer me without telling me to leave,
what would he say. He then answered that he will ask me to bring
the toast bread. I then asked how many. He said I should bring 10
units of the toast bread.
Immediately I said to the audience that the initial order of 10 units
of the toast bread was my minimum viable product- this being the
minimum quantity of the products that the first customer is willing
to take a risk ordering and which I could produce using easily
accessible resources. In this case, I pointed out the earlier
suggestion of borrowing a toaster from my friend as being the first
resource I would access in order to meet this order.
I emphasized that if I knew this concept while on the MBA
program, that I would have started more businesses beyond my
drug distribution business and the toast business (which by the
way was a business I ran in LBS with a classmate). I stated
emphatically that the major reason most young people do not start
a business is because they project huge sums they require before
they can start a business. The audience seemed to agree with me
that this concept would lower the mental barrier that puts funding
as the sole requirement to launching a startup and encourage more
young people start off a venture.
I emphasized that the era of writing 40-50 page business plans was
over especially as most investors have realized that most of the
projections do not work and that what most angel investors want is
a pitch of 4-5 pages stating the business concept and model, who
the customer is and what the minimum viable product is and how
this can be produced. I stated that this was the cutting edge of
entrepreneurship especially as YALE was at the forefront of

REPORT ON YALI MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

entrepreneurship research given its partnership with the state of
Connecticut which is promoting entrepreneurship given the high
level of unemployment in the state.
I then went on to discuss what Barak Obama said during the summit i.e.
that the young people of Africa are responsible for bringing about the
change they seek. I said that no one in the world is coming to our rescue,
to help us with the problems that we are capable of solving. I said that
everyone in the audience can identify a problem in the country that they are
passionate about and that it can be a simple problem for which they want to
be remembered for solving. Examples I shared were running an
enlightenment initiative on appropriate driving along highway lanes, law
enforcement on use of zebra crossing.
I then shared a painting I saw in the Yale art gallery (painted by a US-based
Nigerian teenager). I asked the audience for their thoughts about the
painting. Responses ranged from black, bold and beautiful to painting the
image that you want to see of yourself. The latter response I really liked
because as I explained to the audience our lives, our communities and our
country are a reflection of how we paint them in our minds. If we want a
more ordered country then we individually have to contribute to making it
so.
I then shared another picture of a monument commemorating the site
where Africans of the Amistad were imprisoned while they awaited trial for
allegedly kidnapping the slaving crew of the ship known as the Amistad. I
asked that how is it that we remember them today- almost 200 years later;
after all they were not the only ones who were taken across the Atlantic as
slaves from the coast of the Guinea gulf. I said it is because unlike others
who were similarly enslaved, they rose up damning death in order to fight
for their freedom. I said that if we as young people of Africa want to be
remembered that we need to stand up for something we are passionate
about and leave a mark around it. I shared my new initiatives which includesetting up a soup kitchen in either Ajegunle or Obalende which would
promote volunteering by the private sector professionals; young capital for
entrepreneurial girls to promote their economic independence early in life;
period kits for teenage girls aimed at keeping young girl in school. I then
made a call asking them to do something different today.
I then shared the following quote by Barak Obama during the YALI
Presidential Summit and asked them to think about it and give me their

REPORT ON YALI MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

thoughts- If you had to choose a time in world history in which to be
born, and you didnt know who you were or what your status or
position would be, youd choose today!
But the great thing about being young is you are not bound by the
past, and you can shape the future. And if all of you work hard and
work together, and remain confident in your possibilities, and arent
deterred when you suffer a setback, but you get back up, and you
dust yourself off, and you go back at it, I have no doubt that youre
going to leave behind for the next generation and the generation
after that an Africa that is strong and vibrant and prosperous, and is
ascendant on the world stage
Thoughts from the audience included- that as young people we have to take
responsibility for where we want ourselves and our communities to be;
another said that the future was ours to create. I agreed with them both and
said that I am committing to provide all the resources and networks I have
built from the YALI program to enable them grow their ventures and
initiatives.
During the question and answer session, a member of the audience then
said that many times people succeed because they are lucky. He gave
personal examples of his experience trying to start up several ventures in
the late 2000s to no avail. Another member of the audience replied that
luck is created from showing proof of concept. That many times young
people want to start off big rather than showing that their ideas can
succeed on a small scale and that this was the reason they failed to gain
traction for their ideas. I agreed with the latters comment while also
stating the validity of the first contribution given the time period when he
tried to start off. Using myself as an example, I said that the reason I believe
I was selected to the YALI Mandela Washington fellowship, and the HULT
prize and the You Win grant was because using limited resources I had
shown the viability of my business concept. I also said that Nigeria and in
fact Africa has fundamentally changed and that we need to recognize this. I
said that capital is more readily available now especially for young people
today. I gave the example of one of my YALI colleagues who crowd sourced
over $8,000 from indiego.com and got matching funds from a foundation in
the US. I said that we need to take advantage of this new era of capital and
optimism on the continent.

REPORT ON YALI MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

I then said that they should join the YALI network for resources and apply to
the Mandela Fellowship program or ask their friends to apply this year if
they have or they know someone who is making a tangible contribution to
their communities. Otherwise, they should aim to build up their community
contribution so that they can be in prime position to be selected in a year
from now.

Outcomes
-

Most of the audience (over 90%) said they were inspired to start off
an initiative in combination with their studies. When before they
just thought to go through the MBA and get a job afterwards, now
they realize they can make the 18 months of study more
worthwhile.
A couple, over 10 of them shared their initiatives with me and I will
be providing access to resources and networks form the YALI
program and network to support them

Report prepared by Adebayo Alonge, YALE Mandela Washington

Fellow