It was another enlightening session, for the Stanbic IBTC Founder Institute Lagos Cohort 2, on Wednesday, February 13, 2020, at GoDo Hub, 53, Oladipo Bateye Street, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
In the first class, last week, the cohort 2 founders, had met, with some FI graduates and mentors, who had taken them through an orientation session.
This time around, however, the class took a different turn, as some selected founders, pitched for a minute each, to check out the level of their preparedness, for the real deal.
Present at the session were 3 of the FI mentors, who adjudged the selected founders on their pitch, giving them valuable advice on where they needed to improve on their pitch to gang the attention of an investor, as well as, made presentations, on the topic of the week, “Vision & Validation”.
David Adebayo, Head, Distribution & Supply Chain Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, who is one of the three mentors present, spoke first.
He explained his portfolio management role, in developing products and keeping investment running, as a necessary tool for validation.
“In trying to create a product that, people can validate, go and embed yourself in, with the people, listen and observe them”, David stressed.
Emilia Asim Ita, another mentor, who is the Founder/Practice Director, AML, noted some questions for discussion, with answers to them, during her presentation.
Emilia noted that, because a product is, clearly, acknowledged, does not, necessarily, mean that, you are on, to a real business.
“That, a need is, everywhere in different forms is not enough. Does it speak to the problem you are trying to solve?”, she queried.
She emphasised, on the scalability, of a business call back plan, in case of unfavorable government policy and the need for pitch preparedness.
“Whatever you are building, must be multifaceted. What else, can your product do, asides from its original intent?”, she concluded.
Olamide Afolabi, CEO, Sanwo, the third mentor for the night, rounded off the session, by discussing the need, for the founders, to take surveys, before building their products, asking questions like, ‘What feature, would you like, in my product, to make it better for you?’
He concluded, by explaining, three qualities, of a good product, which are, it’s functionality, social impact and emotion.
The next of Stanbic IBTC Founder Institute class comes up on Wednesday, February 19, 2020. Watch for the progress report.
Featured Image: Group photo of Stanbic IBTC Lagos Founder Institute Directors & Mentors
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