Curated Business Ideas : Raising Halal business finance for promising entrepreneurs

Introduction

Hello, greetings to one and all. This is Jack Lookman welcoming you to our series on Jack's curated business ideas. Today's topic is:

Raising Halal business finance for promising entrepreneurs.

Disclaimer

The thoughts expressed by Jack Lookman are not cast in stone; you could amend the thoughts to suit your needs. These thoughts don't guarantee anything; they could however be used as a vehicle to hopefully take you to your destination. I implore you to take notes and to capture any complimentary thoughts that it may ignite.

Inspiration

One of my facebook followers reached out to me recently. Their family income was reduced because her husband lost his job; and she wants to hustle to complement the residual family income. She requested a loan, a halal loan; and she will negotiate repayment terms. She wants to trade; because she is gradually overcoming health challenges. We don't know each other, we only met on facebook. She's a muslim convert and her parents and probably siblings have more or less disowned her.

My Thoughts

In response to our discussion. Different thoughts came to mind:

I need to do relevant checks
How can I help without giving financial aid?
How can I optimise the help?
Can I signpost her accordingly?
Could she leverage crowdfunding?
Are there organisations that could help people like her?
Can they also help her to overcome bureaucratic huddles?
Are there businesses or investors that give Halal loans?
Are there businesses that help facilitate the loan process?
Are there businesses or individuals that could collaborate or invest in her?
Are there businesses that could leverage the Profit Sharing Formula App for transparent, fair and effective business collaboration?
Are there businesses that could link her with investors and collaborators?
Can this be facilitated in a painless and cost effective manner
Can the internet be leveraged?
e.t.c.

These are some of the questions that ran through my mind.

Now what is the business model?

The model of this suggested business can come as a profit making business; a non-governmental organisation; a charity or as a social enterprise.

You could do it for profit motives, to add value to the society, or both.

What's the process?

This shall include

Registering the business
Having a marketing and publicity team
Having a bank account
Having a business plan
Having a monetisation plan
Having a marketing plan
Having social media platforms
Having a website or blog
Training and development for staff
Automating your processes
Leveraging the Profit Sharing Formula App
Training and development for your clients
Risk management
Funding for the business
Budgeting
Costing and pricing
Collateral from your clients
Effective leverage of the internet
Systems and structures for effectiveness and efficiency
Putting legalities and feedback mechanism in place
Etc.

Why Halal?

You might ask the question why does it have to be Halal? Why choose Halal?

Firstly, Halal products and services aren't just for Muslims. Halal financial products have a reputation for being fairer than the usual secular ones which are usually interest based.

I recollect my experience of using a large chunk of my pension money to pay off interest based loans. It was a very unpleasant and painful experience. Some people go into depression, commit suicide or become bankrupt due to the effects of interest-based loans.

What skills are required for this business?

These include:

Communication skills
Interpersonal skills
Fundraising skills
Accounting skills
Legal skills
Entrepreneurial skills
Analytical skills
Training and development skills
Research and development skills
Positive mindset
Psychology
Resource management skills,
Resourcefulness
Outsourcing skills
Project management skills
Logistics skills
Content creation skills
Marketing skills
Advertising skills
Effective networking skills
Skills for teamwork
People management skills
The importance of great value
Social media skills
Managing competition
Etc.

Some Useful Skills And Aptitudes For Your Clients:

Positive mindset
Entrepreneurial skills
Money management skills
Resource management skills
Result oriented skills
Integrity
Social media skills
Communication skills
Literacy
Numeracy
Interpersonal skills
Determination
Tenacity
Marketing skills
People management skills
Time management skills
Effective networking skills
Team working skills
And then also you can see the list of skills required by the business.

Most of these skill requirements are interrelated. And by the way don't feel intimidated by the long list. You probably have some or most of these skills already. You can be trained on others, or could collaborate with 3rd parties or outsource as necessary.

Another option is to get a team to the fill any skill gaps.

The recruitment and application process.

These are some thoughts on the recruitment and application process. Please disregard the order in which they are presented.

Some of the recruitment and application processes include:

oOnline application, e.g via google forms
State your requirements as a business
State requirements for the clients
Shortlisting of candidates
Interview prospective clients
Recruitment of successful candidates
Working with them
Leveraging the Profit Sharing Formula App
Managing expectations
Leveraging advertising platforms
Conducting a test by using Jaaloo Puzzles or suitable others. You may use this as part of your process for testing the accuracy and logic skills of your clients
You could carry out checks and balances
You can get references for each client
Get relevant collateral
Get references
Get the client to sign legal documents; for example, a contract, agreement or training and development contract, or Non Disclosure Agreement
e.t.c.

Training, for your business and your clients.

Training could be a hybrid of physical and digital training. It shall address all necessary topics from mindset to business marketing, e.t.c. It’s content shall be updated regularly as necessary.

Marketing for your business and your clients.

You can leverage:

Digital marketing
Social media marketing
Influencer marketing
Podcast marketing
E-book marketing
Whatsapp marketing
Radio marketing
Television marketing
Print media marketing
Search engine optimisation
Blog marketing
LinkedIn marketing
Website or blog marketing
Affiliate marketing
Youtube marketing
Facebook marketing
E.t.c.

Monetisation options

Below are some considerations:

Payments for the service
Payment plans
Profit sharing formula
Joint ventures
Investors
Sponsors
Collaborators
Consultancy
Sell the business at a profit
E t.c.

Some thoughts on the business plan and sustainability

Carry out a research on relevant business models and adapt relevant ones to yours.
Learn from pitfalls of competitors
Leverage good practices
Ensure adequate cash flow
Carry out due diligence
Leverage your resources
Leave zero or little margin for failure
Minimise unnecessary risks
Take educated and calculated risks when necessary
Have adequate marketing budgets for your company and those of your clients
Have zero tolerance for fraud
Educate your clients adequately
Educate your staff sufficiently. Education shall be ongoing, it's not a one-off activity
Leverage digitalisation effectively
Minimise overheads
Leverage resources effectively
Leverage the Profit Sharing Formula App
Leverage collaborators and investors
Avoid interest based loans
Integrate shock absorbers for unfavourable business tides
Invest in research and development
Invest in training and development
Re-invest in the business as necessary
Regularly audit your procedures and practices - always strive to improve on what you do
Consider affiliate marketing and incentivise those who introduce paying clients
Do your business ethically

As your business grows:

Endeavour to give back to:

The community and society at large
To stakeholders
To staff
To those who are less well off
Reward good practices and efforts of staff
Sanction negativity
Avoid overspending your staff - that is, avoid abusing them.
Make the workplace delightful
Get the best of your staff without enslaving them
Encourage flexibility in the workplace
Encourage work life balance
Conduct effective risk management
Be transparent
Mitigate potential fraudulent practices
Continually improve on your value proposition
Introduce rewards and sanctions
Undertake effective and positive mindset coaching
Do regular research and development
Control clients’ business finances for as long as necessary,
Have a profit sharing formula
Create performance metrics
Create reasonable, attainable and practicable targets
Leverage best practice
Put round pegs in round holes
Do effective training and development
Encourage whistleblowing as necessary
Have zero tolerance for fraud
Include checks and balances
Provide adequate tools for the trade
Block any observed loopholes
Build and maintain trust
Ensure full accountability from all concerned parties and stakeholders
Have policies and procedures in place - update them as necessary
Have legalities in place - to minimise or avoid conflict
Learn and act from your business experiences

Here are some business requirements for you

A business space or location
Business equipment such as computers, digital gadgets and administrative systems
Office furniture
A team - with relevant skills
Funding for clients
Etc.

Some client requirements include:

A positive mindset
Willingness to learn
Integrity
Digital device or devices
Literacy
Communication skills
Interpersonal skills
Serious-minded clients
Entrepreneurial minds
A bank account
Basic administrative tools
Result orientation
Business idea
Time and effort commitment
Training & Development ideas
Etc

Training and development ideas for your team and clients

Here are some thoughts:

Customer services training
Mindset
Entrepreneurship
Research and development
Administration
Exploring and leveraging, creativity
Profit Sharing Formula App
Marketing
Social media marketing
Information technology
Leadership
Ethics
Business scaling
Working smart
Resource management
Time management
Being organised
Corporate social responsibility
Importance of charity
Investments and investing
Upsells
Down sells
Cross sells
Sales funnels
Creating membership sites
Side hustle
Leveraging social media
Data management
Business outsourcing
Business legalities
E.t.c.

Benefits and opportunities

These include:

Job creation
Wealth creation
Opening of opportunities
Adding value to society
Facilitating entrepreneurial pursuits
Increased tax earnings by government
Crime reduction
A fairer society
Optimisation of potential
Empowerment and inspiration
Scaling of business
Etc.

Threats and weaknesses

It's important to be aware of these, so that you can mitigate them. Threats and weaknesses may include:

Failed businesses - either yours or those of your clients.

This may be due to fraud, sickness, death, competition, associated business risks, business flaws, acts of terrorism, no tenable collateral from clients or some things beyond your control.
It may be due to; insufficient funding, unfavourable government legislations, unmotivated entrepreneurs, inadequate systems and structures, power supply issues, issues with internet access and supply.
It may be staffing issues, such as; sickness, resignation, abuse, absence, non-performance, clients dropping out of the program.
There may be lack of continuity, intellectual theft, lack of commitment by stakeholders, litigation or acts of sabotage.

Case study

Assume a client wishes to explore Jack's Flexi Jotter (watch the Youtube video on YouTube, it's a business idea by Jack Lookman). And that the client downloads the idea to you via understandable language; this could be in text, audio or video; or a combination.

Once you understand the concept, you could use your resources to perfect the idea. You could package it, do the necessary administration, carry out due diligence, and find investors and collaborators (including yourselves). You could work collaboratively with the client to actualise the business dream. Stakeholders shall agree on the profit sharing formula, with terms and conditions agreed. The Profit Sharing Formula App could be leveraged. Sort out any legalities and carry out due diligence. Also do proper marketing.

The risk is shared by all stakeholders including yourself, and success is also shared by all.

Conclusion

I hope that this idea adequately solves the problem that was posed by the sister and that similar others could benefit therefrom. I also hope that this will stimulate thoughts and action amongst entrepreneurs.

Like the saying goes, there’s nothing new under the sun, just little tweaks here and there to make a unique selling proposition. Even though there was no formal market research done, it's very likely that the demographic mentioned is quite large, especially in Nigeria, Africa, etc. A lot of them wish to succeed in life and explore potentials, but are stifled by lack of opportunity and finance. Therefore, I hope that this content shall tick many boxes in the things to be accomplished, not only by other entrepreneurs but by necessary others.

I hope that you get some value, and will consider sharing this content. You can find our other products and services at:

Youtube channel: Curated Business Ideas

Facebook: Jack Lookman

Facebook group: Curated Business Ideas

Paperback: Amazon

We wish you all the best and thank you very much for your time.

This is Jack Lookman signing off.

Ire o (I wish you blessings)

Ire kabiti (I wish you loads of blessings).

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YouTube Channel: Curated Business Ideas