Sel improvement expertise

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The end of the year is fast approaching. As a small business, this is the time to:

a)    Take stock of 2018.

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How can you take stock of 2018?

Ø Examine your financial activities for 2018:  You may have decent skill and knowledge in the areas of accounts, or have people in your small company/business operations who do a good job of taking care of the accounting transactions for you BUT it is important for you to engage an Independent person who will examine and check ALL your financial activities for 2018.

The Independent person will inspect documents, receipts, cashbook, bank statement and invoices. He can uncover certain things about your company that you might not have known. In fact, business owners are sometimes surprised by the outcome of the audit, and this process helps them see that they might have overlooked certain financial situations that were occurring in their company.

Ø Identify poor accounting practices: You may record the transaction wrongly or your employee who are getting lazy about performing the correct financial records. It is hard to see these issues unless you can view the overall picture, which is possible with an audit. Get an Auditor to overhaul your operations so as to understand the true position of your business operation/company in 2018.

Ø How much profit did you make in 2018? Most small business owners do not understand the bottom line of their business. Ask them questions like, what is your turnover in 2018? What is your Cost of sales in 2018? What is your profit in 2018? What is the worth of your business or company in case you want to sell in 2018? The Independent person will help to provide answers to all these questions.

Ø Uncover fraud: Some of the employees may be committing fraud without your knowledge. This is very possible with small scale operations. An auditor will identify discrepancies, fraud committed so that you can eliminate the problem.

Ø Using External Auditors Improves Your Credibility

You are probably doing all you can to ensure your business is well organised, but you can’t expect anyone to take your word. Imagine if your business suppliers and customers knows that you audit your accounts every year, the credibility and the trust accorded to you and your business will soar.

As you might expect, this does a lot for the credibility of the company, particularly in the eyes of potential investors and partners. By bringing in an auditor, you are showing your business network that you aren’t afraid of scrutiny and that you value financial and regulatory compliance.

Ø Business Improvements will reduce your cost: The auditor advice and recommendations on your business and how financial activities should be carried out effectively will help to reduce cost, thereby saving cash flow needed for your operations.

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Ø Clear Understanding of your business in 2018: One of the biggest benefits of an audit is that you can get a clear understanding of the financial situation of your company. By identifying cash flow, Sales, cost, and other financial information, you will have all of the information and details that you need to ensure that you are making the best financial decisions. You cannot get a precise snapshot of everything that is occurring within your business until you employ an auditor.

Hiring an auditor used to be something only big companies need to          Are you still not convinced? Talk to us.

Call 08038520767 or mail us at admin@baasinat.com

THE DEMISE OF SKYE BANK( FINAL PART)

Suffice to say, that there are many factors that led to the demise of Skye bank, but I want you to know that SkyeBank as a Company WAS NOT LIQUIDATED. The CBN issues a license to a bank to operate.

The CBN revoked the license of Skye bank to operate as a bank. The CBN did not dismantle the bank and nail the bank to the coffin or else that would have been disastrous to our fragile economy because Skye bank has over 260 branches in Nigeria with thousands of workers.

Skye bank also owns subsidiaries banks in West African countries such as Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Angola and Sierraleon and imagine the impact of liquidating the bank on these ‘small’ economies.

The spillover effect of the bank liquidation would have a multiplier effect on all banks and financial institutions.

This might lead to panic withdrawals and erodes investor confidence in the banking sector and more importantly will lead to massive unemployment and loss of deposits by customers. CBN was incisive and immediately with AMCON appointed a bridge institution-Polaris to take over the management of Skye bank.

 Having said that, it doesn’t mean that investor confidence in Skye bank has not been dented. Let us look at two reasons for the demise of Skye bank. The first one is low liquidity ration and financial health/unethical practices by the company.

The bank has low liquidity ratios. Calm down! I will explain it to you.

Bank liquidity ratio: Any time you deposit to the bank, the bank collect your money and keep it safe for you. Who owns the money? It is you, but to the bank, that your money is a liability and anytime you come to the bank to withdraw your money, the bank is obligated to hand over your money to you. All the deposits in the bank are liabilities to the bank.

Liquidity ratio is the ratio of a banks liquid assets (cash or assets that can be turned to cash) to its liabilities (Mostly your deposits in the bank). In Nigeria's banks are supposed to have a liquidity ratio of 30%( The bank totals liquid assets is expected to exceed all the liabilities by 30%)

Skye bank liquidity ratio was very bad and it was a worrying sign because customers could want to withdraw their money and the branch WILL NOT BE able to hand over the customer money to him/her. So they resort to borrowing from the CBN to mitigate the embarrassment. The CBN governor said ‘’ The result of our examinations and forensic audit of the bank has, however, have revealed that the Skye bank requires urgent recapitalisation as it can no longer continue to live on borrowed times with indefinite liquidity support from the CBN. The shareholders of the bank have been unable to recapitalize it.’’

The financial health and position of a Company are very important. How much profit is the Company making? How much cash does the Company have? How much debt is outside and who owes them? Does the owner of the Company withdraw money from the company at will? What is the level of drawings of the company investment and assets? Is their growth?

The Fiscal health of the bank was really worse. The Company loss in 2015 of N40.726 billion.was really bad and the downtrend continues unabated.If you are in a business like an ‘ajo’(credit thrift) business and you made a persistent loss in 4/5 years, something is wrong somewhere?

 Interestingly the bank did not deem it fit to institute cost-cutting measures to buck the trend. The bank employee benefits and emoluments increase by 95 per cent in 2015 and the general and administrative expense increased by 17%.  That year, bad loans jumped up by 47 per cent to N27.53 billion from N18.99 billion in 2014. Just imagine that?

 The lifestyles of the directors and key men leave more saliva to swallow.  The then chairman of the bank, Tunde Ayeni was indebted to the bank in excess of N70 billion. He used his position as the chairman of the bank to obtain loans well above the regulatory limits. (You see why I wrote my book ‘PREVENT YOUR EMPLOYEES FROM DEFRAUDING YOU’’)

The massive unethical and fraudulent practices in the bank leave much to be desired.

Blatant, Unethical, Criminal Mismanagement.

In 2017, despite Nigeria’s ailing recession and Skye bank woes and despite the debt and corruption scandals supposed to be hovering over his head, Tunde Ayeni threw a lavish 50th birthday party for his wife Biola Ayeni, filled with many who’s who, lots to drink, lots to eat and lots of lavish gifts..

There are other reasons why the bank license was revoked but the aforementioned issues outlined above shows that the CBN acted drastically to save depositors money but the CBN retain the old management and directors to continue to manage the company under the Polaris brand.

 I am of the view that as CBN has taken over the bank, it ought to have sacked both Board and Management and reconstitute a new Board and Management. The Directors and management of the bank were responsible for the collapse of the financial institution and so The Directors of Skye Bank must be held accountable; their properties should be sold to offset the debts and not the ordinary shareholders that entrusted the companies to them.”

LESSONS TO BE LEARNT

-Do not live beyond your means. Skye bank as an entity tried to grow beyond their means and it backfired.

-Workplace fraud is critical to the management of any company whether big or small. Keep your eagle eye on your company and ensure that you conduct an audit exercise on your financial operations on a regular basis.

-Spread your money. Do not deposit all your savings in one bank. Spread the risk by banking with 2/3 banks.

-Be interested in the financial health of your bank. Don't display don’t care attitude’.It will not help you. Contact me on my FB page(fb.me/baasinat) on how to go about it.

-Shareholders will definitely bear the brunt of the demise of Skye bank. Meet a professional stockbroker before making any decision to invest in shares of any company.

-Do a thorough feasibility/business plan before embarking on any project and ensure that the plan is followed systematically and any deviation must be properly analysed.

-Do not steal from your business. Most entrepreneurs are found wanting on this. They steal from their company. Remember the entity concept. Your Company is a corporate person and you are different from your company... Contact me on my FB page(fb.me/baasinat) on how to go about it.

Thanks for reading.

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Why do we audit

An appointed auditor defines Auditing as an independent examination and expression of opinion on the financial information of an enterprise in pursuance of that appointment and in compliance with any relevant statutory obligation and ethical requirement.

 An auditor is not an officer of the organization. He is an independent person who is appointed by owners of the Company to examine the account and determine whether the account is true and fair(The Financial activities is free of fraud, error, irregularities that can distort the view of stakeholders)

 Auditing is conducted in Nigeria only by qualified chartered accountants who must be members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

It is statutorily(A must) required that all public companies'(Companies quoted on the Nigeria stock exchange) financial statements are audited at the end of the company's accounting year.

Auditing is borne out of the fact that incorporated limited liability companies are managed by persons separated and different from the owners.

The managers are expected to render their account of stewardship to the owners. An account of how the owner's money was utilized is usually prepared annually and rendered in the performance of the business enterprise to the owners.

The account called financial statement prepared by managers may be deliberately or inadvertently misleading or it may contain errors or fail to disclose fraud or it may fail to disclose relevant information.

Therefore to lend credence to the account, owners appoint an independent person to look through and consider the account technical so as to determine how true and fair they are in relation to the underlying transaction, books and records.

 

The Demise of sky bank(Part 1)

THE DEMISE OF SKYE BANK

Skye bank collapse sends shock waves to all of us especially for those ‘related' with Skye bank. Some of us are customers, shareholders, employees; know someone who works with them.

It's a panic period for customers who are seen in droves trying to withdraw their money from Skyebank. Some life savings and investment savings are shored up with Skye bank. However, if you deposit money with Skyebank, do you need to worry?

The Banking industry is one of the most regulated industries in Nigeria. We will discuss in another piece why you should not press the ‘panic button' yet.

 This is Lagos state bank. That is the bank used by Lagos state.

Let us take a close look at one of the problems that affected Skye bank.

Skye bank acquired Mainstreet Bank(Formerly Afribank) in 2014. Skye bank used short-term funds for the acquisition. Mainstreet banks was a long-term investment and indebted and its executives engaged in sharp practices, no wonder, former Mainstreet bank MD is alleged to have embezzled N1b naira.

Skye bank bided N126 billion to acquire the entire issued and fully paid-up ordinary shares of Mainstreet bank with short-term funds.

Let me break it down for us. You work with a company and earn N50,000 per month. You saw an advert to buy land somewhere for N600,000. You approach your MD for a loan but he approves the loan under a condition you will pay back in 12 months. You know what that means? Your N50,000 salary will be used to pay for the loan every month. If you agree, how will you take care of yourself? How will you feed? How will you meet up with other obligations?

If you take the loan, it is obvious, you need supporting activities that will earn money or help from somewhere to take care of yourself for the next 12 months or else you will break down.

Do you get the point? You cannot invest your short-term funds for a long-term investment that might likely start generating profit in the next three years.

Skye bank put the cart before the horse. They acquired Mainstreet bank with short-term funds and was illiquid(No cash) and started making efforts to raise the fund locally from investors but it proved abortive because its capital base had been decimated by inside credit, which is non-performing.

Having tried to raise the money locally and failed, the bank's management tried to convince a Moroccan bank and a South African bank to invest in it but after due diligence on the bank and its chairman, the Banks pulled out.

 An expert on Merger and acquisitions posited that  IPO(Initial public offerings)  are a good way for a company to raise money in any M&A especially when assuming the debts of the investee company.

The prospect of an upcoming M&A transaction can make investors more excited about the company's future, as it signals an ambition to expand and a long-term strategy. IPOs always attract market buzz, so by timing the IPO with an M&A transaction, companies can maximize investor interest and drive up early share prices.

Lessons:

Instead of acquiring Mainstreet bank with short-term funds, Skye bank should have issued IPO from its shareholders and the public so as to raise N126 Naira to acquire Mainstreet bank. Skyebank.

Apply matching concept that always guides accountants in their dealings. Do not use short-term funds to invest into Long-term funds. They do not match, rather invest short-term fund to short-term investment while you invest long-term funds/savings into long-term investing.

We all use one bank or the other. Always be interested in the financial decision and activity of your bank. Always read news online about your bank, request for the half-year financial statement and read. If you do not understand anything, post it to my blog (yourfreelanceaccountant.blogspot.com or go to my FB page---fb.me/baasinat. I will answer the questions about your bank.

There are other reasons why the bank is now extinct. This is just the beginning. I will unfold the other reasons for you on Friday.

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My link

https://stopbusinessfraudtoday.wordpress.com/

Why did they bolt away?

This sound ridiculous! Why did the greatest army at that time on earth unable to crush tiny Israel in 66ce. 

They bolted from them.

This is one of the most unanswered events in the history of mankind. Imagine the greatest army on earth today- the US unable to crush a nation like Seychelles. That would be the most unheard disaster in the history of the United States. I am very sure that the President at that time will be impeached or be forced to resign. There will be rancor everywhere and other nations especially the rogue countries will turn the United States into a mockery pad.

What led to the most catastrophic events in the history of the Roman army?

The Roman has directly or indirectly asserted their authority on Israel especially in Jerusalem. They ruled the countries by means of proxies who collected taxes from the citizens and remit same to Rome. However, from 63Ce, a chain of events lead to a showdown. 

Ultimately, the combination of financial exploitation through taxes, Rome's contempt and intentional disregards for Judaism, and the unabashed favouritism that the Romans extended to gentiles( which is an abomination) living in Israel brought about the revolt.

A group of people called the Zealots rose up and try to defy the continuous harassment of the Romans. Their modus operandi is to fight with all means so as to attain political and religious liberty. They fought and burn roman soldiers wherever they were found in Israel. Florus in 66ce the last Roman procurator stole vast quantities of silver from the Temple. He desecrated the temple of God in Jerusalem. According to the Jews, the temple is not only the symbol of worship among the Jews but is a sign of God 'stool' with them.

Florus fled Jerusalem and the garrison in Jerusalem was crushed and  other rebellions broke out all over Judea.

 This victory gave the Jews the needed boost to conclude that the war against the Romans was winnable

.Cestius Gallus, the Roman ruler in neighboring Syria, sent in a larger force of soldiers. These forces include war-hardened soldiers. Their aim was to breach the wall of Jerusalem and crush the Zealots. They came with the belief that as Romans that they will crush the insurgents in no time. The stage was set for one of the finest soldiers at that time-Cestus Gallus to rekindle and reassert the dominance of the Roman Empire in Israel. The Roman never knew what awaits me.

The Zealots and their supporters have grown in the belief that the recent victory against the Romans will inspire them to victory. The Zealots supporters were growing in leaps and bounds

Though the  Romans started well as they took large areas of the north of Judaea and Galilee that had revolted without much effort. The Romans spread themselves too thin, The Zealots capitalized on the fact that the Roman was fighting in many fronts however, they ambushed and defeated the mighty Romans at the battle of Ben-Horon.

This was a shocker. A band of ill-equipped though motivated warriors defeated the mighty Romans under the guidance of Rome brilliant general. This was a bitter pill to swallow.

Their pride and honor vanished temporarily with the defeat. This emboldens the Jews to believe that God was with them and they celebrated it for days. Though the Romans came back with full force and crush, destroy and burn down Jerusalem in 70ce but this defeat in 66ce will go down as one of the most unsolved histories of world affairs.

what is Internal Control system?

Auditing is basically examining records, financial activities incurred during a period and ensuring that such record is error free, fraud free and that records are accurate, reliable and efficient. Is your firm a service organization or a manufacturing organization?

Whatever your firm is into, ensure that you install a comprehensive internal control system in your company. The basis and ways of installing a control system will be revealed in this chapter. Don't contract any accountant; you can install it in your company by following my guidelines. Please ensure that in installing this control system, it should be effectively executed/carried out. i.e. even you who is the proprietor should carry out your own part for the requirement of the control system.

You should not be found wanting in discharging your own side of the control system or else your ability to examine, scrutinize and evaluate your financial activities yourself would be defeated. You might ask, what is “a comprehensive control system”?

It's the measures taken by an organization for the purpose of protecting its resources against waste, fraud, and inefficiency, ensuring accuracy and reliability in accounting and operating data, securing compliance with organization policies and evaluating the level of performances in all divisions of the organization. With this definition, you will agree with me that this is a tool for control over the systems in an organization, because a system of accounting and record keeping will not succeed in an organization unless these known controls are built into the system.

The purposes of internal control are: a) To ensure that transactions are executed in accordance with proper general or specific authorization b) To ensure that errors, irregularities are avoided. c) To ensure that access to assets such as cash, motor vehicle, plant & machinery, stocks etc is permitted only in accordance with laid down policy d) To ensure that recorded items are properly analysed.

why conduct an audit yourself(Small scale firms)

WHY CONDUCT AN AUDIT YOURSELF(SMALL SCALE FIRMS):

 Most times there arises conflict as regards what auditors perceive as auditing and what users perceive as auditing. Users of financial statements feel that an audited account shows that the company has a clean bill of health; the company account is devoid of error, that issue concerns a public limited liability company. This book centers on small, medium scale companies. What kind of activity/activities is your company into? Don't worry; you don't need to panic about that. Audit fees is an expense that erodes the profit made in the period, most of the time, firms employ auditors because of errors, irregularities and fraud.

Audit fees are cost charged in the expense profile of a company and I want to let you know that this expense is avoidable because it's not statutorily required to have your account audited, but for accurate record system, auditors are employed but I tell you categorically that you can audit and examine your own financial records and account yourself even without an accounting, or finance background. This firm was your idea.

The firm was financed and is being managed by you. So, in spite of your background, you are in charge. You know the staffs, you understand the technicalities of the business and that is why despite the harsh business environment, your firm is still above waters. So, you are in control. You may have delegated some sensitive aspect of your business to employees who possess the expertise especially the account/finance department. You can examine your records without bias or prejudice against any of your staff.

why work place fraud

The financial impact on an organization of these so-called “whitecollar” crimes can be devastating. Understanding the impact of workplace fraud, and the potential losses associated with fraud and establishing effective loss control measures are critical for companies from cost, cultural, and risk management perspectives.

Workplace fraud is a common, everyday occurrence. Every business—large or small—is vulnerable to these crimes.

Workplace fraud can have a substantial impact on a business's “bottom line” and even on its continued survival and success.

What motivates people to commit fraud?

As an experienced Accountant, I have identified three elements that are often present when fraud occurs. These three elements form the “fraud triangle.”

“Opportunity” refers to the situations and circumstances that make it possible for fraud to take place.

Opportunity is, generally, the element that a business can most effectively influence, impact, and control. An important action a business can take to reduce crime exposure is to assess the opportunity for fraud and respond accordingly. Responding to fraud risk includes development and use of effective internal controls to reduce, mitigate, or even eliminate opportunities for fraud.

“Pressure or incentive” helps explain why and when fraud occurs. Fraud takes place when fraud pressures or incentives outweigh, and ultimately overcome, the pressures or incentives to act honestly. Thus, pressures or incentives can become the motivation to act fraudulently. Pressures and incentives to commit fraud are often associated with: Lifestyle issues (living beyond one's means). Personal debt (e.g., rent payment, children school fees, gambling

Rationalization” refers to the need for people to somehow justify their fraudulent actions in their own minds. A person involved in a fraud attempts to psychologically accept his/her own actions and emotionally “shift the blame” to anyone or anything other than him/herself.

Common rationalizations include: Entitlement: “They don't pay me what I'm worth. I have this money coming to me.”

Anger or revenge: “The company has treated me poorly; now they're going to pay.” Minimization: “I'm not taking very much. The company can easily afford it.”

Moral justification: “Everyone else is doing it, so it must not be so bad to do this.” Rationalizations are not generally known to others and therefore are usually difficult to detect.

In addition, persons with low moral integrity may feel little need to rationalize their behavior.

Business idea that look foolish now,but has pontential

Motor Vehicles powered with water.

motor fuel is a fuel that is used to provide power to motor vehicles.

Currently, the majority of motor vehicles worldwide are powered by gasoline or diesel. Other energy sources include ethanol, biodiesel, propane, compressed natural gas (CNG), electric batteries charged from an external source, and hydrogen.

I am not a scientist but i am eager to witness motor vehicles powered by water. Bank PHB( A defunct bank in Nigeria) once ran an advert that says that in the future,motor vehicle will run on water and that was 15 years ago.

i was captiavted by that advert and so however foolish it may sound, can motor vehicle run on water?

Raped? Be bold.Tell on him.

RAPE

Rape is a serious crime of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse against a person without his or her consent. It is a sexual intercourse initiated by a perpetrator against a victim without his or her consent. Rape is commonly committed by men against women. Women also rape men but the incidents are rare but it does happen especially against young males by female authority figures.

According to Oxford Advanced Leaners Dictionary (International Student’s Edition), rape is forcing somebody to have sex with you when they do not want to by threatening them or using violence. Rape is derived from Latin word rapere which means to snatch, to grab, to carry off.

Rape comes in different shapes and forms – date rape, gang rape, marital rape, incestual rape, acquitance rape and war rape.

Date rape is a forced sexual assault on a victim by a friend well known to him or her. People often find it difficult to believe victims of date rape because the victim and the perpetrator are known to be frineds.

Gang rape is a forced sexual assault on a victim by a group of people.

Marital rape is a forced sexual intercourse by a husband against his wife. It occurs when the wife is not in the mood for sex but the husband cannot take no for answer. In most African societies, marital rape is not regarded as a crime but in the developed world especially in America, it is a criminal offence. Marital rape also known as sponsal rape is a non-condensual sex in which the perpetrator is the victim’s spouse.

Incestual rape occurs among siblings of the same parents or in a family setting comprising step fathers, step mothers and their siblings from previous marriages.

Child sexual abuse is taking sexual advantage of a child by an adult.

Prison rape is common among prisoners because of lack of avenue to release their sexual tensions. It can occur between warders against prisoners especially female prisoners or between male prisoners against female warders.

Acquitance rape is a sexual assault on a victim by a person known to him or her. It may occur among people living in the same area, working in the same office or belonging to the same association who may not necessarily know one another very well.

War rape is mainly committed by soldiers against the women of conquered territories. It is a violent sexual assault on the women population as a result of war.

Most rape victims hardly report the incident because of the social stigma attached to incidents of rape and also for the fact that most offenders are persons known to the victims.

Rape victims go through a lot of terrible psychological ordeals. They are often traumatised because of the incident. They suffer from severe post tramatic stress disorder and may never live a healthy sex life unless they are properly handled by health care professionals. Emotional and psychological problems victims of rape suffer include disruption of concentration, sleeping patterns and eating habits. Memories of the event never rarelly vacate their imagination.

 They are always relieving the incident which makes it impossible for them to let go and move on with their lives. If the victims are not married before the unfortunate incident, the tendency is to see every male as a rapist and this frame of mind will hinder them from getting married and even if they do, they may not enjoy their conjugal rights because each sexual encounter with their husbands will bring back fresh memories of the past. 

In the event that the rape victim is a married woman, the woman also suffers the same emotional turmoil. Marriages have been known to break down because of the incidents of rape especially in a situation where the husband is of the belief that his wife is the cause of the problem either because of the way she dresses, relates to men or deemed to have behaved improperly.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime defines rape as, “Sexual intercourse without valid consent”. International Criminal Court (ICC) believes that rape has occured, when, “the perpetrator invaded the body of a person by conduct resulting in penetration, however slight, of any part of the body of the victim or of the perpetrator with a sexual organ, or the anal or genital opening of the victim with any object or any other part of the body. The invasion was committed by force, or by a threat of force or coercion such as that caused fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or abuse of power, against  such person or another person, or by taking advantage of a coercive environment or the invasion was committed against a person incapable of giving genuine consent.”

So have you been raped? Be sincere to yourself. Do not hide it .Report it.

ABOUT ME-EFURIBE AARON

ABOUT AARON EFURIBE
My Names are Efuribe Aaron Ndubisi. I reside in Lagos, Nigeria. I am a Chartered Accountant with a reputation as an auditor with small-scale firms in my locality.
I have written many business plans, business and financial analyses for firms in the past and I will be willing to work for you in respect of these categories.
While auditing or performing accounting functions, I always try as much as possible to write stories about everyday living during my working career.
However, my knack for writing always led me ahead though I have written several educational books related to finance and accounts. Some of the Books include "How to prevent your employees from defrauding you‘'   and ‘'How to Audit your account without hiring an auditor'' (I wrote this books especially for employers of labour)
The books I wrote was published through my personal Facebook page and Twitter handle and the review I got was heartwarming.
 For the past 2 months, I have been working on various works that will benefit my readers and I am so happy that I have finished and publish my first short story work "Squeezing water out of stone "This is my first major work and I am thrilled to be publishing it.
I have written other stories such as "Purple Ribbon" (Story that centre on the need to continue to raise awareness against the indiscriminate killing of animals for ritual, pleasure or scientific purposes)
‘'Testing the depth of the water with both feet''( Stories that is geared toward young ladies about the consequences of breast augmentation and enlargement).  ‘' Remembering my Sobibor' (My life story when the plane I boarded almost crashed. The story analyses the 15 minutes of ‘'HELL" experienced by me).  ‘'When the sun is cold'' (Story that is geared to those who always have suicidal thoughts in their mind) I have a host of other stories I am working on.
I have written many business plans,financial plan, articles and reports for many firms.
I write articles to business and lifestyle-related questions for Quora.com and has crossed 4000 views in 3 weeks.
I post regular content to my facebook page and twitter handle. My facebook page is www.facebook.com/ndubisi.efuribe.5 and my twitter handle is @AEfuribe and my Linkedin page is linkedin.com/in/aaron-efuribe-357539120.
During the weekend I participate with my spiritual brothers and sister in expanding God kingdom message to people. I am a Jehovah Witness.
I am married with three children.

DRAFT PLAN OF AQC

ACADEMIC QUERY COUNCIL(AQC)

CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BUSINESS CONCEPTS

WHAT WE DO

MISSION AND VISSION STATEMENT

CURRENT SCOPE OF AQC BRAND

MARKET ANALYSIS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The development of Academic Query Council (AQC) model and concepts began several years ago when Mr Henry Ita observe the hazy information available between the student and the higher institution of his/ her choice. The lack of adequate information leads to the wrong decision of choice. AQC brand was birthed to bridge the divide and as well provide quality programming and entertainment for online users. The aim is to set up a world-class studio.

Academic Query Council (AQC) Recording Studio aim to be a one-stop and standard recording studio that is fully equipped with the latest technology in the recording studio industry. Our recording studio will be located in Ikeja the capital of Lagos state, Nigeria and we are positioned to work for a wide range of client ranging from universities, polytechnics, college of education and Higher Institution across Africa. We will also incorporate organizations such as Multinational oil and gas companies, Telecommunication companies and Financial Institutions.

The company is seeking a Loan of N40 million to fund the launch of the AQC Project. The AQC show is an online television and radio-based show reaching students with vital information about schooling, keeping them informed on activities around their campuses and connecting the University and college community across Africa in one show.

The Funds required will be used to conceptualize a standard and a vibrant studio for the project. The cost expected to be incurred is N30.7M. The Five years financial Plan shows that the project will transform the Company into an integrated entertainment company focusing on the multibillion-dollar film market bringing together a top-flight management team to execute a new, highly-profitable distribution model that provides a greater ROI on urban-themed feature programme.

Academic Query Council (AQC) Recording Studio is not just going to be engaged in the recording of educative and informative programmes for Higher Institution but we will also open our doors to corporate organizations for branding and advertisement purposes and also authors who would want to record their audiobooks and other related works. Our business goal is to work towards becoming one of the leading recording studio brands in the whole of Lagos and in the nearest future compete with the leaders in the industry in Africa.

We are not ignorant of the fact that building a standard and world-class recording studio from the scratch requires huge capital base– class studio equipment (production equipment) et al, which is why we have perfect plans for a steady flow of cash from our business partners with interest in our line of business. We can confidently say that we have created a robust financial plan and we are ready to take on any challenge that we encounter in the industry.

We will ensure that all our employees are selected from a pool of talented and highly creative people with ears for good content in and around Lagos. We will make sure that we take all the members of our workforce through the required training that will position them to meet the expectation of the company and to compete with other players in the Industry.

 At Academic Query Council (AQC)® Recording Studio our client's best interest will always come first, and everything we do will be guided by our values and professional ethics. We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our client's needs precisely and completely. We will cultivate a working environment that provides a human, sustainable approach to earning a living, and living in our world, for our partners, employees and for our clients.

BUSINESS CONCEPT

Business Overview

AQC will create the first Internet Entertainment Network offering educative and informative programming along with the music. Recognizing that a vital aspect of selling merchandise online is to provide compelling entertainment content to inspire sales. The company's unique content will showcase the new and exciting Entertainment and all the products, events, services and adventures associated with campuses in Africa.

 Offering an interactive experience, the channel will cater to a worldwide audience of "like-minded" enthusiasts in an effort to build a synergistic global educative community.

The AQC Show will bring the campus to the doorstep of the viewers. The Company revenues will be generated from three specific sources: (1) Product branding paid by product sponsors (2) School profiling (3) AQC app and AQC recruitment.

How the Service Works

AQC website will be designed to facilitate product transactions and entertain our viewers.

The service will work as follows:

Registration. Anyone can browse through the site. However, in order to purchase an item for sale, the buyer must first register with our service. This can be done extremely quickly via online forms that are provided. In addition, the user will specify certain preferences such as the language in which they will view the site, currencies, to ease use on repeat visits.

Purchasing. Buyers can find items of interest by selecting on the categories provided within the site, or, can use our sophisticated search engine to locate items of interest. Once a product is selected the transaction is seamlessly recorded simultaneously within AQC BRAND's site and the respective vendors' site. Buyers are kept informed of their transaction records via email and through online purchasing records. Upon completion of a transaction, buyers can choose where and how to send products. Our vendors fulfil orders for all products.

Selling. Our product sponsors can list products for sale. This can be done via AQC brand custom sponsorship packages. The Company pays all fees associated with the transaction including a prepaid listing fee (fees will vary depending on sponsorship package or a number of products) as well as a commission of the final sale price, ranging 3 to 30% depending upon the size and complexity of the transaction and product.

Community. Users of the site will be encouraged to take part in our community experience, using message boards, chat rooms and email. Thus, building an ongoing profile of our customers that will provide value-added marketing and demographic data and feedback to our sponsors.

Opportunity / Value Proposition

Benefits to our Consumers

People will be attracted to the site because of several key value propositions:

Cutting edge content. Our content will inspire our consumers to explore articles and encourage repeat visits to discover exciting new "insider" activities, courses offered and important information about the campus. Our content will be derived from a number of qualified writers and producers. The acquisition and development of our content will be exclusive in most cases to protect our brand.

Unique information/viewing experience. The site will provide a unique visual experience for prospective students and others who browse through our site. shopping experiences and show events on each campus will be displayed in 3D and we will provide our viewers with this experience through an animated experience. Users will have the opportunity to use our cutting-edge 3D mannequin technology. We will capture the campus in 3D technology and showcase to the world.

Highly customizable. The site will be highly interactive and customizable for viewing and shopping. The more frequent our consumers use the site the richer their viewing, shopping and interactive experience will become, eventually offering selections that match each customer's personal tastes. Each time a user re-enters the site, AQC brand will recognize the customer and present products and content most likely to be purchased or preferred.

Easy to use. The site will be built specifically for the consumer and will be extremely easy to use and purchase products. Our navigation, shopping and purchasing experience will be effortless and unlike some of our competitors, our site will present our products, programming and content in a manner that is uncluttered. Our site will contain more pictures than text, thus navigation will be frequently activated by clicking on objects rather than text.

Community. AQC Brand will build a strong community of people who have similar interests in our programming and content. This direct communication between our sponsors, celebrities and consumers will allow for an exchange of information, fostering customer loyalty and repeat site use. Providing a community experience has proven to be an important element of success for most online companies.

Benefits to our Sponsors, Advertisers and Syndication Partners

Sponsors will be attracted to the site because of several key value propositions:

Large numbers of qualified users. The site will target and capture behavioural and demographic data from our consumers. Each customer profile data will be stored in our database for targeting future buyers and traffic.

Enhances brick and mortar business models. For products not sold through the Internet, AQC brand will drive traffic from its website to physical store locations of its' sponsors. A few articles of high-end sports, clothing and accessories which is attractive to the youth will be exclusively promoted on our site. Online customers will be referred to the nearest retail store for purchase.

Global distribution. Our unique Internet viewing experience will provide our sponsors with a cost-effective and efficient method of marketing their products to a global audience. Through our targeted and global marketing efforts the company expects to reach unique and qualified audiences worldwide.

Unique integration of content & product advertising. Our content will integrate products from our sponsors with a unique combination of pictures and text. Presentation of storefront will be designed to the specific tastes of our viewers and product.

Customized sponsorship/advertising packages. Each package will be catered to the needs of our sponsors' advertising, marketing, and sales objectives. Options within our custom packages will include: Targeting specific customers, countries and audiences, featured presentations, premiere storefront space, featured articles, celebrity endorsements and co-branding opportunities.

Syndication of content. AQC brand will provide fresh content and programming directly to its syndication partners, thus enhancing their brand and attracting traffic. Fresh content will be provided to our partners through links to our site. Our editors and writers will provide "insider" entertainment, celebrity and rich content that will attract customers and encourage repeat use.

Revenue Streams

The Company will target several different types of transactions. They are:

Product Branding

School Profiling

QC app and Content / Programming Syndication

QC recruitment.

Product branding and Sponsorships.

The Company will provide custom sponsorship packages to a selected group of sponsors. In return for paying fixed fees, sponsors will receive premium placement on the site, advertising and content integration services. Sponsors will receive integrated product placements in our content. We will provide our elite product sponsors category specific exclusivity.

School profiling:

The Ministry of Education has approved our concept-AQC Show as one of the media machines to promote and report admission and academic information in Nigeria. We embarked on a 3 months' awareness campaign in 2015 and the response from the schools was very heart-warming.

Each school are eager to profile its activities such as Matriculation, Convocation, groundbreaking ceremonies, seminars, NUGA games etc., through our concept and they are expected to pay for the profiling.

AQC app and Content/Programming syndication

The AQC app will be available at the play store which is downloadable into a device.

WHAT WE DO

ABOUT ACADEMIC QUERY COUNCIL? AQC show is an online television and radio-based show reaching students with vital information about schooling, keeping them informed on activities around their campuses and connecting the University and college community across Africa in one show.

AQC creates lifestyle attractions that are built around learning, helping improve students through our media platform, to discover and stay in touch with information about academics and schooling, showcase their talent and skills as students. It invents trends that are built around the framework of keeping students in school.

The show is made up of four (4) information/ lifestyle segments:

Cross campus.  "Bringing Campus to you"

Cross Campus is bringing information about Universities and Colleges around Africa on TV, the Web and Print Media.  It highlights the distinction and peculiarities of each Institution, as well as its strengths, relating these to those seeking admission into them.

It presents drama through a documentary of outstanding institutions in Africa, from the archives created by the information we have gathered over the years, telling stories about schools, and the fascinating history behind their establishment.

It simply showcases the Campuses in Africa and the moments they hold to share with the world. "It brings Campus to you".

The Village

The Village focuses on building a network of circles around Universities and Colleges in Africa.  It brings you the Campus experience, hype, trend, fashion and unique people.  From inside Africa, it connects with events, faces and communities inside the Campus.

It presents students with experiences they have to share.  It celebrates the achievement, introduces a way of life and brings every student the opportunity to be heard through innovation in technology, art, special skills and talent. It presents "the community that speaks".

Campus Drop (Music Mix Trend)

Campus Drop gives every student the opportunity to decide what music and top rated videos trend on TV/Radio.  Students around Africa vote online for what will become the top rated music videos to # Drop on the AQC show. It projects upcoming talents in the industry from the Campus. From making hot songs to the best music videos, we bring you those making music inside Africa.  It is "Music Mix Trend".

Pitch Africa

Africa is known for her significant history rise and reign of empires, rich traditions, colourful landscapes, beautiful seasons, legends and myths.

A continent of over 2million years old.  We take a look through its existence and the history of those who contributed to the future we live in today.  The world calls her Africa.  For us it is Home.

Pitch Africa presents a review on Africa, now and the future.  Pitching history, it travels across the great continent bringing you people, places and events, telling times, the origin of culture, backgrounds, technology and songs that built communities.

It showcases Africa's fascinating architectures in time.  Here we pitch on Africa, "The Big Continent".

AQC On Radio

AQC ON RADIO focuses on lifestyle on Campus, extracts from the TV content "THE VILLAGE".  It presents the talent students possess and the music that inspires them to achieve the unimaginable on Radio.

The show is made up of Twitter moments, School tube. Voices on Campus Roll tape

Roll Tape is the Game.  Here every student has the opportunity to participate by texting for a chance on the show.  You copy a rhyme, make your own lyrics on it, and then bring it to TV/Radio on Roll Tape.

Meet our MCS: (Reps on Campus)

The show presents the opportunity for students from 100 to 300 level across schools to become MCs on the show, representing their School and reporting activities from the Campus.  Videos from Schools' round trips are brought on TV for our viewers on the AQC SHOW as we select MCs from auditions in the different Campuses. From across Africa AQC is making media personalities inside the Campuses.  Student MCs from Colleges and Universities represent their institutions on The AQC Show!

Mission and Vision Statement

Mission

To enable a higher education information resource; an academic media platform showcasing trends around schools; inspire the energy within circles and friends.

To create a recording in a comfortable home-like atmosphere and to create an efficient and cost-effectiveness in order to achieve a superior product of the highest professional quality. AQC BRAND studios also wishes to build a strong long-term relationship with clients in order to be able to facilitate a networking community for our family of clients to build on each other's successes, and to capitalize on the growing entertainment market in the Nigeria through uniqueness and the ability of customization for each project while at the same time maintaining a comfortable family atmosphere where everyone is treated as if he or she were a star and belong to the AQC BRAND community.

Vision

AQC Studios aims to become a major networking facilitator in the entertainment industry in Nigeria and providing a comfortable atmosphere for clients to record a high-quality product in order to fulfil their end user's desire for their product. Through partnerships with brands and organisations, AQC Studios can be a provider for all recording needs, becoming home to both local and International Higher Institutions.

CURRENT SCOPE OF AQC BRAND

The Project is an existing project managed by Henry Ita. It has developed into a project that is ripe for expansion. In the last 5 years, He intended to showcase his pool of talent by conceptualising the AQC show.

It was a massive hit as it toured 35 campuses in the south-west, south-east of Nigeria in order to records its programmes. The Company incurred N10m in logistics, travels and overheads expenses in the bid to actualising the AQC BRAND show.

However, because of the paucity of funds, the Company could not realise its objectives. Hence the need for injections of funds in order to achieve the goal and objective of the AQC project.

 During the local promotional tours, The Company assessed the acceptance of the projects from stakeholders such as Dean of faculties, Vice-chancellors of the schools and the reception received was very heart-warming. The tour was successful because, in a two-weeks' time span, the schools were urging the Company to quickly commence the project.

The AQC show is an informative, educative and entertaining show that is innovative in all spheres. The company's goal is to expand its territory (market share) and increase the marketability and product awareness of our brand partners.

 Like any new business, the success of AQC project depended squarely on start-up capital during its early stages of development.

 In 20014, Engr. Nwosu was appointed into Board of Directors as Chairman of the Company and this is a big milestone in the Direction of the Company. Engr. Nwosu will bring his wealth of experience to the multi-faceted business sector for the growth of the Company.

The company is firmly structured, knowledgeable about its market, and efficient in its core competencies. With adequate financial backing, AQC BRAND project will quickly become a chief competitor in the educative and entertainment industry in Nigeria.

MARKET ANALYSIS

Target Customers

The target customers for AQC can be characterized by the following:

Persons who have the interest to study in a higher institution in Africa.

Persons who enjoy the entertainment experience of online shopping.

Persons who identify with entertainment.

Persons who are familiar with good programming and are comfortable purchasing online.

Have access to the Internet either at work or home.

Target Customer Demographics

A more detailed view of AQC's targeted customers by demographic characteristics is the following:

82% Male: age 16-34 / 18% Female:24 years avg. age.

79% undergraduates.

75% need more information about the school of their choice.

59% love music and entertainment.

72% access Internet from Home/Home Office.

45% go online daily.

Market Characteristics and Trends

There are a number of trends that are converging to make AQC the ideal marketing solution for an education platform.

Lack of a well-coordinated platform for campuses

New Technology – Is enabling a more "rich" viewing experience for consumers online. 3D graphics, colours, Interactive Television, and broadband technology are enabling new and exciting businesses to challenge existing viewing and shopping experiences.

The entrance of Brick and Mortar Magazines – Traditional print magazines are building Internet magazines to build interactive advertising revenue streams. Most Companies are teaming up with online media companies to expand traditional print businesses online.

Merging Partners – Online commerce and content sites are merging and partnering together to strengthen offerings.

New Advertising Models – Pay per click models are changing to performance-based and click through models where content is integrated into content and programming. Integrating content and product appears to provide more value to sponsors and advertisers generating substantially more click-throughs, impressions and site impression time.

Significant growth of WWW consumers. According to International Data Corporation, there are approximately 196 million people worldwide online today and this figure could exceed 500 million within the next three years.

Education Industry is notorious for being technology-shy, Online companies have been reluctant to adapt to new technological advances for education. Most of them concentrate on sales of product offering such as Jumia, Konga, OLX etc. for fears of protecting their brand. However, AQC sees the Internet as an opportunity to change old ways of doing business within an evolving industry.

Increase in people shopping online - According to Cyber Dialogue, 24.4 million surfers bought online in Q1 2016, up 10 million in Q4 2015. Though the latest consumer e-commerce forecasts vary widely depending on which kinds of products and methods of shopping are included, all estimate at least a five-fold increase in sales from 2016 to 2020.

Market Size & Revenue Potential

After more than a decade of digital disruption, the African entertainment and media industry has entered a new landscape – one where the media is no longer divided into distinct traditional and digital spheres, according to a report from PwC titled "Entertainment and media outlook: 2015 – 2019.

Nigeria's entertainment and media market grew by 19.3% in 2014 to reach US$4 billion. By 2019, the market will be more than twice as big, with an estimated total revenue of US$8.1 billion. As in South Africa, the Internet will be the key driver of growth for Nigeria. Television, comprising revenue from TV advertising and subscriptions, is the other main driver.

Consumer spending on the internet and online viewership are set to see the sharpest rise in forecast Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGRs) at 14.3% and 11.4%, respectively. Piracy continues to remain a problem in Nigeria, limiting growth across several entertainment and media sectors.

Kenya's total entertainment and media industry was valued at US$1.8 billion in 2014, up 13.3% from 2013, when it stood at US$1.6 billion. The market is expected to surpass the US$3 billion mark in 2019 to reach US$3.3 billion.

Again, the Internet is expected to be the largest driver of growth, followed by television and radio. TV advertising will overtake radio in 2016, and Internet advertising will see the fastest growth rate at a CAGR of 16.8%. Traditional mediums such as TV, radio and newspapers will continue to be the first choice for most Kenyan advertisers in the foreseeable future.

Dissatisfaction with the Target Market with Current Product Offerings

It seems that while the nation is becoming more diverse, broadcast television in particular television news—is not. A majority of our target audience believe that television news focuses negatively on politics and corruption and perpetuates stereotypes. Our target audience feels they are only represented in stories involving crime, drugs, and cults related stories.

Although examples of the disservice abound, a few of the more telling statistics show that:

• While cult-related and violence within the higher institution decreased by 33% over the past decade, television news coverage of those incidents increased 473%;

• While less than 1% of all armed robbery related, these arrests represent more than 30% of television crime news coverage; and

A one-week audit of television news sound bites on the economy, foreign affairs, politics, and sports and entertainment shows the following:

Dissatisfaction with traditional television news among Our target audience is very real and growing. Almost unanimously, Our target audience is aware of the importance of how they are represented in television newscasts, with more than 70% of those polled saying it is "very important" to have a fair portrayal of the student audience in television news. More than 80% of those polled say it is "very important "to have a news channel programmed for Our target audience. AQC show is set to fill the void.

Considerable Demand for the Product

As mentioned previously, more than 80% of Our target audience polled say it is "very important" to have a news channel programmed for Our target audience. Our target audience, who comprise roughly 15% of the general population, will switch to culturally-specific programming that showcases and addresses their concern. 8

Our target audience watches more television than any other group. Not only does the average household who have a ward in the higher institution interested in events in the school environment but are also concern about the milestones and achievement in the school of their ward.

At the centre of the business case for launching The AQC Show, we are envisaging a strong overall demand for news programming and skilful reporting style of our news channels.

Also at the centre of the business case for launching The AQC Show is the fact that our target audience is both television's most profitable consumers and television's most severely under-served customers. For the cable television industry that serves 17 million households, the risks involved in not meeting the demand of our target audience for a more representative news network are enormous.

However, none of these broadcast shows accurately represents our target audience nor targets our target audience as a viewing audience. The same can said of cable news networks.

An environmental scan of today's television programming reveals a sizeable gap waiting to be filled by news-oriented programming that targets campuses on a holistic scale. We intend to fill the void.

Innovative Launch Strategy

The success of a programme launch can be measured by its ability to acquire distribution, attract viewers and sell its advertising availabilities.

Success begins with "distribution. "The first step of The AQC Show distribution strategy after launching is to ensure that the network is launched on an online platform such as YouTube. With this subscriber count, The AQC Show can aggressively compete for national underwriting and corporate sponsorships.  The AQC Show's distribution will initiate an agreement with cable TV giant, DSTV, which will enable the network to reach 52 per cent of African households.

Original Programming—Tested and Proven Audience Appeal

 The AQC Show creates strong viewer loyalty by instilling a sense of "ownership" among its viewers. The brand identification tagline for The AQC Show is "Our Voice."

By positioning the network as "Our Voice" in the mind of viewers, The AQC Show encourages the perception of ownership and involvement. Simply put, if consumers feel they have a stake in the product's success and are involved in the product's design, then they remain loyal to the product.

The format for The AQC Show's prime-time programming consists of flexible "report out" styles, including stand-ups, voice-overs, live interviews, archival footage, viewer call-in, and investigative reporting. At the same time, the rundown is rigid with regularly scheduled segments within each show.

The typical programming day for The AQC Show consists of 12 hours per day of news around the campus, six hours per day of feature prime-time programming, and six hours per day of entertainment programming.

THE AQC SHOW.TV Broadband and Mobile Data Services

Once at the epicentre of the digital divide, our target audience is more likely to download the video via the Internet than other ethnic communities.54% of Our target audience owned a smartphone, and Our target audience tended to be heavier users of mobile data features.

Our target audience utilizes their smartphones more than other demographics for features such as texting, Internet access, and mobile video downloads.

The AQC Show will leverage its promotional properties to position its online and mobile data service as the sole destination for Our target audience to access all forms of digital content.  THE AQC show will provide a dynamic platform for Our target audience to access news in an interactive setting. 

The AQC show virtual mall will specifically target the youth with a wide variety of consumer products, as well as offer shoppers the opportunity to evaluate products and services.

Our target audience will also use The AQC Show social network to express themselves on blogs or through user-generated (UGEN) video.  The AQC show will convert the passive television viewer into an active, dynamic user by creating a culturally specific portal capable of providing access to information, products, and services desired by Our target audience.

A creative and new approach to developing news gathering content partnerships and utilizing production technologies allows The AQC show to generate original programming that caters to the needs, interests, and viewing habits of Our target audience, subscription television's most valuable customer.

 The AQC Show is an attractive opportunity for wise investors because even conservative revenue forecasts show strong financial returns and healthy equity growth.

Likewise, The AQC show targets audience is, economically, the largest and fastest growing market in the country today. So there are both viable industry and market trends that strongly support the introduction of The AQC show to the marketplace and considerable demand for the product by the Target audience community that has grown weary and dissatisfied with programming options that do not reflect the needs, values or reality of the youths in campuses.

The AQC show commits to provide intelligent programming that informs and educates while serving to entertain, inspire and empower its Target audience.

The framework for The AQC show was tested and proven during an 18-month trial period that showcases solid operational models, innovative program concepts, and a highly experienced management team.

COMPANY OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES

The business objectives of AQC are:

Attract, integrate, retain, and motivate the highest quality management, personnel and contractors.

Develop the highest quality programming and content to attract and retain a global audience through the Internet.

Secure revenues from our sponsors and advertisers.

Successfully execute our business strategies.

Business Strategies

Product presentation, site design, service, and marketing are all key elements of creating an online ambience that rivals the atmosphere offline and online.

However, overly aggressive sales campaigns and creating a brand overnight is not a key business strategy that would lend itself to the success of our brand. We must likewise resist the temptation to hawk too loudly and opt instead for a powerful brand representation that compels purchases in the absence of promotions.

The Company will implement the following strategies to achieve its goals of becoming the leading branded Internet educative and entertaining brand by:

(1) Create a compelling value proposition for sponsors, advertisers and consumers.

(2) Build strong brand recognition and leverage the brand equities affiliated with AQC.

(3) Develop key industry relationships with higher institution and content syndication partners.

(4) Provide a compelling presentation of content and products to encourage repeat visits.

(5) Leverage our technology investments to create a measurable marketing and e-commerce platform that enables measurability, personalization and integration with our sponsors.

(6) Provide a high level of personalized service.

(7) Build an elite team of executives and industry professionals

Marketing Strategy

As shown from the foregoing, the AQC show is an innovative brand that is bound to succeed as a result of the booming entertainment industry in Nigeria.

AQC Brand marketing efforts will be directed toward executing the company strategies for building awareness and driving traffic to the site. The combination of strong creative marketing and partnerships with traffic generating site is expected to result in many visitors who will become loyal, repeat customers. The Company expects to use a variety of marketing tools including guerilla/grassroots marketing, Web advertising, affiliate marketing programs, public relations, and key strategic alliances to drive traffic.

AQC Brand forecasts 40,000 users and a sponsor in the first year. The following will provide an explanation of each of the tools:

Combination of two complementary businesses – information and entertainment

A unique relationship with campus administrators will result in lower working capital requirement.

Large market base.

Marketing Strategy

We plan to deploy both online and offline marketing strategy to raise brand awareness of the AQC show. Our multi-pronged marketing strategy will aim to make potential customers aware of our business as well as establish a long-term relationship with existing customers through ongoing dialogue.

Online Marketing Strategy

 Website

We will develop and launch a website that will serve as a destination for all things related to our programme-AQC Show and music. The website will be launched prior to the business launch. It will attract potential customers looking for information on campus. We will also have the functionality of view it from the mobile phones.

Social Media

The emergence of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Weibo and Twitter have fundamentally changed the way businesses interact with their customers. These sites provide an opportunity for businesses to establish an ongoing, two-way dialogue with customers. We plan to take full advantage of these social media sites by establishing a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other sites. Our knowledge and passion for music will be a natural fit for social media communication.

 Blog

Similar to social media sites mentioned above, blogs afford an opportunity to establish our business as a go-to place for campus information and demonstrate our expertise to the potential customers. At the same time, the periodic update of information on the blog encourages users to visit our website more frequently; which will help build a deep, long-term relationship with our customers.

 Guerrilla / Grassroots Marketing.

The Company believes that it is extremely important to use word-of-mouth marketing campaigns, especially in the early phases of site launch Brand will target a variety of online chat groups that are likely to have a high number of Web users interested in AQC Brand. This would include groups that are built around specific topics, and e-commerce etc. AQC Brand intends to participate in discussions with the goal of informally promoting the services of the Company.

 Internet Advertising.

The Company intends to place banners ads with major portal sites to increase traffic and awareness. This advertising will be specifically targeted towards our targeted demographic audience of youths. In addition, the company intends to lock-up keyword advertising slots in which an AQC Brand banner is automatically served when someone enters a keyword (e.g. "campus") during a Web search.

 Online Affiliation.

The Company will place affiliate banners on various strategic partners' Web sites. These advertisements are expected to take the form of small banners that encourage readers to click through on AQC Brand Web site in exchange for a percentage of the revenue generated if a user goes through that link and participates in the transaction. Typical revenue that goes to the affiliate is 5-10% of the transaction but only in the case where the person comes through the affiliate Web site.

Internet Mutual Links.

The Company will establish affiliations with sites who have relevant content and get them to link to AQC Brand. There are many private lists of links about certain subjects. AQC Brand will approach sites who have relevant content and get them to link to our site. For example, a site on celebrities would have a link to AQC Brand in exchange for a link to them from the relevant chat area within AQC Brand.

AQC Brand expects to have thousands of links within several months of launch.

Offline Marketing Strategy

Community Partnerships

We will establish a partnership with schools-both Public and private higher Institutions. We also plan to enter into group purchasing arrangement with them by which the students/members can get discounts.

 Our facility rental provides another opportunity to bring members from these organizations to our premises for meetings and seminars leading to future sales.

Local Advertisement

In the initial phase of the business, we will run Grand Opening advertisements in the local newspapers and magazines. We will also place pamphlets and other informative material at locations that are likely to attract our target customers to our unique AQC brand website.

Strategic Alliances.

The Company will establish strategic alliances with key companies that help bring credibility, positive public relations, as well as qualified traffic to the site. These alliances typically result in extensive co-marketing by both organizations with the goal of each company driving traffic and awareness of the other company's products and services.

Public Relations

AQC Brand will implement an on-going public relations campaign to build awareness and traffic to the site. This effort will focus on both online as well as print media in Lagos. Through the Company's many contacts in this field. we expect to hire a Public Relations firm with strong expertise and media contacts in the sports, celebrity and clothing industries.

SWOT ANALYSIS FOR AQC BRAND

STRENGTHS

Our Brand will be the first online show that will exhaustively showcase campus and campus activities to the World.

The AQC brand is a new brand in the informative and entertaining industry that has no ties to any other organization in its class. Therefore, the decisions that the company makes are independent, not from the influence of other entertainment companies. AQC Brand has no debt. Furthermore, there are no outstanding legal matters pending or unsettled any interest groups.

The Company consist of personnel who truly love the project and are so passionate about its growth and are willing to devote endless hours of work to help the company achieve its goals. AQC brand has a clean and untainted slate to build an efficient and innovative infrastructure that will help secure its success in the industry.

 The Company has been in existence for 5years and the Company has embarked on a project related to the entertainment business and its track record is reckoned by its promoters and stakeholders alike.

 A Company with Cohesion

The leadership of the AQC brand and its staff all share the common vision of "spreading campus information around the world." Since the company is a highly organised firm, it automatically inherits a strong common culture of cooperation and support. Fortunately for the Company, this culture shall be shared by most of the MCs of the company.

Quality of Service

At AQC brand, quality of service is a benchmark. The company is determined to distinguish itself from the competition by producing a quality programme that is more organized, hospitable, cordial and entertaining.

The company also uses brighter lighting, more enhanced staging, and cleaner choreography than its competition. While other record companies will not hesitate to use second-rate musicians just because they are free or low cost, AQC brand project will use the best talented MCs on the market.

WEAKNESSES

Limited Funds

In the industry, record companies must follow through on the entire record production cycle otherwise revenue cannot be earned. The steps included in the production cycle are producing, replicating, marketing, distributing, promoting, and selling of the programme. Once the programme is produced, it is marketed and sold for the brand or to the client.

 Notice only the last two steps, promotions and sales can potentially generate revenue. Therefore, it is essential for a record company to be able to financially walk through the entire record production cycle. Most of the record company's initial fixed cost, such as producer fees, studio rates, pre-production cost must be paid in advance of any services being rendered.

AQC started recording AQC programme 2 years ago but almost all the money was spent for the initial fixed costs, production cost and logistics leaving little or no funds available to pay for the marketing and promotional costs.

As a result, the AQC brand cannot recoup its losses nor create any profits if it does not have the funding to invest in the production of the AQC show.

AQC Brand is growing fast, but is still unknown in the industry as a whole, and must spend time and money introducing itself to the industry. The company must also spend funds trying to convince sponsors that they have superior products and services.

OPPORTUNITIES

 From Mobile phones, Internet, broadband, satellite and 3 screen technology, the demand for instant, transmedia and media-rich content is providing new opportunities and revenues for those who position themselves properly, as the success of a single global marketplace enabled by technology creates the Holy Grail for the entertainment industry – one platform for all products for all the consumers in the world.

For the time being, demand for TV, film and music content is being driven by new, "Well-financed competitors to broadcast, satellite and cable operators – fixed and mobile telecommunication operators and the major media/content aggregators".

Market – Size & Growth Prospects

The Nigerian marketplace offers similarly compelling growth prospects. For players interested in entertainment and media on and from the African continent, Nigeria is key to conquering Africa as it has Africa's largest population and strongly youth-skewed Demographics.

Nigeria has a population of approximately 160 Million with around 68% of the population between the ages of 15 and 25 years old; an economy anticipated to grow at a 6% or higher rate over the next decade and a growing consumer class that advertisers are eager to reach.

The growth of pan-African brands is also driving the demand for content to complement marketing and advertising campaigns. Our Main targets are the youth who comprises 68% Million of the population of the country.

Apart from its strong demand base, Nigeria generates film, music and entertainment content that is popular across the continent and in Europe and the Americas. However, the country's entertainment and media businesses are fragmented and poorly organized and financed, unable to stimulate and meet domestic, much less continental or international, demand.

Key constraints to the sector's growth and development include financing, domestic and international distribution, and the dearth of technical and creative training. As a result, most players in the Nigerian entertainment and media have stayed at the artisan level, unable to muster the depth and breadth necessary to capitalize on continental and global opportunities.

This confluence of factors presents a unique opportunity for us to leverage domestic demand on AQC show and consolidate content creation and marketing power to address the immense new international opportunities on the horizon. It is this opportunity AQC show intends to leverage upon and exploit for the benefit of its owners and shareholders.

SERVICES IN NIGERIA

There are 3 main vendors in Nigeria:

– Multichoice DSTV – the Entrenched market leader that has been doing business in Nigeria for more than 20 years

– Star Times with N1.2m Subscribers – established 3 years ago

– Go TV with 298,900 Subscribers – established 2012

DSTV provides a Cable TV service across Nigeria via Satellite and presently claims to have less than 1m subscribers. However, it is commonly felt that due to lack of monitoring by Government, DSTV in Nigeria is declaring less than actual figures for tax purposes. The actual figures are thought to be in the region of more than 3 million. DSTV as a foreign firm does not concentrate more of their programme on local contents as it is widely known for sports content programme which is the main source of its revenue.

There are more than 48 TV stations across Nigeria. The Government owned Network NTA is managed as a Public Broadcaster. However, NTA has been unable to provide any engaging content and is seen as the Government mouthpiece, and very unreliable. There are other networks AIT, MITV Channels and Silverbird but these are seen only in some regions and not across all the country.

Nigerian telecommunications company MTN and Multichoice Nigeria have also officially launched Mobile Television. The service using DVB-H technology is transmitted on the MTN network.
Nigeria began testing the DVB-H service in Abuja during September 2007 extending the service to Lagos later. Free-to-air access was allowed in both locations until December 2007 when conditional access was enabled.


A bouquet of 10 channels spanning movies including the immensely popular Africa magic channel, news, sports and children's programs (cartoons) are available to customers who subscribe to the new service which is called DStv on the MTN network. However, this service has not proved popular and DSTV no longer promotes this service.

StarTimes, a Chinese service in partnership with NTA has launched DVB-T2 technology in Nigeria and other African countries. DVB-T2 technology to provides a wider range of channels and sharper images. GOtv, owned by DSTV has also launched their own a pay Digital Video Broadcast (DVB-T2) technology as the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service. GOtv uses the latest DVB-T2 standard leapfrogging the outdated T1 system that is still being utilized by some pay television operators to launch digital services worldwide.

As a result of the forgoing AQC show will fill the void as enunciated. We will launch the 1st local content programming dedicated to all the campuses in Nigeria. It is an all-encompassing show and entertainment programme that will bridge and utilise maximally the online technology demand.

AVERAGE CONSUMPTION OF PAY TV/ AND NON-PAY TV IN NIGERIA PER SUBSCRIBER PER DAY

Research shows that the consumption pattern of the average Nigerian TV Viewer is as follows:

Weekdays

Weekends

Average hours of TV the typical Nigerian Pay -TV subscriber consumes per day

Worker – 3 hours

Non-worker – 7 hours

6 – 8 hours

Non-Pay -TV subscriber

6-8 hours

10-12 hours

ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF ENTERTAINMENT CONSUMPTION IN NIGERIA

The country's entertainment and media businesses are fragmented and poorly organised and financed, unable to stimulate and meet domestic demand. The number of Cinema Screens in Nigeria is yet to Number 200 for a population of 160 Million people. Thus, the consumption of entertainment products is structured as follows:

–                Free to Air TV

–                Cable/Pay TV

–                DVD

–                Cinema – Low penetration of screens across the country

–                Internet and Web-Based entertainment Products (Low Penetration)

–                Games (X Box, Playstation etc.)

–                Music Concerts/Comedy Shows

–                Theatre

 CROSS-MARKETING STRUCTURES OPPORTUNITIES

Current opportunities and structures for cross-marketing of content through retailer and telecommunication companies are in its early stages, mainly due to a very informal and unstructured distribution system. However, there are opportunities opening up in the telecommunication sector, where new entrants have established channels via mobile access (though has not proved commercially viable as a business model as of yet).

With a view to what is workable in the marketplace, AQC show will target business-to-business solutions where such cross-marketing opportunities and solutions make commercial sense.

DVD & HOME ENTERTAINMENT

There are approximately 6,900,000 TV sets. Nigeria has roughly 7,500,000 personal computers. Based on current research available data suggests that Nigeria has now more than 31 Million TV sets, 100 Million Mobile Phones, 12.5 Million PC's, Laptops and tablets.

Obviously, the penetration level of the Mobile phone from almost zero in 2000 to more than 100 Million in 2015 is an indication of the high penetration of Mobile phones.

In addition, the distribution of home entertainment products (DVD, Blue Ray) in Nigeria, is largely informal, mainly pirated and difficult to provide statistics other than you can be sure of finding in most homes a pirated DVD or two.

 VIDEO CONTENT AVAILABLE ON WEB

There are no restrictions in Nigeria regarding content available on the web. In real terms, everything is able if you have the Internet speeds to download, stream and make payment for content that requires payment. With the introduction of international credit/debit cards such as a Visa, MasterCard etc.

Nigerians have a window of opportunity to view any video content available around the world on the web.

The AQC show will exploit this avenue in order to enhance the revenue base of the brand.

THE NIGERIAN MOBILE MARKET

Nigeria has overtaken South Africa to become the continent's largest mobile market with now over 90 million subscribers, and yet market penetration stands at only around 60% in early 2014. Subscriber growth had slowed significantly during the global economic crisis, re-accelerated in 2015 but then slowed again in 2016.

Much of the remaining addressable market is in the country's rural areas where network rollouts and operations are expensive. This in combination with declining ARPU levels is forcing the networks to streamline their operations and to develop new revenue streams from services such as third-generation (3G) mobile broadband, mobile payments/banking, and others. At the same time, the operators are rolling out national fibre backbone networks to support the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth.

The AQC show will be available on mobile networks as we intend to partner will all the Mobile communications company in Nigeria.

THREATS

The threats faced by the sector in Nigeria are multi-faceted. Key amongst them are summarized below.

The current environment is plagued by copyright infringement otherwise known as piracy and this is a disincentive to investment in content creation.

  There is a dearth of human capital in the creative and production sector of the industry.

  There is a shortage of platforms for the exploitation of the content before it is available to make the cost of acquisition unduly high.

  Access to funds for the creation and acquisition of content is challenging because of the low level of awareness of the potentials of the creative industry, by the financial sector.

Piracy and Government support: Piracy has a large effect on revenues generated from any programme. This affects raising sufficient funds, as investors are not attracted to invest in projects like ours.

Low level of technical expertise: This affects the quality of the programme, which in turn affects the revenue generated from any programme.