How It Went Down During First Week Of BlowMyHustle Training Session.

Following the announcement of the top 100 participants in the MTN Pulse BlowMyHustle initiative, intensive training to transition their businesses from ‘God abeg’ to ‘God did’ has begun; and you can count on us to bring you all the juicy tidbits from the training sessions.

For the first week, the top 100 participants from diverse industries like technology, photography, edtech, health and agriculture were educated on the values of financial literacy for business owners and digital marketing for MSMEs.

Understanding finances allows for smarter business decisions and increases the likelihood of building a thriving business. Studies show that a financially literate business owner is more likely to be in complete control of their business.

Financial literacy enables entrepreneurs to take responsibility for every Naira they spend and to keep a close eye on costs and simple cash flow measures, all of which are critical in increasing a small business’s chances of survival. Access to loans or credit lines is critical in the expansion process for small businesses, and when pitching to private equity firms, banks, or investors, the ability to speak financially will undoubtedly prove invaluable.

The participants were also lectured on the value of digital marketing and how to go about it for their businesses. The pandemic has accelerated the digitalisation of the world with increasing demand for businesses to engage in digital marketing for scalability.

Digital marketing is important because it connects a business with its customers online and is effective across all industries. It connects businesses with ideal customers on Google via Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC), on social media, social media marketing, and email marketing.

The 100 shortlisted participants from the MTNPulse Blow my Hustle initiative will undergo a two-week training session after which 20 finalists will compete for grants of up N38 million, which will be awarded based on the quality of pitches presented during the grand finale.