Path resources · Start & Grow
Start & Grow
Turn an idea into a credible, funded, growing business.
Everything you need to move from idea to first paying customers: a lean business plan you can fill in today, a market research method that works across Africa and the diaspora, and a launch checklist that keeps nothing important behind.
Lean Business Plan Template
Write one honest paragraph under each heading. If you cannot answer a prompt yet, write what you would need to learn to answer it — that becomes your next research task.
1. Problem & Customer
- What specific problem do you solve, in the customer's own words?
- Who exactly has this problem (country, city, income band, business size)?
- How do they solve it today, and what does that cost them?
2. Offer & Differentiation
- Describe your product or service in one sentence a stranger would repeat correctly.
- What can you do that local and international alternatives cannot?
- What proof do you have that your offer works?
3. Market & Corridor
- Which single market do you serve first: a country, a city, or a diaspora community?
- Roughly how many potential customers are in that first market?
- Why this market first, rather than a bigger one?
4. Pricing & Unit Economics
- What is your price, and what does one unit cost you to deliver?
- What is the gross margin per unit, in your home currency and in USD?
- What does it cost to win one customer today?
5. Route to Customers
- Name the three channels you will actually use in the next 90 days.
- Who is the one person who can introduce you to many buyers?
- What does your first 10 customers plan look like, named where possible?
6. Operations & Team
- Who does what, and what critical skill is missing today?
- Which suppliers, partners, or platforms are you dependent on?
- What breaks first if demand triples?
7. Money
- How much cash do you have, and how many months does it cover?
- What is the minimum you need to reach your next proof point?
- How will money move: which accounts, payment methods, and currencies?
8. Risks & Assumptions
- List your three riskiest assumptions and how you will test each cheaply.
- What regulatory, currency, or logistics risk could stop you?
- What would make you change direction, and by when would you know?
9. 12-Month Milestones
- One measurable milestone per quarter, each a proof point, not an activity.
- What evidence will you show a partner or funder at month 12?
Africawe provides opportunity discovery and decision-support tools. Investments require independent due diligence and, where applicable, appropriately licensed financial partners.
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