Welcome: how this course works

Welcome to the Winrock Business School Certificate in Entrepreneurship & SME Management, online edition. This course is for people who want to start a business, and for owners of small businesses who want to run them better and grow. It is built around businesses in Ghana and across Africa: the markets, the money, the rules and the customers you deal with every day.

What you will build

By the end of the course you will have three things you can use straight away:

• A complete business plan, written step by step as you go through the lessons. Download the WBS Business Plan Template now: every lesson tells you which section to fill in.
• A three-minute pitch you can give to a bank, an investor, a grant panel or a big customer.
• A 12-month growth plan with the numbers to back it up.

How the course is organised

There are five modules and a final capstone:

1. Spotting and testing opportunities. Finding a problem worth solving, understanding customers and testing an idea cheaply.
2. Designing your business model. The Business Model Canvas, standing out from competitors, and registering your business properly.
3. Money and operations. Costing and pricing, bookkeeping, cash flow, suppliers and quality.
4. Brand, marketing and team. Building trust, selling on a small budget, hiring and leading people.
5. Funding and growth. Where the money is in Ghana, getting lender- and investor-ready, pitching, partnerships and new markets.

Each lesson has a short video, these reading notes, a worksheet or tool to download, and a quiz. You need 70% on each quiz to complete the lesson, and you can retake quizzes as often as you need.

Meet the businesses we will follow

Throughout the course we follow four illustrative businesses, based on the kinds of enterprises WBS works with:

• Esi, who makes and sells bottled sobolo (hibiscus drink) from her kitchen in Madina, Accra.
• Kofi, who runs a laundry pick-up and delivery service for young professionals in Kumasi.
• Amina, who leads a group of women processing shea butter near Tamale.
• Yaw, a tailor with a small fashion workshop near Kejetia, who wants to supply uniforms to schools and companies.

Their numbers and stories are made up for teaching, but their problems are real. Watch for yourself in them.