Slides from a session I led at an SME bootcamp organized by DukeSell , ICAN BOI TECH HUB , Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) , The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria , Jobtech Alliance and Salad Africa (Techstars ‘22). I drew on my experience gained over the past 7 years running smallChops.ng to speak on setting up and operating a technology-enabled service business.

1. Setting up your service delivery business-
A 7-Step Guide
by Uche Ukonu Jnr (Founder, smallChops.ng)

2. Setting up your service delivery business-
A 7-Step Guide
by Uche Ukonu Jnr (Founder, smallChops.ng)
(assisted by Ella -
smallChopsng’s
digital mascot)

3. STEP ONE: IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM
The first step to setting up any kind of business, or particularly in
this case, a service delivery business, is identifying a service
problem pressing enough, that people are willing to pay you to solve
it for them.

4. STEP ONE: IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM
The first step to setting up any kind of business, or particularly in
this case, a service delivery business, is identifying a service
problem pressing enough, that people are willing to pay you to solve
it for them.
[Ellas’s Tip: The larger the number of people affected by
the problem, the larger the potential of success for your
business]

5. STEP TWO: DEVELOP THE SOLUTION
Once a problem has been identified and verified to be large enough
to make business sense, the next thing to work on, is how to solve
that problem in a way that is efficient, practical, and affordable.

6. STEP TWO: DEVELOP THE SOLUTION
Once a problem has been identified and verified to be large enough
to make business sense, the next thing to work on, is how to solve
that problem in a way that is efficient, practical, and affordable.
[Ella’s Tip: When thinking of a solution to a problem, don’t
limit it to your current network or abilities. Imagine you
had all the money and connections in the world!]

7. STEP THREE: EVALUATE YOUR CAPACITY
Now that you’ve figured out the solution with all the money and
connections in the world, break it down into implementation steps
that are as simple as possible, and define requirements and tasks
for each step.
Review each task, and on each one ask yourself:
-Can I do this myself?
-Can I afford to pay someone to do this?
-Is there any technology that exists today to do this?

8. STEP THREE: EVALUATE YOUR CAPACITY
Now that you’ve figured out the solution with all the money and
connections in the world, break it down into implementation steps
that are as simple as possible, and define requirements and tasks
for each step.
[Ella’s Tip: There are a lot of free technology tools that can
help with running business operations, find those first
before adding subscription fees to your costs.]
Review each task, and on each one ask yourself:
-Can I do this myself?
-Can I afford to pay someone to do this?
-Is there any technology that exists today to do this?

9. STEP FOUR: ESTABLISH AN ENTITY
One inevitable implementation task for any business, is creating a
bank account, which requires certification that the business is
registered with all the relevant bodies. This is an important step,
your business has to be registered as soon as possible.

10. STEP FOUR: ESTABLISH AN ENTITY
One inevitable implementation task for any business, is creating a
bank account, which requires certification that the business is
registered with all the relevant bodies. This is an important step,
your business has to be registered as soon as possible.
[Ella’s Tip: Setting up a business account before the business
starts to actively acquire customers would help with future
audits and raising external funds.]

11. STEP FIVE: CREATE AN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM
Record every transaction. As long as it’s money sent to - or used by
- the business, there has to be a record or ledger somewhere and
preferably a supporting document.

12. STEP FIVE: CREATE AN ACCOUNTING SYSTEM
Record every transaction. As long as it’s money sent to - or used by
- the business, there has to be a record or ledger somewhere and
preferably a supporting document.
[Ella’s Tip: You might not be an accountant, or have the
capacity to afford one yet, but you can start with recording
all transactions and their descriptions on an Excel sheet, or
GoogleSheets.]

13. STEP SIX: MONITOR EVERYTHING
Track every metric you have the capacity to track, and make it a
habit.
Monitor customer growth, how much they’re spending, what they’re
spending on, peak periods, monthly and annual growth, retention, monitor
everything.

14. STEP SIX: MONITOR EVERYTHING
Track every metric you have the capacity to track, and make it a
habit.
[Ella’s Tip: When monitoring, look for trends and patterns
that repeat themselves, and try to understand what triggers
them.]
Monitor customer growth, how much they’re spending, what they’re
spending on, peak periods, monthly and annual growth, retention, monitor
everything.

15. STEP SEVEN: GET YOUR FIRST
CUSTOMER

16. STEP SEVEN: GET YOUR FIRST
CUSTOMER
[Ella’s Tip: Start from friends and family, serve them well,
then put some money in marketing from those first
proceeds.]

17. Tank You!
www.smallChops.ng