The Growth Card

Your business has an age. Is it growing well for it?

Nobody calls a two-year-old a failed adult. Yet small businesses are judged against companies ten times their age. The Growth Card measures your business against what is healthy for its own age, the way a clinic card follows a child.

Take the free Growth Check See the six stages

The gold band is growing well for its age. Above it: ahead. Below it: catching up, which is what we help with.

Business owners taking notes during a SAKI SE records session — Growth Card sessions with business communities

A business owner reading her monthly report with her phone and calculator — Reading the month's numbers

A snack seller handing a branded box and tub to a customer — Growing from first sale to regular customers

What is on the card

Five things, every month.

Members get their card every month inside their Growth Insights, and it is kept in their own record book with its history and a chart.

A SAKI SE adviser going through records with a business owner — Your adviser goes through the card with you: where you are, what is behind, and the next milestone.

1
Its age
How long it has been selling, counted from the first recorded sale (or the date you started, if that was before your records with us).
2
What it is growing like
Twenty milestones, worked out from your records: steady weeks, costs written down, profit, regular customers, a clear best seller, a Verified Score. The last stage whose milestones are all met tells us how your business really behaves.
3
Four curves
Sales, profit, regular customers and records, month by month. Each one is marked ahead, on track or behind.
4
The next milestones
What to do next, and who at SAKI SE works on it with you.
5
Backing that fits
The kind of service and product backing that suits your stage, its ceiling, and how much your sales can carry now.

SAKI SE Growth Card

Sample

A sample shoemaker

14 months selling: a child in age, growing like a toddler.

Sales

On track

Profit

Behind

Regular customers

Ahead

Records

On track

Next milestones

Know what each pair costs to make
A profit in 2 of the last 3 months

The six stages

What is normal, what is expected, and who helps.

Each stage has its own responsibilities. Something fine at one age is a warning at another. Each stage also has a lead at SAKI SE.

Pepper, tomato and vegetable sellers under umbrellas at a market — Selling from a table, every naira counted by hand.

Newborn

Under 1 month selling

Normal: Small, irregular sales. The owner does everything.
Its responsibility: Make the first sales and record every one.
Warning signs: No records at all, or nothing sold after months.
SAKI SE gives: Simple recording and the first-customer push.

Led by: our Records Assistant

A shop owner recording a sale on her phone at the counter — Every sale recorded, business money kept apart.

Toddler

1 to 6 months

Normal: Falling and getting up. Prices still changing.
Its responsibility: Steady weekly sales. Business money kept apart from personal money.
Warning signs: Pocket money and business money mixed. No repeat customers.
SAKI SE gives: Pricing, separating money, daily habits.

Led by: our Records Assistant

A shop owner counting stock on the shelves — Stock counted, costs known, a routine that holds.

Child

6 to 18 months

Normal: A routine and a few loyal customers.
Its responsibility: Steady records, known costs, real profit.
Warning signs: Selling a lot but keeping nothing. Credit never collected.
SAKI SE gives: Growth Insights, Business Health, debtor follow-up.

Led by: our Finance Officer

A designer showing printed labels to a snack maker — A brand people recognise, packaging that sells.

Teenager

18 months to 3 years

Normal: Growing fast, trying many things, sometimes reckless.
Its responsibility: A clear brand, one or two strong products, the first helpers.
Warning signs: Chasing every trend. Cash runs out while busy.
SAKI SE gives: Marketing strategy, cash planning, service investors.

Led by: our Marketing Liaison

A distributor handing crates of eggs to a shop owner — Suppliers and distributors who rely on you.

Young adult

3 to 5 years

Normal: Reliable income, a team, systems.
Its responsibility: Pay staff and taxes, keep proper books, build a reputation.
Warning signs: Everything still depends on the owner. No documents.
SAKI SE gives: Operations and systems, funding readiness, the network.

Led by: our CEO

A SAKI SE session with a women's business community — Teaching the next businesses what you learned.

Adult

5 years and more

Normal: Stable and known in its market.
Its responsibility: Mentor younger businesses, give back, plan for the long term.
Warning signs: Standing still. No new customers.
SAKI SE gives: Expansion, partnerships, being a big sister in the network.

Led by: our Founder

Backing that fits your stage

Your stage decides the backing. Your records decide how much.

Service and product investors back businesses in the SAKI SE Business Growth Network. The Growth Card tells everyone what fits, before anything is agreed. Moving up a stage opens the next level.

A supplier handing a bag of rice to a provisions shop owner — Stock now, paid from sales: the kind of backing a business can carry depends on its stage.

1
Newborn
Not yet. SAKI SE support and Value Exchange swaps come first.
Not yet
Swaps and support first
2
Toddler
Small service backing: product photos, a logo, packaging design.
Up to ₦75,000
Paid from sales over 3 months
3
Child
Service backing for the basics, and first stock from a product investor, paid as it sells.
Up to ₦300,000
Paid from sales over 6 months
4
Teenager
Bigger service packages (a campaign, content, training) and product backing for the best seller.
Up to ₦750,000
Paid from sales over 6 months
5
Young adult
Larger product deals, a distributor hub, equipment from product investors, under a formal agreement.
Up to ₦2,000,000
Paid from sales over 12 months
6
Adult
Large product deals, case by case. By now, it mostly backs younger businesses itself.
Up to ₦5,000,000
Paid from sales over 12 months

Your stage decides the kind of backing that fits and its ceiling. Your records decide how much you can carry now. Repayments are kept to about 1 naira in every 10 you sell, over the stage's term. So a business selling ₦300,000 a month can carry about ₦180,000 over six months, even if its stage allows more.

Service and product backing: the work or the goods come first, and the investor is paid from your sales on an agreed schedule. SAKI SE organises it and keeps the records; we never hold your money.

Fair comparisons

Compared with businesses like yours, at your age.

A busy market street in Port Harcourt after the rain

Your sales are compared with the middle of at least five similar businesses (same kind, same age) who have agreed to be counted. Names and figures of other businesses are never shown.

Until there are five, your card compares you with your own last three months, and it says so. We never invent a benchmark.

Behind is not a verdict on you. It is a signal for what to do next, and you do it with someone beside you. No one grows alone.

Start where you are

See where your business sits today.

Take the free Growth CheckThree minutes. Is your business growing well for its age? See your stage and the plan that fits.Talk to someoneTell us about your business. A real person replies within one working day.Already a member?Open your daily forms with your SAKI SE code.