10 STEPS ON HOW TO START A SMALL BUSSINESS IN NIGERIA

Step 1 – Write a Business Plan

Yeah, yeah, you know you should write a business plan whether you need to secure a business loan or not. The thing is, a business plan doesn’t have to be encyclopedic and it doesn’t have to have all the answers. A well-prepared plan – revisited often – will help you steer your business all along its growth curve. Try to think of your business plan as a living, breathing project, not a one-time document. Break it down into mini-plans – one for marketing, one for pricing, one for operations, and so on. 

Step 2 – Get Help and Training

Starting a business can be a lonely endeavor, but there are lots of free in-person and online resources  that can help advise you as you get started.  Check out what‘s offered at your Small Business Development Centers; SCORE (which offers free mentoring services); Women’s Business Centers, or your local SBA office.

Step 3 – Choose Your Business Location

Where you locate your business may be the single most important decision you make. Many factors come into play such as proximity to suppliers, the competition, transportation access, demographics, and zoning regulations. 

Step 4 - Understand your Financing Options

You may choose to bootstrap, fall back on savings, or even keep a full-time job until your business is profitable, but if you are looking for an external source of financing, these resources explain your options.

Step 5 – Decide on a Business Structure

Going it alone or forming a partnership? Thinking of incorporating? What about an LLC? How you structure your business can reduce your personal liability for business losses and debts.  Some choices can give you tax benefits. 

Step 6 – Register Your Business Name

Registering a “Doing Business As” name or “trade name” is only needed if you name your business something other than your personal name, the names of your partners, or the officially registered name of your LLC or corporation. 

Step 7 – Get a Tax ID

Not every business needs a tax ID from the IRS (also known as an “Employer Identification Number” or EIN), but if you have employees, run a business partnership, a corporation or meet certain IRS criteria, you must obtain an EIN from the IRS. You’ll also need to start paying estimated taxes to the IRS;

Step 8 – Register with Tax Authorities

Employment taxes, sales taxes, and state income taxes are handled at the state-level. Learn more about your state’s tax requirements and how to comply.

Step 9 - Apply for Permits and Licenses

All businesses, even home-based businesses, need a license or permit to operate. This guide explains more and includes a handy “Permit Me” tool that lets you determine what your permit and licensing needs are, based on your zip code and business type.

Step 10 - Hiring Employees

If you’re hiring employees, follow these 10 steps. If you’re working with a contractor or 1099, read 5 Things to Know About Hiring Independent Contractors.

IT WORLD: STRUCTURED PROGRAMMING

structured programming is a programming paradigm aimed at improving the clarity, quality, and development time of a computer program by making extensive use of subroutines, block structures, for and while loops—in contrast to using simple tests and jumps such as the go to statement which could lead to "spaghetti code" causing difficulty to both follow and maintain.
It emerged in the late 1950s with the appearance of the ALGOL 58 and ALGOL 60 programming languages,^[1] with the latter including support for block structures. Contributing factors to its popularity and widespread acceptance, at first in academia and later among practitioners, include the discovery of what is now known as the structured program theorem in 1966,^[2] and the publication of the influential "Go To Statement Considered Harmful" open letter in 1968 by Dutch computer scientist Edsger W. Dijkstra, who coined the term "structured programming".^[3]

Examples of structured programming include: ALGOL, Pascal, PL/I and Ada

Advantages of Structured Programming

• Complexity can be reduced using the concepts of divide and conquer.
• Logical structures ensure clear flow of control.
• Increase in productivity by allowing multiple programmers to work on different parts of the project independently at the same time.
• Modules can be re-used many times, thus it saves time, reduces complexity and increase reliability.
• Easier to update/fix the program by replacing individual modules rather than larger amount of code.
• Ability to either eliminate or at least reduce the necessity of employing GOTO statement.
• Application programs are easier to read and understand.
• Application programs are less likely to contain logic errors.
• Errors are more easily found.
• Higher productivity during application program development.
• Improved application program design.
• Application programs are more easily maintained.

Disadvantages of Structured Programming

• Since Goto statement is not used, the structure of the program needs to be planned meticulously.
• Lack of encapsulation
• Same code repetition
• Lack of information hiding.

• Change of even a single data structure in a program necessitates changes at many places throughout it, and hence the changes becomes very difficult to track even in a reasonable sized program.
• Not much reusability of code.
• Can support the software development projects easily up to a certain level of complexity. If complexity of the project goes beyond a limit, it becomes difficult to manage.

IT WORLD: SOFTWARE ETHICS

Software Ethics

Using Software: A Guide to the Ethical and Legal Use of Software for Members of Weber State University

Software enables us to accomplish many different tasks with computers. Unfortunately, in order to get their work done quickly and conveniently, some people justify making and using unauthorized copies of software. They may not understand the implications of their actions or the restrictions of the U.S. copyright law.

Here are some relevant facts:

1. Unauthorized copying of software is illegal. Copyright law protects software authors and publishers, just as patent law protects inventors.
2. Unauthorized copying of software by individuals can harm the entire academic community. If unauthorized copying proliferates on a campus, the institution may incur a legal liability. Also, the institution may find it more difficult to negotiate agreements that would make software more widely and less expensively available to members of the academic community.
3. Unauthorized copying of software can deprive developers of a fair return for their work, increase prices, reduce the level of future support and enhancement, and inhibit the development of new software products.

Software and Intellectual Rights

Respect for intellectual labor and creativity is vital to academic discourse and enterprise. This principle applies to works of all authors and publishers in all media. It encompasses respect for the right to acknowledgment, right to privacy, and right to determine the form, manner, and terms of publication and distribution.

Because electronic information is volatile and easily reproduced, respect for the work and personal expression of others is especially critical in computer environments. WSU does not condone the unauthorized copying of software, including programs, applications, databases text bases, and code.  Violations of authorial integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and trade secret and copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions or legal actions against members of the WSU community.

Questions You May Have About Using Software

A. What do I need to know about software and the U.S. Copyright Act?

Unless it has been placed in the public domain, software is protected by copyright law. The owner of a copyright holds exclusive right to the reproduction and distribution of his or her work. Therefore, it is illegal to duplicate or distribute software or its documentation without the permission of the copyright owner. If you have purchased your copy, however, you may make a back-up for your own use in case the original is destroyed or fails to work.

B. What is WSU's work at home policy.

WSU has several software packages that when you purchase a license you are allowed to install the software on your campus workstation and either your home machine or laptop. 

C. Can I loan software I have purchased myself?

If your software came with a clearly visible license agreement, or if you signed a registration card, read the license carefully before you use the software. Some licenses may restrict use to a specific computer. Copyright law does not permit you to run your software on two or more computers simultaneously unless the license agreement specifically allows it. It may, however, be legal to loan your software to a friend temporarily as long as you do not keep a copy.
 

D. If software is not copy-protected, do I have the right to copy it?

Lack of copy-protection does not constitute permission to copy software in order to share or sell it. "Non-copy-protected" software enables you to protect your investment by making a back-up copy. In offering non-copy-protected software to you, the developer or publisher has demonstrated significant trust in your integrity.
 

E. May I copy software that is available through facilities on my campus, so that I can use it more conveniently in my own home?

Software acquired by WSU is  licensed. The licenses restrict how and where the software may be legally used by members of the University. This applies to software installed on hard disks in microcomputer clusters, software distributed on disks by a campus lending library, and software available on a campus mainframe or network. Some institutional licenses permit copying for certain purposes. Consult your campus authorities if you are unsure about the use of a particular software product.
 

F. Isn't it legally "fair use" to copy software if the purpose in sharing it is purely educational?

No.  It is illegal for a faculty member or student to copy software for distribution among the members of a class, without permission of the author or publisher.

G. When software is installed on a hard disk, may the diskette version continue to remain in use?

No, unless explicitly authorized to do so by the author or publisher of the product. Under the Copyright Act, only the owner of the software may use the original diskette version and the electronic copy on the hard disk.

H. If I put a program on a computer participating in a network, may others on the network use it as well?

Most software licenses do not allow this unless you have a version specifically for use on networks. It is best to check the license agreement. If there is no explicit prohibition by the author or publisher of the product, then under the Copyright Act, persons using your computer through the network may do so as long as they are able to use your program without first having to make or "download" an electronic copy of the Program.

I. When I upgrade my software to a new version, may I sell the old version?

Usually, reduced-cost upgrades are provided on condition that you destroy the old copy or at least save it for yourself. Full-price replacements bear no such caveats and resale is a way of recovering part of the costs.

I. May I sell software that I no longer need or use?

You may certainly give away or sell software that you no longer use, provided that there is no contrary provision in the license agreement and provided that you do not keep a copy for yourself. If the license on your software permits or if no license was received at the time of your original purchase of the software, you may sell the software. In both cases, you are transferring the permission, or "license", to use the software.

K. May I copy demo programs and sample diskettes?

No, unless explicitly encouraged or allowed by the publisher.

Alternatives to Explore

Software can be expensive. You may think that you cannot afford to purchase certain programs that you need. But there are legal alternatives to unauthorized copying.

Site Licensed and Bulk-Purchased Software

WSU has negotiated with Software House International for Faculty and Staff to purchase software at a reduced price.  Software available through institutional site licenses or bulk purchases is subject to copyright and license restrictions, and you may not make or distribute copies without authorization.

Shareware

Shareware, or "user-supported" software, is copyrighted software that the developer encourages you to copy and distribute to others. This permission is explicitly stated in the documentation or displayed on the computer screen. The developer of shareware generally asks for a small donation or registration fee if you like the software and plan to use it. By registering, you may receive further documentation, updates and enhancements. You are also supporting future software development.

Public Domain Software

Sometimes authors dedicate their software to the public domain, which means that the software is not subject to any copyright restrictions. It can be copied and shared freely.

Software without copyright notice is often, but not necessarily, in the public domain. Before you copy or distribute software that is not explicitly in the public domain, check with your campus computing office.

A Final Note

Restrictions on the use of software are far from uniform. You should check carefully each piece of software and the accompanying documentation yourself. In general, you do not have the right to:

1. Receive and use unauthorized copies of software, or
2. Make unauthorized copies of software for others.

If you have questions not answered by this site about the proper use and distribution of a software product, seek help form WSU Computing Support at extension 7777. from the software developer, or publisher.

Source:  Using Software: A Guide to the Ethical and Legal Use of Software for Members of the Academic Community issued by EDUCOM and ADAPSO

Note: Copyright 1987 EDUCOM AND ADAPSO, with permission in brochure to use in whole or in part, providing the source is acknowledged.

IT WORLD : INTERNET OF THINGS

INTRODUCTION

The term “Internet of Things” (IoT) was first used in 1999 by British technology pioneer Kevin Ashton to describe a system in which objects in the physical world could be connected to the Internet by sensors.12  Ashton coined the term to illustrate the power of connecting Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tags13 used in corporate supply chains to the Internet in order to count and track goods without the need for human intervention. Today, the Internet of Things has become a popular term for describing scenarios in which Internet connectivity and computing capability extend to a variety of objects, devices, sensors, and everyday items.

While the term “Internet of Things” is relatively new, the concept of combining computers and networks to monitor and control devices has been around for decades. By the late 1970s, for example, systems for remotely monitoring meters on the electrical grid via telephone lines were already in commercial use.14 In the 1990s, advances in wireless technology allowed “machine–to–machine” (M2M) enterprise and industrial solutions for equipment monitoring and operation to become widespread. Many of these early M2M solutions, however, were based on closed purpose–built networks and proprietary or industry–specific standards,15 rather than on Internet Protocol (IP)–based networks and Internet standards. 

PROBLEM STATEMENTS

Overview

The basic idea is that IoT will connect objects around us (electronic, electrical, non-electrical) to provide seamless communication and contextual services provided by them. Development of RFID tags, sensors, actuators, mobile phones make it possible to materialize IoT which interact and co-operate each other to make the service better and accessible anytime, from anywhere. 

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The Internet of Things (IoT) is aimed at enabling the interconnection and integration of the physical world and the cyber space. It represents the trend of future networking, and leads the third wave of the IT industry revolution. In this article, we first introduce some background and related technologies of IoT and discuss the concepts and objectives of IoT. Then, we present the challenges and key scientific problems involved in IoT development. Moreover, we introduce the current research project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program). Finally, we outline future research directions.