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Analytics & Modelling for Consultants

Build a model that ties, stress it until it breaks, and say exactly where the answer flips.

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About this course

The second course in the Consulting Mastery sequence, and the one that turns a defensible question into arithmetic somebody can check. It assumes you can already drive a spreadsheet — lookups, pivots, charts — and teaches instead the judgement that spreadsheet skill does not confer: what to model and what to leave out, how to wire three statements so they genuinely tie rather than balancing on a plug, why every human-chosen number belongs on one assumptions sheet with its unit, source and date, and how to split revenue into volume and price so the model can tell you which problem you actually have. It puts working capital where it belongs — at the centre — because a Nigerian business rarely fails from a bad month and often fails from a good one it could not fund, and because the cash conversion cycle decides whether growth is survivable. It then does the part that separates advice from arithmetic: ranking which two or three assumptions actually move the answer, crossing them in a table a client can locate their own beliefs on, and back-solving to the point at which the recommendation reverses. Costs are classified by how they behave rather than what they are called, so the step where a second shift, a third van or a bigger generator lands is visible before the client grows into a loss, and energy is modelled from litres and grid hours rather than as a small fixed overhead. The last third covers what nobody teaches: auditing a model somebody hands you and reporting it as findings rather than a verdict, producing defensible numbers by counting and triangulation when the records simply do not exist, and compressing everything onto the one page a chief executive will actually read. It ships with a 24-month operating dataset for a synthetic Nigerian packaging manufacturer, and the capstone is a working three-statement model built on it.

Most business models fail long before a formula breaks. They fail because nobody wrote down the question the model exists to answer, so it grows tabs the way a house grows clutter — one for competitors, one for staff, one somebody built in week two and cannot now explain — until it is large, slow, impressive and incapable of settling anything. A consulting model is not a description of a business. It is an argument, expressed in arithmetic, that some course of action is better than another, and every sheet in it either serves that argument or should not exist.

What you'll learn

Course syllabus — 12 lessons

  1. A model is an argument, not a spreadsheet15 min
  2. The three statements, and the check that they tie17 min
  3. Drivers, not hardcodes15 min
  4. Working capital, where Nigerian businesses actually die17 min
  5. Forecasting revenue you can defend in the room16 min
  6. Costs that move, costs that stay, and costs that jump16 min
  7. Sensitivity: find the point where the answer flips16 min
  8. Scenarios: three worlds, named and defended15 min
  9. Is it worth it? Payback, discounting and the honest investment case17 min
  10. Auditing a model — theirs, and your own16 min
  11. When the data does not exist: research that holds up18 min
  12. One page a chief executive will actually read15 min

Your project

A three-statement model, stressed, with its flip point named

A link to your model (Google Sheets, or an Excel file shared from Drive or OneDrive, with view access confirmed working), plus a written summary of roughly 800 to 1,400 words containing: what the three checks read; your assumptions sheet described, including the units, sources and dates; the cash conversion cycle in days, the lowest cash balance and its month; the bottom-up build with its top-down triangulation, the gap between them, the capacity check and the implied growth rate; the cost classification with the exchange-rate-exposed share and the named step-cost trigger; the sensitivity ranking, the two-way table's values and the flip point stated in words; the three named scenarios with outcome, margin, cash low point and month for each; and the one-page executive summary reproduced in full.

Certificates on Skillnaija are earned, not issued for attendance: you submit this project, it is graded against a rubric, and passing issues a certificate anyone can verify. See the full project brief, rubric and free workbook →

Frequently asked questions

Is Analytics & Modelling for Consultants free?

Yes. Analytics & Modelling for Consultants is completely free on Skillnaija. You need a free account to open the lessons, and there is no charge for the course, the project, or the certificate.

How long does Analytics & Modelling for Consultants take to complete?

6 weeks · ~4 hrs/week. There are 12 lessons, about 3 hours of material in total. You learn at your own pace and your progress is saved.

Do I need any experience to start Analytics & Modelling for Consultants?

Intermediate. Some prior grounding in the subject will help you move faster.

What will I learn in Analytics & Modelling for Consultants?

You will build practical skills in Write the decision a model exists to serve, and cut every tab that cannot change it, Wire a P&L, balance sheet and cash flow so they genuinely tie, with three visible checks and no plug, Resolve interest circularity honestly instead of switching on iterative calculation, Drive every model from one assumptions sheet where each row carries a value, a unit, a source and a date, Split revenue into volume times price, and costs into quantity times rate, so sensitivity is nearly free, Model working capital in days and find the month a business actually runs out of cash, Build a revenue forecast bottom-up, triangulate it top-down, and check it against physical capacity, Classify costs as variable, fixed or stepped, and name the volume at which the next step is triggered, Rank which assumptions move the answer, cross the top two in a table, and state the flip point in words, Build three internally consistent scenarios with correlated shocks, and report the cash low point in each, Judge an investment on payback, NPV and IRR while keeping cash flows and the discount rate consistently nominal or real, Audit a model you were handed and separate mechanical errors from assumption disputes and structural limits, Produce a defensible number by counting, sampling and triangulation when the data does not exist, Compress a finished model onto one page a chief executive will read, with its limits stated. Every lesson is written for a Nigerian context, with examples drawn from how the work is actually done and paid for here.

Do I get a certificate for Analytics & Modelling for Consultants?

Yes, but it has to be earned. You complete the course project — A three-statement model, stressed, with its flip point named and submit it for grading. Passing the project issues a verifiable certificate; finishing the lessons alone does not.

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