The Chief Executive Officer of Wave Africa Hannah Quashie has advised young entrepreneurs and startups to cultivate the habit of developing sustainable business plans to attract the needed investment.
Most startups in Ghana face the challenge of attracting investors or raising funds to start their businesses due to high-interest rates.
But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show as part of the on-air series for the Citi Business Festival on the topic, ‘Financing Your Start-up’, Hannah Quarshie maintained that investors will only put money in viable businesses that show signs of sustainability.
Reacting to question on the show, she pointed out that startups must be able to demonstrate how they expend their initial funds and the roadmap outlined to gain from such expenditures.
She argued that such a milestone will convince potential investors looking for viable businesses to inject their funds.
“You need to have a business plan which shows why you need 60,000 cedis in the business plan. You should have milestones, so I should know in the business plan that after 10,000 cedis has been spent, this is the milestone when 20,000 cedis has been spent this is the milestone, and when you spent the last 30,000 cedis, this is the milestone,” she observed.
She explained that detailed business plans giving an account of how the entrepreneur has used previous funds and how such expenditure will grow the business in the future could convince financiers.
“…because you have clear milestones and what you have achieved you go to anyone even outside your friends and show them the growth. What you have done with the money, the return that they will get. Because investors want to know if I give you the money, what is the return and when will I get the money back,” she said.
Angel Investors
Touching on general financing for startups, Madam Quashie stated that there are many sources of seeking funds for viable businesses.
She mentioned for example that there are Angel Investors who do not necessarily look out for returns but impact.
She explained that such investors will put their monies in businesses that transform society and improve the lives of ordinary people.
“Angel Investors are typically the stars who have a lot of money”, she said adding that most of them could be found in the sports fraternity.