The question of How to raise capital to start up a business is becoming more and more prevalent nowadays, As financial conditions have become more difficult. With the advent of Covid-19, ever-increasing political instability and continuous population increase relative to available resources, fighting to catch up with these challenges continue to be a great societal issue. In Africa, most old men in power have refused to give way to the younger and learned generation and a lot of these youths are considering ways to ignore the non-helping public sector and create their own enterprises. thus the question “How to raise money to start up a business” given these same financial difficulties have left them with little disposable income to start their business enterprises.
you may like to read: start these 10 small business Ideas with little or no money in Africa 2020
How to raise money to start a business
1) sell something around you.
Nor matter how poor we become, we always have at least a fixed or variable asset that we can convert to money. It can be a piece of land, a house car or even a pair of shoes. nevertheless, never sell your valuable asset to start a poorly calculated business. remember business is not just about taking risks but taking well-calculated risks. Before you think of selling your precious valuables to start a business, make you the chances of success and multiple times more than the chances of failure,
2) offer services
Search deep into your talent sphere and see what you can do best. The good thing about our era is that every talent pays. you might have a voice to sing, master dancing, karate, even just being a public speaker can fetch you enough income to start your dream business or even make it your business.
3) Apply for talent contests:
Music competitions like THE VOICE AFRICA, THE VOICE NIGERIA, and reality TV shows such as BIG BROTHER NAIJA, BIGGY 237 and others have proven to be a greater pass to wealth and fame. The good thing about most of these contest is that registration is often almost free or even free as in the case of BBNAIJA you register for free and win over 80millions naira or Biggy237 which you register for 10,000frs and win over 15, Millions FCFA. More so, music challenges for recently released music have become a win-win phenomenon between music producers and contestants. Participating in them can fetch you some money to start your business.
4) Friends and family loans
Your good friends and family often have a very personal interest in watching you succeed. This might make them more willing to invest in your business, especially in the beginning. Taking money from friends and family, however, can be tricky, and all of the pros and cons should be scrutinized before deciding to use this method to generate funds. The good thing about this source of funds is that it often comes with no interest rate. One bad side of this source of finance is that the inability to pay can cause good friends to become enemies. It can also bring internal family disputes
5) Networking to Raise Capital
It’s all about who you know (or so it goes). When raising capital for your business, reaching out to your most valuable connections and turning them into investors may be your best bet. Network marketing platforms like LONGRICH, AIMGLOBAL and a host of them have provided a good network of partners who work together towards growth. One good thing about them is that people in the upline are always willing to finance those coming in under them, on the other side of it, it becomes very difficult to know the right network marketing platform since a couple of them have scammed people up to millions
6) Raise capital to start up a business Through per-orders
As an entrepreneur, you can reach out to your customers in order to raise capital. How? Well, at times, you can charge a customer for a product or service before you actually provide it to them. Essentially, take an upfront payment.
Many times, customers would be more than happy to make an upfront payment if the product or service is worth it for them. and when the product is scarce. For this to be possible, you need to have a good reputation to be trusted,
7) Find a partner who’s got the cash
Most times, having a great idea isn’t all it takes to start a business. You may have a brilliant business idea, technical skills or brainpower to build an amazing product but you still need a partner who has the money that you need to make the product and sell it to the market. When you have a profitable business idea and find a partner who can contribute the capital, both of you bring something to the table and can share ownership of the business. It’s a win-win situation for both of you!
8) Raise money to start a business by finding solutions to problems that companies around you face.
Business is generally the act of creating solutions to problems around you and employing them in exchange for profit. Almost every company around you will buy and invest in any good project that falls in their line of business, or any solution that makes their work lighter and more profitable. If you have skills in mobile applications development, Getting a good app to solve a company problem can fetch you enough money if it is efficient and successful.
9) Small business grants
This is a type of fund given by the government or some other organization to empower small businesses and entrepreneurs. Examples of some organizations providing funding for startups include the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP), PAJER-U, the Dangote Foundation and a host of many others. For many of these organizations, you have to show a strong desire to succeed, a passion for entrepreneurship and a willingness to help others.
10) Drop shipping
Dropshipping is a business model which you can use to run your store without ever holding any inventory. Once you’ve made a sale your supplier. All you need is to negotiate with producers or suppliers then advertise their products so as to pick from their spots and deliver when you have an order. Some Businesses offer an automated system where they can supply your customer and send your comments. in Cameroon for instance an enterprise like ACCESS DOUALA will accept the products and sell them for you.
Conclusively, There are so many ways to raise capital to start a business, We have just decided to choose the ones that can work for anyone starting from scratch in less economically developed country. that is why i tried to limit examples just within “Cameroon and Nigeria: two economically developing economies i master well.
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