Start-ups best bet to finance is a good business plan -Netherlands Ambassador
The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Jeroen Verheul has urged budding entrepreneurs to develop an extensive business plan in order to access finance to formalize and scale up their businesses.
According to him, putting together a perfect business plan will propel the business to either become profitable or less rewarding.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the Orange Corners Ghana graduation programme of 45 young entrepreneurs in Accra, he said “When you want to grow your business, access to finance is often a difficult issue, it is not only the term of loan because often entrepreneurs have to access loans and if you have to pay an interest percentage of about 30percent and is quite difficult, you have to make a lot of money to pay back the loan and to pay the interest, so access to affordable finance is the main issue.
“The other issue is you need a good business plan to formalize the business in other to access finance because informal businesses have difficulty in accessing finance, so those two are arranged with Orange Corner Innovation fund also supported by the Netherlands and implemented by Fidelity Bank and they provide opportunities for entrepreneurs who have gone through the training to access loans so that they can expand their business.”
Available data reveal that SMEs represent about 92percent of businesses, largely within the private sector, and contribute about 70percent of Ghana’s gross domestic product.
It is on the backdrop that the Orange Corner programme is also contributing its quota by supporting young entrepreneurs who have started business to grow their business. It helps entrepreneurs to grow and formalize their business, the ambassador noted.
Further, he added that since 2019, they have supported about 100 entrepreneurs to build their business, arguing that “On the scale of need in Ghana, we see on average 300 ,000 new youth entering the labour market.”
He also disclosed that in terms of numbers and with support from their partners they have started operations in Ho, Tamale, Takoradi and Kumasi, and it intends to expand the programme to be delivered in those places.
Ambassador Verheul also indicated that the Orange Corner Innovation Fund has so far invested 360,000 euros equivalent of GHc3.5m but “it is just the start, we are going to expand, we will see if we can find other sources of funding because if you look at all the initiatives to create and support entrepreneurship in Ghana, availability of funds is not the biggest problem but to find the entrepreneurs with the right business plan, with right approach to get a loan or support is the most difficult part.”
Richard Yeboah of MDF West Africa, implementors of the programme explained that the programme lasted for six months where entrepreneurs where taken through training, coaching,mentorship and masterclass.
He also added “the benefit of this programme is to make sure that businesses are structured,formalized and organised before they are ready for export.”
Orange Corners Ghana is an initiative of the Netherlands executed by MDF West Africa and in partnership with Fidelity Bank, People’s Pension Trust, Friesland Campina, Vivo Energy and Meridian Port Services (MPS).
