Don’t depend on bank loans to start business
People desiring to be entrepreneurs and those who are unemployed have been advised to start something small on their own out of their little capital instead of burdening themselves with bank loans with huge interest rates.
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The CEO of Sparrow Décor Plus, an event décor company, Mrs Sikeade Adetu, gave this advice at the second edition of the West Africa SME Conference and International Awards of Excellence (WASCA) at the British Council in Accra.
Receiving her award for being adjudged West Africa’s Most Outstanding Event Décor Company, Mrs Adetu, noted that businesses like décor and selling water did not require much capital to start and therefore people should get themselves work even if they do not have much money.
Mrs Adetu advised people to read and interprete loan conditions carefully before appending their signatures to it.
“Sometimes, there are hidden charges that we the ordinary people don’t know or do not understand the terms and therefore people should get experts who understand the banking terms to explain things to them,” she said.
Advising people on how to become successful entrepreneurs, Mrs Adeku urged entrepreneurs to go back to school and learn financial aspects of business which included entrepreneurs putting themselves on a payroll, contracting auditors to help put them on check and seeking advice of people already in business.
In all, 12 Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) including savings and loans companies, waste management companies, décor, insurance and agro-processing companies were awarded.
In his welcoming address, the publisher of Africa Informer Magazine who is the brain behind WASCA, Mr Prince Ike Onwuka, noted that mortality rate for businesses in Africa was 67 per cent compared to 17 per cent in Europe and called on all stakeholders to help sustain businesses in Africa.
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He advised Savings and Loan Companies to liaise with other business people from other continents in order to get soft loans to give to customers at low interest rate.
WASCA award is meant to recognise the outstanding contributions of SMEs in West Africa.