CEO of TT Brothers Limited, Isaac Tetteh, has advised young business entrepreneurs not to borrow because of his own bitter experience with borrowing.
Narrating his experience with borrowing, Mr Tetteh said, he made a monumental mistake in his entrepreneurial life when instead of borrowing to expand his fledgling business, he rather chose to borrow for his favourite football club, Accra Hearts of Oak, which proved to be an unwise decision because the interest that accrued on the loan almost collapsed his business.
“There was money in my account and Hearts was owing, and they wanted to go in for money and the banks said no they will not give them. I didn’t know how they manage to know that I have money and they came in for me to go and borrow and I started borrowing” he recounted.
“When I borrowed for Accra Hearts of Oak there were difficulties and Hearts of Oak were not able to pay," he said.
He said with compound interest, an amount of about 350,000 to 400, 000 went up to about 1.2 million dollars, and nearly crippled his business.
Speaking at Joy Business Master Class Forum in Accra, Mr Tetteh said it took Accra Hearts of Oak about eight years before they were able to pay the money he borrowed for them.
He advised the young entrepreneurs at the forum that trust, focus, dedication and hard work should be their hallmark if they want to travel far in the field of entrepreneurship.
He added that honesty should be their guiding principle so that the clients they deal with will have a great trust in their services.
Mr Tetteh further advised the young business entrepreneurs that in whatever they do, they should do it with integrity.
