Scalability, partnership critical to start-ups success - Prof Kofi Abotsi

Professor Kofi Abotsi, Dean of University of Professional Studies Law School, says the desire to have a broad production base through partnership is critical to the success of start-ups.

He said many start-ups had remained small and might collapse due to the unwillingness on the part of the entrepreneurs to scale up to allow partnerships.

He was speaking at the maiden edition of the Young Professional Business Network (YPBN) meeting, which was held at the British Council in Accra.

Professor Abotsi who was the keynote speaker at the event said many businesses had been registered with the Registrar General (RG); however, further probes showed most of these companies were not in existence.

This challenge, according to Prof. Abotsi, compounded the problems of emerging start-ups that intended to introduce new brand names due to the exhaustion of brand names at RG.

“Many businesses have remained small because they do not want to scale up. As a lawyer, one of my biggest challenges any time I have to set up a business for somebody is choosing a name. All the names have been taken, and for some reason, no matter how creatively you can get the company name, you get to the registrar of companies and the name has already been used. But I keep asking where the companies are," he said.

Prof. Abotsi blamed the collapse of the start-ups on the desire of entrepreneurs to remain owners of their companies forever, refusing capital injections from potential investors.

The capital injections the dean emphasised could help start-ups scale up to improve their businesses and employ more people.

Mr. Daniel Amoateng,a civil engineer and founder of YPBN, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency(GNA) said young professionals in Ghana were embedded with enormous potential, but due to timidity, fear, and panic, they were not able to realise their full potential.

He emphasised that YPBN would empower young professionals and entrepreneurs to reach their potential through mentoring by veterans in various professions.

The meeting brought young professionals from various fields together to network and collaborate in their respective industries.

The Young Professionals Network Business Network (YPBN) also provides an opportunity for young entrepreneurs and professionals to network with veterans in their respective professions.

Mr. Philip Gamey, Chief Executive Officer of Web and Software, in an interview with GNA on the sidelines of the event said networking was key to unlocking potential in every industry, thus encouraging young professionals to shun shyness and timidity.

He said professionals who often networked were always above the edge and tend to succeed more than their peers in the same fields.

He advised young professionals to leverage networking to be successful in their careers.