Start small: Entrepreneurs urged

Young entrepreneurs should grow their businesses gradually rather than start on a grand note if they are to avoid major mistakes, a lecturer belonging to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) programme, Ebenezer Dau Domesew, has advised.

He explained that entrepreneurship is a process but “some individuals want to start businesses which straight away will have plush buildings, etc.”

He maintained that there are a lot of mistakes that businessmen have to learn such that “if you do not make those mistakes, the business will not succeed and if you don’t learn from those mistakes, you will go down”, adding: “So you don’t start so big so that when the mistakes are coming it comes so big, but you start small, learn, and build upon it.”

The General Manager of Finance at Bessblock Concrete Products Limited, who was a guest on Think Ahead – a business programme on Class FM held in collaboration with the ACCA – was of the view that the huge capital some businessmen claim they need before starting their business is not necessary.

“It can surprise you that with GHS2000, GHS3000, or even with GHS500, somebody should be able to start [that same] business in a miniature structure and build upon it,” he told host Moro Awudu on Tuesday, March 28.

According to Mr Domesew, sponsors would be more convinced to fund entrepreneurs when “you have been able to start even in a small form and show what you have and where you are going”.

“But some of us start with a beautiful business plan on paper and tell us what you are going to get and stuff like that and the thing has never hit the ground. You don’t know the other factors which are outside of your control and are going to impact on what you are doing. So it is not about getting the huge finance,” he stated.

Additionally, he entreated entrepreneurs to be driven by the need to help humanity and not necessarily to make huge profits. For him, good business ethics are always important and businessmen should not exploit others in executing their plans.

On his part, Business Development Manager for ACCA Ghana, Abeeku Entsua-Mensah, indicated that it was important that young entrepreneurs establish the right structures from inception so that “your efforts do not go to waste”.

He said ACCA Ghana was not interested only in established companies but “startups and relatively new businesses since they will be the big firms in the future”.

He underscored the need to support “SMEs and their corporate governance structures to ensure that [they] grow into a profitable venture to contribute to the economy of the growth”.

The Think Ahead series airs every Tuesday on Class FM’s Executive Breakfast Show from 8:30am to 10:00am and takes the form of a brief presentation of the specific subject matter under discussion while the audience are allowed to contribute and ask questions on the subject.

ACCA is the global body for professional accountants and aims to offer business-relevant, first-choice qualifications to people of application, ability, and ambition around the world who seek a rewarding career in accountancy, finance, and management.