Raising Business Startup Capital & Growing It

With the current state of unemployment in our country, venturing into business is the best bet for young people to avoid wasting their potential away, jobless.

What is the right amount of capital to start a business? Can you raise the amount needed? Is your business idea one that can be started without capital?

Young entrepreneurs are finding innovative ways to raise money to start businesses. One such way is through crowdfunding, which is via the internet.

This therefore brings the issue of the lack of capital to rest.

Crowdfunding is not the only way one can raise starting capital. Here are two young entrepreneurs who against all odds started their businesses and are now doing well.

1. Ankara Accessories Founder

Lilian Kamau, who is now 30 years old started her Ankara business in 2019 after unsuccessfully looking for formal employment.

‘’I started with a capital worth Ksh 30,000 which I had saved through table banking. Small as my seed capital was, it was enough to get my business running because I only needed to buy Ankara fabric and pay the tailor who made my first set of attire,’’ Lilian narrates.

Lilian sells bags and jewelry to mostly women on Instagram who give her referrals. He biggest challenge as she recalls is marketing her items online. Now, she is employed elsewhere but still channels her salary into expanding her business even more.

If she could go back in time, she says, she would avoid making many pieces of the same design because it left her with a lot of dead stock. She now gets orders in advance to avoid this.

She is grateful for the fact that she started her business without getting a loan and remains optimistic about her business growing.

2. Photographer

Byron Hennie is a 28-year-old photographer who started his business by buying a camera worth Ksh 65,000 from his savings. Even before he set up the studio, he says, he was scared of how he would interact with his clients and satisfy their expectations.

Social skills such as good communication and networking are what Byron says help someone succeed in any business.

The photographer says that what he has learned about saving is that it needs a lot of discipline. He wishes he had asked his parents for support but none the less, proud of the progress he has made so far with his business through his hard work and resilience.

He finds crowdfunding an exciting concept that is quickly catching on and thinks that young people can now be able to finance their projects by receiving financial help from other young people around the world

From these two stories, you learn that you do not have to get a loan to start a business. If you are smart enough, you will be able to save up and begin your journey as an entrepreneur. Having the discipline of saving will take you places. Starting a business from your line of passion or profession is way easier. Quit looking at the challenges and start working towards starting that business you have been putting on hold!

Source: Daily Nation