3 Key things Private Equity Firms look for in SME

Christian Opoku Biney (left) and Stephen Antwi-Asimeng from Jacana Partners’ West Africa division.

Many business owners lack the resources and expertise to take their companies to the next level. Bringing a private equity firm on board can be a good way for companies to raise much needed growth capital. A private equity firm can also provide valuable operational support. For this, the entrepreneur will need to be prepared to part with a stake in his or her business.
 
Jacana Partners is a private equity firm focused exclusively on investing in African SMEs. How we made it in Africa recently sat down with Stephen Antwi-Asimeng and Christian Opoku Biney from Jacana’s West Africa division to find out more what they look for in an entrepreneur.

1. Passion and understanding
Biney says it is essential for the entrepreneur to demonstrate a passion for the business, as well as a good understanding of the industry in which the company is operating.
It is often said that passion is the only thing that keeps an entrepreneur persevering through tough trading conditions.

2. Systems
Good business systems streamline and optimise our workflow. A documented system should cover everything related to a specific business process in a sufficient level of detail.
An efficient system allows a business to operate effectively even when the owner is away.
According to Biney, in many SMEs it is often the tendency for the entrepreneur to be involved in every aspect of the business. However, this is not conducive to company growth. “We know that really constrains the ability for such an entrepreneur to operate at optimal level. We try to advise them to put in place the systems that are necessary for them to operate at an optimal level.”

3. Transparency and sharing control
According to Antwi-Asimeng, many SMEs in Africa tend to be family businesses, often operating without the level of transparency required by private equity firms.
Antwi-Asimeng says the business owners should be willing to share control of the company, and participate in good governance practices that make companies more transparent and “hopefully sustainable”.

“A lot of SMEs tend to be family businesses where there is some level of obsession for control, and some opaqueness. Private equity doesn’t work in those environments. The book must be open. The entrepreneur must be prepared to accept that his business is different from himself,” he explains.

Source: How We Made It in Africa

Why Everyone Will Have to Become an Entrepreneur

It used to be that entrepreneurs were the renegade cowboys out in Silicon Valley. Nowadays, you have to be an entrepreneur just to get and hold a job.

Consultants and freelancers are cheaper than full-time staffers with benefits, software developers overseas cost a fraction of what they cost in the U.S. and, by 2030, robots will be able to perform most manual labor, according to an infographic (below) from San Francisco-based startup organization Funders and Founders. Even employees who are employed in large corporations are encouraged to be “intrapreneurs,” meaning that they are in many cases given company time to come up with disruptive ways of thinking about corporate organization and practices.

No matter what your office looks like, you are going to have to become an entrepreneur. 

Take a look at the infographic to understand why.

 

 

 

Source: Entrepreneur

Develop Attitude of taking Business Critical Decisions

Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy, Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, has challenged Ghanaian Entrepreneurs to develop the attitude of taking critical decisions including flushing out incompetent staff and management, if they wish to succeed in business.
Entrepreneurs should be creative at developing unique products and services and focus on specific aspects of their businesses to enable them attract more customers and generate revenue for their organizations.
The author and business consultant also urged entrepreneurs to reflect on their performance, identify constraints which hinder their competitiveness and explore possible avenues to improve on their brands.
Brian Tracy was making a presentation on the subject, “Achieving Personal, Business and Entrepreneurial Success” at the 9th edition of the MTN Business World Executive meeting in Accra. He indicated that entrepreneurs needed to develop their thinking ability and take quick decisions when new ideas emerge because the “ability to think was linked to the successes that one would achieve.”
He said business owners should not be enthused about engaging in a variety of ventures which may not yield positive results but they should rather concentrate on particular activities in which they had the expertise to operate efficiently.
Touching on how to achieve individual success, he advised individuals to develop the habit of planning and setting specific goals for themselves and monitor progress on what had been achieved and make amends where necessary. He mentioned that individuals should be courageous and be willing to take action even when there was no guarantee for success.
“Courage is the mark of a leader. There is no security in life, only opportunities. Therefore you must resolve to act as if it were impossible to fail,” Brian Tracy said.
The public speaker, with over 30 years’ experience in the business community, highlighted the need to develop a sense of urgency in the approach to work as an important factor in the quest to be successful in any venture.
Erick Nsarkoh, General Manager of MTN Business Solutions, stated that the forum, organised quarterly, was to bring together resource persons to inspire entrepreneurs to network and share ideas on how to sustain their businesses.