Information gap hindering entrepreneurs’ understanding of funding opportunities

Accra, Oct. 25, GNA – Nana Dwemoh Benneh, the Managing Director at Universal Merchant Bank (UMB), has said information gap is hindering understanding as to which institutions start-ups can look up to for funding opportunities at various stages.

He said the mistake that entrepreneurs often made was that they wanted short-term funds to finance long-term projects.

Nana Benneh made these observations during a panel discussion at the just ended Ghana Economic Forum in Accra.

It was on the theme: “Strengthening Home Grown Policies to Underpin the National Digitisation Drive and Shared Financial Prosperity.”

The forum sought to set the agenda for Ghana’s Economic Prosperity by engaging key stakeholders to deliberate on economic development issues in a non-partisan manner.

It was a conclave to engage corporate Ghana to deliberate on issues affecting the economy, proffer solutions and recommendations to drive accelerated economic growth.

“I think this is one of the key drawbacks that is hampering young people from optimising the opportunities available,” Nana Benneh added.

He said there had never been a more exciting time to be an entrepreneur in Ghana, looking at the opportunities from digitisation to the plethora of funding opportunities from investors, government schemes and programmes.

“If you want to attract patient capital, it requires discipline and knowledge. For most entrepreneurs, they are very excited at the idea’s conception, but they lack the staying power and sacrifice needed to research, present, and attract investment,” Nana Benneh said.

Banks were committed to supporting the Central Bank and the Government to bring their expertise to bear on the entrepreneurship ecosystem and were committed to collaborating with relevant stakeholders to aid entrepreneurs to thrive.

GNA