Kelvin Tyron, Chief Executive Officer of fintech startup, Nvoicia Ghana has called on technology entrepreneurs to weigh loan options provided by financial institutions before committing themselves.
This, he says, will help them to determine which loan products or financial institutions will work in their best interest and which one will help them grow their businesses.
Speaking to Philip Ashon on Citi Trends, Citi FM’s technology literacy show, Mr. Tyron indicated that, “small businesses need to do a lot of research before taking a decision. They can follow those who blog about finance to understand things about their business. The same way they research about how to improve their products, they need to also look into ways to also get their finance in place.”
He urged small business owners should understand what financing means for businesses and clearly research to understand which loan products from the financial institutions will help their businesses grow.
Mr. Kelvin noted that, “in terms of issues when it comes to financing for small business, the one thing I will say is there is any understanding with people they seem to think to say that finance is finance, finance is not just financing, when someone gives you a loan it is tailored into a product, banks, microfinance or anyone that could give you money.”
“There are terms and conditions attached to it, there are needs that they build that product for, so if you don’t understand the type of product that you are going for, you will not be able to get the finance.”
Generally for entrepreneurs, funding for small businesses come from various institutions including banks, venture capitalists, family, and friends.
However, according to Mr. Tyron, every business builds products to solve a specific problem.
He advised that it would be best for small business owners to understand the gap in each loan product and fill it with their pitch.
“Even if it is venture capital you are going for, there is a specific type of business there are targeted to. So as much as you do research on your customer before you hit your product out, you need to understand the type of finance you are going for and I will say that is the biggest problem. So you need to know exactly what your problem is and what types of loan product or finance people that can fix that problem.”
Nvoicia is a fintech startup that assists small businesses with unpaid invoices, gain access to working capital loans in order to efficiently run their businesses by using these invoices as collateral to access to funds.
