You are a young person; probably a university graduate. You have written so many applications in search of a job. You have attended so many interviews without success. Now you want to start something on your own. You dream of becoming your own boss. You desire to set up a business but have no idea how to raise capital to commence the business. You have pondered over this and approached many, you consider, can help you get going, but all to no avail. Don’t give up.

There are simple ways you can explore to get your business started. However, before you explore these simple but effective ways of raising monetary capital, the most important thing you must consider first is the “BUSINESS IDEA AND ITS EFFICACY”.

I call the business idea the “acid test capital” you need to have before you can consider looking for financial capital to kick-start your business. All you need is a money-making idea. Every great business on earth started with an idea. The owner saw a problem and had an idea as to how best he could solve the problem.

To kick-start your business all you need is an idea that will translate a problem into a solution. Once you can solve a problem people with money will pay. Many people know the company called “Zoomlion”. One of their visible businesses in Ghana is sweeping and cleaning our cities.

Until Zoomlion entered the cleaning and garbage collection space in Ghana, everybody thought the business of keeping the City of Accra clean was for the Accra Metropolitan Assembly. The Owner of ZoomLion had a great idea to augment the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to clean the city and collect garbage from the streets

Today, it has become a household business name in Ghana and elsewhere. Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong conceived the idea of cleaning our cities in 2006 and today ZoomLion cleaning services is visible everywhere.

If you have tried hard as a graduate to look for an office job and have not been successful, you may consider setting up your own business. But to start your business, you need to have a solution to a problem. You must test the efficacy of your solution. When you are convinced that your solution can address the problems you intend to solve, you can consider the following simple ways of raising financial capital.

Government Grants and Incentives:

There is nothing better than getting support from your government that will not attract interest. To encourage business growth, empower the youth, and implement governmental policies to reduce unemployment, some governments offer grants, incentives, or tax breaks for businesses that meet certain criteria like operating in specific locality and industry. The only challenge is that government grants come with a lot of requirements and rules. But once you cross over those rules and get the money, it will become the best source of funding.

Strategic Partnership

Business capital does not always have to be in physical cash. When you are certain about the efficacy of your business idea, and you don’t have money, you can enter into a strategic partnership with a complimentary start-up to enhance growth. All you have to do is to provide access to a pool of shared resources , expertise and market share. Right partnership is an essential engine for business growth without necessarily using funds. Just watch out for the following if you decide to engage a partnership: you share common values, beliefs, goals and aligned expectations. Get a lawyer to streamline all the rough edges on paper.

Use Profit Sharing Agreement

Traditional loans from banks attract debt and requires regular or periodic cash outflow whether you have made profit or not. Alternative way is to engage a strategic investor to provide funding for a share of profit. If you are convinced that your business idea can generate money, you develop a business plan and share with strategic investors under the profit-sharing model. This reduces the pressure on your cash flow.

Personal Savings

 If you believe in your idea, you should be able to generate funds from your savings to invest in your idea to make more money. Irrespective of your age, you can save little funds to generate capital. Though this may take time to build up capital, it is the most convenient and comfortable way to raise a small start-up capital. Saving is a culture. You need to start early. Take it that you want to start a fruit juice business in your home. You do not require any huge capital. All you need is your juicer, some pet bottles, and other minor kitchen equipment that will not cost you more than $500.00. If you started savings early in a matter of between six months to two years you can raise capital to start your business.

Family Support

If you are very sure of your business idea, you should talk to Mum and Dad to help you with start-up capital. Your parents may be more than happy to assist you with a start capital. The beauty of this source of capital is the stress and interest-free capital. Some uncles and extended relatives will be more than happy to assist you. You need to know how to present your business idea to convince them to support you with funds.

In conclusion, raising capital as a startup does not come easy. You need time to think through your business idea. You need the expertise to analyze which of these sources of capital will ease the cash flow burden on your business. You need to have a deeper understanding of the impact of the various sources on your business in terms of regular or periodic cash outflows. You need to perform some break-even analysis to check which of the sources will serve your business better. As you embark on the journey to become your own boss, you may consider engaging the services of a money coach.