Rwanda Entrepreneurs get Advice on Raising Capital

Mr Eric Rutabana talks to Grow Rwanda

Start-ups in Rwanda, as elsewhere in the world, are faced with many challenges; particularly raising capital. However, money Lenders such as Banks, equity investors as well as other players disagree with entrepreneurs, claiming that entrepreneurs lack basic infrastructure which are necessary to judge whether or not the business is capable of adequately using that money,  and paying it back.

It is in that regard that we invited Mr Eric Rutabana during the GROW  quarterly get together event that took place on Friday the 27^th March 2015 in Rwanda. Mr Rutabana is the country Manager for Business Partners International with many years of experience as an investment analyst.

He emphasized that start- ups priority should not be to chase Loans. 'If you believe in your business idea, and you don’t have loan security try friends, family and fools, get a small seed capital, invest it adequately so you can have a positive record that will help  convince financiers to lend you money to scale up your project. There is no short cut!', he said.

Eric also argued that Grow clients should take enough time to prepare; to make sure they have information on why they are selling at a specific  price, how the competition is doing and who is going to buy their products/services etc. Following the presentation, clients took time to ask questions and one of our clients who has an investor on board shared his experience. The event was concluded by a networking session over soft drinks and snacks. GROW Rwanda runs quarterly networking events in Kigali, Rwanda.