Dentaa Amoateng (CEO of GUBA) and William Adoasi (CEO of Vitae London) speaking at the event
Entrepreneurs in Ghana and Nigeria are to benefit from the skills, knowledge, and technical support that will make them viable for scaling and huge investments from the diaspora.
The move which is being spearheaded by Code Management Group (CMG), an Investment firm based in London, is in response to the multiple challenges that prevent African entrepreneurs from succeeding.
According to “The Better Africa” report, the failure rate for startups on the African continent from 2010 to 2018 was at 54.20% on average, with Ghana (73.91%) and Nigeria (61.05%) with some of the highest failure rates.
The report acknowledges that there are multiple contributing factors to why businesses fail and recommend the need for more support to improve the fortunes of startups and the continent at large.
CMG is therefore setting up offices in Nigeria and Ghana to bridge the knowledge and funding gap for African start-ups.
To further stir up the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the sub-region, CMG has initiated a dynamic-speakers-series event that brings businesses in the diaspora to engage with their counterparts in Ghana and Nigeria.
The most recent engagement featured William Adoasi, CEO of the luxury watch brand, Vitae London engaging with entrepreneurs in Accra. The interaction was moderated by Dentaa Amoateng, CEO of Ghana UK Achievement Awards (GUBA).
Sharing his experience, Mr. Adoasi urged African entrepreneurs to consider collaboration and intention whilst building their businesses. He advised that teams should be built with intention, saying he achieves efficiency by structuring his team around his weakest areas. He also encouraged start-ups to work together instead of working solo to better position themselves for business opportunities.
The Africa Development Bank further affirms Adoasi’s point that entrepreneurs are the solution to the future of the continent. A 2021 white paper released by the Bank recommended that “entrepreneurship must be at the heart of efforts to transform Africa’s economic prospects.”
Ghana, like the rest of Africa, is ready for a huge transformation that depends on collaboration. The African Export-Import (Afrexim) Bank in a 2020 report revealed that Africa’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has not been as resilient as that of the Western and Asian economies. However, it is believed that a vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem could enhance recovery.
Advising on business growth, Adoasi said “he would rather have a smaller percentage of a bigger pie than have a larger percentage of a small pie.” This is one-way to scaling one company, he added.
On his thoughts on the future of Ghana, Adoasi professed, “There are cities yet to be birthed”, urging startups to take their solutions seriously and to make their mistakes their biggest strengths and not see them as a failure.
For start-ups to be better positioned, Adoasi expressed, “Data is key,” encouraging African entrepreneurs to go to the market to understand the environment, the customers, and their desires. This process generates valuable data that can foster true business development, he stressed.
On March 5, 2022, CMG will inaugurate a four-month incubator programme in partnership with the Chinese Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Accra, Ghana, and then Lagos, Nigeria.
The incubator will focus on building start-ups into investment-ready companies, to generate global business opportunities for start-ups and international investors.
From Fred Duodu (k.duodu@yahoo.com)