You need the right mindset, not financial capital, to start a business, the Chief Executive Officer of BC Bencyn Group, Benjamin Anyanah Acheliswine, has argued.
With the right mindset and determination, the entrepreneur argued that prospective businesspeople with zero financial capital can start and run a successful venture on their own.
“You need zero capital to start a business,” he stated on State of Our Nation on Dreamz FM.
Citing himself as an example, Mr. Acheliswine said he had set out with no financial capital and no support but was able to set up a business, which has now blossomed into a conglomerate, through his toil on the streets of Accra.
In Accra, he recounted that he worked as a newspaper salesperson and, through that, saved enough for a start-up that has become successful and employs dozens of people.
He believes every abled person interested in entrepreneurship can raise start-up capital on their own by engaging in productive ventures.
“If I give you money, you are going to be so theoretical, you think that this is what is going to work. You wouldn’t understand the processes. So, honestly, no single person needs money to start a business. You need to, first of all, create the mindset. The right mindset is, ‘I want to start a business’. Then you ask yourself, ‘how do I do this? What do I have to sell?’”
The business executive was addressing concerns over the hurdles prospective young entrepreneurs encounter in their attempt to secure start-up capital.
Many, especially business graduates, say, while they’re open to setting up their own ventures, access to monetary capital remains an insurmountable hurdle.
But Benjamin Acheliswine said prospective entrepreneurs should make use of their skills and competencies to raise capital and not throw up their hands, waiting for support.
He believes strongly that one is more likely to succeed in setting up and running a business if they raise the capital on their own than if they are supported.
“If they give you money, the tendency that you will not survive is very high. But when you start this way and work over 5 years to save capital, the first thing is that once you save this capital, you’re going to do a new business, you are very careful not to let it fail.”
