Four tips to raise funding for a start-up

One of the biggest stumbling blocks preventing thousands of smart start-ups from coming to life is funding. For bidding entrepreneurs, a multi-billion dollar idea doesn’t become such without capital to hire staff and capture the attention of prospective customers.
Funding to get your business off the ground doesn’t have to be complicated. By creating a good business plan and honing your pitch to wow your audience, you increase your odds of getting the financing. You need to put your ideas in motion. Consider the following ways of acquiring seed capital for your business:

Consider your niche
Chances are, there’s something special about you or your idea. Maybe you are young or your idea will help those in under-served areas. There are grants tailored to either specific business owners or business ideas that can help get your idea off the ground.
Defining your niche will have an additional benefit.

As you seek out funding, summarise what sets your business apart from others. Research any investors you approach to discover those financiers that have a particular interest in what your business offers.

Find a grant
When it comes to locating financing, nothing beats a grant. Money is provided free for a start-up. Understandably, locating and landing these grants is difficult, but you’ll never land a grant if you don’t try. Grants are available based on the theme of your business and own demographics. There are grants for minority business owners, women, single mothers, and more. To apply, dust off your keyboard and start typing. Most grant programs require extensive proposals detailing every aspect of your business.

Enter a contest
A sign of the growing support of small business startups in Kenya is the number of contests that encourage innovation by offering a financial reward. Demo Africa, Pivot East, e4ichallenge, the Global Social Venture Competition just to mention a few, are regular business idea competitions where start-ups pitch their ideas to win seed funds, incubation and business accelerator services. To improve your success in these contests, find ways to make your project stand out in the crowd. You’ll have to pitch it, so the idea has to be quite innovative.

Take a loan
If you own a small business that you would like to scale up, you can decide to contact a bank for a small business loan. Make sure you have as many details about your proposed business as possible. This includes full financials that disclose exactly how the loaned money will be used. It might be best to start with smaller, micro-financing institutions, as they will have a more thorough understanding as to how your small business will fit into the existing local landscape.