Looking To Start A Business? 5 Sources Of Funds For Business You Should Know

Are you a young entrepreneur and you hoping to jump start your life with a career in personal business, Youth  Village Kenya has compiled 5 categories of funds you could source for your business funding.

1. LOANS AND MICROFINANCE

Loan is a common way of financing companies: you borrow from the investors/lenders an agreed amount (the principal) and reply the principal and interest to them after a specified period of time. Microfinance loans typically target small business owners.

• Equity Bank Kenya offers SME loans for SMEs operating in Transport, Trade and Commerce, Construction, Manufacturing, Education, Health & other service sectors.
• The Commercial Bank Kenya offers term loans for SMEs operating in Transport, Trade and Commerce, Construction, Manufacturing, Education, Health & other service sectors.
• Business Partners is a specialist risk finance company operating in selected African countries. Their Kenyan partners offer loans for entrepreneurs.
• The Co-Operative Bank offers different Bizwise SME Loans.
• The Central Bank of Kenya offers a list of licensed Microfinance Institutions with links to their websites.
• Shield Services Ltd offers business loans within 24 hours.

2. CROWDFUNDING

Crowdfunding allows entrepreneurs to raise (usually) small amounts of capital from a large group of individuals via the Internet to finance their business venture. The following crowd funding opportunities exist:

• One Percent Club is a Dutch based global crowd-funding platform.
• Start Some Good is a Australia based global crowdfunding platform for social impact projects.
• M-Changa provides security and communication and record keeping capabilities for unprecedented end-to-end transparency. M-Changa integrates mobile money and credit card payments, SMS, email, social networks and geo location.
• Crowd Invest is an online crowd-funding platform. It s possible to start or create a project and to have it featured on the website in order to raise money.
• Kickstarter is a US-based global crowdfunding platform for creative projects. The platform is reward/donation based and offering financial incentives like equity or repayment is prohibited.
• Indiegogo is a US-based global crowdfunding platform that help individuals, businesses, and non-profits raise money online. The platform is reward/donation based and offering financial incentives like equity or repayment is currently prohibited.

A global list of crowd funding websites is available here.

3. ANGEL INVESTMENTS

Angel investments are typically the earliest equity investors in startup companies. Angel investors are usually wealthy individuals that band together in investor networks.

• Investeq Capital was founded in 2002 specifically to provide financing and financial solutions to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across the African continent.
• Kenya Angel Investors is a list of entrepreneurs and investors and a possibility to match them.
• The TBL Mirror Fund is a private Equity Fund for East African and Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) targeting various high growth sectors and deals where value can be added through the know-how and involvement of the Fund managers and its investors.
• eVaFund is the first venture capital firm investing in African SME’s active in digital media.
• Jacana Partners is a pan-African private equity company that invests in entrepreneurs, builds successful small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and delivers sustainable social and financial returns.
• East Africa Capital Partners (EACP) is a technology, media, and telecommunications sector focused Venture Capital Fund Manager investing in the greater Eastern Africa region.
• Adlevo Capital makes equity and equity-linked investments in rapidly growing private companies in various stages of development.

4. VENTURE CAPITAL

Venture capital refers to money invested in a project in which there is a substantial element at risk, typically a new or expanding business.

• Safaricom Spark Venture Fund invests in start-ups, at late seed to early growth stage, which use mobile technology as an enabler in one of the following categories: Mobile commerce/Payments, Youth, Media Content and Infotainment, SME and Cloud solutions, Data and Messaging.
• Invenfin Venture Capital is a wholly –owned subsidiary group of Remgro (Pty) Ltd. And specializes in early stage venture capital funding, providing start-up capital to entrepreneurs to fund the commercialization of their intellectual property internationally.
• Fanisi Venture Capital Fund is a fund that makes direct investments in businesses with potential for substantial growth.
• The Africa Media Ventures Fund (AMVF) mobilizes capital and experience in the Netherlands to invest in entrepreneurs in the media sector and small and medium sized African media companies.
• PrivCo is a research database for venture capital funding.
• Kenya Women Investment Company is a group of female investors in eastern and southern Africa investing primarily in real estate to help provide financial independence to its shareholders and to help influence economic development.
• Kenya Women Microfinance Bank Limited is the largest regulated financial institution in Africa that serves only women. It provides savings and loan products to more than 600,000 clients and has a bold mission to partner with poor women and help them create wealth.
• Venture Capital firms in Kenya

5. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES

Denmark supports the Kenyan private sector through the Business Sector Program Support 2. The development objective of the second phase of the Business Sector Program Support (BSPSII) is to create employment in micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSME), especially for young women and men.

Consequently, government introduced Uwezo Funds of which is specifically targeted to youths and small upcoming business. Youth can payback with zero interests. To apply for Uwezo Funds, Visit the nearest government offices for more information

By Simon Etemesi