Why are we for StartUps.
So many startup projects and businesses die due to lack of seed funds for piloting production processes and product refinement. This isn't only due to the lack in start-up capital.
The scarcity in skills sees many early stage businesses not being able to afford the skills that they need to get going. Companies are built by people, not machines. By definition, these people are skilled in chosen technical areas but are failing to understand the basic business and its life cycle principles to keep survival of their dreams, for the youth the Universities educational content isn’t meeting the demands of the business world ie customized practice.
Entrepreneurship is not the endeavor of a single person. Knowing how to build a business and motivating people to support them and help them. Startup companies are predominantly one-man businesses. Some of the startups manufacture products from their kitchen or garage, and sell to the surrounding neighbourhood. The products are predominantly of poor quality due to poor manufacturing practices and in some cases assembled with low quality materials. The end result is that the final consumer – be it government department or individual consumer – ends up with a product that is sub-standard.
Africa is not used to funding start-up’s. These businesses often burn a lot of cash and are built on a model called “build it and they will come”. Often this fails. Experienced funders focused on startups know how to fund in rounds and experienced entrepreneurs know how to select the right funders.
Many start-up’s forget who comes first - The idea of the entrepreneur or the need of the customer. Who is the customer, how to find them and most importantly how to build towards their needs is the single biggest challenge that we see facing entrepreneurs. Get this wrong (or worse assume it and do not do it) and you will be hacking away for years to come thinking that the world is against you and customers are stupid. This is not uncommon.
This is a massive challenge for all start-ups as they cannot properly advertise and brand their products to compete with established brands. This directly affects their sales and consequently their revenues.
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Virtual Development Incubator
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