Entrepreneurship is a high-risk endeavor. Not everyone enters this world with the necessary knowledge and experience to deal with everything.
Because you learn as you go, there are various detrimental mistakes that one can make that may lead to a potential failure; I believe this is why some say that most startups fail.
But don’t worry, KURA has you covered! This week’s Monday Madness episode featured a brief conversation with Sacha Haguma, a Business Development Support at Entrepreneural Solution Partners (ESP).
To give you a brief overview of ESP, it is an incubation and accelerator program. The most successful define themselves as “Entrepreneurs who invest in Entrepreneurs.”
They cultivate a continental footprint dedicated to identifying, enabling, and supporting entrepreneurs and private sector players with the potential to outperform their objectives.
To realize the various aspects of the mission, ESP is organized into distinct practice areas, namely insights, incubation, and investments.
“The soul of the company is really about helping young African entrepreneurs,” Says Haguma.
ESP has so far assisted over 840 entrepreneurs who have created over 2500 jobs. In addition, the company has completed 130 projects in over 30 countries.
In our conversation with Haguma, he acknowledged that some startups fail, but he does not consider this a failure.
“Sometimes you fall sometimes and it gives you the lessons to actually do better,” he said “sometimes it will work sometimes it won’t but do not be discouraged. Just trying is a win.”
The mistake to avoid
According to the ESP coach, entrepreneurs should seek advice, ask questions, and gather information. He claims that the most common cause of problems is “not considering the long term vision.”
Since ESP has been working with entrepreneurs since the beginning of their projects, they have noticed some common mistakes that most entrepreneurs and startups make.
According to Sacha Haguma, the one he sees the most frequently is bookkeeping, which has serious consequences.
“You start a business, and let’s say you start it by yourself, and you say ‘it’s my money, I can spend it however I want,’ but you don’t record anything,” he explained.
“What you don’t realize is that one or two years from now, you won’t know how far you’ve come. It prevents you from growing and developing a proper business plan because you lack visibility into your numbers.”
According to his experience, entrepreneurs should begin bookkeeping as soon as possible.
“It does not require much, it is easy! Just take an excel sheet and keep your books in order. It allows you to understand your business.”
For more business tips, check out the link below to watch the entire episode.
