There is an unwritten rule in business that once a company goes public, the original founders must be ousted. The myth: entrepreneurs are great for getting a company started, but not so great when Wall Street is looking over their shoulder. Part of this thinking is that founders of companies are mavericks, passionate doers with a vision, nontraditional in their approach to management and outspoken – the kind of rabble rousing that makes investors uneasy. (What is rabble rousing anyway?) (more…)
Tag: entrepreneurial
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4 Entrepreneurial and small business lessons from 18th century Ashanti Empire
The Ashanti Empire was one of the most endearing, richest and powerful dynasties to ever exist in West Africa. It offers individuals and businesses the opportunity to study “the kingdom of gold” which flourished between c.1695 and the rise of British colonial rule in the late 19th century.
The 4 entrepreneurial and small business lessons from 18th century Ashanti Empire
#1 Develop a strong brand
For all business owners and entrepreneurs, branding is a key marketing practice that distinguishes it products and service from its competitors. Branding does not only play a distinguishing role but provides recognition to the company, increase business value by giving the company more leverage in the industry and generate new customers.It appeared Ashanti understood the importance of branding and sought to brand themselves with gold. Gold was the major product of the Ashanti Empire. The importance of gold to Asante empire could not be overemphasized. Gold was eloquently sewn into royal clothing, made into ornaments and exquisitely carved into symbolic shapes. Osei Tutu made the gold mines royal possessions with gold dust becoming the circulating currency in the empire.
The most notable of all the Ashanti gold branding uniqueness was that of the Golden Stool, which Osei Tutu argued represented the ancestors of all the Ashanti. The Golden Stool legitimized his rule and that of the royal dynasty that followed him. This branding of gold brought wealth to the empire as it traded heavily in gold in the 1700’s.
#2 Not all money/opportunity is good money/opportunity
Small business owners and entrepreneurs can get caught up in ‘quick or easy money/opportunity’ that may quickly bring prosperity to their business but may have moral questioning or negative repercussions in the long-term.By the early 1800s, Ashanti had become a major exporter of enslaved people. They conquered neighbouring towns and dynasties to meet up with the growing demand for slaves in exchange for manufactured goods, most notably, firearms. This move by the Ashanti was heavily wrong on all accounts. From violation of human rights and freedom to the economic brain drain in the country, slavery is the most inhumane practice to ever exist.
#3 Recognizing opportunities
The Ashanti empire recognized and seized an opportunity in slavery that further expanded its power and influence. Though wrong, it teaches young entrepreneurs and small business owners to always be on the lookout for opportunities, the right opportunities.Many opportunities exist that young businesses and entrepreneurs must seek and exploit. By researching into trends and seeking out innovative problem-solving approach, entrepreneurs can take advantage of the numerous opportunities that exist.
#4 Take-out your competition
To expand its influence and power, the Ashanti Kingdom, from 1790 until 1896, was in a continuous state of warfare. Most of the wars gave the Ashanti empire the opportunity to acquire more slaves for trade.In today’s world, taking-out the competition has taken more of a subtle approach. It involves researching into the strategies of your competitors and deploying a much better strategy to gain new customers or outreach. When entering into any market it is important to research the competition. This will provide marketing tools to seize and quickly scale your business.
The post 4 Entrepreneurial and small business lessons from 18th century Ashanti Empire appeared first on Ghana Talks Business.
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The 10 Great Strategies On How To Improve Your Personal Finance Immediately
Below are 10 strategies on how to improve your personal finance. (more…)
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Do I Have What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur?
Looking into a viable business opportunity, many young potential entrepreneurs have the same question in mind. Do I have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur? Is this a good time to quit my job and invest all my time into this exciting proposition that I have chanced upon? Before you get into the in-depth details about how good the business is, maybe you need to do some soul-searching and explore your personality. Read ahead to find out about the important traits of successful startup owners. (more…)
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The Cautious Entrepreneur
Entrepreneur, someone who begins a business and assumes the risk for profit. Is it no wonder some of us are reluctant to become an entrepreneur with “Risk” involved. It stops most of us dead in our tracks. (more…)
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The Entrepreneurial Ability – One of Society’s Scarce Resources
Have you ever wondered what the 4 most important resources in any given economy are?
They go as follows:
1. Land – which includes all the natural resources that go along with it.
2. Labor- people have to work to get anything done, right?
3. Capital- probably not what you’re thinking; this category isn’t money! It includes tools and machinery, and any other productive item.
4. Entrepreneurial Ability- something unique and specific to people! Not everybody has this! Do you?
Isn’t interesting that any given economy must have entrepreneurs! All the resources in the world, including land, lumber, minerals, food, labor, and tools will create nothing without the entrepreneur. Those innovative minds create many of the luxuries that we enjoy today; without them, we’d be without everything!
So what exactly does an entrepreneur do?
An entrepreneur, by simple definition, takes the initiative in combining resources like land, labor, tools, and other items to produce some sort of service or product. They are the ones that start everything! If you don’t have an entrepreneur, no advances in society take place; thus, making it difficult for an economy to grow and improve.
An entrepreneur is also an innovator; or, in other words, somebody who creates from given resources. They collect what is available, and put it together to form something useful for all. If you have no creativity, you may not be fit for entrepreneurial tasks.
Also, one of the reasons why the entrepreneurial ability is such a scare resource is because the entrepreneur assumes ALL of the risk. What happens if the idea flops? What then? Does his or her family end up without means to survive? The greater the risk, the greater the reward! Look at people like Bill Gates, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford- these are some of the greatest entrepreneurs and in order to bring us so many great things, these men had to risk everything!
It’s clear that society could not have an effective economy unless the entrepreneurial ability existed within its people.
If you have those qualities and have some ideas, don’t hesitate to create! Your contributions will promote change and improvement in an ever growing economy!
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Business tip for a civil servant who wants to be an entrepreneur by Strive Masiyiwa
Statements like “income generating project” reminds me of a civil servant who, having decided he is not making enough income at his job, embarks on a scheme such as raising chickens as a means of supplementing his income. As long as what he (or she) is doing does not interfere with paid full-time work, or use state time and resources, there is nothing wrong with it. -
Immigrant Story Teaches Life Lessons and Entrepreneurial Skills
In The $2 American Dream: How One Tunisian Immigrant Succeeded as an Entrepreneur and You Can Too, Riadh Hamdi shares his life story of coming to the United States with only two dollars in his pocket and new only one word in English, “job.” Despite those limitations, he set out to create an amazing new life for himself. In a time when Americans are forgetting we are a nation of immigrants, Riadh Hamdi reminds us that the American Dream not only works but is alive and well for those who have the courage to pursue it. (more…)
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How To Define Entrepreneurial Spirit
The entrepreneurial spirit is often difficult to define let alone examine in detail because of its perception as a highly creative and dynamic entity and it is with this caveat that this article is written. (more…)
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Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Skill Set
Entrepreneurship is a skill that seems elusive. No one seems to have a satisfactory answer to the question of whether an entrepreneur is born or made. Some people claim that there are people who are born with a special skill set – ambition, business sense, independence, creativity – and that this is the makings of an entrepreneur. They point to cases like Rockefeller, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates to make their point. (more…)
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Entrepreneurial Approach to Resources
Howard Stevenson and his colleagues at Harvard Business School define entrepreneurship as “the process of creating or seizing an opportunity and pursuing it regardless of the resources currently controlled.” This approach, Stevenson maintains, has greatly contributed towards the success of entrepreneurs. He points out that entrepreneurs seek to use the minimum possible amount of all types of resources at every stage in their venture’s growth.These resources include human resources, financial resources, assets and a business plan. Rather than own the resources entrepreneurs need, they seek to control them, according to Stevenson.
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Common Entrepreneurial Problems
Are you an entrepreneur, investor, entrepreneurship student, enterprise consultant, business educator, regulator, entrepreneurial policy advocate and developer? If your answer is yes then this subject may be of interest to you. What really are the common entrepreneurial problems? (more…)
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Entrepreneurial Thinking – Connect With Your Higher Business Potential
When you think of a successful entrepreneur you immediately think of personality traits or values that define who they are. Richard Branson is associated with fun. Anita Roddick was an environmentalist. Steve Jobs lived by simplicity. Each one of these evokes an emotional connection with what they were good at (Richard still is). (more…)
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Entrepreneurs – Top 10 Essential Entrepreneurial Traits
Are you intrigued by the possibility of being your own boss and starting a business but not sure you have the right qualifications to be an entrepreneur? What are the characteristics of an entrepreneur? Although there is no single perfect entrepreneurial profile, there are many characteristics that show up repeatedly in successful business owners. (more…)
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The Entrepreneurial Code – Lessons Learned from a Failed Ivy League Entrepreneur
As a 21-year old college student at Wharton, the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, I embraced the ideals of entrepreneurship so whole-heartedly I started my own company. My classmates and I managed the company for two and a half years and it became our full time job after graduation. We wrote a business plan and believed we had a unique concept, a strong management team, and a viable “business model.”
Unfortunately, despite some initial success, my business eventually shut down. Our fate isn’t surprising when you consider the challenges faced by entrepreneurs starting new companies. Like many entrepreneurs, we lost a lot of money invested by friends and family. For two years, we lived in our offices, sleeping on the floors, working day and night with no personal lives. In the end it seemed as if those sacrifices had been for nothing. (more…)
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Financial Tech Firm Raises $3.5M in Seed Round As They Advance Efforts to Address the Wealth Gap
MoCaFi provides innovative financial tools that foster economic mobility in underbanked communities through their mobile banking platform
Newark, NJ — Mobility Capital Finance [“MoCaFi”], a financial technology company that is committed to bringing financially underserved communities in the United States into the digital banking economy, has closed $3.5 million in a Series Seed funding round. Wole Coaxum, founder of the company, is an African American former Wall Street and insurance industry executive.
The Series Seed round was led by Radicle Impact Partners with other institutional investors including Newark Venture Partners (NVP), Partnership Fund for New York City, Social Venture Circle of Philadelphia, SustainVC, WinWin, Portfolia, and Capital Access Holdings. Several family offices participated as well. Winston & Strawn served as Company counsel.“MoCaFi delivers high quality, appropriately priced products and services to communities across the country,” said Coaxum. “Financially vulnerable people, especially communities of color deserve the opportunity to bank smart and build their credit. The funding that we have received will be utilized to focus on expanding opportunities for traditionally underserved communities, bringing more people into the financial mainstream – lowering their cost to borrow, increasing their access to quality products and services, and providing a resource in the journey of creating wealth.”
MoCaFi — based in Harlem (NY) and Newark (NJ) — is addressing a market failure that exists in the United States where far too many people rely on expensive products to handle their banking needs. It seeks to disrupt the estimated $196 billion alternative financial services market, which includes payday lenders, car title lenders, and check cashing services by leveraging innovative mobile strategies, financial literacy, analytics tools, and digital user acquisition strategies.
MoCaFi’s mobile banking platform has partnered with St. Paul-based Sunrise Banks to offer its customers affordable FDIC-insured bank accounts, works with Mastercard to provide cards to the financially underserved and collaborates closely with Equifax to empower its customers to build their credit using their rent payments as a key component of their credit score. MoCaFi also has a marketing partnership with Facebook.
“We are honored to support MoCaFi’s mission of building a more economically just society where all people have access to safe and beneficial financial services,” said Kat Taylor, Co- Founder and General Partner of Radicle Impact. “MoCaFi is particularly focused on Black and Brown communities who have historically been excluded from wealth creation and who continue to experience harm from predatory financial practices. MoCaFi provides the first step to economic mobility and prosperity for its customers and will be a critical tool in addressing our nation’s severe racial wealth gap.”
A key part of MoCaFi’s business model is to create a framework that addresses limited economic mobility and lack of financial equity in Black and Hispanic communities across the United States. The FDIC estimates that over 50 percent of Black and Hispanic households are either unbanked or underbanked.1 According to a study by Prosperity Now and the Institute for Policy Studies, the median wealth for Black and Latino families in this country will be zero in the coming decades if present trends continue.2
Dan Borok, Managing Partner of Newark Venture Partners, stated, “MoCaFi is bringing financial access and opportunity to underbanked communities by meeting them exactly where they are. Wole and his team built this mobile platform with the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to earn, save and build wealth – and their innovative work reinventing the way credit scores are calculated in these communities show they are exactly the right team for the job. MoCaFi’s differentiated offering for the large and growing underbanked market represents a big opportunity and NVP and our community of corporate partners are excited to help them succeed.”
MoCaFi completed NVP Labs, Newark Venture Partners’ 12-week bridge-to-seed accelerator program that gets startup to scale. The program included capital investment, execution support on sales and marketing, and access to a fulltime growth team as well as mentors and corporate partners.
“MoCaFi is tackling key barriers to economic mobility and helping the unbanked and underbanked build a solid financial future. Building a robust fintech sector in New York City is one of our top priorities,” said Maria Gotsch, President and CEO of the Partnership Fund for New York City. “We are happy to support a company focused on giving all New Yorkers access to the digital economy.”
“MoCaFi’s focus on improving financial mobility and helping the underbanked across the United States build a more secure future aligns perfectly with the thesis of our Rising America Fund,” added Trish Costello, CEO of Portfolia. “Successfully addressing this huge unmet need holds the potential for significant venture level returns. Wole and his leadership team are truly driving change in Black and Latinx communities underserved by the current financial system, and we are proud to be an investor.”
1 2017 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households.
2 The Road to Zero Wealth: How the racial wealth divide is hollowing out America’s Middle Class, September 2017, Institute for Policy Studies & Prosperity Now.
About Mobility Capital Finance [“MoCaFi”]
MoCaFi helps communities to achieve economic equality through affordable, credit-building financial products. Their products enable MoCaFi members to perform essential banking services at affordable rates and empower customers to move from financial vulnerability to stability to prosperity through the convenience and security of their smartphone. MoCaFi is focused exclusively on transitioning marginalized communities from unbanked and underbanked to living financially stable lives. Watch founder/CEO Wole Coaxum discuss the MoCaFi platform on WABC TV’s Here and Now with host Sandra Bookman.
About Radicle Impact
Radicle Impact is an investment fund that partners with exceptional people to build businesses where financial success creates meaningful social change. Radicle Impact supports technology- enabled businesses that have the potential to transform three critical systems: energy, food and financial services.
About Sunrise Banks
Sunrise Banks, N.A., based in St. Paul, Minnesota, seeks to radically change the way urban communities and underserved people thrive by empowering them to achieve their aspirations. Sunrise is certified by the U.S. Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), a designation earned by approximately 100 banks nationwide. Sunrise Banks is also a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values and is a certified B Corp for its demonstrated commitment to transparent corporate governance and positive community impact. Learn more at sunrisebanks.com. Sunrise Banks is Member FDIC and an equal housing lender.
For more information, please visit MoCaFi.com
For press inquiries, contact Marjorie Fields Harris at Marjorie@mocafi.com or 919-480-6383.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blackbusinessorg/~3/e1UOkxXMtFI/wole-coaxum-founder-mocafi-black-owned-financial-tech-firm.html