Venture Capital Firms Meet SMEs at Business Sense 2011 Ghanaian SMEs meet venture capital fund managers at Business Sense 2011 conference which takes place on 24-25th February 2011 at the KAMA Conference Centre in Accra
BigNews.Biz - Feb 20,2011 - Leading venture capital fund managers in Ghana and UK will discuss how to access much needed capital with business owners, entrepreneurs and managing directors of small and medium scale enterprises at Business Sense 2011 conference. This important conference, which takes place at the KAMA Conference Centre, Accra on 24-25th February, is under the theme, "Turning ideas into profitable businesses to drive Ghana’s private sector" and organised by OML Africa.
Lined up to address conference delegates, made up of top management from over 50 mostly Ghanaian-owned businesses, are officials from Grofin, Oasis Capital, Ghana Private Sector Development Fund and Angel Finance, UK's most experienced global finance specialists.
Anthony Annan, an official of Grofin Ghana and speaker at the conference on the topic, “SME Funding -Tackling the missing majority”, said “Capital needed to drive economic growth in Africa certainly exists, but is being invested in the wrong asset class. Foreign direct investment in Africa has increased from $9 billion in 2000 to $62 billion in 2008- almost as large as the flow of capital into China, when measured relative to GDP.”
He continued,” Prioritization of this capital has been imbalanced. To fully realize the potential of SMEs, the sector needs to be approached with a fresh perspective attuned to the challenges it faces. There is a need for the focus to shift from the available collateral in the business to the viability of the business and the ability of the entrepreneur.”
Founder and Managing Director of Angel Finance, (an equity and venture capital which has helped raise in excess of £250million for various companies in UK, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa), Douglas Oppong will deliver a paper on "How Not To Let The Bank Say “No” To Your Business Finance Proposal” at Business Sense 2011 to equip delegates with boosting their chances of capital acquisition for their businesses.
Matthew Boadu Adjei, Founder and CEO of Oasis Capital Ghana will also address the conference. Oasis Capital is raising US$25 million in a series of fund closings to enable it provide funding for SMEs and has, as of March 2010, completed its first closing at US$10 million. It has also signed a US$2 million co-investment agreement with Social Venture Capital 1 BV (SOVEC) of the Netherlands under which SOVEC co-invests with funds managed by Oasis Capital on case by case basis.
Delegates at the Business Sense 2011 conference will also learn how to access the Ghana Private Sector Development Fund, a Ghanaian-Italian credit facility which is a 22-million Euro credit line supporting the growth of SMEs and enhancing their contribution to Ghana’s development .
Miss Anita Wiafe, MD of OML Africa says,” As organisers, we recognize the desperate need for capital by many SMEs and as a result, we have assembled a high-quality panel of speakers to assist the development and sustainability of Ghanaian businesses. However, the focus of the entire conference is not only capital or business loan acquisition. There are other reputable speakers delivering presentations on all key areas of business including
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