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Title Assessment of challenges faced by start-up entrepreneurs in accessing funding in Namibia: Case of Windhoek
Full text http://hdl.handle.net/11070/3183
Date 2022
Author(s) Thomas, Teodensia Pehovelo
Abstract The high unemployment rate and poverty have driven many people to become innovative and start their own businesses. However, for some of these businesses to exist or develop, they need start-up capital or funding from financial service institutions. It is however imperative to assess the challenges faced by start-ups in Namibia when accessing funding for their businesses. The problem is that the Ministry of Industry, Trade & SME Development acknowledged that start-ups access to funding in Namibia has not been a priority to traditional financial institutions as they perceived SMEs to be high-risk investments because about 97% of Namibian SMEs are considered non-bankable. Therefore, the study explores the challenges faced by start-up entrepreneurs when accessing funding to grow their businesses in Windhoek. The study adopted a qualitative research approach where 15 start-up business owners (5x SMEs from Bokamoso Incubation Centre, 5x SMEs from Oshetu Community Market (Single Quarters) and 5x SMEs from Katutura Youth Complex participants) were interviewed. Findings indicate that start-ups longed to access funding to boost their businesses but were ignorant of the requirements needed by financial institutions. With regards to factors that hindered start-ups from accessing funding from financial institutions, start-ups experienced difficulties due to lack of collateral, absence of proper business plans and financial statements, lack of evidence that show business capacity and lack of experience in the business venture and management skills. To improve access to funding, it was suggested for financial institutions to be inclusive in their provision of funding to businesses, sacrifice some risk capital for start-ups as well as train and mentor startups on applying for funding. Furthermore, the government was to bail out start-ups, build more incubation spaces and ensure a conducive environment for start-ups to operate their businesses and grow them.
Subject(s) Financial service institutions in Namibia; Ministry of industry trade
Language en
Publisher University of Namibia
Type of publication Thesis
Repository Windhoek - University of Namibia
Added to C-A: 2022-07-06;10:29:55