Be visionary and disciplined, Capital Bank CEO tells entrepreneurs

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Capital Bank Ghana, Reverend Fitzgerald Odonkor, has challenged entrepreneurs to be visionary, disciplined and possess strong networking skills to succeed in business.

At the maiden edition of the ‘Idea Factory Africa Conference’ organised by Ideas for Future Africa, he said though resources played an integral part in entrepreneurial success, the lack of qualities such as sound vision and detailed plans could render the resources useless.

According to him, though many entrepreneurs had been able to source for funding for various projects, those projects had collapsed as a result of the lack of discipline and tenacity. 

The presentation focused on topics such as Starting a business - pertinent issues to be considered; primary issues needed to evaluate an idea and issues related to funding and business growth.

On starting a business, he said one needed to be tenacious to weather the psychological and social pressures usually exerted by friends and family. 

“Sometimes friends and family will pressurise you to abandon your dreams and seek regular jobs, especially at the initial stages when things are a bit difficult. However, you must be focused and strong-willed to withstand these pressures because entrepreneurship is about vision and conviction,” he said. 

He stated that it was also important for individuals to critically evaluate their ideas and concepts to determine their viability by asking critical questions. 

He added that the issue of financial resources should only be considered at the second layer of idea generation or the concept development stage.

 “After having the ‘eureka moment,’ there is the need to acid test the concept and implementation by asking and documenting answers to key questions. These key questions should form the basis for a sound business plan,” he further explained.

Regarding secondary level issues, he said the questions must revolve around issues of funding such as how much capital  an entrepreneur needed to start up the venture, what type of funding was available and where he or she could access those funds among others.