Jesse Prah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of locally-produced ‘Roland Rice’, has shared one very important tip for start-up farmers and entrepreneurs generally, to note and use as a guide to success in their small business.
Jesse shared this tip during a discussion on the topic ‘Transforming food systems: Youth innovation for human and planetary health’ on the International Youth day edition of Y97.9FM Takoradi’s Ryse n Shyne hosted by Chelsy Sey and DJ Gunshot.
He noted that when starting a business, it is not advisable to turn to banks or loan companies for capital. According to him, there is even a low possibility of them granting the loan because one would have to have worked with them for a period of time before being granted a loan.
The best thing to do, in his opinion, is “When starting any business, you need to start with family and friends or if you have any savings, you can start with it and later add family and friends to know how the returns go”.
Jesse explained the reason behind this. “That is a bit more flexible because if it’s not going well, you can explain to them and tell them you need more time but when you go straight to the banks, they will chase you for their money. When you start with family and friends and it goes well, the banks will even start chasing you to give you loans”, he advised.
Jesse is a Construction technology graduate from the University of Education, Winneba (Kumasi campus), however, due to certain issues, he decided to go into agriculture. Five years down the line, Jesse is a successful rice farmer and owner of the popular locally-produced Roland Rice.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye
