Digital Growth Of Enterprises

This article is written by Clinton James, a Contributor Author at Startup Istanbul.

Emilian Popa is a businessman who has run many businesses in the past decade, currently in Africa. Among them is Rocket Internet, which allowed him to deal with big business giants, where some did not work out. He moved from being a businessman to becoming a major company's executive director until 2014, which did not last long, and began a venture capital funding company that focused on Africa and now the Middle East.

They are involved in financing the growth phase, especially in technology for all countries on the continent. During Startup Istanbul's event, Emilian shared with the congregation about the big businesses with interaction of more than 450 company mistakes and examples.

To begin with, you should know how to tell your story. Even when given only about 30 seconds or minutes. During a board meeting in Cairo and visits to several companies, the bus was delayed and a colleague called someone who owned Freval company that had innovated the transportation business to resolve personal traffic transport issues. On the bus, the man told his story, and before he realized it, $ 2.5 million was invested in the business the next day.

Show passion. Popa has invested in a training company in Cape Town, where they met in the office with everything, food, enthusiasm, and more. The fascinated him and he directly invested.

Focus, this is not new, but can be a red flag. It is very difficult to do more than one thing at a time because it is difficult to spend time on many things at the same time.

Do your homework. Before you get involved in anything, a lot of market research is needed. Don't look far ahead. As long as entrepreneurs have to protect themselves in their future business, in reality they will not know what will happen in the next 5-10 years.

You have a plan. Investors are interested in what is currently happening, at the end of the year and two years in terms of projections. So you need to develop a clear plan. You need to know for yourself how much money you will make, what your KPI is, what happens, and who you share with.

Build a foundation, like a house. Without them, this is a clear recipe for failure. Calculate everything. The most important thing is counting money! Many companies and entrepreneurs spend too much, which makes them not save for growth.

Don't hire too fast. While in Cape Town, he worked in a company like an Uber for various events. They hired 16 before the platform even received additional funds which brought down the company a year later.

Never stop learning. Learn more, read books or listen and get counseling advice. It'll serve for the way you manage your business and collect money.

Be prepared for change and acceptance. Rejection and failure occur, but then, learn from them and remember that this is not the end of the world. Many fail, go and start again.