Page 36 - Nine Yards Magazine 2021/2022 - Old Mutual Corporate

taking the lead funding
What is the best type of funding for me?
Not all funding is equal, as this overview shows. Knowing which type of funding to apply for at each stage of your business journey will help your applications to succeed.
By Abed Tau
Abed Tau is CEO of business accelerator and incubator My Dough, and author of Searching Through Dustbins (Tracey McDonald Publishers), his personal account of being a serial entrepreneur.
Like the terms capital and funding, startup and small business are often used interchangeably. While it’s correct that a startup is a type of small business and that capital and
funding both refer to money used to grow a small business, that’s where the similarities end.
Roughly speaking, startups want to grow with the goal of disrupting the market. Small businesses are established for the purpose of entrepreneurship and serving a local market, and therefore aren’t necessarily concerned with growth on such a large scale.
I BELIEVE THAT THE BEST SOURCE OF FUNDING OUT THERE IS THE CUSTOMER, AND THAT THE BEST WAY TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS IS BY DELIVERING A QUALITY SERVICE AND PRODUCT.
Customers don’t demand equity, nor do they demand interest repayments or security and personal surety. All they ask in return for their money is your product or service.
And yet I know that this takes time and that it’s not always feasible. Depending on the nature of your business – whether an SME or startup – you can go one of several funding routes.
A small-business owner seeking funding typically already has demonstrable revenue and cash flow, and might need money to expand their shop or even to tide them over a rough patch.
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