2023-06-19 07:43:58
• A public lecture by Thomas Sankara University
• To discuss entrepreneurship financing
• Be creative, innovative and get trained
They are thousands of young people who want to get started in the field of entrepreneurship in Burkina Faso. Unfortunately, upon arrival, some of them give up for lack of funding. But is financing the only way to start a business?
This theme was the subject of a public conference which took place on June 7, 2023, at the Thomas Sankara University: “A cross-section of researchers/practitioners on the achievements, limits and prospects of funding mechanisms for entrepreneurship in Burkina Faso”.
For Professor Florent Song-Naba of Thomas Sankara University, financing is not necessarily the key element for entrepreneurship, because, he explains, the use of credit leads potential entrepreneurs to sink under the weight of debts. For him, you have to go beyond funding and think big. On this, the vice-president in charge of research and international cooperation (his name?) urges to mature his entrepreneurial project, to network, to have a mentor in the business sector, to be in a flourishing and competitive market, having notions of entrepreneurship (training), a “sellable” product, in other words, he wants young people to be really supported in entrepreneurship.
For him, this support is an essential element for the survival of companies. For lack of this support, he revealed that as part of the Burkina Start-up project, out of 500 companies to be created in 5 years, only 200 companies had emerged. The teacher-researcher who makes agricultural entrepreneurship his field of research says he regrets that in the land of honest men, the sector is characterized by “entrepreneurship of reproduction or imitation”. As a result of this mimicry, the new entrepreneurs are chasing the old ones. He reminded that it is not enough to create a company, it must survive and develop.
Support, an essential link
Following him, the Director General of the Burkinabè Fund for Economic and Social Development (FBDES), Bruno Compaoré, echoed the same idea, emphasizing that an entrepreneur must have vision, ambitions and opportunities. It must also train, incubate and have funding. Better, he must have the soul of a leader, take risks, know how to delegate, be a good manager, be innovative, have a capacity for work. According to the Director of Youth and Continuing Education of the Ministry in charge of Youth, Larba Pilga, the State must create the conditions to allow young people to undertake, a sine qua non for absorbing youth unemployment.
For him, it is imperative to reform the funds to make them more viable and adapt them to the needs of young people. Turning to support for projects to be financed, he explains that it is necessary to improve the quality and access of young people to entrepreneurship.
Another disabling factor, the informal sector (the majority in Burkina Faso) refuses to move towards large companies, either for lack of funding or lack of support.
Ambéternifa Crépin SOMDA
Box 1
Disabling factors for entrepreneurship
The panelists noted the fact that many reforms have been undertaken to promote business creation, but entrepreneurship is faced with:
– poor internet connectivity,
-Taxation,
-corruption and favoritism,
-low access to financing,
– the high cost of energy,
– poor access to land.
Box 2
FAARF: more than 163 billion FCFA granted to more than 2,500,000 women from 1990 to 2023
According to the Director General of the Support Fund for Women’s Income-generating Activities (FAARF), Dr. Dorcas Tiendrébéogo, since its creation in 1990, a total amount of more than 163 billion FCFA has been granted to more than 2,500 000 women. Better still, in 2022, 21 billion FCFA were granted to 127,000 women in the 13 regions. Also in 2022, women repaid 22 billion FCFA. Anything that led her to say that women are fit to repay. She suggested that 93% of women have seen, thanks to FAARF credits, their turnover increased, and this has enabled them to take care of their children’s school fees and even family expenses. oh
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