6 business leaders reveal how companies can grow with – or without – outside funds
- Start-ups can get credit more easily if staff have accurate understanding of fundraising and keep good financial records
- Cloud technology can help SMEs as they expand if they face difficulties raising funds
When Chilean Arturo Sims moved to Hong Kong, he set a five-year goal to start his own hospitality business that drew on his international experience as a chef in Michelin-starred restaurants.
He is now managing director of Vantage Hospitality Consultants, which provides training, operations and guest experience services to hotels and fine dining restaurants.
At the beginning, I said ‘I need to run my business in a way that doesn’t have any overhead expenses because I can't pay salaries right now’. The revenue stream needed to be very stretched. So I’d only hire people I used to work with before in specific projects
It’s a business he has built carefully through word-of-mouth recommendations and collaborations with his existing network. For him, it has been a journey that depended on self-funding.
“At the beginning, I said ‘I need to be able to handle my business and run my business in a way that doesn’t have any overhead expenses because I can't pay salaries right now’,” says Sims, whose clients include the Marriott Hotel Group.
“The revenue stream needed to be very stretched. So in the beginning, I didn’t want to bear that risk or that stress. I’d only hire people that I used to work with before, that could help in specific projects.”
Since the global financial crisis in 2008 fewer SMEs have relied on bank loans for their investment needs and cash flow. Instead, they increasingly turn to alternative sources of finance such as leasing, factoring and equity crowdfunding
How finance is secured