Challenges young entrepreneurs face when seeking funding to establish business

Promoting entrepreneurship by encouraging small businesses is today’s undeniable economic strategy in developing a robust sustainable economy. This is a shift from the traditional strategy of falling on large businesses, though not a total shift. This shift is believed to promote employment, innovation and competition, economic growth, and quality life. A good question is how this shift is reflecting in, especially developing, economies. This entrepreneurship study uses the country Ghana as a case study to look at the need and motivation for small businesses, especially among graduates. It studies the challenges when young entrepreneurs are starting a business. Finally, as the main aspect of the study, it investigates credit access challenges that young entrepreneurs face when starting a business. With a mixed-method, this study investigated the motivation of 40 young final year students from four Ghanaian universities; the startup and credit experiences of 20 small businesses of not more than 5 years in operation. It concludes that personal, demography and environmental issues contribute to entrepreneurial interest and acumen. Secondly, the process of starting a new business needs stronger policy attention. Thirdly, raising capital, credit access or business loan acquisition is still a challenge for young entrepreneurs. The study informs emerging young entrepreneurs on how to take-off in business; but the key value is its worth in assisting decision-makers to create the right enabling environment which encourages young entrepreneurs in starting businesses, acquiring credit and thriving