Yesterday I was lucky enough to be at the NatWestBoost event in Exeter with Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones of The Black Farmer. It was a fantastic morning full of inspiration and really good advice – but what struck me was Wilfred’s take on financing his business.
With an eye-catching brand and great proposition it is ripe for raising capital from investors or crowdfunding & he confessed that he had looked into it. But in his words: “the moment that you have outsiders in your business you have to listen to all sorts of other perspectives. Growing a business needs the tenacious drive of a passionate entrepreneur”
I speak to lots of ambitious food businesses who need more cashflow in order to grow. Some of the successful crowdfunding stories make it seem like a low risk, easy way to grow. However in practice it’s never as simple as the stories make out and you give away some of your control and potential rewards as well.
At the workshop on 25th March I am lucky enough to be joined by Toby Jones from Start Point Finance who advised Wilfred on raising capital to grow his business (Start Point Case Study). Toby will share his advice and experiences on the right way to raise money for growing businesses.