Private equity fund managers say profitability and how well a business is managed are the two key factors that will get them to invest in any entity. The fund managers were speaking during a breakfast meeting put together by the Business World magazine on “Attracting private equity and venture capital into your business”. Start-ups and existing businesses are being asked to turn to private equity funding because of the difficulties they encounter accessing funds from the banks. Many businesses however argued that they find it increasingly difficult. But Managing Partner with Aureos Capital, Jacob Kholi told Joy Business the seemingly frustrating requirements are needed to ensure they get their investments back. “We are not lenders, we don’t take collateral to back our investments, we are partners, we are shareholders, we carry the burden of the company and so we need to be careful in the selection process because we are going into a partnership and you should know who you are going to bed with,” he said. According to him, companies and individuals undertaking equity funding have “to evaluate the business risk, [assess] the opportunity to identify what the challenges are in order to make a decision to go into it.” He said business owners who want equity partnership must be transparent to attract the needed partnership. Source: Joy Business/Ghana