President of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) and the Executive Chairman of JL Holdings, Dr James Orleans-Lindsay, has urged young entrepreneurs and real estate professionals, to learn the act of reinvesting their profit back into their businesses to ensure sustainable business growth.
Speaking to Business Outlook Africa, Dr James Orleans-Lindsay explained that reinvesting back into the helps entrants into the real estate sector to better thrive and grow.He added that young professionals in the real estate scene should delay gratification and focus on reinvesting their profits so as to ensure the company survives in the long term.
“The story of the takeaway always that I tell people, reinvest in the business. I put everything back. If you don’t reinvest, you won’t have a thriving business, because interest rates are high.” He stated
On financing, Dr. Orleans-Lindsay strongly advised professionals entering the real estate sector to avoid commercial bank loans at the start of their journey, warning that the accompanying interest rates can be overwhelming for new entrants. He instead recommended turning to family and friends for early-stage capital, noting that such arrangements typically carry no interest and offer more manageable repayment terms.
“And so, you know, in real estate in Ghana, you don’t borrow to start a real estate business.You borrow to finish, because the money trickles in. You see, don’t borrow from a bank to start real estate, borrow from friends, family and the likes who normally would not put any interest on it. So those are some of the tenants in business, especially entrepreneurs, that people really don’t pay attention to.” He added
Beyond Real Estate,the Executive Chairman of JL Holdings also urged young people to venture in agriculture, food production,food processing and agribusiness emphasizing that the biggest challenge Ghana is likely to face in the next 5 years will be food security.
“The next five years to eight years, the challenge in West Africa, in Africa, will be food security.Those who want to listen should listen.Go into food, go into agriculture, go into storage, go into preservation. Why is it that 40 percent of the things that is produced in Ghana go waste? Who is putting money in temperate cold rooms?.” He stated
Dr. Orleans-Lindsay ended by debunking the widely held notion that a lack of capital is an insurmountable barrier to starting a business, arguing that the claim of having “nothing to start with” is largely a myth, pointing out that the very resources people spend daily on food, clothing, and other basics represent untapped startup potential. According to him, aspiring entrepreneurs who look critically at their everyday spending will realise they already have something to work with and that with deliberate sacrifice and reallocation of those resources, the excuse of having nothing becomes difficult to sustain.
Watch full interview here: https://youtu.be/7qg7Sney-14?si=CO_9sDZYF-k6nr9H
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