General

In the intricate dance of financial management, personal or business, understanding your position and predicting future stability is paramount. The “run rate” concept finds its roots deep within financial analytics but extends its branches far and wide into personal and business finance.  At its core, the run rate acts as a beacon, guiding individuals and companies alike through the murky waters of financial planning and offering a glimpse into the future based on present conditions.  The significance of comprehending your run rate must be balanced. For individuals, it illuminates the path to financial security, providing a tangible measure of how long current resources can sustain existing lifestyles without additional income. For businesses, particularly start-ups and those in growth phases, it serves as a critical health check, indicating the company’s cash flow trajectory and operational sustainability.  Mastering the run rate concept empowers decision-makers to steer their financial ship confidently, making informed choices about spending, saving, and investing.  As we embark on this journey of run rate, we aim to demystify this financial metric, breaking it down into digestible pieces that resonate with both the layperson and the seasoned entrepreneur.  From the basic principles that underpin its calculation to the nuanced strategies that can enhance its utility, this article aims to equip you with the knowledge and tools to leverage your run rate for maximum financial advantage. Whether managing personal finances or guiding a business venture, understanding your run rate is not just about surviving the present; it’s about securing a more prosperous future. THE BASICS OF RUN RATE At its most fundamental level, the run rate is a financial metric that estimates how long your current cash reserves will last based on your current rate of expenditure. This simple yet powerful concept applies universally, whether you’re budgeting for personal finances or forecasting for your business.  Here’s how to grasp the basics of run rate. Understanding Run Rate The run rate calculation is straightforward: divide your total cash reserves by your average monthly expenditure. This gives you the number of months (or other time units) that your current funds will support your ongoing expenses. Run Rate = Total Cash Reserves / Monthly Expenditure For individuals, this might mean understanding how long you can live on your savings without additional income. For businesses, it translates to knowing how many months you can operate before needing further revenue or investment. Calculating Run Rate: Formula and Example Let’s illustrate with an example. If a start-up has GH₵100,000 in the bank and spends GH₵10,000 per month on operations, its run rate would be: Run Rate = GH₵100,000 / GH₵10,000 per month =10 months This start-up has a 10-month window to become profitable, secure additional funding, or otherwise adjust its financial strategy. Differences Between Run Rate and Other Financial Metrics While run rate offers a snapshot of financial endurance, it’s essential to distinguish it from other metrics like burn rate and profitability. Burn rate measures the rate at which a company consumes its capital to cover overhead before generating positive cash flow from operations. Conversely, profitability assesses a business’s ability to generate earnings compared to its expenses and other relevant costs. Understanding these differences is vital because each metric serves a different purpose in financial analysis. Run rate focuses on the sustainability of current financial resources, offering a time-based perspective that is particularly useful for planning and crisis management. As we delve deeper into the intricacies of run rate in the next sections, remember its foundational role in personal and business financial planning. Whether striving for financial independence or a business owner navigating through economic uncertainties, mastering the run rate can be your first step towards achieving financial resilience and sustainability. RUN RATE FOR PERSONAL FINANCE In personal finance, the concept of run rate is a powerful tool for managing your financial future. It clearly shows how long your savings can support your lifestyle, assuming no additional income.  Applying Run Rate to Personal Finances To apply the run rate concept to your personal finances, start by calculating your monthly expenses, including all bills, discretionary spending, and savings contributions. Then, divide your total liquid assets by this monthly expenditure figure. The result is your personal run rate, indicating how many months you could continue your current lifestyle without additional income. Example Scenario: Calculating Personal Run Rate Imagine you have GH₵40,000 in savings and investments readily convertible to cash, with monthly expenses amounting to GH₵5,000. Your personal run rate would be: Run Rate = GH₵40,000 / GH₵5,000 per month = 8 months This means you have a financial buffer of 8 months to cover living expenses without needing to earn additional money. This calculation can serve as a wake-up call for some, highlighting the need for financial planning and emergency savings. Tips for Extending Your Personal Financial Run Rate By implementing these strategies, you can extend your run rate, offering greater security and peace of mind in uncertain times. Understanding and applying the run rate concept in personal finance helps manage current financial situations and plan for a stable and secure financial future. In the next section, let’s explore the importance of run rate in business, offering insights into how companies can use this metric to navigate financial challenges and plan for sustainable growth. RUN RATE IN BUSINESS CONTEXT In the business world, understanding and managing the run rate is crucial for maintaining financial health and ensuring long-term sustainability. This metric becomes particularly significant for start-ups and growth-phase companies that might still need to be profitable but must manage their cash flow meticulously to survive and thrive.  Here, we delve into the importance of run rate for businesses, illustrating how it can be a predictive tool for cash flow management and a strategic asset for planning. Importance of Run Rate for Start-ups and Established Businesses For start-ups, the run rate is often a matter of survival. It shows how long the company can operate with its existing financial resources, helping founders understand the urgency for additional funding, revenue generation, or cost-cutting

Imagine you have a provision shop where you sell many products. Or you offer different services to your target market. Or you have tried a few side hustles and now have to choose where to put in more of your limited resources. Maybe you have an established business and must decide how the year’s business expenditure should go. In all these instances, we have to decide whether and where to allocate extra resources, cash out or look elsewhere and divest. BCG MATRIX BASICS The BCG Matrix, also called the Growth-Share Matrix, emerged as a reaction to the need for a scientific technique to assess a corporation’s several product services. Bruce Henderson, the founding father of the Boston Consulting Group, added the matrix in 1970. It aimed to offer a smooth but effective framework for studying an enterprise’s product portfolio and guiding strategic selections. The matrix classifies merchandise into four classes based on market growth rate and relative market share.  A high market growth rate means that product/service lines grow rapidly. When your market grows, you must invest to increase capacity and marketing spending to secure your market share. A product or service with a high market growth rate might be attractive, but that consumes cash quickly. Relative market share is just as the name says, with a significant emphasis on “relative”. How much of the market is not what we are talking about here – it’s how much of the market you have compared to the next guy, your colleagues and competitors. The rule of thumb is to divide your market share by that of your largest competitor, giving you your relative market share. If you have a 5% market share and your biggest competitor has a 50% market share, then your relative market share is 5% divided by 50%, which comes to a 10% relative market share. THE FOUR QUADRANTS OF THE BCG MATRIX Let us imagine the Relative Market Share on an x-axis and the Market Growth Rate on a y-axis. Visualise it. The high and low points on each axis create four quadrants that are: In reality, most new business products or services start as QUESTION MARKS because they have very little or no relative market share but usually operate in an environment with a high market growth rate. They have the potential to become STARS should they capture a bigger chunk of the existing booming market. Easier said than done. If you’re wondering why most businesses do not start as DOGS, starting a product or service already means you have a meagre relative market share. Why would anyone also start a business in a market with a low growth rate? It’ll be much harder to get out of there. Beginning as a QUESTION MARK is ideal. Almost always, question marks generate very little cash but will need more cash than they generate to get them to be hopefully STARS or even CASH COWS. If not analysed and appropriately managed, after years of pumping money into them, QUESTION MARKS can degenerate into DOGS, and you may never recoup your investment. But let’s assume everything went well. Your QUESTION MARK, that product or service with a low relative market share in a high market growth rate, now has a high enough relative market share to become a STAR. What does that mean? It means you are selling more. It means that of all the customers who need that product or service, a good number of them come to you, which means you are generating high amounts of cash and revenue. It means you have a good thing going. But it would help if you spent some of that cash to maintain your current market share, fend off competitors, and grow! You must recognise the STARS you have as an entrepreneur and nurture them. Successfully diversified companies always have some STARS in their portfolio to ensure future cash flows. STARS are also always great for your brand image, serving as your flagship product – like the iPhone does for Apple. The iPhone is Apple’s STAR product. Per our definition, the iPhone has a high relative market share in its product category and a high market growth rate. As time goes on, your STAR, managed properly, will beat off competition and maintain a high relative market share, but the market growth rate will decrease in time as well, making it a CASH COW – a high relative market share with a low market growth rate. It is called a CASH COW because while maintaining a relatively high market share, you spend less on marketing and investments as your revenue stagnates. YOU still own the lion’s share of the market, so the cash keeps pouring in. Ergo, CASH COW!  An entrepreneur must milk all this cash (pun intended) from this revenue avenue and invest it strategically into STARS or new product lines, the QUESTION MARKS. CASH COWS make way more than they need to maintain their business positioning. So they bring stability to a business. The iPad is a good example. The iPad dominates in relative market share for its category. It’s so clear that compared to the STAR of Apple – the iPhone – much less investment goes into the iPad regarding marketing, development, etc. With a high relative market share, stagnated market growth rate and cash still flowing in from sales while expenditure on the product decreases, Apple has created the perfect CASH COW in the iPad. But then there are the DOGS, like the iPod (now discontinued), with a low or declining market growth rate and a low or declining market share. I still have an iPod Touch. I get why Apple discontinued it. DOGS don’t make or break the business. They barely consume any money and barely make you any money, but as a business unit, it has enough cash within its business unit that can be put to better use. So they’re not fun, not attractive enough for finance, marketing or R&D to put their

THE FUNDRAISER’S MINDSET I am always first to admit that upon returning home from London to Accra (Tema, to be precise), I was so eager yet so unknowingly green. I set sail with a cargo of dreams and ‘book-long’ strategies, ready to conquer the vast ocean of the African Business Sector. The first waves of reality hit hard. Proposals were crafted with passion, events laced with enthusiasm, but the winds were not always favourable. It was a cycle of pitches and pleas, often met with polite nods but closed wallets. I realised that to reach my destination, I needed more than just a good story and a noble cause. I needed to chart the waters from the funder’s point of view. It was a revelation that came to me not in the quiet of my office or my home study but in the hustle of an event with Founder Institute, where I formally slipped into the role of a funder. Surrounded by a sea of fundraisers, I was on the other side of the conversation, and the view was startlingly different. I had funded initiatives before, but this was the first time I really, really connected the dots. As a funder, I was no longer the suitor; I was the courted, the one being wooed by endless streams of ideas and appeals. This new vantage point is illuminating. Years ago, as I listened to pitches that spoke of how their projects would change the world, I realised in real time how so few spoke to me, to my goals as a funder, to the change I wished to see in Ghana, in Africa. The rare few that did were the ones that captured my attention. They stood out not just for their clarity and conviction but because they spoke MY language; they aligned with MY vision. I quickly wrote a mental program to run how I sail the seas. My dual experience became my compass. As a fundraiser, I began to weave the funder’s language into my narratives. I mirrored their values, addressed their goals, and acknowledged their challenges. I didn’t just offer them an opportunity to give. I offered them a partnership in a vision they could see themselves in. Most importantly, I DID THE WORK THEY WANTED TO SEE. I built a track record that I can speak to and that they can see aligns with them. And the tide began to turn. When a fundraiser understands that alignment is the key, they unlock not just funding but also long-term relationships and success. THE FUNDER’S MINDSET When I am in the funder’s chair, it is more like a chessboard. Here, every move matters; every pitch is a potential gambit, and I am always looking for a strategy that promises not just success but also alignment with my own objectives. I meticulously peer into the souls of projects, seeking more than just innovation and passion. I look for the threads that connect my values to their vision. I have come to realise that the pitches that stand out are not those that shout the loudest but those that speak directly to me and my team’s vision, in a language that resonates with my worldview. Currently, that language is that of my heightened expectations for Risk Management & Earned Value Management, but that’s beside the point. I’ll get back on track. I have come to understand that a funder is not an ATM for worthy causes. A funder is a partner in a venture that fits within the larger puzzle of their ambitions and plans. As a funder, the proposals that catch my eye are the ones that acknowledge this. They don’t just present a need; they offer a solution to a problem I am keen to solve. I remember one pitch in particular. This pitch was not the slickest nor the most polished, but it spoke of community impact in a way that matched my desire to foster local development. They had done their homework, they knew what I cared about, and they showed me a future where my contribution could make a tangible difference. This was the key to unlocking my support. It wasn’t the general promise of ‘helping others’ but the specific vision of helping in a way that mattered to me. It was about shared goals, not just shared generosity. Through these experiences, I extracted insights I would carry back across the chessboard. The successful fundraiser doesn’t just understand their own needs, but they also delve deeply into the funder’s world. They learn what drives a funder, what concerns them, and what excites them. They don’t just pitch a project, but they present a partnership that fits snugly into the funder’s aspirations. The lightbulb was on, and I got to work to make my walk, match my talk. I will reiterate that if you do not put in the actual work, the best pitch could still fall flat on its face. PRACTICAL TIPS FOR FUNDRAISERS Now, I am no longer about selling a concept. In fact, from 2024, it will be a lot about storytelling in a way that weaves my funders into the narrative. I have a slot on the primetime Evening News on local TV and DsTV. I maintain my column in the largest print publication of business news in Ghana, my podcast will be going on tour, and our Impact fora will be telecast widely. Fundraising is an art as much as it is a science. It’s about finding resonance, creating connections, networking, and ultimately, understanding and sharing a vision that is as much the funder’s as it is your own. The story is no longer yours alone. Here are some practical tips that crystallised from this philosophy: Tip 1: Research is Key. Before any pitch, deep dive into the funder’s world. Read their past annual reports, understand their funded projects, and grasp their strategic vision. This background work guides you to tailor your message, ensuring you’re not just shooting arrows in the