Entrepreneurial Finance

Programme Overview

In the context of financial decision-making, it is critical that firms identify the opportunities and challenges and position themselves in the market by correctly evaluating and analysing their actual and potential profitability, growth, and development. Firms go throw different stages of development from start-up to survival, growth, and maturity, facing different business markets, and financial challenges and opportunities. Many of the companies that operate in our economic system are micro to small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), where they were originally founded by entrepreneurs. To understand the development and success or failures of enterprises, it is important to analyse the characteristics and foundation of entrepreneurship and the financial conditions that impact an entrepreneurial venture. 

Understanding entrepreneurial finance is an important part of analysing the potential factors that lead to success and failure and the opportunities and challenges that face small enterprises. One of the ways which allow entrepreneurs to make effective decisions to develop their ventures is to establish a comprehensive structure of analysis that considers finance and financial management. Financing sources are particularly difficult for a small firm due to the high uncertainty about cash flow and future liquidity requirements. Small firms face unique financial problems that overshadow the barriers hindering their survival and growth. 

This course aims to identify the key financial challenges faced by entrepreneurial ventures, which can range from seed and start-up capital to the management of working capital, and the different possible options available to SMEs by financial institutions, and private equity and venture capital. Entrepreneurial Finance combines the basic concepts of entrepreneurship, economics, and finance. 

Learning Outcomes

1. Differentiate between the relationships of entrepreneurship and finance.
2. Analyse practical opportunities and business challenges to make informative business decisions.
3. Compare the challenges and opportunities faced in the micro and small-medium-sized enterprise sector.
4. Evaluate methods of financial management for small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
5. Examine types of working capital and cash liquidity management.
6. Analyse the decision-making processes used in areas such as private equity, venture capitalism, and managerial economics.