Topic: Act as a Business Consultant and Provide Counsel on this Issue (Read 184 times)

To begin with, the first main issues you have mentioned is common  in a lot business owners or CEOs specifically the new ones, they would like to achieve success without knowledge, skills and the ability to leadership and manage the business. Regarding lack of funds, that would not be an obstacle unless your  business does not have the potential to succeed, for example you could  prepare a professional pitch deck, it is a necessary tool to attract investors, partners and sponsors. Furthermore, hesitation in starting a business may have a negative impact on the result. You must take your time by making researches , analyzing your competitors and add a value on your project, something they don’t have.

One of the doubters has arrived! Agriculture and fish farming are both high-risk activities, yet they need not end in disaster. Anyone can win in this world as long as they have the right information, skills, and support. Risks? All OK, but name one worthwhile endeavor that doesn't include any danger. How about the benefits? Possibly quite large. Our chum has the tenacity and potential to establish a successful business. Naturally, you should use caution when handling money and make wise decisions. But there's no reason for failure if everything is planned and managed well. So, hold off on giving up on them just yet

My advice is to approach fishing business ideas with caution, given the lack of experience and potential risks associated with debt financing and I think it is important here to gain more knowledge about the industry and seek expert advice before proceeding and alternatively, wait for more favorable conditions. is probably the best choice.

The business will collapse within a few months or years. Agriculture businesses need a lot of experience because you are dealing with living things. Any mistake can lead to the death of the fish which will lead to fatal loss. Maybe she wants to learn on the job but the cost is usually high. She has to employ the services of an experienced farm manager to monitor the fish or the business will close down.

Fish farming is highly risky so using a loan to finance the project might have negative consequences if something goes wrong. The worst part of it is that she lacks knowledge about farm management and the fish business. So she will just be experimenting with a loan.

Unless she employs a reliable farm manager the farm will not be productive. Fish farming needs a lot of attention, especially at the tender stage. The farm needs constant monitoring so fish farming might not be a right side hustle.

If she feels she can afford to pay the loan with her income, then it could be a platform for her to learn about the business. But I guess that the business will not be successful from what OP has explained.

I think she does not have clear thoughts about this. Business is something that can not be taken for granted just like that. It's effort, funds, roadmap, and most importantly at least a prior experience of the field in which one is going to invest.

You can't just do business in anything without experience. Many of them will say nah it doesn't work like that. You get the experience as you grow the business. That kind of motivation is really fine but in her case, she does not have funds which means she will either take the big loan or may mortgage something big (like a house, property, etc) which won't be good. In this scenario, it would be terrifying for her if she loses her business with time.

Things will escalate to complicated financials and may end up with unwanted debts.

It's far better to consult with accountant first locally. Have clear path of the whole thing.

As much as Lack of experience can be a factor that can lead to failure in business, it should also not be something that should discourage you not to start the business at all. since you've already mentioned that she has another source of income, it is also possible that she gets to employ people that have the experience in this business and she can learn under them for a while and get experience before she can run it on her own.

Multiple sources of income is always advised, she is trying to increase her source of income, and that is good. Lack of experience should not discourage her.

There are two problems faced by people who come to you and if he wants to continue the business, what steps should he take? And make sure he has made the right studies, so that the business he is running will not be in vain and will provide opportunities to continue to improve to a better financial level.

1. Experience
For this problem he can study before starting a business, because in my opinion the fish farming business is not too difficult to learn and currently there are many places where he can go to learn how to fatten, provide fish feed and medicine, because what I you know fish farming is also the same as the business of fattening chickens, goats and cattle, although the way it works is slightly different.

2. Funding
Financial issues are a little more sensitive to discuss, especially when the economy is unstable. My advice is to avoid loans that have large interest rates such as loans from banks or other places, it's a good idea to try to find capital loans from the closest people, be it family or relatives.

In conclusion
If indeed he has done research and has made a plan for the business, then he can take a loan as I suggest because the monthly burden will be slightly lighter than a loan from the bank. But most importantly he has carefully considered the business he will run.

Starting from production costs to the sales stage when the harvest arrives, because if no one wants to accommodate the harvest it is feared that it will be difficult to market the harvest. In the end, he will have difficulty paying off the loan and will make it difficult for the business he is running, because he cannot take out the crops and there is no place to accommodate them.

Fishery is a well-known and well-financed business. She doesn't have a lot of money to start with, but she has a lot of experience and knowledge about the business. She has an eye for detail and knows how to deal with the customer's needs. She is known for her skill and knowledge in the field of forex trading. She has a good track record of working with small and medium-sized businesses. She has a good management team and a good product management team. She has a good customer support team. reputation in the industry. She has a good

If she doesn't have the financing and she plans to treat it like a side hustle then she's probably not going to break even and she should consider saving money from her job salary little by little to then try to make the loan much smaller as much as possible. The experience part though, she has risk doing it even if all she hears about it are from second-hand experience.

A business should be established with one main goal, that is to provide value while making money. However with her story, business doesn't evolve in that way. She more seems like wants to make  a business because of boredom.
1. A business without commitment and taken only as a side hustle won't be able to survive in the long run.
2. Proper funds and finance is a must. If it is dependent to her job, she will be tied to it just to run her business.
3. Even without experience, proper research is a must but well of course experience will be an advantage.

There's a lot of idea. She probably already aware of it and have the solution for every problem she might encounter. Once it is settled, a business will be sound and ready to venture to provide value.

If the capital were hers, employing an experienced expert in that line of business to oversee the business while she come in when chanced to take note of how the business is progressing would have been my suggestion. But since she lacks the experience and capital, taking a loan for a business she is considering to run as a side hustle might make her pay more. Because definitely one side of her income source will have to suffer, it is either her job suffers set back or the business suffers set back.

If she feels she needs to boast her income source and taking a loan is the last option then quitting her job will be the best option so she can focus on her new venture and ensure she properly accounts for the money borrowed else she might end up paying the debt through the salary gotten from her job.

In my country, many are engaged in subsidiary farming, that is, they raise poultry (chickens, ducks), rabbits, pigs, etc.  for sale.  

However, they have neither special knowledge nor the corresponding specialized education. All skills and abilities are acquired through practice.  

If your friend owns a land plot and there is an opportunity to equip a pond for growing fish on this plot, if she has relatives who have expressed a desire to participate in this business, then, in my opinion, it is advisable for this woman to participate in this business.  

Most likely, she will succeed and after some time she will receive the first profit.

Thanks. Your response is very robust. Allow me to take some few minutes to throw more light on the points I earlier.


Her workers would be her siblings who would follow the instructions of her friend who is already into the business. Her sibling are inexperienced but hopefully with the guidance from her friend, they can garner some experience. So, they'll help with feeding, cleaning the farm, general welfare of the fish and other as the case may be. And yes, it is part time.


From her business plan, she seems to have calculated the cost. For example ,  the land where the fish pond would be situated is her own. Just at her backyard. She is going to start with a Tarpaulin Pond first because she intends to start small and watch how the business goes for the year and after which she will erect a concrete pond. She has her own water tank/borehole that would supply her with clean water to the pond. The place she will spend money most is on buying the Tarpaulin and net.


From our conversation, her friend who has been into the business would introduce her to her network of customers. She's also working on creating or getting her own customers. Her potential customers to sell to at maturity are restaurants, at the local fish market, family and friends.


Well, it looks to me that she has done her home work on  it and the numbers look okay. I hope that at the end of the season she is able to break even and then decide if she should expand(that is, erect a concrete pond) or not. Anyways, I will discuss this with her and allow her to make the final decision.

Well, I have experience in fish farming, and speaking from experience, fish farms really require proper care and handling; if not, the farm owner will be seeing his or her fish die regularly at a particular stage.

So imagine if she is not so capable of handling the farm properly, and before it is ready to harvest, she may have suffered a significant loss due to the fish that died. While she has wasted money to buy the fish feed, pay for a good water supply, and construct the pond, depending on whether it's a concrete pond, a plastic pond, or an earthing pond. It usually costs a significant amount to construct those ponds. So if she ventures into it and encounters a big loss, then it is just going to be a waste of time, effort, and money.

She can't take fish farming as a side hustle unless she will have to also sacrifice a good time to handle the farm or she will hire people that can do the job for her, which she will need to pay these guys to properly handle the farm for the interval of about five to six months that the farm will be due for harvest, which means she needs the funds to pay up salaries.

So, either she employs people who can properly handle the farm for her or she should be there to do it herself; it's her final decision to make.

Don't forget about passion.  If she has a passion for fisheries then there is a higher chance of success because she will be handling this matter with dedication. 

Experience wise I can say she barely pass the assessment even though it is known that no one born as an expert but this is a serious matter and she needed funding in a business in where she has little experience.  So I would advise here to try it small as an starter.  She can try building small fisheries that does not require huge amount of capital.  She can continue her job while taking fishiries as part time or she can hire helpers.  Whether the small fisheries succeed or not, at least she kept the risk of losing fund at a minimum while gaining experience from that venture.  If she is successful then there is no need for her to borrow money because the income from that small establishment can be used to expand his business.  It may take some time but it worth it.  There is no good result in rushing things out.

This is something I don't see the individual been related in the OP doing. I mean, she's trying to start a business on a loaned money and she can't pay her staff should she employ any off a loaned money and that rules employments out. Perhaps a partnership but that too isn't sure to work out well as, you've got loans to pay not to talk of settling your partner in the long run on a business that is yet to get a life of it's own.

The good thing is, she has a paid job already and as such, she should focus on raising at least 50% of her needed capital to ensure her loaned amount would be something she could pay up with little stress and be gully independent.

Truths be told, she's not going to find it easy in the first year but, if she could get it going, she might some day own a business of her own.

Owning your own thing is always worth more than working for some firm and so if she could make things work in this, it would be very good for her. In 3months interval, she could have stocks to sell in the market and that depends on the fish specie she chooses to breed.

My advice for her will be to be patient for a year or six months and what will she be doing then two things. One, she will work together or learn from her friend that is already in the business and ask questions where necessary, while doing this she will save from her main job for this new business, even if she gets 50% and now loan the other 50% is better than the 10% she has earlier

Non of the challenges that you have listed should stop her or non will stop a committed business investor. One thing is important which is her focus and resolve to survive in the business giving the prospect of the business and fishery is a good and viable business. It is lucrative because of its customer base.

My suggestion proper regarding the challenges of experience and fund are, there are consultants in fishery business that can help her through it. Those people are experienced people in the business, they can guide her. To funds, I understand that loans are not easy to get but she has to endeavour to get a loan. Finally, she doesn't have to give up the dream of being a fishery farmer.

No experience - then that means that she has come to you for your counsel as she thinks that you may help her from this business. That's okay, she's willing to take a step ahead on this business and willing to ask people what they can suggest and learn from their opinions.
No funding - well, honestly someone who wants to start a business don't really have to put all in on such business. They can put a bit on it and then let it grow eventually until more funds come to them for expansion if it's viable. On this case, the risk that will be taken should mainly come from her and the idea of taking a financing must come from her. But then when she said that this is just gonna be a side hustle, there will be someone that should take a look on it as if it's a full time thing.

The world of business is an entirely different environment and operates under elements that demands your all to take shape and maintain that shape through the lifespan of the business and instead of a decrease, you gind a way for an increase.

The theoretical part of every business is always simple and seems like an easy execution but, the part where you've got to put the plans in action and have it run concurrently with the dynamics of the society us where you would find very tricky.

Here we have a start up business by an inexperienced individual, having just 10% of funds with plans of taking a loan (debit funding) you call it, to run a lucrative business where you've got some serious competitions and still, the individual have got little time to give to the business? It wouldn't take very long before frustration sets in.

Start ups are always very demanding of you and most you and not just your resources but your time as well.
You can't hope to run a business with no experience or having to requite professional advice from someone with little expert and you hope for it to survive long. I assume its catfish farming the individual would want to go into and I would like that individual to note that, there are more to it than just having these theories play out in her head.

These are marine organisms and as such, any tragic event can run on a large scale as, they evidently live in a single body of water. A simple pH change could lead to rupturing of the fishes body and that would lead to cannibalism, over population in the pound can have same result as per wounded fish as they swim along, competition for food leads to malnutrition of some fish and not having to sort them according to there sizes could spell tragedy for such fish and more. That's just on them fish side.

How about human?
The human part has more to do with siting, what security you could provide for your fish to avoid burglary and some competition related ills that could lead to tank poisoning and you've got to feed them fish to ensure they gain weight and be competitive in the market.
How about sourcing out potential customers,
Who are the targets, how may have you got or are potential clients to be at the end of your production chain.
How about animal predation...

It goes on and on but, I'll like to stop here. I don't want to discourage this individual but, am saying, if she's got less time to give to this business at a start up age, its better she keeps her calm as, those that would be funding the other 90% don't need no stories but results. Tqt isn't something that comes with you giving the business that haven't got a structure less time. You've got to build a frame for the business to thrive on.