Listing your business on a stock market can be the ultimate high for many an entrepreneur. This can represent an accolade of sorts, the embodiment of having worked tirelessly for many years in building a business. A public listing raises your business profile and exposes your business to an unlimited number of potential investors, which makes it considerably easier to raise growth capital. A listing on the stock market enables tradability of your shares, which in and by itself can help you attain more favourable funding for your business, attract a higher calibre of talent and secure some of your more important institutional or corporate customers.
Beware though that a stock market listing shines the spotlight in what you do and how you do it. This can leave you feeling undressed when your competitors have almost full view of your business, its capital structure, performance and strategies. Shareholders can also prove to be a handful, demanding dividends when you want to reinvest capital, demanding high growth in subdued macroeconomic environment and even demanding a change in management when they lose faith in your vision.
You can find out more about listing on the JSE website.
