One of the primary causes of worry that I hear from entrepreneurs in South Africa is a lack of funding. The anomaly is that investors in the same market have a different view: they believe there are more than enough funds, just not enough ideas being brought forward. This makes me wonder whether entrepreneurs are making a solid enough attempt to find funding. Some of us could be giving up the search for funding way too soon. It is normal to get rejected for funding during the first rounds of raising capital. This is not a sign that there are no funds. The investors are making the time to listen because they do have funds available to deploy.Even in places like Silicon Valley, one of the global hubs for start-up capital, entrepreneurs pitch on numerous occasions before they close an investment deal. Some entrepreneurs I met there said they had pitched more than 40 times before they got a yes. They did not give up at the 39th pitch - neither should we.More important, given how much opportunity there is for new entrepreneurs in this country, there is far less competition for funding here than there is in the Valley. We need more entrepreneurs to bring their ideas forward, long after the first and the second attempt to raise funds.story_article_left1Bringing the idea forward is just one side of the coin. The other side is making sure to talk to the right potential investor. When it comes down to it, the decision to invest in someone boils down to fit - investors are deciding whether they would like to build a relationship with you. Doing homework on the interests and preferences of the investors to target can go a long way towards helping you receive a positive response.One group of investors that fits well with entrepreneurs operating in the South African context is impact investors. These are people who would like to achieve good financial returns while simultaneously having a social impact. The more that traditional investors move towards diversifying their portfolios into emerging markets, the more they realise there is more to the investment than financial returns. Social impact becomes a unique requirement for success.Entrepreneurs in an emerging market like ours can more easily meet the requirements of impact investors. This is because the businesses that most entrepreneurs are working on tend to be skewed towards having a positive impact on the lives of lower- to middle-income customer groups. That is where most of the needs of the country are.Entrepreneurs need an upfront understanding of where their business falls on the financial returns versus social impact scale. Traditional investment firms tend to invest in companies that achieve more financial returns than social impact. On the other hand, investors such as high-net-worth individuals and development finance institutions tend to focus more on social impact than financial returns.This was one of the primary findings of a report released this month on impact investing in emerging markets. The report was compiled by Omidyar, an international impact investment firm. It found that most traditional investment companies operating in the low- to middle-income space typically invest in businesses that guarantee strong financial returns. These tend to be from already proven, lower-risk business models that have the potential to be scaled up.On the other hand, the report found that individuals and institutions typically go for higher-impact projects that might be associated with higher risk levels. These tend to be unproven models and might require a longer-term commitment. There is less funding available in this space than in the former.Nevertheless, Omidyar suggests some alternative approaches that high-impact entrepreneurs can follow to attract the more traditional investment firms.story_article_right2One approach is designing a new product for the low- to middle-income population, but also providing it to the middle- to higher-income groups as a means to increase profitability and scalability.A good example of such a product is a low-cost, portable baby incubator that was invented to keep premature babies warm. It came at only 1% of the cost of existing baby incubators because it is aimed at poor communities that could not afford medical care.It was developed by Jane Chen, CEO of Embrace, after working with poor communities in Tanzania and realising that such a solution could be helpful to poor families with premature babies. This product has been rolled out to communities in India and has the potential to rival the offering of the most long-established devices in the industry.There are many avenues available to raise funding. The trick is to have the patience and resilience needed to put your idea forward. And when you do, make sure that you are talking to the right audience.ziphosikhakhane@gmail.comSikhakhane advises and funds African entrepreneurs. She is an international retail expert, writer and motivational speaker, with an honours degree in business science from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from Stanford University..