“I started the business with a simple question: How can we make the process of buying a computer better?’’- Michael Dell, Founder of Dell Computers A feasibility study should be conducted to determine the likelihood that your business idea will be successful. While it is not a checklist, a good feasibility study tests the different..
Read moreConduct initial market research
’The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service sells itself’’ Peter Drucker, Professor and Father of Management Market research is the commercial equivalent of ‘’looking before you leap.’’ Having hit on your ‘’eureka idea’’, you cannot immediately rush to the marketplace to implement. You need..
Read moreCreate a goal-setting system
“If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.''—Andrew Carnegie, steel industrialist Successful entrepreneurs are characterised by a high need for achievement. You can’t afford to be complacent and passive if you want to make a success of any entrepreneurial venture. Craft a vision..
Read moreKeep abreast of innovative ideas and new trends
“If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.''John D. Rockefeller, industrialist, cofounder of Standard Oil Co., and philanthropist” I was looking through the brochure of a prestigious European business school when I spied the phrase ‘’The more you know, the more you..
Read moreIdentifying Key Business Success Factors
Having identified factors that lead to business failure, it is only logical to identify factors that enhance business success. Integrity: Every business thrives on the reputation and goodwill of its customers. Good reputation is built when the business fulfils its promises to customers. In that connection, efforts must be made to provide services or supply..
Read moreAverting Business Failure
In the real business world, it is not smooth sailing, which is why many businesses fail. There is the risk that a business, especially a new business, will fail which will make the entrepreneur suffer the loss of the capital invested in the business. It is therefore very important for the business owner to be..
Read moreThe Small Business Entrepreneur
Law firms. Restaurants. Consulting firms. Fashion boutiques. Schools. While the technology enterprise aspires for growth and the social enterprise is geared towards impact, the small business enterprise is built for stability. A good example of a small business is a nursery and primary school. Schools are the quintessential small business and their owners are devoted..
Read moreThe Social Entrepreneur
Grameen Bank. The Salvation Army. Mercy Corps. The African Leadership Academy. Unlike the typical technology entrepreneur who is spurred on by innovation and the lure of riches, the social entrepreneur is inspired by a noble desire to make a difference in the world. They are action-oriented idealists – sensitive enough to see a need in..
Read moreThe Technology Entrepreneur
Uber. Facebook. WhatsApp. Instagram. Tales of billion-dollar acquisitions, and life-changing business deals on a world scale have succeeded in drawing the young and the young-at-heart to what is arguably the world’s most attractive business profession – technology entrepreneurship. Similar to the hordes of people who swarmed across 20th-century California in search of gold during the..
Read moreThe Entrepreneurial Vocation
Like the blind men who described an elephant from different perspectives, several pundits have attempted to define entrepreneurship in disparate ways. Not least among them is a renowned Harvard business school professor, Howard Stevenson, who famously described entrepreneurship as ‘’the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.’’ I like to think of the..
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