A problem is an opportunity

All entrepreneurs are good at leveraging on problems by making sure that they turn problems into opportunities and thereby making money out of it.

The entrepreneurs normally think outside the box and see all problems as challenges which can be overcome.

Every problem need a solution.

The principles of Creativity

People become more creative when they feel motivated primarily by a situation which they find interesting, satisfying or challenging. You can not be creative unless you have a motive.

The motive could be a passion or interest in something, a sense of challenge or drive to crack a problem that no one else has been able to solve.

Within every individual, creativity is a function of three components:

1. Expertise

2. Creative thinking skill

3. Motivation

Expertise covers everything that you knows and can do in the broad domain of your work based on your knowledge and technical ability.

Creative thinking refers to how you approach problems and solutions and your capacity to put existing ideas together in new combinations. The skill itself depends quite a bit on personality as well as on how a person thinks and works. Expertise and creative thinking are the entrepreneur’s raw materials or natural resources.

Motivation is your drive and desire to do something, an inner passion and interest. When people are intrinsically motivated, they engage in their work for the challenge and enjoyment of it.

Advice

Dont follow any advice,no matter how good until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think in your mind that the counsel is wise- John Rivers

Dont follow any advice,no matter how good until you feel as deeply in your spirit as you think in your mind that the counsel is wise- John rivers

Sources of Finances for Entrepreneurs:Tanzania perspective

The following are the major sources of funding for entrepreneurs:

1. Personal finances
2. Friends and family
3. Angel Investors
4. Debt financing
5. Equity financing
6. Customer financing
7. Government–sponsored programs
8. SACCOS-Savings and Credit Cooperative Society
9. Financial Institutions such as NMB,CRDB,NBC, Akiba Commercial Bank.         Their services can be on Business loans and Bank overdraf.
10. Micro-Financial Institutions such as Small Enterprises Development Agency(SEDA),Promotion of Rural Ititiatives  and Development Enterprises (PRIDE) and Presidential Trust Fund
11. Hybrid Financing (Various financial services combining personal Finances and loan Financing)
12. The sale of un-utilized  and un-profitable assets
13. Credits from Suppliers  of Materials to the entrepreneur.

INNOVATION

What is innovation?

Innovation: Is defined as adding something new to an existing product or process. The key words are adding and existing. The product or process has already been created from scratch and has worked reasonably well. When it is changed so that it works better or fulfils a different need, then there is innovation on what already exists.

Innovation is the successful exploitation of new ideas.

All innovation begins with creative ideas. Creativity is the starting point for innovation.

Innovation is the process of bringing the best ideas into reality, which triggers a creative idea, which generates a series of innovative events

Innovation is the process that transforms new ideas into new value.

Innovation is the inter-section of invention and insight leading to the creative of social and economic value. The creation of value adding value to customer’s satisfaction-“delighting the customers”.

Principles of Innovation. Here are some principles which will help an entrepreneur to become innovative.

• Action-oriented that is:

     -Make the process or service simple

     -Make the process or service customer-focused

    - Start small but aim high

    -Try, test, and revise the process or service

    -Learn from failures

    -Reward good performance

   -Work, work, and work to innovate successfully

The Elements of Innovation

Innovation is the successful development of competitive advantage and as such, it is the key to entrepreneurship. The entrepreneurs are the “dreamers”, who take hands on responsibility for creating innovation.

Fiona Fitzpatric identified the following elements of innovation:

1. Challenge: What are we trying to change or accomplish-the “pull”

2. Customer focus: Creating value for your customers-the “push”

3. Creativity: Generating and sharing the idea(s)-the “brain”

4. Communication: The flow of information and ideas-the “life blood”

5. Collaboration: People coming together to work together on the idea(s)-the “heart”

6. Completion: Implementing the new idea-the “muscle”

7. Contemplation: Learning and sharing lessons lead to higher competence- the “ladder”

8. Culture: The playing field of innovation includes:

·         Leadership (sees the possibilities and positions the team for action-the role model)

·         People ( diverse groups of radically empowered people innovate-the source of innovation)

·         Basic value (trust and respect define and distinguish an innovative organization-the backbone)

·         Innovation values (certain values stoke the fires that make the “impossible” possible- the Spark)

9. Context: Innovation is shaped by interactions with the world

Forms of innovation

Innovation can take several forms:

i. Innovation in processes, including changes and improvement to methods. These contribute to increases in productivity. Which lowers cost and help to increase demand.

ii. Innovation in products or services, while progressive Innovation is predominant, radical innovations opens up new markets. These lead to increases in effective demand which encourages increases in investment and employment.

iii. Innovation in management and work organization, and the exploitation of human resources, together with the capacity to anticipate techniques

Innovation centres on people, culture, structure, process and technology. Innovation is the process through which the entrepreneur converts market opportunities into workable, profitable, and marketable ideas.

Therefore creativity and innovation are inseparable in entrepreneurship. Creativity brings in new idea-thinking about new things and innovation gives means in which that thought is put into a workable change. An entrepreneur therefore starts with creative thinking  followed by innovative approaches (operational strategy of a created thought)

BUSINESS IDEAS AND ITS EVALUATION

Business Ideas

Generating and evaluating business ideas is an important step in the in the business planning and the entire entrepreneurial process. ( Coulter,2005)

The idea of starting a business normally crosses to people’s minds at different times. Whether an individual is entrepreneur, limited company or a small business; the ideas for business be it about finding the new opportunity for business to how to generate a new income and develop the idea remain the same (Business idea.com) accessed on 28^th June 2011

Most businesses regardless of their size start with the intention to make money. However, selling the product and finding the customers is only one aspect, understanding the business strategy, business financing, outsourcing product and market research and the most cost efficient ways of achieving these issues are the fundamental basics of the business. In order to get this information into reality into a structured format is what makes the essence of business planning to be of paramount importance inter alia.

Generating business ideas is an innovative and creative process. It sometimes takes sometimes, not only in the beginning stages of the entrepreneurial venture but also throughout the life of the business(Coulter,2005)

According to (Coulter,2005),Ideas of businesses have various sources; firstly, it could be from personal interests or hobbies where the owner of the business would start his business. Many entrepreneurial ventures were formed because of the an entrepreneur’s love of doing something. Such hobbies could be singing, music, baking, swimming. A succeful entrepreneurial business might be built around personal interests in a particular product or activity.

Business ideas may emanate from work experiences, skills and abilities. By tapping into the knowledge of an industry or market gained by working in it, an entrepreneur can pinpoint areas of potential opportunity. For example, if you have travelled, you have undoubtedly seen those suitcases with wheels. Now wasn’t that the great idea! It was created by Travelpro Rollerboard, because in his job as an airline pilot he was he was constantly carry his bags from one place to another and he was looking for a more convenient and comfortable way of doing so. In the process of using his work related experiences and knowledge, he not only created a new product but also a new industry.

The third source of business idea could be to look at products and services currently available, both familiar and unfamiliar ones. What products do you use every day? Do they do all that you wish they could do? What about the products you are familiar with and apply them to those unfamiliar ones. So one can sport the business opportunities by looking at the unfulfilled niches in the familiar and unfamiliar products which are currently in use.

The final source of business ideas is the external environment. There are certain to be opportunities, positive trends or changes that provide unique and distinct possibilities for innovating and creating value. In the entrepreneurial context, you just have to look for them. These opportunities can be found in the technological, societal culture, demographics, economics, and legal political sectors(Ibid)

Why Evaluating   Business Ideas?

Before taking any idea and document  it in the business plan, it is far important to evaluate it, in order to see the validity of one’s business idea.

It is important to evaluate business ideas because every entrepreneur has his own unique reasons behind pursuing an entrepreneurial venture. This means every entrepreneur has decisions to make against their own goals. Therefore ideal business idea for individual entrepreneur should be evaluated against what is important to the entrepreneur.

In addition to that, evaluation of business ideas is important because all ideas are not created equal. Some ideas of the entrepreneur has the chance of succeeding than others. By evaluating at their strength and weaknesses of each idea, the entrepreneur can come up with good assessment of the better decision of a good business idea among various alternative of ideas.

On top of that the evaluation of business idea is important because of reality of limited resources. Most entrepreneurs have limited amounts of money, time, people, or other resources that will be needed to  pursue their entrepreneurial ideas. By evaluating the ideas, the entrepreneur will make sure his choice make the best use of the limited resources.

Lastly, evaluating of business ideas is important because due to desire to minimise risk and maximize returns. Naturally one would like to have less amount of uncertainty while getting the biggest payback from entrepreneurial decisions and actions. Therefore this is done so as minimise risk exposure while maximizing the possible amount of payoffs.(Ibid)

How can Business ideas be evaluated?

Evaluation of the business ideas revolves around personal, capital and market place considerations.(Coulter,2005)

In an entrepreneurial venture, the entrepreneur is the important element around which all other decisions and actions happens. The personal considerations include issues like readiness, capabilities, passion for what one is doing, ability to handle ambiguity and uncertainty, hardworking, realistic picture of the proposed venture potential, continual analysis and self education of the venture (Ibid)

A market consideration factor is also another important element in the evaluation of the business ideas. The entrepreneurial idea will have to be competitive and dynamic marketplace. Consequently, the choices the entrepreneur make needs to be made with an eye to the market. The customer is the alpha and Omega of the business; The more market driven is the venture, the greater the chance of success.(Burns,1999).

The most important issues to be considered here is who are the potential customers(not just who, but  how many), what similar or unique product features does your proposed idea have in relation to what is currently on the market; where will your customers purchase your product; Consideration on your price, calculation on breakeven points and the ideas on how the business and products can be promoted or advertised.(Coulter,2005)

In addition to the above evaluation criteria, capital consideration is also an important element in the evaluation of viability of the business idea. Every entrepreneur will require funds in starting and growing his business venture. The most vivid question is where will the funds come from?

The entrepreneur’s personal sources can be good source of financing. Moreover, other sources can be personal savings, home equity, Cash proceeds from the sale of personal assets, life insurance loan, Personal loans, Loans from family or  friends and financial institutions.(Coulter,2005)

                                                      

Entrepreneurship is an interdisciplinary concept

Entrepreneurship is a subject  or a concept that involves many fields such as psychology, economics, Business strategy and Administration. 


As such, it contains various approaches that can be used to increase one’s understanding of the field. 

entrepreneurial characteristics

o   personal initiatives,

o   Creativity and Innovative

o   the ability to consolidate resources,

o   management skills,

o   a desire for an autonomy,

o   aggressiveness,

o   competitiveness,

o   goal oriented behaviour,

o   confidence,

o   opportunistic behaviour,

o   intuitiveness,

o   reality – based actions,

o   the ability to lean from mistakes

Role Model entrepreneur in the Healthcare Industry in Tanzania

A classic example of a successful entrepreneur in the health services is Prof. Hurbert Kairuki (Mission Mikocheni Hospital-Dar-es-Salaam), Bruno Minja (Nakiete Pharmacy-Dar-es-Salaam)

Cant the medical personel in Tanzania and the whole world emulate their examples instead of thinking of riot and strike!!

Mjasiriamali-The entrepreneur

  An entrepreneur is a person who sets and manages successfully an enterprise. Such a person has the ability to explore existing business opportunities and utilizes them to start his / her own business venture

The art of being entrepreneurial involves two important aspects that you should always remember:

                       i.            Combining personal characteristics (this is knowledge and skills).

                     ii.            Combining financial means and physical resources within the environment in order to realizes an economically sound product / service.

Jean-Baptist Say

Back in 1800, Jean-Baptist Say, a French economist  is  credited with inventing the word  entrepreneurship said; 'entrepreneurs shift economic resources from an area of lower productivity into an area of higher productivity and greater yield’.

In other words entrepreneurs create value by exploiting some form of change, for example in technology, materials, prices or demographics. We call this process innovation and this is an essential tool for entrepreneurs.

Starting up your own business

 

‘Stop just thinking it, but make it happen, when you are young is the time to start your own business, as you do not have the responsibilities you will have when you are older. The worst that can happen if you fail now is that you will not  have firsthand experience to make your next venture a success’

-Catherine Cook

Stop just thinking it, but make it happen, when you are young is the time to start your own business, as you do not have the responsibilities you will have when you are older. The worst that can happen if you fail now is that you have firsthand experience to make your next venture a success-

Catherine Cook