ENTREPRENEURSHIP 101. I want to share some business development tips for aspiring entrepreneurs today.I will leverage on the Ernst & Young report on entrepreneurship: 2011 E & Y Report: Nature or nurture?. Deciding the DNA of entrepreneurs.This report is highly credible because it contains the views of about 800 successful entrepreneurs. Entreprenuership by the way requires just 4 things: -Set of skills -Industry knowledge -Practice -Network and geography The 4 key findings of the report: #1.Entrepreneurial leaders are made not born: Permit me to elaborate on this finding.Usually I hear expressions such as Im born this way and I marvel.I particularly do not believe that we have the knowledge and skill or experience for anything at birth.The knowledge comes through learning.Im of the school of thought which argue that at birth our brains are at tabula raza which simply means that at birth, a mans brains appears to be a void that needs to be filled up.Everything,every skill is learnable.Business skills are absolutely learnable and successful entrepreneurs are persons who have simply learned and applied these skills.The report Im relying on revealed that most entrepreneurial leaders start at a young age but most are out of college. 10% of entrepreneurs start below the age of 20. 45% are between 20-29. 31% are b/w 30-39. 12% b/w 40-49. 2% b/w 50-59. The interviewed entrepreneurs reported some basic factors that contributed to their success.These factors all point to learning and acquisition of skills and experience.They are: 1.Employee(working for a corporation) contributed 33 % of their success. 2.Higher education-30% 3.Mentorship-26%. I for one,before I ventured into entrepreneurship I had an intensive 6-month training.That alone has contributed in large part,to my succes thus far. #2.Entrepreneurship is rarely a one-off decision: Entrepreneurship is a process.It doesnt recognize eureka moments.Successful entrepreneurs have had their good share of failures climbing the entrepreneurship ladder. It requires constant practice and constant improvement and learning.The business environment is a very dynamic one;it keeps changing,thus requiring those in it to adopt these changes.The dotcom boom(1999/2000) is a good example of dynamism in business. #3.Funding,people,know-how are the biggest barriers to entrepreneurial success. -Funding-33% -People-19% -Know-how-19% I can tell you,I met head on with these problems when I started.I started my consulting practise and my business development and business support services company (The Feynolds Associates) with my personal savings.I still face some of these problems even now.The formula for attracting seed capital is: GF+GI+Bt=F GF-Great founder GI-Great idea BT-Business trajectory. F-Funding I can tell you authoritatively that you need 2 out of the 3 and if youre starting up your first company,you might as well come to grips that the GF is not for you cause you dont have a track record to show potential investors.Therefore you must rely almost entirely on the GI+BT.Business trajectory is the upward scaling of the venture. #4.Entrepreneurs share core traits :Entrepreneurial leaders habitually possess a strong internal locus.They believe they are the deciders of ther destiny.They dont succumb to environmental dictates.They also see opportunity where other see disruption.Lastly,entrepreneurs are risk tolerant.They are not neccessarily risk seeking. **For much of the information provided here I give credit to: 1.Harvard Innovation Lab 2.2011 E & Y Report on Entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship may be a bumpy journey but the destination is almost unimaginable.Follow your instincts.Respect your guts and rely on the strength of your passion.Get into an industry that you understand and that you have knowledge about.Dont give up and never be susceptible to negative influences.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 17:57:30 +0000
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