All too soon we’re closing the entrepreneurship journey in 2015 which has seen its own challenges. The Ghanaian entrepreneurial landscape saw some few entrants and 2016 as usual will see some new enterprises being birth. With or without economic Challenges, entrepreneurs will always dare to surmount these challenges-of course that’s the stuff entrepreneurs are made. Keep in mind these hacks in 2016 as you take your entrepreneurial journey a step further.
•Identify a gap
If you cannot meet a need you are not in business. A problem presents an opportunity for a business. Horseman Shoes met a need in footwear. Many businesses are success stories now because they could identify a need in society and they went ahead to solve them for which the world is paying them now. And the rewards are big. Take for example the story of BEAM; a Ghanaian start-up which seeks to offer services to Ghanaians living abroad who would like to have direct representations down here to undertake some business tasks for them. Many at times the narrative has been that, family relatives and friends squander hard earned resources of these Ghanaians abroad when they repatriate these funds for them to undertake project for them. What BEAM does is they step in and do that for a fee. They identified a gap and are meeting the needs of Ghanaians abroad and have created a whole business which is profitable.
•Offer a superior alternative (innovation)
Koko King shows us the power of innovation to meet a need. Enhanced performance that goes beyond functionality. Within the fast pace at which society is evolving globally and locally consumers wants new methods of solving the same age-old problems of society which they are prepared to pay for a fee provided it gives them the comfort they so desire. Economics 101 teaches us that consumers are rational thinkers and would make the best choices out of the various bundles of opportunities. For your business to continue in business and be profitable, you need to innovate. Apple came unto the seen with disruptive innovations and knocked off traditional smartphone brands like Blackberry. Apple was just not providing the apple iPhones but a phone that could do more than the average smartphone brand. That earned them the enviable position as the most valuable brand.
•Be passionate about the thing you do.
Encourage yourself in the lord. Like David in the Bible, resolve to encourage yourself in the midst of challenges because as an entrepreneur challenges and setbacks will knock you off your perch. Encouraging yourself will be the sure thing to do to sail to success. Many an entrepreneur will tell you the setbacks they encountered before finally the world came to celebrate their success and built lasting business empires and brands. Ask Prince Kofi Amoabeng and he will tell you the many obstacles he had to surmount in building The UT Group from scratch, talk to the Asoma Banda’s and you will understand the trials they passed through to build a local conglomerate with substantial presence in the sub-region, DerryDean Dadzie of Dreamoval will tell the difficulty in changing perception of consumers who are not adamant to change when he and his team were launching Slydepay to make transactions cashless with the use of technology. It is the passion within you that will drive you on when economic policies are not churned in your favor or shocks in the global trade kicks against you or your business partner pack bags and baggage’s and walks away at the middle of the journey. In these difficult and defining moments you need passion more than everything to stay afloat. Every entrepreneur passes through this face in the entrepreneurial journey. You need to be prepared for it and you need the passion.
•Acquire training through mentorship, entrepreneurship, reading about your field, apprenticeship.
Learning is unending. Others have walked the path you thread currently and it will be best you don’t try reinventing the wheel. Gain from their experience through apprenticeship. You learn a great deal practically by this association. Mentorship guides you through the uncertain terrains in entrepreneurship to avoid the common pitfalls entrepreneurs fall prey to and give you clear set of goals and visions to achieve. During mentorship, you are connected to a superior who has some experience and know-how of the business terrain. Many successful entrepreneurs will tell you how they benefited from accomplished business leaders. The Chief Executive Officer of Type Company Limited, an indigenous printing firm talks of how immensely he has benefited from his mentor, Mr. Tony Oteng Gyasi an accomplished industrialist. At a public forum, Mr. Tony Asmah recounted how his mentor (Tony Oteng Gyasi) taught him through the terrains in industry in Ghana when his company Type an indigenous printing firm based in Accra, was facing some challenges in the area of dealing with cheap competition from China. That is the benefit of mentorship; it helps you gain from the deep insights and connections of the mentor.
•Have a clear vision and know the price you must pay.
A clear vision puts you on the right path and helps you focus. Losing focus for the entrepreneur is costly. There is a huge price to pay for the entrepreneurial journey you are embarking on. Cutting down on frivolous expenditures, time management, going all out to meet targets among others calls for a lot of sacrifice.
For the entrepreneur starting an enterprise is not a walk in the park. The ideas and plans may be lofty and juicy but in between the ideas and plans and really getting it to work and sustain the enterprise require some painstaking and deliberate effort on your part. Start right.
