Chapter- One Introduction

1.1 Introduction:
We've always believed that size doesn't matter on the Web. By doing things right, small entrepreneurs do big business - and even outperform the big guys. With the right product, plus lots of hard work and determination, small entrepreneurs can do big business on the Web. Toufique Hasan Mahbub, owner and proprietor of the site schimsoft.com is a living proof that "small guys can win the online game." Toufique Hasan Mahbub started his journey in the business area with schim soft. He started his business in 2004 and between this 6 years he proves himself as a successful business. Schimsoft is a full service professional outsource website design & development company providing services for companies or individuals interested in outsourcing their web design and website development needs. Based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, established in 2005, His company is a leading and professional web design company delivering exceptional website designs. His another Business is export import business Affari agent. Affari Agents is ICT based distributor, service & Support Company in Bangladesh. Affari Agents provides a High Tech professional solution of Network Management System, Network Optimization & Network Quality for all Telecommunication & IT industries. Affari Agents also provide the solution for Broadband Access Network & Wide Area Network. He proves that you can make it big on the Web even with little cash and limited technical expertise, as long as you have the guts and determination. We have the privilege to interview Toufique Hasan Mahbub and to have some secrets of his success as a entrepreneur.

1.2 Entrepreneur:
An entrepreneur is a person who has possession of a new enterprise, venture or idea and is accountable for the inherent risks and the outcome. The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to launch a new venture or enterprise and accept full responsibility for the outcome. Jean-Baptiste Say, a French economist, is believed to have coined the word "entrepreneur" in the 19th century - he defined an entrepreneur as "one who undertakes an enterprise, especially a contractor, acting as intermediatory between capital and labour".

1.3 Influences, personality traits, and characteristics:

The most significant influence on an individual's decision to become an entrepreneur is workplace peers and the social composition of the workplace. Entrepreneurs also often possess innate traits such as extroversion and a propensity for risk-taking. According to Schumpeter, an entrepreneur characteristically innovates, introduces new technologies, increases efficiency, productivity, or generates new products or services. An entrepreneur acts as a catalyst for economic change and research indicates that entrepreneurs are highly creative individuals who imagine new solutions by generating opportunities for profit or reward.

There is a complexity and lack of cohesion between research studies that explore the characteristics and personality traits of, and influences on, the entrepreneur. Most studies, however, agree that there are certain entrepreneurial traits and environmental influences that tend to be consistent. Although certain entrepreneurial traits are required, entrepreneurial behaviors are dynamic and influenced by environmental factors. Shane and VenKataraman (2000) argue the entrepreneur is solely concerned with opportunity recognition and exploitation; however, the opportunity that is recognized depends on the type of entrepreneur which Ucbasaran et al. (2001) argue there are many different types dependent on their business and personal circumstances.

Psychological studies show that the psychological propensities for male and female entrepreneurs are more similar than different. Perceived gender differences may be due more to gender stereotyping. There is a growing body of work that shows that entrepreneurial behavior is dependent on social and economic factors. For example, countries which have healthy and diversified labor markets or stronger safety nets show a more favorable ratio of opportunitydriven rather than necessity-driven women entrepreneurs. Empirical studies suggest that women entrepreneurs possess strong negotiating skills and consensus-forming abilities.

1.4 How to Become a Successful Entrepreneur:

y Having Self-Confidence: To be a successful entrepreneur, you need to have tremendous self-belief. Do you really think that you have the willingness to overcome all obstacles and achieve your goals? If you lack that crucial element of confidence in your mental makeup, then entrepreneurship is not for you. Belief in yourself is what gives you the self-confidence you need to be a successful entrepreneur. If you have the self-belief that you can do it, that will give you all the confidence you need. Can you inculcate selfconfidence in yourself? Yes, you can, by trying to push yourself to doing a little more than what you are comfortable doing each day. And before long, you will find yourself accomplishing things you would have never thought were possible. Bear in mind, that many successful entrepreneurs that you see, started out with nothing, or very little, apart from self-confidence and self-belief.

Having Belief In Your Business Venture: Put the question to yourself whether you really believe in the business you are venturing into. If you find that you are not completely convinced about it, you need to continue looking until you can pinpoint one that you feel you will be ready to be committed to. To be successful in any business venture, you will have to be focused on it practically 24 hours a day. You will have to continuously be building it, fine-tuning it, and re-inventing it. This requires an enormous amount of self-commitment.

Focusing On Your Strengths: Each person has his/her own strengths as well as weaknesses. In order to be an effective entrepreneur, you will need to pinpoint your strengths and focus on them. You will achieve more success by being able to channelize your efforts into the areas you are best at. For instance, if marketing skills are your forte, then you need to harness the capability, making full use of it in the business. And get assistance in those areas that you may be weak in, like bookkeeping or accounting. You can even turn your weaknesses into strengths by getting trained or learning about those areas.

Having The Ability To Recognize Opportunity: In case your business were to be destroyed tomorrow, how would you look at it? Would it seem like an irreconcilable loss, or would you look at it as an opportunity to make a new beginning to improve, to grow, to rebuild? Successful entrepreneurs eye everything as a source of opportunity. They have an inquisitive and questioning attitude about everything. No matter what they come across, they always wonder if there is a better way of doing things. And if they do think that indeed there could be a better way, they set about finding the solutions themselves or get help from an expert. Indeed, opportunity can be found in a vast plethora of ways and places, and with the help of the Internet available these days, there is no dearth of opportunities knocking at our computer screens. If you are a true-blue entrepreneur, you will see opportunity everywhere.

Being A Decision Maker: If you required some information, would you be able to get it fast, without having to waste other peoples or your own time? Put differently, if you had to make a decision, would you be able to get the information you need fast enough and then make the decision? Or would you keep procrastinating, until the very fact of your not having made a decision becomes the decision? Being an entrepreneur involves making a lot of decisions, which involves getting information swiftly and making equally swift, albeit informed, decisions. Keep in mind that each decision that is made by you,

regardless of how unimportant it may appear at the time, will have an impact on the future of your business in some way. Most successful entrepreneurs have accurate gut instincts, which they use whenever in doubt.

Being A Leader: You will not be able to do everything all by yourself. A time will come when it will be necessary to hire employees, speak to investors, apply for loans thus, having to assume the role of a leader. If you dont have the ability to lead, you will not be able to get any followers. As the head of your company, the people you hire will look to you for support and guidance. The ability to give the correct support and guidance will be the basis of your success as an entrepreneur to a large extent.

Chapter- Two Personal Information

2.1 Early days: Toufique Hasan Mahbub was born in 1977; He is a man of 34 years old. He came from an ordinary middle class family living in Chittagong. His fathers name is Mahabubur Rahman and mothes name is Jayda Khanom. His Father is the manager of Padma life insurance and his mother is assistant engineer at TNT .

2.2 Family: He is the Elder son of his parents with one sister. His father was middle class with his job. Besides, his father supported him to enter into business. From his childhood he got enough freedom to exercise his own choice, especially from his mother. She influenced him in his every stage of life. He got married 2 years back with Nabila Ahmed.

2.3 Schooling: He was well educated and experienced person in IT sector. He passed his S.S.C form Chittagong Rail way High School And H.S.C from Chittagong City College. At early age he wanted to be a doctor but after growing with his age his aim of life was changing. So After his H.S.C he comes to Dhaka and admitted in North south University at department of C.S.E. With a upper- middle class family his parents was very supporting with his study so he can study at one of the popular private universities of Bangladesh.

2.4 Service Life: He did many part time jobs in his student life to make his pocket money and also did jobs to After completing his graduation he was worked in some IT Based organization.

Chapter- three About Schimsoft and Affari Agents

2.1 Schim soft

Schimsoft provides services through offering all kind of software to manage all business dynamically. Our highly skilled and experienced software engineer teams are employed to develop software by using the latest tools, techniques, and methodologies. Usually we code with object oriented and open source programming languages if the clients dosen't have any objection. Our software service team is always ready to serve our clients based on 24/7 system. Schimsoft offers a wide range of custom IT programming services. They have outstanding experience in custom database development, desktop and distributed application design as well as various custom software components and web-project programming. They take all stages of the software development process seriously. They also gives: y y y Web Programming. Ecommerce Solution Content management Solution

2.2 Clients:

SOME LIST OF THEIR CLIENT

SL
1 2 SKY VIEW DEVELOPERS LTD. 3 NP PROPERTIES LTD 4 5 BANGLADESH INTEGRATED SOCIAL ADVANCEMENT PROGRAMME NARI JAGARON SONGSTA

Company Name
ORBIT SERVICE (PTE) LTD.

6 7 8 9 10

GREEN DELTA HOUSING LIMITED TREE STAR HOUSING LIMITED AFFARI AGENTS. ALIF LAAM FASHIONS LTD.

LAAM MEEM CLOTHINGS LTD 11 12 RUHI ENTERPRISE LTD. 13 HALF PAST ELEVEN. 15 GENIOUS SHOPING MALL. 20 K JAMAN GROUP OF INDUSTRIES LTD. JAHIR & BROTHERS

2.3 Affari agent:

Affari Agents complete range of IT Services addresses the needs of both technology and business requirements to help organizations leverage leading-edge technologies for business improvement. Affari Agents takes charge of the IT needs of the entire enterprise. The gamut of services extends from Enterprise Application Services (CRM, ERP, e-Procurement and SCM), to e-Business solutions. Affari Agents enterprise solutions have served and continue to serve clients from a range of industries including Energy and Utilities, Finance, Telecom, and Media and Entertainment. Through a series of strategic initiatives over a Three year period, Affari Agents made the client realize significant cost savings as well as remarkably improve the quality of the application estate. This was done by following a cycle of define, perform, review and refine, for each of the functions that Affari Agents was entrusted with. Affari Agents devised and

implemented a strategy for cost savings by leveraging on its Global Sourcing model. The savings in the application support budget was also enabled through a system of forecasting and reviewing service requirements with partners and third party vendors. Affari Agents is planning to start a new wing with the power system, since there is a huge power shortage in Bangladesh. Affari Agents has a established channel marketing partner to distribute in Bangladesh. Especially we are looking for Telco & Industrial grade power systems.

2.4 Products:
Laptop Affari Agents supply brand Laptop, like - DELL, ASUS, FUJITSU, ACER, GIGABYTE, HP, ACER, LENOVO, TOSHIBA, VAIO, BENQ, APPLE.

Desktop Affari Agents supply all kind of Desktop computer.

Telco Cable & Accessories Affari Agents supply all kind of Telco Cable & Accessories.

IP CAM An IP Camera is a stand-alone device which allows you to view live, full motion video from anywhere in the world. IP Cameras can be used for surveillance of both homes and businesses. With the ability to record live video to a remote location, IP Cameras allow you to make sure your recorded video is safe by storing it at a location that only you can access IP Network Video Security is a booming market that offers products allowing you to monitor your home or business from anywhere in the world. Affari Agents help you understand, troubleshoot and purchase IP Network Cameras and Video Servers. We offer services regarding IP Cameras, Network Cameras, Internet Cameras, Video Servers and all other types of IP Network Video Products.

MEDIA CONVERTER Affari Agents provides an Ethernet converter for any type of infrastructure or media. These enable Ethernet transport over fiber, PDH, SDH/SONET, copper DSL, ATM, and wireless, with end-to-end management and control capabilities.

Optical fiber & patch cord Affari Agents supply fiber optic patch cord, fiber optic patch cable, LC,SC/APC,ST, E2000/APC, MU, VF45,FC, MT-RJ, SC, MPO, Volition, MTP, FC/APC, ST/APC, LC/APC, E2000, DIN, D4, SMA, Escon, FDDI, RoHS compliant, LSZH, Riser, Plenum, OFNR, OFNP, simplex, duplex, single mode,9/125,SM, multimode, MM, 50/125, 62.5/125

ROUTER For quick and easy-to-install high speed internet access, Router and USB Network Adaptor Kit will solve all your problems. Affari Agents ready to provide u different types of Router & Network Accessories.

Security and Access control Today, more than ever, security has become a key issue in business. Staff safety, the protection of assets, informzation, stock and cash, controlling access and monitoring activity, are all directly related to the profitability of your business. Efficient security systems allow your business to focus on what it does, and to grow with confidence. Access Security & Control is a system integrator and provides electronic security solutions to industry and the corporate sector.

Surge Protector An electrical surge can destroy your most expensive electronics in seconds! Don't take the risk; get an original Surge Protector to ensure the safety of your valuable electronic devices.

Switch Affari Agents supply all kind of Switch.

2.5 Service provide:

i. Server/Network Installation Service ii. Power Cabling and Installation Service iii. Industrial Operation and Maintenance Service iv. Industrial CAD/CAM Service

2.6 Solution provide:

They provide solutions in the following category i. Industrial IT Solution ii. Security & Storage Solution iii. Network Design, Structured Cabling Solution iv. Data Storage Solution .

Chapter-4 Business at Early age

A person who starts or organize a commercial enterprize, takes necessary risks to manage his business and receives all profits and and non monetary rewards called a ENTREPRENUER. So knowing about a entreprenuer and his successful business we also should know about the past of this business. In this chapter we are going to discuss about the starting point of the business.

3.1 The moment he came up with this idea: He thinks that the idea of web entrepreneurship has been largely neglected in our country. Perhaps the main reason is that the number of regular internet user is still not that much. He had some friends who were actually doing OK on the Internet. He also had the sense that the Internet was going to go somewhere and he had the feeling that this is a ground floor opportunity that was about to take off. Then he think about the web entrepreneurship and also think about the export import business based on it sector. Because Bangladesh is going to be a developed country within next 30 years and every sector will be based on network. So he wanted to establish his businss on this sector.

3.2 How did the business start: He has been involved with information technology sector of Bangladesh since he was student. For that he had chances to meet the people who work for information technology and talked about their business and their web site. After completing his graduation he decide to establish his own business in this sector and with help of his family and some friends he started his business on IT sector. After some time from this business he succeeded saving some money. With the money he started his another business which is export import business.

3.3 How he managed the investment: The first investment was 500000 Taka. He invests 200000 taka for the office decoration and advance office rent and next of the 200000 taka invests for the computer and others equipments. Rest of the 100000 taka keeps for the employee salary and others expenses. In this whole process his family and his friends helped and supported him very much.

3.4 His expectations when he started this business: When he started bussiness at that time, most people had a lot of dream with this sector. They thought that if they learnt computer then they would get very good job and their career would be great. In the private universities, hundreds of students used to get admitted in Computer Science and Engineering departments with the dream of becoming rich some day. He also had that dream expactations on this sector. He wanted to be succhessful business on this sector. Even there was dream in the government level. In 1998, all kind of taxes were removed from the computer accessories. Then in 2001 or 2002, there was even an announcement from government of a target of earning at least a billion dollar from software and IT export. However, the reality is that this dream has not materialized yet and still, the export revenue of Bangladesh from information technology sector is very insignificant in our overall export earnings.

3.5 Performance of business at early age:

Chapter-5 Business at present time

To become a successful entreprenuer an entreprenuer must run his business successfully with new and innovative ideas which are qulaity of an entreprenuer. In this chapter we will discuss how Toufique Hasan Mahbub runs his business at this present time which makes him a successful entreprenuer.

Present growth of the business:

Way of provide customer service: You have to treat your customer as your boss if you are businessman. Toufique Hasan Mahbub also knows it. He sends confirmation emails when he receives the order. He again sends a confirmation email when the order is shipped. He made the decision to put their phone number everywhere on their web site so their customers can call them. They don't have 24/7 coverage but they have enough staff to handle the phone during office hours. They never let the phone ring 2 or 3 times. customers are rarely put on hold. A knowledgeable staff answers questions. If there is a concern, it is quickly handled.

Way of Promote his business: Schimsof give some promotional offer to their client for increasing their sales. Their Promotional offer was if buy five CC camera they provide free installation cost and 6 month free service. If some one develop their web page then provide domain hosting free and 6 month free redevelopment. Buy one accounting software also provide installation cost and 6 month free servicing.

Protection of his business (e.g. Insurance): As a entrepreuer you have to protect your company and your business and your emplyess from all uncertainty. He also concern about this which is one of the qualities of successsful entreprenuer. Well the business itself is completely insured to protect himselves from mishaps. Fortunately, they've never had any problems but nobody can never be too sure. Most of the companies that they work with requires certificate of insurance. They also make sure that they are protected from fire and theft because they house so many products there. Insurance was one of the first things that they put in. He also trademarked on all his company's name. He spents money, energy and time in the very beginning to trademark all his names, his logo and what he does. He also concern about employess. He discussed with his employees about their problems and always look after them. These are two business decisions that have been important to his company. He spends too many energy and time for people to know who he is because he believes in his name.

Chapter 6

Success and Hurdle

Facters of success:
Make strategic decisions based on limited data: Are you comfortable making important decisions when you know some but not all of the facts? Given that business conditions change quickly, you rarely have time to gather 100 percent of the information you need before making a strategic decision. Good entrepreneurs, however, can make sound choices based on only 80 percent of the data. They understand that the market will shift before they can get the whole picture, and that waiting to learn more could mean missing an opportunity. Having the ability to act in the midst of uncertainty is a critical component of entrepreneurial success. Toufique Hasan Mahbub have that ability to act cleverly in a critical component which help him in the path of his success.

Learn from his mistakes: Two of my favorite questions what was your biggest mistake? The answers to these questions are important, since successful entrepreneurs must have the capacity to learn from their mistakes. Toufique Hasan Mahbub said he learn many things from his mistakes which makes him more strong for his next job.

Understand his weaknesses Most CEOs have a strong background in one functional area -- be it sales, finance, marketing, operations, or R&D. And every man has some weakness inside. Toufique Hasan Mahbub admit that he also has some weakness and the main thig is he is allert about his weakness and always he tries to convert his weakness into strenth.

Spot patterns and separate key data The companies in which we invest often operate in dynamic markets, where the structure of the industry, the nature of the customer base, or the overall way of doing business has not yet been

determined. As a result, the entrepreneurs who run these companies must be confident in building structure where none is currently in place. In addition to identifying patterns, they should be able to separate relevant information from meaningless data. Toufique Hasan Mahbub is clear about his business patterns. He knows how he is doing his business and what is suitable for his business success.

Hurdle faced:
y Capital :To start any business, you need a capital. Even if you have sufficient capital to start a business, you need more money to run a business until you make a profit. For most businesses sales take time and generating profits take even more time. Hence, you need to estimate your capital precisely. A lot of small start-up businesses have failed due to lack of sufficient capital. Toufique Hasan Mahbub also faced these problems.

Protecting Intellectual Property

For the uninitiated, intellectual property(IP) is the legal rights for the products or any creation of a company which has commercial value. If you don't have legal rights for the your products, competitors can use the same idea to produce things at a cheaper cost and hence do more business and make profit. There are ways to protect your IP, namely; Trademarks, Patents and Copyrights. Most small businesses do not protect their IP and hence losing their businesses to competitors. Some years back Toufique Hasan Mahbub faces this kind of problems.

Managing Family
A lot of people won't even consider this as an hurdle initially. However, its not the case. To be a successful entrepreneur you need to spend a considerable amount of time at work. Hence, you will not be able to take care of your family and have no time for your personal work. You need

to strike a balance between both of them. If personal problems are not taken care of, then it will be an obstacle for an entrepreneur. Toufique Hasan Mahbub loves his family but sometimes he unable to give the that much time they need.

There are so many other obstacles in the day-to-day life of an entrepreneur. To be a successful entrepreneur, don't consider them as hurdles. Try to treat them as another task to be done or to be taken care of. Entrepreneur needs to keep tackling those tricky issues.

Chapter- 7 Contribution on society and economy

SOCIAL CONTRIBUTION
Toufique Hasan Mahbub admits that from the very beginning to now on, he has been getting great support from the local people. But he did not limit his gratefulness within his speech. Rather he is trying his level best to return something to the society. For this, he with some other business persons took initiative to stop all kinds of harassment with the client, especially in Web development and domain Hosting. He provide the Peaceful work environment for the employee and go agreement more than one years. Besides, he with some other business persons gave employment of the unemployment people. He also founded a library in his village and is planning to establish a Mosque. He also provides three computers in his village high school.

ECONOMICAL CONTRIBUTION
Toufique Hasan Mahbub Contribute some economical contribution in the society. He pays his income tax at each and every year. In 2005 he pays 50000 taka as his income tax,in 2006 pays 75000 taka,in 2007 pays 150000 taka,in 2008 pays 175000 taka,in 2009 pays 200000 taka and in 2010 pays 300000 taka.

Chapter- 8 Future plan, Advice, Concluding part

Outlook in the next 2-3 years:

They are looking to diversify, maintain steady growth and slowly build the business. They are projecting 30% revenues for this year, growth over last, and they at 60%.

Right now they are actually trekking at 80% but they had a slow start of business. They slashed all their prices and that hurt us in the first quarter. they'll be somewhere between 60-70% by the end of the year. the're expecting probably about 20-30% for the next few years, which they're comfortable with for this product line. If they bring out other lines that start out to become more successful, they'd probably push the percent up a little bit.

They re not looking for a big kill. They are looking for little small things that add on to what they doing well now. So if they find 20 things that give them a 5% boost and there's a 100% growth, then fine.

His advice for other online businessman:

This is the advice he gives to everyone who is growing his or her own business: Think of the true Amazon River when you go to build something. It is built by many little streams and rivulets and little dripping dews that falls on branches that all curves and trickles into making this large body of water. Amazon.com spent billions of dollars digging up a trench for everything to fall into because they have that kind of money.

You can truly build a large revenue stream by just finding something that might give you one customer a month. You should have that goal of finding a revenue source - be it a link, be it a small little banner where you have a reciprocal agreement with another site from -- just keep

looking for places that will give you one or two customers a week, a month, a year. And keep building on those. And some of those may get big, some of those may get small.

It's the same kind of strategy on acquiring a product line. You have a low level of expectations on those products, but keep an eye on them. Work with them well - some of them may get big while as an aggregate to all may very well work together.

Our opinion:
Like any activity you pursue, there are certain musts that are required to be successful in a chosen activity. To legally operate a vehicle on public roadways, one must have a driver's license; to excel in sports, one must train and practice; to retire comfortably, one must become an informed investor and actively invest for retirement. If your goal is success in business, then the formula is no different. There are certain musts that have to be fully developed, implemented and managed for your business to succeed. An entrepreneur chooses not to sit back and take what life deals him; he attacks life head on, takes charge of his own life, and has a persistent determination to create his own path in life. The entrepreneur personality test is a test for you to discover the mindset you have now, compared to the new entrepreneurial mindset that you will be creating. Also, your new entrepreneurial mindset will help you to understand the importance of a network of business opportunities. It is important for you to start networking with other like-minded individuals to help assist you in accomplishing your business goals. Most of the wealthy entrepreneurs today are living successfully due to the many benefits of having a small business as an entrepreneur thats home-based in the state they live in now. Passion Loving what you do, believing in your product, and enjoying the process of challenges and rewards are all elements of passion. Defined as a strong feeling or emotion, passion is a driving force behind successful entrepreneurs. They will fight for what they believe in through times of adversity and their passion will convince and win over others.

Conclusion:
No doubt we have all heard stories of successful entrepreneurs. There is no shortage of inspiring stories of courageous men and women who have defied the odds and built up successful business from scratch. Passion Loving what you do, believing in your product, and enjoying the process of challenges and rewards are all elements of passion. Defined as a strong feeling or emotion, passion is a driving force behind successful entrepreneurs. They will fight for what they believe in through times of adversity and their passion will convince and win over others. No man can stand alone and no entrepreneur has all the experience, knowledge and connections to be successful by his or herself. Successful entrepreneurs build their circle of peers and contacts and continue to network regularly as they advance. Successful entrepreneurs know how to manage and maximize their time. The steps above will keep you getting more of want you want and less of want you dont want in your life. They have been in use for years by many of the wealthiest entrepreneurs on this planet. It also never hurts to expand your education by taking online classes in business. You now have in your hands a blueprint to your success in whatever you want to create. I personally use these steps in my own life every day, which has brought me an abundance of opportunities, money and phenomenal business relationships that I am very grateful for every day in my life. So here is to your success! Remember there is no such thing as problems, only opportunities in life. Embrace every opportunity that is in harmony with what your goals and ideas are in life, and you surely will begin living successfully as an entrepreneur in todays world.

Reference: http://www.howtodothings.com/business/how-to-become-a-successfulentrepreneur-in-today-s-world http://www.powerhomebiz.com/OnlineSuccess/redwagons2.htm http://www.powerhomebiz.com/SBP/intro1.htm