Entrepreneurial

Entrepreneurial
Opportunities
Opportunities

A business opportunity is a viable business potential to create

something new by engaging new technologies in the industry.
Another definition a needed product or service selling in enough
volume and produced cheaply enough to make a profit.
A business concept that if turned into a tangible product or service
offered by a business enterprise will result in financial profit.

Where do these opportunities come from?

MANY SOURCES!
For start- ups
Current or past work experiences
Hobbies that grow into business or lead into inventions
Suggestion by friends or families
Changes in external environment

Established firms
Needs of existing customers
Suggestions by suppliers
Technological developments that lead to new advances
Changes in external environment
Market research to discover new needs in the market
Consultations with business consultants

Characteristics
Characteristics of
of aa viable
viable business
business idea
idea
Legality-the business opportunity should be capable of operating
within the rules and regulations of its domicile
Growth potential- it should show dynamism by having growth
potential to gurantee the business increase in custormer base
operations, market shares and eventually profitability. A good
business opportunity is one that occupies a growing sector of the
economy and not a shrinking one .

Uniqueness- It should stand out in the industry and market to capture the attention
of all stakeholders
Marketability . A good business idea should appeal to the target market
Competitiveness A good business idea should be able to stand the competition
in its market
Protectability- a good business idea should provide the owners with the capability
to own the intellectual property of the products or services in existence
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Social acceptability- It should be acceptable not only legally but

also within the social norms and practices of the society

Operational feasibility- a good business opportunity should be

compatible with its reinforcing infrastructure

Creativity
Creativity and
and innovation
innovation
Good business ideas are born through the process of creativity
and innovation
Creativity and innovation are not synonymous terms . Creativity is
the ability to bring something new into existence .
This definition emphasis the ability and not the activity of bringing
something new into existence . A person may have a brilliant idea
but not take the necessary action to make it a reality

Creativity
Creativity

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Knowledge
All the relevant information that an individual brings to bear on a
problem. There are two types of knowledge that may be required
for creativity.
On one hand, in - depth experience and long - term focus in one
specific area allows people to build the technical expertise that can
serve as a foundation, or playground for creativity within a
domain.
At the same time, creativity rests on the ability to combine
previously disparate elements in new ways, which implies a need
for a broader focus and varied interests.
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Creative Thinking
While both Amabile and Gardner assert that thinking is a key
aspect of the creative process, they address this topic at a high
level. Creative thinking requires :
Comfort in disagreeing with others and trying solutions that depart
from the status quo.

Combining knowledge from previously disparate fields.

Ability to persevere through difficult problems and dry spells.

Ability to step away from an effort and return later with a fresh
perspective ( incubation)
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Motivation
Even more than particular cognitive abilities, a set of motivational
attributes childlike curiosity, intrinsic interest, perseverance
bordering on obsession seem to set individuals who change
the culture apart from the rest of humankind, (Nakamura &
Csikzentmihaly, p. 258).
Theorists see motivation as the most important component of
creativity people will be most creative when they feel motivated
primarily by the interest, satisfaction, and challenge of the work
itself and not by external pressures [i.e., extrinsic motivation],
(Amabile , p. 78).
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I like this quote

Students need to believe that creativity is determined by motivation
and effort to a significant degree. They need to understand that
creative products are seldom produced without intent and effort, that
there is considerable evidence to support the belief that most people
have potential they never realize and that persistent effort to develop
that potential is likely to be successful.... Students need to know too
that...truly outstanding creative works in science and art have often
taken many years sometimes the better part of a lifetime to
produce...They need to understand that if one really wants to be
creative in a substantive way, one must be prepared to work at it,
(Nickerson, p. 416).
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Creative
Creative minds
minds in
in Africa
Africa
Charging shoes
Kenyan inventor Anthony Mutua has developed a rather
ingenuous way of charging mobile phones using the power of
pedestrians. His invention comprises of ultra-thin chips of crystal
which are fitted to the bottom of a shoes sole. As the user walks, it
generates electricity through the pressure exerted when it is
stepped on. The chips costs around $46, and charges the phone
through an extension cable that runs from the shoe to the pocket.
Recently the project has been granted $6,000 for further funding
by Kenyas National Council of Science and Technology, as well as
the promise of mass production to reach out to a larger market.
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Please call me
Everyday users of mobile phone technology are sometimes
blissfully unaware that the Please Call Me service was invented in
Africa. The service allows users who have no airtime to send a
Please Call Me text message to any number to alert the receiver
that they wish to be called back. While there has been some
dispute as to who exactly invented the service, the fact remains
that it was either created by an employee of Vodacom or MTN in
South Africa. Both former Vodacom employee Nkosana Makate
and ex-MTN employee Ari Kahn have laid claims to the invention,
each with their own proof, but the matter is still being investigated
in a South African court.
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M-Pesa
M-Pesa is a mobile-phone based money transfer and
microfinancing service which was created for mobile operators
Safaricom and Vodacom, in Kenya and Tanzania, respectively. The
M stands for mobile, while pesa is the Swahili word for money,
and is currently the most developed mobile payment system in the
world. According to online sources, the service was developed
following a student software development project from Kenya in
2007, which was subsequently rolled out by Safaricom. The
service is currently in use in Kenya, Tanzania, Afghanistan, South
Africa, India and Egypt.
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CAT scan
Being widely used in the medical field across the world, few
patients know that when they lie down for a computed axial
tomography scan, or CAT scan, the technology was actually
invented by South African. While it was developed at Tufts
University in the UK, the person responsible for the imaging
equipment was South African physicist Allan Cormack and Godfrey
Hounsfield of EMI Laboratories.

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Recognizing their major efforts in the medical field, the pair was
awarded the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
According to online sources, Cormacks interest in the problem of
X-ray imaging of soft tissues was first aroused when he took up
the part-time position of physicist for a hospital radiology
department. In the 1960s, he provided the mathematical technique
for the CAT scan, in which an X-ray source and electronic
detectors are rotated around the body, producing a sharp map of
the tissues within a cross-section of the body.

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THE CREATIVE PROCESS

Idea generation

Preparation

Incubation

Verification

Illumination

The creativity process

There are five stages in the creative process (HOLT, 2002)
Idea Germination
Preparation
Incubation
Illumination
Verification

In each stage the individual behaves differently and the behavior

varies greatly among individuals .

Idea Generation
This is the seeding stage of a new idea. It is the stage where the
entrepreneur recognises an opportunity exist. Most of the creative
ideas can be traced to an individuals interest in or curiosity about a
specific problem or area of study.
Eg Alexander graham bell had been fascinated by the physics of
sound since childhood. He was influenced to study human hearing
systems by his mother, who had a serious hearing problem .
as a Young adult , bell taught at a school for the deaf and hearing
impaired and he set up a lab for testing new hearing devices.his idea
for a hearing aid was seeded years before he invented the telephone
and it evolved through his interest of helping others .
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Preparation
At this stage, the entrepreneur consciously searches for information.
He gathers, sort, and integrates information to provide for a
breakthrough.
If it is a problem that they are trying to solve then they begin an
intellectual journey , seeking information about the problem and how
others have tried to resolve it. If its an idea for a new product then one
would go for market research .
Inventors set up lab experiments , designers begin engineering new
products or ideas and marketers will study consumer buying habits .
Any individual with an idea will think about it and see how it can
become a reality.
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Incubation
This is the subconscious assimilation of information. It is basically
fantasising. This a crucial stage of creativity because when we
consciously focus on a problem , we behave rationally to attempt to find
systematic solutions.
The subconscious is allowed to wander and pursue fantasies and its
hence open to unusual information and knowledge. Subconscious is
often called the world of syneltics (WJgordon) . It means joining
together of different and often unrelated ideas .
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Illumination stage
Also called the eureka stage. This is when the idea pops up clearly
and the individual recognizes the idea as feasible and realizable.
The individual is able to connect all the necessary dots required to
realize the opportunity. It is when the idea surfaces as a realistic
creation. There will be a point when the individual will say oh I see!
Most creative people go through many cycles of preparation and
incubation searching for that catalyst that will give their idea a full
meaning.

Verification stage Also called the validation or testing stage.

This is where the idea is verified to prove that it has value. It is
the development stage or refining knowledge into application.
This is the most difficult phase of creativity as obstacles begin to
appear. The idea may also start evolving and taking a different
direction. Sometimes the individual is forced to go back to the
previous phases.
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Innovation
Good business ideas are generated through the creative process.
However, an idea no matter how good is useless unless it is
converted into a useful application. This is achieved through the
process of innovation.
Innovation is the process of doing new things . Ideas have little
value until they are converted into products , services or
processes.
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innovation involves finding a new and better way of doing something.

Much of our modern society is based on innovations that have occurred
in the past that provide us with the standard of living we enjoy today.
Entrepreneurship and innovation are companion terms. Innovation
always entails careful planning and deployement of resources to realize
the opportunity
Creativity is a prerequisite (desired condition) of innovation. You
cannot be innovative unless you are creative.
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Schumpters
Schumpters theory
theory of
of innovation
innovation
Schumpter was very explicit about the innovation role of the
entrepreneur
Viewed the entrepreneur as the prime mover in economic
development and his function is to innovate or to carry out new
combinations
In his definition, an entrepneur is an individual who introduces
something new in the economy . He used the term creative
destruction to describe the way in which capitalist economic
development arises out of the destructuion of some prior economic
order.
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In his vision of capitalism innovative entry by entrepreneurs was

the disruptive force that sustained economic growth.
According to Schumpeter a person is innovative when they do the
following
1.
Introduction of a new good
2.
Introduction of a new method of production
3.
Opening up of a new market in particular an export markt in a
new territory
4.
The conquest of a new source of supply
5.
Creation of a new type of industrial organization
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Peter
Peter Druckers
Druckers views
views of
of innovation
innovation
Drucker outlines seven sources for innovative opportunities that
should be monitored by those interested

The first four are sources of innovation that lie within the industry.
The last three arise in the societal environment.

The unexpected - The unexpected success, failure, or outside

event .It is not enough to depend on accidents. Entrepreneurs
must ensure that the unexpected is being seen; indeed, that it
clamors for attention. What does it mean? Where could it lead us?
What could we do to convert it into an opportunity?
2. The incongruity -The incongruity between reality as it actually
is and as it is assumed to be. It is usually clearly visible to the
people within or close to the industry, yet it is often overlooked by
them. This is how its always been, they say. There can be
incongruities in economics (low or no profitability), between
perceived and actual customer expectations, or processes within
an industry.
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Innovation based on process need. Process need exists within

the process of a business or industry. It starts out with the job to be
doneit perfects a process that already exists, replaces a link that
is weak, or redesigns an existing old process around newly
available knowledge. The need must be understoodwith the
ability to define the specs for the solutions. Incongruities and
demographics are the most common causes of a process need.
This area lends itself to systematic search and analysis.

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Changes in industry structure or market structure. A change in

industry structure offers exceptional opportunities, highly visible
and quite predictable to outsiders. But the insiders usually perceive
these same changes as threats. Changes include
(1) rapid growth;
(2) new segmentation of the market (old segmentation no longer
reflects reality, and new niches must be created);
(3) the application or convergence of new technologies into the
product/service.

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Demographics, or changes in population, its size, age structure,

composition, employment, educational status, and income. This is
the clearest of all external changes, because it can be seen
coming in advance.
The basic assumption for our time should be that populations are
inherently unstable and subject to sudden sharp changes, and that
they are the first environmental factor that a decision maker should
think about. Demographic shifts may be inherently unpredictable,
yet they do have long lead times before impact. Statistics to watch
include total population, age distribution, segmentation by
educational attainment, labor force participation and occupational
segmentation, and income distribution.
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Changes in perception, mood, and meaning. Innovative

opportunities can develop when a societys general assumptions,
attitudes and beliefs change.

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New knowledge, both scientific and nonscientific. These are

usually ranked high among the history-making innovations. But
they are unpredictable, and hard to manage. They are almost
never based on one factor but on the convergence of several
different kinds of knowledge, not all of them scientific or
technological.
Until all the factors are available, the innovation cannot be
created. This is the first check for sourcing an innovation from
new knowledgemake sure the technical, social, or perceptual
factors are all in place and if not, whether they can be created. The
second is strategicthe innovator has to be right the first time, as
he is unlikely to get a second chance.
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