The 21st century entrepreneur

The sustainable business breakthroughs of the 21st century will occur not by chance or trial and error as it has been in the last decades, but through implementing well tested innovative business models.

 

Real entrepreneurs, who are the drivers of change in the economy, learn to plan strategically to stay above competition amidst turbulent changes in the business environment by seeking and applying the right mix of knowledge.

Personal and professional knowledge have always been instrumental to preparing for unlimited success in every aspect of one’s life. Knowledge of your business, abilities, interests, strengths, weaknesses, and traits is essential to riding the front end of the wave of change into the new century.

It gives you an extraordinary edge over the competition. However, most entrepreneurs are losing sight of the three most important elements that determine their success in the business world and these are the acquisition and use of the – right knowledge, skills and business tools.

People have taken almost all other risks that exist in the opportunity market but it is no longer effective today to take uncalculated risk as the level of uncertainty is increasing in the competitive world.

It is more effective and critical to understand the whole dynamics of entrepreneurship and success by investing time, energy and effort to learn and seek for empowering knowledge and skills, and to adopt the right business tools to increase certainty of business success. This will help you take well informed risks and enable you live up to your true potential and be successful in any venture or project you set your eyes on.

The acquisition of knowledge and skills of entrepreneurship, which is the new global power, is a life-long experience, not a collection of facts or skills. Not long ago, what you learned in school was largely all you needed to learn to secure a career or build a business. With knowledge expanding exponentially, this is no longer a case.  Every thirty seconds, technology changes to invite more innovations and your formal educational knowledge have a short shelf-life to catch up with this trend. Life-long learning has become absolutely vital to continued success. You need to continue gaining knowledge and avoid thinking like you are already an expert.

We need a real revolution in the way we conduct our businesses. Our customers and clients out there are asking for innovation and creativity. Let’s don our armour to provide them with the best of products and services by improving our knowledge and awareness of what it takes to be a great entrepreneur. We should move away from copying what others are doing. Do not go into business because your colleague is prospering in that particular business, which is what is happening in most African countries including Ghana and Malawi

The first and foremost step if you have or do not have  experience in the business world and are looking for a way to get your  business off the ground, is to come up with the most practical and innovative business plan. The clarity with which you operate your business is the key to your success.

Therefore, the business plan serves as a model and framework to guide your clarity and success.

It is only with a good business plan that you can hope to attract the eyes of potential investors who are always extra-wary about what they throw their money at and why. The main thing that is going to attract an investor—and, in turn, cement the rationale for your business’s existence – is coming up with a compelling vision and purpose on which your business will be built on.

When you maximise your God-given talents as an entrepreneur, you will be automatically committed to life-long learning which will spur in you an unwavering courage to succeed. It will also increase your level of self-control and discipline.

More so, you will have an extreme clarity and definiteness of purpose as well as plans and decisions with a keen sense of justice. Finally, you will have the spirit of willingness to assume full responsibility for your entrepreneurial development, and exude a more imaginative and innovative personality.-The author is an international business consultant of Tradeline Consult (Ghana and Malawi).