Have
you started a business, starting or proposing for a business start up? Did you
know the secret code for a business to be successful? Hence here some codes you
need to understand and apply before your dream as an entrepreneur can be
realize
Having
been motivated to become entrepreneur, the next natural question one may now
naturally ask is what next. The potential entrepreneurs would become
entrepreneurs only when he or she owns an enterprise. One who does not own an
enterprise can not be termed as an entrepreneur but a hire or volunteer
business manger. The business to be set up can be a manufacturing venture, a
trading firm or service establishment. The manufacturing firm will encompass
even those steps that will be necessary for setting up a trading firm or a
service venture.
The
various steps involved in setting up a business enterprise will be most complex
when it relates to an industrial enterprise. The steps in setting up Small
enterprises are:
Deciding to go into business
This
is the most crucial decision a prospective entrepreneur has to take. The person
should decide whether to take salary based employment or opting for self
employment/entrepreneurship. It is the first step and first entrepreneurial
decision to be taken. The decision must be backed up with aims and objectives
to realize stated target. The decision made must be rooted in strong will of
determination and ability to be success fill even in the midst of failure
realizing that an entrepreneur can either fail or record success
Analyzing
strengths/Weaknesses
Having
decided to become an entrepreneur, one has to analyze his/her
strengths/weaknesses. This will enable him/her to know what type of and size of
business would be most suitable. This will vary from person to person. Here
SWOT ANALYSIS can be applied to the situation to determine the strength,
weakness, opportunity and likely threat to the success of the business. This
become imperative because having understand these factors will help the
business owner to have for on knowledge the future prospects and challenges of
the business.
Training
Quite
possibly the above analysis may reveal glaring deficiencies which are required
to be made up through training. Such training could be:
I.
Developing skills and change attitudes- Entrepreneurship and Business
Management Training skills
II.
Developing Technical /work skills for proposed product/project
This
is important so to get the require manpower needed to drive the establishment.
It’s very important for the entrepreneur to have the require and wholesome
knowledge of his business as well as undaunted skills to make the business
work.
Environmental
scanning
It
is essential to study the environment in which you shall operate to ensure
enterprise success. Get to know the business opportunities and threats in the
environment. This will assist proper project identification and selection.
Product Selection
The
next step is deciding what business to venture into. The range of products
shall be taken up for manufacture and in what quantity. The level of activity
will help in deciding size of business and form of ownership .One could
generate number of project ideas through environmental scanning, Short list a few
items, closely examine each of them and zero in to a final product(s).
Market Survey
It
is easy to manufacture an item but difficult to sell. So it is prudent to
survey the market before embarking upon production and ensure the product
chosen is in sufficient demand Ascertain changes in product design required;
determine demand supply lag, extent of competition, potential share of the
market, possible pricing and distribution policy etc. The principle is to
produce what people demand in a form and quantity that can be easily sold.
Form of Ownership
A
firm can be constituted as sole proprietorship, partnership; limited company
(Public/Private) cooperative society etc. This will depend upon the type,
purpose and size of your business. One may also decide on the form of ownership
based on resources on hand.
Location
The
next step will be to decide on the place where the business is to be located.
Will it be hired or owned, the size of plot covered and open area and the
suitability of site will have to be decided the enterprise can be located based
on the availability of skills, resources, market etc
Technology
To
manufacture a product requires various processes. The information on various
types of technology should be collected. This will be very useful in
determining the type of machinery and equipment to be used.
Machinery and Equipment
Having
chosen the technology, the machinery and equipment required for manufacturing
has to be decided, suppliers identified and their cost estimated
Business Registration
Having
known various opportunities, the prospective entrepreneur will have to register
his/her business entity by way of filing a memorandum in duplicate with the
designated office for this purpose.
Project/Business Report
After
deciding on the form of ownership, location, technology for manufacturing,
machinery and equipment one is ready to prepare a feasibility report or ones’s
project report. The economic and technical viability of the project has to be
selected as to be established through project report. This will be useful to
obtain financial support from financial institutions/Banks.
Finance
An
entrepreneur has to follow specified procedures to obtain finance from
Financial Institutions/Banks. Finance is a main fuel of any business hence an entrepreneur
must source for adequate funds to drive the business. It is good to note that
different sources of fund may be available to individuals depending on one
interest and disposition. Most importantly, the fund may be own or borrowed
funds from different sources
Technical Know how
In
quite few cases technical know how of the envisaged project/business may be
required or arranged. This can be arranged through Technology supporting
institutions and private consultants
Power Connection
The
site chosen should have adequate power connection. One can calculate the total
power requirement, voltage, [phase- single or three]; determine the nearest
pole from which power will be given to you as it can materially determine
installation cost
Installation of Machinery
Having
arranged for finance, work-shed, power etc., the next step is to procure the
machinery and begin its installation. This should be preferably as per plant
layout.
Recruitment of
Manpower
Once
machines are installed manpower will be required to run them. So the quantum
and type (skilled, semi skilled, unskilled, administrative) of the labour has
to be determined, source of getting desired labour has to be identified and
recruited. This is very important as the efficiency of this will determine the
overall productivity of the business. Good manpower delivers profitable
business ventures
Raw materials
The
labour requires raw materials to work upon the installed machines. The raw
material required maybe available locally or outside. Systematic arrangement
must be done to ensure constant supply of raw materials to the enterprise.
Production
There
should be not any wastage of manpower, materials or machine capacity installed.
Production of the proposed items should be taken up in two stages:
a)
Trial Production
b)
Commercial Production
Trial
Production will help tackling of problems confronted in production and test
marketing of products. This will reduce the chances of losses in the eventuality
of mistakes in project/business conception. Commercial production should start
after successful trial production.
Marketing
Having
produced the products/services, the stage comes to sell it. The entrepreneur
should consider various aspects on how to reach customers, distribution
channels/commission structure, pricing advertising/publicity etc
Marketing Research
Once
the products/ have reached the market, the periodic market research should
continuously be done to collect information from customers using the products,
this may cause the firm to change the design, taste and make necessary
diversification that appeal customer’s need and demand.
Monitoring
The
prospective entrepreneur should make a periodic monitoring of all components of
the business to ensure the growth and take immediate measures in case of any
dwindling in sales, profitability for taking possible corrective measures.
Evaluation and Progress assessment
Business
situation must all the time be evaluated for prompt decision making, this is
necessary so as to ascertain whether progress is made or not so that necessary
adjustment can be made. Therefore, every intending or already own business
owner must ensure that critical evaluation and progress assessment exercise is observed
all the time.
Forward
any question or enquires about this article to: slybizinfobank@gmail.com
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