By Mbo Luvindao, Manager at Bank Windhoek’s Emerging Small and Medium Enterprise Branch
Not
all SMEs create jobs, however, especially during the early stages of
the venture. By nurturing and encouraging entrepreneurship, we can
create an environment to grow informal survivalist
businesses into more
structured business ventures that could have a longer lifespan and
create much needed employment.
Entrepreneurship
seen from this point of view, contributes to economic growth, toward
empowering women, the youth and disabled members of the community.
I
have no doubt that entrepreneurship is key to job creation. I do
however believe that there is more that needs to be done to foster an
entrepreneurship culture in Namibia. This will enable more SMEs to
graduate and become larger business ventures.
The
most daunting questions that face entrepreneurs who would want to start
a business, are: How do I formalise my business idea? Why is a business
plan necessary? What steps are involved in developing a business plan?
Where to find help in getting the business started?
Entrepreneurs
are often defined as innovators. They are creative and often start a
business because of a need or gap they have identified in their
communities.
A
business idea should come about as a solution to a challenge in a given
community or society at large. If the solution is applied efficiently,
adopted by the community with ease and subscribed to repetitively, the
business will grow. The willingness of the entrepreneur to keep his
finger on the pulse and continuously respond to the changing demands of
his market will determine the success of the business in the long term.
However,
back to basics. Once you have identified a need for a particular
service or product, you will most probably come up with a business idea
to meet that need. You will then need to formalise your business idea
and create a business plan.
What steps are involved in developing a business plan?
A
business plan is document that clearly sets out the goals and
objectives of your new business and explains how they will be achieved.
The plan should also include any anticipated challenges and plans on how
these challenges will be overcome. A business plan is a document that
states a business’ background, goals and objectives.
It
also includes plans for reaching these goals and objectives and plans
to overcome challenges. In simple terms, a business plan is a road map
that indicates a business’ goals and how the entrepreneur plans on
achieving these goals.
The
most important thing is that once the plan is completed, the
entrepreneur must fully understand it and be able to defend what it
states about the business.
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