The general perception of what defines an entrepreneur is common knowledge. He or she is a person who starts a business with an idea that distinguishes their offerings from others. An entrepreneur is often a charismatic and dynamic person, enabling them to tap into new markets. But why do many entrepreneurs fail to achieve their goals, especially amidst sizeable societal and economic changes? According to a panel of international experts who monitored the business sector in 52 countries during the past 20 years, when proper support, guidance and resources are provided to entrepreneurs, their ventures are almost always successful.
This is great news for entrepreneurs coming to the 6th edition of the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival, because of its packed programme of workshops, pertinent discussions and networking possibilities, as it sets out to empower entrepreneurs and support them in forging a bright future for their endeavours.
Innovative products, services
Staying on top of the changing market trends and creating innovative products and services is vital to business growth and development, which requires businesses' new offerings to be thoroughly developed and executed as to fulfil customers' demands and add value to the market.
Change management
The ‘Change Management’ methodology is a systematic approach to dealing with the transition or transformation of an organisation's goals, processes or technologies, enabling companies to strategise and help forecast the future. It also allows them to identify potential threats and opportunities, optimise and utilise their strengths, and remedy their shortcomings to develop initiatives based on their capabilities, resources and target market.
Since startups help to bring economic balance, they also need to try their best to predict the future and anticipate change to manage businesses effectively, to make confident business decisions, act on them efficiently, and yield the best results possible.
Innovate, build, execute
Innovation is strongly associated with entrepreneurship; it's also a key attribute possessed by some entrepreneurs, this is why we often read about innovative ideas from entrepreneurs acquired by larger international companies.
Every innovative initiative that makes headlines often started as a creative idea that required time and effort to turn into a successful project. That said, the difficulty facing most startups is not the case of being without an innovative idea, but the ability and resources to execute it. Having an ingenious idea is quite often the easiest phase for most entrepreneurs, the real right of passage comes in implementing this idea and turning it into a successful reality.
Avoid these ways
Certain practices and attitudes that should be avoided to enable entrepreneurs to disrupt the market are often among entrepreneurs' major challenges. Experts note that a successful leader should allow the team to put forward new ideas. A good leader should constantly evolve themselves and their businesses by adopting new and effective strategies that aid to identify and remove unfavoured practices.
Leaders should also be sure to get feedback from their team by deliberating on the possible positives and negatives in existing practices, thus nurturing confidence and understanding in the decisions they make in the future.
Sudden change
We have a great deal of confidence in the youth and entrepreneurs' ability to create change at a time when social and economic transformations, as well as the culture of consumption, are accelerating. However, with the prospect of 'change', we advise entrepreneurs to be cautious about falling into the trap of sudden change, which can sometimes consider past processes as not only obsolete, but a burden on the development process.
Healthy growth is quite often subtle and gradual, built on comprehensive and continuous development processes that are constantly improved and enhanced according to set and studied milestones.
