An entrepreneur is a person who identified an opportunity/need/business idea, first calculate risk, mobilize resources, set up an Enterprise and he/she is reward with profit. An entrepreneur simply means a business founder.
It's a dream of most people to become an entrepreneur because of the benefits that come with entrepreneurship, doing a regular job or salary job will never give you such freedom, independence, satisfaction etc. However, before you enjoy all these fringe of benefits, you must risk your resources.
ATTRIBUTES OF AN ENTREPRENEUR
*He/she provides the initial capital needed for the formation of a business Enterprise.
*He/she mobilizes and controls other factors of production
*He/she takes takes decisions that concern the business
*He/she bears all the risks exposed to the business. If the business fails, he bears the loss.
STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR
To become an entrepreneur, you must follow the following steps;
1. Identify a need or business idea
Analyse your environment to identify economic needs, listen to the complaints of people and think about how to solve thier problems, think about the challenges you face when using certain products and think about how you can do magic to solve these problems, others might face the same problems too, look around your area and watch out for the businesses people do there and how you can do any of those businesses better or what new you can bring.
You can create a new product that has not been existing, you can improve on the quality of a product that does not give maximum satisfaction, you can add new features to an existing product, you can create a product that could perform wonderful functions, you can as well give extra customer service that can win you a lot of patronage. It's all up to you. For you to be an entreprenuer, you must solve problem, Identify the problem you want to solve, learn how to solve it and put your resources towards solving it.
2. Conduct feasibility studies
Gather data about the business idea you have generated, it will enable you to forecast if the business is profitable, the growth rate, how much money you need to start with, all the equipment you need to purchase, how your are going to produce, the level of risk that is involve in doing the business, how many products you need to sell before making profit, who and how to employ, the special skills ( computer and internet, communication and managerial skills) you have that could give you absolute advantage, also, evaluate your competitor critically at this stage.
3. Choose an organization, business name and location
* Organization; choose the form of business organization you intend to establish: sole proprietorship (one man business), partnership ( a business formed by at least two persons to at most twenty people, private limited liability company 'LTD' ( a business owned by at least two persons to at most fifty people except bank). Each one of them has advantages and disadvantages, analyse them critically and choose the right one for yourself.
*Business name: choose a good and simple name for your business and product. The name draws attention, makes people to understand your industry and it makes it easier for people to know what your business does.
*Location; ensure you locate your business at the right place, what you produce determines where your business should be located, your business should not be located far from the source of raw materials, it should not be far from your house to avoid unnecessary spending and your business should be accessible for your customers, try to locate it where you will enjoy social amenities.
4. Proceed to CAC and register your business
5. Write a business plan
Business plan helps to guide you or the operation of your business, you can prepare a daily plan, weekly plan, production plan, time and functional plan etc, you can also incorporate all plans into a single plan . Ensure you state your vision, mission, objectives , goals and Target and work towards achieving each one of them. They could be a lot of distraction when operating your business, be ensured you stick to the plans or adjust your plan a bit to meet up with the current situation.
6. MOBILIZE RESOURCES AND COMMENCE OPERATION
This entails bringing all the resources (materials, money, time and human resources etc) needed for the operation of the business and commence operation.
