The Entrepreneur and Business Fundamentals

Page 1: The Entrepreneur and Personality Traits

An entrepreneur is an individual who identifies a community need and establishes a business to fulfill it. Key personality traits for entrepreneurs include:

  • Ambitious: Strong desire to achieve.
  • Disciplined: Staying focused on goals without distraction.
  • Self-confident: Believing in the ability to succeed.
  • Persevering: Learning from mistakes and finding solutions.
  • Risk taking: Taking calculated, wise risks.
  • Responsible: Accountable for decisions.
  • Competitive: Thriving on competition to improve.
  • Passionate: Loving the work being done.
  • Socially outgoing: Continuously building networks.

Page 2: Skills, Buying, and Profit Calculations

Entrepreneurs utilize various skills, including creative thinking, self-motivation, management, leadership, decision-making, communication, negotiating, team-building, and planning.

Buying and Profit

A business is successful when it receives more money than it spends.

  • Cost Price: The price paid to a wholesaler (e.g., Makro) for products.
  • Mark up: The amount added to the cost price (covering expenses and profit) to determine the selling price.
  • Manufacturing: Also known as producing; creating goods like clothing or art to sell to stores like Home Depot.

Profit Calculation Example (Puppy Jerseys):

R15 (cost price)+R8 (expenses)+R5 (profit)=R28 (selling price)R15 \text{ (cost price)} + R8 \text{ (expenses)} + R5 \text{ (profit)} = R28 \text{ (selling price)}

Page 3: Market Research and SWOT Analysis

Consumers and Market

  • Needs: Essentials such as food, water, and shelter.
  • Wants: Non-essential items like fancy shoes or cars.
  • Market Research: Gathering data on user preferences via surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observation.

SWOT Analysis Framework

  • Strengths (S): Positive internal, controllable attributes (e.g., location).
  • Weaknesses (W): Negative internal, controllable attributes (e.g., low stock).
  • Opportunities (O): Positive external, uncontrollable factors (e.g., overseas demand).
  • Threats (T): Negative external, uncontrollable factors (e.g., new competition).

Page 4: SWOT Table Examples and Discussion

A typical SWOT analysis identifies internal factors like brand recognition or lack of expansion, and external factors like social media opportunities or increasing competition.

Questions & Discussion: Activity 2

  • Identify a local business and its provisions.
  • What are the perceived Strengths (positive experiences) and Weaknesses (negative experiences) of that business?
  • Brainstorm a community business opportunity based on unmet needs.
  • Identify a potential Threat that could hinder the startup of that business.

Page 5: Achieving Goals and Advertising Media

Steps to Achieve Goals

  1. Take action.
  2. Compare progress with the goal frequently.
  3. Reward success.
  4. Learn from mistakes.

Advertising

The goal of advertising is to capture public attention, create desire, and satisfy customer needs.

Print Media (Newspapers)

  • Advantages: Broad reach, relatively cheap, repeat exposure, and referenceability.
  • Disadvantages: Short lifespan, competition for space with large stores, costs vary based on placement (e.g., front page), and a general decline in readership due to electronic media.