ASSESSMENT 3, Interview an Entrepreneur

 Entrepreneurship

The word entrepreneur was derived to describe the people who “take on risk” or “undertake” a task such as starting a new venture. Entrepreneurship is defined as the process by which individuals pursue opportunities without regard to resources they currently control. The real meaning of entrepreneurship is identifying opportunities and putting useful idea in to practice. Entrepreneurship requires creativity, drive, and willingness to take risks. Entrepreneurship is also known as self employment.

 The best entrepreneurs do carve up a collection of characteristics, from persistence to the ability to tolerate risk, that are crucial to a successful venture. The following are the major characteristics that are found in an entrepreneur.

- Motivation to perform 

Keeping in mind the end goal to run an effective business, an ambitious person must be eager for triumph – much the same as players and specialists. Indications of great inspiration incorporate attributes, for example,

• Initiative
• Perseverance
• Responsibility
• High self-esteem

Entrepreneurship is a showcase for you. It takes resolution, responsibility and desire to succeed. Numerous entrepreneurs respect money related benefit from the business as evidence of particular victory, not as an objective in itself.

- Innovation 

At work, entrepreneurs continually confront circumstances and tests to which they must discover an answer through another working system or method for advancement. Keeping in mind the end goal to succeed, a business visionary must have the capacity to respond creatively and do things in eccentric ways.
You can discover the development needed all hands on deck movement by, for example, designating work or utilizing collaboration systems.

- Willingness to take risks. 

Dangers are constantly included in entrepreneurship: will you have the capacity to make sufficient pay; would you be able to handle time administration, by and by adapt to the tests and clutch your status in the perspective of others?
A business person must have the capacity to endure questionable matter, take the activity and go for broke. Intemperate danger taking expands the likelihood of disappointment, yet the slant to take computed, i.e. sensible dangers is an inborn normal for fruitful entrepreneurs.

- Independence 

Eagerness to be free and self-governing, and to deal with the course of your life through your activities, is frequently out of sight of entrepreneurship. A business person may be in a position where he or she is a free leader, confronting tests alone and bearing sole obligation.
Any maturing ambitious person must be ready to take the activity and moral obligation. Then again, for the individuals who decide to wind up entrepreneurs, fill in that capacity offers a significant plausibility for fulfillment toward oneself. For a lot of people, group based entrepreneurship gives a workable model to free business action, without tyrannical moral liability.
As we all know the person who takes a risk to set a new venture is known as an entrepreneur but there are many different types of entrepreneurs who set up their business in a different way. There are social entrepreneurs, serial, lifestyle, opportunistic, innovator and many more, but the following are the 3 major types of entrepreneurs that I have come across.


1. Social entrepreneur
2. Serial entrepreneur
3. Lifestyle entrepreneur

1. Social entrepreneur

Social entrepreneurs present user-friendly, understandable, and ethical ideas that engage widespread support in order to maximize the number of citizens that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement it. Social entrepreneurs drive social advancement and conversion in different fields including training, well being and undertaking improvement. They seek after destitution mitigation objectives with entrepreneurial enthusiasm, business routines and the bravery to enhance and overcome customary practices. Social entrepreneurs, like a business prophet, forms solid and feasible associations, which are either situated up as nonprofit organizations.

2. Serial entrepreneur

A serial entrepreneur is business people who begins various new organizations in the wake of having generally begun and left a past business wander. An entrepreneur is guided by the confidence in a business chance for a specific item or administration. An ambitious person takes after an enthusiasm and can inspire others to take after them. Entrepreneurs are eager to undertake an individual, expert or budgetary danger. Rather than an ambitious person who begins a solitary organization and works it as a profession, a serial entrepreneur may treat entrepreneurship as an occupation. “Successful serial entrepreneurs are visionaries. They can recognize opportunities and then they educate themselves about an industry and/or they surround themselves with a skilled team to implement their vision.” (forbes, 2012)

3. Lifestyle entrepreneur

Lifestyle entrepreneurs are known for arranging their work and business exercises around their own particular lifestyle goals. These objectives frequently including adaptable hours, satisfying work, investing time with family and companions, side interests, philanthropy work, or inventive interests. Profiting is still essential to lifestyle entrepreneurs (on the grounds that they are still business experts) yet "enough" cash is regularly more significant than the more accepted entrepreneur quest for riches. Lifestyle entrepreneurs contrast from most start-up founders or executives in light of the fact that they deliberately adjust their work and their play to make lifestyle organizations that backing their most loved exercises while likewise profiting. Satisfying their funding tycoon or shareholders takes a backward sitting arrangement to doing the work they were destined to do, and having a great time doing it.

Interviewing an entrepreneur

Talking about the entrepreneurs the person I interviewed was Mr. Rupak Maharjan. He is the chief architect as well as the director of Décor N Design (DND) Company which is engineering based Consultancy Company.  Mr. Rupak made architecture as his dream and completed his education in it. As soon as he graduated from the college, he joined a private consultancy of engineering for 3 months where he was just a free lancer architect. After a year of gathering a good experience he joined Decor N Design (DND) consultancy. He was just a small architect of DND who was struggling for 10000 rupees as his monthly salary. As time the past his ambition started becoming big. He was given the task to handle small projects but handling those small projects was not the vision made by him. He wanted to do something big, so he started involving in bigger projects where his work was appreciated by boss and many other personalities.
 He wanted to work independently by employing himself as an entrepreneur but the financial problem reserved him behind. He didn't started his own business due to that but he marvelously managed to get 20%  share of DND, the company he has been working for, and his position also mounted from a junior architect to chief director of architect. I guess his dreams are turning into reality and this is just the foundation of his dream. His passion was to design buildings, resorts, malls and interior of the house, basically he wanted to become an architect and build his own architecture company. His engineering as well as architectural skills and his courage, hard work and passion helped him to achieve his goal.
After having 20% share in the company he started working on management team to make the company better and profitable. He knew that the company was not doing well in engineering consultancy so he decided to go for construction business along with it. Before there were only 6 employees in consultancy but after working on construction he doubled the number of employees. As a shareholder and the chief director of architect he manages most of the work done in the company. He is a lifestyle entrepreneur who believes that team work and hard work can help to achieve the goal. He used the websites and social media to advertise their work. He says that the company is renowned for its quality and creative work and by its name which is gained by the word of mouth through various clients. As we know that entrepreneurs’ takes risk, his reflection towards risk is that every business has risk but the business with higher risk gains higher profit and the ones with lower risks get lower profit. As a lifestyle entrepreneur he is planning to expand his company all over the country, he has already started dealing with the clients that are outside Kathmandu valley, and started working in Pokhara, Nepalgunj, Biratnagar and Lumbini. He has taken the responsibility to make the company well renowned all over the company within 5 years.

Thus, the lifestyle entrepreneur Rupak has a very promising future, and he his living up his dream and trying to make even better future. I hope he his is enjoying his job and giving his best effort in it. A lifestyle entrepreneur like him can make his dream come true if there is hard work and passion and team work.



References:

- Characteristics of an entrepreneur - Yritys-Suomi. 2014. Characteristics of an entrepreneur - Yritys-Suomi. [ONLINE] Available at:https://www.yrityssuomi.fi/yrittajan-ominaisuudet. [Accessed 05 April 2014].

- Serial Entrepreneurs Are More Successful - Forbes. 2014. Serial Entrepreneurs Are More Successful - Forbes. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickhull/2012/12/12/serial-entrepreneurs-are-more-successful/. [Accessed 05 April 2014].

- What is entrepreneurship? definition and meaning. 2014. What is entrepreneurship? definition and meaning. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/entrepreneurship.html. [Accessed 05 April 2014].

- What is a Social Entrepreneur? | Ashoka - Innovators for the Public. 2014.What is a Social Entrepreneur? | Ashoka - Innovators for the Public. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.ashoka.org/social_entrepreneur. [Accessed 05 April 2014].

Weekly Assignment 4, An Idea That Can Change The World.

This is not a watch that a normal people usually wears just to see the time, neither it’s the device that James Bond uses to blast bombs or drive cars from the watch, nor It’s not a smart watch that displays the contents of a smart phone. So what is it then?

Well these days there are many smart watches in the market that displays the information of the smart phone via Bluetooth. Without a smart phone the smart watch is useless it just tells time like a normal wrist watch does. How funny is that?

The Bond watch is the future of both watch and smart phone industry. It is a device that can make call independently without having a smart phone with you. It’s like carrying a smart phone in your wrist. So anything that a smart phone does is now done by the Bond watch. Now that we can imagine making a phone call from our watch, imagine of making video call with it.

Bond watch is 1.5 inch full water proof device; with full LED touch screen display with 3G+ and a WiFi connectivity. It can make a voice call and a video call with the help of 2 MP front facing camera, which is absolutely superb for taking selfies and recording full HD video. It also has 5 MP rear facing camera which is absolutely great for taking pictures. It has the traditional Bluetooth connectivity and a modern NFC (Near Field Connectivity) to transfer files or to connect other devices with the watch. The Bond watch comes with a NFC enabled water proof wireless headphones so that the user can listen to music without any hesitation wherever they go. If you feel lazy then you can control the watch with voice recognition system which is activated as soon as you say 7. It also supports mp3 formats and is capable of playing full HD video and view pictures in high definition. It has 8 GB of internal memory and runs on android kit Kat.

So, with Bond watch you can navigate to your destination, listen to music, make calls, take pictures and watch videos on your wrist. Well, this is the future technology which can revolutionize the whole world.                 

Weekly Assignments 3, MY ENTREPRENEURSHIP TYPE

I am very passionate about cars. In fact I become very excited when someone makes a conversation with me related with cars. Most of the times I keep drawing and reviewing cars. As we know, an individual that creates a business from their passion is known as lifestyle entrepreneur. So, I guess I’m a lifestyle entrepreneur.

 Being a lifestyle entrepreneur I would like to make a business regarding this sector. This type of entrepreneurship really suits me because my dream was to make a car with new designs and technology that can compete with international automobile giants. My ultimate goal is to establish an automobile industry that makes the world’s best cars in terms of design and luxury. And to achieve this goal I’m ready to take any risk in my life.

As we know, a car is made up of steel and engine, but these are just the generic things. Lots of resources are required to make just a one normal car. The auto business utilizes an enormous number of materials to fabricate autos, including iron, aluminum, plastic steel, glass, elastic, petroleum items, rubber, copper, steel and others. These parts are utilized to make everything from those little things we don't ponder, for example, dashboard needles and wiring, to the enormous stuff, for example, the motor square or the transmission gears. These materials have advanced enormously through the decades, getting to be more refined, better manufactured, and more secure. They've changed as new car fabricating advances have developed through the years, and they’re utilized within progressively creative ways.

And to run the car petrol or diesel is the most important factor. Some cars might be electrical which runs on electricity which is becoming popular these days due to environmental factor. But most of the people love the cars that run on petrol or diesel, because these vehicles generate lovely sound and are very fast compared to the electric ones.

 These days there are many cars that are designed to do specific tasks. For example SUV (sports utility vehicles) are designed to go off track; they can handle the rough road easily. They have high ground clearance and big tires to handle the road. But, sports cars are designed to go fast on track. They are made with aluminum parts so that the car remains light.

Likewise, luxury cars are made with precious materials like leather, wood and are designed to go on track with extreme comfort. So, different cars require different materials to make the car perfect for different customers and different roads.

Reference:

HowStuffWorks "Top 5 Materials Used in Auto Manufacturing". 2014. HowStuffWorks "Top 5 Materials Used in Auto Manufacturing". [ONLINE] Available at: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/auto-manufacturing/5-materials-used-in-auto-manufacturing.htm. [Accessed 21 March 2014].

Weekly Assignments 2, QUESTIONNAIRE SUMMARY

Evaluation Questionnaire of Entrepreneurs’ Toolkit

1.       Participant Details:

The name of the organization is Gift Smart Islington College which is also known as GSIC.           

Telephone number: 9841939716                                                                                                    

E-mail: srijankarki@outlook.com

2.      Guide:  Methodology of  Business Plan Development

Gift Smart Islington College (GSIC) totally agrees that the content of methodology of business plan development is interesting, complete and useful to use. They also agreed that it is coherent, easy to understand and use. But they neither agree nor disagree that special training is needed for using methodology of business plan development.

3.       Tools Of Methodology Of Business Plan Development

Likewise, they also agreed that the tools of methodology of business plan development are completely understandable, and the information provided in the tools is also complete except for break even point. The break even point was neither agreed nor disagreed by them. GSIC completely agreed that the structure of the tools of methodology of business plan development is properly developed, interesting and useful and as well as coherent. The GSIC again disagreed that special training is needed for using

a.       Projected cash flow

b.      Operating results

c.       Ratios and

d.      Break even analysis of the methodology of business plan development.

But they agreed that for using

a.       Profit and loss account

b.      Profit and loss forecast and actual comparison

c.       Profit and loss account – tips for completion

d.      Balance sheet, special training or support is needed.

Overall the GSIC agreed that the tools of business plan development are easy to understand and use.

4.       Business Plan Executive Summary

Similarly the GSIC agreed that the business plan executive summary is understandable, complete, properly developed, interesting, useful, coherent, easy to understand and use. But they again disagreed that special training is needed to use the business plan executive summary.

5.       Model of Agreement

The GSIC fully agreed that the content of model of agreement is understandable, complete, properly developed, interesting and useful. They disagreed that special training is required to use it but they agreed that it is coherent and easy to understand.

6.       Overall

Finally, the GSIC agreed that the toolkit provides efficient support to entrepreneurs and it is an important tool for their business.

Weekly Assignments 1, IDEA GENERATION

SMART RIDE

Features

- This device includes a  HD LED display that shows incoming calls with caller ID, music information, and even text messages.

- It also has a inbuilt surround sound headphones with a microphone which is attached the helmet, which allows the rider to listen to the music while riding the bike and also can make phone calls or receive phone calls. 

- To enjoy this product the rider must have a smartphone with Bluetooth or NFC connectivity that connects the display and the speaker. 

HD LED Display

- This is a small High resolution water proof display that is connected with a smartphone via Bluetooth.

- It displays caller ID, music information, text messages and many more.

SWITCH

- A switch that is located at the handle bar of the bike which is completely water resistant allows the rider to receive or reject calls , increase the music volume and choose the best song from the device.

Smart Helmet for SMART RIDE

- A Smart helmet is fitted with a high quality surround sound wireless headphones and a microphone that is connected with a smartphone.

- So the rider can receive calls and listen to music at any time without any interruption.

Thus, SMART RIDE is the complete package for smart people.

ASSESSMENT 2,Presentation on Marissa Mayer

Video presentation on Marissa Mayer

Feedback on the presentation of Mark Zuckerberg, video link given below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEJ3YOFCPW8

Comment:

Well their presentation was not up to my expectations. Their voice was too low to hear. A little loud voice could had help them to improve their presentation. They had done great research but, they have kept too many contents in it , which i think is not necessary. They lacked proper preparation and their timing was not good enough. So, a proper short and sweet content, a louder voice with little bit of preparation and perfect timing could have made their presentation a good one.

You can also watch our video on the link given below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-epKWC0-pGM

.

ASSESSMENT 1, Gender and Leadership

Women’s status has improved remarkably in the 21^st century in many countries, but women continue to lack access to power and position in the society compared to men. Although women have made many gains over the years, their status in the organizations is not up to the expectations. Leadership is not based on the gender. People become leaders iteratively.  They bear increasingly demanding roles, learn from mentors, and try out with new behaviors. Then, if their presentation is confirmed, they go over the process.

Women as leaders                                 

Although more women are assume leadership roles today than before, the idea of a woman as a leader is still unfamiliar to many individuals, male and female alike. Changes in opinion are difficult to achieve because the traditional norms of leadership are definitely deep-rooted. In our society, as in most others, leaders have usually been males. In the past, leadership opportunities for women tended to be limited to all female organizations such as sororities, convents, and female institutions of education-but even there the presidents of women’s colleges were almost always men (Bass, 1981)

There are many female leaders that are emerging in the business sector. The female leaders like Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Face book) and Marissa Mayer (CEO, Yahoo) are one of the best leaders in the world. They are also considered to be role models for future leaders. Leaders like these can inspire the future leaders, they provide guidance to them. Fewer female leaders means fewer role models and can suggest to young would-be leaders that being a woman is a liability-thus discouraging them from viewing senior women as credible sources of advice and support.

-          Benefits that we get from a women leader.

 1.           Women are Opportunity Experts

Women witness opportunity in everything and everyone – their neighbors, friends, family, business associates, strategic partners, etc. Women have the ability to see opportunity and give their ideas life and inspire others to do the same. Women, when given the opportunity to be themselves, are natural leaders. Women are more strategic, focused and keep their eye on the prize, they are not distracted easily and don’t get their egos in their way.

2.      Women control majority of woman spending.

Not only do women earn more than India and China combined, but also women globally control at least 64% of the consumer spending (Silverstein & Sayre, 2009b). Having women on boards will give corporations the competitive advantage to create products and services that will better meet their customers’ needs. In some countries, women make over 70% of household spending decisions but have many unmet needs from financial education and advice to providing products they require at key inflection points in their lives: caused by divorce, death of a spouse, marriage, first home purchase, birth of a first child, college commencement, first job etc (Accenture, 2006).

3.           Women seek to be relationship specialists.

Women are specialists at humanizing relationships that are purposeful, genuine and meaningful. They focus on growing healthy, long-lasting relationships. Women don’t quit. They succeed at creating and sustaining energy for both themselves and others. Women are masters at facilitating connection points between people, resources and relationships.  This is why women are such effective and efficient leaders.  They don’t waste time and can quickly identify areas to consolidate, organize and strengthen business outcomes. 

4.      Women improve corporate performance

Women are shown to have positive effects that improve corporate performance. Catalyst (2007) compared Fortune 500 companies on the representation of women on their boards and their corporate performance. They found that when comparing the worst and best quartile of female representation this had significant effects on the corporate performance. Return on Equity increased by 53%, Profit Margin by 42%, and Return on Invested Capital by 66%. They also found that a minimum of three women on the board gave the best results. McKinsey (2007) confirms this relationship. They find that companies with the highest gender diversity teams, as compared to the industry average, see a much higher Return on Equity (10%), a higher operating result (48%), and a stronger stock price growth (70%). In addition, having at least one woman on the board decreases bankruptcy by a full 20% (Wilson & Atlantar, 2009). Interestingly, companies with more women on their boards see better corporate governance and ethical behavior (Franke, 1997).

-          Challenges that women leaders face:

1.      Access to Credit

Women entrepreneurs also find great difficulties in accessing credit. This is partially due to lack of confidence, as well as a gender bias towards women. Fortunately, the West Pac Bank in Australia is unique; it is one of the very few banks that have a unit completely dedicated to women. They offer education, information and networking opportunities. Also, in Uganda, the Development Finance Company of Uganda Bank Limited (DCFU) has a unit dedicated to women entrepreneurs, where they facilitate access to credit.

2.       Double burden

Women are improving their professional opportunities, yet are still responsible for the majority of the chores and care giving duties, also known as the double burden syndrome. This syndrome is particularly experienced in the African and Asian regions, which reflects the responsibility for both work and household. European women are responsible for twice as many household tasks than the men McKinsey (2007).

3.      Confidence:

A major problem relates to women’s confidence, in both the beliefs in their own abilities, as well as in the capability of communicating confidence. As an example, research amongst MBA women shows that while the majority of women consider themselves equally capable as their co-workers, the majority of men consider themselves more capable than their co-workers (Eagly, 2003). In an environment where the behaviors expected are still male dominated, female-specific communication can be interpreted negatively.

4.      Gender bias and stereotypes.

Unfortunately, women do experience a strong gender bias when being evaluated for promotions on both their level of performance as well as their potential impact. Research within professional group’s show that women have to significantly work harder to be perceived as equally competent as men (Lyness & Heilman, 2006).

Thus, the biggest challenges woman face in their development as leaders pertains to work-life balance, lack of role models, lack of opportunities for career advancement and a lack of support from upper management. Many organizations have talented woman in their leadership pipelines, but to successfully advance them into leadership roles, they need a strategy. In addition to plans and programs to develop women, this strategy should outline how to change the organization’s corporate culture to recognize the business value natural to diverse leadership.

References: 

. 2014. . [ONLINE] Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?rep=rep1&type=pdf&doi=10.1.1.204.5982. [Accessed 01 January 2014].

 2014. . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.cpahq.org/cpahq/cpadocs/Genderdiffe.pdf. [Accessed 01 January 2014].

4 Skills that Give Women a Sustainable Advantage Over Men - Forbes. 2014.4 Skills that Give Women a Sustainable Advantage Over Men - Forbes. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2011/08/22/4-skills-that-give-women-a-sustainable-advantage-over-men/. [Accessed 01 January 2014].

Leadership Challenges for Women at Work - Chief Learning Officer, Solutions for Enterprise Productivity. 2014. Leadership Challenges for Women at Work - Chief Learning Officer, Solutions for Enterprise Productivity. [ONLINE] Available at: http://clomedia.com/articles/view/leadership-challenges-for-women-at-work/4. [Accessed 01 January 2014].

Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers - Harvard Business Review. 2014.Women Rising: The Unseen Barriers - Harvard Business Review. [ONLINE] Available at: http://hbr.org/2013/09/women-rising-the-unseen-barriers/. [Accessed 01 January 2014].