The key questions in Business

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS TO ANSWER
• What skills do I have? (i.e. computer skills, languages, accounting training)• What talents do I have? (i.e. are you artistic? are you a good networker?)• What knowledge do I have? (i.e. law, geography, street smarts)
Another ways of identifying business ideas is by analyzing key components like
a) YOUR SKILLS skills mean business
Using your skills you can provide a service or create things (i.e. make a product). First, you must think whether the product or service will be used by another person and/or business. Then, ask yourself the following questions:o What services or products should I offer?o Who will consume this service or product?
b) PROBLEMS Problems Mean Opportunities
When there is a problem usually one can solve it by creating a business. For example, traffic jams in Kampala may have led to the industry growth of boda-bodas. Why? Because it’s much easier to move through the small spaces left by cars in a traffic jam.
c) RESOURCES Resources Can Make Money
Resources are things like time, money, raw materials, etc. Use your resources to develop your business idea. Ask yourself the following questions about the resources that you have:• What resources do I have at my disposal?• How do others use these resources?• Can I package them differently?• Can they be used as substitutes for other resources?• Can they be used to provide a service?• Can they be transformed to provide a product?• Would they be used if I altered their size, shape, and colour?• Can they be recycled or reused?• Can they be used in combination with other resources?
d) NEEDS. People Need and Want Things
Consider the needs and desires of the people around you. What do they need? What do they desire? You can provide these things by offering services or manufacturing products that are in tandem with their needs & desires. For example, you may tell me that one of the biggest needs of people is employment. How can you profit from this need? You can set up a door-to-door promotion system for items that you produce. Then, you can introduce incentives such as commissions based on sales. In doing this, you are effectively addressing a need and creating revenues for yourself.
Consider the following questions:• What unfulfilled needs do individuals around you have?• Which services and/or products are wanted but do not exist?• What have you ever wanted and couldn’t find?• Are the existing products and/or services outdated or out of style?• Are the existing products and/or services not easy to use?• Quality......is it good enough?• Are existing products and/or services too expensive?
You should always be on the lookout for new business ideas. Whenever possible, you should involve your family, your peers and your workmates in this process. Challenge your assumptions and question the status quo. Your ideas may even be a valuable basis for identifying other business opportunities. Remember that there are always new and better ways of solving problems and addressing needs & desires. The sky is the limit!!!