How to identify Business opportunities
What is business opportunity? It is an attractive investment idea or proposition that provides the possibility of a return for the investor / risk taker. Such opportunities are presented by customer requirements and lead to the provisions of a product or service which creates or adds value for its buyer or end user.
There are diverse opportunities in the following areas for the imagination, creative, inventive and innovative minds:
· Stone and mineral based industry
· Chemical and allied industry
· Petroleum industry, both upstream and down stream
· Mechanical and metallurgical industry
· Electrical industry
· Electronic base industry
· Forest based industry
· Agro-based Allied industry
· Rubber based Industry
· Leather industry
· Water Resources based opportunities
· Service industry
· Miscellaneous activities such as Pharmaceutical, paper processing and threats (SWOT) model to identify opportunities around them.
The Process of Exploring business opportunities
Process opportunity is a favorable challenge posed by the environment which may lead an entrepreneur to enjoy differential advantages such as profits, survival, potentials, etc. It is just a set of business conditions waiting to be perceived and conditioned by someone. Dynamic prospecting for environmental opportunities may lead an entrepreneur to start producing a new product, install a new method of production, open up a new market, discover a new source or uses of raw materials, recognize an existing enterprise, etc. The truth is that opportunities are always ever there waiting to be plucked but to take advantage of them, someone must hunt or prospect for them, perceive, capture and realize them. In the words of Carlin (1965), “Opportunity offers itself to men in direct proportion to their ability; will for action, power of vision, experience and knowledge and business”.
Your ability as an individual to create money-making ideas and designs, formulate processes, product, service, is your greatest single power that you possess. Money making requires that opportunities be identified , selected, captured , capitalized and realized by organizations to pursue what is captured; retain the organizations maintain them and sustain their growth and success. Willing entrepreneurs must go through the following processes in order to capture attractive investment opportunities, take advantage and make a success of them.
a) Recognize needs for running a venture
A venture must be fully recognized. The very propelling influence, need, motive or drive that is responsible for the entrepreneur `s eventual mindset to want to run a venture.
b) Conduct self-appraisal
Define your values, competitive strength, behavior, resources and other capabilities (personal capability analysis). Prospective entrepreneurs must analyze themselves and see if they possess the occupational, professional and entrepreneurial competence needed to run an enterprise being contemplated. Capability and value assessment are technically referred to as “enterprise or company profile”.
c) Scan the environment and industry
This will enable the entrepreneur to understand the force, institutions and actors that are currently and potentially germane to organizations activities and performance. Business environment may be domestic, or international, immediate or remote, external or internal, absolute or comparative.
To understand the environment the following are paramount
Environmental scanning
Environmental forecasting
Organizational adaptation to environmental changes.
d) Analyze business ideas/opportunities
Possible business ideal opportunities should be analyzed to enable the venture to determine the interest or other idea/opportunity and capability and competence or the financial viability of the project; technical or production pre-feasibility of the project, marketing, commercial or economic viability of the project as well as social desirability. Investment appraisal of the project (s) or ideas may be conducted first, through a pre-feasibility study which highlights the prospect of the project(s), and second, through a comprehensive feasibility study that provides critical, technical, economic, financial and management of the project(s).
e) Select the best Idea/opportunity/project
This stage is an investment decision stage. Criteria for accepting or rejecting the project, called selection factors, are put in place. Such selection factors may be objective (quantitative) or subjective (behavioral, qualitative or judgmental)
f) Capture/Implement the idea/ project
The business ideas are bodies of thought and reflection about the nature and structure of business and what should then be the guiding principles on which to build the business. It guides the direction of the enterprise; ideas tell the entrepreneur what to do and what not to do. For the contemplative entrepreneur not to remain a dreamer, he has to be on alert to start something. He must have courage and self confidence in his ability to run and manage an enterprise. The first step of implementation process is to start with a comprehensive business plan; which marshals, allocates and deploys resources needed for the business.
EVALUATE SUCCESSS: ACTIVITY; ANALYZE A CASE OF AN ENTERRPRISE WHICH IS NOT MORE THAN THREE OR FIVE YEARS OLD
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