Table of Contents
Business Background ...................................................................................................................... 1
Reason for engaging in entrepreneurship ....................................................................................... 1
The perspective of Business activity............................................................................................... 1
Process of setting up a business ...................................................................................................... 2
Business objective and background ................................................................................................ 2
Opportunity recognition .................................................................................................................. 2
Resources search ............................................................................................................................. 2
Actual business development .......................................................................................................... 3
Value creation ................................................................................................................................. 3
Challenges ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Personal Reflection ......................................................................................................................... 6
Strength ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Weakness and area of Improvement ........................................................................................... 7
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 8
References ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Business Background
Entrepreneurship is a broad term that includes the using creative idea to solve the needs of
people which also serves as a business venture from the entrepreneur. Starting a business requires
various processes. Before the business development class activity, have had some entrepreneurial
experience. However, this experience needs to be polished to become an entrepreneur. The first
entrepreneurial experience I had was through my parents. Both of my parents were traders which
I can say poses they possess entrepreneurial skills. Their business activities and operations gave
me basic knowledge about entrepreneurship.
Reason for engaging in entrepreneurship
My reason for engaging in entrepreneurship can be explained in the light of two
entrepreneurship theories the Schumpeter innovation theory and the McClelland need for
achievement theory. According to the innovation theory, entrepreneurship involves innovation
which may be in the form of introducing a new method of producing an existing product or creating
a product for a new market, creating a new product for an existing market, or starting a venture to
offer a solution to existing problems (Mehmood et al, 2019). From this view of entrepreneurship,
the motivation for our group activity is to create a new method for providing existing food services.
Besides, the need for achievement theory states that the reason for starting a business is not to seek
recognition but for the desire to do well (Yustin, 2018). This implies that the rationale for creating
the cook addict idea or for me venturing into business in the nearest future is based on the desire
to provide solutions and not for recognition. Based on this, there is an intrinsic motivation that
propels my activity to achieve success in the entrepreneurship quest.
The perspective of Business activity
From the class group business activity, some important factors that influence my view of
entrepreneurship are presented in this section.
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Process of setting up a business
Business objective and background
The entrepreneurial objective is the first stage of the invention phase. The concept is
developed at this point based on a businessman's objective combined with the meaning of the idea.
During the class activity, I learned that the first thing to do is to define the objectives of setting up
a particular business. Having a specific objective provides an entrepreneur with the needed
direction to start the business and progress on the business.
Opportunity recognition
The next move is to consider the potential after the entrepreneurial objectives have been
decided. There are different possibilities for creativity. Opportunities can be established where
there is an immediate issue. Opportunity may also be recognized through complaints of customers
about an existing service or product. during the class activity, information about the proposed
business was obtained from numerous sources like personal monitoring, Internet sources, and other
sources (Provasnek et al, 2017). In addition, my entrepreneurial mission of creating a business
helped me recognize the need for a particular business. Using the corporate target as a metric
encouraged me to choose the strongest chance to achieve this goal.
Resources search
The next stage in the entrepreneurial phase that drives my vision of establishing a business
is the quest for resources either human, material, or financial. It is crucial to recognize and identify
the tools required for the concept to be implemented after the potential for the business has been
found.
An important resource identified from the cook addict idea employed during the group task
is the financial resources. Finance is an important aspect of every business. Especially in a startup
business like the cook addict, capital is needed to carry out the business as planned in the business
plan. Some of the areas finance is needed is for setting up the business, getting the necessary
equipment, digital awareness, marketing, and employees salary. However, getting funding for
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starting a business can be challenging. As such, the business plan outlined the possible means of
getting funding for the business which some will come from the individual savings and support
from family and friends.
Actual business development
At this stage of the business creation, I learned that certain procedures must be taken to
have a legal business recognized by the authority. Every business operates in a certain environment
that is controlled by a government. As such, the government must be aware of the business and
granted a legal existence by registering the business (Spigel & Harrison, 2018). At this stage, all
the previous stages are put into practice and the concept is turned into a tangible or interactive
enterprise providing citizens with solutions. The establishment of an enterprise often involves
regulatory procedures such as the legal recognition of an enterprise name, the application for a tax
account, and the creation of company policy and regulations.
Value creation
Value creation is the final step in the invention phase that influences my perception of
entrepreneurship. Worth creation for citizens is a way to increase the recognition and patronage of
customers. When a customer enjoys the service received, he is likely to come back next time. As
such, the survival of every company focuses on value creation for the consumer (Diandra & Azmy,
2020). There is no exception to the significance of creating value for the customer in the cook
addict business idea employed by my group. In this light, the group focused on creating value for
the customers by offering them catering services through digital means. Thus, I learned that value
creation should be the reason for the existence of a business. However, making a profit is also
important which comes when a business can create the needed worth for the customers.
Challenges
From the class activity, I found that entrepreneurship comes with some challenges. During
the group activity, some challenges were identified which includes finding the right business idea,
financing, creating awareness or marketing, getting needed resources, and sustaining the business.
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Firstly on the first challenge of embarking on an entrepreneurship mission, finding the right idea
can be challenging. During the group activity, the tasks were shared among my group members.
however, the aspect of developing an entrepreneurial idea was a collective activity brainstormed
by every member of the group. This is because crafting an idea that provides a unique solution to
existing issues and meets the needs of the people is extensive. This process necessitated us to
brainstorm ideas based on the current happenings in our environment. It became challenging in
the initial stage as choosing a particular industry to create a solution was an issue. First, the group
based the idea and entrepreneurial solution in light of the current pandemic. This means that any
solution being provided must offer people the opportunity to access the services remotely and
health-conscious. Based on this, the group settled on the foodservice industry and brainstormed on
ways to create solutions in the business domain. Thus, I became aware of how challenging it can
be to start up a business especially with crafting the business idea. However, developing a business
idea can be easy by following what has already been done but creating a unique solution is more
challenging and require ingenuity,
The second challenge of starting a business based on the cook addict business developed
by the group is financing, finance is essential for every business either a startup business or an
existing business. Especially for a startup business that is yet to make a profit or finance business
from existing resources, getting funds to start up a business is challenging (Doh, Tashman &
Benischke, 2019). From the group business plan, financing options were outlined as from personal
savings, and external sources of funding. However, I have come to realize that funding a startup
business requires sourcing funds from various means as personal savings may not be adequate on
some occasions. Especially in our case a student, personal savings may be useful to some extent
such as covering some aspect of the marketing activities, paying for website development among
others.
However, aspects like payment of salary and acquiring the needed tools and equipment
may require external funding. Also, I realized how challenging it can be to get funds from external
sources. As a young entrepreneur with no current asset or collateral, getting funds from a financial
or loan institution can be very challenging. And as such financial institution is one of the largest
sources of business financing can be inaccessible or useful to us at the initial stage of our business.
However, I became aware of other means useful to get funds for starting a business. Crowdfunding
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and donations were found to be another useful source of financing a small business. Also, this
method of financing is challenging as on many occasions, people feel reluctant to donate or support
the business. On some occasions, people do not donate because they do not fully understand the
importance of the business. People who supported the business see it as a means of job creation
for others.
Creating awareness or marketing is another challenging aspect of starting a business as
identified from the group activity. Every business needs to create awareness to reach the target
market. Marketing propels a business and supplies a business with the needed customers to keep
the business moving and alive. Marketing is an important aspect that is present in every business
(Atiase et al, 2018). As such the cook addict business idea is not an exception. the cook addict
business made provision for marketing in the entrepreneurial process. However, marketing is more
complex than it sounds. Especially for a startup business, marketing a new product that has not
been tested is challenging. Because people are yet to develop that trust about the product and are
yet to ascertain the value that the business or product offers them.
A similar challenge is present in the cook addict business as highlighted in the business
plan. Another aspect of marketing a startup business that is challenging is the financing aspect.
Financing using traditional advertisements such as radio, TV, and magazine can be expensive for
a startup with a small marketing budget. However, I became aware of other affordable marketing
means such as word of mouth marketing, social media marketing, which are affordable and less
expensive than other marketing means.
Another challenge identified from the cook addict startup business activity is getting the
needed resources. Starting a business requires human and material resources to start a business.
Particularly the importance of human resources in every business either startup or existing business
cannot be overemphasized (Matt & Schaeffer, 2018). The human resources are needed to carry out
the business functions which includes cooking in the case of cook addict presented by my group.
However, finding the right people to work with, who support the vision and mission of the business
can be challenging. I realized that the skills of the employees are essential to the performance of
an organization which can lead to success or failure of an organization.
Lastly, sustaining a business is a challenge identified from the cook addict entrepreneurial
activity. Sustaining a business is challenging which requires consistent performance and strategy
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to keep a business alive. This requires entrepreneurial skills such as communication skills,
coordination skills, planning, and organizing skills. However, I realized that I need to develop
some of these skills to a successful entrepreneur.
Personal Reflection
After the reflection on the class exercise and how I perceived entrepreneurship, I
discovered some weakness and strength in me that determines my decision to venture into
entrepreneurship or not. A detailed reflection on my entrepreneurship abilities after this exercise
is presented in this section.
Strength
In today's era of innovative requirements day by day, as Igwe, Onjewu and Nwibo (2018),
an entrepreneur has a major role to play in continuously applying and putting emerging strategies
to new concepts.
From the cook addict entrepreneurial activity, I realized the need for an innovative
approach. While conducting the group exercise I realized my innovative skills as a strength by
being able to creatively define the financial needs of the cook addict startup idea and the means of
getting the needed finance for the startup business. Also, I realized my innovative skill as a strength
after I was able to design 5 different logos which one of the logos was selected as the logo for the
cook addict startup idea. After that, it may be seen that there is a strong connection between
innovativeness and business performance. Berglund, Bousfiha, and Mansoori (2020) say that
'innovation is about searching for new opportunities for old concepts,' the owner of Starbucks, for
example, says, 'continuously remind the company that while effective, it is nevertheless not
possible to perform (Hsieh & Wu, 2019).
Another strength I identified as being self-motivated. A good entrepreneur must be selfmotivated and determined to succeed, apart from the value of imaginative and visionary ability,
because no one can inspire and support them when doing his own business.
During the group exercise, self-motivation keeps me engaged in the process despite the
challenges faced in the various phases of creating the cook addict business plan. I also identified
communication skills as a strength during the group exercise, I was able to communicate
effectively with my group members which are essential for every entrepreneur. Similar to a typical
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business setting, an entrepreneur communicates with their staff and partners. How effective the
communication determines whether an entrepreneur will get the best from his relationship with his
staff and partners (Haris et al, 2019). As such, I realized that I can communicate effectively with
group members which means I can effectively communicate with staff and partners if I venture
into a business.
Another strength I identified during the group entrepreneurial activity is the collaboration
skills. Collaboration is important for starting and sustaining a business. Crafting a business idea
may require brainstorming as it occurred during the cook addict group activity. I collaborated with
all members of my group from the start to finish of the group activity. Collaboration was necessary
at every stage starting from the business idea creation which requires brainstorming among the
members, creating the business plan also required collaboration which I discovered my
collaboration skill.
Another strength I discovered during the group activity is financial skills. Finance is an
important aspect of every startup business that needs adequate planning. As such, I was tasked
with the responsibility of handling the financial planning of the cook addict idea. As such, I
improved my financial skills through seeking more knowledge and being exposed to new financial
terms and indicators which helped to present a realistic, futuristic and feasible business plan.
I also discovered my strength in the aspect of critical thinking. Critical thinking is needed
for innovation. Creating an innovative idea like the cook addict required critical thinking. The
group task made me realize my critical thinking ability based on my significant contribution to the
group task by crafting a log that fits the mission and vision of the company and provide excellent
branding of the business
Weakness and area of Improvement
The willingness to take risks in a venture represents one of the most important features of
an entrepreneur that the classical economic theory suggests. The contractor must be willing to lose
everything (Boermans & Willebrands, 2017), and remember that no reward without calculated
risk. Risk-taking is a strong feature that I believe I must build for the future because I don't want
to take risky measures in decision-making. As I am afraid to lose my motivation for business if
things do not go as planned which makes me minimize risks as much as possible. However, I know
I'll become a better entrepreneur in the future if I learned to take measured risks. According to
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Llanos-Contreras, Alonso-Dos-Santos and Ribeiro-Soriano (2020), your errors are the only way
to understand. His achievement consists of encouraging all staff to make errors and learn from
them. Entrepreneur, therefore, they must develop skills so they do not miss a strategic chance,
solve challenges and learn from their own mistakes.
Another feature of an entrepreneur that many writers consider essential is the selfconfidence that is needed to start a business. In addition, self-confidence has been shown to
influence company policies and success (Gelaidan & Abdullateef, 2017). What was also noted
from the study is that high-confidence entrepreneurs attain better market success than
entrepreneurs with low self-confidence.
Another skill that needs to be developed is my leadership and management skill. As Gordon
and Gordon (2017) stated, there may various causes of failure of business but the leadership
potential of the founder is an obvious vital element. Therefore, excellent leadership is necessary
when starting up a new company while efficient management is vital for sustaining the business.
Michael Dell recognized a need for an agile management team to work in a volatile climate and to
break down obstacles to progress. Murnieks, Klotz and Shepherd (2020) argued that weak
motivation is the result of a lack of professional leadership rather than a lack of people's ambition.
This underscored the need for me to improve my leadership and management skills to enable me
to manage business resources to achieve business success.
Conclusion
From the reflection presented in this paper, it can be concluded that starting a business is a
complex activity that involves the investment of time energy, and adequate skills. Irrespective of
the challenges outlined in this reflection, I have developed the zeal to become a successful business
person. The group activity has exposed me to entrepreneurship, increased my motivation, and
developed some skills to help me start a business. However, the skills highlighted for improvement
must be improved to become a better business person and create a successful business.
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