How do I Start a Viable Business?

Most people in this part of the world venture into a particular business because their neighbours, colleagues, friends or even family members are into the business without having any knowledge of any sort about the business and this is what eventually leads to the collapse of most businesses.

I will be taking us through some very salient steps we must consider before starting up a business.

First Step: In starting any business the first step is to be knowledgeable about the type of business you are about to venture into. It is very important to have not only an idea about the business but also have the knowledge about the business. For example: you see your family friend doing Fish Farming business and because you feel its profitable you decided to start your own Fish Farming business note that you are heading for failure. In hence, take out time to acquire the necessary knowledge you need to know about the business before you start.

Second Step: Carry out a feasibility study about the business you have decided to venture into. This will help you know the viability of the business.

Third Step: After conducting your feasibility study, the next step is for you to raise capital for your business. There are two sources of finance to a business, we have the Equity Finance and the Debt Finance.

Fourth Step: The next step is for you to invest this capital by acquiring your assets or resources, these assets are what you will use to operate your business.

Fifth Step: This is the final step, the outcome of your operations is whether you sell or not. However, in generating this revenue for your business you must have incurred some expenses. The difference between your revenue and expenses is what gives you your Profit or Loss.

Most businesses in Nigeria are out to make profit, however, whether your organisation is out to make money or not you must have your Core Values, Mission and Vision, your employees must know these Core Values, Mission and Vision why? Because they are the people who will assist you in carrying out your business operations.

In hence, when we know our Core Values, Mission and Vision we understand where we are going as an organisation. Then we can now think of steps of how to get there which means your Strategy. We can have Human Resources (HR) strategy, Sales Strategy, Marketing Strategy or Risk Strategy. Whatever Strategy you have decided in the various units it must be consistent with the overall Strategy of the Firm.

Strategy without execution is just grammar hence, we need to implement our Strategy through our policies, human resources and structures. However, a key resource we need to implement our Strategy is Data.

Finally, the outcome of our Strategy is our goals. If you have achieved your outcome, you need to know what is driving your business performance, for example: It could be productivity, availability of resources or decisions. However, business performance is driven by the quality of decision you take and Data drives your decision making. Your competitors also have data available to them and what separates you from them is your ability to take decisions on Time.

#MBA 21