Entrepreneurship in the “Internet of Things” era

      

    The ‘Internet of Things – IoT’ is the system of interrelated devices connected to the internet to transfer and receive data from one to the other. It digitizes physical assets, machines, gateways, sensors and devices. It connects people to things and things to things in real-time.

     The world has seen a lot of changes, civilizations have come and gone, economies have morphed – what has remained constant is peoples demand. The most advanced, easier, comfortable products and services are always demanded.

     The world had never heard of telephone 150 years ago, we then had text messaging, next came internet access, after that GPS and now we have voice control. The world never ceases to move on. Internet became publicly available in the early nineteen nineties. Not a long while later a revolution arose – the internet of things. Many businesses were driven out of the market and many new ones arose.

     In this technologically ever changing environment an important question arises among every business owner and potential business owner – ‘how long will it take for our business before it is replaced by a software or a program?’

     New technologies are becoming the driving force behind the dramatic changes in all sectors. For instance let’s take a look at a traditional bank. It holds peoples and businesses money, lends money to creditors and makes investments. Due to the latest technological advents this traditional form of banks is being upgraded and a lot of disruptive businesses are arising. A lot of new companies that allow transactions to be performed, money to be moved around and things to be paid for through their organization but are not structured like a traditional bank are disrupting the finance sectors market and bringing new changes.

     To survive businesses should continue to morph and take advantage of new technology. The advancements are there to serve them not replace them.

                                                                                                                            Yosief K. Afewerki

                                                                                                                           Financial Consultant

Overcoming markets fierce competition

 

     There are certain factors which I think a startup company must possess and practice to overcome the storm of fierce competition which it will certainly face. 

Your output must add value to your customers

   Customer retention is an important phenomenon that businesses watch closely. A successful company has its customers return again and again for its product or service. This is achieved if the customers think it is worth consuming again that company’s output. They must believe that output is of value to them and solves their problem, fills their belly or quenches their thirst. If your output as a company or business does not add value to your consumers your business is not going to be around for long.

Have at least as much asset as your debt

   An inexperienced business person usually chooses to use their asset to produce their output. They strain their business by not operating if they do not have the cash or do not own inventories. They are hindering themselves by not making use of a genius resource, which is debt. You do not have to own all the cash that you or your business needs to keep its wheels turning - so borrow money. A drawback of this mechanism is that experienced business people over use it. Once you become aware of this mechanism and are well versed on how it works make sure you do not go over edge and make your business not viable to continue to operate. 

Have clients; engineer your output to be consumed by numerous varied customers

    A major drawback of the activities of people who lack business knowhow is that they do not target to have their output consumed by numerous varied customers. For any business to be viable customers are key, so engineer your output to be consumed by many clients multiple times. 

                                                                                                                     Yosief K. Afewerki
                                                                                                                   Financial Consultant