By Anthony M. Wanjohi: This course will help you to develop your entrepreneurial skills and start a business that could give you a livelihood that can support you and your family. Your business will contribute to the economic activity in your community and you may even go on to employ others. This would be a service to your community.
Most people who would like to work for themselves find it difficult to decide what type of business to start. If you wish to choose a business that suits you, you should start by thinking about yourself. You have knowledge and skills that are needed by both the community and business. Your ideas are needed. You can produce something or provide a service that you can sell. If you’re already involved in some trade, this course will help you to refine your skills.
As an entrepreneur, you will have to use your judgment and your sense of what is right and wrong. You have a responsibility to your community to be an ethical entrepreneur. This class involves you personally, and you need to be an active participant to benefit fully from it. While you need to contribute your ideas and views, it is equally important to listen to others in an open-minded and respectful way.
You are encouraged to think positively about how this course can help you to fulfill your career aspirations!
Course Outline
1. Business Entrepreneurial Skills
This part of the course will help you discover the qualities and skills you possess that will assist you to become a successful entrepreneur.
What are my entrepreneurial skills:
a) Conducting myself
b) Thinking
c) Interacting with people
d) My safety and survival
e) Things I can do
f) Others (specify)_________________________
How often do I use these skills?
a) Very often
b) Often
c) Rarely
What do I use my skills for?
a) To support my needs
b) To support Community needs
c) Others (specify)
Other questions:
a) What needs do I know about in my community?
b) What can be done to address these needs?
c) Which of my skills can be used to address community needs?
d) Which of these needs can I develop into a business idea?
e) What needs do I know about in my community?
2. Business General Set Up
a) What kind of business am I going to set up?
b) Where will my business be located?
c) What are the legal requirements for setting up the business?
d) How much money do I need to set up the business?
e) How do I access business finance?
f) What are business finance access requirements?
g) What business infrastructure do i need to set for my business?
3. Business Infrastructure Setting
a) Do I have access to a phone? If not, could I use someone else’s phone?
b) How can I let people know about through social media?
c) What information can I get for my business from the Internet?
Activity: Together with your group, design a short advertisement to be broadcast over the local radio, Internet (social media, etc)
4. Business Market
a) What kind of business am I going to set?
b) Who is interested in and needs my product or service?
c) Are they willing to buy it (give money or another product for it)?
d) Will they always want to buy the product regularly or seasonally (sustainable)?
e) How many of my product or hours of my service will they need?
f) Where should the product be available (location of sales points)?
g) How much is the local price for the items I am producing or for the service I am providing?
5. Business Finance
a) Do I have money to buy the materials I need to set my business?
b) If not, what are the sources of the money? Family, Friends, Bank, Micro-finance, or Government.
c) How much would I need to borrow?
d) How much would I be able to pay back per month?
e) What is ‘interest’ of the borrowed money?
f) Do I need a business plan or a business proposal to apply for funding?
6. Business Plan
The business plan should consist of the following components:
a) title page (name of my business, my name and contact address)
b) summary of my business objectives
c) table of contents
d) structure of my proposed business
e) the product or service I intend to sell
f) marketing plan (based on a simple market survey)
g) financial plan
h) Appendices: other supporting documents, such as business registration certificate, trade license etc.
Activity: Together with your group, prepare a business plan.
(Provide an outline of business plan)
7. Business Money Banking
Which of the following things do I need?
a) Bank account?
b) Cheque book?
c) Receipt book?
d) a good filing system?
e) Others (specify)____________
Click to download a copy in PDF Format
About the Author
Wanjohi, AM is a MERL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning) specialist. He is the founder of Kenya Projects Organization, Writers Bureau Centre and Schools Net Kenya. He has written and published widely in the fields of Education and Social Sciences.
To register for this course, kindly click Contact Us / For more inquiries, kindly call Office Tel. 0202319748.
