Techniques for Generating, Identifying and Assessing Business Ideas and Opportunities

Business Opportunity 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 provision of a product or service which creates or adds value for its buyer or end-user.

There are diverse opportunities in the following areas

• Stone and Mineral based industry
• Chemical and Allied industry
• Petroleum industry both upstream and downstream
• Mechanical and metallurgical industry
• Electrical industry
• Electronic industry
• Forest-based industry
• Agro-based Allied industries
• Rubber-based industry
• Leather industry
• Water Resources based opportunities
• Service Industry
• Miscellaneous activities such as Pharmaceutical, Paper processing, etc.

Exploring Opportunities

Dynamic prospecting far 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, reorganize an existing enterprise, etc.

Opportunities are always ever there waiting to be plucked. The ability of an individual to create money-making ideas and/or designs, formulate processes/products/services, is the greatest single power he possesses.

Willing entrepreneurs must go through the following process in order to capture attractive investment opportunities, take advantage and make a success of them.

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.

Conduct self – Approval:

Define your values, competitive strength, behavior, resources, and other capabilities (personal capability analysis).

Scan the environment and industry.

This will enable the entrepreneur to understand the force, institutions, and actors that are currently and potentially germane to an organization’s activities and performance.

To understand the environment, the following are paramount:

1. Environmental scanning
2. Environmental forecasting
3. Organizational adaptation to environmental changes.

Analyze Business ideas/opportunities:

Possible business ideal opportunities should be analyzed to enable the venturer to determine the interest or otherwise of the ideal opportunity and capability and competence or the financial viability of the project; technical or production pre-feasibility of the project; marketing, the commercial or economic viability of the project as well as social desirability.

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).

Capture/implement the Idea/Project

The business ideas are bodies of thought and reflections about the nature and structure of a business and what should then be the guiding principles on which to build the business.

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