Various Sources of Information for Entrepreneurship Development

Entrepreneurs need to be reminded from time to time about the basic functional areas, regarding their enterprises so that they can be up to date and be efficient and effective managers.

In light of this, we have to recognize information as a veritable resource of entrepreneurship development.

Nature and Types of Information Required By Entrepreneurs

Marketing Information

Whoever engages in a business, whoever embarks on entrepreneurial tasks will knowingly or unknowingly engage in marketing. We can state that whenever people engaged in business, they also engage in marketing. Some aspects of marketing have over the years changed dramatically.  Selling alone was considered to be the actual marketing activity.

Quality products and services in the historical sense were no longer all that customers were looking for. More manufacturers, more distributors, and increasing buying power changed the “marketplace”.

Globalization of markets set in, and new and more sophisticated management instruments were needed to help manufacturers, distributors, and entrepreneurs to stay in business and grow with growing markets and all of this despite ever-increasing competition and fighting over market shares.

Any market primarily consists of people and entrepreneurs need to concentrate efforts on one of the segments of the market in which the products have the greatest potential appeal. Good market segmentation is a must for any successful marketing approach.

Technical Information

In developing a business idea there is a need for a potential entrepreneur to adopt a carefully moderated and intelligent technical approach.

Planning is a process that never ends for business. It is extremely important in the early stages of any venture when the entrepreneur will need technical information to prepare a preliminary business plan.

There are different types of technical information that may be part of any business operation. This may include-designing of premises, products others may include the nature of products/services you will like to engage in.

It may also include the tools and equipment you require or materials needed for your production process. It may also be a technology choice or advice on location and premises.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Information and communication technology is a very important source of information for Entrepreneurship development as we know that the whole world is now a global village where information about a product/service can be easily sourced.

One can source through the internet and find out the kind of hardware, software for the kind of business one want to venture into. It may be packages on accounting and production or databases appropriate for the business.

Technology Is Constantly Changing the Demands of Consumers

Businesses use new technologies to produce new products and services. Entrepreneurs should realize that new technological developments such as the internet and cell phones increase the exchange of information and may have an effect on the operations of their business.

Entrepreneurs may not be aware of the nature and effects of all new technologies, yet, they must try to determine technical developments which are likely to have the greatest impact on their business operations.

Financial Information

Whether a business is small or large, owners and executives must have financial information relating to the type of business they want to establish. One of the most often overlooked areas of information for entrepreneurship development is financial information.

Often regarded as a back-office aspect of the business, financial information plays a critical role in decision making. Because decisions are only as good as the information on which they are based, establishing reliable data from business: environment must be a priority for all businesses regardless of size and industry.

It is only when you have proper financial information that an entrepreneur will know the amount of capital required for the kind of business he is going into and ways of sourcing fat it.

Money plays a major role in an enterprise. At the beginning of any business, money is needed to purchase the necessary tools/equipment, materials/supplies, and other needs.

To be competitive, small business owners must prepare for all future events and market changes. One of the most important aspects of such preparation is cash flow planning.

Failure to properly plan cash flow is one of the leading causes of small business failure. Knowing some basic accounting will help you be a better manager of your cash flow.

Legal Information

Business is the totality of the economic and commercial life of any nation. A business could be carried on as a small, medium, or large-scale enterprise. It could also be carried on as a domestic or international business but you have to know the legal implication on each one of them.

This is where legal information is very important. That is why small businesses and corporations alike employ the likes of Sun Document Filings to take care of some of their legal paperwork.

For example, if one wants to establish a private company in Nigeria, it has to be a minimum of two (2) persons and a maximum of fifty (50) members and there are other documents required by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Registrars of Companies before the incorporation of any company.

One also needs to know about the copyright and Trade Mark Laws and also compliance with the legal requirement with regard to Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA).

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