TECHNOPRENEURSHIP 1 (HIT 110)

LECTURE BY: C .CHITUMBA

IDEA GENERATION
 Overview

New ideas How to come A process for

Ingredients up with a
from generating
for a good business idea
around the
idea
ideas with
world – watching your students
trends
Solve a problem…
New ideas
Ingredients
from
for a good
around the
idea
world
Components of a
great idea

Qualified For sustainability

Plan

€conomics It must make a profit

Demand People must want it

New ideas How to come
Ingredients up with a
from
for a good business idea
around the
idea – watching
world
trends
 Ideas - Ideas - Ideas…
Finding the right business idea can be difficult and
frustrating. There are a number of ways to generate
a business idea ranging from:
 
reviewing published sources of information such
as magazines and newspapers
to idea generation techniques (i.e. brainstorming)
Hobbies
Interests
Skills
Qualifications
work experience
Low Cost Convenience Wellbei
ng

Female Fever
Environ
ment
Trends?
Finding an Idea…
Find a trend,
complaint, problem or
pain

Get creative on how

to capitalise on it
 What is An Opportunity?

An opportunity is a favorable
Opportunity Defined set of circumstances that
creates a need for a new
product, service or business.

2-10
 What is an Opportunity?

An opportunity has four essential qualities

2-11
Three Ways to Identify an Opportunity

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“Business opportunities are
like buses, there’s always
another one coming.”
Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Enterprises
 Idea Generation

Where do I begin?

95% perspiration and 5% inspiration Fun

 Idea Generation
Creative Thinking

5% of adults over the age of 20 years consider

themselves to be ‘Creative’.
95% of children between the ages of 5 and 10
years exhibit a strong tendency towards
creativity.

Imagination is the fuel for creativity.

 Sources of New Ideas
Consumers
– Informally monitor potential ideas and needs.
– Formally arrange for consumers to express their
opinions.
Existing Products and Services
– Analysis uncovers ways to improve offerings that may
result in a new product or service.
Distribution Channels
– Channel members can help suggest and market new
products.
 Sources of New Ideas (cont.)

Government
– Files of the Patent Office can suggest new product
possibilities.
– New product ideas can come in response to
government regulations.
Research and Development
– A formal endeavor connected with one’s current
employment.
– An informal lab in a basement or garage.
 Ideas Notebook
 Record unusual or interesting ideas.
 Always carry an ideas notebook.
 Words/Pictures/Photographs
 Date ideas
 Re-visit and examine
 Encourage an ‘idea a week/month’
Business ideas can occur at any time so it is important to
be on the lookout for opportunities!
 Idea Generation
 The ability to generate ideas comes from intuition, but
is amplified by experience!
 Exercise your imagination
 Think in new ways & apply new technologies
 Analyse the failures of others…..
 Associate things that don’t have an obvious link…..
 Find new uses for old things…….
 Analyse why something is not working & find solutions
 Identify a niche market……..
 Finding the right business idea for you
 Assessing your abilities and experience; your work experience,
practical knowledge, technical abilities, hobbies, contacts and
family background can also be important factors for business
success.
 
 Many small jobs you do around your home can be ideas for
starting a business, for example growing vegetables, cooking,
dancing, fixing watches or machines, sewing etc. Your interests
and hobbies can give you ideas of a new business. Telling stories,
drawing pictures, listening to music, baking cakes are all hobbies
that can be turned into business ideas.
 Idea development process
1 2
Idea Generation

Screening
6

Launch

Developing 3

Testing Research 4
5
 IDEA DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
1 Ideas generation
Finding the right business idea.
 
Screening ideas
2
Deciding which ideas to pursue and which to discard. Consider
which idea(s):
Best meets the needs of customers
Generates the highest profit
Best fits with the goals of the business
Is technically feasible
level of competition in the market place
 Idea development process

3 Developing an idea

This depends on the product or service:

Developing a prototype
Creating the product design
Creating the product
Developing the packaging
Deciding on a name for the product or service
Obtaining a patent, design right or a trademark
 Idea development process
4 Research

Collecting information about a market place to determine

whether or not there is a demand for a product or service –
 
 
5 Testing an idea

Through focus groups, by giving free samples, by attending fairs

and markets etc.
 Idea development process
6 Launching an idea

This is usually supported by an appropriate marketing

activities -
• There are thousands of ideas out
there
• We know what makes a good one
• Where do we find them?
• Look for needs, watch trends, listen
for complaints, problems or pains….
Then get creative about building a
business around them
Finding the right business
idea is crucial. The right
business idea is one
which is viable,
sustainable and suited to
the business owner(s).
 Methods of Generating New Ideas
 BRAINSTORMING
Brainstorming encourages people to come up with thoughts and ideas that
can, at first, seem a bit crazy. Some of these ideas can be crafted into
original, creative solutions to a problem, while others can spark even more
ideas. This helps to get people unstuck by "jolting" them out of their normal
ways of thinking.Good ideas emerge when the brainstorming effort focuses
on a specific product or market area.

Rules of brainstorming:
 No criticism.
 Quantity of ideas is desired.
 Combinations and improvements of ideas are encouraged.
 Session starts with a problem statement.
 No group member should be an expert in the field of the problem.
 All ideas must be recorded.
Methods of Generating New Ideas

WHY USE BRAINSTORMING?

Brainstorming provides a free and open environment that

encourages everyone to participate. Quirky ideas are welcomed and
built upon, and all participants are encouraged to contribute fully,
helping them develop a rich array of creative solutions.
 
When used during problem solving, brainstorming brings team
members' diverse experience into play. It increases the richness of
ideas explored, which means that you can often find better solutions
to the problems that you face.
 Methods of Generating New Ideas (cont.)

 Brainwriting
– A form of written brainstorming.
– Participants write their ideas on special forms or cards
that circulate within the group.
 Problem Inventory Analysis
– Consumers are provided with a list of problems and
are asked to identify products that have those
problems.
– Results must be carefully evaluated as they may not
actually reflect a new business opportunity.
 Problem Solving
 Problems mean opportunities
 Many a good idea has come from finding a
solution to a problem.
 What causes the Problem?

•Think Backwards
•Think Bigger
•Think smaller
 Steps in Problem Solving
 Check the facts
 What is causing the Problem?
 Identify Solutions
 Prioritise the Ideal solution
 Implement
 Evaluate
 Idea Generation
Problem Solving
Traffic Congestion

 Shift focus
 Make it unnecessary
 Reduce the problem
 Substitute
 Idea Generation

 Develop a new idea

 Copy an idea
 Alter an idea
 Buy a business
 GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES –
TECHNOPRENEURS
The countries of the world are linked in
a global economy made possible by
free trade agreements and advances in
communications technology.

International markets present

opportunities in all regions of the world.
 The Global Economy
Global economy - the interconnected economies
of the nations of the world

Entrepreneurship plays an important role in

today’s multicultural global society.

Technological advances and changes in trade

barriers have created a global economy.
 GLOBAL ECONOMY
To conduct international business
successfully, you must understand foreign
customs and cultures.

Whether you choose to import or export

products, the international market presents
many profitable business opportunities.
 Where to Find Import Opportunities
 Attend trade shows

 Read trade publications and catalogs.

Research the market.

Talk to potential customers.

 Where to Find Export Opportunities
Establish an e-commerce web site

Establish a foreign joint venture

License foreign businesses to sell your products

Hire a freight forwarder

 A good idea or a good business idea?
A good business idea is one that is based on:
 
A product or service that customers want/need
A product or service you can sell at a price that customers can afford
and which will give you a profit
The knowledge of skills you have or you can get
 The resources and money you are able to invest
 
Ideas are everywhere, but they need to match what customers want and
can pay for. A good business idea is based on the needs of customers. If a
business makes a good product but nobody needs it, the business will be a
failure.
 Encouraging New Ideas
 Establishing a Focal Point for Ideas
– Some firms meet the challenge of encouraging, collecting, and
evaluating ideas by designating a specific person to screen and
track them—for if its everybody’s job, it may be no one’s
responsibility.
– Another approach is to establish an idea bank (or vault), which
is a physical or digital repository for storing ideas.
 Encouraging Creativity at the Firm Level
– Creativity is the raw material that goes into innovation and
should be encouraged at the organizational and individual
supervisory level.

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 Protecting Ideas From Being Lost or Stolen

 Step 1
– The idea should be put in a tangible form such as entered
into a physical idea logbook or saved on a computer disk, and
the date the idea was first thought of should be entered.
 Step 2
– The idea should be secured. This may seem like an obvious
step, but is often overlooked.
 Step 3
– Avoid making an inadvertent or voluntary disclosure of an
idea, in a manner that forfeits the right to claim exclusive
rights to it.

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 Setting goals
You may have very clear and specific goals, or you may be diving into the
unknown with a new project. Either way you should build a picture, from
the start of your project, of how you will evaluate the success or failure of
the project. An entrepreneur must have a goal and objective which are
SMART:
 Turning your dreams into reality
When it comes to creative planning, it can
be hard to find the right way to transform
imaginative thinking into concrete
business ideas.
 
 You need to:
dream big in order to come up with
possible ways of solving a particular
problem

At the same time, you need to:

be able to focus on the detail needed to
put your plan into action successfully
 Evaluating the success of a business idea
There are five main ways of measuring business success.
1. Profitability
•This can be measured by financial ratios like profit margin.
2. Job creation
•This can be measured by counting the number of employees.
3. Market share
•measured by dividing the business's sales into the total sales of the market.
4. Customer satisfaction
measured by carrying out customer opinion surveys and market research.
5. Socio-Economic and ethical considerations
• measured by whether society believes the business is doing things the
right way.
 Idea Generation

 Develop a new idea

 Copy an idea
 Alter an idea
 Buy a business
14. Discussion