As we recently witnessed in last couple of years, the majority of new ventures arose in the area of the Internet, the health sector or in the software industry. It would be a misconception to believe these are the only areas where true opportunity exists. In fact, business opportunities exist everywhere, as they did in the past, the trick is recognizing them and using imagination and innovation to realize this potential.
Nobody would have predicted the success of Starbucks, IKEA or Zara. They are creatively designed and intelligently executed ordinary businesses that became – because of their owners’ entrepreneurially intense mindset – extraordinary exemplars of well-expressed imagination in a field of mediocre competitors.
The biggest opportunity lies in creating a company that does something that traditional commodity businesses don’t do nearly as well, for a market that has grown tired of the status quo. An entrepreneur must spot the weakness and improve upon it in such a significant way that a brand is born. This new brand will become preferentially unique because it delivers results better, faster, cheaper and most important nowadays -more ‘socially- and globally minded’ than anyone else.
The story of the Socially- and Globally-Minded Entrepreneurs.
The concept isn’t new. What is new, is that today’s entrepreneurs have adopted a fresh view of the world that empowers them to take on problems traditionally outside the business milieu. Because entrepreneurs possess the imagination, innovation, passion and skill to produce results, they are often more efficient than governments, charities, religious institutions and other not-for-profit organizations that have historically been responsible for proposing solutions.
Muhammad Yunis’ Grameen Bank
A 2006 Nobel Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, a 67-year-old Ph.D in Economics.
Yunus set up The Grameen Bank, worlds’ first microcredit bank in 1976 with just $27 from his own pocket. More than 30 years later, the bank has 6.6 million borrowers, of which 97% are women. “Just enough capital” was a catchphrase that preceded today’s usage of the term now coined “micro-lending.” This notion inspired a transformational movement that now translated this vision into practical action for millions of workers in more than 100 countries.
Yunus tackled the problem of poverty the way any entrepreneur would, by laying bare the root of the problem and innovating solutions to overcome these core obstacles. Financial, political, religious and familial restrictions prevented these Bangladeshi women from running self-sufficient businesses that would produce the income they and their children needed. These deterrents appeared crippling at first, but they could be alleviated by the injection of small amounts of cash loaned on terms acceptable to them. Remarkably, 96% of these loans are repaid.
Yunus is a perfect exemplar of the New Entrepreneur, an individual who doesn’t look for traditional opportunities that suggest only personal gain, but rather who applies business sense to global problems for collective gain. And good news: his successful business model is nowadays being supported by existing multinationals like DANONE (dairy products) and Evian (mineral water). As they are setting up businesses in developing countries according to the Yunus dogma. “What a wonderful world”…
Alfredo Silva is a freelance marketing & communication consultant. Contact Alfredo: alfredo@klatergoud.com
Yunus on new opportunities:
Born in Rio de Janeiro, now in Amsterdam, graduated at the Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) and the Radboud University (Nijmegen) with degrees in Marketing Science and Branding. Alfredo is a citizen of the world and a product of pragmatism. He is a consumer, a marketer, a business strategist and a full-time student. Alfredo travels, listens to stories and shares them, loves music and reads all that comes in his path.
Alfredo is the co-founder of Klatergoud, a freelance marketing & communication consultant and co-founder/owner of Fromanteel watches. His main interests are branding, creative communication, (luxury) marketing strategy and entrepreneurship.