Archive for the ‘International’ Category
Monday, November 9, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Business Partners, International |
|
No Comments
Did you know that the latest hit you heard on the radio could have been recorded in a number of different studios? That the musicians were likely in different states or even countries?
I am a violinist and I have recorded on a number of albums for different artists. I continue to be amazed at level of collaboration between artists in the recording process. For instance, if I am recording the violin for a song in a studio in Atlanta, it is possible that the vocal tracks came from New York, that the bassist recorded in the United Kingdom, that the drummer added his tracks from a studio in Seattle, and that the author of the song lives in Korea. Songs are data files. These files can be sent by email, added to, and sent back. It is no longer necessary to have all musicians together for the recording process.
This excites me. As artists around the world get known for their particular niche (instrument, style), hopefully this will lead to the connection of the best musicians for the particular song. The downside is that a certain magic element of recording together and playing off each other is lost.
For the entrepreneur musician, this presents a great opportunity to expand. You can promote yourself, not just in your local market, but around the world as a particular instrumentalist with a particular style. With the right recording equipment (pro tools, a nice microphone, and some talent), you can record sample tracks, put them on the internet, and receive instant feedback for your new songs. Even if you don’t have the necessary equipment, there are often schools or local co-ops (like the WonderRoot in Atlanta) that allow you to record using professional equipment for a minimal yearly fee.
Posted under Business Partners, International | No Comments
Thursday, November 5, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Entrepreneurship Stories, General Thoughts, International |
Tags: diversification, entrepreneurship, ethics, india, microfinance |
No Comments
While studying entrepreneurship in India just a few years ago, our group of graduate students noticed three major themes in nearly all of our entrepreneur meetings. They were the role of microfinance for entrepreneurship, the necessity of dealing ethically as an entrepreneur, and the importance of diversification within an entrepreneurial endeavor. These ideas continue to be reinforced in daily news stories of the importance of small micro loans to countries around the world, the importance of ethics and reputation, and how some of the most successful companies i n the world are almost always the most diversified. Read an excerpt below from our trip blog:
“So far in our Indian travels, there have been a number of topics that have come up in many of our company visits, university forums, and individual entrepreneurial interviews. The great thing about this trip is that trends begin to emerge while visiting so many different groups of people in a number of different cities. We would like to highlight a few of these recurring topics.
The first word we keep hearing is microfinance. Microfinance has been a recent phenomenon based upon a theory developed by Dr. Muhammad Yunus who won the Nobel Peace Price in 2006. The idea has a strong basis in personal initiative and entrepreneurial action. Dr. Yunus believed that by providing minuscule loans to the world’s most desperate poor, they would in turn use the money to purchase raw materials for a particular trade and thus begin the process of lifting themselves out of poverty. Today, more than 250 institutions have implemented the microfinance concept in nearly 100 countries and the payback rate on these loans is at an amazing rate of 98%.
The reason that we keep hearing about microfinance is that many people believe this is the way to have the economic growth in India reach to the furthest rural areas. The Indian government is well aware that it cannot maintain such a high level of economic growth in just a handful of urban centers. The poor in the rural areas will also need to play their part. Charity does not have a history of encouraging personal initiative. But being given an opportunity and being held accountable for the results has helped break the cycle of poverty in thousands of lives across the world.
Here is a description by Dr Yunus himself:
“I firmly believe that all human beings have an innate skill. I call it the survival skill. The fact that the poor are alive is clear proof of their ability. They do not need us to teach them how to survive; they already know how to do this. So rather than waste our time teaching them new skills, we try to make maximum use of their existing skills. Giving the poor access to credit allows them to immediately put into practice the skills they already know – to weave, husk rice paddy, raise cows, peddle a rickshaw. And the cash they earn is then a tool, a key that unlocks a host of other abilities and allows them to explore their own potential. Often borrowers teach each other new techniques that allow them to better use their survival skills. They teach far better than we ever could.”
Another word we keep hearing is ethics. So far, both entrepreneurs that we have met in our in-depth interviews have stated how much a good reputation has been a key to their success. These were serial entrepreneurs stating that one must conduct business at the highest ethical standards at all times. This may seem to be an obvious point, but there seemed to be a strong level of personal ethics in the successful people we encountered.
A third word we have heard a number of times is diversification. A number of the entrepreneurs have stated that without the diversification of their business, they would not be around today. In the fast-changing Information Technology sector, this seems to be a key strategy in building a business in India.”
Tags: diversification, entrepreneurship, ethics, india, microfinance | Posted under Entrepreneurship Stories, General Thoughts, International | No Comments
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Entrepreneurship Stories, International, Website Design |
Tags: new online business model, relaunch website, website redesign |
1 Comment
Don’t discard your floundering website business just yet. Perhaps there is a way to relaunch the business in a way more suited to meeting market needs.
In 2007, I launched a website while living and working in Lima, Peru. The site was called My Inka Link and I worked with local Peruvian suppliers to sell traditional products directly to clients in the USA. The business model was unique in that the products shipped directly to the doorstep of the buyer from the artisan in Peru.
After moving back to the USA, I disbanded the website as it became harder to work with the suppliers in Peru from the USA. The site was non-active for about a year and I have just decided to relaunch the site.
About a month ago, I received contact from one of my supplier contacts from Peru who was interested in selling new products on the My Inka Link site. So I redesigned the site and am now selling this supplier’s goods with the same Direct to the Consumer business plan.
I write about this because I never thought I would relaunch the business. But I was able to relaunch it with a completely updated product offering by just re-establishing contact with one supplier.
Where is your online business today? Are you losing market share, website traffic, and sales? Is it time for a website redesign? Is it time to update the business model or business plan? Has competition rendered your product a commodity? Don’t give up and remove the website. Rethink your business and the market and respond in a way that meets the needs of the marketplace.
Tags: new online business model, relaunch website, website redesign | Posted under Entrepreneurship Stories, International, Website Design | 1 Comment
Monday, November 2, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: International, Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
|
No Comments
I took a trip to India in 2007 with Jim Beach of The Entrepreneur School. We met with university professors, government officials, students, and entrepreneurs. This was our analysis of Entrepreneurship in India:
I. Introduction
The purpose of our trip was to study entrepreneurship in India. We were to take a broad view of the economic, political, social, and educational aspects of the country to provide a macro view. At the micro level, we were to take a detailed look into the government’s role in entrepreneurship. Did the government help entrepreneurs in the past? Do they have programs in place to assist entrepreneurs in the future? What is the role the government should take now with entrepreneurs as the economy booms?
We believe that the government is taking the right steps to provide an atmosphere conducive to innovation and entrepreneurial ventures. Even in India’s recent history, the government has offered incentives such as tax breaks, subsidies, and small venture capital funds to assist with entrepreneurship. In addition, the Indian government established the Technology Institutes that are now some of the most prestigious in the world. Although steps have been and are being made, India continues to be bogged down with bureaucracy.
The current situation with the new Bangalore airport clearly highlights some of the major issues in India. Next year, a new airport will open in Bangalore. This will be a state of the art facility costing $430 Million dollars. Contractors are busy at work on this facility that will be one of the first to accommodate the new double-decker Airbus jet. This airport will be a new international hub that will further increase Bangalore’s importance in the world. The only problem is that the road to the airport is not complete. The government in mired in bureaucracy and a road to this new beautiful airport is being held up.
This is a fitting picture of India today. As the economy reaches new heights and innovations in technology bring the world’s best companies to India, the country still faces many hurdles in government and infrastructure. The degree to which the government can provide an atmosphere allowing the talented people of India to thrive will greatly affect the future growth of the country.
II. Entrepreneurship
We found that the definition for entrepreneurship in India closely fit our concept of entrepreneurship. Through a small sample of surveys and from company and university visits, we believe that India as a whole thinks of entrepreneurship as the starting of a business to meet a market need. As different countries define entrepreneurship in specific ways, we wanted to be sure that we were starting from the same framework.
III. India’s Transition
India is in the middle of a technical revolution. They are in a state of deregulation and growth, which is leading to opportunities for all. Many are starting businesses out of need and others are able to take advantage of the opportunities that are cropping up because of the growth and investment in the their country. Women are gaining more important roles and changing the way the Indian society views them. They are running their own businesses, climbing the corporate ladder, and leading departments at educational institutions. Educational opportunities are becoming easier to attain. The need for educated employees is increasing, so institutionalized education will be ever more important.
IV. India’s Future
Venture Capital firms are beginning to invest heavily into India. The latest numbers show that $800 Million is being invested each quarter. The majority of these VC firms are investing in technology and BPO companies. Also, a small but growing angel investor community is beginning to arise. The wealth generated from the IT sector is providing many people with discretionary income to invest in potentially lucrative ventures.
Opportunities abound for entrepreneurs, especially in bringing essential services online. Other established countries are already saturated in this respect but India’s vast and largely untapped market is ripe for those willing to invest. The government has acknowledged its role in supporting entrepreneurs and foreign direct investment and is making the appropriate policy changes. The number of licenses required is decreasing and the time necessary to start a new business been cut in half in the last couple of years. There still exists a restrictive bureaucracy, which needs to be factored into investment decisions.
V. Microfinance
One word that we heard over and over was microfinance. Microfinance, or micro-credit, is the concept of providing loans to the world’s poor so that they can purchase the necessary items for which to produce and sell a product or service. The loans are then paid back with profit made from their endeavors. So far, more than $4 Billion has been dispersed as micro-credit throughout the world. Of this amount, more than 98% of the loans have been repaid in full.
The key point in continually hearing about microfinance was that entrepreneurs in India are not just looking to meet the needs of the wealthy elite in India. We saw a more holistic approach in the realization that India cannot leave the less fortunate behind. It is also an economic necessity that the entire population comes along for the ride instead of just the wealthy few. What this means in the long run is that if companies in India can come up with a business plan and cost structure in which the majority of Indians are included, they will be able to take that business anywhere.
VI. Summary
The Indian government is aware of the role that entrepreneurs play in the growth of an economy and are making the right steps to encourage entrepreneurship. The main problem is the legacy of the ‘license raj’ and the bureaucracy that this created. It was amazing to see the infrastructure when entering a company’s campus here in India. While power outages are common in India, these companies had their own power source of back-up generators. While the streets of the city were dirty and crowded, the streets inside these campuses were immaculate and clean.
Before we departed on our trip, we heard Ambassador Jassel state that the success of India’s IT sector was a result of the government not having a hand in the business. The government’s role should be to provide the basic infrastructure necessary for an entrepreneur. Anything more than that will only hurt the economy. Indian entrepreneurs have shown that they have the necessary skill and talent to start world-class operations.
According to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, the % of GDP based upon entrepreneurial activity in India is at a relatively high 17.9%. Many of the entrepreneurial indicators would suggest that this number should not be so high. What we learned on this trip is that the reason this level is so high is due to the entrepreneurial activity based upon necessity. When pushed into a corner, one has no choice but to fight their way out. We see the future entrepreneurial activity in India based more upon opportunity than necessity.
Posted under International, Total Entrepreneurial Activity | No Comments
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Creativity and Ideation, Entrepreneurship Stories, International |
|
1 Comment
There is an interesting story behind this rise in Japanese Rap Music (J-Rap). It took some musical entrepreneurs to break some long-held traditions so that J-Rap could flourish. First, a little history.
The western rap influence came out of the Bronx, NY and quickly made inroads into Japan in the 1980’s. Since a large portion of Japan’s youth was taught English in school, Japanese rappers began by rapping in English. But there is another reason behind rapping in English. The Japanese language is ill-suited for Western-style rapping.
What is the most popular form of Japanese poetry? The Haiku. The Haiku follows a pattern of 5-7-5.
Misty blue magic,
Waves pounding against my feet.
Sandy happiness.
Ocean, By Azizah Humphrey
What does Western poetry do? What does rap music do? It rhymes. The syntax of the Japanese language is not very conducive to rhyming at the end of phrases. Hence, the haiku. Japanese sentences must end in an auxiliary verb (helping verb). In the phrase ‘have been written,’ have and been are auxiliary verbs. Problem is though is that there are only a handful of these endings, which pretty much kills the whole rhyming aspect so prevalent in Western Rap.
A second challenge for Japanese rappers is that the Japanese language is spoken without stress accents. Apparently, Japanese is spoken as an even stream of sound. “Big pimp-ing, spend-ing cheese.” Therefore, it is hard to put rhythm into rap and to build momentum. And yet a third challenge was that the Japanese language mostly consists of polysyllabic words. In other words, it takes a long time to say what you mean. 16 bars is not enough
So we have identified three major negative aspects of the Japanese language that make it very difficult to rap:
- It does not rhyme.
- There are no stress accents.
- Polysyllabic words.
The way that Japanese rappers sought to bypass these problems is really a great example of an entrepreneurial feat.
But the next solution to the rhyming problem was truly an innovative process. What is one way in which to make the Japanese language rhyme? The Entrepreneur School believes that one helpful belief as an entrepreneur is that ‘Everything you know is wrong.’ This is what Japanese rappers believed and they began breaking the rules of Japanese language syntax. They began restructuring the sentence structure so that the auxiliary verbs were no longer at the end of the sentences. This opened up the language to a new art form.
Another solution was to make use of their multi-sourced vocabulary. There are many everyday words from Chinese and English that are used in Japan. Also, they employed clever tricks by rhyming English words based on the Japanese pronunciation. For example, they would rhyme arrow and hello.
The second problem for Japanese rappers was the issue of no stress accents in the Japanese language. The way that Japanese rappers have gotten around this is by emphasizing the pitch accents of the language. They have also moved the mora from the beat to the off-beat and have stretched or shortened moras.
The adoption of rap into Japanese culture was not a simple act of talking or singing over a beat. The challenges posed by the Japanese language were a major deterrent for anyone trying to rap in Japanese. Not until some innovative rappers removed the strict rules for the syntax of the language were they able to effectively use their language in rap music.
Click here for an example of the mix of English & Japanese in a rap song. – Teriyaki Boyz – Tokyo Drift
Posted under Creativity and Ideation, Entrepreneurship Stories, International | 1 Comment
Friday, October 9, 2009 | Written by Henry Chang
Posted under: Bootstrapping, Creativity and Ideation, International |
Tags: International Business, japan |
No Comments
Have you ever wanted to expand your business internationally? Not sure where to go? or any idea on how to set things up once you are there?
JETRO (Japanese External Trade Organization) is offering free office space for up to 50 days in Fukuoka, Kobe, Nagoya, Osaka, or Yokohama for US companies.
They offer:
- Secure Private Office- with telephone and internet
- Computer Room- with printers
- Conference roo- with projectors and sound system
- Exhibitiion Hall
- Private Mailboxes- Your own physical mail box for your business
- Common Areas- with tv, and vending machines
You can even use their office address to incorporate in Japan!
FOR FREE!
If you’ve been thinking about going to expanding your business to Japan, now is the time! What are you waiting for?
Free office space for 50 days in Japan!
Tags: International Business, japan | Posted under Bootstrapping, Creativity and Ideation, International | No Comments
Monday, October 5, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: Creativity and Ideation, Entrepreneurship Stories, International |
Tags: el salvador, entrepreneurship within a company, intrapreneurship |
No Comments
I did not misspell the title of this blog post. Intrapreneurship is Entrepreneurship within a company. It’s an employee working within the confines of a corporate structure to come up with new business ideas to grow the business. Sometimes companies create specific departments for this and call it New Business Development. Other times, it’s a maverick employee who wants to change the way things are done. It’s intriguing to me because corporate structures are usually good at creating processes around an idea an Entrepreneur had in the past. Shareholders then want constant returns on this core product. New product launches and research are costly and risky.
I worked for a Sports Apparel company a few years back and had the opportunity to travel extensively within Latin America. On one of these business trips, I had the great experience of meeting an “Intrapreneur” at a clothing factory in El Salvador. Our company had a contract with this factory as did many other well known brands in the USA. But the owner of the factory was not satisfied with this supposed steady flow of income. He set out for a new business opportunity using the tools at hand.
This “Intrapreneur” started a website where clients in the USA could custom order t-shirts to be shipped directly to their location. And the business took off. They obtained the artwork for a number of colleges and could make jerseys, team t-shirts, and even do bulk orders. Since they made so many shipments, they had a great deal with DHL in which per unit shipping costs directly to the consumer still allowed for a lower price than that client ordering from a shop in the USA. If you go to the website, you do not even realize that the company is located in Central America.
This is a brilliant idea that gave this Intrapreneur more freedom. He did not have to rely solely on the business of the fickle USA companies. He was deriving revenue from other streams and was hiring more workers in El Salvador. I spoke to many of these workers in their 20′s. They were making enough money to be the first in their families to attend college.
If you are working in a corporation right now and have a great idea for a new business within your company, what is stopping you from bringing that idea to the attention of your managers? If you think they will take the idea, not give you credit nor payment, what’s stopping you from trying the idea outside of the company?
Intrapreneurship image by Paul Thurlby.
Tags: el salvador, entrepreneurship within a company, intrapreneurship | Posted under Creativity and Ideation, Entrepreneurship Stories, International | No Comments
Friday, October 2, 2009 | Written by Jacob Dearolph
Posted under: Blog, Creativity and Ideation, International |
Tags: Africa, creativity, problem solving, solutions |
No Comments
I went to Georgia Tech; I’m definitely part nerd. I love practical and pragmatic solutions to problems, which is one reason I love entrepreneurship. It can be a small problem like needing a seatbelt for my dog to a complex problem like how to solve the traffic dilemma in Atlanta, GA. When someone poses a good solution I love it.
Well, in our research for good entrepreneur blogs we came across Afrigadget.com. This blog is fascinating in the way it captures people thinking creatively and solving problems. The site is a boon for entrepreneurs looking for creative inspiration and problem solving. I pasted their mission statement below:
“AfriGadget is a website dedicated to showcasing African ingenuity. A team of bloggers and readers contribute their pictures, videos and stories from around the continent. The stories of innovation are inspiring. It is a testament to Africans bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges.”
Afrigadget.com has been featured in Time’s 50 best websites and has been written up in different publications.
Take a look at some of these pictures – (each links back to Afrigadget.com) -
Solar Vest Idea:
Idea for Capturing Solar Power from AfriGadget.com
Cleaning Water:
Device Used to Clean Water
Snares to Kill Wildlife (a taste of art as well):
Killer Snares turned into artful message at AfriGadget.com
So as you continue to explore the blog I believe it will set off our creative mind. I learned some great things about creativity at The Entrepreneur School that relates to this site. Basically, to be creative you have to work at it and surround yourself with creativity. Afrigadget.com is a great site to surround yourself with. Hope you enjoy.
Tags: Africa, creativity, problem solving, solutions | Posted under Blog, Creativity and Ideation, International | No Comments
Friday, October 2, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: International, Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
Tags: broadband quality score, global broadband rankings 2009, Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
1 Comment
The University of Oxford and Oviedo just released a report in conjunction with Cisco ranking broadband quality per country. The numbers are quite impressive. South Korea just surpassed Japan and Sweden to top the list. Below are some of the country rankings. The number next to the country is the Broadband Quality Score (BQS) – measured by taking download speed, upload speed, and latency into account:
1. South Korea – 65.99
2. Japan – 63
3. Sweden – 57
4. Lithuania – 54
5. Bulgaria – 49
14. France – 37.5
16. United States – 37
31. Britain – 30.5
43. China – 26
63. India – 20
South Korea’s government is pushing to be the world leader in IT. It’s obviously paying off.
As entrepreneurs, the next big question is – how does broadband connectivity affect the entrepreneurship levels of a particular country?
If we look at the latest Total Entrepreneurial Activity percentages for these countries, is there a correlation between the rankings? And would this show up in the rankings now or in a few years from now? Here are the entrepreneurial percentages for the countries listed above:
1. South Korea – 10%
2. Japan – 5.4%
3. Sweden – 4.2% (2007)
4. Lithuania – n/a
5. Bulgaria – n/a
14. France – 5.6%
16. United States – 10.8%
31. Britain – 5.9%
43. China – 16.4%
63. India – 6.9%
There doesn’t appear to be much of a correlation here. Perhaps this is something we will see further down the road.
Here is a chart highlighting the the Broadband Quality Score per country.
Click here for the entire report broadband quality report provided by the Said Business School at Oxford, and Cisco. This report also contains a breakdown by city.
And click here for a wikipedia report on broadband use per country.
Thursday, October 1, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: International, Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
Tags: japan, ki gyo ka, ki gyo sei shin, south korea, Total Entrepreneurial Activity |
No Comments
In 2006, I took a trip to South Korea and Japan for the purpose of studying entrepreneurship as part of my graduate degree program. A group of 20 students & faculty spent one week in each country for the purpose of answering this thesis question:
Explain the difference between Japan & South Korea and understand why, even though South Korea is following Japan’s economic development plan, it has developed a much more entrepreneurial society.
At the time of this study trip, South Korea’s rate of entrepreneurship was 14% and Japan’s was 1.7%. These numbers came from a study done by the Babson College of Entrepreneurship and the London School of Economics.
Our goal was to explain the why South Korea and Japan had such drastically different rates of entrepreneurship.
It was clear from our entrepreneurship interviews, company visits, and dialogue with students that South Korea clearly had entrepreneurship in their blood. Parents encouraged their children to venture out on their own. Entire universities were set up for research and implementation of new ideas.
Although these same things existed in Japan, they were not as strong. Japan also had a very strong corporate culture that pushed working for the man your entire life. This has just started to change in the last 10 years in the wake of layoffs and instability. But still, this did not explain such a drastic difference in the entrepreneurship rates.
Our final response to the thesis question was that South Korea’s rate of entrepreneurship was indeed higher than Japan’s, but not at the rate proposed by Babson & London.
The reason for this came down to semantics. The Japanese have two main words for Entrepreneur. They are:
Ki gyo ka
&
Ki gyo sei shin
Ki gyo ka literally means – start business house – basically, the idea that you own your house, and so you start a business that you own.
Ki gyo sei shin literally means – start business spirit – basically, one who has the spirit of entrepreneurship.
The most common translation for entrepreneur in Japan is Ki gyo ka. What we learned about this word is that it has both a positive and negative connotation in Japan. The positive is that the founder of Sony is called a Ki gyo ka. This type of person is one who has started a business from scratch, builds it to great heights, and uses his or her wealth and status to give back to society.
But this word also has a negative connotation. These days, when a young person starts a business that gets big quickly, they use their money & prestige to buy cars, women, and apartments. Many times, these young entrepreneurs get caught up in graft cases and go to prison. Thus, “Ki gyo ka sentenced to 30 years” can make one use caution when describing themselves with the same word.
So, the Japanese view Ki gyo ka as either one of the top businesses in the world, or as a young, brash, egomaniac.
When our study group went into Japanese stores where it was clear the person had started the store and was what we would refer to as an Entrepreneur, the person would flatly deny that they were a Ki gyo ka. It was easy to see that a person running a small shop as an entrepreneur did not think themselves lofty enough to say they started from scratch and built an empire.
Yet, when we asked that same person if they were a Ki gyo sei shin, if they had the spirit of entrepreneurship, they readily agreed.
Our conclusion was that Japan’s rate of entrepreneurship was low when compared to most other countries, but that the official rate put out by Babson School and the London School of Economics was incorrect because they were using the incorrect word for Entrepreneurship in their surveys.
Click the following link to see a full list of entrepreneurship rates by country.
Tags: japan, ki gyo ka, ki gyo sei shin, south korea, Total Entrepreneurial Activity | Posted under International, Total Entrepreneurial Activity | No Comments
Thursday, September 24, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: General Thoughts, International |
Tags: entrepreneurial activity, india, peru, the poor |
No Comments
I have taken a few trips overseas for the sole purpose of studying entrepreneurial levels in particular countries. The professor & leader of these trips let us in on a clever way to determine basic entrepreneurial activity in a country within the first 5 minutes of leaving the airport.
Look at the poor.
Are they begging with their palm extended? Or are they offering you a service in exchange for your spare change? The service could be as simple as playing a musical instrument or offering some small trinket.
Peru has one of the highest entrepreneurial rates in the world (25.6% in ’08). I lived in Peru for 4 months and only came across one person in that entire time who had their hand extended begging for money. But how can this be? The CIA’s World Factbook puts the level of Peruvians below the poverty level at 44.5% So there are clearly poor people in Peru. And I did see poor people in Peru. But they were either offering a service or a trinket.
On the other hand, India has a relatively low rate of entrepreneurship (6.9% in ’08). While traveling around India, the poverty is overwhelming and most people I came across did not offer a service but rather begged with outstretched hands.
Now, this clever test will not show the overall big picture of entrepreneurship in a country, but it will offer a quick glimpse into the attitude of the population. To be fair, India has seen great advances in business startups and entrepreneurial activity, but this still only includes a small portion of the population. Also, Atlanta, the city in which I reside, most of the poor beg with outstretched hands, yet Atlanta had the highest 2008 entrepreneurial rates of any other US city.
“He becomes poor that deals with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” – Proverbs 10:4
Tags: entrepreneurial activity, india, peru, the poor | Posted under General Thoughts, International | No Comments
Wednesday, August 19, 2009 | Written by Jim Beach
Posted under: Angels, Bootstrapping, Creativity and Ideation, International |
|
No Comments
I had dinner last night with a good friend’s son. This young man has been living in Angola, in western Africa, working for a worldwide construction company. The construction company is building a liquefied natural gas facility that will cost about $8 billion and is employing close to 5000 people. Angola is one of the many countries that the discovery of oil has hurt. Counter intuitively, many countries that discover oil actually suffer in the process. Instead of the oil wealth while being spread to all of the millions of inhabitants, frequently the wealth is concentrated in the hands of dictators and political leaders and the rest of the population suffers immeasurably. This, in addition to a 30 year civil war, has ravished the economy of Angola. Now, the capital of Angola is one of the top five most expensive cities in the world, is being flooded with villagers in search of work, and was not built to maintain the population of nearly 12,000,000 people.
But back to my friend’s son. He sees an opportunity to import basic electronic items, such as computers, cameras, memory cards, and printers, into the city where the construction is happening. He thinks that he can buy the items in America, even at retail prices, import them and double or triple his prices for a substantial profit margin. His biggest concern is theft or being knifed in the street, as the crime rate and the corruption rate are very high. Also, he has the problem of getting his funds out of the country. Angola has run out of foreign cash, especially dollars, and so it is very difficult to get money expropriated out of the country. His solution to these two problems is to pay a local customs official for security and then to transfer his profits into prepaid credit cards that he can easily take out of the country. This sort of international entrepreneurship can be difficult, but overall, I like his idea.
The real reason, though, that I am writing about this is the young man’s hubris. He is trying every imaginable method to reduce his tax liability. He is going so far as to as to creating a company out of Panama that will be owned by a company out of Hong Kong to manage his operations. He has found some ex-pats in country that have agreed to advance $250,000 in seed money, and has a Brazilian girlfriend to whom he wishes to give the profits, so that she can so that he can avoid paying US taxes. When I spoke with them, he said he did not need any legal contracts with either the investors or any of the other players in this little scenario, feeling that his relationships were so strong that he could succeed where others have failed. I can’t help but think of poor Icarus and his wings of wax that melted in the sun. I love the use of excitement of entrepreneurs, but beware of the hubris!
Posted under Angels, Bootstrapping, Creativity and Ideation, International | No Comments
Friday, July 24, 2009 | Written by Erik Rostad
Posted under: International |
Tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneur skill sets, japanese entrepreneurship, spirit of entrepreneurship |
No Comments
Do the skills taught in a corporate setting transfer over to entrepreneurial ventures?
This is an interesting question in a time where corporate jobs are disappearing in a number of different industries. But is it the right question? Is it a matter of skill set as much as a matter of having a spirit of entrepreneurship?
An interesting distinction exists in the Japanese language. Their direct translation for Entrepreneur is the same word used when referencing a young entrepreneur that has become greedy. Many times, this Japanese entrepreneur has stacked up on exotic cars & apartments. This does not bode well in a communal society where the welfare of the group supersedes the welfare of the individual.
So, if you walk into a store in Japan where the owner clearly started the business from scratch and ask him if he is an entrepreneur, he will say no because he does not want to be associated with the negative stereotype of an individualistic entrepreneur.
However, if you ask that same man if he has the Spirit of Entrepreneurship, he will reply yes.
So, in Japanese society, the distinction is between being able to start a company, and having the spirit of entrepreneurship. One who starts a company may be a good businessman or woman. One who starts many companies and is constantly thinking of new ideas and better ways of doing business has the spirit of entrepreneurship.
But, let’s come back to the original question. In general, an established corporation has the goal of maintaining their market share with the hope of a little growth each year. In general, Coca-Cola is unlikely to develop a small project when their shareholders demand certain returns. Entrepreneurs seek opportunities with rapid growth in new niches.
For musicians, reading music for a song that has already been written requires a completely different skill set than a composer writing a brand new song. Same goes for skill sets in maintaining market share compared to building a new product or service from scratch.
But just because you have worked in a corporation for 20+ years, that does not mean that the Spirit of Entrepreneurship has been squelched. The spirit of entrepreneurship is still there, you may just need to dig a little deeper to overcome the corporate training.
Tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneur skill sets, japanese entrepreneurship, spirit of entrepreneurship | Posted under International | No Comments
Recent Media Coverage
Follow Us
Recent Comments