Introduction

Glocal International Teen Conference (GITC) is an opportunity for teenagers to address the issues and overcome the challenges that they have faced in their daily lives. It is a platform for all teenagers from age 13 to 19 to learn, empower, and bring social impact through a participatory and interactive environment with their peers from all over the globe. The three key issues of GITC are Entrepreneurship, Empowerment, and Socio-Perspective. It is a lifetime experience to connect with the influencing teenager and act for a positive change. This Year, Glocal International Teen Conference was organized virtually on Dec 10 & 11.

Workshop on “Entrepreneurship 101”

The dynamic workshop on ‘Entrepreneurship 101’ shaded lights to the young generation, to begin their entrepreneurial journey which was facilitated by amazing facilitator Mr Niraj Khanal. He is an investor, mentor and Co-Founder/CEO of Antarprerana, a private company that supports entrepreneurs of Nepal through the Business Incubation Program, Investment and International Linkages.

Innovating an organized business model and learning creative business ideas is key for a profitable business and growth. Without a proper and sustainable business model, even the best product or technology innovations will not flourish. Entrepreneurship 101 workshop intends to connect you to boost your business knowledge and skills.

The workshop highlighted the basic concept of Primary Customer Research, Market Analysis, Selection of Business Ideas, Development of Business Ideas, Estimation of Total Addressable Market Size, SWOT Analysis, Marketing, and Promotion Plans in Business, and also acquire the skills and knowledge needed to start and improve your business. 

Here is the gist of the workshop;

Thank you so much Glocal family for inviting me here. Always a pleasure to be interacting with a young, very talented and dynamic group.

Talking about my entrepreneurial journey; I’ve been in the entrepreneur ecosystem here in Nepal for a decade now. It’s been more than a decade, where I have been watching a lot of entrepreneurs and their ideas. Later on, I moved on to the growth stage companies, started working on their exploration process, making their work plan strategies. So I used to do it and it used to be funding for Nepali companies from the Netherlands and business. Now, I have been working in different parts of Nepal with young generations and hearing their business ideas. Every one of us has a brilliant idea and you all are very smart but how to make them sustainable? It’s not about the idea, it’s about education. If we talk about ideas, we can easily come up with 40 ideas in one minute immediately. But the point is; how many ideas will be executed, how many ideas will succeed for another two years and how many ideas will become unicorns. Generally, I wish to have that kind of unicorn here in Nepal as well. So that is what I have been coaching young entrepreneurs and ideators. I have been investing and mentoring them in a different part of Nepal and even in Bhutan.

Most of you might already have ideas or visual ideas. When the idea comes up, you need to set out the ideas to convert them into reality. The most important thing, you have to develop your skill and knowledge to convert ideas into reality. Ideas, skills and knowledge, you might have by yourself or you have resources, surrounded by yourself. Entrepreneurs by themselves might not have all the talents that are required to execute the ideas, but you should be able to have that lens, where you will be able to find all those resources which are required to convert your idea into a business. Thus, when you come up with brilliant ideas you have that ability to bring all the resources to make your product. To make your product a minimum viable product (MVP), you have to understand your value proposition first; what you can offer to your customer, what is their need, and what is the gain that you can offer to them. 

You might come up with lots of solutions for your prospect costumes but the thing is; do we have the skill and knowledge or technology, or other kinds of resources to deliver the solution to your prospect customers. Otherwise, your ideas will remain all-time ideas, or you go to the market, do the business you will be a super flop. In most cases, people like us at teenage age, come up with ideas and jump immediately into the ground. Later on, they face lots of problems. If you want to grow your business at a high level, always take a small step, so that you grow sustainably. When you go into the next step, the first thing will be a problem solution treat. Thus, the basic fundamental of entrepreneurship is to solve the basic problems of society.

Everyone has talent but we need to put in an extra bit of time to sharpen our talent. After talent then comes time. Whatever the time that we give will bring the treasure to us. Treasure is just not about the money but definitely, money is required. But, knowledge, experience, and network, that’s a treasure for our life. Whenever you give time or if you’re passionate about it, then that will treasure your life and will make you successful. But successful within is required, not financially or academically. Being happy and enjoying your life can afford everything in your life. So, the treaty is one of the important parts of entrepreneurship. When you have, you just need to explore your talent first. Sometimes people will take too much time to understand what they want. But someone at their age or time; already know what they want and they will become the outliers. At their age, they want to know their talent, interest and propose of their life. Then you invest time in sharpening your skills. Creepy is the passion; until and unless you have a purpose in your life, that purpose and passion will bring property and later on make you professional, and also brings money, or joy, inner knowledge, and inner strength. When you have that inner strength and everything like that, then the team would be all sustainable.

Entrepreneurship comes with its challenges, several tools can aid you along your journey of entrepreneurship. From organizational tools to presentational and planning tools there’s truly something for all of your business needs. Even though there will be lots of challenges coming ahead. There’s nothing bearish in life that will not give any rubbish in your life. Some aspiring entrepreneurs encounter barriers that prevent them from ever starting a business. And those entrepreneurs who do start businesses may face challenges that limit the ability of their businesses to flourish. As a result, individuals and communities may collectively lose out on the new jobs, products, services, and innovations that were never created.

In an entrepreneurship journey, you have to do all the things by yourself. Always make your hands dirty first. So you will not be able to hire people or anything like that. Another important fundamental thing that I’ve realised while doing entrepreneurship, or entering into my entrepreneurial journey i.e entrepreneurs should be very much disciplined whether they are a leader, entrepreneur, or social entrepreneur. When you want to lead; the first thing that is required to become yourself as a great ethical person. 

First of all in the brand value; the first thing is your credibility as an entrepreneur. When you are launching your venture or hoping to grow an existing business, your success depends on your ability to establish and maintain credibility. When the founders are disciplined and team automatically will be initiated. If the founder wants the team to be disciplined and they are not being disciplined, the team will not be disciplined. So that will be the first thing that you should consider. Thus, protecting your company and making the company sustainable, first of all, you need to run a fantastic founder. 

The second point is rule of law. If you want to run a business you should be combined with all the compliances, all the rules, that is supposed to be followed and fulfilled. So, staying within the legal framework is so important that will increase or decrease your brand value. If the founders are not good, then the company will not go ahead even if it’s a brilliant idea. If the founders are good, very ethical and genuine but if they don’t know about government rules and regulations then that company will not run long term. 

The third important part is people, human-centric; when our products and services are made for the people. And we treat them just not as customers, but as a person who is suffering from serious disease, we simply need to help them to solve problems. We should be humanly connected to people and much more concerned about people’s life, people’s health and people`s education. 

Businesses are about making money but entrepreneurship is all about solving the problem first and getting benefits later on. We are talking about purpose and profit. For me, my purpose has a greater definite; I have a big dream where I want to see people working in Nepal, running their businesses and staying with families. But people are leaving the country because they will not see the opportunity in Nepal, or they will not find good educational institutions. So, we just want to create a platform, ideas and start-ups that will come up with brilliant disruptive ideas. Every individual’s sword is different and beautiful. Every individual has a different set of problems and every time you try to learn with your entrepreneurial thoughts and ideas. That will be a great thing that you will be doing in your life. 

Question & Answer

How can we increase the brand value of the company?

At this point, you know don’t talk about brands. Talk about the foundation and think to make a team strong that will create a brand later on. Always make the customers happy, deliver what you commit that you make a brand. It’s not about ideas and thoughts but it’s about doing things right and making people happy. That being the brand of your company.

What are the major factors that we need to focus on before going on to be an entrepreneur? 

It’s all about, you know if you are alone or if you are soul stakeholders for the company. Think about why you are doing it. What is your actual value proposition, and how you are different from other businesses? There are a lot of growing businesses but think about your start-up. 

Is there any scope in the stock market?

I never go for the scope and opportunity, I just follow my dream. If you’re passionate about anything then you got everything you deserve. You will always have a specific path and specific things to do, and you’ll see everything is limited. If you are committed and passionate, if you enjoy what the financial market is about you will find that you create your own space and scope for yourself. 

The Entrepreneurship 101 workshop ended in an intellectual and very interactive way. It was wonderful hearing stories of teenagers with varied entrepreneurial ideas. This workshop also helped business owners, emerging entrepreneurs, and enthusiastic learners to seek better consultation and understanding of business ideas and the tools to develop them on the platform of Glocal International Teen Conference 2020.