Entrepreneurs in Action: Some Examples
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Date
1996-02-22
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Abstract
Many projects, both private and government owned have failed in their initial stages because the underground preparations were not well done. Tangible evidences of such projects exist all over In form of uncompleted church buildings, oversized silos, improperly designed toilet, remains of liquidated factories and others. The result is that useful resources which could have been employed elsewhere went into a drain. It is true that if we wait for perfect conditions, nothing gets started but it is also true that if we start the wrong way we waste more resources or we never finish. Because of improper initial preparations, many businessmen can only say ‘the past was better than the present’.
1 .1 Entrepreneurs and Iteration
Even though scientific methods play a major role in decision making today, it is not easy for entrepreneurs to do without guesses and hunches in the estimation of certain vital business parameters. The subjectivity of these estimates, coupled with insufficient training of most entrepreneurs In the application of these scientific methods constitute a major source of uncertainties in decision making.
Like balancing a load against another on a weighing scale, entrepreneurs use the process of iteration to reduce or eliminate these uncertainties. The process better described as ‘goose chasing’ in which the entrepreneur deliberately looks for venture can be traced to the beginning of most entrepreneurs.
1.2 Aims and Objectives
The risky nature of the entrepreneur’s task which is shrouded in uncertainties can be lessened if his initial financial commitments into ventures can be minimised.
This project seeks to site entrepreneurial examples from real life with comment on what was leaned, what worked and what didn’t work and how iterative process can improve ones odds for venture success. It also seeks to show how an individual tried to bring the essentials of venture creation (opportunity, people, and resources) together. It is hoped that readers can reduce the coat of their ventures by intensifying learning ‘in the mind’ i.e. taking the venture first in your mind, whilst minimising learning ‘through hard experience’.
The establishment of the following facts about starting a venture among Ghanaian entrepreneurs constitute the major objectives of this thesis;
1) laying out steps to be taken in starting a venture in detail can improve ones chances of success;
ii) meeting venture milestones in practice provide more learning in the mind:
ii)the entrepreneur’s applicable experience plays a major role in the success of a venture
1 .3 Methodology
A number yr entrepreneurs in Kumasi wore interviewed to find a suitable entrepreneur who went through a series ‘trial’ ventures, before settling on the final successful venture. Particularly of interest was how their early attempts (both successful and unsuccessful) served as a source of learning to make their future transaction more successful.
An attempt was made to link the successes and failures of the entrepreneur lsc.ted to the economic environment in which actions took place, and also to find out where applicable experience, mental learning, and practical learning player role.
Information about the work of entrepreneurial institutions in Ghana was also collected from reliable sources in Kumasi.
1 .4 Problems Encountered
Due to the nature of their work, getting entrepreneurs for interviews as a bit difficult, It would have been better to get successful entrepreneur like those behind Appiah Menka Complex,A - Life Supermarket, and Darko Farms Ltd.,
Description
A thesis submitted to the Board of Postgraduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Postgraduate Diploma in Industrial Management, 1996