The Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industries (GNCCI) on Thursday organised a capacity-building workshop in Accra for members on ‘Entrepreneurial Finance’, ‘Opportunity Recognition’ and ‘Stress Management’.
The workshop also gave each member an opportunity to develop a business idea into a product or service that would be competitive in the market.
Nana Appiagyei Dankawoso I, the President of the GNCCI, addressing the members, said entrepreneurs were sometimes enthused with the idea of employing persons with big qualifications, which was not an assurance of effective output.
He said there were many successful businessmen and women who had not acquired intensive education, adding that, “It doesn’t matter your educational level, but your common sense level.”
To succeed in business, he reiterated that one needed three models, thus, the cognitive (academics), affective (what willingly, one could do) and psychomotor (what one could use his or her hand to do).
He advised entrepreneurs to develop the habit of reading books authored by successful businessmen and women as it could reduce the rate at which they could fail.
Failing in a business, he said, was a basis for one to be strengthened to take better decisions with regard to the business progress.
“Let acquiring good names be more important to you than riches because dignity is the most valuable and money would follow later,” he added.
Nana Dankawoso suggested that entrepreneurs who found it challenging to build a brand could enter into partnership with other entrepreneurs to work together.
However, he cautioned them to document an agreement to share the profits and bear the losses to prevent business related conflicts.
Speaking on ‘Research and Development’, Nana Dankawoso I advised them to make research part of their business lives to enable them to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks in their area of focus.
Every successful entrepreneur has a coach, mentor and trainer who gives him or her direction and support, he said, and urged them to consider such opportunities.
“When you are being successful in your businesses, be benevolent especially towards orphans, widows and other poor and needy people,” he said.
Dr Isaac Oduro Amoako, the Leader of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Research Group, Liverpool John Moores University, speaking on “Entrepreneurship Opportunity Recognition and Idea Generation,” said to evaluate an opportunity as a start-up entrepreneur, one needed to consider models like market and industry attractiveness, internal strategy, networks, team and sustainable advantage before dealing in a product or service.
Another model for consideration, he said, was ‘desirability’ where entrepreneurs had to conduct researches to ascertain if their target customers were willing to exchange their hard earned money for their product.
He said ‘feasibility’ would also enable them to assess if what they wanted to engage in could be achieved and ‘viability’ to identify if that product or service could fetch them profit.
He asked employers to monitor the relationship of their employees to customers to ensure it was protected.
Dr Amoako cautioned employers who often ignored their employees, especially with lower positions in decision-making processes, to reconsider such position.
“Reduce issues of hierarchy and make employees feel part of the organisation, because that is the only way you can bring out the best in them,” he said.
He encouraged them to take advantage of technology and promote their products and services online to retain their customers and attract more from across the globe.
By Eunice Hilda Ampomah, GNA
Accra, Aug 22, GNA
