This business of entrepreneurship

Many of our readers have been asking advice on how they can go into business.

Q. I have read your entrepreneurship column in the Philippine Star and would like to try my luck in asking for your help. We have a property in our hometown that we have been thinking of developing. But we are still researching on the most productive business we can use it for, given its size and our available funds.

Q. Sir, I have funds just sitting in the bank. With today’s low interest rates, I am not making good use of my money. Can you suggest a business I could go into?

Q. We want to be entrepreneurs but all of us are working in a company and use our spare time to discuss business. We’re planning to engage in a business. We have talked to a company who has assured us that they are a worthy investment.

My response: Do not get confused. Distinguish between getting into a business and venturing into entrepreneurship. There is a marked difference between the two.

Although both escape the limitations of employment, going into business does not mean venturing into entrepreneurship. Note, however, that venturing into entrepreneurship is always going into business.

As such, entrepreneurship is larger in scope. It is beyond simply making money outside of employment.

Entrepreneurship is about passion. It is doing things not because you have to but because you love to. It is also about sustainability. It is an endless source not only of passion but also of income. Because of passion, perfection is approximated. Perfection leads to customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction leads to sustainable income.

A business without an entrepreneur will not last long. All big businesses are started by entrepreneurs but, as they grow big, some lose their entrepreneurial spirit. This partially explains why many big businesses fail–they no longer have entrepreneurs, just employees.

Thus, when the AIM launched the Venture into Entrepreneurship (VIE) program last year and graduated our first batch of fresh entrepreneurs in February 2002, we cautiously set the business cycle in motion.

In the VIE program conducted by the AIM-Asian Center for Entrepreneurship, we make it a point to carefully interview all applicants prior to acceptance. Even if it is a certificate program, the screening process is handled by an ACE guru.

At the outset, the guru ferrets out the applicant’s objectives in applying for VIE. It is not enough to simply want to go into business. The industry scope must be clearly identified, whether it be the food business, the beauty and skincare business, the automotive industry or any other industry.

More importantly, the guru probes into the wannabe’s passion for the venture. If there is no passion, then the move might just be a waste of precious time and money. Lastly, the guru wants to find out if the wannabe is willing to undergo the rigorous and creative processes of starting up and incubating a venture.

We cannot overemphasize the need to establish the distinction between going into business and entrepreneurship. Being an investor in a business is not entrepreneurship. Being a silent partner is not entrepreneurship. Getting into a business because there is nothing better to do is not entrepreneurship. Coming up with a cheap substitute is not entrepreneuring.

Understanding the game and changing the rules of the game is entrepreneuring. Creating a new game is entrepreneuring. Innovation and creativity to introduce a new and market-desired value is entrepreneuring. Doing it with passion is entrepreneuring.

When we designed VIE, we knew it meant a lot of hard work over a six-month period. The rigor of the schooling process which our VIE alumni went through has convinced these young entrepreneurs that there is indeed more to it than merely going into business.

Taken in two loops, the first month provides a solid understanding of entrepreneuring, i.e., what the life of an entrepreneur is all about. Wannabe entrepreneurs are exposed to the various forms of doing business ranging from the home-based to the mall-based; from own-concept development to franchising; from outsourcing to subcontracting; and more. This allows participants to fully appreciate what it takes to be an entrepreneur and to make informed decisions about the business venture.

As the form of business has been identified during the VIE interview process–for example, the food business–the clear differentiation of its specifics follows. Will it be a fast food or a fine dining facility? Will it be franchised or owner-developed? VIE participants are not allowed to go to the next loop if this decision has not been made.

The second loop of five months is the start of the incubation process, consisting of a series of modules that will teach, mentor and guide the wannabe. Starting with industry analysis and micro-market analysis during classroom learning sessions, these are then applied in actual field work, leading to the preparation of a detailed start-up plan.

In most cases, piloting of the product or service happens. At the end of the process, the enterprising wannabe is armed with a detailed start-up plan that can be presented to partners, investors, parents and/or bankers.

The forthcoming roll-out of their products and services in the market place is our signal that a successor generation of impassioned entrepreneurs has been set in motion to reshape the business world.

(Alejandrino Ferreria is the associate dean of the Asian Center for Entrepreneurship of the Asian Institute of Management. For further comments and inquiries, you may contact him at: [email protected]. Published "Entrepreneur’s Helpline" columns can be viewed on the AIM website at http//: www.aim.edu.ph).