It has been a busy and eventful term, quite different from the previous one, with walkabouts and blogs and money-multiplying assignments.
After a number of DE classes where we discussed various aspects of what it means to be an entrepreneur and examining the deeds of various entrepreneurs, our Professor asked us to put our money where our mouth is, and to earn some money.
This assignment came at a very opportune time for me. For the previous few days, I, along with two partners, had been running a tea stall on campus as part of our HBO Walkabout. This idea had taken off tremendously well, with plenty of demand for tea and snacks, particularly in the wee hours of the night with CAN group meetings and exams leading to many sleepless nights.
We had a captive market, and the only bottlenecks in the whole operation were the fact that there were only three of us and that we had only so many hours in a day after class to run the stall. Our profits were directly proportional to the amount of time the stall was open.
It was a great learning experience, and extremely profitable as well. We doubled our initial investment. The best part though was the joy that we had identified a need, found a way to satisfy that need, and earn a monetary reward for our efforts.
For this reason, we are now going to ru the stall again for another week, and examine the feasibility of making it a permanent feature on campus.
ANother idea that struck us was that of a Poker Tournament. Poker is something of an addiction in AIM, and it afflicts students and teachers alike. For this reason, we decided to have a poker tournament with a twist- between the professors and students. Students had an opportunity to pit their wits(and luck), against that of AIM legends like Jay Bernardo and Prof. Roxas.
The event went off well, with Mr. Bernardo sweeping the chips. Prof. Cruz came in a close second and Siddhartha was the sole student representative in the top three.
On thinking about both these events, my insight is that entrepreneurship is all about satisfying unmet needs. For this reason it is immensely important to pay close attention to one's environment, look at what is at the top of people's minds, be intuitive and creative , and finally, take a risk and try and give people what they want.
2 comments:
You said "... my insight is that entrepreneurship is all about satisfying unmet needs. For this reason it is immensely important to pay close attention to one's environment, look at what is at the top of people's minds, be intuitive and creative , and finally, take a risk and try and give people what they want."
Allow me to add something and connect it to the exercise we did in baguio (by the way you have not put that on your blog- you know the myself - others matrix)
What you have written is one side of it, the other is what the matrix is about,that is finding that one something or many things that:
1. you have a passion to succeed in
2. for the people you want to serve
3. that will generate profits to sustain the organization and the people that provide the service
4. that will delight you personally while you do it
:)
Hospitality
Casino
Now ure talking!
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