On a daily basis I get numerous inquiries from our #WomenInBusiness website regarding help/guidance needed for business ideas. http://www.womeninbusiness.org.za
One of the issues that is raised consistently is the fact that the enquirer is ‘not making money’ and they need help with marketing their product. In discussions with the entrepreneur I generally discover that they have taken the focus of their core business and diversified into a number of other unrelated products/services. This diversification is particularly onerous when the range of products/services is from health care, through to construction to catering. Such a wide variety of offerings can only be detrimental to the entity. No entrepreneur, especially a small emerging business, can cope with this kind of diversification. Through the interactions and mentoring process it becomes clear that the entrepreneur in question has been given unsound advice by friends and family. They have often invested large sums of money registering a company. They have not taken into consideration the onerous reporting procedures required of a company nor the accountancy costs. The entrepreneur is under the impression that if they are a registered company they can obtain finance and are eligible for tenders. Then they offer every single service they can think of without proper planning, testing the market, assessing their customers, no business plan or financial plan. No vision or mission. When questioned as to why they are not trading as a sole trader business, which is less onerous, they are ill informed as to the benefits of being a small business to start off with.
It is so sad that many aspiring entrepreneurs do not seek advice from reputable organisations or service providers. In the long run it would have saved them large amounts of money, time and disappointment.
On our website is a link whereby members of the public are able to contact us and we will assist and start the mentoring for free (limited number of sessions). We will also direct genuine entrepreneurs to reputable service providers who can assist them in their entrepreneurial journey.
www.womeninbusiness.org.za 