Entrepreneurial Mindset

EVA GACHIRWA
Aug 24, 2017 · 3 min read

One of the things that you are needed to do as an Entreprenuer In Training at MEST is to pick a team, think of an idea(creative idea), build on the idea and sell your product at Chale Wote Festival. At MEST, we call the exercise BBB(Bet, Buy, Barter). As a learning activity, it is fun and exciting. It is designed to equip the participants with skills in picking teams, understanding the market, innovation, sales ….. the list is endless.

me at Chale Wote Festival. After selling sobolo..

As you can imagine, Chale Wote is a hectic market. Large number of buyers and a large number of sellers. You might think of it as just a regular market but for an entrepreneur, this is how the world looks like. Below are some of the lessons I learnt from the exercise that apply to entrepreneurs and business people.

#1 You should be able to define your product in one sentence.

Most products are motivated by a certain experience or a story. Most people are tempted to use the story (because it sounds interesting to them) to define their product. In this planet, customers are busy and investors are busy, they might not have the time to listen to your “interesting” story. If you do not have a sentence that can capture what your solution is, you will lose customers and investors!

#2 Your product can’t serve everyone

New entrepreneurs think that having a product that can serve everyone means a large market and therefore large sales. I do not need to explain to you what happens to jerk of all trades (it will be a story for another day). Factor in marketing expense that can reach ‘everyone’. You cant possibly satisfy the needs of every social class (unless you are God).Therefore, define your market, know your market and make your product fit for that market.

#3 Know your industry’s value chain

In a particular industry, there are innovators, producers, transporters, people who package, distributors, retailers and consumers. As an entrepreneur you need to know what value there is in every stage in that chain. You also need to know where you are and where you want to be. Most importantly, know how far you are from where you want to be. Otherwise, be ready to stagnate and be disrupted in the future.

#4 Understand Bias

The elephant in the room!!! People have religious, cultural and even political affiliations. There are people who believe women should be calm, sit silently and agree politely, others believe men are providers and they should work their a$$es off to meet exceptions. No matter where you are in life, you have biases. Bias could be confirmation bias, bandwagon bias or conformity bias. Your clients have the same bias too…Anticipate what your first customer will ask about your product… Strive to understand bias. Focus to understand why you disagree and also why you disagree.

Entrepreneurship is a journey and a lifestyle. It is not a bed of roses and it is a choice to be different. Throw what you think you know out of the window and be ready to learn.

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Written by

Software developer, entrepreneur, feminist …

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