Category: Startup

Categories
Startup

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Starting Your Own Business

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Mumbai, October 16: Often people want to start their own business because they feel they have a great idea. We don’t want to discourage anyone but would like to remind that starting a business is not a cakewalk it requires a lot of crucial planning in the backend.

Here are five questions which you need to ask yourself before starting your own business.

Try to Have a Unique Idea

The first and the foremost to any business is to have a plan for your business. Your idea should be unique and something which the customers want. Don’t try and launch something where already 10 players are fighting with each other. If you have an idea, keep your customer in the centre of it and think aloud that how will they be benefitted.

Do Adequate Market Research 

It is very important to do market research before you think of launching your product in the market. Understand if there is a demand for your product and then analyse your competition. Try and find out how will your product be different from the others and why should customers choose you.

Compare the Risks Vs Rewards

It is very important to analyse the risks associated with starting a business in comparison to the rewards which you may get to see if the business becomes successful. For e.g you may have a lucrative career, earning a handsome salary and thinking of quitting your full-time job to start your business. There are no doubt huge challenges and risks associated in the initial few years, so are you ready for it?

There can be two sides to your wanting to start a business. One being your idea may not kickstart and second, it may become huge and a successful venture.

Strategise a Plan

It is very important to plan and plan well if you want to start your own venture. Remember everything is new and will be in limited resources. Right from the budget to the people whom you will be able to hire to run your team. You need to spend every penny wisely. Crisis doesn’t come knocking at the door, for e.g. no one knew at the start of this year that the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to several businesses getting shut and people losing their jobs. Therefore, it is very important to plan for a time when things will not run smoothly.

Do you have the money?

Finally, do you have the money to start a business? Are your finances in place? According to a Forbes report, most startup founders use their personal savings to fund their businesses. It is therefore very important to not remember not to drain your bank account to raise funds for your business. Entrepreneurs should set aside enough living expenses to last them for a year. Most startups are not profitable for months after opening

 

Categories
Startup

India to Have Around 62,000 Startups, Including 100 Unicorns by 2025, Despite COVID-19 Blow, Says Report

Startup
Startup

Bangalore, October 15: Businesses have been hugely hit by the coronavirus pandemic. However, here comes a piece of positive news where it is expected that India is expected to be home to 60,000-62,000 startups, including 100 unicorns, by 2025, despite the COVID-19 blow, according to a report jointly prepared by TiE- Delhi, a not-for-profit promoting entrepreneurship, and Zinnov, a global management and strategy consultancy.

The report mentions that there has been a dip in overall funding by 50 percent during the lockdown, compared to pre-covid levels, while around 40 percent startups were negatively impacted. Four Indian startups- Nykaa, Unacademy, Postman and Razorpay-emerged as unicorns while the pandemic was at its peak. The report predicts that India is on track to having at least eight new unicorns in 2020, on a par with the 2019 numbers, taking the total number of Indian unicorns to 33.

Accoridng to another report conducted by the same group, it was found out that due to the pandemic, 15 percent of the startups have already halted their operations. In addition to this, 44 per cent of start-ups have cash runway for less than 6 months, 41 per cent of startups have been impacted negatively while 52 per cent are struggling to raise capital.

 

Categories
Startup

COVID-19 Impact: 15% Startups Halt Operations, 44% Have Cash Runway For Less Than 6 Months

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Mumbai, October 14: The coronavirus pandemic has affected across sectors causing job losses and business being shut. According to an IANS report, the impact of COVID-19 has been severe on the Indian startup as 15 percent of the startups have halted operations.

According to a report by TIE Delhi-NCR and Zinnov, 44 per cent of start-ups have cash runway for less than 6 months, 41 per cent of startups have been impacted negatively while 52 per cent are struggling to raise capital.

In addition to this, there has been a decline in the overall pace of investments, especially in April to June 2020. To add to it, there has been a 48 per cent year on year decline in funding and 37 per cent year on year decline in the number of deals in the quarter.

The decline was even more prominent in seed and early-stage investments. The coronavirus also affected early and late-stage funding. According to the report, there was more than 50 percent decrease in early and late-stage total funding in Q2 20 as compared to Q1 20.

Categories
Startup

Who Run The World – Women: 5 Home-Based Business Ideas For You

Running a business requires passion, motivation, and lots of initial funds for building your brand and running your company. But, the lack of money can be a reason to stop passionate entrepreneurs. Every business begins on a small scale, and your effort can build a company into a big empire.

Women play many roles in one life and always dream of achieving big. If she dreams of an entrepreneur, then nobody can stop you. In today’s environment, starting a new business can be a little easy with easy access to the internet, technology can help you establish her business quicker and easier than before.

Let’s discuss the popular business idea with women

Open a Popular Thrift store

Yes, you may call it a western culture of thrift store but, this culture is making strong grounds in our country too. Few brands like ‘The Salvage Story, Collections Reloved owned by women who are running successfully. Fast-changing fashion letting the consumer be more excited which make them turn to thrift stores for their requirement.

Social Media can play a significant role in building the brand, and a huge customer list, with this circle of friends and family, can help you certainly in growth.

Turn Newspapers into Bags

When the whole world is working hard towards the use of single-use plastic, therefore many brands and stores are moving towards more use eco- friendly bags like cloth and paper bags.

This brings the increasing demand for such options; one can always start a small-scale venture by converting your newspaper into bags and start selling them to a different store.

Start Online Tutoring

We know the internet has changed our lifestyle to the core now learning online is also a thing, then why you don’t use your talent to educate people. Video calls and online classes have an equal impact, like face-to-face classes.

This business idea only involves investment in IT infrastructure and great knowledge of classes you plan to teach.

Start a Day Care Centre

Another option for women who wish to business women, for then we have a business idea for you in which you just need to be responsible and caring towards children. We have a lot of couples who work and demand quality and good day-care service.

This idea will involve basic investment in setting up a day-care and hiring help. The Flexi loan is enough to meet the requirement for running, such as the facility.

Go Organic with Urban Farming

You have a big house or flat and have extra space in your house then you can step into urban farming which can turn out to be a profitable business idea. Herb farming is a new trend like organic farming both are witnessing a surge in demand. This farming is not limited to fruits, herbs you can start with the flowers also.

This idea can be run staying home and market with the help of social media, friends, and family. But like we said before you should have a keen interest and passion for it for making successful.

We have mentioned just a few business ideas for you, which you can run being home as well. But as we say, women can be great business leaders and innovators because they know how to manage each responsibility with great skill.

 

Categories
Startup

5 Businesses That Can Turn Out To Be Winners Amid The Pandemic

India has faced a lot due to COVID-19, and to be honest, every person is now being affected by it. This pandemic has hit economies, employment, and all sectors in very different ways worldwide, and the small business is the one that has felt the pressure a little more.

It is said that every dark cloud has a silver lining. Similarly, some industries managed to grow because of the spread of the coronavirus. One of the examples is the underserved and unnoticed hygiene market that has made footprints in this pandemic as demand for these products has increased. With this, EdTech or online learning, space has been growing rapidly, due to staying home and upskilling themselves.

Let’s see which small business has thrived or started off amid this pandemic.

Cover Yourself with the Masks

In the times of the pandemic, one thing which came out as a survivor during this time is Masks. After medical communities around the globe declared masks as a preventing measure to alleviate the spread of the virus.

Therefore, this leads to a huge demand for masks led to small – scale companies to set up or start manufacturing mask with less investment

Protection for Hands- Gloves

From doctors to nurses and other healthcare people wearing medical gloves using it as a precaution for avoiding coming into contact. Not only the health care sector using it but, now common citizens also using it for avoiding infection through the surface.

So, it made demand and supply of gloves have increased, therefore it made small owners utilize this opportunity of manufacturing facility for disposable gloves with capital under Rs 50,000.

Wash Your Hand Properly – Hand Sanitiser

Due to this pandemic washing your hands has become the most important task of the day. Therefore, the demand for hand sanitizer also turned up more into 100x by the users. A lot of brands started producing it, as existing brands struggle to keep up with the pace of demand.

This huge demand leads to opportunities, and with the creation of business opportunities for many entrepreneurs.

Give 20 Seconds to Washing – Soap

Soap is one essential product of our daily life but, after WHO has advocated washing hands for at least 20 seconds to eliminate traces of the virus from the skin. Therefore, people have started a small manufacturing unit at home with fewer investments.

These soaps are made home ingredients like herbs or special anti-viral to sell and made huge demands with building trust among people.

Let’s Learn Online

One sector which has shown promising growth during these tougher times is the EdTech sector, which had shown immense growth and up-gradation. We all were forced to be at home, which pushed them to be dependent on technology for learning and updating their skills. These online platforms had everything to give users like online tutorials, masterclasses, webinars, and online workshops.

The interest made birth and growth to the new and existing companies for flourishing. And given the opportunity to people who have the talent and skills to teach others.

As popularly said, that in every battle, there is a winning side and a losing side. So, in the fight with COVID-19 times, we have lost a lot, but, this small business got a chance to flourish.

 

Categories
Startup

Entrepreneurship Course Introduced in Delhi Govt Schools, Students to Get Business Lessons

Entrepreneur (Photo Credits: Picpedia)

New Delhi, October 9: In order to help students to inculcate the entrepreneurial mindset, the Delhi government schools have introduced an entrepreneurship course in their curriculum.

Delhi’s Education Minister Manish Sisodia believes that this will course will create a new understanding among children from class 9 till 12th. Chairperson and MD of Biocon, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, interacted with the students of Delhi government school on Wednesday during a digital interaction, as part of the school’s entrepreneurship mindset curriculum. She said, “Entrepreneurship is not just about making money. One needs to have a vision of how they can make a difference in the life of others.”

Last year, as well, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government introduced the Entrepreneurship Mindset Curriculum for Delhi government-run schools from July, where all students from Class 9 to Class 12 were given Rs 1,000 each as seed money to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

The teachers working in Delhi government schools were given a week-long training programme. As per the previous year’s report,  the state government had allocated a budget of Rs 40-50 crore to encourage entrepreneurship at the school level.

Categories
Startup

5 Mistakes Which Startups Should Avoid While Starting a Business

Startup Growth
Startup Growth (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

Starting a business is not an easy job. There are a lot of things that need to fall into place. You may have the right idea, but lack in marketing it, therefore there several crucial decision that needs to be made while running a business. More caution needs to be exercised especially if your business is small and it is a startup.

One poor decision can hurt the potential for success, or at least set you back. While there is no fool-proof plan for success, but there are some commonly committed mistakes, which can be avoided. Here are 5 mistakes, which startups and small businesses need to avoid at any cost.

Not Having a Plan

Small companies often fail to make a mark because they lack a proper plan. Planning may be tedious, but without a solid plan for your business that includes business idea research and market potential, you will be operating in the dark.

Lack of Market Understanding

When you launch in the market, you need to have a proper understanding of the space where you are working, including the competition. Never underestimate your competition and analyse their strengths and weakness wisely.

Hiring More Than Required

Never do this mistake of hiring more employees than what is required. Based on the budget allocated for a particular profile, companies should never hire more resources than what is required. One needs to remember that it is a small company and the resources are limited. Companies often make the mistake of hiring more than what is required and then they end up firing them.

Spending Too Quickly:

The most important thing which startups and small businesses should keep in mind is to spend wisely. In the initial few days, one might see that investing money is giving good returns, which might prompt them to spend more. However, there should be planning and based on which, companies should spend.

Planning only for success:

It is very important to be prepared for failure. What will happen tomorrow is not known to anyone. There can be a lot of factors that can hinder the growth of a business. For e.g, the coronavirus pandemic has caused several businesses to wind up. At the start of this year, no one could foresee that the pandemic would take such an immense scale which would make the economy dwindle. So don’t start a business, buy planning only for success. There will be times, and days when things will not go as per the way you want. So be prepared for it.

Categories
MSME Startup

Foreign Firms Flouting MSME Tendering Norms, Highlights CEAI in a Letter to Nitin Gadkari

Ministry of MSME
Ministry of MSME (Photo Credit: PIB)

New Delhi, October 7: An engineering professionals body-the Consulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI), in a letter to Nitin Gadkari, has alleged that foreign companies are flouting the MSME tendering norms.

The letter has drawn the attention of the government towards flouting of the MSME tendering norms by “the powerful foreign companies”. The body mentioned that the government has changed the tendering system to benefit the small and medium enterprises in the country by limiting tenders below Rs 200 crore for Indian companies only.

However, the provisions are being flouted by powerful foreign companies wherein they set up business operations in India by incorporating a company under Companies Act 2013 either as Joint Ventures or Wholly owned subsidiaries or a Liaison/Representative Office.

According to an IANS report, the body’s President highlighted that these entities operate as an Indian Company, duly complying with the provisions of the Indian Company Law and Indian tax laws. The current definition allows such companies to enjoy all benefits provided to Indian companies, especially the MSME’s.

Categories
Startup

Piyush Goyal Invites Startups to Register at Public Procurement Portal GeM And Offer Goods, Services to Government Organisations & PSUs

Startup
Startup (Photo Credits: Pixabay)

New Delhi, October 7: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday invited startups to register at public procurement portal GeM and offer goods as well as services to government organisations and PSUs. According to a Business Standard report, he mentioned that about 4,000 startups have already registered at GeM.

He made this announcement at the first edition of the National Startup Awards 2020 event. Goyal elaborated about the huge potential in areas including railways, airport services, food processing, education, healthcare, agriculture, electronics and defence, and that about Rs 4,000 crore was already disbursed through Fund of Funds for startups, to about 361 startups.

The National Startup Awards, conceived by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), recognised and rewarded the outstanding startups and ecosystem with high potential of employment generation. The first edition of the Awards invited applications across 12 sectors, which were further sub-classified into a total of 35 categories.

For the Awards, a total of 1,641 applications were received from startups spread across 23 states and 4 Union Territories. These applicants included 654 women-led, 165 academic institutions based, and 331 startups working in rural areas.

Then in the next step, all the applicants were evaluated against six broad parameters namely innovation, scalability, economic impact, social impact, environmental impact, and inclusiveness and diversity. Then after three rounds of detailed evaluation, 199 startups were selected for presentation before the jury.

Categories
Startup

Franchise Industry Trends to Remember in 2020

RuPay Card for Business
रुपे कार्ड के फायदे (Representational Image)

As far as trends are concerned, every year they are marked with new beginnings and possibilities. If you are all set for your entrepreneurial journey, then the franchise route can prove to be beneficial. If you are new to entrepreneurial life, you can start by taking the franchise route as it has proven to have a higher success rate.

You must be wondering why this route is more successful. It is due to the fact start-up owners have to work on how to run their business from scratch with the plan and everything, whereas in franchises gets all ready with the plan and strategy from the parent company.

Due to the constant shift in trends coupled with technological advances, it’s making the Indian franchise industry push boundaries.

So, let’s have a look at the latest trend that is influencing the franchise industry in 2020.

The Rise of F&B

Due to the pandemic, people may have stopped eating out, but being an Indian, we can’t miss out on the food from the restaurants. We prefer to eat Indian food as well as fusion and international cuisines. Therefore, the F&B sector has always one step ahead of its expected growth rate in the franchise industry.

Take a look at how successful McDonalds, for example, how it has proved to be one of the most successful food franchises across the globe. Therefore, it is expected post-COVID this industry is going to see the excellent growth opportunities for entrepreneurs to invest in a franchise.

The Homecoming of International Brands

India is all ready to become the second-largest market for many international brands. Brands like taco bell, Wendy’s, or most popular brand Starbucks is the fastest- growing international brands in the Indian market.

In the past few months, various renowned brands from the US, UK, Europe, Russia, Australia, GCC & Asia Pacific were expected to start franchising in the coming years in our country. Enlarging a brand internationally by the method of franchising involves less risk, minimum capital, and provides a high rate of scalability of the brand.

Indian brand versus Global

That’s true, international brands attract and woo more to Indian customers. But now we are moving towards vocal about local brands the initiative, which gives Indian brands a platform as well opportunity for you to take up the franchise as a minimum investment with more revenue.

Local brands are curated in keeping Indian taste, preferences, and mindset, which leads to seeing rapid growth too.

Wellness still going, Strong

Health and wellness are still a top priority of ours, and during this COVID-19 time had made it an only priority. Therefore, it’s rising steadily over the years as consumers continue to invest in wellness.

Therefore, investing in this sector can always turn out to be a good investment, and holding franchising can benefit you well.

Going through trends explains, there is n number of opportunities for entering the franchise market. So, many options available to choose in this franchise industry have something for everyone. The industry will aim to grow and progress in an upward direction. Hope the above-mentioned trends, help you figure out and clear your thought regarding the franchise industry.