Page 56 - Start Up_Genesis

Chilumba is a business practitioner without
limits, an entrepreneur, management
consultant, inspirational speaker and writer. He
is passionate about living a life of contribution.
His personal philosophy is “If we’re going to
get further, we must resolve to go together.”

@chilumbakbwalya

The Daunting Realities of

Starting Your Business Today

Chilumba K. Bwalya (Part 1)

he beauty of starting a business is that you don’t have to attend the best college,
have a truckload of money or know the president of your country by first name.
TThe first thing you need is you, the second is a plan, and the third is the discipline
to get yourself to execute the plan and see it through. Starting a business is a serious
undertaking and requires people who are invested and dedicated to the journey or it
won’t work!
Every single year, ambitious individuals decide to start their own businesses. Startup
Grind, Economic Indicators, Trading Economics and World Bank inform us that
between 2015 and 2019, entrepreneurial power bases have been shifting between the
Americas and Asia. In 2018/2019, the USA topped the number of start-ups created
per year, followed by Europe.
In Africa, the ladder is led by Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya; while the United States,
United Kingdom, India and Canada have the best start-up environment in the world.
In Zambia, over 10,000 businesses are registered every single year but we know for sure
that the number could be double or even triple that as we have a lot of businesses that
are not documented.
The decision to start a business is born out of dissatisfaction with employment, desire
to broaden or diversify one’s income base, out of circumstances or unavailability of jobs
and so on. These businesses find their definition in three formats: Small, medium and
large corporations. The definition differs in every country and financial institutions have
their own metrics on how to use financial and income categorization to allocate size.
Let’s deep dive into how one can start a great business:

1. Let’s Talk About You!

Test who you are and your readiness to become an entrepreneur or start a business. If
you will succeed at being the best start-up, then there’s no better place to start than
with self-introspection. Take an inventory of your unrivaled assets and answer some
important questions. The results from this exercise could cause paralysis and fear but
could also set you on an exciting path to becoming a well-informed business owner.
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