GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

 HERE ARE 12 ECONOMIC FACTORS INFLUENCING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL ATTITUDES AND OPPORTUNITIES 1. Economic policy This defines the market systems established by the government, market structure and the extent to which all the firms compete under fair games rules. An open market system that leaves forces of demand and supply to control the distribution of resources allows entrepreneurship to flourish since it has more rewards for innovators. This allows opportunity identification arising from free entry into national and regional markets. 2. Administrative issues These include the procedural requirements for registration, licensing, taxes and financial reporting which may either facilitate or hinder entrepreneurial activities. Excessive number of rules and procedures discourage entrepreneurs from starting businesses, for instance, most small businesses consider paperwork as time consuming or cumbersome. 3. Infrastructure The availability of infrastructure and utilities such as good roads...

 HERE ARE 8 BENEFITS OF INSURANCE 1. It allows individuals and business people to save money that would be used to cover unexpected emergencies. 2. An entrepreneur is assured of business continuity as a result of the compensation after the loss has occurred. This gives the entrepreneur confidence, stable earnings, growing and expansion. 3. Customers increase their trust in the entrepreneur’s business as a result of the assurance in his or her business continuity. 4. The property of the business people are guarded against all risks like fire, theft, e.t.c. This gives confidence to entrepreneurs to undertake business operations. 5. Insurance companies act as trustees and referees to their clients who would like to get loans from commercial banks. 6. Insurance companies also give loans to business men who operate on large scale and have collateral security. The excess premium which is not spent on daily expenses of the company and investments can be lent out to earn interest for ...

  Going into business is deceptively simple but staying in business and making a success of it is not. Success or failure are not the chance results of a toss of a coin. Being in the right place at the right time is partly luck but more so to do with good planning. Therefore setting up a business for the first time or expanding an existing business can be the road to riches and personal fulfillment. It can also be the road to financial ruin and personal misery. Successful businesses are a result of careful research, planning, enthusiasm, self confidence and commitment. If an entrepreneur identifies a business opportunity, it is ideal to carry out a feasibility study in order to ascertain whether the opportunity is viable/profitable. It also acts as a basis upon which financial assistance can be sought from the financial system. It can be broken into 3 categories, i.e market feasibility study, technical feasibility study and financial feasibility study. 1. Market feasibility study (...

 HERE ARE 6 CHALLENGES OF SELF EMPLOYMENT 1. Long and irregular working hours lead to fatigue and exhaustion. 2. There is uncertainty of income. The person is not sure of his income as it varies with the business performance. 3. It leads to low life style due to too much work. 4. A self-employed person bears all the risks of losses. 5. There is uncertainty of the future. This is because income upon which planning can be done is uncertain. 6. A self-employed person may not have definite tasks and responsibilities i.e incase he/she is alone in business he/she does all the business activities e.g purchasing, selling, accounting e.t.c.

HERE ARE 14 WAYS OF OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES FACED BY SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN UGANDA  1. Locating the business in areas where they can easily access support services, markets as well as raw materials. 2. Undertaking research and development to come up with new products that meet the customers’ needs and beats off competition. 3. Ensuring good business management. This is done through creating a work environment that encourages productivity, hiring competitive people and training them, being able to think strategically, e.t.c. 4. Establishing good relationship with customers and ensuring that they are always satisfied with the products and cannot be taken away by competitors. 5. Conducting thorough market surveys before starting businesses to ensure that businesses went into are the ones whose output (goods and services) will be competitive, have a fair sized market and profitable prices. 6. Avoid over expansion. Expansion should only be done after careful review, rese...

  1. Unsuitable location of the business. Even if a business is properly managed, a bad location leads to its failure. For instance, locating the business far from the market (customers) or source of raw materials. 2. Limited market for the business products. This normally results from competition, changing customer tastes, uncompetitive prices, e.t.c. 3. Poor management of the business. Businesses which are poorly managed, for instance when they are inefficient in the use of resources, do not keep proper records, use wrong costing and pricing methods, inevitably make big loses and in the end fail and close up. 4. Poor handling of customers. No business can afford to survive with dissatisfied customers. A business whose owner or employees are rude to customers and do not bother to attend to their individual needs cannot take long before it collapses. 5. Limited market research. This leads to failure to clearly define and understand one’s market, one’s customers and one’s customer’s...

 Below are some of the strategies for handling negotiation challenges. 1. If the work load is increasing, one can look for tasks to eliminate, review the work he or she would hand him or herself, review the way to combine similar jobs or consider the use of temporary or part time help. 2. If the work load is declining, one can work on improving efficiency, do house keeping that has been postponed or start projects that could generate new work. 3. If there are problems of turnover, help employees identify with their group, try to develop stable work groups or review status implications in jobs. 4. If there is a group of employees who are controlling production, remove misunderstandings if there are any, find out if it is to the group’s advantage to slow down or find out and deal with the real problem. 5. If employees are dissatisfied with their pay, review bench mark jobs, i.e compare with similar jobs in other enterprises, compare with comparable jobs in the area, adjust assignment...

 1. Most small business owners are willing to try new approaches to make their businesses more successful. 2. Small businesses understand customer needs, identify new opportunities and fix problems quickly and efficiently. 3. Small businesses can quickly implement new business practices and adapt to changing market conditions. 4. When pursuing new opportunities, many small business entrepreneurs experiment and improvise. They accept failure as part of the path to success. 5. Small businesses are adaptive at doing with less. The resource constraints lead to their innovative mindset. 6. Small businesses traditionally rely on strong social networks to share information needed for innovative thinking.

 Change refers to giving a completely different form or appearance to an object. It involves transforming an object into a completely different one. It is inevitable in organizations. IMPORTANCE OF CHANGE 1. Adoption of new technology. Adoption of new technology is common in most organizations and this has made them increase productivity, for instance growing communication technology can enable business leaders search for experts online through search engines. 2. Response to customer needs. As the world evolves, customers need change and growth, creating new demand for new types of products and services and opening up new areas of opportunity for companies to meet those needs. This can be achieved through change. 3. Determines direction of economy. The economy has both positive and negative impacts on organizations and both can be stressful. For instance, in a strong economy, increasing demand for products and services will mean that companies must consider expansion, that is, addi...

 • Sex It refers to the biological differences between a male and female. • Culture It refers to more permanent rules, ways of behaving and thinking of people in a given community. • Society Is an organized body of people sharing common beliefs, attitudes and modes of action within a given social/political boundary. • Division of labour There are assumptions that there are things men can do or cannot do and which women must or must not do. The result is that in many societies women tend to end up with a heavier work load than men. • Labour market Occupational discrimination in employment (hiring, tenure and promotion) and in lack of child care facilities may discourage career aspirations in women and limit their contribution to development. Many times they are given subordinate positions even if they have the same qualifications which men for the reason that they have a double role, that is, of home care and their profession. This is demoralizing to women. • Access It is the means ...

  PARTIES TO BUSINESS ETHICS 1. The clients/customers who deal with the business 2. Employees 3. Government of a country or authority in which business activities take place. 4. Businesses which compete with the entrepreneur’s business. 5. The society within which the business is located. 6. The suppliers of business inputs. (A)BUSINESS ETHICS TOWARDS CUSTOMERS 1. Honesty Honesty should be in terms of the price charged for the quality and quantity of the goods and the delivery of products purchased by his or her customers. 2. Courtesy This is being polite, patient and sincere when dealing with customers. The entrepreneur should not sell expired goods to his or her customers. He or she should be seen providing a good service and not only interested in getting money from the customer. 3. Geniality The entrepreneur should be kind, cheerful and try to balance his or her temper when dealing with customers. He should never shout at or abuse the customer but instead try as much as possibl...

 There are many possibilities for one who wants to start a business. These include; 1. Retail or wholesale type of business Retail businesses sell goods directly to the consumers usually in small quantities. Wholesalers buy goods often in large quantities from manufacturers or importers and then sell them to retailers and other distributors. 2. Franchise or independent type of business Many established companies offer franchises which are basically copies of their companies. If one buys a franchise, he/she is buying the right to sell the parent company’s goods/services in a specific area. Besides paying a franchise fee, he/she will also have to pay royalties perhaps additional fees to the franchisor. An independent business on the other hand is the one that one creates and nurtures on his/her own. Starting an independent business gives one the control and freedom that one will not get from a franchise operation. 3. Product or service type of business If one is a trained professiona...

 1. Determination of what one does best. Thinking about one’s interests will help him or her focus on his or her brain storming and give him or her the staying power to persevere through the tedious parts of starting a business. For instance, if one’s interest is dogs, then he or she can start a business that has to do with dogs. 2. One can take note of the obvious problem that he or she encounters in everyday life. He or she can keep a pad of paper and pen in the pocket, along the bed side table and start a pile of index cards with ideas written on them. Periodically one can throw away the ones that do not cut it and hang on those that might be before their time. 3. Reading newspapers. These contain ideas that one can adopt. Just every object that surrounds man has ever made someone a fortune. Therefore one can dream up ways to improve or rework those same products to create another big idea. 4. One can listen to and observe what is going on around him or her. Once one has acquire...

 (A)HOW TO PRESENT A PRODUCT TO THE CUSTOMER When presenting a product to a customer, an entrepreneur should consider; - The target customer’s needs. - Customer’s privacy, convenience, ability to use the product, e.t.c. - Giving samples, guarantee, e.t.c to back up the product. - Presentation aids like photographs, catalogues and charts to back up the product. (B)HOW TO BARGAIN WITH CUSTOMERS In bargaining with customers, the entrepreneur should; - Be a good communicator. - Avoid dominating the customer. - Try to convince the customer as to why the product is being sold at the offer price. - Give counter offers like reduction in price. - Offer in delivery services. (c)HOW TO GIVE PERSONAL ATTENTION TO CUSTOMERS - Understand customers’ wants and needs and bring products to satisfy them. - Sell products at the right prices, in the right quantity and quality. - Use the right promotion at the right time in order to meet the customers’ wants and needs identified. (D)HOW TO COLLECT OVERD...

HERE ARE 7 STEPS INVOLVED IN PREPARING A BUSINESS PLAN  1. Selecting a business opportunity or type of business to engage in, for instance, trading business, service provision business, manufacturing, agro business, e.t.c. 2. Conducting market survey for a selected type of business. This involves gathering information from respondents by communicating with them. 3. Collecting all the relevant data concerning the different aspects of the business and establish the costs of different items like machinery and equipment, raw materials, transport, e.t.c. 4. Drafting the business plan. 5. Discussing the drafted business plan with technical/knowledgeable or experienced people in the similar business. 6. Making a final business plan. 7. Finalizing the business plan process by preparing an action plan for the implementation of the planned activities.

 1. Population size and growth rate The rate at which the population is growing determines how great the business opportunities in a country emerge. A big population presents opportunities like wide market and cheap labour. Uganda has the third highest growth rate in the world, estimated at 3.5%. 2. Level of education and experience The entrepreneur’s ability to start and operate a business is influenced by the experience and level of education he/she attained. Education highly influences entrepreneurship development in terms of formal skills, business management skills, negotiation skills and networks. However, in Uganda the successful and potential entrepreneurs are those with less training and experience. People who are highly educated are analytical and are risk averse yet less educated people tend to be creative and therefore risk taking. 3. Income levels This defines the differences in social economic status of individuals in the society. People with lower income levels tend ...

 1. The relegation of women to the home following colonization associated with training of men for assistant administration roles and clergy. 2. Discriminatory labour market practices leading to low pay, low status work for women. 3. The masculine image of science projected in text books, media and popular assumptions. 4. The nature of science occupations which are not easily combined with child rearing and care. 5. Poor facilities including teacher supply, quality and equipment. 6. Limited role models and career guidance. 7. The double demand on girls, i.e the traditional and school learning activities. 8. Early marriages 9. Limited access to finance by women. 10. Parent perception of cost/benefit of educating girls, especially low income families.

 According to the entrepreneurial school, when 3rd world entrepreneurs enter into business, they regard it not as an impersonal activity of the ‘economic man’ but as a personal activity designed to enhance the status of the family and end up being reluctant to give up family control. Several factors necessitate close ties between family and business. They include; 1. Joint family funding. Some members of the family tend to pool their resources together to start a new enterprise. In this way, all those members do have a say on the business operations and influence decisions. 2. Inheritance Some businesses are inherited and passed from one generation to another. In such ventures, the business entity is seen as a whole and this becomes a family business. 3. Fear of hired management They tend to believe that business management by an outsider is affected by such malpractices like thefts, embezzlement. Therefore family management is seen as a way to decrease and protect family property ...

 ADVANTAGES OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 1. Decision making is easier compared to large enterprises. 2. They require relatively less capital to start. 3. They have low operational costs due to fewer number of workers. 4. They are flexible in that they can even be located in rural areas. 5. Sell goods in small quantities which consumers can afford. DISADVANTAGES OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES 1. They do not enjoy economies of scale like large enterprises. 2. It is not easy for them to obtain a loan from the bank like large enterprises. 3. They easily collapse as soon as the owner dies. 4. They frequently suffer from customer changing tastes and preferences. 5. They have limited storage facilities especially for perishable goods. 6. They produce low quality products leading to limited market. 7. They lack skilled man power to manage them.

 These are businesses which are registered with the Registrar of Companies. For a person to start such a business, he/she must be aware of the licenses, labour laws, taxes and permits required to avoid breaking the country’s laws. ADVANTAGES OF FORMAL BUSINESSES 1. They are legally recognized. 2. They are properly organized. 3. It is easy for them to get loans from financial institutions. 4. They have a sound base for further growth and development. 5. They are reliable and somehow permanent and therefore it is easy to get skilled human resources. DISADVANTAGES OF FORMAL BUSINESSES 1. They are always governed by laws and rigid regulations. 2. They are not adaptable to changes. 3. They are not easy to start because of the involved procedural formalities.