The Real Dilemma Facing SMMEs within the Developing Nations: Knowledge, Skills and Education – How to Strike a Compelling Balance?
The lack of knowledge, skills and education is regarded as some of the reasons entrepreneurs often commit costly mistakes that prevent them from launching a successful start-up and grow their new businesses. Knowledge is power, and as such, it is expected for business owners to acquire sufficient knowledge about the industry they are entering, their competitors, customer segments, target market, study current trends, advertising and modern marketing tools and techniques.
It’s highly recommendable for small business owners to acquire the skills needed to develop and start a new business. This may also include conducting proper research, collaborate and build good relationships with other business owners, and seasoned professionals from other disciplines or industry sectors. Several schools of thoughts have reached a consensus, which attests that most entrepreneurs within the developing economies lack the skills, mindset and business acumen to start and grow businesses. This is also true considering some exacerbated circumstances as result of a lack of experience of the business owners, including lack of expertise of the sectors in which they operate. This, in turn, leads to the business owners not doing proper business planning to meet industry requirements for the fulfilment of customer needs.
If one considers the arguments around a lack of knowledge, skills and education required to start and grow small businesses, it’s fair to say money is not the REAL problem facing entrepreneurs. Small business owners and entrepreneurs to such an extent, don’t just need money to start and grow their businesses. The greatest concern should be directed towards building a strong and sound business plan, which clearly demonstrate how the money will be utilised. Business owners should put a detailed plan stating clearly where the money is going before acquiring funding or spending their own savings. This is undoubtedly the most perplexing task standing in the way of many SMMEs within the developing nations.
The lack of knowledge, skills and education to successfully build a bankable business plan to acquire the necessary tools for managing money, seems like a big mountain to climb. The bottom line is: Nobody knows everything and for this reason, it’s always advisable to seek help from other professionals with a better understanding and expertise to provide educated guidance.
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