Entrepreneurial Opportunity

About this unit

This unit is about the very first step of any enterprise: finding a worthwhile opportunity. It explains how an entrepreneur senses gaps in the market, scans the business environment, turns everyday problems into business ideas, spots trends, uses creativity and innovation, and finally chooses the opportunity that is most promising. Without a sound opportunity, even a well-run business struggles, so this unit forms the base for planning, marketing and growth in later units.

Key ideas

• An opportunity is a favourable set of circumstances that creates a need for a new product, service or business.
• Environment scanning means studying economic, social, technological, political, legal and natural factors.
• Problems faced by people are a rich source of business ideas.
• Trends are long-lasting shifts in behaviour or technology; fads are short-lived.
• Creativity produces new ideas; innovation puts them to commercial use.
• Opportunities must be screened and assessed for feasibility before selection.

How to prepare

• Learn the stages of the creative process in order and the main types of innovation.
• Be able to classify an environmental factor (for example, a new tax law or an ageing population) under the correct head.
• Expect situation-based questions that describe an entrepreneur and ask which concept is being applied.