BUSINESS IDEAS IN KENYA (OR ANYWHERE) ARE NOT NEW INVENTIONS
Kelvin Ngeno
Civil engineering || Leadership || Environmentalist || Kenya red cross Volunteer and first aider || Peer Counselor|| Outdoor Adventurer || Entrepreneurship || Millennium fellow
So many people, whenever they think about discovering a business opportunity, they usually think, how can I get new business ideas in Kenya?
They wish they could discover a hot, new business or invent one.
Well, they are wrong.
Business success in Kenya or anywhere in the world doesn`t have anything to do with inventing something new.
If you are to invent a new product your possibility of making good money in the business world is lean.
Let me explain.
You may need 3 years to sleep in the laboratory and on the road before you will successfully invent a new product.
You may need millions of shillings to educate your market about a new product
You may need 7 years to convince your market that your (new) product is good for them.
If you think I am exaggerating this issue, let me remind you about a man who invented a sliced bread machine.
In the year 1912, Otto Rohwedder invented a simple machine that could slice bread.
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He tried all he could but he couldn`t make a profit from his invention. Why? Because it was new … nobody was willing to try the invention.
Not until 20 years later when a new brand called ‘’Wonder’’ (not who invented the machine) started a new sliced bread machine, then the product made a profit, a huge profit I think.
Did you observe something in this story?
The original inventor was not the one who eventually made huge money from sliced bread, so really, you don’t have to be busy looking for what to invent, as a source of business ideas in Kenya.
One more story to prove my point;
The inventors of the Microwave oven invented it, wasted time and money on it … but never made a profit from it. Why? People are usually skeptical about new things.
Now I have convinced you that innovative business opportunities have nothing to do with new products or inventions.
When you are looking for a business idea to start in Kenya or anywhere in the world, you are not looking for a completely new product to invent.
Inventions are met for inventors. You are an entrepreneur, not an inventor.
Your work is not to invent, but to sell inventions (yes, entrepreneurs are smart people who wait till inventors invent, then, compete with them on what they have invented. Call them thieves and you will be wrong. Call them smart, and you will be right)