Top 6 Strategic Tips For Aspiring Entrepreneurs In Africa

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Are you an aspiring entrepreneur? Are you planning to start your own business? There is no doubt that becoming a successful entrepreneur can be much like a roller coaster ride. Starting your own business will fetch its own set of challenges and benefits unique to Africa. So it is imperative that you know how to face challenges successfully and how make the most of business opportunities.

Here are the six most important things that I learnt while starting and running my own consulting business in the last 3 years. Trust me it is very important that you know these things before you go and start your business. Read on....

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 It Is Easy To Start A Business

Since I left my job and decided to start my business, the first thing I did was set up budget. My initial start-up costs were rather low. After spending some time on research and talking to other entrepreneurs, I realised starting a LLC was a wiser move than being a Sole Proprietor. I also hired a lawyer for my small business that offered me various advices about my company and took care of the paper work. Then I hired an accountant to take care of the financial records and tax issues.

It Is Harder To Run A Business

I often feel that entrepreneurs need to strive hard and prove their mettle against the entire world. As a business owner you will need to stay motivated all the time so that you don’t wander off from the course. Although some friends and family might coax you to give up and get a job instead, but it is your passion for your business that will keep you going. Although you might be tempted to give up under various situations, like getting an excellent job opportunity, things not working out your way, you cannot get discouraged. If you have doubt about your self-motivation and passion for business, then I would suggest that you reconsider being an entrepreneur.

Marketing Can Be Challenging 

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I will tell you right now that marketing your business is the most important and challenging tasks. When you become a business owner, you need to show the world how good you are in your work. Clients will only hire your services when you show them that you are confident and capable. Nowadays, traditional marketing strategies do not have a strong impact. You should know how to use the digital and social media in an innovative way to promote your business.

Prepare For Low Phases

No matter how good your marketing strategy and service is, every business is bound to face some low phases during its existence. Surviving during this period can be especially difficult during the initial years. I decided to save money from when I had enough work to keep me going when I will be struggling to secure deals for my business. You need to pay yourself well and save money for operating expenses, taxes and bad days.

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  Networking Is Important

If you are an entrepreneur then you simply cannot choose to be an introvert. The more you network with the right contacts the better it will be for your business in the long term. Although I am not an avid fan of socialising, yet I made sure that I got out and met with important people and extended my network. Meeting prospective clients face-to-face can do wonders for your business.

Learn About Business

Although I had a significant amount of work experience and adequate knowledge about my industry, still I decided to pursue a business management programme. I felt that I needed to know about the inner workings of a business and develop the right business, leadership and management skills. As going for a full time programme was not a feasible option for me, I pursued an online undergraduate management diploma course and it has worked wonders for me and my business.

I would suggest that you also consider studying online undergraduate diploma courses in management as it will teach you the necessary skills and knowledge. Moreover, as online courses are highly flexible you can easily work on your start-up throughout the day and focus on your studies at night or any other time you find convenient. There is no need for you to invest a heavy amount to earn a business diploma as online programmes are highly affordable. Your business education will give you a global perspective and understand and help you go a long way.

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So there you have it! These are my tips for any aspiring entrepreneur who is all set to start his/her own company. I hope these tips can help you in your entrepreneurial journey and lead you to success.

Do you want to add to the list? Then share you own ideas and experiences with me by commenting below.

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How Standardisation Of Online Classes Can Offer Students A Better Learning Experience

Now students can take advantage of more and more online programmes and classes offered by growing number of colleges and universities that are adopting digital technologies. Several textbook firms such as Pearson PLC are starting to standardise online classes by developing special online programmes and offering them to various universities. These online courses require less effort from educators and provide a more effective means of delivering content to our learners. Hence, some might perceive that it offers some sort of threat for teachers.

Better Education, Less Effort

Is there any reason to have an educator in the classroom when you can learn efficiently directly from a computer? However, there is still a strong need to have instructors in the classrooms are online learning will not replace them completely. As the standardised online course will increase their productivity, instructors can now teach better with much less effort and their enhanced competence will help the learners to a great extent.

It should be noted here that most of the educators will not be affected by the standardised online courses. There are some subjects and classes that cannot be taught online or standardised. Courses like humanities and other higher level courses, irrespective of the discipline, are best taught by teachers in person and cannot be properly pre-packaged. These types of classes require direct interaction and discussion with educators in a classroom setting.

Improving Presentation

However, several other courses can actually be successfully taught online. Subjects like lower level college maths courses including Calculus I can be effectively standardised. Here the know-how of the instructor and opportunities for discussion are comparatively insignificant. But the presentation of the study material is of utmost importance here. In order to compete with on-campus programmes, standardised online courses will need to achieve this effectively. Hence it can facilitate in improving the method is which our learners are presented with the material.

Standardisation Will Not Replace Teachers

The fact is numerous adjunct educators will be unable to maintain their jobs if less effort is need to conduct teaching sessions. But as fewer teachers will be required to teach the courses, all of the adjunct instructors will not be replaced. Classrooms will still have a need for educators, but instead of simply grading papers and assignments or develop new syllabus, instructors can now concentrate on helping each student.

This will also enable the instructors to teach more classes as every separate class will need less time and effort of an adjunct. If you think that online learning technology will result in teachers losing their jobs, then it will be simply a case of misinterpretation. As teaching costs will be decreased, it will help in saving resources that can be more effectively used in other areas of teaching.

Offering A Better Experience

Schools can use such saving in various ways to promote the wellbeing of the learners in the form of offering more and better services, decreased tuition fees and enhanced learning experience. Universities can also use the savings to offer other benefits to the students, in case reducing tuition is a not a feasible option. No matter what, it will help to better reallocate resources and enable educators and institutions to better help our learners.

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More Employers Are Now Accepting Online Master's Degrees, Say Experts

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Nowadays studying online has become one of the most preferable options for most aspiring learners as it offers them high levels of flexibility and convenience to study and work at the same time. After completing her bachelor's degree in 2007, Patricia Samuels from Orlando, Florida decided to pursue an online master's programme in special education. She opted for an online programme as it allowed her to balance a full-time teaching job at a local school and yet focus on her studies. She says “To me, a master's is a master's. Employers care that you have the degree and that you have the knowledge, they don't care if you got it online.”

A Flexible Mode Of Instruction

Samuels is one of many students around the world who are pursuing higher education programmes online to properly juggle their work and education. With the growing popularity of online learning, digital degrees are now getting widely recognised and accepted by universities and employers alike, say experts. However, some specific programmes are more reputed than most others. Hence if you are planning to earn an online degree to earn higher salaries and give your career the needed push, then you need to do some research before you apply for a programme.

According to education experts, when selecting the most suitable online master's degree, you need to focus more on the reputation of the institution and the programme as these are more significant than the mode of learning.

Earning A Degree Is More Important

Catherine Horn, Associate Education Professor at the University of Houston, says “I think we're still in a space where the institution granting the online degree continues to have some sway in at least its perceived value.” The online graduate education programme offered by the university has been ranked top in 2015 by U.S. News. Horn adds that several institutions do not even specify the mode of learning in the transcripts and degrees. Hence school officials and employers can only view the name of the school and the programme.

This is hardly ever important in public school districts even when an online degree is noticeable believe education experts. In the sphere of K-12, online master's degrees are widespread and thus recruiters do not consider them as something different or separate from the norm, adds Horn. Most recruiters and hiring managers who have attended a school or college programme recently have experienced either the blended learning approach or even fully online study. Hence they have the idea that online classes are as challenging as on-campus courses.

Getting The Right Qualifications

Jeff Cravy, the principal of South Whidbey Elementary School, is charged with the responsibility of recruiting teachers for the school in Washington. He says that he does not have any second thoughts about applicants who have earned their degrees online. Cravy adds “I haven't had a bad experience with anyone who has been trained at a specific online college.”

He believes that it is more important whether you have the right credentials and the skills, match the requirements of the position and how well you perform in the interview.

What do you think about online degrees? Are you already pursuing an online programme? Share your views, opinions and experiences with us by commenting below.

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