Whom can you work with during the next few years to learn a business and have the chance to spot new opportunities outside the weak peripheral vision of an established business?
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Question asked by hari_koirala
Top comments (4)
Dr. Rudra Pandey would definitely be the person I would like to work with during the next few years to learn about the business and have a better understanding of opportunity recognition. The very first impression I had of him was when we met for the first time a few months ago in a conference called IT4D where he chaired it. His conversation was so powerful and something that made me think. I was with my current supervisor to whom he was a close friend giving me some time to discuss in person. The short conversation impressed me a lot while hearing where he came from and where he’s moving towards.
He has been a pioneer in building software industry in Nepal which takes some of the major projects from the USA and all over the world. He’s also the repentant of the prestigious FNCCI Gold Award as a trendsetter in the IT sector (Kantipur Post, 2017). I being from the same field and with my desire of doing something in the same domain made me choose him over all the other influential figures. He currently serves as the Chairman and CEO of Deerwalk Services which has now extended beyond just software development company to also be a college, school and also entered into food services, transportation and so many other. Recently, they’ve also set an office in Japan to cater to the needs of the customer there expanding to the global scale.
He has a pedigree to make a difference. His ambition of making a difference and uplifting the lives of at least a few of the people made him start Deerwalk Foundation which is currently working on different areas. Those areas are education, tourism, sustainable development, sanitation and agriculture (Frias, 2015).
Information technology is a huge domain and is something that every business sector would require now and more so into the future to get the most out of the business. This is why I would certainly jump at the possibility of working with a figure like him for the next few years and learn more of the process, his thinking ability and the learning opportunity that the job provides. Mentorship from a person like him would certainly add a lot of values which no research, or study could substitute for (Scandura, 1992). Experiencing first hand from the leading person in the industry would certainly help a lot to ensure the success of the venture. It also provides with a lot of networking opportunity which becomes key when you start something of your own or in any step of your career. It will add a new perceptive into my thinking and help me get better versed into the business world and start with more confidence and a bit improved chance at success.
References
Frias, J. (2015). GateHouse Media LLC. Retrieved from lexington.wickedlocal.com/article/...
Kantipur Post - FNCCI honours eminent personalities. (2017). Retrieved from kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2...
Scandura, T. (1992). Mentorship and career mobility: An empirical investigation. Journal Of Organizational Behavior , 13 (2), 169-174.
Karna Shakya is the one who comes into mind when thinking about a business person I would want to work with. May be because I do not know a lot of business men that have contributed as he has to the society as well. I first knew of him after I stumbled over his autobiography back in my school days. The struggle and the ups and downs that he faced in his life as presented in his book "Soch” meaning "Though” was something that was very interesting.
For those who do not know who Karna Shakya is, he is the owner of Kathmandu Guesthouse that was one of the first guesthouse in Kathmandu. Now he owns a chain of hotels in various cities such as Pokhara, Chitwan, Lumbini, and Kathmandu to name a few. In addition he was also one of the active supporters and designers of Visit Nepal 1998, which was a huge success. He is also credited for being the pioneer for establishing the first National Park in Nepal. He used to work as a wildlife officer in the Forestry department before plunging into the enterprise world in 1970s. He has always worked to conserve and contribute to the conservation of our rich biodiversity in its pristine condition.
His involvement in the tourism sector and his success as a hotelier shows that there are opportunities if you believe in yourself. Tourism is in its infancy stage here in Nepal. With over 1.3 billion people to the North, and another 1.3 billion people to the South, Nepal has huge potential to receive tourism from China and India. If only 1% tourism come from each country Nepal will be facing tourism avalanche that we probably are not even ready for. At present the in pour of tourist is not even half of this number. "One of the bright spots going forward is that tourism still has a lot of potential in Nepal - 800,000 visitors is not a lot when one considers what Nepal has to offer tourists (Coonan, 2015).”With such potential in the tourism business, working with a seasoned business man such as Mr. Karna Shakya would surely help spot new opportunities.
"In todays climate, training and education budgets are very tight; therefore, learning situations must be found through other avenues besides the traditional classroom setting (Martin & Robinson, 2011).” Mentorship is another source of immense profitable source to improve your knowledge which books cannot provide. Real life experience can be of paramount importance that can decide the success and failure of any new venture. With working in a specific zone or dimension, it is easy to get stuck in a circle of same and similar thoughts. Having a mentor in the same field can provide out of the box look which can be very important for business success.
References
Coonan, C. (2015, May 4). Potential growth in Nepal tourism a bright spot. The Irish Times .
Martin, L., & Robinson, T. (2011). Why You Should Get on Board the Mentor Ship. Public Manager; Alexandria , 42-45.
I am interested to work with those personalities who have a capacity to motivate, persuade others. Who has higher emotional intelligence and a critical thinker with having a capacity of leading team? I am interested to do business in Technical education where students can make, break and innovate. This will be real learning platform for our students where they can design a product. I am planning to establish a new school with the objective of promoting skill based education and to create critical learner for 21st century. The main vision is creating self - employment opportunity to all students. According to great entrepreneur JACK MA., (2010) (Founder and Chairperson of Alibaba) in 2030 machine is smart then human so these machine will be able to do all works, we can’t compete with these machine. We should be critical learner and critical thinker so that we will be safe otherwise machine dominating us. So I am great fan of Jack ma and his business thought is always one step ahead. Other normal person only thought that how to compute with existing rivals business but he already thought that machine is biggest challenge in future so we should change our teaching learning process. We should be critical thinker. Because in this current time knowledge is more powerful than energy. One 19 years young undergraduate student changed the world. So now we have traditional teaching methodology in our school so I want to change this teaching paradigms by applying activities based learning and STEM education. We will have maker space where students test their ideas and try to solve the current global problems. Project based teaching or implementing STEM education in school is (Report, 2017)education venture which already established for promoting skill based education. Karkhana is trying to create a platform that can connect real life and classroom using maker based education. They have almost 5 years experienced in this field. They have an innovative maker lab and they already tested various project like Maker mentor, bee creative, Maker Kti, and KIC. Through this maker club or space students can enhance and test their knowledge. Their curriculum is specially designed for school students. So I would like to walk with Mr. Pavitra Gautam who is CEO of Karkhana. We have same vision to create our students as global citizen and promote skill based education. In 21st century the term skill is essential things. The person who has skill in any profession he can create a job for him/her. So school education give them theoretical knowledge and maker space give enough practical knowledge. So we have same vision and mission. My passion aligns with him. I am passionate about teaching ad I want to convert my passion as a profession so I want to work with him. I already mentioned above they have 5 years experienced in this fields and they already segmented their market segment and they have qualified human resource and they have the national and international mentor and networks. So If I would get the chance to walk with him/them I would definitely learn business concept then I will apply this concept in my business process. Those experience help me to handle my business. Then, One day I will be able to create skill full human capital in Nepal. I just not chose him only he is successful entrepreneur in this sector but I know him personally well and he failed multiple time and never lost his hope so I like that spirit, motivation, passion and dedication towards works. He was good in academic, when he was failed in first time after that he got the chance to go abroad for higher education but he rejected those opportunity and continuously struggled in his work and finally get the success. So If I would get the change to walk with him then I would have many opportunity "how to sustain educational maker space as a business venture”.
References
MA., J. (2010). Chinese Entrepreneurship in the Internet Age: Lessons from Alibaba.com. International Journal of Economics and Management Engineering .
Report, P. (2017). Interactive mela at Karkhana. Kantipur .
The problem with most of the businesses these days is they focus too much on the existing business processes and paradigm that they overlook the opportunities available outside the peripheral vision of that business (Spinelli & Adams). We think in a linear way concentrating on few variables that we are continuously working on for longer time so the elements that lie outside the line do not easily come to our mind. For example: A business that has been in producing stationary items for long time span will not be able to see the opportunity that lies in recycling the used stationery items.
In order to spot new opportunities outside the weak peripheral vision of established business, I wish to work with people of diverse background so that I will be able to see and analyze the things from multiple perspectives. I want to work with someone who is directly involved in the business to have idea about how a business is run, how to prepare oneself to adapt to the changes in internal and external business environment and what are the possible challenges and benefits we might come across as a businessman. In addition, I would love to work with people who work deals with the suppliers and customers. I think it is important to know the perception of suppliers and customers as they can provide us with new dimensions about the products/services we are offering that may help in spotting new opportunities available in the industry.
The increasing use of information and technology has made it essential for everyone to know about the latest technological developments and how that can be adapted to expand the business or prevent it from making obsolete. Similarly, research is evolving as an important aspect for every business. So, I want to collect some information how the market research is conducted and the results from the research are analyzed to grab knowledge about customers taste and preferences, market situations and competitors’ actions that will help in identifying the opportunities available.
Instead of working with a particular organization or person, I want to be open-minded and would opt to work with different people from different organizations so that I can have basic knowledge about various aspects that provide opportunities and threats for the business. Being an entrepreneur is multi-tasking. An entrepreneur needs to look after finance, marketing, technology, production, human resource and other functions as well. Working with only one person may make us good at a particular thing or set of skill but we may lack to look at the things from other lenses. So, to have panoptican view of the business environment allowing me to spot the opportunities outside the existing business, I have to broaden my knowledge and acquire different skill sets working with diverse people in the next few years before I engage in something of my own.
References
Spinelli, S., & Adams, R. J. (n.d.). New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century (Nineth ed.). Irwin: McGraw Hill Education.