Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship isn’t easy. It’s risky, it’s stressful and the success rate for new businesses really . So, why do people become entrepreneurs? Usually, it’s because we find that simply working a job just isn’t enough. We need to challenge ourselves, to test our ideas and to take control. Working for someone else just can’t satisfy that kind of personal drive.

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How, then, can you be sure you’ve got the kind of drive necessary to make the leap from wage-slave to master of your own domain? Plenty of people fantasize about owning and running their own business, but more often than not, those same people prefer to wait until a business is handed to them. It takes a certain desperation to strike out on your own.

Wondering if you’re ready to make a big change? Before you do, see if you don’t recognize a few of the signs that it’s time to transition from employee to entrepreneur:

1. You’re passionate about your work, but not your job.

When I first started out in the world of finance, I really enjoyed my work. Helping people to get the funds they needed to achieve their dreams was rewarding, not to mention challenging. But I never felt passionate about my actual job. I had my own ideas for what lending should look and feel like, and I didn’t care to have my schedule and workload set for me every day. I needed more. And that should sound familiar to any successful entrepreneur.

Even seemingly interesting jobs may need to be sacrificed for your true passion. before striking out on his own with Spikes Security. When asked why, he said: “Through the years I kept a list of great ideas, and one day I realized that I had a couple of really good ones.” The message: Don’t leave your good ideas unexplored!

2. You’re sick and tired of just thinking about it.

Everybody dreams at least a little about what it would be like to be in charge at work, leading a team and following your own rules. Dreaming about it is enough for most people. But if you find yourself beginning to resent your own entrepreneurial dreams because you haven’t done anything about them, then traditional employment is never going to satisfy you. .

McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc said, “.” The message: Achieving your dreams can’t be done from a place of comfort.

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3. You want to help others.

If there’s one thing that separates entrepreneurs driven to build large, successful enterprises, it’s the pleasure they take in building a team and giving opportunities to others. Job creation is one of the biggest, most rewarding responsibilities of entrepreneurship. In fact, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation provided evidence that entrepreneurs who launch new businesses are the driving force behind a vibrant society, by the fact that they .

Giving someone a job he or she wants and needs is an indescribable feeling. The message: If you don’t want to feel responsible for the success of your team, stick with the cubicle.

4. You have support.

, the founder of cosmetics giant The Body Shop, once said that, “We entrepreneurs are loners, vagabonds, troublemakers. Success is simply a matter of finding and surrounding ourselves with those open-minded and clever souls who can take our insanity and put it to good use.”

That’s a great way to put it. Something a lot of people don’t understand about entrepreneurship is that nobody can do it alone. You need someone to have your back while you’re out risking everything to accomplish your goals. It can be a spouse, a parent, a committed investor, an educator or someone else — maybe . The message: Somebody’s got to help ensure that you have food and shelter and a shoulder to cry on while you’re trying something new.

5. You have a great idea.

It takes more than will to lead to be a great entrepreneur. You’ve got to have something to sell too, and it had better be an improvement on what’s already available in the marketplace. If you’re not to build a better mousetrap and make it easier to get than ever before, you’ve got to find a great idea to rally behind before you quit your job.

Steve Jobs could have spent years building video games for Atari, but he had a vision for making the personal computer accessible and engaging to all. That was what made him succeed where so many solder-jockeys failed: The idea sustained him, even after Apple fired him.

The message: You’ve got to ask yourself what the point is of borrowing money and working day and night to become just another mousetrap salesman?

6. You’ve got a plan.

Big ideas are great, but they’ll get you nowhere if you don’t have a plan for realizing them. when he hocked his record-store chain to start an airline. And maybe he was!

But he had a plan to achieve that dream, based on careful market research, forecasting and financing. Without a solid, realistic plan, his wild vision could have never become a reality. The message: Have a plan.

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7. You also have a backup plan.

A lot of startup businesses fail — , in fact. No matter how grand your ideas, no matter how careful your plan, you’re putting yourself at risk of becoming another statistic when you step out on your own. Even most successful entrepreneurs don’t get it right on their first try — I didn’t!

But I had a backup plan to pursue when my first venture failed, and it kept me afloat until I could try again. Never, ever put all of your eggs in one basket. Even Oprah Winfrey was . The message: If you’ve got a backup plan, you’ll never be afraid to fail. 

In order to be a successful entrepreneur, whether you are running a small business or a large one, you have to bring your A-game to work every day. The best way to do that is to get a good night’s sleep. And let’s face it, not many people who are under the kind of pressure it takes to build a business do. In fact,  of Americans report not catching as many Z-z-z’s as they should each night.

The hard truth is, if you’re not getting enough sleep, you are losing money. That’s a mighty bold assertion, but it makes sense when you think about it.

Not getting enough sleep can result in some  on your body and mind. But, how do you get enough rest when you are busy trying to do all the things necessary to grow and maintain your business?

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Read on for three tips to help you do just that:

1. Create effective sleep habits.

If you want to sleep better, there’s no way around it, your sleep routine has to be just that: a routine. It’s not as hard as it sounds. Here’s how:

•  Go to bed and wake up at the same time each night.  shows that people with erratic sleep patterns are at greater risk for heart problems. A stable sleep routine helps the heart recover from the stresses of the day by filtering out stress hormones.
•  Optimize the environment.  to between 65 and 72 degrees, because cooler temperatures are said to promote better sleep. In addition, make your room as dark as possible. Black out curtains or sleep masks are both excellent ways to darken a room.
•  Read something. Nothing too serious or exciting. Something a little on the dry side is best. And, make it a hard copy, not text that requires a charger, because the light from any electronic device tells your brain to “stay awake” no matter how dark it is in your room.
•  Try some soothing tunes. Listening to some mellow music just before bed is a perfect way to wind down. The minute you turn it on, it tells your brain to slow down, relax and get ready for some high-quality shut eye. You can also try white noise, like from a fan, a white noise machine, or even an app.

2. Flip your mattress (to the curb)

You can try every tip in the book for better sleep, but if your mattress is not suited to your body’s needs, you’re going to wake feeling groggy and maybe even in pain.

There are two things to consider when choosing a bed: the frame and the mattress. Frames can be adjustable or fixed. Adjustable frames are good for anyone who has a medical issue, such as osteoarthritis or a neck injury, otherwise a fixed frame should do the job.

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Choosing the right mattress is key. Finding the right balance between softness and firmness is the goal. If it’s too soft, your body won’t get the right support, which can cause you to wake up with aches and pains. If your mattress is too hard, it can also cause you to wake up stiff and sore.

3. Work out regularly.

According to science, . Just 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week (low-impact or high, you choose) is optimal to improve your sleep quality. Add that to the fact that regular exercise can help prevent weight gain and reduce stress and you’ve got the perfect recipe for entrepreneurial success.

It won’t work to exercise sporadically if you really want to feel the benefits of exercise on sleep. In fact, a single bout of intense exercise probably won’t work, especially for those with insomnia, a chronic sleep issue. It might even make it worse, since exercise in itself is so physically taxing. A consistent exercise routine, according to a study published by ,” seemed to start alleviating the participant’s stress response, bringing about a more consistent restful night’s sleep.

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Bottom line — a good night’s sleep is integral to the success of any entrepreneur.

Building a business is hard work. Getting a good night’s sleep will leave you better prepared to handle whatever challenges come your way. Use these three tips to super charge your sleep quality and quantity and watch your business take off. You’ll be glad you did.

1. Introduction

Employability is the combination of factors and processes that enable people to progress towards or get into employment, to stay in employment and to move in the workplace.

The purpose of this report is to discuss the opportunities I as a graduate go through after the completion of my degree, what the employers are looking for in an employee, as well as the role marketers or marketing related careers play in enterprises, then finally the knowledge, skills and attitude I have and hope to obtain.

I have always wanted to work in the marketing sector so I have compiled analysis of six different companies, which consist of large-scale companies, small, and medium sized companies.

I have used a mixture of analysis to compare various methods that can be used to start a career in the marketing sector and also be successful in the field.

I have decided to work in the marketing sector because it provides many job opportunities such as personal selling, advertising, packaging, transport, product development and retailing.

2. Occupational research

This section of the report would examine the factual reflections of the findings from the occupation.

2.1 Terms of reference

The purpose of this report is to look at the graduate opportunities in the UK marketing sector. Research will be made on six different organisations in this sector. The main aim is to show what has to be achieved and how to achieve it.

2.2 Methodology

The methods used to approach this research were carried out through primary and secondary resources. The primary research was used to exchange e-mails with one of the staffs of Business Monitor International and PKF to clarify some issues. However most of the research done on this report was from information gathered online which is the secondary research such as graduate job websites like prospect, inside careers and also watching some videos on employability. The companies’ websites were used to get more information. The organizations used in this reportare Standard Life, Glaxo Smith Kline, Akzo nobel corporate, Business monitor international, PKF and Sanofi Aventis.

2.3 Main findings

In marketing, there are variety of challenging and interesting job opportunities such as retailing, market research, personal selling and wholesaling. In addition from my findings, there are so many individuals who are employed in non-business organizations that are also engaged in marketing activities. The skills from marketing are used to promote civic, political, cultural and charitable activities, even if an individual earns a living through marketing activities or performs them without compensation in non-business settings, the knowledge and skills gained from marketing are valuable assets. Our highly complex economy relies heavily on marketing activities. The economy produces the profits that are necessary for the growth of individual businesses and also provide health and ultimate survival for the economy as a whole. In essence the general employment trend must be known. According to the survey by BBC, it claims that graduate unemployment rose by 25%. The higher education policy institute said in December 2008 the unemployment level rose from 11.9% to 25% among graduates aged under 24. It also said that 17.2% of male graduates were out of work compared with 11.2% of females as at the end of 2009. The report from the institute came a day after a research body had warned that unemployed graduate level could hit record levels as a result of planned public spending cuts.

The Higher Education Career Service Unit (HECSU) said that because so many college leavers join the public sector, they were especially vulnerable to cuts. According to the guardian survey, it claims that the unemployment figures are set to rise by 22,000. However those leaving university during the summer face the most difficult job market in more than a decade. There are up to 22,000 more graduate whom are likely to be unemployed this year compared to last figures. The Higher Education Career Service Unit (HECSU) calculated at least one in 10 of this summer’s graduates would not be successful to find a job after six months they leave university, which is equivalent to about 35,000 and 40,000 graduates out of the 350,000 leaving UK universities after first degrees.

There are many opportunities for marketing degree holders. There are lots of organisations that are recruiting graduates in marketing or marketing related occupations. According to the Witan Jardine growth statistics marketing opportunities have grown by 47% from last year and experienced growth of 5% over the last quarter. The opportunities in the marketing financial sector grew by 30%, which made an increase of 29% over the last quarter. The media sector roles in marketing for graduates increased by 25% year on year. The professional services marketing roles have soared by 77% compared to January 2006. (Ambition, 2009)

Marketing is a very popular career for graduates. Last year, there were 17,000 students who graduated with degrees in marketing, and the research by the Marketing and Sales Standard Setting Body (MSSSB) claims that 580,000 people in the UK are employed in marketing roles. (Inside careers, 2011)

There are important roles for graduates in the marketing sector in the future especially those who want to go into retailing. The retail sector is said to accounts for more than 10% of jobs in England. There were 2,777,000 people employed in the retail sector in 2002, the amount of people employed in the retail sector was predicted to rise to 2,869,000 in 2005 and continued growth forecast through to 2012. In 2012 it is predicted that over 250,000 new jobs are expected in this sector.

However, there is going to be replacement demand whereby there will be need for new people to replace those leaving the sector is predicted to be five times this figure, with sales and customer service occupations alone needing almost half a million people to replace those leaving the sector (National Guidance Research Forum, 2010). As a marketing graduate your responsibilities can vary depending on the size of the organization and sector and also whether the focus is on selling a product, service or raising awareness of an issue that affects the public. A recent marketing degree holder can play roles in organization such as liaising and networking with wide range of stakeholders like colleagues, customers, partner organizations and suppliers. One could also communicate with his target audience and also managing their customers’ relationships. One can also generate advertising opportunities and placing adverts in the press locally, regional, national and specialist publications or on the radio, depending on the organization and the campaign. As a marketing degree holder, one could ensure there is effective distribution of marketing materials, and also maintain and update customer database. One could also attend and organize events such as seminars, conference, exhibition and receptions. Marketing graduate could organize marketing research such as creating customer questionnaire, focus groups and also contributing to the development of marketing plans and strategies (Prospects, 2009).

These jobs are advertised in newspapers and magazines such as marketing week, they can also be found online in job search sites like prospects, graduate-jobs, inside careers etc. Based on the research done on the organisations, there are some key skills, knowledge and experience expected from a marketing graduate. These organisations are looking for people that are highly organized and proactive, with the ability to do different tasks simultaneously to meet deadlines. They are interested in people with the ability to work both independently and in a team environment. A core skill expected is ability to interact and maintain beneficial relationships with other teams across the business. High level of competency in Microsoft office, particularly excel is expected. They also search for people with good skills in leadership with ability to influence without authority in a matrix environment. They are also interested in people who have excellent written and verbal communication skills and also those that can speak good English.

As a marketing graduate a lot is expected, only in very exceptional circumstances that organisations accept application from people who don’t meet their academic requirements. This means that the applicant has to provide strong justification for why the organisation should accept him/her. The minimum academic criteria expected by their organisations are minimum of at least 280 UCAS points with a first class or 2:1 degree.

The selection process is done step by step. It is a chance for the graduate to show the organisation what they are made of and that they have the skills required. The first step is to fill in an online application form. This gives you the chance to tell the organisation a bit about yourself and also include your CV and cover letter. The second step is to take an online verbal and numerical reasoning test. The third step is a telephone interview to discuss your understanding of the role you have applied for. The forth step is to attend an assessment centre to meet members of the organisation. The fifth step is to receive an offer.

3. Personal reflection

In this section of the report, I am going to reflect upon and evaluate my current skills, knowledge and experience in relation to the ones required by the organisation I have researched on.

3.1 Personal analysis

During the course of my study, I developed some key skills such as working both independently and also as a group. I worked as a group in my coursework that enabled me to play roles like encouraging the group when motivation is low. During my research, I identified that I need good leadership skills. These leadership skills have been achieved as a group leader in university coursework that also enabled mi to take responsibility for the direction and action of the group. I have developed my interpersonal skills, I have also developed skills to be able to use my own initiative as well as problem solving skills. I strongly believe with my academic achievement, skills and experience, I definitely have a career in marketing.

3.2 CV & Covering letter

My CV and covering letter are addressed to Business monitor international. See appendix

3.3 Gap analysis

Gap analysis is the space between where we are and where we want to be. I have developed some skills that I am confident in. I am confident in my team working skills. I have good interpersonal skills especially in the way I carry myself. In general I have most of the skills these organisations are looking for. However, there are some areas that I really need to focus my personal development like my presentation skills; I lack the confidence to speak in public. I also lack a little bit of computing skills such as using Microsoft office excel. I intend on improving the skills that I am weak at by going for public speaking programmes and career fares to improve on my confidence level. I also plan on using self guide on how to use Microsoft excel to improve on my computing skills.

3.4 Career action plan

See appendix 6.3 page 11

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, this research has given me wide range of knowledge about the recent employment trends for graduates in the marketing sector and also more knowledge about different roles and skills required. While I was doing this report, it helped me realise what knowledge and skills I have now. In general, my career action plan would also help me as a guideline to enable me meet my goals.

5. References and Bibliography

1. Akzo Nobel (2010) What do we look forAvailable at http://www.akzonobel.com/careers/graduates/what_we_look_for/index.aspx [Accessed 15th march 2011]
2. Ambition (2008) Marketing & Sales Recruitment Trends, Available at http://www.ambition.co.uk/sales-marketing-jobs/recruitment-trends.asp [Accessed 19th march 2011]
3. BBC (2010) Graduate unemployment rate rises 25%, Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10500124 [Accessed 20th march 2011]
4. Business Monitor International (2011) Employment listing, Available at https://www5jh.openhire.com/epostings/submit.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobinfo&jobid=173530&company_id=1005&source=ONLINE&JobOwner=992284&bycountry=1&bystate=0&bylocation=GB%2E&keywords=&byCat=38747&tosearch [Accessed 14th march 2011]
5. Glaxo Smith Kline (2010) Experienced hires: search and apply, Available at http://www.gsk.com/careers/uk-saa-jobsearch.htm [Accessed 15th march 2011]
6. Inside career (2011) skills required for marketing, Available at http://www.insidecareers.co.uk/__802574D800556E37.nsf/id/7nwndntden!opendocument [Accessed 20th march 2011]
7. National Guidance Research Forum (2010) LMI future trends, Available at http://www.guidance-research.org/future-trends/retail/info/futureemp [Accessed 20th march 2011]
8. PKF accountants and business advisers (2010) The PKF experience, Available at http://www.pkf.co.uk/pkf/careers/work_experience/home [Accessed 15th march 2011]
9. Prospects (2009). Marketing executive: Job description and activities, Available at http://ww2.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/marketing_executive_job_description.jsp [Accessed 22nd march
10. Sanofi Aventis (2010). Job Details, Available at http://www24.i-grasp.com/fe/tpl_sanofiaventis01.asp?s=bkMjPUrEcTFkHhTcz&jobid=54551,2221122152&key=12073363&c=865256627269&pagestamp=sewfxdjbvkssyzdycm [Accessed 22nd march 2011]
11. Standard life (2011) sales and marketing, Available at http://www.standardlife.com/careers/graduates/grad_sales_marketing.html [Accessed 15th march 2011]
12. The guardian (2009) Graduate unemployment figures set to rise by 22,000, Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jul/02/graduate-unemployment-rise-recession-jobs [Accessed 20th march 2011]

Introduction

There are those who seek out opportunities from the very situations where others fear chaos or are lost in confusion. These individuals often act as catalysts to bring about a change that reshapes a market place. They are thought of as Olympic athletes who constantly challenge themselves to surpass barriers, or long distance runners who are undeterred in bearing the agony of running miles, or symphony orchestra conductors who are experts in balancing the skills and sounds of people and instruments respectively in a cohesive unit, or top-gun pilots who endlessly challenge the limits of speeds and daring. From a psychological perspective, these individuals are driven by their quest to achieve or obtain something. They experiment and take risks to accomplish something and often resent authorities of others over them. To economists, these individuals gather resources, people, materials, information and other assets to create a value greater than before. The academia has come to recognize them as ‘entrepreneurs’ and their entrepreneurial activities as ‘entrepreneurship’. Entrepreneurs are important segment of any economy as they often spearhead innovations; many of which turn out to be seedlings of future large corporations. Keeping the importance of entrepreneurship in view, this essay focuses on deliberating an entrepreneurial proposal, with an aim to realize the rigors of formulating a business plan from an idea that creates value in general.

Entrepreneurship

According to Hisrich (2001) “Entrepreneurship is the process of creating something new with value by devoting the necessary time and effort, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic and social risks, and receiving the resulting rewards of monetary, personal satisfaction and independence.” Nafziger (1997 and 2006) states that entrepreneurship is comprised of basic features; coordination of production factors such as land, labor, and capital, decision making under uncertain conditions innovation and creative solutions to problems and fulfillment of a market gap with an input completer. The entrepreneurial business plan proposed in this essay will try to adhere to these definitions and incorporate the aforementioned features.

Business Plan

The business plan is to create an online service for people with learning disabilities. This plan is both entrepreneurial and socially driven and therefore it can be termed as social entrepreneurship. The distinction between business entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs is that the latter are driven by a social mission while the former is more focused towards wealth generation (Dees and Emerson, 2001).

The online service titled as “LDS”, will allow users to find out what’s going on in their communities, and provide information for the nearest and cheapest available social care support options for them to seek. LDS service would be designed like the “ebay of social care for people with learning disabilities,” It will assist care providers in knowing what services support and funds they are entitled to. Moreover, it will help care providers in planning their budget for a personalized social care support. It will also allow socialization among users in terms of forming communities, organizing events and activities and share information; all with an overall social care agenda.

Business Model

The prevailing business environment is manifested by rapid innovation and diffusion of new internet based information technologies (Bruin and Dupuis, 2003). These technologies create many new windows of entrepreneurial opportunities. The pervasiveness of the internet, which is a “communication medium that allows, for the first time, the communication of many to many, in a chosen time on a global scale”(Castells, 2001, p.2 in Bruin and Dupuis, 2003), presents new ways of working and entrepreneurial opportunities. The LDS is another such entrepreneurial endeavor made possible by the internet based information and communication technologies. It is a complete e-business initiative.

As a social and commercial enterprise, LDS will operate as a commercial entity. It will generate its revenue from the advertisement fees charged to the service providers, individual carers, and product stores who are likely to post their products and services over LDS. It will also generate revenue from a small one time registration fee charged to the users.

LDS will operate partly on a wiki principle. A wiki is a website which is partly user generated i.e. its users are allowed to create and manipulate its content via web browser. Wikis are usually run by wiki software and are typically operated collaboratively by several users. Through its wiki principle, the LDS website will allow users to provide their input; making this service a knowledge sharing portal dedicated towards caring people with learning disabilities. Moreover, it will serve as a portal for users to organize communities of users and clients. In order to monitor the activities of users to maintain focus and direction of the website, level of access will be enforced upon users.

The LDS will be created as an eMarketplace which would help people take charge of their own support. LDS will provide products and services for the social care sector through four interrelated modules. These modules are designed keeping the needs of the different users in mind. They are;

Individuals
Service Providers
Budget Managers and
Community
Macro Anslysis

More than 1.5 million people in the United Kingdom have a learning disability making it one of the most common forms of disability in the UK. Learning disabilities the most overlooked and least understood disabilities. Thus there is a dire need to spread awareness regarding learning disabilities and its support (LDC, 2012).

In 2004, the government of UK established the commission for social care inspection (CSCI) which has been publishing reports on the state of social care England annually since 2005. According to the data of 2006-07, the councils in UK had spent ?14.24 billion on social services. This is the gross amount spent on social services. As much as 60% of this amount was used in financing services for older people whereas people with learning disabilities received the second largest share which is 22% of total spending amounting to ?3.12billion (LDC, 2012).

The coalition government in UK government brought a major policy shift by reducing social spending in national budgets. The Emergency Budget in June 2010 enforced a reduction worth ?6.2 billion, including cuts in money given to Local Governments by ?1.165 billion. The Emergency Budget also initiated other big changes to the welfare system and Disability Living Allowance. For instance, it was followed by the Comprehensive Spending Review and the settlement for local councils. The Comprehensive Spending Review recognized the persistent underfunding of social care, which resulted in an influx of extra ?2 billion per year for social care services by promised by the government. However, this amount is not enough to cater the increase in the numbers of people requiring support (LDC, 2012).

In response to the aforementioned changes, Learning Disability Coalition, an independent organization, got engaged in supporting people with different learning disabilities. It carried out a survey of local authorities to assess the effects of changes introduced through the ‘Emergency Budget’ and ‘Comprehensive Spending Review’. A similar survey of over 350 disabled people, their families and care providers was carried out to ask them how the policy changes had affected them. It concluded that 90% of local authorities had less funding than before and 84% termed their funding conditions as “difficult”. Out of these, 20% were planning to cut services. As for the individuals with learning disabilities, 20% complained about a reduction in hours of care provided while 19% were faced with reduction support fund. About one third of the disabled people and their care providers had been contacted by their respective councils regarding a change to eligibility criteria (LDC, 2012).

Considering the issues discussed above, it is viewed that LDS will provide an innovative solution to all these stakeholders in utilizing their resources more effectively; thus creating a value for the society and an opportunity for the business person.

Stakeholders

The LDS is an open marketplace that can be accessed and used by anyone. It can be:

Individuals,
They comprise of people having learning physical or other mental disabilities, as well as older people.
Local Authorities,
They can range from urban metropolitan authorities to County Councils, all having different structures and strategies, and being at different stages in their move towards personalisation.
Service providers,
They can include national providers, smaller regional providers and local micro-providers.
Broker Organizations, and
Voluntary Sector Organisations.

It is vital to understand that these stakeholders vary in their interests and requirements; therefore an all-around approach will be adopted in order to successfully position LDS, which would help in engaging with each of these target audiences. LDS will engage Local Authorities on a regional basis through the ‘Joint Improvement Partnerships’ (JIPs) as well as ‘Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships’ (RIEPs). Direct engagement will also be targeted. LDS will engage service providers mainly through Local Authorities, which will be effective in utilizing their existing networks and relationships. Proactive service providers would be sought directly.

Market Position

LDS will serve as a platform for numerous service and products related to social care. They could be offered by any stores and service providers – all gathered in one marketplace.

The attraction of LDS to its customers is that it will meet the requirements of each individual customer group i.e. individuals, local authorities, service providers and broker organizations through its multi-facet software system, whilst providing them with a common platform to collaborate in providing/seeking social services. The LDS will be positioned within the social care industry to provide some of the following services leading to various benefits to its stakeholders:

ServicesBenifits
IndividualsAccess to a best value, high quality marketplace;

Ordering and payment process for services;

Tool to manage personalized budget.

Tool to enable employment of personal assistants.Easy setup and planning of budgets;

Reduced administration costs;

Access to best value catalogues;

Easy reporting to funding bodies.
Local AuthoritiesLow cost marketing channel for service providers;

Ability to setup an online retail store & catalogue;

Automated purchase to pay process;Low cost sales & marketing channel;

Easy management of online store;

Automated billing process;

Budget ManagersTool for brokers and/or LAs to setup and manage personal budgets;

Tool for LAs to review and audit support plans and outcomes

Management of budgets and support plans for many clients;

Administration of clients orders and invoices;

Reporting on funding, spend and outcomes.

Easy integration & reporting with existing systems.Macro / micro manage details of multiple clients;

Reduced personal budget administration costs for individual and LA;

Automated financial processes;

Report on funding, spend & outcomes.

Fewer administrative review visits required.

More time available for value added activities.

CommunityUser friendly information tool for individuals;

Content rich marketing channel for providers (beyond being a list);

Easy administration of catalogue for LA;

Reporting on utilisation and trends.

Efficient & effective way to find services & events which form part of support plan;

Free marketing for providers

Low cost admin and maintenance for LA;

Useful information for LA as a market manager.

Marketing Mix

In order to promote LDS and widen its clientele, collaborative relationships will be established with Social Care service providers. Some of the organizations that LDS will be looking forward to collaborate with include;

Association for Real Change (ARC)
BILD (British Institute of Learning Disabilities)
Downs Syndrome Association
Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities
Mencap
National Autistic Society
National Family Carer Network
People First
Real Life Options
Sense
The Hesley Group
The National Forum for People with Learning Difficulties
Turning Point
United Response
Voyage

Furthermore, LDS will create a promotional calendar to engage with individual and general population. LDS will also carry out promotion activities at relevant national and regional events. Moreover, LDS will make various other marketing materials which would be made readily available to reinforce the brand. These materials will include: electronic newsletters, standardized fliers, presentations, mugs, and key-rings etc. LDS will also try to get media coverage and contribute in several national publications.

Monitoring and Evaluation
YearObjectives
Year 1Launch initial pilot program for users

Continued marketing

By the third quarter of the first year, launch a complete version of the program

Bring along atleat 100 different service providers

Engagement with at least 5 Local Authorities

Launch a whole scale application that could be run on a Partner’s website
Year 2Engagement with at least 10 Local Authorities

Achieve target for ?50m spend by service users over LDS by the end of second year
Year 3Engagement with at least 15 Local Authorities

Achieve target for ?200m spend by service users over LDS by the end of second year

Expansion to overseas market

References

Bruin, A. and Dupuis, A (2003). Entrepreneurship: New Perspectives in a Global Age. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Dees, J. G., Emerson, J. & Economy, P. (2001) Enterprising Non-profits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs. New York: Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Hisrich, R.D (2011) Entrepreneurship. Tata McGraw-Hill Education

LDC, (2012) Learning Disability Coalition. {online} www.learningdisabilitycoalition.org.uk

Nafziger, E. Wayne (1997), The Economics of Developing Countries, Third Edition, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey

Nafziger, E. Wayne (2006), Economic Development, 4th edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

An entrepreneur is a person who possesses an enterprise. This person accepts the financial and other risks associated with the formation of this enterprise and exploits the opportunities in order to form this enterprise. The word ‘entrepreneur’ is derived from two French words ‘entre’ meaning to enter and ‘prendre’ meaning ‘to take’. The combination of this word means to take in a new opportunity and accept the financial risks associated with that opportunity and start a new enterprise. (Steven, 6, 2003).

An entrepreneur has to be an ambitious person in order to make use of the land, labor, raw materials and capital to create new goods and services for its target market. An entrepreneur is a leader and has to be ambitious in order to deal with the difficulties of the entrepreneurship. According to a French Economist, “An entrepreneur is one who undertakes an enterprise, especially a contractor, acting as intermediary between capital and labor” (Hindle, 77, n. d) An entrepreneur has to seek ad opportunity and carve a niche for himself in the market which might not be presently noticeable.

These people are leaders who accept high level of not only financial but personal and professional risk associated with that opportunity. The main aim of this paper is to identify an entrepreneur in Pakistan who started a new business and has been successful in it. The paper aims to defines what an entrepreneur actually is and how these entrepreneurs serve as leaders and icons for other people, as they take up huge risks associated with a certain business, but most importantly these people identify a business opportunity which is present in the market but has not been identified yet.

These people create a niche for themselves in the market and hence form an enterprise. The paper will take an example of a current entrepreneur who started small in Pakistan and has come a long way. This example will be studies in detail giving how this person started and what problems he had to face when he got in the business world. Tee Jays Tee Jays is a highly respected name in the fashion industry. It was formed some thirty years ago and has been popular since. The entrepreneur of Tee Jays is Tanveer Jamshed whose initials have formed the name of this company.

Tanveer Jamshed is the person who has brought a revolution in the fashion industry and has made this fashion accessible to the masses. Earlier it was the top people in upper class who were able to use some fashion sense in their clothing. The rest of the population either could not afford or feared being labeled as ‘fashionable’. When Tee Jays came in market it was the time when there was a differentiation between good girls, who wore plain shalwar kameez and had no sense of fashion at all, and then there were fashionable girls.

These fashionable girls used some kind of fashion sense in their clothing and therefore never got married. This reflects how fashion was considered a taboo at that time. (Sartaj, n. p, 2007). Tanveer Jamshed has brought a revolution in the fashion industry. It remains as a fashion brand accessible to the upper class and the masses both. Even today, there is no label which is available to all the classes and is affordable too. Tee Jays has won Life Time achievement award in Fashion. This is a high honor and Tee Jays won it back in 1993 when fashion was still not acceptable in our society. (Sartaj, n. p, 2007).

According to Tanveer Jamshed, when he started everybody criticized him and even his family members did not support him telling that he will not succeed. He thought women can wear different sorts of shalwar suit designs (which were only a very few), why do men have to wear the same design always with a plain colored cloth to make the entire suit. He started with only two sewing machines and created a new trend in the fashion industry. He brought in new styles and designs in shalwar suits for men. Shalwar suit being the national dress of Pakistan was worn a lot and hence needed a bit fashion and designing.

According to Tanveer Jamshed, his upbringing was the main reason behind his innovative ideas. Creativity is the key word for him and he still believes that either a person has creativity or he does not. Creativity cannot be forced upon any one and has no degrees and boundaries. Tanveer Jamshed’s forefathers were gentile army personnel. Tanveer Jamshed had studies in Karachi Grammar which was and still is the elitist school of Karachi. His evenings were spent in Sindh Club therefore; he had some creativity in him which he calls as his “Genetic disorder”.

Tanveer Jamshed has always been progressive and so were his ideas. Even though he started aiming to change men’s shalwar suit, he also entered the female shalwar kameez zone and started to show his creativity there too. (Isani, n. p, 2007) It was in 1973, when Tee Jays designed his first wardrobe for a TV play on PTV. It was Roohi Bano’s wardrobe which he designed for the classic Drama Kiran Kahani. After the hit wardrobe of Roohi Bano in this drama, he then designed for Uncle Urfi and Zer Zabar Pesh. According to him it was not as easy as it seems.

It was firstly difficult to get people to understand what he had in mind and what changes he would like to bring it. People thought that these changes would no get accepted and that his designs would be a clear flop. Later he also organized a fashion show in his college and to him everything was an invention. Another difficulty he faced was of advertising. At that time there were no fashion advertisers present therefore it was difficult for him to get his ideas across to the people. No advertisements on television about fashion or large billboards which could reflect what he was trying to bring in.

The only form of marketing for him was through television dramas. He designed wardrobes for almost 147 dramas and this is how he advertised. Later he also opened various shops with psychedelic posters of his. People started to call him the crazy man as he was the only one with these ideas and designs which were totally new and a bit unacceptable to the people. (Isani, n. p, 2007) At that time people in the high class considered shalwar kameez as a taboo. They would rather wear their nigh suits while going for shopping then wear shalwar kameez.

Shalwar kameez, at that time was for the masses and the middle class people. The British had left the Pakistani society with a shame of their national dress. People were and still are every impressed with the western culture and hence there was a need to bring in some change which would help these people accept their own national dress. Tee Jays has revolutionized the way people think about shalwar kameez. Suddenly, shalwar kameez became acceptable to the upper class. It now became exciting and people started to seek new designs in shalwar kameez. Later when Gen.

Zia ul Haq came he imposed shalwar kameez on everyone. According to Tanveer Jamshed when something is imposed on people, even if it is good people tend to throw it away the first chance they get. This over killed the excitement of the shalwar kameez which Tanveer Jamshed had managed to create slowly and steadily in a few years. As soon as Zia ul Haq went the shalwar kameez culture died and people started to wear pant shirts and now they had the liberty to do so. (Isani, n. p, 2007) At that time, tee Jays went in the background and sales dropped as now less people wore shalwar suits.

They now had the liberty of wearing pant shirts as Gen Zia had gone. According to Tanveer Jamshed, Shalwar Kameez is not a uniform it is our national dress and we should be proud to wear it. It took a lot of years for Tee Jays to get Shalwar Kameez acceptable to the upper class and also make it available for the masses. Like said earlier, an entrepreneur is not just a person who comes up with a new idea and makes a new organization. An entrepreneur is a leader, who brings innovative changes which are not only for the betterment of the society but also provide the society with something good.

Tee Jays provided the society with a sense of being a Pakistani. He provided the society the acceptance and love of their national dress. Tee Jays has brought a drastic change in the society, people who were not willing to wear shalwar kameez at all, were now readily buying various designs of shalwar suits depending on their needs and the number of occasion they have to go to. (Isani, n. p, 2007) When Tee Jays came up he had only two sewing machines, Very little money, unsupportive people around him who thought he was a crazy person to come up with such idea and almost no playing field in the fashion industry.

People thought that how will he ever manage to bring in different designs in a thing which people do not wear at all. At that time there were no services which could provide marketing for his designs. He had to do that on his own too. Tanveer Jamshed opened various shops all around the city and put up various posters of tee Jays. People started to call him the crazy man to do such things, as at that time there was no advertising for the fashion industry. (Isani, n. p, 2007).

If you want to be successful, study someone who is and find out how they did it. You may not be able to create the next Snapchat but you can build the . And that’s the point.

Below you will find 25 people, all under 40, to watch and draw inspiration from. They come from all sectors and sizes, but the one common thread among them is they saw what was being done and did it differently. As an entrepreneur, you have to be different. You have to defy convention. You have to look at the world, at some problem, and say, “There has to be a better way.”

Related: 

The distance between chasing your idea and being on this list is not long. Some people on this list started their company less than a year ago. All of them are young enough and impatient enough not to wait for success. So what are you waiting for? Go out, create and hopefully we’ll see you on this list next year.

In alphabetical order.

1. Aydin Acar, CEO, Influenster

Acar has bridged the gap between the product sampling and market research industries by offering socially savvy members full product integration into their lives and also arms brands with real-time data and valuable market insights.

“My cofounder, Elizabeth Scherle, was working with Fortune 500 clients on product sampling campaigns while I was working at a market research firm when we both realized there was a distinct need for brands to collect targeted consumer feedback more efficiently,” Acar said. “There was this inherent gap in the industry. Hence, Influenster was born with the ideology of activating consumers in their social media networks while feeding marketers with the real-time data and feedback. “

has a trendsetter community of more than two million influential and socially savvy members.

2. Gerard Adams, Co-Founder, Elite Daily

A self-made millionaire at 24, Gerard Adams sold the company he co-founded –  — for $50 million last year. Now, Adams is becoming a mentor for millennials and following in the footsteps of inspirational hustlepreneurs like Tony Robbins and Gary Vaynerchuk. Adams will be a household name soon.

He has also created a non-profit incubator in Newark, called , aimed to inspire and create future entrepreneurs and leaders in the area.

3. Johnny Brann Jr., Owner, Kitchen 67

Earlier this year, Brann’s restaurant was deemed the “” by The Huffington Post. But what this third-generation restauranteur and philanthropist is really known for is his introduction of high-tech into the restaurant industry.

Restaurants all over the world, as well as companies like Apple and Verizon, consult with Brann who was the first to introduce touch-screen ordering systems at every booth years ago and has now been the first to introduce wireless inductive charging at every table. Set your phone, laptop or tablet on the table and it starts charging, no matter the device.

“At some point the rest of the industry catches up,” Brann said. “But we welcome collaboration. When you come to a restaurant, you come for an experience. It’s the little things, like having a fully-charged phone, that can leave a big impression.”

4. Ian Crosby, CEO, Bench

Accounting isn’t sexy. As a result, accounting is this massive annoyance in every entrepreneur’s life. This was something Ian Crosby, knew he could automate, making bookkeeping and its systems accessible for the general public.

is a tech company, which automates accounting tasks. Essentially an online accounting service, Bench pairs small business owners with a dedicated bookkeeping team and simple and elegant software.

“The opportunity was there for the taking. So we took it,” Crosby said. “We built a company that transforms the experience of accounting from something that entrepreneurs dread into something they find genuinely useful; something that is beautiful.”

Bench has raised $33 million to date – with it’s most recent round being led by Bain Capital. It services thousands of business owners across the country, and currently employs 250 people out of its North American headquarters.

5. Mike Festa, Head of Research and Development, Wayfair

Mike Festa, the head of Wayfair’s Research and Development Lab, Wayfair Next, has been spearheading Wayfair’s efforts to build augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies in an effort to dramatically enhance the online shopping experience for customers.

Festa initially proposed the idea of developing AR and VR applications for more than three years ago, before he even started working at Wayfair. He pitched his idea to the company founders at a company hackathon and was finally encouraged to build his very own R&D team last winter. The team now has more than 10 people and has already launched an AR application, WayfairView, which helps people fully visualize a product in their home or office.

6. Adam Ghetti, CEO, Ionic Security

Ghetti is continuing to shake up the security industry at 29 years old. currently works with three branches of the U.S. Department of Defense, large corporations and financial services firms in the Fortune 100 to protect and secure their data.

Backed by Google Ventures, Goldman Sachs and Kleiner Perkins, Ionic recently collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to make its enterprise data management and protection offering available via the AWS marketplace. Most recently, Amazon, Goldman Sachs and others announced an investment of $45 million in the company.

Related: 

In 2010, Ghetti built a personal tool he called Social Fortress, a browser add-on that would act as a layer over Facebook and allow him full control over his personal data beyond the social network’s own privacy settings, which eventually became the basis for Ionic Security.

“Quite frankly, those aren’t really privacy controls. They’re ‘make you feel good controls’ because you already gave them the data,” Ghetti said. “They can do whatever they want with it. We’re going to build the next big independent security company. There hasn’t been one since Symantec and McAfee.”

7. Christine Hunsicker, CEO, Gwynnie Bee

Hunsicker solved a plus-sized problem. In 2011, Hunsicker set out to tackle the limited access the plus size population have to trendy fashion by launching – an online clothing rental subscription service exclusively for women between the sizes of 10 and 32.

Hunsicker has disrupted the $108 billion apparel industry with this new model that transforms the retail clothing experience from transactional shopping to relationship-based rental membership. After five years, $100 million in funding and more than three million boxes delivered to members, Gwynnie Bee has grown from four people in an East Village apartment to more than 350 employees operating out of four offices across the U.S. and India.

“If you look at it simply from a financial perspective or from a business perspective, 75 percent of the adult female population is size 10 or above. Sixty-seven percent is size 14 or above, and traditional retail has ignored and systematically underserved these women,” Hunsicker said. “Apparel is a basic necessity, and it really hasn’t been disrupted by technology in any meaningful way. We want it to be a place where managing a rotating wardrobe is actually the way the majority of people interact with clothing.”

8. Sania Jamil, CEO, Bumble Brain Box

Like Hunsicker, Jamil has revolutionized an industry with a subscription service. Created less than a year ago, provides monthly activities for children specifically designed to improve their brain development.

“Ages zero to five are the most important for a child’s development,” Jamil said. “But it’s hard for parents to carve out time, or even know where to start. So we took the time to take the thought out of it and give parents something to do with their children that takes mere minutes and makes a huge impact.”

Beyond brain development, parents are always looking for something to keep their kids occupied and happy. Jamil tapped into a large market no one thought existed before and has sold out of boxes every month she has been in business.

9. Josh Kent, CEO, SunFrog

A self-taught programmer, Kent built the nation’s largest t-shirt company in less than three years by completely changing the business model. He now employs nearly 400 people.

The Etsy of clothing has empowered thousands to create thriving small businesses globally. According to Alexa, is now one of the 500 most trafficked sites in the world. The site is more popular than Mashable, Reuters and Nordstrom.

“Commerce is changing. If you have a large following on social media and the right idea, you can drive a lot of commerce,” Kent said. “We only succeed if our users succeed. So we create the tools – and the shirts — to make that happen.”

10. Kyle Kamrooz, COO, Cloudvirga

Kyle Kamrooz is disrupting the mortgage industry by automating workflow, which has become wildly inefficient due to increased regulation stemming from the subprime housing crisis in 2007-8. His company, , just closed a $7.5 million Series A funding round, and its Intelligent Mortgage Platform (iMP) has already processed nearly $5 billion in loans since launching in August 2015.

“I’ve been working in the mortgage industry since I was 19 years old, so I’m acutely aware of the workflow crisis plaguing the industry. It typically takes months to complete a home loan transaction, and the process is fraught with error, massive redundancies, manual processes and lack of transparency and communication, resulting in high costs for lenders and consumers,” Kamrooz said.

That’s what has made Cloudvirga unique. They have both a solid foundation in lending and tech experience.

“Software developers that might be able to build brilliant platforms in other industries can’t come in and disrupt the mortgage industry because they don’t understand all of the moving parts involved in closing a home loan,” Kamrooz said.  

11. Annalea Krebs, Founder, Social Nature

At 24, Annalea Krebs started ethicalDeal – a green Groupon-like site. In her first year of running the company, she pulled in more than $1 million in sales. Krebs sold ethicalDeal in 2015.

In 2014, Krebs started – an all natural, green influencer marketing company. Social Nature has an online community of more than 100,000 users and investment from Shopify Founder Scott Lake.

Users go to the site to check out which new products will be available to try out. Social Nature pairs the products with certain users – this is often demographic or geographically based — and the selected users get to try out the products for free and then write a review.

“I saw a huge opportunity to utilize word of mouth marketing in a time when ad blockers are the norm, and the majority of consumers just don’t watch or trust traditional advertising. The mission is to bring better, natural products to the masses,” she said.

12. Solomon Liou, CEO, KidPass

Solomon Liou, a tech industry veteran and first time dad, decided to start his own company last year to tackle an entirely new challenge that he and 22 million other millennial parents face – how to raise a well-rounded child with a busy schedule and tight budget.

“I think as a millennial, parenting is one of the biggest challenges for our generation, yet very few companies are doing much to address it. Almost everything we do today – whether it’s booking a table, a taxi, or a doctor — is one click away. However, trying to find kids’ activities today still requires word of mouth and the yellow pages – almost nothing is digitally accessible,” Liou said.

Liou wanted to modernize parenting, and make it easier through , which helps parents find events, camps, classes, museums and more.

“We’ve brought hundreds of local businesses online through our platform and have seen our customer base grow 10 times in just six months – all organically. Doing fun stuff with your kids shouldn’t be a chore, and I think with KidPass we’ve solved that.”

KidPass just closed $1 million in seed funding from notable investors, including ClassPass backers. Solomon has his eyes set on continued growth and market expansion.

13. Alison Magyar, President, Hubb

After gaining 15 years of experience in event management, Allison Magyar created the events platform company to help conference and meeting planners manage and market content for their events. Hubb was built to address the problems she experienced handling an overwhelming amount of email, Excel spreadsheets and schedules – challenges common across the industry.

Since getting its start in 2012, Hubb has more than 21 major customers, including Microsoft, Atlassian, Tableau and Intel. Hubb is built for the API economy, and the company has partnered with more than 17 best in breed integrated partners, including Freeman AV, Meetings Online and Gather Digital. Under Allison’s leadership, Hubb is poised to garner an increasing amount of the $4 billion global events software market.

“After one particularly painful all-nighter spent making manual changes to printed event programs at the last minute, I decided that there had to be a better way to streamline and manage my event content,” Magyar said. “When I couldn’t find a system that worked, I built one myself.”

14. James Matthews, CEO, Steadyfare

In 2016, it seems every company wants a piece of the rideshare market. With Uber valued more than $60 billion, even two percent of the market could turn a startup in to a $1 billion enterprise. And that’s exactly what Matthews is looking to do.

“Ridesharing is new, but there were already obvious pain points with Uber. So I created an alternative that never surges and puts more money in the drivers’ pockets,” said Matthews. “This is a service industry. Uber and Lyft don’t own the cars. The drivers aren’t employees. So a current driver can turn on during a surge, and we are immediately in business.”

The sharing economy makes it easier to compete with established competition if you have the right idea. Because you don’t have to build infrastructure, you just have to convince people there is an alternative. Steadyfare raised nearly $1 million in its first month and continues to grow and generate buzz while in beta.

15. Ross McCray, CEO, VideoAmp

Ross McCray is home-schooled, self-taught coder, who is daring to forever change how consumers are watching and consuming media across different devices.

McCray attended UCLA to study mathematics and astrophysics. He eventually dropped out and began a mobile app development agency in 2011. He was one of the first YouTube seeding experts at Channel Factory, a business he helped bootstrap out of an apartment in downtown LA.

Today, Ross is at the helm of VideoAmp, a technology-driven company that gives advertisers the ability to plan, buy and measure digital video ads across devices and screens – TV, desktop, mobile and tablet.

16. Joseph Nejman, Founder, ShareRails

Joseph Nejman is a serial tech entrepreneur. His successful businesses include Brandcasting Unlimited, responsible for the technology and digital media strategy behind Britney Spears’ comeback tour.

His current venture, , built a suite of omni-channel ecommerce solutions bridging the gap between physical and digital retailers to offer an online shopping experience with real-time social proof.

Nejman previously worked at Google in a variety of business development roles with a focus on local markets, mobile and entertainment.

17. Polina Raygorodskaya, CEO, Wanderu

Polina Raygorodskaya’s visionary leadership pioneered metasearch aggregation in the field, creating the leading bus and train travel search platform in North America.

Prior to the launch of , key figures in the American bus industry claimed that a ticket aggregation site would be impossible in the bus industry because there was no universal technology available to unite all different carriers. Polina, however, successfully led her team of developers to build said technology, and as a result, she ended up bringing the intercity bus business into the digital world.

“Our focus from day one has always been to grow the bus and train industry by making it easier for people to find their perfect trip from door-to-door,” Raygorodskaya said. “The technology we built is unique to the industry in that it doesn’t just aggregate already available resources but allows people to type in any address, city or point of interest and find the closest station to them; get transit directions to and from the station; and combine multiple providers to get them exactly where they want to go.”

18. Robert Reffkin, CEO, Compass

Real estate is one of the last industries to adopt technology as a vital part of business. Three years ago, Robert Reffkin and Ori Allon launched , a real estate model combining the country’s best agents and never-before-seen tech resources to make the process of buying and selling a home more seamless and transparent.

Under his leadership, Compass launched the first agent-facing mobile app by a residential brokerage, which allowed agents to perform property valuations; produce marketing materials; and contact clients all in one place. What once took hours now only takes minutes – and agents are able to concentrate more on their clients.

Robert’s formula is working. Since launching just three years ago, Compass now has 22 offices in luxury markets across the country with more than 1,000 agents and employees transacting some of the most high-end properties in the world. Their recent $110 million East Hampton sale is the fifth largest in the U.S.

Prior to Compass, Robert worked at Goldman Sachs as Chief of Staff to the President and COO, following five years working in the firm’s private equity arm. In 2005, he was appointed as a White House Fellow to serve as special assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury. Outside of work, he recently completed 50 marathons, one in each state, to raise $1 million for nonprofits.

19. Cecile Schmollgruber, CEO, Stereolabs

Nearly all the biggest tech innovations rely on machines looking at the world – self-driving cars, robots and AR — just to name a few. Problem is, these sensors either use infrared light, which only works at short range and never outdoors, or LiDAR, which is extremely expensive, bulky and complicated.

, co-founded by CEO Cecile Schmollgruber, takes a different approach – emulating human vision. Using two regular cameras – like the ones in your phone — they made software that calculates depth the same way your own brain does, by comparing the difference between the images.

As a result, they can make machines see like us: indoors or outdoors, up to 20 meters away, and at 30fps at 1080p. Even didn’t compare to the resolution, range or frame rate and can’t work outside. Now their ZED sensor is being used in thousands of projects ranging from robots, drones, cars, and most recently, VR and AR.

“To do half the things our machines have promised us, they need to see the world. But compared to human vision, they can’t,” Schmollgruber said. “Our software cracked the code that lets them see just like us, with components that are cheap and widely available. Mother Nature was the first to get vision right. We are the second.”

Cecile has thrived in a male-dominated industry and was recently as a rising entrepreneur alongside Cate Blanchett.

20. Greg Sewitz and Gabi Lewis, Co-Founders, Exo

Two Brown University students ordered 2,000 crickets to their house; Googled how to make cricket flour and the rest is history.

is pioneering the consumption of insects via their first product – protein bars made with cricket flour.

Since starting the company straight out of university they have raised more than $6 million from notable investors, like Tim Ferriss, Collaborative Fund and Nas. They also brought on a three-Michelin-star chef as head of product development, and it is the first entomophagy company to raise a Series A. And this is all in a stagnant food industry that’s ripe for disruption.

As it says on their site, “Insect protein has an awesome role to play in the future of our food. Now we just have to convince everyone else.”

21. Aaron Sherman, CEO, SevenFifty

It’s 2012.  Co-Founders Aaron Sherman and Gianfranco Verga are working as sommeliers, bartenders and industry consultants, so they know firsthand how time-consuming, frustrating and antiquated the buying process is. The two – who met at NYU while studying abroad in Florence — are working at Louis 649 in the East Village when they be-friend co-founder Neal Parikh, a Wall Street quantitative analyst, cocktail connoisseur and regular at the bar. The young trio brew up the concept for SevenFifty and begin working out of The Tippler, a bar in the basement of Chelsea Market.

It’s 2016. SevenFifty has become the digital backbone of the wine and spirits industry and just announced their Series A round of $8.5 million. Having built an online platform that enables users to search and actually filter for products, streamline communications and improve buyer-distributer relationships, it’s no wonder more than 700 distributors across 30 states are present on the SevenFifty platform – about 60 percent of the market — representing roughly $20 billion in combined annual sales. Over 30,000 buyers, including Del Posto and Union Square Hospitality Group, are sourcing wines and spirits through SevenFifty.

22. Jamie Siminoff, Founder & Chief Inventor, Ring

Since founding four years ago, Jamie has raised nearly $100 million from investors, like Richard Branson and grown the company from a team of three people working in his garage to more than 400 employees working in offices in Santa Monica and Scottsdale.

Siminoff created the world’s first video doorbell – a product that hadn’t been innovated in over 100 years. Today, his Ring Video Doorbell remains the only dual-powered product of its kind. While there are many smart home products available today, Siminoff knows the added value his product provides – the ability to proactively protect your home — is both what matters to consumers and what sets the company apart.

“I founded Ring with the goal of reducing crime in neighborhoods, and that remains the company mission today. By taking a different approach to the doorbell, we were able to build the first pre-crime prevention system with the Ring Video Doorbell. This was proven in a long-term study with the LAPD where we were able to reduce crime in a community by 55 percent using the Ring Video Doorbell. At Ring, we’re doing more than just creating a great product, we’re making communities around the world safer, and that’s why we work tirelessly every day,” Siminoff said.

23. Rodney Williams, CEO, LISNR

Featured in CNBC’s Disruptor 50 in 2015 and 2016, as well as named Black Enterprise 2016 Tech Entrepreneur of the Year, it is safe to say that Rodney Williams is hitting his stride and picking up the pace.

, is a new protocol to connect devices, using inaudible tones to send data. Using existing speaker infrastructures, live events, sports teams, retailers and broadcasters can send second screen experiences to audiences everywhere.

Clients of LISNR include the Indianapolis Colts, GRAMMY awards and Budweiser’s Made in America Festival. For their work with Budweiser, LISNR was awarded a 2015 Gold Lion for Innovation in Mobile at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

This year LISNR debuted a two-way protocol for devices making them a contender to be a standard mode of communication in the Internet of Things, authentication and contactless payments.

“The world is becoming a place where people need to be connected to the world around them and vice versa. Our long-term goal is to harness the original medium for a message to be delivered – through sound — and bring it to the digital age,” Williams said. “LISNR is creating the Internet of Sound to help bring data and connectivity to more places than ever before. We’re data over audio.”

24. Victor Wong, CEO, Thunder

While an undergrad at Yale, Victor Wong founded . It was dubbed by the New York Times as “an Ad Engine to put Mad Men out of Business.”

The creative process previously required days of work. By incorporating programmatic into the creative ad process, Victor dramatically disrupted the status quo defined by Adobe, which was designed for individual high-end designers who had to work on one ad at a time. With the technology he pioneered at Thunder, creative isn’t just better; it’s a more efficient, accessible process.

25. Andrew Yakub, CEO, Rayton Solar

Andrew Yakub is a two-time CleanTech Entrepreneur and former NASA and UCLA lab engineer. Using a patented process, his company Rayton Solar has developed the technology to produce solar panels that are 60 percent less expensive and 25 percent more efficient than the industry standard.

Related: 

Rayton Solar launched an equity crowdfunding campaign last month that hit $1 million in the first week.

“We know solar is the most sustainable energy source for the future of humanity. Solar needs a slight push to get it over that threshold where it can compete with fossil fuels. Rayton Solar’s technology is that push. Thanks to our Reg A+ campaign, now anyone can join us in bringing this vision to life,” Yakub said.

Bill Nye also provides a great push in their .

Public relations is often regarded as one of the most fast-paced and stressful professions one can enter. But for some, the chaos and 24/7 news cycle isn’t daunting, and a few, like fellow Entrepreneur contributor , thrive on it. 

At 24 years old, Lorenzen is the CEO of , a fast-growing New York-based PR firm that he founded as a teenager still in high school. Lorenzen can often be seen on social media representing well-known clients in tech, media and finance, such as sales legend Grant Cardone, and attending high-profile events like the UN General Assembly. 

Related: 

But it wasn’t always this way. Lorenzen says it took “years of hustle and sheer persistence” to forge the relationships and deals that have contributed to the growth of his company. He has an upcoming book , which is scheduled to be released on October 25 and aims to encourage young entrepreneurs to follow the same path. I recently sat down with him and asked for his five best tips for aspiring millennial entrepreneurs.

1. Look for base hits, not home runs.

Every entrepreneur, especially in technology, is looking to hit a home run. Everybody wants to close the seven-figure client immediately or the nine-figure funding round, and the reality is that that rarely happens. Instead, Lorenzen says, focus on closing several smaller clients first and then incrementally work your way up. 

This will also help build your reputation and prepare you for when an opportunity for a home run does come along. No significant degree of success happens overnight. Everything of scale gets built piece by piece. Focus on consistently closing deals, and soon enough, success will compound.

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2. Sales are everything — never stop selling.

Sales are the lifeblood of every business. Period, Lorenzen says. There are so many more startups focused on closing funding than on closing sales, but without sales, you do not have a business. One of the primary jobs of a founder should be to sell and to keep selling nonstop. 

If you don’t prioritize your time and focus on tasks — like bringing in more revenue — that truly move the needle in your company, the growth you’ve already achieved will quickly start to stagnate. So, until you can afford to hire an army of sales professionals, constantly be focused on selling.

3. Everything you do should directly impact your main goal.

There is so much to do every day when you are the founder of a company that it is easy to get lost in the weeds and lose sight of the bigger picture. As your to-do list fills up and you get bogged down with everything that needs to be done, you may not recognize that you are spending hours doing tasks that seem necessary but aren’t actually growing the company. 

This is what causes many startups to tread water for a long time, but never actually go anywhere, Lorenzen says. Instead, he advises, every morning, look at your to-do list and identify the items that are actually contributing to your primary goal and resulting in forward progress for the company. Do those items first and don’t stop until they are complete.

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4. Be public — put yourself out there.

It has never been more important than it is today to build a very public brand and be known in your market. In this age of social media and content marketing, people absolutely have to know who you are, and you need to be seen as an expert in your industry. 

Take the time (or have a team member take the time) to write expert articles for publications in your industry, share insights and advice on your social media and offer to speak at industry conferences. It’s no longer enough to buy advertising — you need organic publicity and exposure that consistently keeps you in the public eye within your market.

5. Travel the world as much as possible.

Put in the time and investment to travel regularly and see the world through the lens of different cultures and regions. Not only will this give you an education in itself, but it can reveal major business opportunities overlooked by other founders who don’t leave the office. 

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Travel is a valuable investment for networking, learning about new markets and understanding better how the world works and what role your company can play in it. Travel as far and as often as you can.