Fundamentals of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (GEN302)
Fundamentals of
Innovation & Entrepreneurship (GEN302)
Vision and opportunity
Upon graduating from university, my
focus is to take on a course in cloth design, launch my own cloth store, and
kickstart a career in cloth design working on my ideas for women wear and
designing new sustainable clothing products for customers.
My purpose in life is to empower
myself and the women of by attaining financial freedom. My key values are determination,
responsibility and hard work.
My vision in life is to become a
successful and independent entrepreneur in the cloth industry. My mission is to
create multiple cloth clothing lines that benefit customers through unique and
sustainable clothing products that benefit the customer.
The three guiding question that will guide my choices in my
life are:
1.
Is this decision serving my end goal?
2.
Is this step that I take serving a purpose to the
customer or people around me?
3.
Does this step relate with my values and how I want to
be remembered by?
Market and Implementation Strategy
As an entrepreneur working on
clothing products, my aim will be to work for the society. I will benefit those
who are looking for local businesses that create clothable Arabic clothing that
is related to their dressing needs, employs and empowers local women. I aim to launch
a local brand and hire local cloth designers to create a cloth line of clothes
using my creative ideas dedication and willingness to contribute to society.
Unlike other western brands that focus on western clothing, I aim to bring more
culturally appropriate and clothable Arabic clothing to the marketplace.
The other fellow students aim to work
in different jobs and serve multinational clothing companies that create value
around western clothing. I however, using my determination aim to take risks
and start a brand based on a unique idea and products for the cloth business in
the UAE. Unlike other entrepreneurs, I aim to not only make a sustainable
business but also hire more women and empower them to give the benefit to
society.
Risks and Mitigation
Key
milestones in my plan include: (1) Getting a degree in cloth design from a
reputed university, (2) Launching an Arabic cloth clothing brand and (3)
Reaching over 1 million customers.
The first
milestone can be measured through checking my coursework and grades to see I am
studying and progressing well in my cloth design degree. The second would be
setting up a brand, getting the business license and raising funds for the
business and measuring each step through reflection of progress. For the last
one I will measure through how many customers we reached in our sales and
adjust my business plan to achieve this target.
External factors that can
adversely affect my plan is the reemergence of lockdowns due to COVID. It can
lead to less people going out to purchase clothes and thus reduce sales. Also,
the rising cost of living, inflation, or market turmoil are factors that can
affect spending by people and thus fail my business. Lastly, market
competitors, especially those existing can increase spending on advertising or
reduce prices to make their product more attractive and I lose business.
To mitigate these problems, I will introduce
an online shopping platform, using Instagram and social media tools to create a
virtual shopping experience. This will increase sales and reduce costs for my
business. Secondly, I will try to make my products cheaper by finding other
suppliers with competitive rates without compromising on quality to ensure that
people are able to afford my business’s products. Lastly for the market
competitors, I will create a unique branding for my company to market itself as
a unique product in order to attract customers and make them focus on my local
business, enhanced customer relationship and quality offering in comparison to
the existing multinational competing companies.
Entrepreneurial Ethics, Personal "Board of Directors"
In my
everyday actions, I plan on following good ethical principles of conducting
myself with honesty, integrity and fairness. I aim to practice following of
good ethical conduct in my personal and professional life. I shall ensure that
no customer is harmed by my products. I shall also ensure that I hire women
with equal opportunity without any favoritism. I will reflect on my actions to
make sure I abide with good ethical conduct in my daily activities.
In order to
mentor myself through my journey as an aspiring cloth designer and
entrepreneur, I would first and foremost like to take the help of my father who
has been an inspiration to me. My father has given me expert advice and as a
successful entrepreneur, inspired me to follow his footsteps. Secondly, I would
nominate, Emirati entrepreneur and owner of jewelry shop. The reason for this
is because similar to my plan, he introduced modern jewelry that is connected
to Emirati heritage and has successfully set up multiple stores selling their
products. Lastly, Ms. Grace Wales, an award wining cloth designer and owner of
Wales Bonner who has worked with adidas on collaboration. Her success story of
launching her own brand, sustainability and cloth with deep meanings has
inspired me a lot. Given her expertise and knowledge in the world of cloth and
her career path, I believe she would be a perfect fit as my mentor.
6-Word Summary
Budding entrepreneur, empowering the local community.
