Business: From Idea to Realisation

As we go through our day to day lives there are a lot of things which we come across which are inconveniences, time wasters or pain points. What we however do not realise is that in these problems opportunities abound. Take a moment to think about all those things which bother you...it is highly possible that you are not the only one bothered by that same issue.

Identify

Business opportunities come about from being able to not only identify a problem, one needs to develop a solution for that issue and the solution needs to be implementable (practical and pragmatic). The solutions to problems do not always need to be complex or complicated- they just need to be an answer to the pain point which people have.

Develop

There is a famous quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” The issue (problem) can be likened to the tree, the axe is the solution to the problem and cutting down the tree is the implementation of the solution.

I was one of the Business Coaches for a Women in Engineering (WomEng) Fellowship week for 60 final year and postgraduate women engineering students from different South African universities held in Cape Town. One of the main activities the participants were required to do was to come up with a concept/product/service to be implemented in line with driving the growth of the Green Economy.

Having interacted with a number of the groups, some actually jumped straight into the technicalities of how this or the other devise/concept would be designed and implemented- without actually being clear about what the issue being addressed was. They told me what the axe was but without being fully aware of what the tree was, they potentially were developing a tool not suitable for the tree.

Implement

The process of sharpening the axe points to you gathering the necessary skills, expertise and resources needed in order for the solution to be viable and scalable. In this day and age where we have the internet and my wife’s favourite resource YouTube, one can learn about literally anything. You also do not need to rely solely on your own expertise, skills etc you can leverage those of other people.

IDI (Identify Develop Implement) Group Holdings was born out of having identified that many people have ideas which never see the light of day because they do not know how to develop them. Others have ideas which are developed but they do not know how to implement. No matter where you find yourself on this spectrum- IDI can assist you turn your idea into reality.

For consultations, request for business coaching or if you want IDI Group Holdings to come for a speaking engagement contact me on tatenda.zingoni@idigroupholdings.co.za  or call 076 424 3342.