We take immense pleasure in bringing the businesswomen who have successful broken free from these shackles, taken control of their destiny and pursued their passion and dreams, into the limelight of media. We believe this will inspire and encourage other women to step up and work towards living their dream and passion. We hope the stories, struggles and journey of successful businesswomen in Sri Lanka will help you understand what it takes and learn how to deal with different situation to become a successful entrepreneur.

We have identified that many women have a dream of becoming a successful businesswoman. However, most are confused on what to do, or how to start their business. One reason is that they have many ideas but are not sure if they can execute or which one to focus on. One of the key requirements of being an entrepreneur is to focus on one and remain consistent. We have a simple formula that might help you redirect your focus!

Before making any decision or putting in effort, it is vital to identify what is your dream and passion. There could be multiple avenues that may intrigue you. No idea is a bad idea, so jot all of them down. Once you have jotted down all the avenues you want to venture into. Now, its time to narrow it down. How? Let us have a look at this simple formula that works perfectly with any industry or idea.

 

Step 01

Take a notepad and write down ONE idea out of your list as the topic – i.e. sell baked products and deserts on Instagram

 

Step 02

Create a detailed plan on how you plan to execute this idea. The essential things to include in your plan are:

• -The marketing mix (product, place, price, and promotion)
• -Value preposition (What makes you unique? Why should customers buy from you? Etc.)
• -Supply chain (from inbound to outbound operations – Use Porter’s Supply Chain Model to assist you)
• -Identify your target audience (detailed target audience – income level, age, etc.)
• -Operations (list down the things you need to do to ensure that your operations run smoothly – i.e. getting daily suppliers, baking, etc.)
• -Resources required – financial requirement, human resources, technical equipment, and machinery, etc.
• -Potential revenue – use your cost and marketing mix to derive at a price and set a budgeted revenue
• -Evaluate feasibility – how potential and successful will this idea be, the risk, etc.

 

Step 03

List down the skills, knowledge, and expertise you have in the relevant field to realize your concept – i.e. cooking skills, hospitality degree (make sure to emphasize on what dishes you can cook, if you can bake, make dessert, etc. – looking into the details will help you create a solid, fool-proof plan for your idea.

 

Step 04

Think about your concept again. Now, look at the skills, knowledge, and expertise you bring to the table and think about what is missing and jot them down – i.e. I cannot make deserts. Now you know what you can and cannot do. This leaves you with the task of figuring out a way to bridge the gap – i.e. hire someone who can make deserts.

 

Step 05

Once you have completed till Step 04, choose a new page and repeat from Step 01. Once you have done the same for all your ideas, you now have a detailed strategy to execute each concept. Rank your ideas based on the feasibility, income, and requirements to initialize the concept.

 

Step 06

Choose the idea that you Ranked #1 because considered all the details, you feel it has the most potential. Stick to it. Commit yourself fully, believe in yourself and conquer your dream of becoming a successful businesswoman. We believe you can do it! It is time you do too!