Business plans are worth the work

A business plan is not only important for starting your business, it's also an indispensable tool for helping you manage and grow your business.

Your business plan is your road map for operating your company, and it's essential if you intend to seek funding from outside sources.

A plan spells out specific details related to your business concept, marketplace, and financials. The length of your business plan can depend on the complexity and scale of your business. Even short one-page business plans have purpose and can affect success.





If you are intimidated by the thought of writing, know that the benefits are well worth the effort. The value of a business plan isn't so much in the document you create, but the discovery process you embark upon to create it. As you work on the plan, you answer key questions about your business that you may not otherwise have considered. That can help you recognize risks and opportunities - and better position you for success.


There are several ways to make writing your business plan less intimidating. First, don't try to do it all at once. If you tackle it in smaller bits and pieces, the project will be more manageable.
Schedule time to work on it. You'll feel less stressed if you reserve time for it on your calendar.




Get feedback along the way. As you work on the different sections of your business plan, ask a SCORE mentor or other unbiased business professional to review it and provide suggestions for improvement and clarity. SCORE mentors are experienced and provide free and confidential mentoring.


Even though writing a business plan will require effort, it doesn't have to be a harrowing experience. With a business plan, you'll be better able to move your business in the right direction from the start and navigate changes more easily in the future.

Crowdfunding - An Alterantive Source of Capital

Over the last several years crowdfunding has become an increasingly popular option for both entrepreneurs and investors trying to raise capital—and public awareness—when launching or growing a small business.

Rather than approaching a single lender to make a significant loan to your business (which you will most likely need to personally guaranty), crowdfunding platforms give you a way to leverage your network of friends, family, social media connections, and the public at large to obtain significant capital in small increments.

It’s a collective online effort that can expand your professional network and introduce your business to potential customers. 

Crowdfunding for businesses presently comes in three primary forms:

·         Rewards-based crowdfunding (such as via Kickstarter and Indiegogo)

·         Equity crowdfunding (such as via CircleUp)

·         Peer-to-peer lending (such as via Lending Club)

With rewards-based crowdfunding, you are only promising your backers some sort of token incentive and the risks are more limited. Whereas with equity crowdfunding, you are giving up equity and the risks can be substantial. With peer-to-peer lending, the business is taking on debt that it is legally obligated to pay back.

Equity crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending are governed by a complicated web of federal and state securities laws, while rewards-based crowdfunding is generally exempt from those laws.

According to SCORE mentor and Houston entrepreneur Nick Tarte, rewards-based crowdfunding has rapidly become an accepted way to raise capital for small businesses.

“Traditionally, companies raised capital by issuing debt or equity,” says Tarte. “Rewards-based crowdfunding introduced a completely new alternative. The model has shown that the public is willing to contribute capital to worthy projects without any expectation of future profit, which is quite revolutionary.” But be sure to pick the right platform for your rewards-based campaign. Remember, crowdfunding is a form of marketing, and you want to be where your customers are.

Tarte advises to make sure you follow through on your promises. Watchdog groups and state and federal consumer protection bureaus have begun to shift their attention to deceptive crowdfunding campaigns.

Don’t forget about taxes. Proceeds raised from rewards-based crowdfunding campaigns are usually treated as taxable income to the business. For this reason, Tarte advises businesses to consult with their tax advisors before embarking on a crowdfunding campaign.

Nick Tarte will present the details of this increasingly popular but often misunderstood funding option at the SCORE workshop “Crowdfunding – An Alternative Source of Funding” on December 5. To learn more and register for this workshop, go to www.houston.score.org/localworkshops.

____________________________________________________________________________ SCORE is a nonprofit association whose volunteers help start and improve small businesses. Send questions or volunteer inquiries to scorehouston@gmail.com.

How to Leave Work at Work

Q: I’m burning out and it’s effecting my business. Any suggestions?

A: Running a small business can be the most exciting, challenging, and perhaps even exhilarating experience of one’s life. Amid all the headaches, deadlines, and responsibilities that only you can fulfill, there’s something satisfying about knowing that, at the end of the workday, you did a lot of good work.

That is assuming, of course, your workday ends at all.

Small business owners can and should take their enterprises seriously, leaving no detail to chance or simply assuming something will get done, especially when there’s a deadline involved.

But one can also be over-committed to a small business, to the point of obsession that can damage one’s physical and even mental health, family relationships, and the business itself. It’s one thing to burn the midnight oil when necessary. But done too often, the only thing that gets burned is you.

What an entrepreneur needs is balance—the ability to give 100 percent to the business, and then leave it to give 100 percent to his or her personal life. That’s not always easy to do, especially when you’re starting out or tackling a huge workload. But it can be done. And more importantly, it has to be done.

Here are some tips for leaving work at work—literally and figuratively:

Plan your workday. Make a weekly to-do list of administrative, routine, and project-specific tasks, and prioritize them accordingly on a day-to-day basis. Make sure there’s some flexibility for unexpected calls or emails. When you’ve done everything on your list, consider yourself done for the day.

Plan your away time. Set aside several evenings, weekends or brief “mini-vacations” for family or personal activities, and give them your full attention. Make this time sacred; stow the cellphone, and keep away from email. It’s OK to be responsive to customers, but not at their beck and call.

Share the load. Delegate responsibilities to employees, even when the workload is relatively normal. If you’re a one-person shop, identify qualified colleagues for outsourcing extra work. You may miss out on some revenue, but you won’t be compromising the quality you’ve promised your customers.

Cultivate an outside interest. Do something that’s fun—a hobby, sport, community activity, a favorite book or TV series. You’ll feel and think better and you’ll be refreshed to return to the work side of your life.

Firing worker requires honesty, documentation

October 4, 2015

Q: What do I need to know about how to go about firing an employee?

A: Among the many enjoyable aspects of running a small business, there are some less desirable responsibilities. Most owners probably would agree that having to fire an employee ranks among the most difficult.

Many things may justify termination - poor performance, abusive or disruptive behavior, excessive tardiness and absences, among others. While a warning, coaching or change in responsibilities may solve the problem, an owner can't always afford to take a wait-and-see approach. Employees who don't measure up to expectations can be a drain on the business's growth, reputation and working environment.

In most states including Texas, an employee may be fired at any time for any reason, or no reason at all, but there are limits. For example, federal law prohibits employees from being terminated for reasons of age, race, gender, religion or disability. It's also illegal to fire employees for complaining about illegal activities, health and safety violations, or discrimination and harassment in the workplace. Employees also have the right to take family or medical leave, military leave and time off to vote or serve jury duty.

Should you have legal grounds to fire an employee, be sure to document all the reasons and when they occurred, plus any disciplinary measures taken and the results (or lack of them). Along with justifying your action to the employee, this will help protect you against any subsequent claims that the firing was discriminatory.
 
Now for the tough part - actually firing the employee. You should do this in a private setting, with another person present to witness how the conversation unfolds. If you're concerned that the employee may become violent, it may be helpful to have security personnel close by.
 
Be open and honest with the employee, explaining from the outset the reason for the meeting, including measures taken to correct problems and their outcome. Give the employee some time to collect any personal belongings, but also make sure he or she is promptly escorted off the premises.
 
You are required by law to notify the employee about eligibility for unemployment insurance, and any benefits such as a continuation of health insurance, if applicable. This can be done at the meeting or in a follow-up letter.
 
The employee also may be entitled to receive accrued vacation pay or sick leave in the final paycheck, as well as commissions, bonuses and unfulfilled company expenses.

Overcoming shame and fear to succeed

Today's article will seek to identify the mental blocks to success faced by business people.As you will notice a lot is related to fear,shame and self esteem.These issues all arise from early childhood and come to haunt business people years later.The great news is there are solutions once you identify which block or blocks relate to you.

Block; Mental Blocks To Success; Underlying Unmet needs Under The Block= The valid need under Unmet need
1 “I believe it’s not possible” “That’s a pipe-dream I won’t bother” = Self-sabotage,self-esteem from past shame
2 “I think it’s too hard” “I don’t want to pay the price for the work” = Inadequacy due to self- esteem issues
3 “I can’t figure out how to do it" “I have to know how first” = Self-acceptance issues
4 “I am not receptive to help” “I don’t trust advice” = Fear issues from childhood
5 “I am not ready for the change" “I’d have to learn new things” = Loss of control arising from fear
6 “I don’t feel I deserve a better life”“This is all I deserve” = Self-sabotage,self-esteem from past shame
7“I feel guilty to live better than my parents” “Why should they be left behind?” = Co-dependency
8 “I am scared to see truth about myself” “What more will be revealed?” =Self-acceptance issues from past shame
9 “I believe that I don’t have enough time” “It’s beyond me” =Fear issues related to security needs
10 “I believe that I don’t have enough money” “It’s beyond me” =Fear issues related to security needs


Inspired By
Brene Brown work on shame and vulnerability on www.TED.com
Bess McCarty on Business Coaching for Network Marketers

Free Web Builders

There are plenty of resources that allow you to create you own website, blog, wiki, or social community without having to know any programming language.  These free website creation sites allow you to easily create a site, customize the design, add content, and have your own domain name.

If you don’t know where to start – start here! Start by having online presence and establishing your own branding.

If you aren’t ready yet or cannot afford to have your own domain and website, take a look at these web builders. This is not the best starting point, but it is still good. Downsides is that you don’t really own your content or don’t have really full control over your website until you get your own domain and hosting.

 Wix

They have separated themselves from the rest, since most of the free site builders only let you create html pages.  One of the most advanced solutions for people without any coding experience to build powerful and good looking site easily and fast.

Google Sites

Hey, its Google and they are letting you create a free site….so do it.  As usual, Google makes it extremely easy to build a free website with cool integration features like Google Docs, Google Calendar, and RSS.

Webs

Do it yourself - really.

Our simple drag and drop interface makes building beautiful free websites quick and simple.

Whether your website is for business or pleasure, our robust features will help you succeed online.

Jimdo

Jimdo is a new free website builder that is very clean and easy to use.  As you can see in the screen-shot you can create your own URL and add text, photos, and custom design.

 

Yola

whether you're a small business owner, a nonprofit, or just want to make a wedding site, a resume site, a portfolio site, or any kind of site at all, Yola help you get it done. Quickly. And easily.

Weebly

Building a website on Weebly is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Drag & drop website builder makes it dead simple to create a powerful, professional website without any technical skills required. Over 6 million people and small businesses have joined Weebly to build their online presence.

Personalities and how it impacts your business and possible solutions

This article deals with four personalities, how it affects your business relationship with clients.There are also possible solutions to improve the particular personality and create a better business environment.
1. Fast and Task Oriented
This business person is dominant,loves results,wants to control and is quick to take action.
This impacts the client who sees the business person as impatient,impulsive and strong willed.The solution for the business person to let the customer feel they can make a decision,do background research earlier and slow their speed to match the client.
2. Fast and People Oriented
This business person is fun,likes recognition,persuades easily,magnetic and impulsive.This impacts the client who sees the business person as stubborn,careless with important details and bases their decisions on personal whims not reason or system.The solution for the business person to simplify and order their details;this can be by having fun presentations and slow their speed to match the client.
3. Slow and People Oriented
This business person is stable,cooperative,good listener and sympathetic.The client views them as one who does not like change,hides feelings and takes time to do something.The solution here is for the business person to improve on their creativity and increase their speed to match the client.
4. Slow and Task Oriented
This business person is meticulous,conscious,analytical,correct and quality oriented.The client views them as perfectionist,has an over reliance on rules, skeptic,pessimistic and not good with feelings.The solution here is for the business person to go easy on factual information,practice patience and respect for clients.

I can say that am a Slow and People Oriented Personality.Which is your personality?
Source:
Bess McCarty

Consider hiring lawyer to look over lease

September 20, 2015

Q: I have found space to lease for my new washateria, and the landlord has given me her standard lease contract. Should I just sign it?

A: Before you sign anything, make sure you understand and agree with all the terms of the contract.

"There is no such thing as a 'standard lease,' and landlords almost always negotiate," says Benjamin Miller, a Houston real estate attorney with Sponsel Miller Greenberg. "Don't lose sight of the fact that the 'Standard Form Lease' represents the landlord's wish list and, if not appropriately modified, may not serve your interests when issues arise."

A lease is much like any business agreement in that it sets out the parameters of a business relationship. You cannot easily break or change a commercial lease. It is a legally binding contract, and a good deal of money is usually at stake.

Hiccups in relationship

When everything goes as planned, most any lease will serve the parties well. The true test occurs when there are hiccups in the relationship. If the lease has not been drafted carefully, a hiccup can become a major problem without a clear solution.

There are, in general, three types of commercial leases. With a gross lease, the renter pays the landlord a fixed monthly rent. It is then up to the landlord to pay all the expenses of operating the building. In a triple net, or NNN, lease, the tenant not only pays base rent, but also part of the building's operating costs. These costs include property taxes, insurance and common area maintenance. Hybrid leases have features of both gross and triple net leases.

Triple net costs are shared according to the percentage of the tenant's square footage to the building's total square footage. So, Miller advises, "Pay attention to what is included in NNN costs and get the right to audit the landlord's cost records."

Maintain the areas

Common area maintenance is generally the amount of additional rent charged to the tenant to maintain the areas of the property shared by all the tenants and from which all tenants benefit. These include repairs, cleaning, janitorial and trash services, as well as personnel costs associated with the property. Most often, common area maintenance doesn't include capital improvements, tenant build-out expenses, legal fees, costs for services to other tenants, commissions to brokers, or costs arising from a landlord's negligence.

You should seriously consider having your lease contract reviewed by an experienced attorney.

Careers in Entrepreneurship and Formal Employment

Entrepreneurship tends to be seen to be for school dropouts,retirees,jobless and the restless.This is because since childhood our minds have been programmed to be tailor made for the formal employment that offers the solace of a non-existent safety.This is in stark contrast to the financial pressure found by employees in formal employment of balancing a lifestyle driven expenses against an inflation driven income. This of course leads to the "mwezi kona" and mid month salary advance requests and more debt.

This focus on formal employment as the only way to earn a living has been attributed to Kenya's education system. It is rigid,idealistic and ignorant of learners' talents outside academia.The result is a vicious cycle of misalignment between formal job openings against job applicants.A meeting held in May 2015 by StoryMoja publishers brought together curriculum developers,psychologists,employers,teachers and parents.Here a career encyclopedia was launched to help deal with problem of youth in NEET or not in education,employment and training.The encyclopedia contains 120 careers,interviews with people in careers of interest and access to mentor ship.

There is a group that aims to inculcate the importance of blue collar jobs;the Daughters of Nile or just DON.It comprises of nineteen young women from various professional fields who reach out to young people in secondary schools to encourage them to seek careers in plumbing,hairdressing and to run them as proper business ventures.
This is remarkable because in Kenya 4 out of 10 people are unemployed and the figure rises in the youth to 7 out of 10 unemployment levels.Clearly the road map of careers needs to be redrawn at an ealier age in the school system in hand with a rigorous mindshift in parents,society and employers.

Inspired by:

Daughters of Nile "Kenya's jobless youth cry for a listening ear"
http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/-Kenya-s-jobless-youth-cry-for-a-listening-ear/-/957860/2828094/-/format/xhtml/-/vet5p0/-/index.html

Patrick Wameyo "You retire poor because of your socialisation"

http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/money/retrenchment-retirement-career-transition/-/435440/2394722/-/rabvw0z/-/index.html

Storymoja Career Encyclopedia
http://storymojaafrica.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/About-Careerpedia.pdf

Seller financing can help sale of small business!

September 6, 2015
Q: I'm trying to sell my small business, but I'm finding it difficult to do so at the price I need in order to retire. Other than dropping my price, what can I do?

A: Others in your situation have found that offering some seller financing facilitated the sale of their businesses.

The reason is obvious: Many buyers don't have and can't borrow all of the money necessary to purchase the business outright. And those who do may prefer to leverage the purchase to increase the return on their investment. And of course most lenders do not offer anything close to 100 percent financing on a business sale loan.

Seller financing can be a win for both parties. For you, it makes selling the business easier. By helping to finance the sale, you can get a better price and a faster sale. Other benefits include getting an ongoing interest payment that is typically more than you could get from another investment.

If there are any problems with the business, the seller can negotiate an "as-is" provision, which would be hard to do with more conventional financing. If the buyer defaults on the note, the seller gets the business back and keeps all the payments made up to the default. 

Of course, there are risks involved. The main one is that if the buyer defaults on the loan, you may be forced to repossess a business you no longer want that may have been damaged by the buyer. But a seller can diminish the likelihood of that happening by reviewing the buyer's credit history, statements from financial institutions, employment history and other references before the purchase.

For the buyer, the fact that an owner is willing to finance some or all of the sale is evidence that the business is sound; otherwise the seller would not finance it.

Beyond offering to finance part of the sale, other things you can do to help promote the sale of your business include hiring an experienced business broker who has access to more qualified buyers, thereby saving you time, money and headaches. The broker will help you to value your business accurately.

And while dropping the price is not something you want to hear, you will know the price is finally right when the phone starts to ring. There is a sweet-spot price for your business where it will sell, though that may be less than you want.
 

Focus on others when you network!

August 23, 2015

Q: I've been told I need to network more in order to grow my service business. How does one go about it?

A: The most effective form of marketing is word of mouth. But people can't spread the word about you and your small business if they don't know you.

That's where networking comes in. Whether it's through a professional association for your industry, a chamber of commerce or another local business group, networking offers a valuable forum for prospective customers and colleagues to learn about you and the services or products you provide.

Successful networking is more than simply exchanging introductions and business cards, then waiting for someone to call. In fact, Nelson Farmer, a marketing expert and SCORE mentor, says people waste the few precious moments they have with new and existing contacts by focusing on themselves.

"It's better to spend most of that time asking questions and collecting information," he says. "Then you can make quick assessments as to whether they would have any interest in the solutions your business provides."

Farmer recommends that every entrepreneur have a succinct "elevator speech" - a 30-second description of the problems the business solves. After that, the focus of the networking conversations should be entirely on other people: their primary business concerns, problems they want solved and unmet business needs. As the conversations unfold, you may find areas that overlap with the solutions you provide.

"If not, you can still make an impression by referring them to other people in your network who can help," Farmer says. "They'll see you as a problem solver, and be more likely to provide you with referrals in return."

Networking also doesn't end with the conversation. Farmer recommends maintaining a data file of networking information and updating it as soon as possible after every contact.

"Make note of their interests, what you've shared with them, and when to contact them next," he says, adding that regular follow-ups are essential. "People have short memories and may forget that you exist and more importantly, that you're the best person to help them with their business needs and problems."

Finally, while valuable business contacts can happen anytime and anywhere; don't leave your strategy to chance.

"Identify the people you want to make contact with, whether prospects or potential marketing alliance partners, and make carefully researched efforts to build relationships," Farmer says. "This approach takes more time on your part, but it gets results."

Using dreams to positively impact solutions in your business

Dreams have been used by people to improve and solve problems in their lives.Business is one such area that needs constant solutions to create products or services for consumers.It may seem impractical,illogical and slightly silly to use your own dreams to solve business problems.The following examples though show that its real and possible to do so.
Madame C.J.Walker
She has been cited in the Guinness Book of Records as the first female African American self made millionaire.This success all started out in a dream to solve a problem in her life.She had been suffering from a scalp infection that led to her loosing a lot of hair.One night she had a dream in which a big black man appeared to her and told her the remedy required to solve her scalp condition.The following morning she got the ingredients together and put them on her scalp and was amazed by the results a few weeks later.She then tried the scalp remedy on her friends and it worked and from then on decided to sell the hair remedy product.The business started small from her house and with time it grew as the demand for scalp remedies and hair growth pomades for the black woman increased.Madame C.J.Walker then hired women and trained them on hair beauty products and business presentation.They went on to be her sales agents and this led to the establishment of a company ;The Madame C.J.Walker Manufacturing Company.The company grew through franchising and became successful.
Elias Howe
The innovator of the sewing machine got his idea from a dream.Elias had been faced with the problem of a needle going through a piece of cloth to sew.He had been trying to use a needle that was pointed at both ends with an eye in the middle and failed to sew at each attempt.One night Elias dreamt that he was taken as prisoner by a group of native Americans.They were dancing around him with spears and then started to aim their spears at him.At this frightening point of the dream he noticed that all the spears had holes near their tips.In the morning he realised that the dream had offered a solution;he then located a hole at the tip of the needle so thread could be caught as it went through the cloth.This made his sewing machine operable and led to mass sewing of clothes at a time when sewing was still done by hand.
Srinivasa Ramanujan
Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician who lived a short but purposeful 32 years, who used dreams to generate mathematical formuales. These have led to ground breaking solutions in statistical and nuclear Physics. Ramanujan revealed that in his dreams a goddess Namakal would appear and present mathematical formula.He would see a red screen formed by flowing blood then a hand would begin to write on this screen.When he awoke he would write the formula as he saw them in the dream and verify later.
Scientist who created artificial arteries
A scientist in America at the New Dimensions in Medicine Center had been working hard to solve the problem of repairing bad arteries in patients' hearts.At the time the transplant method used was to resort to using other arteries in the patient's body to replace the damaged one.This came with the risk of further damage to the patient's life and a shorter life span.The scientist one night dreamt a formula for artificial arteries and the next day went to the laboratory to test it.He was surprised at the results that the human body could accept the transplanted artificial arteries. His work has been adapted and is used to repair damaged heart arteries and comes with the benefits of an improved life span.

These solutions that come from dreams reveal to us that our brains work differently at the awake and sleep state.According to research done,Laura Silva Quesada of the Silva Method found that,slower brainwave functions prepare us to solve problems.The awake state also known as the Beta brainwaves are between 14 to 20 cycles a second is associated with taking action by using physical senses to solve problems. The sleep state also known as Theta brainwaves are 4 to 7 cycles a second is associated with inductive reasoning and uses dreams and visions to solve problems.
Based on this report I seek to challenge myself and you the reader to make note of dreams that offer implicit or explicit solutions to your business problems.

Agribusiness and the misconception of GMO

Genetically modified organisms are defined as an alteration in plants genetic material which does not occur naturally. The technology used selects individual genes to be transferred from one organism to another. These selected genes are meant to increase resistance to diseases caused by insects and viruses and increase tolerance to certain herbicides. The primary objective of GMOs was to increase crop yield for farmers at a lower input price. The first GM foods were introduced in the mid 1990s in the form of herbicide resistant soybeans. There is also an extension of GMO innovation in the use of bio-fortified rice which has been found to be useful in rice based societies such as India and Vietnam. This Golden Rice is genetically engineered to have Vitamin A and zinc to combat the perennial deficiencies affecting children’s’ immune systems and eyesight. The East African region now has available bio-fortified cooking bananas and cassavas to enhance the nutrient content of these staple foods.

Professor Ochanda, the Director of Biotechnology at the University of Nairobi notes the advantage to the farmer of using GM seeds is that the crops protect themselves. This is a cost efficient method as opposed to using expensive chemicals to eliminate disease and pests. This is supported by Professor Gudu a plant specialist at the Moi University who values the use of modern biotechnology by Kenyan farmers as a way out of poverty.

However, the harsh reality for most farmers in sub Saharan Africa is the politicisation of GMOs which prevents them from reaping the high rewards of the innovation. The root cause of this lies with the great divide between lobbyists and scientists which is in turn driven by the media that has a tendency to take a bias to sensational reports. The journalists from developing countries depend on western media which is split between the pro and anti-GMO supporters. Yet, the people who suffer are the populations in the developing world from lack of sufficient food supplies when GMO innovation is disregarded.

Mark Lynas a British scientist who was once a fierce anti-GMO supporter publicly apologised in January 2013 for his former stance. This was for the part played in a propaganda generating conspiracy theories that ultimately led to the starvation of millions across the developing world. The pro-GMO decision was based on sound scientific information on the benefits of GMO. Lynas’s efforts are now on supporting the use of GMO to address food security and economic self-reliance of developing countries. He led a public lecture in Kenya on this topic in late July 2013.

The Kenyan government started with optimism for GMO innovation when it passed the National Biotechnology Department Policy. This was followed by an enactment of the Bio safety Act in 2009 and a gazetting of three bio-safety rules in 2011. Then all these developments were undermined when on November 21, 2012 the Ministry of Public Health ordered the removal of all GM food on the market and a ban on GM imports. This decision was arrived at after a harrowing report by Professor Gilles Eric Seralini and other scientists. Their study was based on a two year feeding trial of 200 rats on GM maize and plants treated with a herbicide known as Roundup. Both male and female rats developed cancerous tumours, kidney and liver failure. This implied that people were at risk of exposure to cancer and organ failure from GM foods adding to more misunderstanding of the innovation to our lives.

The GM crops on the global market are risk assessed and are unlikely to present health risks to people according to the World Health Organisation. There is also a dire need for governments, NGOs and agricultural extension workers to come together and find out the scientific merit or demerit of the GMO innovation. The agricultural extension workers in Kenya should educate the public on the real meaning and use of GMO in farming to reduce their reliance on exciting headlines from anti-GMO supporters most of whom live in Europe. There was a debate this week to reintroduce GMO foods back into the Kenyan market but there needs to be robust public and expert participation.

Business Stages

1. Startup or business birth This part of the business stage is simultaneously the most difficult and rewarding. It starts off as a business idea and progresses into materialization of the idea. This is a journey fraught with impediments, doubts, fears and wrong advisers. It comes along with the need for business planning which is ignored or found bothersome by Kenyan micro enterprises. Yet this is the roadmap needed to guide the business, passion is not enough you require direction to get the business moving forward. The next step is financial resources a real headache for all micro and small business people. This can come from borrowing family and friends, selling unwanted items you have on OLX, Pigiame and all other online platforms to raise capital. I know this as; I was able to raise some capital to run this online business from selling shoes, clothes, printers, crashed laptops, kitchen gadgets and many more. The business name, registration, location, product buying, service creation are all determined at this stage. 2. Business Survival At this stage most micro and small business are usually struggling under immense barriers such as limited cash flow due to debtors and limited technical skill to have competitive advantage. The entrepreneur should have at this stage mastered the markets fully and undertaken relevant sector training. A casual glance at businesses reveal: consecutive mobile phone shops; many of the same money transfer shops in the same area; boutiques; fruit stalls; hawking clothes and fruits and many others. This is despite the dominoes effect that occurs when markets are highly saturated. Check out the case studies of Balloon Kenya in creating business competitive edge in Nakuru at www.balloonkenya.com 3. Business Death or Exit This stage is the crushing finale for most micro and small businesses in the first three years.This inevitable stage in Kenyan micro and small enterprises is caused by a multitude of factors such as making small profit margins and stiff competition from rivals.Yet all that is needed is a shift of focus on policy implementation to actually reach the many micro and small business people for the sector to rival big business. Sources Kilonzo, D. (2006). “Barriers affecting the growth and development of micro and small enterprises in Kenya”. Masters Dissertation. University of Northampton, United Kingdom. Available on request. The Micro and Small Enterprises Act (2012). Kenya Gazette Supplement. The Government Printer, Nairobi.