Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 jan 2015

There are billions of dollars that are being invested in financial technologies (FinTech). 2014 has been one of the biggest year for FinTech and the sector is expected to grow further in future. According to StrategyEye, US$ 2.8 billion were raised in 2014 via venture capital investments in FinTech. While Crunchbase and MarketsMedia calculated that in the first quarter of 2014 alone US$ 1.7 billion was invested in 167 deals. At Money2020 this year a venture capital panel predicted that venture capital deployment in FinTech will top US$ 20 billion in 2015, whereas Accenture recently predicted FinTech investments would reach at least US$ 8 billion by 2018 in New York alone. Brett King, CEO of Moven, provides list of top 10 major happenings in 2014 that made FinTech stand out - (1) Spanish banking giant BBVA acquires Simple for US$ 117 million. (2) Apple launches Apple Pay for NFC-enabled mobile payments (NFC = Near Field Communication). (3) Lending Club became the biggest FinTech IPO in 2014 with a US$ 1 billion IPO. (4) AliPay, the online payment platform of Alibaba Group, raises US$ 94 billion in mobile deposits. (5) London becomes the top city for FinTech job creation with 44,000 FinTech specialists employed. (6) Visa launches Host Card Emulation and Tokenization. (7) Second Market launches the first US regulated Bitcoin Exchange. (8) 5 FinTech giants (Lending Club, Square, Credit Karma, Stripe, and China's RenRenDai) join the US$ 1 billion "Unicorn Club". (9) Four Major global banks (Sberbank, BBVA, Santander and HSBC) joined the US$ 100 million club. (10) Robo Advisors like Betterment, Wealthfront, LearnVest and others, take US$ 16 billion in Assets under Management. Read on...

Huffington Post: The Top 10 FinTech Milestones of 2014
Author: Brett King

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 dec 2014

Internet of Things (IoT) promises to bring diverse set of smart devices together through seamless network technologies and provide human-centered connected solutions. Home hubs are being launched in the market to sync everything from refrigerators to air conditioners to locks. But most homes are not yet ready with enough smart devices, although near future will see the growth of such connectivity and numerous possibilities resulting from smart homes. Roberta Gamble, Vice President of Frost & Sullivan Energy & Environment, predicts that telehealth will see a big surge in the market. Telehealth connects doctors and patients through use of technology. According to Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio, by 2015 Americans over the age of 65 will outnumber children under five. The aging baby boomer population will increase the demand for home gadgets for elderly care. The health, safety and independence of this population will encourage innovations and developments towards smart homes. Read on...

Digital Trends: THE SMART HOME OF THE FUTURE WILL BE ALL ABOUT TELEHEALTH, SO WHAT IS THAT?
Author: Jenny McGrath

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 07 dec 2014

Empowerment equips people with the ability to make decisions, take initiative and perform actions that lead to desired outcomes for the organization. Effective leadership enables and inspires people to achieve goals for the organization. Leadership, empowerment and organizational success are interconnected. According to Gallup research, organizations that empower their employees experience 50 percent higher customer loyalty. Leaders must give their people optimal level of freedom within the framework of organizational rules and objectives to perform their work. They should avoid micromanagement of the tasks delegated to the employees. Moreover managers should make sure that they remove impediments and hurdles that may arise while their subordinates perform their duties. Frequent communication exchange is necessary between the managers and employees and every interaction should provide employee with motivation and enhanced energy to perform better. In an empowered organization, people work collaboratively towards common goals and hold each other accountable. Read on...

The Business Journals: Why employee empowerment can lead the way to greater business success
Author: Art Johnson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 07 dec 2014

Businesses, big or small, need to continuously evolve their strategies to stay competitive and succeed in the dynamic marketplace. Matt Mayberry, Professional Speaker & Performance Strategist, provides four simple strategies to improve their success rate - (1) Professional development: Adopt continuous learning approach and research about the market, customers, competitors etc. (2) High quality products/services: Provide quality at competitive prices. (3) Customer value: Keep adding value in the lives of customers and provide best solutions. (4) Serve over everything: Inculcate a 'serving' attitude and listen to your customers well. Read on...

Entrepreneur: 4 Simple Strategies to Improve Your Business Success Rate
Author: Matt Mayberry

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 dec 2014

Social media phenomenon has transformed the way individuals and businesses connect, interact and engage with their audiences and customers. The accelerating pace of change in social media is further enhancing its value and at the same time providing new challenges for companies to adapt to change and incorporate the latest tools to stay ahead. Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite, suggests the following 5 changes that will shape social media in 2015 - (1) Social media and e-commerce merge. (2) Social media privacy issues come to the fore. (3) Social media becomes your virtual wallet. (4) New networks come and new networks go. (5) Smart devices get smarter, with help from social media. Read on...

Financial Post: These 5 trends will change social media in 2015
Author: Ryan Holmes

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 dec 2014

In pursuit of success, entrepreneurs have to put in long hours of work and had to survive on little money. This may lead to adverse effects on their health and well being. Moreover even the hard work and sacrifices may not lead to success for most of them - 8 out of 10 entrepreneurial businesses crash and burn within the first 18 months. Kristopher B. Jones, a successful entrepreneur & mentor, suggests necessary qualities for entrepreneurial success - (1) Perseverance: Sustainable companies require patience & perseverance and are built over times. The success is not merely about having a big idea, its more about carefully, effectively and patiently executing it. Entrepreneurs need hard work, tenacity and true grit. (2) Optimism: Its a combination of confidence, hope and positivity. Entrepreneurs need to keep going to accomplish goals at every stage. (3) Decisiveness: Right decision-making is needed at the right moment. Don't dither and procrastinate and make speedy choices with objective reasoning. (4) Self-awareness: Know your strengths and weaknesses and be honest about them. Find good people to do the job that you can't do yourself well. (5) Motivation: Entrepreneurs are motivated by something bigger like contributing to society, impact people, solve an important problem or just change the world for better. (6) Focus: Key component of the entrepreneur mind-set and most challenging to implement. With information overload to distract entrepreneurs, they need to keep themselves focused on their one big idea and develop a plan to execute it step by step. Read on...

Forbes: The Dark Side Of The Moon: Why So Many Entrepreneurs Fail
Author: Kristopher B. Jones

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 nov 2014

Digital marketing leverage can by accomplished by startups at low cost by clearly defining, creating and delivering the online message, utilizing the gamut of available technologies. These technologies have to be used effectively to target the audience, engage the customer and measure results. In their new book 'Taking Down Goliath', authors Kevin M. Ryan and Rob "Spider" Graham, provide the best strategy and tactics to accomplish this digital marketing leverage. The first step in the process is to create the perfect message and define it as selling solutions (not technology) to real customers with real needs and problems they want solved. Business-to-business (B2B) entrepreneurs should ask the following questions: (1) How does this solution solve an existing problem? (2) How does this solution provide a competitive advantage? (3) How does this solution make the customer a visionary/market leader? (4) How does this solution enable a significant value exchange? (5) How does this solution represent an exclusive opportunity? How does this solution increase performance and productivity? Effective marketing messages for business-to-consumer (B2C) audience, should stroke emotional triggers like sense of well-being, convenience, security, significance, exclusivity, positive social standing etc, that facilitate their buying process. Read on...

Forbes: Digital Marketing Is A Great Equalizer For Startups
Author: Martin Zwilling

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 11 nov 2014

Successful entrepreneurs have behavioral understanding of their diverse staff to effectively align them towards the organizational goals. To manage work relationships with software developers they should have different leadership style and management structure. Scott Gerber, founder of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), asked 11 entrepreneurs who are part of YEC to provide significant leadership mistakes they noticed regarding management of software developers and how to avoid them: (1) Assuming They Will Speak Up- David Hassell, 15Five (2) Assuming Developers Want To Work The Same Schedule As Everyone Else- Rameet Chawla, Fueled (3) Not Showing Trust- Phil Chen, Systems Watch (4) Not Managing Distractions- Mark Cenicola, Banner View (5) Believing False Deadlines- Joshua Lee, Standout Authority (6) Not Playing to Their Strengths and Experiences- Jyot Singh, RTS Labs (7) Not Focusing on Detailed Requirements- Vladimir Gendelman, Company Folders, Inc (8) Not Listening to Technical Expertise- Laura Roeder, MeetEdgar (9) Managing Based on Whims- Juha Liikala, Stripped Bare Media (10) Assuming They Can Solve Every Problem- Alfredo Atanacio, Uassist.ME (11) Not Understanding the Developer's Personality- Adam Stillman, SparkReel. Read on...

ReadWrite: 11 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Managing Developers
Author: Scott Gerber

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 nov 2014

According to Steve Blank, serial-entrepreneur and academician, who launched the Lean Startup movement, 'in a true, thriving startup ecosystem, venture capitalists understand failure.' In the Lean Startup methodology startups are able to "fail quickly" and learn from those mistakes to make the necessary pivot required to find a successful business model. He says, 'Smart VCs, when you have a cluster, believe that entrepreneurship is not just execution. You're betting on the team, on the people, on the passion, on the vision and sometimes on the circumstances. When you can't get them to believe failure equals experience, you don't have the right culture yet.' Read on...

StartupSmart: Venture capitalists need to better understand failure for an ecosystem to thrive, says Steve Blank
Author: Kye White

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 10 nov 2014

Number of start-ups are often considered to have a positive correlation with the health of the economy. But Professor Daniel Isenberg of Babson College, and Fernando Fabre, president of Endeavor Global, argue that 'Scale-ups', growing businesses that promote long-term entrepreneurship, have more impact on the economy as they lead to more innovation and create more jobs as compared to a high-number of quickly failed start-ups. They negate the Brookings Institution report that blames the decline of entrepreneurship in US on established companies and point out that the report doesn't classify company as entrepreneurial if it has lasted for more than 16 years, implying that fewer start-ups reflect an economy that can't support new business. On the contrary, companies that exist for longer period continue to grow and innovate and contribute substantially to the economy. Prof. Isenberg and Mr. Faber have created a 'Scale-up Declaration' that explains the benefits of scale-ups: 'Entrepreneurs create value and are necessary in all sectors of society. What makes great entrepreneurs are people who scale up their operation and then reinvest their knowledge or financial gains to help the next generation of entrepreneurs.' An example of successful scale-up entrepreneur cited by Mr. Faber is Fadi Ghandour, founder of Aramex, who reinvested in Jordanian entrepreneurs and helped create an entrepreneurial ecosystem there alongwith other successful entrepreneurs. Scale-up entrepreneurs have the power to recycle life and energy into the economy by reinvesting in innovation. Read on...

Chronicle-Independent: A broader definition of entrepreneurs
Author: John Hoffmire, Krystal Bailey

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