‘Find what you are good at and find what the market needs’

About 50 business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs from around the province met at the Parow library on Friday to hear business lessons from experts.

YoungPeople@Work, a non-profit organisation, organised the workshop to provide information and an opportunity for networking. 

Abraham Oliver, the director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UWC, spoke about the importance of understanding the market.

“Businesses fail because entrepreneurs don't have access to networks. So find what you are good at and find what the market needs. And then connect the two with one another so that you don't get desperate and end up asking why are customers not buying.

“So for any aspiring or incoming entrepreneurs, they need to make sure they have a clear business model. And in the business model, there's a clear indicator of who their partners are that will help them to take value to customers,” he told Northern News.

Businessman Vincent Fredericks urged the attendees to knock on doors to find customers.

"People are afraid to go knock on a stranger's door. It's about finding the people."

YoungPeople@Work director Frank Julie, 61, said he had been an organisational development practitioner and consultant for almost 40 years. “I like to plough back into the community,” he said.