Starting a Business

A self-paced online course that provides a practical guide to developing and validating a business idea using the latest frameworks, tools and concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation. The course guides learners to developing a business plan including financial projections that can assist them to launch their idea and seek investment.

Entrepreneurship is a dynamic process that not only can increase wealth, but also create value, enhancing well-being. Entrepreneurship plays an important role in any society and policy makers strive to cultivate and promote a culture of entrepreneurship, but also to support entrepreneurs in their pursuit of creating value in the hopes of making a profit.

"Entrepreneurship is the process of developing, organising, and running a new business to generate profit while taking on financial risk"

Entrepreneurship accelerates economic growth through the creation of new products and services that stimulate new employment.
It may capitalise on research and development to solve problems that existing products have not yet solved, and therefore it is strongly linked to innovation.
Entrepreneurship can also become the catalyst for social change through the introduction of new processes, products or services resulting in improved lifestyle and higher economic choice.
Corporate entrepreneurship is a force for change for existing businesses also through which more efficient processes, the implementation of new technologies, and the launch of new and more advanced products and services allow business to use their resources in a more productive manner and achieve growth.

This self-paced online course is designed to guide entrepreneurs through all stages of launching their own business or launch their career as freelancers. The course is designed to assist entrepreneurs to ideate, select and adapt their idea, develop their business idea, assess the opportunity using broad criteria, and ultimately write a business plan which will enable them to launch a business into the market place. The course

Develops several frameworks and concepts around entrepreneurship and innovation,
Describes how to assess whether an idea is a business opportunity,
Goes through intellectual property protection and why it is so important for start-ups,
Outlines business risks and strategies to mitigate them,
Discusses different business structures to launch a business with and their advantages and drawbacks,
Discusses new product development processes and how to make them more efficient,
Describes the design thinking approach and the minimum viable product as means of validating business ideas and incorporating early feedback,
Emphasises the importance of building the "right" team,
Describes financial planning for a start-up, developing cashflow forecasts and projecting financial statements,
Provides the structure of a business plan and discusses the latest approaches, and
Discusses various finance options that a business may use to grow.

The course takes a practical approach; through the use of quizzes and case studies it allows learners to quickly embed knowledge and to be ready to apply it with confidence in their own project and develop a business plan for their business idea.

Course Features

Purpose

This course builds knowledge and understanding of business planning and the steps that entrepreneurs need to take to successfully launch their business.
It equips entrepreneurs with the confidence to build and develop their business idea from the ground up, taking a holistic approach and covering all aspects of the project including business structures, team, product or service design, market research, financial planning, leading to the creation of a business plan.

Learning Outcomes

Learn the key principles and steps for launching a new business.
Considering the problem-solutions-benefit approach understand clearly the problem their business idea is solving and whether there is a large enough market to support the growth of the business.
Be able to understand all financial planning aspects and develop cashflow projections allowing them to understand the finance needs of their business.
Be able to write a business plan that can support them in seeking investment.

Who is it for?

Entrepreneurs and business owners planning to launch a start-up.
Project managers, professionals and line managers in private, public, and government organisations across sectors that would like to familiarise themselves with entrepreneurship framework, tools and processes leading to the launch of a new business or seeking investment for a project.
The course is also suitable for Higher Education students with an interest in entrepreneurship.

Mode + Duration

This is a self-paced, online course and includes slides, quizzes and cases studies that enable learners to create awareness and quickly embed knowledge and understanding through applications of the tools and frameworks.
12 hours of self-paced material including slides, quizzes, case studies and videos.
This course can also be delivered live via webinars or even face to face for groups of 5 or more. Please contact us to discuss your specific requirements.

To find out more about the course, please contact us